Mgr. Dorota Hrycak-Krzyżanowska is a Head of the Department of Applied and Cultural Linguistics at PASSH in London. She has years of experience in teaching Polish as a foreign language (inherited) in the Polish and British school system. She conducts methodical training for the Polish teachers teaching Polish as a second, foreign language. She is a Content Writer and Examiner for the AQA Examination Board’s A-level Polish exam. Co-author of the Polish Legends textbook at A2 level, author of an educational game and storytelling cards. Currently, she also works at the Wellington College and the Polish Embassy School in London. Academic interests: methodology of teaching foreign and inherited languages, Polish as a foreign and inherited language, the use of ludic techniques in a teaching foreign and inherited languages, the use of visual language in a language teaching, biculturalism and multiculturalism, cultural identity.
A way to Learn — a way to Teach, correlation of visual language with language learning
The focus of the research is the examination of whether there is a correlation of visual language with the process of effective language learning. “Because texts are not currently the main source of information in everyday life, and information is becoming increasingly multimodal, the need for adequate knowledge of eyesight and mental imaging skills is becoming stronger” (Walsh, 2003; Serafini, 2011; Ploetzner et al., 2013). The aim of this paper is to establish which methods are best to employ in order to reach and engage students in the learning process. Three main research goals were set: the first one was to determine which teaching methods provoke the student to be interested in learning and support them in this process; the second goal was to diagnose the acquired knowledge as a result of the methods used; and the third was to develop a postulative model of teaching using the visual language. The empirical analysis led to the conclusion that multimodal books – illustrations, diagrams, pictures with signatures and text – have an impact on the cognitive and memory process of students. The introduction and use of activating and multisensory teaching methods is one of the necessary conditions for a successful teaching process.