Identity representations in visual texts

Abstract

In an attempt to address minority issues with Israeli Arab English-as-a-foreign-language ninth-grade students, I as a teacher researcher introduced picture books on the issue and invited students to respond in different modes, one of which was artistic. In one of the lessons, students created collages to represent their identities. In this article, I attempt, through a holistic visual analysis, to elucidate the way Christian Israeli Arab teenagers' represented their identities through their visual texts. Students' follow-up discussion about racial discrimination is also introduced to demonstrate how it reinforces and complements the findings from my visual analysis. Students' visual and oral responses shed light on significant differences in their viewpoints and identities.

Keywords:

• critical literacy
• visual analyses
• identity
• minority