Representations of Images in Baccalaureate English Textbooks

Abstract

The notion of presence as a general rhetorical device has to do with the writer’s selection, presentation, and combination of elements throughout the text. Subsequent revisions of this concept take into consideration its multimodal nature, since it can describe systems of texts that include visual and verbal presentational devices. The portrayal of presence has been mainly applied to historical and scientific discourses; in this article, visual presence is examined in three Baccalaureate English textbooks by means of three main types of visual: decorative-informative, indicative-informative and pure informative. This study seeks to show which visuals are predominant and which skills they are associated with. I will also discuss some pedagogical implications in relation to the use of these graphics.