The Use of Images and the Visual Sense for Foreign Language Teaching

What does it mean to learn a foreign language visually? Could visual teaching techniques just be the most recent fashion in foreign language learning or is the connection more intrinsic? Nowadays we could posit that the learner’s psychological language-structure is more visual. Learners, especially those among the younger generations, are used to visual communication. If writing and listening were considered the most necessary skills historically, nowadays teachers need to take into account the culture of technology to which all foreign language learners are inevitably exposed. Limiting communication to visual elements could cause certain problems. The Egyptian hieroglyphs, towards the decline of the civilization, regressed from abstract to earlier more concrete forms. Leaving the culture and fashions of the times aside, we notice that teaching at least parts of the language, such as vocabulary, and grammar, using flashcards and time-lines, continues to be common practice.