What Is Visualizing & Verbalizing?

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Without the sensory information of imagery, words have no meaning…

  —Nanci Bell, Visualizing and Verbalizing for Language Comprehension and Thinking

What Is Visualizing and Verbalizing?

Visualizing and Verbalizing (V/V) is a sequential program of instruction to develop mental imagery as a base for language comprehension and thinking.

The process-based instruction of V/V teaches the student to bring mental imagery to consciousness, connect it to oral and written language, and combine imagery for extended language into a single imaged whole—an imaged gestalt. This ability to create mental imagery for language—concept imagery—is an important skill for individuals of any age or grade level.

How is Visualizing and Verbalizing unique?

V/V instruction develops concept imagery and the imagery-language connection as the essential foundation of language comprehension and critical thinking.

Clinical research and experience over the last twenty-five years indicate that there is a language comprehension disorder that unfortunately is rarely identified.

This separate comprehension weakness often undermines the reading process and goes beyond use of context, phonological processing, word recognition, oral vocabulary, prior knowledge, and background experience. It is a weakness, based in the sensory system, in creating an imaged gestalt.

  —Nanci Bell, Visualizing and Verbalizing

Can V/V help your students?

Here are some common signs of weak concept imagery:

  • Difficulty comprehending oral language
  • Poor reading comprehension despite adequate decoding skills
  • Difficulty following directions
  • Poor critical thinking, especially with abstract concepts
  • Difficulty verbalizing ideas in a concise, relevant manner
  • Writing that is disorganized, off topic, or incoherent
  • Poor sense of humor, especially when humor is language-based
  • Difficulty interpreting social situations
  • Poor grasp of cause and effect
  • Difficulty sustaining attention or focus

How does V/V instruction help?

Develop the student's ability to…

  • Verbalize fluent, detailed descriptions.
  • Create and describe detailed mental imagery for a single word.
  • Visualize and describe imagery for a full paragraph, one sentence at a time, and combine the imagery into a whole—an imaged gestalt.
  • Use an imaged gestalt as a base for higher order thinking: summarizing the main idea, drawing conclusions, inferring, predicting, and evaluating.
  • Process up to a page of connected text using concept imagery for comprehension and higher order thinking.
  • Apply V/V techniques to note-taking, writing, and school curriculum content.

What does Gander Publishing offer?

We are the publisher and provider of all V/V products. Browse the selection on our website or contact us for more information.

Featured Products

  • V/V® Kit: Everything you need to implement the program
  • V/V® Manual: Presents theory and specific steps

Browse all V/V® Products