Mental Imagery
Mental Imagery or visualisation involves getting students to visualise the setting, situation or character (Norton, 2007). Using mental imagery allows students to be able to remember what is read better and allows comprehension to be strengthened. Without realising it good readers often start to visualise what is happening in the text, when thought about why else do we read fiction stories if not to allow ourselves to experience something different if only in our imaginations. Teachers should be mindful however that without some prior knowledge visualisation can be very difficult for some students, for example if a student has no concept of what a beach is, they will be unable to picture one in their mind. As teachers encouraging this skill we need to allow time both before and throughout reading to stop and allow students to visualise what is happening, questioning students about their visualisations is one way of checking for understanding (for example if you are reading the three little pigs and a child starts talking about the ducks they can see, they either have a very good imagination and are taking the story further then the text is stating or they are not comprehending the text correctly). Visualisation could be further enhanced by asking students to draw the character, setting or critical point in a story.