How Visual Resources Support Reading Comprehension: A Multimodal Analysis of English for Nusantara for Grade VIII

Abstract

This study examines how visual resources accompanying reading materials in English for Nusantara for Grade VIII may support reading comprehension. A qualitative textbook content analysis was conducted on all 18 explicit Reading and Your Turn: Reading sections in Chapters 1-5. Meaningful visuals were defined as images or visual compositions that contributed information, organization, genre cues, or task meaning beyond decoration. Thirteen reading sections (72.2%) contained meaningful visual support, producing 14 visual clusters for analysis. Digital or genre interfaces and narrative illustrations were the most frequent types (21.4% each), followed by photograph sets, posters or infographics, and comic strips (14.3% each); a mixed image cue set and a spatial diagram each accounted for 7.1%. Using an operational image-text framework, complementary or integrated relations were most common (42.9%), while elaborative and contextual or enhancing relations each represented 28.6%. The visuals served functions such as activating prior knowledge, visualizing events and referents, guiding genre and layout recognition, organizing procedures, tracking speakers, supporting inference, explaining genre concepts, and mapping spatial information. These features may provide useful contextual and organizational support for reading, but the analysis does not demonstrate actual gains in students' comprehension. The findings suggest that visual resources are most pedagogically relevant when teachers direct attention to how visual and verbal information work together.