ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the visual literacy demands of trade’s course material and the way in which visual elements are used to help students better understand difficult concepts. It addresses the question of how visual representation contributes to meaning in trades textbooks, and attempts to identify what implications this might have for readers. The chapter deals with a comparative overview of the way in which visual elements are integrated into trades texts for four trades, carpentry, automotive technology, plumbing, and fabrication, and describes a more detailed look at the way in which multiple representations of key concepts are commonly used in automotive technology and particularly the autoelectrical trades. It examines several reasons for the use of multiple representations emerges, and discusses using examples taken from the texts or from the trades tutors themselves. The chapter discusses briefly interpersonal meaning related to the representation of people in images in trade’s education texts.
