Helping ESL Students Cope With Content-Based Tests

The purpose of this article is to propose the use of key visuals as a technique to prepare students to read content text. Based on a specific Language and Content conceptual framework (Mohan 1986), the use of key visuals as a pre-reading strategy acknowledges the role of schema theory in the reading process. This paper describes the strategy; discusses procedures for the construction and implementation of key visuals in content classrooms with examples from the Vancouver School Board Language and Content Project; and, reports briefly the results of an evaluation study which provide tangible evidence of the facilitative effect of key visuals on reading comprehension.