English abstract
The current study aimed to know the percentages of availability of
visual thinking skills in the activities of the language skills lessons in the
books "I love my language" for the first grades (1-4) of basic education in
the Sultanate of Oman. To achieve this, the researcher used the descriptive
method, and prepared a list of 22 visual thinking skills, and a content
analysis card. The study population consisted of (527) activities of
language skills lessons in "I love my language" books for the first grades
(1-4) of basic education. The study reached the following results: The skill
of recognizing the shape and describing is the most available visual
thinking skill in the activities of the language skills lessons in "I love my
language" books for the first cycle grades (1-4) of basic education,
followed by the image analysis, Interpretation, then perceiving the
relationships between the elements of the image, and finally inferring
meaning and arriving at values and concepts. Statistically significant
differences between the percentages of the following main visual thinking
skills: (shape recognition and description, image analysis, interpretation,
and inference of meaning and reaching values and concepts), in the
activities of language skills lessons for the first grades (1-4) of basic
education were found, while no statistically significant differences were
found between the percentages in the skill of perceiving the relationships
between the elements of the image. The study recommended drawing the
attention of those responsible for preparing curricula and authoring books
to considering the balance and comprehensiveness between the main and
secondary visual thinking skills when designing the activities of language
skills lessons.
