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Abstract

Landry and Bourhis (1997) are credited with coining the term linguistic landscapes, a term which they defined as “the language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings [combined] to form the linguistic landscape [of a given region]” (p. 25). In this phenomenological (Patton, 1990) self-study, I explored the linguistic landscapes of three unfamiliar countries during a forty-five-day summer research and leisure trip. I analyzed the photographic data I collected to understand what information I gained from the signs, how I used the information in visual images to meet my needs, what skills I used to acquire this information, and how I began to see ‘signs’ in all of my surroundings. The implications of this study could influence visual literacy research and multiliteracies instruction in ways that may help tie in-school teaching to an enriching life outside of school.

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