Continuity and progression in graphicacy

Graphicacy is defined, and both its importance and relative neglect as a research area in relation to literacy and numeracy are discussed. The outcomes of a literature review are presented and the developmental stages of mark-making described, based primarily on research by Gaitskell, Lowenfeld and Kellogg. Supporting and contradictory opinions from a range of authors are brought together and differences noted. Strategies for addressing the emerging research agenda are then discussed, and particularly for the development of descriptors of continuity and progression in graphicacy. A taxonomy for the analysis of graphicacy within curricula is presented, and potential research methodologies for exploring graphicacy within different areas of the taxonomy are then reviewed. Three of these areas: analysis of tasks, co-research and the validation of research outcomes through a Delphi study are discussed in detail.