Dual coding: A teacher's guide

What is Dual Coding?

Dual Coding is a research-backed learning strategy that enhances student understanding by combining verbal and visual information. In 2025, this approach remains one of the most effective evidence-informed strategies available to teachers. By presenting concepts in both words and images, students process information through two , verbal and non-verbal, improving their ability to retain and recall key ideas.

Cognitive psychologists have identified six highly effective learning strategies for improving long-term memory, and Dual Coding is one of them. This approach is based on the idea that when students see and hear information simultaneously, they've got two ways to encode knowledge, making it easier to retrieve later.

Key benefits of Dual Coding include:

• Improving memory retention, Students remember information better when it's presented visually alongside text or speech.
• Reducing cognitive overload, Well-structured visual representations prevent dual coding and working memory channels from becoming overwhelmed.
• Supporting all learners, Dual Coding helps students of all abilities by providing clear, structured ways to process complex ideas.

Teachers can implement Dual Coding through a variety of visual formats, including:

• Flow charts and diagrams
• Timelines, cartoon strips, and infographics

With the rise of evidence-informed teaching, outdated concepts like learning styles are being replaced by strategies grounded in . Institutions such as the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) have highlighted Dual Coding as an effective way to enhance student learning, making it a valuable tool for modern classroom practice.

By integrating visual and verbal elements, teachers can ensure that students process information more deeply, efficiently, and effectively, leading to stronger comprehension and long-term retention.

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How Does Dual Coding Work in the Brain?

Dual coding works by activating two separate cognitive channels in the brain: the verbal channel processes words and text, while the visual channel processes images and diagrams. When information enters through both channels simultaneously, it creates multiple retrieval pathways in memory, making recall easier and more reliable. This process reduces cognitive loadby distributing information processing across two systems rather than overwhelming a single channel.

Dual coding is one of several powerful encoding strategies that support long-term learning. By combining verbal and visual representations, teachers create multiple retrieval pathways for the same information. Other encoding strategies, such as elaborative interrogation and self-explanation, similarly enhance memory by encouraging deeper processing of new material.

The dual-coding teaching strategy finds its roots in Allan Paivio's Dual-Coding Theory and . This approach aims to reduce cognitive overload in learners by utilising both visuospatial sketchpads and phonological loops for presenting complex concepts, effectively boosting memory capacity and understanding.

Allan Paivio (1971) proposed that individuals process visual and verbal information individually and at the same time. This is a which claims that combining both verbal material and visuals is a useful learning technique.

According to the Dual-Coding Theory, if a teacher shares visual and verbal explanations simultaneously, students are more likely to process the knowledge and retain it more effectively.

The educational phenomena of Dual coding is based on scientific evidence. It's , which deals with students deciding how they believe they learn best. Dual coding primarily relates to how the brain processes information.

The Working Memory Model of Alan Baddeley also supports the concept of complementary audio and visual processing routes inside the brain to benefit detailed memories.

The Dual-Coding Theory posits that the human mind processes information through separate systems: one for visual stimuli and another for verbal stimuli. By simultaneously engaging both systems, learners can better grasp and retain complex concepts. This idea aligns with human cognition theory, which emphasises the importance of minimising cognitive overload when .

Scientific evidence supports the benefits of dual coding in education. Studies show that combining visual aids, such as diagrams, graphs, or illustrations, with verbal explanations enhances learners' ability to understand and remember information. This process not only reduces cognitive overload but also helps learners make connections between different pieces of information, leading to a more profound comprehension of the subject matter.

dual coding uses the strengths of both visual and in the human mind, minimising cognitive overload and maximising memory capacity. By incorporating dual coding strategies in their classrooms, teachers can help students more effectively navigate cognitive tasks and achieve a deeper .

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How Can Teachers Use Dual Coding in Lessons?

Teachers can implement dual coding by pairing key concepts with simple diagrams, creating visual timelines for historical events, or using graphic organisers alongside written explanations. Start by modeling the technique yourself, then guide students to create their ownvisual representations of learning material. Effective strategies include annotated diagrams for science, flow charts for processes, and mind maps for connecting ideas across subjects.

Integrating Dual Coding into classroom instruction helps students process information more effectively by reinforcing concepts through both words and visuals. When teachers combine spoken explanations with relevant drawings, diagrams, or graphic organisers, students are more likely to understand and retain information.

Here's a step-by-step guide to using Dual Coding in the classroom:

1. Identify and Analyse Visuals

Encourage students to find visuals in their course materials (e.g., diagrams, infographics, timelines).

Ask them to analyse how the words explain the visuals, focusing on what key details are emphasised.

2. Reverse the Process

Now, have students do the opposite: examine the images and determine how they visually represent the written text.

This reinforces the connection between visual and verbal information, strengthening memory recall.

3. Describe in Their Own Words

Ask students to explain the concept in their own words, summarising the key ideas from both the text and the visuals.

This encourages active processing, rather than passive viewing.

4. Create Their Own Visual Representations

Once students understand the information, have them draw a diagram, sketch, or graphic organiser to visually represent it.

This step is crucial for deep learning, as it requires them to transform abstract information into a meaningful structure.

By engaging in these activities, students internalise knowledge in multiple ways, making it easier to retrieve later. Dual Coding isn't just about adding visuals; it's about teaching students to thinkvisually and use both modes of representation to enhance comprehension.

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How Could You Embed Dual Coding?

When students are looking over their class materials, they must find pictures that complement the information and correlate the pictures to the words. Students need to check: how do these words explain what's present in the pictures? How do the representative images depict what's given in the text?

There are specific kinds of visuals that go very well with specific kinds of materials. For instance, a diagram may help very well with concepts of biology and a timeline may do very well to remember history. Students must show creativity while drawing the visual materials. They don't have to reproduce the same visuals they've seen in their class materials. However, the representative images must depict what they saw in words in their class materials.

After using the dual coding, students need to do the following:

After comparing words with the visual, students must explain the concept they're trying to learn. This is the time to retrieve the details on their own. Students must continue to practise until they reach a point where they can put away their class material and write their class material in words and draw visuals, representative images and other graphics according to the class material.

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What Digital Tools Support Dual Coding?

Digital tools like interactive whiteboards, presentation software, and drawing apps enable teachers to quickly create and modify visual content alongside text during lessons. Students can use tablets or computers to create their own dual coded notes using apps that combine drawing, typing, and image insertion. Online platforms also allow for easy sharing and collaboration on visual learning materials between teachers and students.

Embracing dual coding in today's technology-driven classrooms can greatly enhance students' comprehension of complex ideas and streamline the learning process. By effectively combining graphic principles with verbal input, teachers can create a more engaging and memorable educational experience for their students. Utilising technology not only allows for the smooth integration of visual and verbal components but also helps reduce teacher workload by offering a wide array of tools and resources that can be easily adapted to various educational settings.

For instance, teachers can use presentation software to create slides that incorporate both text and images, ensuring that students receive information through multiple channels. Online platforms and digital whiteboards enable real-time collaboration, allowing students to work together on projects that involve the creation and manipulation of visual elements alongside verbal explanations. Additionally, incorporating basic images, diagrams, or videos into lessons can help clarify difficult concepts and promote a deeper understanding.

Moreover, technology opens doors to a vast array of multimedia resources that can be used to support dual coding strategies. Educational videos, interactive simulations, and virtual reality experiences can offer students a more immersive and comprehensive learning experience, facilitating the connection between visual and verbal elements.

By using technology to implement dual coding, teachers can create a more effective learning environment that caters to diverse learning needs and promotes a deeper understanding of complex ideas, ultimately supporting student success.

The effectiveness of digital technology can help the production and distribution of audio and visual resources. Therefore, interactive lessons and technology tools can significantly improve and enhance dual coding activities in many ways:

• It's quick and easy to allocate scaffolds and templates to students.
• There are many apps that help students to record or play audio and video explanations.
• Technology tools can be used for remote learning, asynchronously or synchronously.
• It may become very cost-effective to use technology tools across several groups or multiple classes.
• It saves significant amounts of time when students annotate or fill blank charts and diagrams, rather than drawing representative images on paper.

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Why Is Dual Coding Important for Student Learning?

Dual coding significantly improves information retention and recall by creating stronger memory traces through multiple encoding pathways. Research shows students who learn through combined visual and verbal methods score higher on tests and demonstrate better long-term retention compared to single-mode learning. The technique particularly benefits struggling learners and those with language barriers by providing alternative routes to understanding complexconcepts.

Cognitive Psychologists Clark and Paivio (1991) state that it's a common practice to teach students through discussion or asking them to read text. However, adding visual materials can make the information even clearer.

For instance, if a teacher says the word 'tree' to the students, when the students hear the word, they'll also create a mental image of what a tree looks like. Both word and visual images can be used to remember the information stored in the brain.

Cognitive Phenomena explain that a teacher's students try to remember everything said by the teacher in the classroom. However, our brains are created to only hold a small fraction of knowledge at one time. A lot of information delivered verbally is immediately forgotten. Dual coding enables students to remember a large amount of information. Following are some of the dual coding examples that can be used to teach students:

• Diagrams
• Icons and symbols
• Graphic organisers
• Sketch noting
• Posters
• Timelines
• Cartoon strips
• Infographics
• Graphs and tables of information

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How Do Teachers Begin Implementing Dual Coding?

Start by identifying one topic or lesson where visual representation would enhance understanding, then create simple diagrams or sketches to accompany your verbal explanations. Begin with basic visuals like labeled diagrams, comparison charts, or process flows before progressing to more complex representations. Gradually teach students to create their own dual coded notes by providing templates and modeling the process during lessons.

Many effective teachers are already using dual coding in their classrooms. For instance, while teaching history, many teachers create history timelines to help students remember important dates.

Also, an English Teacher must look at the lesson plan and make decisions about the key concept for the next class. It's always better to simplify the topic as much as possible.

Teachers need to select a visual representation supporting a particular concept. They must remove any unwanted background distractions and give students time to look at the visuals before starting to speak.

How to Create a Perfect Visual Representation

One may paste an image on a PowerPoint slide and call it dual coding. In reality, it isn't dual coding.

For Dual coding, the visual representations must be meaningful and must directly associate with the verbal material.

Photographs and videos are considered to be less effective in dual coding, as they hold too much background detail. According to the theories of Cognitive Science, these might make students overwhelmed. For dual coding, visual images should be very clear with little background information.

To be perfect for dual coding, visual images must be:

• Easy to understand
• Directly connected to the verbal material
• Surrounded with white space
• More meaningful
• With simple pattern and colours

Students mustn't worry about their artistic skills. Dual coding with teachers is more about illustrating information clearly, not artistically. Teachers are suggested to encourage students to create and compare their visual representations with other students' representations. Extraordinary differences between the written text and the visual representations will put a mental workload on the students. Where possible, we must avoid:

• Using a different key with graphs
• Putting visual materials and text on separate pages
• Sharing a large number of different visuals (it's better to use just one visual at a time)

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What Should Teachers Remember About Dual Coding?

Dual coding is most effective when visuals directly support and clarify verbal information rather than serving as decoration or distraction. Keep visual representations simple and focused on key concepts to avoid cognitive overload. Remember that consistency in implementation and regular practice are essential for students to develop proficiency in using this evidence-based learning strategy.

Dual coding isn't a new phenomenon. It has a huge impact on students' performance in memory, in associative processes, autophagy processes, linguistic processes, cognitive tasks, naming tasks and description tasks.

If it's applied properly, dual coding will improve students' retention of information and decrease the cognitive load while learning new concepts. If facilitated strategically, it won't add to the teacher workload; if anything, it might reduce it. Secondary school teachers are seeing the benefit as well. The pedagogy provides an accessible way into even the most complex of curriculum content. Using visuals alongside a well-crafted teacher explanation means that students have a greater chance of grasping the underlying concept.

It may take some time to find or create the perfect visuals, but you'll be amazed to see its impact. Use dual coding and take benefit from its application in learning. If you're interested in exploring a new theory of cognition, make sure you explore the universal thinking framework's webpage.

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What Resources Help Teachers Learn About Dual Coding?

The Learning Scientists website offers free downloadable posters and guides specifically designed for implementing dual coding in classrooms. Oliver Caviglioli's books provide comprehensive visual guides to dual coding techniques with practical classroom examples. The Education Endowment Foundation's Teaching and Learning Toolkit includes evidence summaries and implementation guidance for dual coding strategies.

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15 Dual Coding Techniques for Powerful Classroom Learning

These practical dual coding techniques help teachers harness the brain's two information processing channels to dramatically improve student retention and understanding. When words and images work together, learning becomes both stronger and longer-lasting.

1. Sketch-Noting During Instruction: Teach students to create visual notes combining words and simple drawings rather than writing text-only notes. Research shows sketch notes engage both processing channels simultaneously, leading to better encoding and recall. Model this technique explicitly and provide frameworks like the Cornell sketch-note method.
2. Timeline Visualisation: Replace bullet-pointed historical facts with visual timelines showing events along a spatial path. The left-to-right progression creates spatial memory while dates and events provide verbal encoding. Students retain chronological relationships far better when they can "see" time passing.
3. Concept Map Construction: Have students create visual diagrams showing relationships between concepts using circles, arrows, and connecting words. This dual coding approach makes abstract relationships concrete and visible whilst requiring students to articulate connections verbally.
4. Diagram-Text Integration: Place explanatory labels directly on diagrams rather than in separate legends or paragraphs. This spatial contiguity reduces split attention and allows both channels to process the same information simultaneously—a key principle of multimedia learning.
5. Visual Vocabulary Cards: Pair new vocabulary with representative images or icons rather than just definitions. Even abstract words can have visual associations: "democracy" might include a voting icon; "mitochondria" includes a labeled diagram. The visual hook makes retrieval more reliable.
6. Process Flow Diagrams: Convert procedural text into flowcharts or step diagrams. The water cycle, photosynthesis, or essay writing processes become more memorable when students can visualise the sequence whilst reading accompanying text. Movement and direction add spatial encoding.
7. Graphic Organisers for Reading: Provide structured visual templates students complete whilst reading text. Story maps, Venn diagrams for comparison, or cause-effect organisers force students to translate verbal information into visual structures—active dual coding in action.
8. Annotated Diagrams: Use diagrams where students must add verbal labels, descriptions, or explanations to visual elements. This reverses typical instruction: instead of illustrating text, students are verbalising images—engaging both channels through active processing.
9. Icon-Based Revision Guides: Create revision resources where key concepts are represented by both text and consistent visual icons. When students see the icon, they should recall the concept; when they read the concept, they should visualise the icon. Dual retrieval paths strengthen memory.
10. Spatial Memory Palaces: Teach students to place verbal information within imagined visual spaces (the method of loci). Facts are "placed" in familiar rooms or along familiar routes. This ancient dual coding technique remains one of the most powerful memory strategies known.
11. Compare-Contrast Diagrams: Use side-by-side visual comparisons with verbal labels to highlight similarities and differences. Tables, Venn diagrams, or double-bubble maps make abstract comparisons concrete. Students process the spatial relationship and the verbal content together.
12. Visual Metaphors: Represent abstract concepts through concrete visual metaphors. The atom as a solar system, the cell as a factory, the heart as a pump—these visual anchors give abstract concepts memorable image forms that support later verbal recall.
13. Sequencing with Images: When teaching processes or narratives, use numbered images students must sequence correctly. This requires processing both the visual content and the logical verbal sequence, creating interlinked memory traces across both channels.
14. Dual Coding Review Activities: During revision, alternate between describing images verbally and drawing concepts from verbal descriptions. This bi-directional practice strengthens the connections between channels and builds flexible retrieval abilities.
15. Classroom Visual Anchors: Create classroom displays that pair key vocabulary or concepts with consistent visual representations. These environmental supports provide ongoing dual coding exposure, reinforcing verbal-visual associations through repeated incidental learning.

The research behind dual coding is robust: information encoded through both visual and verbal channels creates multiple memory pathways, dramatically reducing the chance of complete forgetting. The key is ensuring that visuals genuinely support content rather than merely decorating it—effective dual coding requires visual and verbal information to be meaningfully integrated, not just presented alongside each other.

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Classroom Application: Putting Dual Coding into Practice

These practical steps show teachers how to implement dual coding strategies across different year groups to improve student understanding and memory retention.

1. Start with key vocabulary: When introducing new terms (KS1-KS4), write the word on the board alongside a simple diagram or icon. For example, write "photosynthesis" next to a basic drawing of a leaf with arrows showing sunlight and water going in, oxygen coming out.
2. Create visual note templates: Design worksheets that combine text boxes with diagram spaces. Tell students "Copy the definition here, then draw a simple picture that shows what this means" rather than providing text-only notes.
3. Use the "Say and Show" technique: When explaining concepts, simultaneously point to visual elements. Say "The water cycle involves evaporation" while pointing to arrows on a diagram showing water rising from the sea.
4. Model dual coding thinking aloud: Demonstrate by saying "I'm going to read this paragraph about friction, then sketch what's happening" before drawing two surfaces with arrows showing opposing forces.
5. Build graphic organisers together: Guide students through creating mind maps or flow charts during lessons. For KS3 history, say "Let's map the causes of World War One with words in boxes and connecting arrows to show relationships."
6. Check understanding through both channels: Ask students to explain concepts verbally while sketching. "Tell your partner about osmosis while drawing what happens to the cell membrane."
7. Review using visual cues: During revision sessions, cover either the text or images on previous work and ask students to recreate the missing element from memory.

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Classroom Example

A Year 8 science teacher introducing the digestive system begins by drawing a simple body outline on the whiteboard. As she explains each organ's function, she sketches and labels it while students copy both the written description and diagram into their exercise books. Students then work in pairs to explain the process aloud while pointing to their drawings, creating multiple memory pathways for the same information.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly is Dual Coding and how does it differ from learning styles?

Dual Coding is a research-backed learning strategy that enhances student understanding by combining verbal and visual information simultaneously. Unlike discredited learning style theories, Dual Coding is grounded in cognitive science and Allan Paivio's research into how the brain actually processes and retains information through two separate cognitive channels.

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How can teachers practically implement Dual Coding in their everyday lessons?

Teachers can implement Dual Coding by pairing key concepts with simple diagrams, creating visual timelines for historical events, or using graphic organisers alongside written explanations. Effective strategies include annotated diagrams for science, flow charts for processes, and mind maps for connecting ideas across subjects.

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What are the main benefits of using Dual Coding for student learning?

Key benefits include improved information retention when content is presented visually alongside text or speech, reduced cognitive overload through well-structured visual representations, and support for all learners by providing clear, structured ways to process complex ideas. This approach creates multiple retrieval pathways in memory, making recall easier and more reliable.

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What types of visuals work best for Dual Coding in the classroom?

Simple visuals work best for effective dual coding, including clear diagrams, graphic organisers, flow charts, timelines, cartoon strips, and infographics rather than complex photographs. The goal is clarity and functionality, not artistry, to prevent overwhelming students' working memory.

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How can teachers guide students to create their own dual coding materials?

Teachers should start by modelling the technique themselves, then follow a step-by-step approach: have students identify and analyse existing visuals, reverse the process by examining how images represent text, ask them to describe concepts in their own words, and finally create their own visual representations. This progression helps students internalise knowledge in multiple ways and think visually about their learning.

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How does Dual Coding actually work in the brain to improve learning?

Dual Coding works by activating two separate cognitive channels: the verbal channel processes words and text, while the visual channel processes images and diagrams. When information enters through both channels simultaneously, it creates multiple retrieval pathways in memory and reduces cognitive load by distributing processing across two systems rather than overwhelming a single channel.