Their emphasis was on operationally defining visual literacy so that others could proceed with research to support the
operational definitions. An extensive study was made by Hocking to determine visual literacy goals, which in turn
could become the basis for research (Hocking, 1978). At about the same time, Levie (1 978a) offered the field a prospectus
for instructional research on visual literacy. The link of instruction to visual literacy was important, and the bulk
of all visual literacy research has been done with learning and instruction in mind.