This qualitative study explores the effects of various strategies which incorporate visual texts for teaching students to interpret figurative uses of language and film technique. The following questions are addressed: (1) Would teaching film technique and its figurative meanings help students to better identify and interpret figurative uses of technique in film and other visual texts, such as picture books? (2) Can students transfer skills of interpreting figurative uses of technique and language in film and other visual texts, such as picture books, to literature? (3) Are students motivated to learn due to an interest and prior knowledge of film? Findings suggest that explicit teaching of discourse conventions which draws upon students' schemata can assist them in reading film and other visual texts figuratively. The findings also suggest that skills of interpreting figurative uses of language transfer to literature, and that film was indeed a motivating influence on the students' learning. Implications of the study suggest the importance of motivation in student learning and the benefits of incorporating various artistic modes into secondary literature instruction. A metaphor of "rehearsal of interpretive skills" which combines instructional scaffolding, explicit teaching of discourse conventions, and repetition to practice interpretive skills through various artistic modes is presented. (Angela Johnson)