This study aims to look into perception of second-year students at middle school in relation to how they use visual materials presented in their Korean textbooks. Findings of the research are summarized as follows. First, the study confirmed that the students use the visual materials differently depending on how the materials are presented. Second, how the visual materials are used was influenced by purposes. Third, the types of the visual materials had effects on how the students use the materials. In the light of what have been learned above, this study concluded that the students do regard the visual materials in their textbooks as ‘learning materials’ and that as an individual reader and an independent learner as well, the students have been using the visual materials in diverse ways depending on characteristics of such materials.