The use of pictures in teaching English speaking in an English center = Ứng dụng của tranh ảnh trong dạy nói tiếng Anh tại một trung tâm Anh ngữ

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

DƯƠNG TRÀ MI

THE USE OF PICTURES IN TEACHING ENGLISH
SPEAKING IN AN ENGLISH CENTER
(Ứng dụng của tranh ảnh trong dạy nói tiếng Anh tại một
trung tâm Anh ngữ)
MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 601410

HANOI–2011


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

DƯƠNG TRÀ MI

THE USE OF PICTURES IN TEACHING ENGLISH
SPEAKING IN AN ENGLISH CENTER
(Ứng dụng của tranh ảnh trong dạy nói tiếng Anh tại một
trung tâm Anh ngữ)
MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CODE: 601410
SUPERVISOR: VŨ MAI TRANG, M.A.

HANOI –2011


iv

TABLE OF CONTENT
Chapter I: Introduction

……………………………………1

1. Rationale for the study

……………………………………1

2. Research aims and objectives

……………………………………2

3. Research questions

……………………………………2

4. Research site and subjects

……………………………………2

5. Research methodology

……………………………………2

6. Significance of the study

……………………………………2

Chapter II: Literature review

……………………………………3

1. Background of the study

……………………………………3

2. Teaching English speaking

……………………………………3

2.1. The notion of speaking

……………………………………3

2.2. The notion of teaching speaking

……………………………………3

2.3. The components of speaking skill

……………………………………4

2.4. The activities to promote speaking skill

……………………………………5

3. Definition of action research

……………………………………8

4. Picture processing and memory models

……………………………………9

Chapter III: Research methodology

……………………………………12

1. Participants

……………………………………12

2. Method of research

……………………………………12

3. Analysis of the research

……………………………………13

3.1. The questionnaire

……………………………………13

3.2. Class observations

……………………………………25

Chapter IV: Conclusion

……………………………………27

1. Conclusion

……………………………………27

2. Limitations and suggestions for future research

……………………………………31

Chapter V: References

……………………………………32

Appendix

……………………………………I


1

Chapter I
Introduction
1. Rationale for the study
The support of pictures in teaching English is pervasive owning to their proliferation in
instructional materials. They penetrate into every way of our life and are even included in
textbooks. Thus, it would be a big mistake if teachers do not find ways to investigate their
effects on student learning. However, the question arises as to the contribution of pictures
make in assisting learning, which seems to be taken for granted by those who produce the
resources and triggers studies implemented with increasing frequency in recent years about
this issue.
Students in the investigated English center enjoy many benefits regarding the learning
environment, which profits this study a lot. First, class size is small with only 10-15
students. Manageable class size saves teachers a lot of time in organizing extra educational
activities to discover the lessons in depth. Second, students are not randomly put in a class
or grouped according to age but they have to do a placement test before their enrollment.
Students in a class are always of the same level, depriving teachers of pains and exhaustion
when scouring the Internet and other sources for various materials fitting various levels or
for the best ones among thousands. Another advantage is that classes are well-equipped
with computers and projectors that teachers, who have certain computer techniques, can
organize any kind of activities using pictures as they wish. This benefit also erases the
problems pertaining picture sizes and colors, as teachers manage to make them clear and
large enough for students to look at, and teachers‟ effort in searching and cutting tasks from
old newspapers and magazines. Pictures, when used, are included in PowerPoint
slideshow.
Among four practical English skills, speaking makes use of pictures the most. They are
both found in textbooks and other resources. Teachers also use additional pictures to
complement their teaching. This reliance on pictures reflects an implicit assumption by
practitioners that these visual representations are intrinsically effective in supporting
learning English speaking. However, as the nature of an English center, students go to class
in the evening and often feel unmotivated or too tired to learn; this raises questions of the

usefulness and the applications of pictures in teaching English speaking.


2

2. Research aims and objectives
As pictures are considered as something indispensable in teaching speaking by most
instructors, how to use them effectively is a worth answering question whose answer is of
great importance to teachers. The major purpose of the study is to find out ways to use
pictures in teaching English speaking. It also seeks to discover their impacts on speaking
lessons and consider factors that can influence their effectiveness.
3. Research questions
The study revolves around the following guide questions:
3.1. What are the functions of pictures in teaching English speaking?
3.2. Which activities using pictures can be organized in teaching students of the center?
3.3. Pictures with or without text materials, which is more facilitative?
3.4. Which issues need to be addressed in using pictures in the center?
4. Research site and subjects
The research was conducted in an English center in Hanoi, Vietnam. The subjects were
drawn from beginning to proficient levels of learners as well as EFL teachers with at least
1 year's teaching experience, specifically 5 classes consisting of totally 68 students and 20
teachers. Among these 20 teachers, 3 of them are highly experienced with more than 5
years teaching English speaking. (See Chapter III for more details.)
5. Research methodology
This research was carried out in qualitative way, which involved a teacher survey
questionnaire designed to get both quantitative and qualitative information and class
observation sessions accompanied by records of students‟ responses. It also made use of
lesson plans for various lessons of different English levels that were provided by the
teachers participating in this study.
6. Significance of the study

This study will be of considerable interest to teachers and students in this language
center and others because it opens the door to initiatives as well as to students' attitude and
perceptions of language learning. This investigation of the influential factors that concern
picture uses while learning to speak will hopefully broaden the insight into the issue and
will help language teachers avoid problems and make classroom environment less
stressful.
Chapter II


3

Literature Review
1. Background of the study
There has been a lot of research on the use of the pictures in language teaching,
specially speaking skill. It is proven that the use of picture enhances the quality of
language lesson, and the interaction among students, as well as between students and
teachers.
As Hill (1990) points out, the conventional classroom may not be the best or suitable
environment for language teaching. That is why teachers search for various aids and
stimuli to improve this situation. Pictures are one of the most valuable aids for a teacher.
They bring “images of reality into the unnatural world of the language classroom.” (Hill
1990) Pictures bring not only images of reality, but can also function as a fun element in
the class. Even if only employed in additional exercises or just to create the atmosphere,
sometimes it is surprising how pictures can change a lesson.
Wright (1990), through examples, shows that pictures have great effect in teaching
structure, vocabulary and all four basic skills. Several advantages of pictures include
availability (one can access to pictures through any magazine, internet an etc), they are
cheap, often free; they are personal (teacher selects them), they come in different formats
and styles, and they can raise learners‟ curiosity.
2. Teaching Speaking

2.1. The notion of speaking
According to Nunan (1991), speaking is the most important aspect of learning a second
or foreign language, which involves the process of producing, receiving, and processing
information. English speaking classes are used to provide students with chances of learning
English speaking through interaction with other students or native speaking.
2.2. The notion of teaching speaking
The main objective of a language course is to enable students to communicate in foreign
language; speaking, therefore, needs a special attention. This is due to the fact that in daily
life, most of us communicate by speaking more than writing.
Many language learners and teachers regard speaking ability as the measure of knowing
a language. To them, fluency is the ability to communicate with others much more than the
ability to read and write. Speaking is the most important skill that a student can acquire,


4

and is the benchmark to assess one‟s progress or accomplishments in spoken
communication
In general, students need to recognize that speaking involves three areas (Burnkart
1998).
a. Mechanics: Using the right words with correct pronunciation in the right order
b. Functions: Knowing when the clarity of messages is essential, and when exact
understanding is not required.
c. Social and cultural norms: Understanding how to take into account who is speaking to
whom, in what circumstances, about what, and for what reason.
In language teaching, the teachers help to develop students‟ knowledge by providing
genuine or authentic practices and prepare them for realistic communication
circumstances. In other words, they help students acquire the ability to produce logically
connected sentences which are relevant to specific contexts, and use accurate
pronunciation and grammar.

2.3. The components of speaking skill
Speaking is very complex, and it is the language art that is most frequently used by
people in the world. It often requires the simultaneous use of number of
abilities/components developed at different rates and level. Syakur (1987) established 5
components of speaking skill, consists of comprehension, grammar, vocabulary,
pronunciation and fluency. In short, mastering these components will allow speaker to
perform effectively and comfortably in actual communication.
a. Comprehension
Oral communication certainly requires a subject to respond to speech and to initiate a
dialogue.
b. Grammar
It is essential that students are able to arrange a sentence in correct grammar structure.
They need to be able to differentiate appropriate grammatical form in specific contexts.
Mastering grammar is to gain the expertise in a language both in oral or written form.
Grammar is the foundation for students to be able to communicate effectively and
accurately. Using incorrect grammar often obscures the meaning that the speaker wants to
convey. On the other hand, good grammar can make the speech more intelligent.
c. Vocabulary


5

Without grammar very little information can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing
can be conveyed (Wilkins, 1974). If one does not have sufficient vocabulary, he/she can
not communicative effectively or express their ideas both oral and written form Hence,
vocabulary means the appropriate diction which is used in communication.
Usually, although a student has good knowledge of grammar, he/she will not be able to
communicate effectively with limited vocabulary. The lack of vocabulary might hinder the
speaker's ability to understand a conversation, which in turn leads to a misunderstanding
and does not allow he/she to respond correctly.

d. Pronunciation
Pronunciation is more important than it may seem, but students often neglect this part,
and some of them even underestimate it. Your pronunciation is the first and most important
thing native speakers notice during a conversation.
It deals with the phonological process that refers to the component of a grammar made
up of the elements and principles that determine how sound vary and pattern in a language.
A speaker who constantly mispronounces a range of phonemes can be extremely difficult
for a speaker from another language community to understand.
e. Fluency
Fluency is the ability of speaker to speak fluently and accurately. Fluency in speaking is
the aim of language learners. Fluency can be measured by the extent to which speaker use
the target language quickly and confidently with few hesitations or unnatural pauses, false
starts. These signs indicate that the speaker does not have to stop to search for words or
items during his/her speech.
2.4. The activities to promote speaking skill
In traditional classrooms, speaking practice normally involves one person asking the
question and another giving answer. The process of question and answer are often
predictable and there is only one correct answer. In contrary, in real communication
speakers normally have to deal with uncertainty of what the other person will say. The
objective of communication is to complete a task, such as expressing one‟s opinion,
obtaining information; and in order to do so, speakers may have to clarify their meaning or
clarify confirmation by different ways.


6

Therefore, to develop communicative competences, teachers need to incorporate
classrooms activities with a purpose and an information gap, and at the same time allow
multiple forms of expressions. (Burkart, 1998)
a. Structured output activities

The two most common types of structured output activities are information gap and
jigsaw activities.
* Information gap activities
According to Rapton (2001), in information gap activities students usually work in pairs
or groups, whereby one person has information that must be shared with the others in order
to solve a problem, gather information and make decision. The activity could be filling the
gaps in a schedule or timetable. For example person A holds a timetable of delivery
schedule of a restaurant with some of arrival and departure times missing, while person B
has the same timetable but with different blank spaces. The two persons are not allowed to
see each other‟s timetables and must fill in the blanks by asking each other relevant
questions. Completing a picture is another common practice of this type of activity, where
two students have similar pictures with different missing details and coordinate to find the
all the blanks.
This type of activity gives every student the opportunity to speak in the target language
for an extended period of time and they normally produce more speech. Furthermore,
speaking with peers is less intimidating than presenting in front of the entire class.
In teaching speaking with pictures, information gap activities are of great help and are
commonly used. One example is teachers give two students two different handouts. One
has the picture of a place with many people; however, some of them do not have their
names included. The other student has the same picture but the people who do not have
names are different while this handout contains information that the previous handout does
not have. Then students will have to take turn to ask and answer questions of describing the
people in the pictures to fill all the missing names.
* Jigsaw activities
Jigsaw activities are more sophisticated than the common information gap activities that
can be done with several partners in different groups. In a group, each member has one or
few pieces of one whole puzzle and must cooperate with each other to fit all the pieces into
a whole picture. These puzzle pieces might take different form such as photos from a set

7

that tells a story. It can be a conversation record, and each member of a group only hears
pieces of the conversation.
In a more elaborate way, jigsaw activities can proceed in two stages. First, students are
organized in groups and each group receives a different part of the whole information.
Second, students then reorganize into different groups with each student has different
information, and they have to work together in order to make sense of the whole picture.
One example of this activity that I have done in my English class is a story-telling
session. Students are divided into three groups of 5 students; each of the groups receives a
big picture consisting of 5 smaller ones about a person‟s life. The pictures then are cut into
pieces given to each of the students in the groups. The students have to ask group members
about the pictures that their friends have and arrange the pieces in the correct order to
complete the picture of a person‟s life.
b. Communicative output activities
This type of activity allows students to practice using the target language in situations
that resembles real setting. Students must work together to solve a problem, complete a
task or develop a plan, the most common communicative output activities are discussion
and role play.
* Discussion
According to Kayi (2006), in a discussion students may aim to arrive at a conclusion,
share ideas about an event or find solutions in their discussion groups. There are some
criteria to group discussions:
- It is essential that the purpose of discussion is set by the teacher. This is to ensure
students do not spend their time discussing about irrelevant topics.
- The chosen topic is not necessarily a serious one in order to create a more open and
interesting environment for students to interact.
- Each group then works on their topic in a given period of time and presents it to the
class.
- At the end, the class decides on the winning group who defended the idea in the best

way.
This kind of activity encourages students to learn how to express themselves as well as
how to justify their ideas.


8

In speaking lessons, teachers often bring out a picture of a specific issue like global
warming, pollution, or festivals to set a context for lessons or to raise a task. Students may
be arranged into groups and discuss the picture under teachers‟ requirements. They may
have to discuss causes of an issue, the conditions of a problem, or just any thing they know
about events like time, date, and activities.
* Role Play
In role plays, students pretend they are in various social situations that they may
encounter in real life. Teachers will assign the students‟ role in different contexts, so that
the range of language functions might be extended considerably. Students need to use
language that is appropriate to the situation and characters they are pretending to be.
Prior to role play, teacher should allow students to discuss and brainstorm of ideas and
sentences that they should use. Also, it is imperative that teacher stays in a communicative
mode rather than monitoring the situation, and answer students‟ questions. Students might
not be familiar with the given situation or role.
Communicative output activities allow students to be innovative and creative in their
languages usage. And at the same time, these activities create supportive atmosphere in
which students can experiment and make mistakes without the fear of embarrassment. This
kind of activity also makes the lessons more interesting and fun compared to traditional
classroom.
3. Definition of action research
Action research is known by many other names including collaborative research,
participatory research, contextual research and etc. Typically, action research is “learning
by doing”, which is a reflective process that allows for inquiry and discussion as

components of the research (Ferrance, 2000). Put simply, action research involves a group
of people in real setting to identify the problem, and try to resolve it, observe the progress
and come to conclusion of whether the problem is successfully resolved. If not, the whole
process is repeated again.
According to O‟Brien (1998) a simple process of action research involves continuous
cycles. Each cycle has four steps: plan, action, observe, reflect, then the next cycle repeats
again from revised plan to action, observe and reflect.
4. Picture processing and memory models


9

Pictures are inevitably remembered better than words on tasks of recall and recognition
(Park and Gabrieli, 1995:1593). This finding is referred to as the “picture superiority
effect” in which “memory for pictorial stimuli is extremely accurate, durable, and
extensive compared to that for verbal stimuli” (Noldy, Stelmack, and Campbell, 1990:417).
Scholars point out three significant theoretical perspectives that have been used to
explain the “picture superiority effect,” including (1) the dual-code model, (2) the singlecode model, (3) the sensory-semantic model.
According to Paivio (1971, 1978, 1990, 1991), the dual-coding theory argue that there
are two interdependent types of memory codes, verbal and nonverbal, for processing and
storing information. The verbal code takes charge of processing and storing verbal
information such as words and sentences. The other system consists of memory for all
nonverbal phenomenon, which is mostly thought as a code for images and other pictorial
representations. Pavio assumes that the dual coding of pictures in verbal and nonverbal
memory is more likely to occur for pictures than words, then the “picture superiority
effect” could be explained using dual-coding theory.
Single-code model argues that visual information is transformed into abstract
propositions stored in semantic memory. Pictures trigger a single semantic memory system
differently than words. Individuals provided with pictures spend more times looking at
pictures before naming them, so they remember the pictures better. Pictures are also more

distinctive and more unique than the words that label them, which further make pictures
more memorable.
Picture superiority can also be explained using a sensory-semantic model (Nelson,
1979). There may be a more distinctive sensory code for pictures, or the probability that
pictures will be processed semantically is greater than that for words.


10

Verbal
memory

Concept

Graphemic
analysis

WORD

PICTURE

Nonverbal
Concept
memory

Picture
analysis
Figure 1: Dual-Code Model

Semantic memory

Abstract
proposition

Picture
analysis

Graphemic
analysis

PICTURE

WORD

Figure 2: Single-Code Model


11

Meaning
features

Phonemic
features

Visual features

Visual features

PICTURE

WORD

Figure 3: Sensory-Semantic Model
According to Walter Klinger (2009), we learn from experience what things belong
together in categories. In picture and word experiments, this effect of being able to quickly
spot the relationships between pieces of information is known as the context effect, or the
“expectancy mechanism” (Borowsky&Besner, 1993:813). Words, as well as pictures, are
read or understood faster when preceded by a related context. Long-term memory stores
information in “schema,” which is a “cognitive construct that permits one to treat multiple
elements of information as a single element categorized according to the manner in which
it will be used (Marcus, Cooper, & Sweller, 1996:49). For instance, learners can develop a
schema for cats, and recognize a single instance of a cat as belonging to the category of
“cats” although each cat is different from one another in many ways. Saunders, Wise, and
Golden (1995:42) says knowledge is more memorable when presented in webs of
schemata; the more information is interconnected, the more it is readily recalled.
A multimodal theory of learning, like the Dual Coding theory, says learning is more
effective when the learner uses more than one sense modality, for instance, verbal and
visual processing, and when connections are clearly made between the information
contained in each modality (Mayer & Sims, 1994:390).


12

Chapter III
Research methodology
1. Participants
This study was carried out in a well-respected English center in Hanoi for
approximately 3 months, where data was collected from teachers and students. 20 teachers
with at least one year's experience participated in the study on voluntary basis, three out of
whom are highly experienced, with more than 5 years teaching English speaking.

68 students, from 14 to 30 years old, of 5 classes were involved in this study. These five
classes are chosen also on a voluntary procedure. To enroll in a class, they are required to
take a placement test, which includes direct speaking assessment; therefore, classes are
classified according to students‟ levels. Students belong to four levels of proficiency: low
(beginner and elementary), mid (pre-intermediate and intermediate), high (upper
intermediate and advanced), and super (proficient). The low and mid students are assigned
in communicative classes; while students of the high and super levels mostly study in exam
preparation classes like TOEFL iBT, IETLS, SAT, GRE and GMAT. 46 students are from 3
communicative classes, and 22 from 2 exam preparation classes.
2. Method of research
The research makes use of qualitative method and utilizes survey questionnaire to get
information from teachers. The questionnaire was written in English and required teachers
to write English-only responses. It had both quantitative and qualitative components to
increase richer data and expression of opinions. The quantitative section contained 14
opinion items based on a Likert scale from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree”. The
qualitative section of the questionnaire contained 2 open-ended opinion items, which
require teachers to share their opinions as well as to provide lesson plans. Besides, the
questionnaire also contained 6 multiple-choice questions about teacher‟s professional
information. An email was sent to each teacher informing them of the research project that
would involve their help. The questionnaire was attached to the email so they could look it
over in advance. A printout of the questionnaire was put on each teacher‟s desk to make it
easily accessible as well as encourage a response. The teachers were free to choose the soft
copy or the hard copy of the questionnaire. 7 days were allotted to fill out the


13

questionnaire. One more email was sent as a reminder and as an encouragement to
participate in this project. The response rate was 100%.
Another tool applied is class observation and lesson plan revision to enrich the

perspectives. Class observation was carried out in all five chosen classes. While observing,
recording and note-taking were made for later detailed analysis. As required by the
questionnaire, teachers provided parts of their lesson plans to illustrate their opinions,
which were analyzed later and served as a very necessary and convenient tool.
3. Analysis of the research
3.1. The questionnaire
3.1.1. The first six questions
The first 6 questions of the questionnaire were to get professional information of
teachers and the present of pictures in speaking lesson. The results are presented in the
following table which shows teachers mostly teach beginning to intermediate levels. Even
though 3 of them, who teach proficient level, do not have speaking lessons but they did
teach speaking before. All of them have used pictures in teaching this skill. The only
reason for not using pictures in teaching speaking is the unavailability of speaking lessons
in these proficient classes. This proves the popularity of pictures in teaching English
speaking and they seem to be an indispensable tool in speaking lessons.

15

40

Upperintermediate
and advanced
Pre-intermediate
and
intermediate
Beginning and
elementary

25

20

Proficient

Table 1: Teachers’ English teaching levels


14

100

100

100
90
80
70

Teachers who teach English
speaking

60

Teachers who use pictures in
English speaking lessons

50
40
30
20

10
0

Table 2: Percentage of teachers involved in teaching English speaking and using
pictures in English speaking lessons
3.1.2. Questions 7 and 8
Questions number 7 and 8 asked teachers to verify the purposes of using pictures and
activities with pictures in teaching English speaking. They had to tick the squares that
indicated their common purposes of picture uses, as well as activities applied, and then
illustrated them with parts of their lesson plans. It is necessary to note that these purposes
concern teaching targets solely. The questions also provided teachers with the option
“Others” and blank for them to contribute their experience apart from the ideas suggested.
Here is what the answers look like and how they are demonstrated in specific lessons. In
each of the lesson plans below, three pictorial items are taken as examples. The following
table shows common purposes of pictures and their popularity (how many teachers use
them as the main purposes; teachers may choose more than one purpose).


15

100

100
80

80

60

60

60

40
25
20
0

10
Teach
vocabulary

Introduce
topics

Serve as
tasks

Brainstorm
ideas

Specify
abstract
words

Teach
grammar

Table 3: The main purposes of using pictures in English speaking lessons in the center

As can be seen from this table, vocabulary is the most common target that picture
activities aim at. Pictures are also frequently used to open the topic of speaking lessons, to
brainstorm ideas and to serve as speaking tasks. On the other hand, pictures do not seem to
be favored in teaching grammar and making abstract words concrete.
a. Teaching purposes
* Pictures are used to teach vocabulary.
Pictures are always the first tools teachers think of when they need to provide students
with vocabulary input because pictures are direct and eye-catching. Rather than giving
long oral or textual definition, teachers just need to find a picture that best explains the
word. This also prevents the problem of misunderstanding as students may comprehend
oral and textual information in a different way if they do not have enough vocabulary or
their reading and listening skills are not sufficient to understand the definition. Students are
often asked to look at the pictures and say what they think of when seeing them. Then the
teachers give the new words that need to be learned. The lesson plan for Unit 2 with the
topic of Illnesses from a foundation academic English class is given as an example for this
tool.


16

In this lesson plan, teachers show pictures of different illnesses and students guess the
names. As most of the illnesses are quite common, students can generate ideas very
quickly. For example, when they see a boy having a sad face while his hands put on his
back, they think of the word “backache;” likewise, they utter the word “broken arm” when
seeing a girl with an bandaged arm. Even if they do not know how to call the diseases in
English, they still have some ideas about it, explain what they understand in their own way,
or use their mother tongue. Like in the case of “fever” word, students do understand what
is indicated; however, because of vocabulary limit, they respond to the teacher by giving
the Vietnamese word. Learning vocabulary through pictures encourages students‟ visual
thinking. Rather than forming verbal or textual memory, the students imagine the words

through images. Therefore, regardless of spelling, the students still understand word
meanings. In class, this showcase of pictures is accompanied with spelling, pronunciation
of words, and even further explanation from teachers either in spoken or written form to
reinforce memory.
* Pictures are used to make abstract words concrete.
This kind of purpose is quite similar to teaching vocabulary through pictures. However,
it deals with more abstract things that are hard to comprehend through verbal explanation.
It saves time as well since students may not get anything from the words unless they know
them, but they can understand what the illustrating pictures say immediately. Though this
technique is effective, in my opinion and I use it quite often as well, it is not really made
used of by most teachers I surveyed. However, as can be seen from the following lesson
plan, pictures work better than words in verifying the meanings of some abstract concepts.
They may still understand what the words mean without reading the definition.
The lesson plan for Unit 3 from a Pre-TOEFL iBT class shows that meanings of abstract
words like “secure, suspicious, miserable” are made concrete with the images of a
carefully locked house, a crafty-eyed person, and a sad-looking man. Specific images will
help learners to find their own definition and understanding of abstract words or learners
specify abstract words in their own ways. Meanwhile, words like “suspicious” are not easy
to understand from textual definition at all and may cause misunderstanding from students.
Actually, students, when given written definition of a word, even easy with no new
vocabulary items, they have the tendency to read and translate word by word to understand


17

it. If asked what the word means, they read the definition or just repeat it. However, when
shown pictures, they can call out the words; and if the student unfamiliar with them, they
use their mother tongue to name the pictures.
One reason that makes this application less popular than the others is the need for
further explanation. As abstract words are hard to describe in nature, pictures just help a

little in forming the visual image in students‟ minds, but again, still a little bit vague in
some cases. That‟s why teachers often accompany these pictures with further oral or
written definition to specify the words.
* Pictures are used to teach grammar.
Grammar is an indispensable part of teaching speaking in this English center. As
required by the textbooks for in-house use, teachers have to teach vocabulary and grammar
issues that later assist speaking topics in the lesson. Pictorial illustrations are also
commonly used to support learning involving larger verbal units which contain other parts
of speech in addition to nouns like verbs, adjectives, prepositions…
A common application of this type of depiction involves the presentation of a sentence
in which the preposition is blanked out and the student is required to produce or choose the
correct preposition on the basis of information given in the illustration. This type of
exercise relies on the fact that a number of prepositions could be used to complete the
sentence on its own in a semantically and syntactically acceptable manner. An extract
lesson plan for unit 6, “describing a place,” for a foundation academic English class in the
English center can be used as an example. In this lesson plan, the students learn concepts
of prepositions like “in, on, under” by looking at the positions between the ball and the
box. They understand “in” which means the box contains the ball, “on” which means the
ball sits on the upper horizontal surface of the box, and “under” means the box lies above
the ball. In doing so, they can “transfer” the memory to positions of other things like
“books, cat, dog” in the quiz and fill in the blanks with the correct prepositions.
Another application of pictures is to teach verb tenses. Students can understand the
nature and differences among tenses and remember them quickly with pictures
representing both time and action. The lesson plan for unit 3, “Events in life,” for a PreTOELF iBT class may be used as a lead-in or a practice when teaching grammar. The
pictures symbolizing important events in a person‟s life remind students of time – past,


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present, and future. As a result, they have to think about time of verbs, or tenses. Even

though this lead-in do not teach students the structures but it is effective in conveying the
ideas of verb tenses and time. When used as a practice, students are tested whether they
understand and remember how to use verbs in different time. They have to remember that
“last year‟ has something to do with past tenses (like simple past, past continuous, and past
perfect), “present” with present tenses, “right now” with present continuous, and “in one
year” with future tenses.
Using pictures to teach grammar is quite limited as I think pictures have little function
in explaining structures but just have motivating effects and work well with the purpose of
practicing rather than explaining new grammar items. There are only 2 out of 20 teachers
who use pictures to teach grammar, which proves the unpopularity of this technique.
* Pictures are used to introduce the topic of the lesson.
Many games and activities, or even simple questions, can be used with pictures to lead
to topics of speaking lessons. Pictures of this use are connected with one another by some
ways. Students will have to use their visual thinking and associations basing on pictures to
find out themes of lessons. This technique both triggers the idea of curiosity in students‟
minds that creates motivation to learn and provides some information about the topic at the
same time. The lesson plan for unit 8 – Movies – is used as an illustration of this
application.
In this lesson plan, students look at various pictures. The first picture is of a man with a
fierce look holding a gun. The second is about a very famous comedian all around the
work, Mr. Bean. The last picture depicts a couple with blue skin in a famous film wonder,
Avatar. When viewing these pictures, the students have to answer questions of whether
they know the films‟ names, who stars in the films, and what kinds of the films are.
Experiences prove that students get excited with guessing topics of lessons through
pictures. They form association basing on the pictures and generalize them to reveal the
theme. This activity is also applied to a wide range of topics. To make it successful,
teachers should control the pictures so that they are known by the students. Despite
common or strange topics, the chosen pictures should be understandable and popular to
most students. Otherwise, students both do not find out the topics of the lessons and are

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discouraged to learn. To motivate the students more, teachers may try pictures of stuffs that
are of great concern at the time of the lessons.
* Pictures are used to provide input information for speaking topics.
With topics that students hardly or little know about, pictures are of great help that
provide them with input knowledge. When seeing the pictures, students can analyze
information presentable and transfer this into words to speak out. Without pictures,
teachers experience difficulty in exchanging information with students because in that
case, teachers will have to talk a lot while students should be the ones to do so. Also, this
kind of brainstorming helps students better remember what to say. One lesson plan for unit
12 entitled “Environment” provided by a teacher who is teaching a foundation academic
class has given an insight into this issue.
Required by the lesson plan, students have to work in groups of 3 or 4 and use the
pictures to generate ideas for environmental problems and ways to protect the
environment. As students‟ background knowledge of this area may be limited, they find in
those pictures useful guides to bring out problems like smoke from factory, radioactive
waste, glacier thawing, rising sea level, drought, flood, fire, and others. Also they will
discuss solutions suggested by the pictures, which are using solar panels to turn solar
energy to electricity, growing trees, and using wind mills.
Pictures are really facilitative with this function that most teachers make use of this
application. It both helps students with ideas for unfamiliar topics when all they do is to try
to understand what the pictures say and save teachers‟ talking time. It also creates a chance
for students to discuss in English with their group members and to find their own words to
express what they get from those pictures.
With the function of brainstorming ideas, pictures are often use in pre-speaking task
with various activities like group discussion, or questions and answer between teachers and
students.
* Pictures are used to create tasks for speaking lessons.

In real speaking classes, some tasks cannot be implemented without pictures, especially
describing tasks. Hereby, apart from assisting students with input vocabulary, grammar,
and information, pictures are must-have parts of lessons. Mostly these tasks fall to
describing pictures or information gap. There are two lessons plan provided by the


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teachers, one for unit 7 in foundation academic class with the topic of “Describing people”
and the other for unit 8 of the same level whose topic is “Giving and showing directions.”
The first lesson plan is carried out with pair discussion activity. Two students work
together, practicing describing the people included in the pictures. They explore physical
appearance of the characters and describe those using words and structures suggested in
advanced. In the latter which makes use of information gap activity, students A and B have
different information sheet and have to exchange questions and answers to find the correct
positions of shops. When they finish, they should have two identical maps of an area.
Description and information gap activities are mostly used in while-speaking stage as
exercises.
3.1.2 Questions 9 to 11
The next three questions are closed-ended and use Likert scale from “Strongly agree” to
“Strongly disagree” to judge teachers‟ opinion of pictures‟ impacts on learner‟s attitude.
As shown in the table, most teachers (80% strongly agree and 20% agree) believe that
pictures have positive effects on students‟ attitude. As pictures can intrigue learners‟ visual
thinking, they carve information presented deeper in learners‟ memory because students
simultaneously visually imagine the new item and listen to or read about its definition.
Also, it is easily seen that pictures help motivate learners a lot during learning process. If
teachers keep talking and talking without showing anything fun or authentic to look at,
learners may get bored quickly. However, there are some teachers (10%) who believe that
pictures do not have any positive effects or even oppose to that idea. This is true sometimes
when pictures are not properly used or, even worse, abused. For example, a teacher may

want to introduce the topic of illnesses but fall into a specific kind of disease, like diabetes;
the students will surely wonder what is the relation between those issues and lose attention
because they do not understand anything about diabetes. Another case is when a teacher
always uses pictures to teach vocabulary, to introduce topics, and to do other purposes
without thinking of a different idea with something else, not pictures. Students,
consequently, will become fed up with pictures, loosing their motivation and cooperation
as well.
3.1.3. Questions 12 to 22


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These questions deal with different aspects of pictures to discover problems or
difficulties that may occur. The results are presented in the following table.
Question 12: Pictures with text content are more facilitative.
5% 0%

5%

30%

Strongly agree

60%

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Question 13: Text content should appear together with pictures.
0%

15%

25%

60%

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Question 14: The length and complication of text content depend on students‟ age and
proficiency level.
0%

20%

40%

10%
30%
Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree


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Question 15: If text content is not to teach new vocabulary and structure, it should be
short and simple rather than long and complex.
0%

10%

25%

10%

10%
45%
Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Question 16: Pictures do not need to relate to the lesson as long as they have motivating
effect.
0%

20%

45%

35%
Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Question 17: Complex pictures are more facilitative than simple pictures.
0% 5%
30%

5%0%

60%
Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree