Hiệu quả của việc sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan để phát triển kỹ năng nói cho học sinh lớp 12 tại trường THPT cẩm phả

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NGUYEN THI DUONG

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING VISUAL AIDS TO PROMOTE
SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE 12TH GRADERS
AT CAM PHA HIGH SCHOOL
(Hiệu quả của việc sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan để phát triển kỹ năng nói cho
học sinh lớp 12 tại trường THPT Cẩm Phả)

M.A. THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2019


THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NGUYEN THI DUONG

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING VISUAL AIDS TO PROMOTE
SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE 12TH GRADERS
AT CAM PHA HIGH SCHOOL
(Hiệu quả của việc sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan để phát triển kỹ năng nói
cho học sinh lớp 12 tại trường THPT Cẩm Phả)

M.A. THESIS

(APPLICATION ORIENTATION)

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201
Supervisor : Dr. Nguyen Thi Huong

THAI NGUYEN – 2019


DECLARATION
I hereby certify that no part of the thesis has been copied or reproduced by me from
any other person’s work without acknowledgement and that the thesis is originally
written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor.
Quang Ninh, September 20th 2019
Trainee

Nguyen Thi Duong

This study was approved by

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The thesis could not have been completed without the help of many people to
whom I am indebted.
First of all, I am greatly indebted to Dr. Nguyen Thi Huong, my supervisor,
for her invaluable guidance, comments, criticisms, corrections and for her kindly
constant encouragement during the course of writing this thesis.
Second, I would like to thank all lecturers at Foreign Languages Department,

Thai Nguyen University for their valuable teaching and tremendous assistance that
have enlightened my study path.
Third, I am grateful to my colleagues at Cam Pha high school for their
constructive suggestions about this research. Without their help and cooperation, the
research would have been made impossible.
I also would like to give my special thanks to the students at Cam Pha high
school who have actively participated in my study.
Last but not least, my sincere thanks go to my family, my classmates at the
Master Course Class, my friends, especially my husband, who also encourages and
shares the hardship with me.
These people deserve all the credit. I highly appreciate all their support and
contribution.
Nguyen Thi Duong

ii


ABSTRACT
This study is an attempt to investigate the use of visual aids in teaching
speaking to 12 graders at Cam Pha high school. The main purposes of the study are
to find out: the current English speaking teaching and learning situation at Cam Pha
high school; activities and techniques of teaching with visual aids applied by
teachers and students’ preferences; the difficulties in learning and teaching English
speaking and then give some suggestions for teachers to stimulate students in
speaking and overcome the difficulties they have to face with in teaching speaking
English for students. The study adopts action research approach, with the use of
mixed research methods involving both qualitative and quantitative data. Two
hundred 12th grade students and four teachers took part in the study. The findings
show that the use of visual aids significantly enhanced students’ interest and
engagement in speaking skills. Students also reported their improvement in various

aspects of speaking skills. The study proposes implications and suggestions for
using visual aids in improving speaking skills.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................
DECLERATION ......................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ iv
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1
1.1

Rationale of the study ....................................................................................... 1

1.2

Aims and objectives of the study ...................................................................... 2

1.3. Research questions ............................................................................................... 2
1.4. Scope of the study ................................................................................................ 2
1.5. Significance of the study ...................................................................................... 3
1.6. Design of the study ........................................................................................ 4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 5
2.1

Speaking skills .................................................................................................. 5

2.1.1 Mỉco and macro skills of speaking .............................................................. 6

2.1.2
2.2

Fluency and accuracy ................................................................................. 7

Teaching speaking............................................................................................. 7

2.2.1

Teaching and learning speaking skills ....................................................... 7

2.2.2

Principles for designing speaking techniques ............................................ 8

2.2.3

Problems in learning speaking ................................................................... 9

2.3 Visual aids ........................................................................................................... 10
2.4 Roles and functions of visual aids in language teaching and learning ............... 14
2.5 Use of visual aids in language teaching and learning ......................................... 15
2.6. Previous studies .................................................................................................. 17

iv


2.7. Summary ........................................................................................................... 18
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 19
3.1

Research method ............................................................................................. 19

3.2

Research design............................................................................................... 20

3.2.1.Students ........................................................................................................ 23
3.2.2. Teachers ...................................................................................................... 23
3.2.3. Research procedure ..................................................................................... 24
3.3. Data collection instruments ................................................................................ 27
3.3.1. Questionnaire .............................................................................................. 27
3.3.2. Observation ................................................................................................. 28
3.3.3.Interviews ..................................................................................................... 30
3.4. Data analysis ...................................................................................................... 30
3.5. Validity and reliability ....................................................................................... 32
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................................. 34
Questionnaires ........................................................................................................... 34
4.1.1.The reality of the current learning speaking English .................................. 34
4.1.1.1. Students’ purposes of learning speaking English ................................ 34
4.1.1.2.Students’ assessment on the importance of speaking English .............. 35
4.1.1.3 students' opinions towards speaking activities ...................................... 35
4.1.1.4. Students’ frequency of speaking English in speaking class ................. 36
4.1.1.5 Causes of students' reluctance to speak in class.................................... 37
4.1.2 Students' attitudes towards using visual aids in the speaking lesson ............... 38
4.1.3 Teachers' attitudes towards using visual aids in speaking lesson .................. 42
4.2.

Observations.................................................................................................... 45

v


4.3.Interviews ............................................................................................................ 46
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 49
5.1. Concluding remarks ........................................................................................... 49
5.2. Limitations ......................................................................................................... 50
5.3. Implications ........................................................................................................ 50
5.4 . Suggestions to further studies ........................................................................... 51
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 53
APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. I

vi


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1

Rationale of the study
Nowadays, English has an important role in the world. Most countries in the

world use English as medium of communication in many aspects of life. Meanwhile, in
Vietnam, English is considered as a foreign language. It also has been introduced to
educational institutions, which is learnt from Junior High School up to university as a
compulsory subject.
Oral communication competence or speaking skills is the goal of English learning
in many schools. Speaking skill is considered as an initial skill that leads learners to
develop the other communication competences (reading and writing). However, it is
assumed that developing speaking skill to 12th graders in our school is not easy
because of the status of English as a foreign language in which it is not used in national

or social life.
With more than 8 years of experience in teaching English at Cam Pha high
school, the researcher find that students have to learn English in 2 semesters in the
curriculum. At the end of each semester, the students have to take a written tests and
spoken tests. However, the result of spoken test is always lower than the one of written
test. With my own teaching experience and what I have observed from my colleagues’
teaching, I found certain of reasons why students usually obtain unsatisfied
achievement:
1. There are plenty of different levels of ability in learning English the class
2. As soon as we put them in groups, our students speak Vietnamese not English
3. The students always make too much noise
4. We would like to do more speaking activities, but our students just won’t cooperate
5. The students make so many mistakes that we cannot correct them
6. We do not have time to give them enough speaking practice
7. Some topics are not interesting.
Supiyati (2011) stated that practically the use of visual aids is one of the
appropriate techniques to develop students’ speaking skills. Actually, there are many

1


kinds of visual aids that the researcher will describe like pictures, graphics, charts,
illustrations etc. Through visual aids, the students are more enthusiastic. Students
enjoyed the process of teaching and learning more. Teaching speaking using visual aids
gives a big chance to the students to speak. Due to the identified issues of speaking
skills of high school students in Vietnam and the effects of employment of group work
on enhancing the students’ speaking skill, this research employs the treatments of
action research to conduct the research on: “The effectiveness of using visual aids to
promote speaking skill for the 12th graders at Cam Pha high school”.
1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The overarching aim of this current research is to investigate the Vietnamese
high school students’ speaking behaviors and performance under the effects of using
visual aids in English speaking lessons in the context of public high school from the
perspectives of both the EFL teachers as instructors and students.
The following specific objectives will be supportive to the areas of research:
1 To find out the 12th grader’ attitudes towards using visual aids to teaching speaking
at Cam Pha high school.
2 To evaluate the effectiveness of using visual aids in teaching speaking at Cam Pha
high school.
1.3 Research questions
Based on research objectives, there are three research questions as
1)

How do visual aids promote speaking skills for the 12th graders at Cam

Pha high school?
2)

What are Cam Pha high school students’ perceptions of and attitudes

toward using visual aids in speaking lessons?
3)

What are Cam Pha high school teachers’ attitudes toward using visual

aids in speaking lessons?
1.4 Scope of the study
The study is carried out at Cam Pha high school. This study investigated the
issues and changes that arise from an EFL speaking class. This study included 200
students of grade 12 at Cam Pha high school. Students are surveyed to find out the

2


effectiveness of using visual aids to promote their speaking skills. Furthermore, the
researcher’s intention was to carry out classroom observation, and interview teachers
and students to see if they workable and effective, and to make some suggestions to help
the students better their speaking skill. The report has carried out in the first semester of
academic year 2018-2019 with only 12th-grade students; hence, the respondents does not
represent for all students who study English major in Vietnam.
1.5 .Significance of the study
This current study is devoted to generate both theoretical and practical
contributions. Theoretically, although there are certain number of studies previously
conducting the investigation into the use of visual aids in the EFL context, the major
concerns of these studies lie on other aspects of English as vocabulary or listening, not
speaking skills. Particularly, in Vietnam there is a scarcity of research exploring the
implementation of visual aids in English speaking teaching and learning at upper
elementary level. There has been little evidence supporting the effectiveness and
implementation of visual aids in an English class. Therefore, the study findings expect
to fill the gap of literature in this aspect and provide valuable information for the
researchers who are interested in cooperating visual into their teaching.
Concerning the practical contributions, it is expected that the present study may
benefit teachers and students at high schools, particularly, which have problems in
instructing English speaking skills, contributing to the reform of English curriculum
design and teaching pedagogy at upper elementary level. Most of the typical problems
that the students of grade 12 face while speaking are that they cannot speak beyond
short segments because of lack of vocabulary, poor grammar and pronunciation. Due to
this problem, they cannot participate actively in conversation and activities based on
daily life situations. They have frequent communication gaps and misunderstandings
results in lack of communication strategies therefore they speak slowly and take a lot of

time to compose sentences. All of these problems can only be solved by improving
student’s speaking skills through visual aids. In the scenario of Vietnamese public
school the teachers tend to see their role merely in terms of an instructor or a director.
The implementation of visual aids in English speaking classrooms enables the teacher

3


to shift their teaching approach from teacher-centered to student-centered in alignment
with the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) which has been promoted in
English teaching in all educational levels in Vietnam.
1.6 Design of the study
The study is divided into three parts: the Introduction, the Development and the
Conclusion with reference to five chapters.
Chapter 1: Introduction - deals with the rationale, aims, scope, methods,
significance and design of the study
Chapter 2: Literature Review- is intended to give some theoretical background
related to speaking, speaking problems, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT),
visual aids, and previous studies relating to the topic of research.
Chapter 3: Methodology- deals with research governing orientation, research
methods and presents the situation analysis, participants, data collection instruments,
data collection procedures and data analysis. The detailed results of the survey and a
comprehensive analysis on the data collected are focused.
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions- show major findings and discussions
and offer some recommendation for teachers to motivate students to speak and
overcome some difficulties they meet in teaching speaking through the employment of
group work activities.
Chapter 5: Conclusion- is a review of the study, suggestions for further
research and limitations of the study.

4


CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
It is stated in the previous chapter that the purpose of this study is to improve the
students’ speaking skills by using visual aids. Thus, in this chapter, to support this
study, some theoretical descriptions on speaking and visual aids will be described
thoroughly.
2.1 . Speaking skills
There are many definitions of speaking by experts. According to Spratt,
Pulverness, and William (2011), speaking is a productive skill, like writing. It involves
using speech to express meanings to other people. When people speak, they use
different aspects of speaking depending on the type of speaking they are involved in.
That is why speaking is a complex activity.
Brown (2004) defines speaking as a productive skill that can be directly and
empirically observed. Speaking is the product of creative construction of linguistic
strings, the speaker makes choices of lexicon, structure, and discourse.
Thornburry in Harmer (2007) suggests various dimensions of different speaking
events in order to describe different speaking genres. There is a distinctionbetween
transactional and interpersonal functions. Transactional function has its main purpose
conveying information and facilitating the exchange of goods and services, whereas the
interpersonal function is all about maintaining and sustaining good relations between
people.
According to Riddell (2003), speaking is one of two things in a lesson. Speaking
is not reading aloud (pronunciation), either reading the answer to a grammar question
(accuracy). Speaking is neither reading the answer to a reading/listening question
(comprehension). In each of these cases the aims are not speaking-related. It could be a
speaking activity designed to give practice of languagejust learned or reviewed.
From many definitions and explanations about speaking above, it can be
concluded that speaking is actually a way of how people communicate and interact

toeach other and convey the meaning they want the hearer to get.

5


2.1.1 Micro and macro skills of speaking
In teaching speaking, teachers also help students to learn micro skills and macro
skills of speaking, as stated by Brown (2004). The microskills and macroskills of
speaking are listed as follow:
Microskills
1)

Produce differences among English phonemes and allophonic variants.

2)

Produce chunks of language of different lengths.

3)

Produce English stress patterns, words in stressed and unstressed

positions, rhythmic structure, and intonation contours.
4)

Produce reduced forms of words and phrases.

5)

Use an adequate number of lexical units (words) to accomplish

pragmatic purposes.
6)

Produce fluent speech at different rates of delivery.

7)

Monitor one’s own oral production and use various strategic devices

(pauses, fillers, self-corrections, backtracking) to enhance the clarity of the
message.
8)

Use grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs, etc.), systems (e.g., tense,

agreement, pluralization), word order, patterns, rules, and elliptical forms.
9)

Produce speech in natural constituents: in appropriate phrases, pause

groups, breath groups, and sentence constituents.
10)

Express a particular meaning in different grammatical forms.

11)

Use cohesive devices in spoken discourse.

Macroskills
1)

Appropriately accomplish communicative functions according to

situations, participants, and goals.
2)

Use appropriate styles, registers, implicature, redundancies, pragmatic

conventions, conversation rules, floor-keeping and yielding, interrupting, and
other sociolinguistic features in face-toface conversations.

6


3)

Convey links and connections between events and communicative such

relations as vocal and peripheral ideas, events and feelings,new information and
given information, generalization andexemplification.
4)

Convey facial features, kinesics, body language, and other nonverbal

cues along with verbal language.
5)

Develop and use a battery of speaking strategies, such as emphasizing

key words, rephrasing, providing a context for interpreting the meaning of
words, appealing for help, and accurately assessing how well the speakers’
interlocutor is understanding conveyed messages.
Those micro and macro skills above can be a checklist of objective when
assessing spoken language. Teachers should pay attention to these when they are
teaching speaking skills.
2.1.2 Fluency and accuracy
According to Riddell (2003), the ability to talk fairly freely, without too much
stopping or hesitating is called fluency. It requires the listener understands what is
being said, so there must be intelligibility and meaning. With accuracy the emphasis is
on “correct English” – the right grammar, the right vocabulary. Both fluency and
accuracy are equally important. But Riddell has different thought. It is actually depends
on what the teachers are teaching. If they teach a high-level student who is about to
take an exam to enter college, accuracy is very important indeed.
On the other hand, when teaching beginners, or other very low levels, teachers
cannot possibly expect fluency. Here, teachers really do have to help them build their
language accuracy bit by bit until they reach the stage when they can speak more
fluently. What is far more important is that they can make themselves understood, and
can talk relatively fluently. Teachers need to give their students confidence when
speaking and not to be obsessed with constant correction.
2.2 Teaching speaking
2.2.1 Teaching and learning speaking skills
Kimble and Garmezy in Brown (2000) state that learning is a relatively permanent
change in a behavioral tendency and is the result of reinforced practice. While teaching

7


is showing or helping someone to learn how to do something, giving instructions,

guiding in the study of something, providing with knowledge, causing to know or
understand.
Brown (2000) breaks down the components of the definition of learning, and extract
the domains of research and inquiry: Learning is acquisition or “getting”, learning is
retention of information or skill, retention implies storage systems, memory, and
cognitive organization, learning involves active, conscious focus on and acting upon
events outside or inside the organism, learning is relatively permanent but subject to
forgetting, learning involves some form of practice, perhaps reinforced practice and
learning is a change in behavior. Brown also cites that teaching is guiding and
facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn, setting the conditions for learning.
Regarding the definitions about teaching and learning above, it can be concluded that
both of them cannot be separated. Teaching and learning are two processes to achieve
something. It is also a process of take and give, in this case, knowledge.
2.2.2 Principles for designing speaking techniques
According to Brown (2000), there are seven principles for designing speaking
techniques. They are stated as follows:
1) Using techniques that cover the spectrum of learner needs, for language-based
focus on accuracy to message-based focus on interaction, meaning, and fluency;
2) Providing intrinsically motivating techniques;
3) Encouraging the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts;
4) Providing appropriate feedback and correction;
5) Capitalizing on the natural link between speaking and listening;
6) Giving students opportunities to initiate oral communication;
7) Encouraging the development of speaking strategies.
In teaching speaking, it is very important for teachers to consider the speaking
techniques. The tasks should include techniques designed to help students to perceive
and use the building blocks of language. It is also needed to make any drilling as
meaningful as possible. Teachers’ role is very crucial in teaching speaking
becauseteachers should help the students to see how the activity will benefit them. It

8


usuallypays to tell them why we as a teacher ask them to do certain things. Another
thing that is not easy to keep coming up with is meaningful interaction. Even it takes
energy and creativity to devise authentic contexts and meaningful interaction, with the
help of a storehouse of teacher material, it can be done.
When it deals with teaching speaking, feedback and correction are other aspects
to be highlighted. It is important that teachers take advantage of their knowledge of
English to inject the kinds of corrective feedback that are appropriate for the moment.
Many interactive techniques that involve speaking will also include listening. Teachers
should integrate these two skills in teaching. A good deal of typical classroom
interaction is characterized by teacher initiation of language. Part of oral
communication competence is the ability to initiate conversations, to nominate topics,
to ask questions, to control conversations, and to change the subject. The last, teacher
should build the atmosphere so that the students can use the expressions for asking
someone to repeat something, getting someone’s attention, and many others.
2.2.3 Problems in learning speaking
There are so many problems related to speaking, especially speaking the foreign
language. People have to consider about many things. Vocabulary, grammar,
intonation, pronunciation and the meaning sense of what they are talking about.
Brown (2000) states that there are some characteristics of spoken language that
can make the speaker easily to convey the meaning, but in contrast, they also can make
the speaker difficult to speak.
1) Clustering: Learners can organize their output both cognitively and physically
(in breath groups) through clustering. It will be difficult for the junior high
school students since they still confuse about the vocabulary used.
2) Redundancy: The speaker has to make meaning clearer through the
redundancyof language.
3) Reduced forms: Contractions, elisions, reduced vowels, etc., all form special

problems in teaching speaking.
4) Performance variables: One of the most salient differences between native and
nonnative speakers of a language is in their hesitation phenomena.

9


5) Colloquial language: Students are not well acquainted with the words, idioms,
and phrases of colloquial language.
6) Rate of delivery: Learners are difficult to achieve an acceptable speed along
with other attributes of fluency.
7) Stress, rhythm, and intonation: The stress-timed rhythm of spoken English and
its intonation patterns convey important messages.
8) Interaction: It is still difficult to find the creativity of conversational negotiation
for students.
9) From the characteristics of spoken language above, it can be said that those
characteristics haven’t been achieved by the students. They can be problems for
the students since they were not getting use to English in their daily life.
2.3 Visual aids
This section refers to the contributions and descriptions some authors give to the
concept of visual aids, their description and classification. Visual aids have been used
since the beginning of learning and teaching. Most early reviews were concerned with
the meaning of visual aids. As there are many authors who refer to visual aids, this
literature review attempts to define them from manifold different points of view, thus
provide the audience with complete and varied information. Moreover, this paper
defines visual aids in different aspects; use, design, function, and the advantages of
using them in the teaching-learning process. Gilbert Weaber and Elroy Bollinger
(1949) define visual aids as “any specifically prepared drawing, illustration, model,
motion picture, film strip, or other device that will expedite learning through the sense
of vision” (p. 1). Current thinking contends that “[. . .] educational media or aids refer

to all forms of information carriers that can be used to [. . .] store, preserve and transmit
or retrieve information to promote and encourage effective teaching and learning
activities” (Babalola, B., 2013, p. 108). Therefore, visual aids yield in improving the
teaching-learning process. Visual aids are intended to help both the teacher and the
students in order to make the contents better understood, to contextualize vocabulary
and make it meaningful for the learners.

10


In this respect Yi-Hsun Lai (2011) maintains that using visual aids “not only
stimulate students’ learning interest, but students can also interact with these visual
aids, and can relate them to their past experience or their daily life experience” (p. 3).
This leads us to confirm that using visual aids properly in the teaching-learning process
stimulate students to participate and be familiarized with their own experiences. Not
exempt of defining visual aids, M, Jessa (2008) claims that they “refer to graphs, maps,
pictures etc. used as aids in learning” and these can be separable into four categories:
-

NON-Projected 2D: wall board, roll-up board, picture, poster, chart, cartoon, cue
sheet, flannel board, flash card;

-

NON-Projected 3D: cut-out, model, mock-up, puppet, marionette, diorama,
vocabulary wheel, keyboard, teaching machine;

-

Projected 3D: slide, transparency sheet, film strip, microfilm, video cassette, CD;

-

Verbal: text book, supplementary reader, workbook, magazine, document,
duplicated materials, reference book, newspapers, and clippings. (p. 93)
Regarding this categorization Callista (1938) suggests how visual aids

contribute to the teaching-learning process pointing out that visual aids firstly “provide
for the learner a concrete picture of the situation in question” (p. 4). Visual resources
accompany what is verbally said and help to understand ambiguous situations.
Moreover, the school and the teacher must provide interesting sources to offer
attractive educative experiences to the students. Callista (1938) also asserts that
“another significant value of visual aids is economy of time” (p. 3). Teachers in general
must be aware of the time while teaching, and in order to make use of it according to
the contents and the learning outcomes it is necessary to manage every single activity
and save as much time as possible in order to fulfill the objectives of the lesson.
Aina (2006) establishes useful characteristic of visual aids and makes
suggestions to prepare and use them inside the classroom. The author includes some12
features of visual aids as well. The characteristics Aina (2006) contends are the
following:
-

The pictures, maps and charts should be attractive and with suitable colors.

11


-

Writing must be large enough and clear enough to be easily read from the

back of the class.

-

The charts and posters should be accurate in spacing and planning.

-

The figures and the letters should be well formed.

-

Objects and pictures should be big enough for children to see from their
sitting places.

-

There should be a great deal of pictures or materials to go round the children
if possible.

-

Apparatus must be accurately prepared and be ready before the lesson.

-

Let all pupils first see any materials or apparatus before individuals or
agegroup can see [them].

-

All pictures on the television must be clear and the radio should have a clear
sound.

-

When preparing apparatus, the correct, accurate language and spelling
mustbe considered. (p. 28)

Aina (2006) also outlines that these characteristics are essential when using
visual aids properly because they “transmit information in such a fashion that will
modify the attitude, habits and practices of students” (p. 35). The fact that the students
are interested in an activity provides teachers with a useful tool that teachers must take
advantage of.
There are a range of types of visual aids used in language learning which use
different media, but the researcher limits the visual aids including picture and video.
Picture
Pictures are aids that can help the teachers in the teaching learning process.
Pictures are the simplest and commonly used. Pictures are very effective. Pictures
provide associations for the learning of new words. But we cannot use pictures for
every unknown or abstract word as they cannot be illustrated easily. The more concrete
a word is, the easier it is to find and uses a picture for its illustration (Ariningsih, 2009).
Callahan (2006) stated that one of visual instructional media that is going to be
used in this research is picture. Pictures are aids that can help the teachers in the

12


teaching learning process. Suggesting the teachers to use pictures effectively is very
useful for the teaching. Many interpretations can be made in a picture. It can be an

excellent tool and can illustrate what teachers wish to teach. It is also used to add
interest of the topic for the students.
Picture is something drawn or painted: a shape or set of shapes and lines drawn,
painted, or printed on paper, canvas, or some other flat surface, especially shapes that
represent a recognizable form or objects. Showing pictures or by drawing them on the
board the teacher can also ensure that the students understand the meaning of a word
(Harmer, 1988).
Pictures facilitate comprehension and learning are explained by Levin and
Mayer. They proposed some principles called the seven “C”. According to their words
pictures make the text more: concentrated, compact/concise, coherent, comprehensible,
correspondent and codable. Other authors have also numbered some reasons for the
benefits of the pictures, such as Peeck(1993). This author highlighted that pictures help
increasing motivation, focusing attention, depth of processing clarification of text
content, dual-coding theory, decreasing interference decay, process support for the type
of information and serve as mental models ( Maria, 2012).
Videos
The use of video in teaching English classroom has become a common practice
for in language teaching. Nowadays, internet facilities and availability of different
technology have made the task of the language teachers easier. Teachers can download
different videos appropriate for the learners from internet. As there are thousands of
readymade videos designed for language teaching, teachers can easily choose
according to their needs. Videos can facilitate language teaching in diverse ways. It
makes the classroom interesting removing the monotony of the learners. Moreover, it
helps the learners to generate ideas for discussion.
It makes the class more interactive and effective (Al Mamun, 2014). Using
video in language teaching ensures authentic language input to the learners. Moreover,
using content related videos helps the learners to conceptualize the ideas and get in
depth thought on that topic. Besides, learners can concentrate on the use of contextual

13

language in the videos along with non-verbal features of language that helps them to
have better understanding of the target language use. The usefulness of using videos in
language teaching stating that video provides stimuli to the learner which facilitates an
opportunity to the learners to get a background schemata of the subject. Also the use of
videos helps the learners to have an idea of the stress and rhythm pattern of the target
language (Al Mamun, 2014).
2.3.1. Roles and functions of visual aids in language teaching and learning
Visual aids play a very important role in the language teaching process. The
contents of the lesson require abstract thinking, logical thinking will be concretized
through the means of hearing, seeing directly (Salazar and Larenas, 2018). When
teachers use appropriate, flexible and adequate visual tools to clarify the lesson content,
students will easily acquire knowledge in that lesson.
When preparing visual aids for teaching, teachers must ensure that students in
any position in the class can easily observe the tools. In addition to using clear images,
the use of appropriate colors also helps increase the effectiveness of visual aids. In
addition to the two basic colors, white and black, teachers can combine different colors
to increase the attractiveness and appeal of the teachers (Bobkina, 2012).
In fact, visual tools not only help students understand, memorize lesson content
easily and quickly, but also make the lesson become closer, lively and more attractive.
In order to fully exploit the characteristics and advantages of the visual tool, teachers
need to invest time, effort and enthusiasm to prepare the visual equipment and utensils
to ensure the content and fit lectures and best quality (Slavíková, 2014).Besides,
teachers also need to regularly exchange and learn experiences to update and innovate
teaching methods, in accordance with the requirements of innovating the current
teaching and learning situation in Vietnam.
Visual aids are versatile tools applied in most subjects. As for English, using
visual aids will make the lesson more exciting, exciting and interesting, helping
students to acquire knowledge easily and quickly (Shabiralyani, Hasan, Hamad and

Iqbal, 2015).

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Teachers can use pictures, charts, large diagrams, etc. to summarize the main contents
of the lesson instead of recording all of the content on the board. Unlike traditional
teaching methods, this method of teaching helps teachers save time writing tables,
which means more time to lecture(Garfield and Burrill, 1996).When visual aids are
introduced at school hours, students will have many approaches to knowledge:
Listening - seeing - interaction. At the same time, the visual tool will also provide the
most illustrative and vivid examples, helping students not only remember the lesson
faster but also maintain the memorization of the image for a long time (Bobkina, 2012).
Abbas described the importance of audiovisual devices in this way, (Unesco,
2000): (1) Promote mutual understanding and empathy in classrooms; (2) Make
significant changes in student behavior; (3) Express the relationship of the problem to
the needs and interests of the student, with an increase in learning motivation; (4)
Express the relationship of the problem to the needs and interests of the student; (5)
Brings freshness and diversity to the learning experience; (6) Make learning
meaningful across a range of student abilities; (7) Encourage the meaningful use of the
problem by allowing imaginative involvement and active participation. "I have had"
felt that academic results increased; (8) Provide the necessary feedback to help students
discover how well they have learned; (9) Provide rich experiences from which
meaningful concepts will be developed; (10) Expand the range of students "experience
in a process that will be faster than non-verbal learning and making generalized
accuracy; (11) Ensure order and clarity of thought that the student will need if he
comes from conceptual structures and set up a system of meaningful ideas.
2.3.2. Use of visual aids in language teaching and learning
Visual aids evoke the learners interest and helps teachers explain concepts
easily. Visual support is the instructional support that is used in the classroom to

encourage instructional learning speaking. As Singh (2012) defines that any device
with vision and sound enhances individual practice, in fact achieved through speaking
as a visual aids device. Visual support is the teaching device used in the classroom to
encourage learning speaking and make it easier and more motivating. Materials such as

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models, charts, strips, projectors, radios, televisions, maps, etc. are called teaching aids,
(Instead, 2004).
In addition to the available visual tools or prepared by teachers, teachers can also
guide students to prepare tools to serve the lesson content. A typical example is the use
of magnetic cards. Instead of giving the whole class the same word card, the teacher
can give students the blank word cards and ask to design their own flashcards for their
own interests and creativity (Gevers and Murphy, 2002).
Using visual aids in teaching gives us a rich and lively source of information, lets
lectures become more intuitive, lectures are more lively, attracting focus, passion for
learners’ interest, making learners easy to understand and remember for a long time,
helping to reduce the time to learn about the problem and make knowledge more
durable, faster and easier (Shabiralyani, Hasan, Hamad and Iqbal, 2015).
Visual aids reflect true objective reality and thereby provides learners with
accurate and specific knowledge of the issues being studied. Visual aids are especially
suitable for simulations where the program is complex, abstract and highly dynamic.
Visual aids allow learners to visualize the process and build intellectual models
(Shabiralyani, Hasan, Hamad and Iqbal, 2015).
Visual aids contributes to enhancing awareness, feeling and perception of things
and phenomena, helping to acquire new knowledge more conveniently and more
firmly. Moreover, visual aids provide teachers with communication in different ways
the amount of information needed for the acquisition of students' lessons. The
acquisition of knowledge is highly effective when their students receive information

from many different sources of knowledge and in their own activities, synthesizing and
refining those sources (Shabiralyani, Hasan, Hamad and Iqbal, 2015).
Visual aids also contribute to preventing the form of tedious teaching and
learning in terms of facilities and laboratory equipment, and lack of backward and
obsolete practice rooms. It also aims to make learning more social, more
interdisciplinary and more knowledge linked together in a world (Shabiralyani, Hasan,
Hamad and Iqbal, 2015).

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Moreover, there are advantages and disadvantages using visual aids. The main
advantage of using real objects in the classroom is to make the learning experience
memorable for the learners. Because there are criteria for selecting audiovisual
equipment, these conditions are often not applicable because there are many obstacles
to the proper and effective use of such materials(Mamun, 2014). The nature of these
issues differs from teacher to teacher. Inadequate teachers may find it difficult to
choose the right supportive devices for targeted activities in other technical areas, and
this can be time-consuming, (Tasnubha and Dil, 2017).
2.4. Previous studies
Many researchers search about how effective visual aids are. In article study
conducted by Park (2000), he examines the best learning styles for a sample of Asian
students: (visual, auditory, sensory and motor and touch). In addition, it shows the
students their strengths and offers ways for them to help themselves. Suggestions
include diversification in the teaching methods commensurate with the students’
learning style. In article research study conducted by Ajayi (2008), it examined the
ability of the media (video, pictures, cartoon…etc) to clarify the meaning of certain
words. Also, the author explores the possibility of the media to improve the students’
conversation, and the participation in the class.
In the research study conducted by Cooper (2002), the author examines the

relationship between the student and visual source, and highlights the need to focus on
the elements that affect its successful implementation. Second, the environment is
examined, and how it could influence our interpretation of visual information, symbols,
pictorial conventions, and skills in learning.
From this research, it was concluded that it is recommended to utilize this method to use
with ESL to improve students’ proficiency. In the research article by Cunningham
(1991), the possibility of improving students’ education by using slide shows was
explored. Also, the author examines whether it will stick in the student’s mind or not.
Additionally, in the article by Gorman and Eastman (2010), the authors recommended
utilizing classroom activities for actively engaging students in analyzing visual images to
improve their reading and writing skills.

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