Attitudes of teachers and first year non english major students at hanoi university of industry towards the use of visual AIDS in english speaking lessons

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

TRƯƠNG THỊ THANH HOÀI

ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS AND FIRST-YEAR NON-ENGLISH
MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY
TOWARDS THE USE OF VISUAL AIDS IN ENGLISH
SPEAKING LESSONS
(Thái độ của giáo viên và sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên tiếng Anh
trường đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội đối với việc sử dụng
giáo cụ trực quan trong các giờ học nói tiếng Anh)
M.A Minor thesis

Field: English teaching methodology
Code: 60 14 10
Supervisor: Mai Ngọc Khôi, M.A

Hanoi, 2011


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

Declaration ……………………………………………………………...

I

Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………..

i

Abstract …………………………………………………………………

Iii

Table of contents ……………………………………………………….

Iv

List of abbreviations …………………………………………………… Vii
List of tables and charts ………………………………………………..

viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………..

1

1. Rationale.................................................................................................

1

2. Aims of the study……………………………………………………… 2
3. Significance of the study………………………………………………

2

4. Scope of the study……………………………………………………... 2
5. Methods of the study …………………………………………

2

6. Organization of the study ……………………………………………... 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ………………………………………....... 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………..

4

1.1. Attitudes ……………………………………………………………

4

1.1.1. Definitions of attitude ………………………………………... 4
1.1.2. Components of attitude ………………………………………. 4
1.1.3. Relationship between belief, perception and attitude ………... 5
1.2. Speaking skills ……………………………………………………… 5
1.2.1. Definition of speaking ………………………………………..

5

1.2.2. Speaking in relation to three other skills ……………………..

6

1.2.3.The role of speaking in communicative language teaching …..

8

1.3. Visual Aids ………………………………………………………….

9

1.3.1. Definitions of visual aids …………………………………….. 9
1.3.2. Benefits of using visual aids in teaching speaking……………

9

1.3.3. Types of visual aids …………………………………………..

11

4


1.3.3.1. Chalkboards and whiteboards ……………………………

11

1.3.3.2. Pictures …………………………………………………... 12
1.3.3.2.1. Wall pictures …………………………………………. 12
1.3.3.2.2 Wall charts…………………………………………….
1.3.3.2.3. Flash cards …………………………………………….
1.3.3.2.3.1. Picture flash cards ………………………………...
1.3.3.2.3.2. Word flash cards …………………………………..
1.3.3.2.4. Work cards and work sheets …………………………..

13
13
13

14
15
15

1.3.3.3. Realia ……………………………………………………… 15
1.3.3.4. Authentic printed materials ……………………………….. 15
1.3.3.5. Overhead projectors ……………………………………….

15

1.3.3.6. Computers and videos ……………………………………..

16

1.3.4. Studies concerning the use of visual aids in the Vietnamese context

16

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY …………………………………….

17

2.1 The context of Hanoi University of Industry…………………………
2.1.1. Teachers ………………………………………………………
2.1.2. Students ……………………………………………………….
2.1.3. Teaching and learning facilities ………………………………
2.2. The study ……………………………………………………………
2.2.1. Research questions ……………………………………………

17

17
17
18
18
18

2.2.2 Selection of participants ………………………………………. 18
2.3. Instruments ………………………………………………………….

19

2.3.1. The questionnaires …………………………………………… 19
2.3.2. The direct interviews ………………………………………....

20

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ……………... 22
3.1. The data analysis ……………………………………………………. 22
3.1.1. The participants’ age, gender and years of experience ……….

22

3.1.2. Research question 1 …………………………………………..

23

3.1.2.1. The teachers’ attitudes towards speaking and visual aids in
speaking lessons …………………………………………………………

5

23


3.1.2.2. The students’ attitudes towards speaking and visual aids in 25
speaking lessons …………………………………………………………
3.1.3. Research question 2 …………………………………………… 26
3.1.4. Research question 3 …………………………………………… 29
3.1.5. Research question 4 …………………………………………… 30
3.1.6. Research question 5 …………………………………………... 32
3.2. Discussion and findings …………………………………………….. 35
PART C: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ………….. 38
1. Conclusion of the study ……………………………………………….

38

2. Recommendations …………………………………………………….

38

3 Limitations and suggestions for further study. ………………………...

41
43

REFERENCES
APPENDIXES
Appendix 1. Survey questionnaire for teachers
Appendix 2. Survey questionnaire for students
Appendix 3. Interview for teachers

Appendix 4. Interview for students

6


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry

7


LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS
Page
Table 1. Teachers’ age, gender, years of experience, qualification…………………...

22

Table 2. Students’ age, gender, years of learning English ……………………………

22

Table 3: Teachers’ attitudes toward speaking and visual aids in speaking lessons …..

23

Table 4: Teachers’ attitudes toward speaking and visual aids in speaking lessons …..

25

Table 5: Frequency of teachers’ using specific visual aids from teachers’ view points

27

Table 6: Frequency of teachers’ using specific visual aids from students’ view points

28

Table 7. Purposes of visual aids in teaching speaking skills from teachers’ view points

31

Table 8. The purposes of visual aids in teaching speaking from students’ view points

31

Chart 1: Favorite types of visual aids used in speaking lessons from the view points
of teachers and students ………………………………………………………………
Chart 2: Teachers’ techniques of using visual aids …………………………………..

26

Chart 3. The students’ favorite activities when learning speaking through visual aids

30

Chart 4: Teachers’ difficulties in using visual aids to teach speaking ………………..

32

Chart 5: Students’ difficulties in learning speaking through visual aids ……………..

33

8

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In recent years, English has become an important language. It is not only spoken by
most native speakers but also the second and official language in many countries. Since
Vietnam joined the WTO (the World Trade Organization), teaching and learning English as a
foreign language has taken an important part and English has become a compulsory subject in
most national curriculum.
It is undeniable that the goal of learning and teaching English is to make students
master the communicative activities. As for the students at Hanoi University of Industry in
general and the freshmen in particular, learning speaking skill is a really important task. Most
of the students at HaUI are non-English majors so they often find speaking the most
challenging to them to acquire English. In fact, what students are wondering is always haunted
in the researcher’s mind most of the time, which urges her to find a suitable solution to
motivate them in English speaking lessons.
Among proper solutions, using visual aids to teach speaking has been proved to be an
effective way. When mentioned the importance of visual aids in learning and teaching a
language, Bowen emphasized that “learning is a complex process and visual aids are a great
help in stimulating the learning of a foreign language. The students must use his ears as well
as his eyes but it is the eye that is primary channel of learning” (1982, p1). Chamberlain
(1980) also pointed out that 83% of the information received by the brain comes through sight
and only 11% comes through hearing. This means in the learning process, what students see

and touch will be perceived in their mind better than what they can hear only. Visual aids can
create many communicative situations to encourage students to speak and make teaching and
learning easier and more pleasant as well as more productive. A teaching lesson which is
provided with an appropriate type of visual aids will be an active one in which all students are
willing to speak the given topic. For example, a map can be fully made use in asking and
giving direction lessons or a real object, a picture can be a good illustrator in describing
lessons.
For the reasons mentioned above, the researcher chooses “Attitudes of teachers and
first-year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Industry towards the use of
visuals aids in English speaking lessons” as the title for this research with the hope that it will
reveal the application of visual aids in teaching speaking and some benefits of using visual

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aids in teaching and learning English speaking skills. What’s more, some suggestions of
exploiting visual aids more effectively to teach speaking skills will be given with the hope of
providing useful source and reference for teachers at HaUI in particular and for all teachers of
English in general to motivate their dear students in English speaking lessons. Last but not
least, it is expected that the research would be a certain contribution to the improvement of
teaching speaking skills for first-year non-English major students at HaUI.
2. The aims of the study
- To investigate the teachers and students’ attitudes toward speaking skills
- To investigate the teachers and students’ attitudes toward the use of visual aids in
teaching and learning speaking skills.
- To investigate the application of visual aids in the field of teaching speaking skills.
- To explore the benefits of using visual aids in teaching and learning speaking skills.
- To explore the problems faced by teachers and first-year non-English major students at
HaUI.
- To give some recommendations to exploit visual aids more effectively.

3. Significance of the study
This study helps point out the teachers and students at HaUI’s attitudes toward visual
aids in teaching and learning speaking skill. Particularly, this study is carried out with the hope
to provide an insight into current teaching situation of using visual aids in English speaking
lessons to teach first-year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Industry. Last but
not least, it is hoped that the study would make some suggestions of applying and exploiting
visuals in teaching English speaking so that the teachers can have proper adjustment to their
teaching methods.
4. Research scope of the study
This paper is restricted to mention the visuals which can be used for teaching and
learning speaking. Some other kinds of visual aids such as teachers’ gestures, facial expression
are not intended to be covered because they are mostly used in teaching vocabulary.
This paper only focuses on types of visual aids such as boards, pictures, realia, video, etc
which are well applicable to particular conditions at Hanoi University of Industry.
5. Methods of the study
To reach the aims of this study, both qualitative and quantitative approaches are made
used of. Data are collected from the survey questionnaires and direct interviews. The
quantitative data obtained from survey questionnaires were then analyzed statistically. Direct

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interview was carried out to supplement the survey questionnaires. Both of the two methods
are hoped to bring about valid and reliable data.

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6. Organization of the study
The study consists three main parts:

Part one: Introduction which provides specific reference to the rationale, aims,
significance, scope, methodology, and organization of the study.
Part two: Development which includes three chapters.
- Chapter one: Literature review which gives the brief view on attitudes, the basic
theoretical background of speaking skills and the overall view of visual aids.
- Chapter two: Methodology that gives the research questions and describes an insight
into research methods to find out the answers to research questions. This chapter also gives the
brief view on the subjects, the procedures and the instruments to collect data employed to seek
for the answers to the research questions.
- Chapter three: Data analysis and discussion show the data collected from the survey
questionnaires and the interview. Also, these data will be discussed in this chapter.
Part three: Conclusion which reviews the main findings of the study, offers some
recommendations of using visual aids to teach speaking skills effectively as well as some
suggestions for further study.
.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
This chapter discusses the theory and research into which this study bases on. Some
basic concepts related to attitudes, speaking skills, visual aids are addressed to provide the
theoretical background for the study.

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Attitudes
1.1.1. Definitions of attitude
Over the course of decades of research, there are various definitions of attitudes
proposed. According to Jung, attitude is a “readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain
way” (1971, p.687). Richard R. Bootzin, Gordon H. Bower, Jennifer Crocker, Elizabeth Hall

point out that an attitude is “an evaluative response to a particular object, idea, person, or
group of people. This response reflects an individual preference or aversion.” (1991, p.628).
Triandis, H (1971) supported these ideas by defining attitudes as a disposition or
tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain thing (idea, object, person, and
situation.) They encompass, or are closely related to, our opinions, beliefs and are based upon
our experiences.
From these above definitions, a conclusion can be drawn that attitudes are a hypothetical
construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something. People can
also be conflicted or ambivalent toward an object, meaning that they simultaneously possess
both positive and negative attitudes toward the item in question. These definitions seem to be
comprehensive and significant for this study, since the researcher, to some extent, aims at
investigating teachers and first-year non-English major students’ evaluation of the use of
visual aids in English speaking lessons.
1.1.2. Components of attitudes
Attitudes are judgments. In discussion of components of attitudes, traditionally, they are
considered to have three components. According to Fazio, R.H (1986), most attitudes are the
result of either direct experience or observational learning from the environment; they develop
on the ABC model (affective, behavioral, and cognitive):
- An affective or emotional component: An individual's degree of preference for an
entity, how people feel about the object. E.g. “ I feel good when I am around my friend”

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- A behavioral component: A verbal indication or typical behavioral tendency of an
individual. It means how people act toward an object. E.g. “I try to hang out with my friend
whenever I get the chance”
- A cognitive component: A cognitive evaluation of the entity that constitutes an
individual's beliefs about the object. It is about people’s knowledge, beliefs and thoughts about
the object. E.g. “I think my friend is kind, charming, and humorous”

1.1.3. Relationship between perception, belief and attitude
There is close ties among belief, perception and attitude. According to Richard R.

Bootzin, Gordon H. Bower, Jennifer Crocker, Elizabeth Hall (1991), beliefs and
perception are just inside the brain, they are not in action. Belief is the root or foundation of a
person’s way of thinking. In normal life, people do not question or filter their belief. They take
their beliefs as it is. It includes the values that they have.
Perception is the method or way of thinking or point of view. Some people called it
paradigm. It is the filter of any input based on their beliefs.
Attitude is what people act or react. How people perform their thinking is their attitude.
Their action is depending on their attitude. They usually do not see their own action (except in
front of the mirror or in their own movie). Their action is just a show-off of their perception
and their belief. In other words, what people act or react is directly influence by their way of
thinking, their values, and their beliefs.
Also, people are aware of their own beliefs, their own way of thinking, their own values,
and what they are doing. Unaware reaction means a reflex action from subconscious level go
directly to their action. Without awareness, they will do everything in reflex. They do not
think on what they are doing. With awareness, they can think before they are acting or reacting
because their awareness controls the three levels: belief, perception and attitude.
Many problems in people’s life often come from the relation with other persons. They
cannot control other person but they can influence others through their own change in attitude,
their words, their action or their reaction.
In conclusion, attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing,
or event. It has three components: Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive. Attitudes have close
relationship with belief and perception. These are valuable theoretical background that helps the
researcher approach the aims of the study.
1.2. Speaking skills

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1.2.1. Definition of speaking
Communication is a very important part of human civilization. Webster (1983, p.266)
says that communication is “a process by which information is exchanged between individuals
through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.” Communication using language
can be conducted in two ways: orally (speaking) and in a written form (writing). Despite the
fact that these two means of language communication are equally important, “it is speech, not
writing, which serves as the natural mean of communication between members of community”
(Byrne, 1976)
Speaking is actually a natural activity, which appeared in our daily life thousands of
years before script was invented. No one knows when people started to speak as speaking
requires nothing except people themselves.
Chaney (1998, p.13) views speaking as the process of building and sharing meaning through
the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in variety of contexts. Meanwhile, Bygate (1987,
p.1) states that speaking is a popular form of expression “which uses the “colloquial” register”.
Literary skills are on more prized than speaking because “speaking is transient and improvised
and can therefore be viewed as facile, superficial or glib”.
What’s more, Brown (1994) defines speaking as an interactive process of constructing
meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information. River basing on
speaking’s characteristics considers “speaking” as “basic to some of most interesting and
exciting activities.” (1996, p.207)
From these above definitions of speaking, it can be concluded that speaking refers to a process
of interaction in which people can exchange their opinions, thoughts, and emotions. This
process can happen in various situations through verbal and non-verbal symbols and it can
create different attractive and exciting activities.
Speaking skill is man’s ability in using language as a means of communication. Bygate states
that: “we do not merely know how to assemble sentences in the abstract: we have to produce
them and adapt them in the circumstances. This means making decisions rapidly,
implementing them smoothly and adjusting our conversation as unexpected problems
appeared in our path.” (1987, p.3). He highly appreciates speaking skill by stating that

speaking is the medium through which much language is learnt.
Clearly those learners do not learn by heart every word, sentence and then gather them in the
abstract but they learn how to speak in a particular situation. This means speaking skill helps
learners learn language as a means of communication in a real life. It can develop learners’
ability to speak fluently, correctly and clearly so that they can speak out in every situation. By

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considering what good speakers do, what speaking tasks can be used in class, and what
specific needs learners report, teachers can help learners improve their speaking and overall
oral competency.
1.2.2. Speaking in relation to the three other skills
It cannot be denied that the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing are equally
important in communication as well as in teaching and learning language. They have a very
close relationship with each other so that they should not be shown in isolation. The four skills
can be divided into two skills in two groups: productive and receptive skills. Productive skills
involve speaking and writing because the author has to produce his own language in
communicative process and receptive skills involve reading and listening because people just
receive language from others.
Byrne, D (1976, p25) represented the relationship among four skills in the following diagram
Spoken language

Speaking

Understanding

Receptive skills

Productive skills

Reading

Writing

Written language

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It is important to remember that “receptive” does not mean passive in both listening and
reading. Successful oral communication must combine the success of both productive and
receptive skills. Listening should be paid due attention to because if language learners cannot
control over what is said to them, communication will break down immediately. Doff, A
(1988) said that there are two main reasons for teaching listening comprehension. First, we
cannot develop speaking skill unless we also develop listening skill. In order to have a
successful conversation, students must understand what is said to them, the ability to
understand spoken English may become very important. To develop this ability, students need
plenty of practice in listening to English spoken normal speech. Second, “listening to spoken
language English is an important way of acquiring the language of “picking up” structures and
vocabulary. In a situation where learners are living in a country where English is the first
language, they have plenty of “expose” to the language, they hear it all the time and can
acquire it more easily than learners who do not hear English spoken around them. So we need
to give these learners many opportunities to listen to spoken English as possible.
According to Widdowson, H.G (1990), speaking and listening are said to relate to
language expressed through the aural medium and reading and writing are said to relate to
language expressed through the visual medium. He also suggested another way representing
these skills by referring not to the medium but to the activity of the language users. Thus,
speaking and writing are said to be passive and receptive skills. He expressed these notions in
the below simple diagram.

Productive/ active

Receptive/passive

Aural medium

Speaking

Listening

Visual medium

Writing

Reading

However, according to him, it is not especially helpful and might be passively
misleading to represent the language skills in this way. When considering the usage “The
terms aural/ visual and productive/ receptive refer to the way language is manifested rather
than to the way it is realized in communication”.
Therefore, in order to be successful in speaking as well as learning foreign language, learners
should pay attention to all skills because the purpose of learning language processes the ability
of communication.
1.2.3. The role of speaking in communicative language teaching

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Communicative language teaching was founded in the early 1960s and has become a
popular approach of teaching foreign language in Vietnam especially in English classes. There

are different definitions given by language theorists.
“CLT views language as a system for the expression of meaning. Activities involve oral
communication, carrying out meaning tasks and using language, which is meaningful to the
learners. Objectives reflect the needs of the learners. They include functional skills as well as
linguistic objectives. The learner’s role is a negotiator and integrator. The teacher’s role is a
facilitator of the process. Materials promote communicative language use; they are task-based
and authentic” (Nunan, 1989, p.194)
In communicative language teaching, speaking is regarded as one of the key outputs for
English learners. “Of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), speaking seems
intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as speakers’ of that
language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing… Classroom activities that
develop learners’ ability to express themselves through speech would therefore seem an
important component of a language course” (Ur, 1991, p.120)
According to Canale and Swain (1980), the goal of CLT is to develop communicative
competence that can best serve the needs of the learners. Communicative method mainly
focuses on activities in which students have chances to determine what they want to say
independently of the teacher. Roger Scott (1981:67) emphasized the important role of
speaking in CLT that “the communicative approach makes sure that the interactions which
take place in the classroom replications of or necessary prerequisites for, in communication is
more important than learning the rules of language above the level of the sentence.”
Therefore, it is very essential for learners to achieve communicative competence in
learning language courses. Students must improve their abilities to communicate freely and
easily in the real life in a particular situation. In order to be successful in teaching and learning
oral communication, the teacher plays a very important role, not as a person who provides
prompt that triggers utterance or a certain structure from students but as a person who can set
up the condition for communication to take place.
1.3. Visual aids
1.3.1. Definition of visual aids
According to Dictionary of English language and Culture, visual aids are defined as
“something that people can look at to help them understand, learn, remember, etc. such as a

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picture, map, photograph, or film. Visual aids are often used as materials in education.” (1998,
p.1490).
In short, visual aids are anything visible to learners that the teacher uses for different
teaching purposes in the class. They can be objects, pictures, drawings, cards, even cut-outs
taken from newspapers, textbooks, etc. With the instructions from the teachers, students can
exploit them and perceive knowledge.
1.3.2. Benefits of visual aids in teaching speaking
Visual aids are proved to be beneficial in teaching a foreign language. Bowen M
(1982) stated that during the learning process, visual aids are great helping stimulating the
learning of foreign language. The students must use his eyes but it is the eye that is the
primary channel of learning”. Visual aids are indeed increasingly making great contribution to
language teaching and learning in general and to speaking in particular. There has been a great
deal of studies on the benefits of visual aids in teaching speaking. They can be summarized as
follow:

- Visual aids as a means to provide situations
According to Lee and Coppen (1970, p1), the main virtue of visual aids is to “help to
provide the situation (context) which light the meaning of the utterances used”. Bowen (1982,
p1) stated that visual aids can “enrich the classroom by bringing in topics from the outside
world”. There is a point above the idea that once teaching foreign language is contextualized
with the help of visual aids, students will have chance to learn the language in real situation. In
addition, the creative and imaginative abilities of students can also vary those situations thus
comments, guesses, interpretations and arguments are made. Therefore, the learning process
becomes more easily and more naturally. As a result, students are not only able to speak the
target language well inside the classroom, they also communicate successfully outside the
classroom.

- Visual aids as a factor of motivation
Motivation plays an important role in second language acquisition success. Brown
(1990, p.161) claimed that in second language learning “a learner will be successful with the
proper motivation”. Thus, learners who are interested in learning tend to do better than those
who are not. Visual aids can create active learning atmosphere which helps students feel more

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confident and feel free to take risks and to have sufficient opportunities to speak. Andrew
Wright (1991) also supported this idea that “visual aids affect students in some ways and
cause him or her to want to listen and to speak” Lee and Coppen (1970, p.1) stated that it is
visual aids that “can bring more variety and interest into language lessons”. Colorful,
interesting, lively images will catch students’ eyes, attract them at once, dispel their intrinsic
shyness and activate them to talk without the fear of making mistakes.
Visual aids are obviously the stimulus to form learners’ motivation. They can refresh the
atmosphere, warm up the atmosphere by living and interesting images that attract students’
attention and interest. Speaking lessons with new ideas, comments, arguments, etc. will
become more exciting when all students are willing to talk and discuss about the given topics.
- Visual aids as a tool to maximize students’ opportunity to practice
Visual aids can be used as an effective tool to create opportunity for students to practice.
Andrew Wright (1991) showed that “visual materials help to direct and promote conversation
in group”. In addition, Bowen, M (1982, p.1) pointed out visual aids could “allow the teacher
to talk less by diminishing the important of the verbal stimuli provided by the teacher’s voice
and allow the students to talk more”. With their presence, they attract students’ attention and
reduce the verbal stimuli provided by the teacher’s voice. Therefore, the teacher talks less and
students have opportunity to talk and discuss more. Students have more chance to develop
their fluency by communicating regularly in class. As a result, both of their communicative
skill as well as their language will improve much.
- Visual aids as an assistant to help learners remember best

When exploited appropriately, visual aids are helpful for students to remember long.
According to Bowen, visual aids provide students with “a new dimension of dramatic realism
and clarifying facts which might pass unnoticed or be quickly forgotten” (1982, p.1). As
mentioned above, visual aids can create real circumstances in which language items are used.
Language items that are used in each situation are obviously memorized longer than without
them. As a result, students will absorb the language without being aware of it. They will
understand the meaning and the usage of the language items naturally and recall what they
have lent easily. In a nutshell, with the help of visual aids, students can remember the
language items for a long time.
In conclusion, visual aids are proved to be useful in teaching and learning speaking.
Clearly, what students can see has a profound influence on their learning process. Therefore, if

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being exploited suitably, visual aids may become good sources to maintain learners’
motivation, create contextualization and help students memorize longer as well as give more
chances of practice speaking.
1.3.3. Types of visual aids
In general, the following aids are not all kinds of visual aids but the very common ones
of which possible benefits can be exploited in English language teaching and learning or to be
more specific, in teaching and learning speaking. Of course, there are many others visual aids
which are not dealt with in this paper. Some of them require special preparation of equipment
and are not suitable for language teaching at HaUI such as funnel board, magnetic board, etc.
Furthermore, some other kinds of visual aids such as teachers’ gestures, facial expression are
not intended to be covered because they are mostly used in teaching vocabulary. These types
of visual aids can be divided as follow:
1.3.3.1. Chalkboards and whiteboards
Chalkboards are said to be the most common and useful visual aids for teachers. Their
colors are usually black or green. They are available, inexpensive. Some chalkboards are

magnetized allowing pictures, word cards, etc. to adhere to the surface if magnets are placed
on top of them.
Whiteboards are increasingly more common. It is easier to keep them clean than
chalkboards. They need pens that are specialized for whiteboards. It is also easy to stick
pictures and cards to their surface. What’s more, images can be projected onto their surface
from a projector.
One prominent advantage of chalkboards and whiteboards is they do not depend on
other factors like electricity supply. Teachers can use chalkboards and whiteboards whenever
they like to teach a lesson. They can serve different teaching purposes such as setting a scene
for a debate, telling a story, etc. However, the effect of using them depends on the way
teachers use them to make the lessons much more interesting.
Here are some characteristics of chalkboards and whiteboards
- The whole class can see it.
- Texts and pictures can “grow” in front of the class.
- Texts and pictures can be erased, added to or substituted quickly.
- Parts of the boards can be obscured.

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- Texts or pictures on paper or card can be propped against the board, stuck to it or hung
over it.
- A white cloth or a sheet of paper can be stuck to the chalkboard or hung over it to act
as a projection screen.
- Several people can work on the board at one time.
(Andrew Wright and Safia Haleem: 1991: p.5, 6)
1.3.3.2. Pictures
Pictures are considered one of the most useful visual aids for teachers to teach speaking.
They can function as a stimulus as they encourage students’ imagination and memory. The
most useful contribution a picture can make is to contribute to the students’ understanding of a

more general context which is made of pictures. Apart from the pictures in the textbooks that
the teachers often make use of, they can prepare the pictures by themselves to serve their
different teaching purposes. There are various kinds of pictures such as wall pictures, wall
charts, flash cards, work cards, paintings, etc. However, in this paper, some types of pictures
which are popular and easy to design and use especially in large and crowded class are
focused on.
1.3.3.2.1. Wall pictures
“A wall picture is simply a large illustration of a scene or event, or a set of scenes or
events.” (Bowen, 1982, p13). They are large enough to be seen by all the students.
Characteristics
- They contain many details and they can show a complicated scene.
- The whole class can see them.
- They can be used more than once and for different teaching purposes if they are kept
carefully.
- They can be hung on display.

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For example: This wall picture will be useful for the speaking lessons of “Asking and
giving directions”
1.3.3.2.2. Wall charts
“A wall chart is a large diagram or picture display card. Most wall charts consist of
combinations of visual and verbal material. Their aim is to give information on a topic.”
(Bowen, 1982, p.13)
Wall charts are usually complex, with printing too small to be seen by the students from
their seats. They are ideal for pair and group work in intermediate and advanced classes.
Therefore, Bowen (1982) stated that word cards can be prepared to accompany the charts so
that students may work together to prepare a presentation before the whole class and/ or to
prepare a wall display” (1982, p.15).

1.3.3.2.3. Flash cards
1.3.3.2.3.1. Picture flash cards
Picture flash card is one of the most flexible of the media. According to Wright and
Haleem (1991), Picture flash cards are pictures mounted or drawn on cards approximately 15
cm by 20 cm. They are used in oral work for cueing responses to questions or in more open
communicative work for stimulating conversation, story telling, etc.
A picture flash card has a picture on one side only. However, both sides can be used and
the cards can be folded or cut in various ways with particular teaching purposes in mind.
As for a classroom use, picture flash cards “are more suitable for the representation of a
single concept, such as an object or an action. It is best to use picture flash cards for the
revision and practice of previously taught language, rather than for the presentation of new
items. (Bowen: 1982, p.28)

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For example: Teachers can use two picture flash cards of sausages and eggs to help students
practice the use of “would prefer”
1.3.3.2.3.2. Word flash cards
According to Bowen (1982), word flash cards are cards on which words have been
printed and they can be held up rapidly or “flashed” by the teacher before the class.
Word flash cards are usually 8 cm in height and 10 cm in width but the length varies
according to the number of letters in the word to be printed on the card.
Characteristics:
- Word flash cards are inexpensive.
- They are easy to make, store and carry to classes.
- Teachers can hold, prop and stick them on the board or any objects in the classroom.
They can display a number of cards at the same time.
- Teachers and students can easily handle and use them at the appropriate moment.
For example: The teacher can make use of these following word flash cards to have

students practice the speaking task: Talk about your daily life
GET UP

BRUSH
TEETH

WASH FACE

COMB HAIR

HAVE
BREAKFAST

GET
DRESSED

GO TO
SCHOOL

STUDY
ENGLISH

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1.3.3.2.4. Work cards and work sheets
Work cards (about 15 cm x 20 cm) and work sheets are for individual students use or for
use by students working in a small group. They can include visual as well as text. Good course
books can provide a lot of these kinds of material. Besides, magazine pictures, drawings, maps
and diagrams can also be important parts of work cards at all levels and used for different

purposes.
Characteristics:
- Work cards can be made by teachers or students or taken from authentic printed
materials.
- Two sides of the cards can be used for presenting different information. This separation
of the information is useful in some types of activities.
- They can create interests and enable students to work more or less independently of the
teachers.
1.3.3.3. Realia
Realia or real objects are available inside or outside the classroom brought to the class
by the teachers or learners. They offer a great help to the teachers in designing various
language activities for their students to take part in. They can be a toothbrush, a pen, a clock, a
newspaper, a box of color pencils with different sizes and various materials.
1.3.3.4. Authentic printed materials
“Authentic printed materials include anything written and printed in English:
newspapers, magazines, publicity, technical instructions for equipment, holiday brochures,
etc.” (Andrew Wright and Safia Haleem: 1991, p.84)
Characteristics:
- There are various and free materials for the teachers to choose.
- They can make the students curious because they are not originally produced for
schools.
- They can be copied and stuck onto cards to reuse.
- The complexity of the language may cause difficulty for the students if the teachers
expect them to understand every word.
1.3.3.5. Overhead projector
Overhead projector is now getting more popular. It is a very useful kind of visual aid.
Light from a powerful bulb passes through and is focused onto a mirror, which throw the light
onto a transparency screen.
Characteristics:
- The whole class can see the project image.

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- Overhead projector can supplement or substitute for the chalkboard while still allowing
the teacher to face the class.
- Material can be kept and used in the following lessons
- Texts and pictures can be modified in front of the class.
- The teacher can cover part of what is on the overhead projector transparence with a
piece of paper or cardboard and present the information’s they want.
1.3.3.6. Computer and video
Today, with the development of technology, computer and video are becoming more and
more popular. They are indeed good source of visual in teaching and learning English. They
can bring in colorful images and vivid movements. Furthermore, they provide large amount of
information in a brief of time. Therefore, they motivate students to actively join in language
learning tasks and help them improve not only speaking but also listening and reading skill.
In conclusion, there are diversified kinds of visual aids that both teachers and students can
take advantage of in speaking lessons. The value of visual aids depends on how much they
contribute to the lessons. They will actually be of great help if exploited suitably.
1.3.4. Studies concerning the use of visual aids in the Vietnamese context
In Vietnam, visual aids have also appealed several researchers. Although most of their
BA or MA graduation papers do not have chance to be published because of subjective or
objective reasons, they are of great value in practice especially in the researchers’ current
situation of teaching and to all the people who concerns in the research as well as those
interested in the discussing matters.
In accomplishing this research, the author has also read numerous studies dealing with
the topic. However, most of these papers focus on exploitation of the effectiveness as well as
the benefits of visual aids in language teaching and learning. For example, “Using visual aids
to motivate tenth form students in their learning to speak” conducted by N. T. Nhung (2003)
or “Using visual aids as an effective way to improve communicate competence of upper

secondary school students in Hanoi” by T.X. Thu (2002) or H. Linh’s (2008) graduation
paper on “Using realia in teaching grammar to tenth form students in Hanoi high schools”, etc.
There is a need for a study that investigates teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the use of
visual aids in English speaking lessons. Therefore, this study was conducted to bridge the gap.
In this chapter, some theoretical background knowledge and views on attitudes, definitions
and the role of speaking skills in CLT, definitions, types, benefits of visual aids as well as studies
concerning the use of visual aids in the Vietnamese context have been reviewed. The analysis and

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discussion of the data collected from the questionnaires and interviews addressing to the research
questions will be given in the next chapters.

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