On application of visuals in teaching English; selected issues ...

On application of visuals in teaching English; selected issues
Elżbieta Alicja Domin
Since ancient times man has always made visual representation of reality and used visual stimuli to transmit
information. The evidence can be drawings on the walls of pre-historic caves, Egyptian murals and hieroglyphs, as well
as contemporary pictograms.
Today we also live in highly visual world, dominated by visual messages. In most public places all over the world we
can find information in the form of words and pictures combined. As language independent, they are easy to interpret no
matter what language we speak. Pictures are around us, they provide us with information, arouse our interest, are
enjoyable. They possess all important features of effective teaching aid.
As teachers we should face the fact that our pupils expect also their English lesson to be ‘visual’. Language they
experience outside the classroom is strictly connected with images, colours, sounds. Young children, who are not very
proficient in writing or reading, learn much about the world relying on various stimuli. Their understanding comes through
hands, eyes and ears, but sight is thought to be the strongest of the senses. The younger the students are, the more they
need perceptual stimulation to understand and memorize new language.
An old proverb says that a picture is worth a thousand words. Knowledge Industry Publications (1998) provide us with
information that “visual aids have been found to improve learning by up to 400 percent” 1 Many authors confirm it claiming
that visuals are among the most efficient teaching aids. Jerzy Brzeziński provides us with a table made according to data
quoted by G. Fleming. It presents the effectiveness of receiving and memorizing information transferred by visual and
auditory stimuli: 2 receiving memorizing
visual stimuli
auditory stimuli
80%
10%
50%
20%
Jan Julk points out that according to multisensory teaching theory, all senses should be involved in teaching/learning
process to help students to develop their full potential. Generally, he also emphasizes superiority of visual aids over the
auditory ones. He writes that a person is able to memorize about 15% of what she hears, about 25% of what she sees
and about 50% of what she sees and hears at the same time. 3 It can be stated therefore, that the best learning situation is
created when the spoken language is reinforced by non-verbal means.
1. Visuals-definition and classification
it:
Explanations of the term ‘visual aid’ in methodological literature vary. These are some definitions which help to define
“visual aid – a picture, film, map, etc that helps a pupil to learn sth” 4
“visual aid – an instructional device (as a chart, map, or mode) that appeals chiefly to vision; especially: an
educational motion picture or filmstrip” 5
“In the classroom, the most immediate and accessible of visual aids are probably: the teacher, the children, the
board, classroom displays, flashcards, real items, videos.” 6
“gestures - arms and hands are a very expressive visual aid.” 7
“Visual aids are visual representations which support presentations in the form of text, cartoons, graphs,
illustrations, photographs." 8
Generally, we can define visual aids as ‘non-verbal’ materials appealing to the sense of sight. They are used in the
teaching process to provide a visual stimulant which reinforce what students are learning.
1 ”Visual Aids,” available from http://www.presentersuniversity.com/visuals.php; Internet; accessed 5 March 2008.
2 Jerzy Brzeziński, Pomoce i środki audiowizualne w nauczaniu języków obcych (Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo
Naukowe, 1980), 33.
3 Jan Julk, Jak uczyć małe dzieci języków obcych (Katowice: Wydawnictwo Gnom, 2002) 43-44.
4 Oxford Wordpower Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 836.
5 Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary [dictionary on-line]; available from http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/visual+aid;
Internet; accesed 31 January 2008.
6 David Vale and Anne Feuntenn, Teaching Children English. A Training Course for Teachers of English to Children
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 106.
7 Sima Jalil, „The teacher as a teaching aid”; available from
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/teacher_aid.shtml; Internet; accesed 30 January 2008.
8 ”Training the Trainer resorce Pack”; available from http://www.ica-sae.org/trainer/english/p17.htm; Internet; accesed 11
November 2007.

F.L. Billows suggests that visuals can be divided into three main groups: 9
1) 2-dimensional aids – include wide variety of pictures and drawings, such as all kind of pictures, postcards,
posters and magazines, maps and plans, tables, charts, diagrams, graphs, mind maps and time lines, picture
stories, cartoons and comic strips, film, video, television, cinema and OHP transparencies and slides.
2) 3-dimensional aids which mean teacher’s and students’ body language (mimes, gestures, facial expression,
acting a situation, puppets)
3) other visual aids - almost everything that presents information visually and is used in teaching process. These
are realia such as a calendar, a clock, a mirror, toys and art: (paintings, albums, sculptures).
As has been already stated, visual aids have many different forms, but they have something in common – they mean
all events of human communication which transcend spoken or written language. They are used as a medium of
conveying a message in iconic code and play important role in a communication system.
2. Factors which influence the choice of visual aids
Visuals are thought to be suitable for all levels and age groups, but not every visual is appropriate to every class. We
must judge for ourselves if the materials matches the needs of the pupils. Andrew Wright presents a chart with a wide
range of factors that should be considered before choosing supplementary materials. He divides them into three groups: 10
1) Factors connected with learning situation:
a. Pupil
Students’ age is probably the most important factor. Not only topics but also applied methods, techniques and aids
should be relevant to it. The younger the students are, the simpler (less detailed), more colourful pictures and the shorter
films should be presented. According to Jan Rusiecki, films generally are not appropriate for young pupils. He argues that
there are too many changeable elements, too fast tempo and almost no repetition. He writes that the sequence of
pictures is more suitable for use with children. The only exception are films specially made for teaching purpose. They are
adopted to the level and practice specific structures or vocabulary. 11
While teaching young pupils very effective is the use of visuals such as puppets, toys and real objects, which give
them the chance to touch and manipulate things. They also take advantages of picture stories, cartoons and comic strips.
Tables, charts and diagrams, although help to organize new material, are usually more appropriate for elder learners.
Students’ age is not the only factor which influences the choice of teaching aids. There are more pupils’ individual
differences that should be considered. These are their abilities, motivation, character, interests, social and cultural
backgrounds and their previous experience of the language. Komorowska points out that students from neglected
backgrounds tend to show traits and needs typical for younger age group. 12
What is more, students present certain level of proficiency in target language. Even the elder students who begin
English learning, need topics and teaching aids suitable not only for their age but also for their language level. A general
rule is that materials should be slightly higher in their level of difficulty than the students' current level of English
proficiency.
Furthermore, students’ intelligence and lateralization also impact their ability to take advantages of different
supplementary materials. Especially those with visual intelligence and right brain hemisphere predominance need more
non-verbal means.
b. Environment
Teaching involves the creation of environment and activities that effectively invoke learning. Technology, such as
OHP, slides, video and computers supports learning, but there are many classrooms which are not equipped so well.
When the English language classroom is of poor physical and technical conditions, a teacher has no choice and has to
resign from using visuals that require technology. What s/he can do instead of this, is to balance out disadvantages of
classroom by the wide variety of other visual aids.
First of all, it is obvious that a safe, comfortable and attractive classroom stimulates learning and helps build a
classroom community. A great idea then is to decorate the walls. Attractive visual aids, such as bulletin boards and
posters, are key components of an effective classroom. Wall decorations should be colorful, appealing and relevant to
current class work. They should be rotated and refreshed frequently.
What is more, it could be very useful to create a students’ work display and present children’s drawings and projects.
It would make them proud of their contribution to classroom decoration and will be a very motivating factor.
Furthermore, David A. Hill points that teaching language is teaching the culture of the people who speak that
language and has a lot of references to things which are alien to a foreign language learner. He writes: “if the explanation
is accompanied by a visual image - where appropriate - the learner will understand far better: the picture makes the
9 F.L.Billows (translated by B.Jasińska, B.Pawłowska), Technika nauczania języków obcych (Warszawa: Państwowe Zakłady
Wydawnictw Szkolnych, 1968), 138-163.
10 Andrew Wright, “Audio-Visual Materials in Language Teaching”, The Edinburgh Course in Applied Linguistics, vol.3
(London: Oxford University Press, 1974), 266-269.
11 Jan Rusiecki, O nauczaniu języków obcych (Warszawa: Państwowe Zakłady Wydawnictw Szkolnych, 1964), 135-136.
12 Komorowska, Metodyka, 38-40.

words more accessible”. 13 Posters, maps, photos and other realia connected with the target language country help
students to immerse in this country’s language and culture, and bring some reality into the language classroom.
The size of the classroom is also important. In big classrooms visual materials should be large enough to be visible
for all students. Big formats are suitable to work with the whole class, while small ones are better in group or pair work.
c. Teacher
As was previously said, teachers themselves can be treated as visual teaching aids. Many teachers who are
conscious of this, make use of their body language, gestures, mimes and facial expression to convey meaning of new
words. It is especially effective when these new words are rather abstract or refer to feelings or action.
Many teachers claim that they can not draw. For this reason they resign from drawing and use flashcards or pictures
taken from magazines. Andrew Wright emphasis the role of drawing and encourages teachers to use it. He points that
“inadequacy of their drawings catches the students’ attention”.
The experience and personal inclinations of the teacher also influence the choice of materials. “A keen teacher
expects to try out materials and ideas which are unfamiliar to him, but it would be unwise to plunge into a method of
teaching which is quite new and for which he is unprepared.” 14
For less experienced teachers, who are not self-confident, using video or film is a way of presenting correct English
pronunciation, though there are also teachers who are not very familiar with technology and avoid using it.
What is more, “through the choice of materials used in the classroom, the teacher can propose concrete and visible
images - a vision of the world to which the teacher is affiliated in some way.”
d. Economics
Most teachers have to work on a tight budget and the question of costs is a very important factor influencing the
choice of teaching aids. Those who have access to OHP, VCR , computer or other teaching equipment can take
advantages of using these media, while others should collect visual aids not relying on technology.
Taking into account the fact, that teacher’s time is limited, he cannot be expected to make a new set of visuals for
every item in the syllabus. In many cases the teacher will be obliged to do without visuals, but it could be difficult to
motivate a class with just chalk and talk or a textbook only.
Teacher can of course shop around, but there are also many alternative sources of teaching aids. David A. Hill points
to magazines as a great source and encourages teachers to “cut and keep all available visuals” 15 . He points, that even
pictures which at first seem to have no use can become an exciting stimulus when linked, for example, to other picture or
to a poem which is being studied.
Good advice is to involve students in making visuals and realia. Having children involved in creating the visuals that
are related to the lesson helps engage students in the learning process by introducing them to the context as well as to
relevant vocabulary items. If the teacher can not spare the time in class to make the visuals, another idea can be to
consult the art teacher and combine their efforts.
Jennifer Goodman points that “the Internet is a fantastic source of pictures and can be found related to any topic
through major search engines.” 16
Günter Gerngross and Herbert Puchta write: “magazines, newspapers, private photo collections, picture postcards,
etc. are ideal stimuli for exciting lessons.” 17
Although building a collection of visuals can be costly or time consuming, it is worth of effort because they can be
reused in many classes, for different level learners and in many different learning situations.
2) Factors connected with lesson aims:
Every lesson plan involves many items among which the superior are lesson aims. Others, such as used materials,
applied methods and techniques should be subordinated to them. The aims are things teacher wants the students to be
able to do at the end of the lesson that they couldn't do before. There are three general lesson aims: acquiring
information, developing skills and modifying attitudes.
One of the advantages of using visual aids is, that they can be used to present many different topics and many
different grammar points, for big classes and for one-to-one teaching, from the beginner to advanced level. Whether the
goal is to introduce new vocabulary or new grammar structure, to develop any of four skills, to promote interest in the
culture or just to create a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom, the visuals are useful and effective means of gaining
these aims.
According to Andrew Wright visual aids should be: 18
• easy to organise in the classroom - the effects should be worth of the effort of organising a more complicated
activity
• interesting - engaging students is important for learning process effects
• meaningful and authentic - the closer to authentic situation is the aid and the thought material, the better are
teaching results
13 Hill, Visual Impact, 15.
14 Wright, “Audio-Visual Materials”, 269.
15 Hill, Visual Impact, 2.
16 Jennifer Goodman, „Picture stories in the communicative classroom,”10 February 2006; avaliable from
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk; Internet; accessed 21 October 2007.
17 Günter Gerngross and Herbert Puchta, Pictures in Action (New York: Prentice Hall International, 1992), 6.
18 Andrew Wright, Pictures for Language Learning (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 2-3.

• giving rise to a sufficient amount of language.
Visuals are particularly effective while introducing new vocabulary. At lower levels, pictures and realia are typical
ways of presenting new language. Visual presentation of the reality becomes more complicated when a teacher wants to
introduce abstract concepts, feelings, process or actions. Then s/he has to search for other aids. Non-verbal means
however are still possible to use, but these should be rather gestures, mimes and body language than pictures.
Visual stimuli are crucial when the aim is to introduce elements of culture of the target language country. Many ideas
are understandable for students only when they can see them in the pictures, photos or in the film. It is easier to show
students for example the picture of The London Eye than to explain what it is.
Some visual aids are particulary useful for the developement of either reading, listening, speaking or writing. For
example, a picture of a person can be useful for a description or discussion, while a series of pictures might be used for
story writing.
Listening skills are the first that students aquire. In order to help pupils to develop these skills, teacher should not only
care about correct pronunciation, but should also provide learners with visual stimulus. It would help to understand and
memorize new things. Illustration can introduce students in context of the listened material and help them to concentrate
on it.
In developing reading skills pictures ensure students that their way of thinking is correct. Student more self-confident
is more brave, more active and more eager to take part in activity.
Writing and speaking as productive skills require creative abilities. All kinds of dialogues, role play, letters and stories
are easier for students, when they can use the picture as a prompt.
All these four main skills can and should be developed with the application of additional visual information. Visual aids
provide students with new ideas, introduce them in the topic of the text they read or listen to, help them to organise a
written or spoken text and inspire to express their thoughts, feelings, opinions and emotions. They stimulate learners’
imagination, awake their curiosity, allow them to foresee, deduce or interprete and support their ability to learn by
themselves. 19
3) Factors connected with lesson strategy:
Lesson strategy means the way the lesson is organized, the way a teacher wants to present the material. A full
lesson cycle includes three phases: pre-teaching phase, interactive teaching phase and post-teaching phase. Interactive
teaching phase consists of three main lesson stages. There are two models according to which teachers plan their
lessons:
• PPP – Presentation – Practice – Production
• ESA – Engage – Study – Activate
“Presentation is the beginning or introduction to learning language, and Production is the culmination of the learning
process, where a learner has become a "user" of the language as opposed to a "student" of the language. Practice is the
process that facilitates progress from the initial stage through to the final one.” 20 In ESA model each stage is similar to
the PPP stages in the same order, but it allows movement back and forth between the stages.
To stimulate pupils’ participation in using English as a second language, visual aids can be used at every stage of the
lesson. They can be applied as:
warm-ups to estabish a relaxed, inspired atmosphere,
introduction to the topic,
attention-gaining devices which help engage students,
means of presenting new vocabulary or new grammatical structure,
ways of explaining and checking of meaning,
stimuli and facilities of students’ practice or
ways teacher uses to provide a context in which the students attempt to use new language
Komorowska emphasises that visual stimuli activate “visual memory” and both brain hemispheres – the left,
responsible for language learning and the right, which is responsible for emotions. She suggests, that thanks to beneficial
effects of such stimulation, learners concentrate on the lesson and better memorize learnt material.
According to her, visual aids should be used at different lesson stages. At presentation stage they ilustrate introduced
vocabulary and grammar structures. At consolidation stage they help to eliminate mother tongue and suggest successive
ideas for expressed sentences. At the skills formation stage they are used as context, which help to understand spoken
or writen text or as a prompt to learners to express themselves. 21
Visuals of all kinds can be used in a multiplicity of ways. For certain purposes some of them are better than others.
The choice and use of such aids is very much a matter of personal taste, but teacher shoud know that all visuals need to
possess a few qualities.
19 Joanna Duda and Hanna Palicka, „Rola środków wizualnych w nauczaniu języków obcych,” Kwartalnik Nauczycielski,
June 2003 [journal on-line]; available from http://www.womczest.edu.pl; Internet; accessed 05 January 2008.
20 “PPP Basics,” TEFL Boot Camp, Free Online TEFL Training; available from http://teflbootcamp.com/Teaching-Methodsfor-TEFL.htm;
Internet; accessed 11 March 2008.
21 Komorowska, Metodyka, 56.

First of all, they must be clear and easy to understand. Too much of visual information can result in misconception
and wrong relation of one meaning to many different perceived things. Jerzy Brzeziński points that “a fussy picture” tends
to be ambiguous and as a teaching aid does not play its role effectively. 22
Secondly, they must not include anything offensive culturally or socially to anyone. It is obvious that safe, friendly
atmosphere helps students to acquire new material. If their beliefs or feelings are hurt, they may feel offended and
discouraged. A teacher should remember that choosen materials must be neutral.
Finaly, even the most interesting picture will not be linguistically useful if it does not fit the topic, the purpose and the
learners’ level or if it is not big enough to be seen with all necessary details.
3. Application of visuals – general techniques
The learning process means gaining knowledge about the world around us. Our world is dominated by visual
messages and children soon realize that there is an association between the spoken word and visual stimuli. They are
accustomed to this and expect the teaching process to be supported by visual images as well. There is a wide variety of
ways, in which these aids might be applied. There are some general techniques of using them.
3.1 Visuals in productive skills teaching
Speaking and writing are productive skills and can be promoted in similar ways. For this reason authors often discuss
them together.
Andrew Wright lists some roles for visuals in speaking and writing. These are:
- to motivate students to speak or write
- to create a context in which the language is being used
- to provide the student with information, to cue responses to questions, substitutions and sentence completions
- to guide spoken and written descriptions or narrations or dialogues
- to promote discussion and to provide reference 23
3.1.1 Visuals in speaking teaching
a. Naming
It is perhaps one of the more common things to do with visuals. Teacher holds up a certain object or its picture asking
What‘s this? and expecting a simple answer It’s a .....
It is not very communicative, but allows the teacher to check the learners’ acquisition of certain lexical items.
b. Describing
Another basic and obvious application of a picture in language teaching is using it to practice description. Student can
simply say what they can see in the picture or they can be asked to answer the questions given by the teacher or by
other students. The information represented in the picture cues answers to these questions. The answer can be less or
more complicated. It may be a single word or may require to use certain structure or tense.
c. Interpretation/Speculation
Student present their interpretations of what is represented in the picture. They use their imagination and experience
to suppose who people in the picture are, what is the place, what happened before or what will happen next. The picture
must be of such kind, that it can be interpreted in many ways. The more ambiguous it is, the better.
It facilitate the shift from the monologue to interactive skills (students exchange their opinions, feelings or points of
view). The speculation might have no final answer and the teacher must not have a fixed interpretation as well. Andrew
Wright emphasis that “it is advisable for the teacher him/herself not to allow anyone’s interpretation to ‘crush’ another’s.” 24
Instead of this, teacher can ask for the reason of such interpretation.
d. Spotting the difference
A well-known way of using a picture is spotting the differences. Students have got two or three pictures to examine.
The pictures are the same except for a few details. Learners are expected to find out these differences and describe
them.
e. Dialogues
Another version of the previous technique is to give one of these pictures to each student in the pair. Such situation
creates an ‘information gap’ between the students. If only one of them sees the picture, there is a reason for another
asking the question. Comparison is done therefore in the form of a dialogue. It can be a mini-dialogue which make use of
sentence patterns given by the teacher, or longer ones, which allow students to choose the way they express themselves.
Dialogues are often guided by the teacher. S/he provides students with cues what their roles are. David A. Hill
advises to give each pair a picture which illustrates the interaction. According to him this can solve the problem of little or
no ‘character’ put into the roles. “In this way” he writes “they have a setting in mind, and they can also use the
expressions and gestures of the people in the picture as a model.” 25 Combining verbal and non-verbal means of
communication is very important because gestures, mimes and body language are elements of the context.
22 Brzeziński, Pomoce i środki audiowizualne, 23-24.
23 Andrew Wright, 1000 Pictures (Collins, 1984), 120.
24 Ibid., 122.
25 David A. Hill, Visual Impact, 16.

f. Identification
This technique can be used in pair or group work. One student chooses one picture or real object but does not inform
others which one. His partner or the members of the group try to identify what was chosen by asking questions.
g. Picture stories
In this technique students are given a set of pictures showing a number of incidents. Learners are to put them in a
certain sequence and tell the story they present. This can be a monologue or a dialogue, so the technique can be applied
in a individual, pair or group work. Andrew Wright writes: “If there is a degree of ambiguity in the pictures, all the better.
The ambiguity provides a reason for speaking.” 26
h. Role play and simulation
In this technique students imagine they are in a specified situation (they are shopping, buying tickets, asking for
direction etc.). Pictures and real objects are used to illustrate the context of the situation, the people involved and the
subject of communication. 27 Such technique is very valuable because it prepares students to use language in real
situations, in the way native speakers do. Real-life materials and pictures bring some reality to language classes.
i. Memory games
There are many game-like activities in which information gaps or opinion gaps can be created. For example, teacher
places a selection of pictures or objects and the students have few minutes to memorize them. Then they tell as many of
the names as they can remember. Teacher can also remove pictures gradually asking what was removed.
Students can be asked also to remember a sequence of pictures used by the teacher to illustrate the story. This kind
of activities proves that images ‘stick’ in students’ minds.
j. Ordering
The students are asked to place a number of pictures in order of quality (the best painting, the best food, etc.). Then
they have to explain their judgement of the qualities. Students can carry out a class survey, gather and group the
information. They can also compare and discuss their opinions.
3.1.2 Visuals in writing teaching
Almost all techniques listed above can be used in teaching writing as well. Description, speculation or a dialogue can
be presented in written form. Student can list and discuse the differences between the pictures or write a story based on
picture sequence. There are however some techniques which apply visuals to teach writing skills only.
a. Written composition
There are many ways of supporting writing by visual stimulus. A single picture or sequence of pictures without textual
guidance is the traditional test in written composition. Teacher presents the first picture and asks students to start writing
a story based on it. Then s/he shows another picture which may not have any obvious relatinship with the previous one
and tells the students to continue their story without any break. 28
b. Gapped story
Another version of the previous technique can be showing a sequence with one picture missing and ask students to
write the story guessing the content of the missing element. Students can also be asked to complete a text with gaps by
refering to a picture. Pictures provide the source of information for completing the text.
c. Jumbled paragraphs
Students have a set of jumbled paragraphs of a certain story. Each paragraph is accompanied by an illustration.
Pictures help to order these paragraphs and create a complete composition. Although students do not write in this
technique, they learn how to build a structure of a story, what kind of beginnings and endings might be applied and how
new ideas are introduced. It is a model text, they can follow.
d. Mind maps
Generating ideas is a crucial part of the writing process. All ideas can and should be assessed and extended in the
form of mind map or a spidergram. “It is an organized display of information, which can be more easily converted into a
draft. It make also relationship of ideas more obvious, which will help students with the structure of their texts.” 29
e. Picture strip sequence
It is an interesting way of promoting storytelling and writing. Students are given a picture sequence. This can be
picture strip devised specially for language teaching, cartoon strip or photo story strip. Students are asked to write in the
speech bubbles or write out a full text. 30
f. Picture as a source of information
In this technique students can use all kind of maps, plans, brochures, theatre guides and other real objects to write for
example how to get to a certain place, to describe it, to plan holidays or to invite somebody to the theatre.
3.2 Visuals in receptive skills teaching
Listening and reading as receptive skills have many similarities. Andrew Wright lists some roles for visual materials in
teaching these skills. These are:
26 Wright, 1000 Pictures, 122.
27 Wright, Pictures, 126.
28 Wright, 1000 Pictures, 121.
29 Vanessa Steele, ”How to approach discursive writing,”; available from
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/write/discursive write.shtml; Internet; accessed 10 March 2008.
30 Wright, Pictures, 70.

- to interest the students
- to help to ‘translate’ the meaning of the gist of the text or individual items of language
- to give a context for the language and student activity
- to give cultural information
- to contribute to the search for specific information in the text and to help the student demonstrate non-verbally
that s/he has found that information and understood it. 31
3.2.1 Visuals in listening teaching
a. Demonstrating understanding
Visual aids can provide a stimulant to reinforce what the learners are hearing. Almost all techniques listed below
involve the student in matching information heard in the text with non-verbal information in the picture. Andrew Wright
writes: “A number of pictures are shown to the student and s/he must point to, thick, number, colour or complete the
drawing of the appropriate picture according to the text.” 32
Teaching young children teacher can apply techniques, which do not depend on reading and writing skills: “listen and
choose a picture”, “listen and order”, “listen and draw”, “listen and complete”, “listen and do” or “listen and point”. 33
b. Dialogues
Students are given pictures of people talking. A dialogue is played and the students have to indicate which people are
speaking. The picture creates a context to new language items. 34
c. Dictation
One student in pair has a picture and describes it. His/her partner listens to this description and completes the picture
according to the information s/he hears. S/he can be expected to draw whole picture, to add certain things or to colour it
in a certain way.
d. Ordering
The simplest way is to give students a set of pictures and describe them. Students are to number these pictures in
the order teacher describes them. This can be list of objects, peoples or actions, but students can also listen to the story
and re-order the pictures to follow it.
e. Predicting
Students have a picture or a set of pictures or real objects and have to predict the context of a listening task
beforehand. They use their knowledge of the topic and the context and are able to guess the meaning of the unknown
word or understand general idea of the recording. This is a very important skill in real-life listening situations. 35
f. ‘Listening’ to body language
Teachers usually use recorded materials to develop listening skills, but in real-life situations sound is combined with
visual signals, which helps to interpret the text and the speaker’s feelings and attitudes. To help students to develop their
listening skills teacher can use videos. A good idea is to play a video clip without the sound first, to make them aware of
messages conveyed through posture, gestures and facial expressions.
Teacher can also use his/her body language while reading for children or telling a story. It helps students to
understand more than the words can convey. 36
A technique which combines verbal and non-verbal means of communication is pantomime. Student presents certain
situation using gestures and mimes, while others “translate” gestures into words.
3.2.2 Visuals in reading teaching
Reading is not a homogenous skill. There are four reading skills, which can and should be taught separately:
- skimming (reading for gist)
- scanning (reading for specific information)
- intensive reading (reading for all the information given)
- extensive reading (dealing with a longer text as a whole)
Although David A. Hill writes that “it is very difficult to find activities in which the use of visuals alone helps further
reading skills” 37 , Wright points that visual stimulus is very useful in reading teaching and “with exercises designed to
develop particular skills in listening and reading, pictures can be used to provide either the general context or to illustrate
particular points.” 38
There are some techniques which apply visual aids to teach reading skills:
a. Matching
Students are given a number of texts and pictures. Each text has to be matched with the most appropriate picture.
b. True or false
31 Wright, 1000 Pictures, 119.
32 Ibid.
33 Komorowska, Metodyka, 136-137.
34 Wright, 1000 Pictures, 120.
35
Catherine Morley, „Listening: Top down and bottom up”; available from
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/listen/top_down.shtml; Internet; accessed 10 March 2008.
36 Nick Peachey, „Listening to body language”; available from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/listen/body
lang.shtml; Internet; accessed 10 March 2008.
37 . Hill, Visual Impact, 58.
38 Wright, Pictures, 159.

In this technique students are given a picture and a set of sentences. They have to decide which of the sentences are
true and which are false relying on the picture. A variation is to give one picture and three texts containing true and false
information. Students have to read all three texts, decide what is true and write out a true text. 39
c. Predicting
Students use a picture accompanying a text to predict what the text is about. It is a kind of pre-reading task. Before
students begin reading, pictures generate their interest, build confidence and facilitate comprehension.
d. Incomplete picture
Students are given an incomplete picture (a map for example) and a text with information about it. They read the text
and draw in the missing parts of the picture. 40
e. Sequencing
Students read a story provided by the teacher and then arrange a number of pictures to match the text.
3.3 Other applications of visuals
a. Conveying meaning
Some pictures seem to illustrate an object or an action. They are usually very simple and with minimum background.
Such pictures seem to be ideal for explaining the meaning of words, but this is not the only way of introducing new
vocabulary with the application of visual aids.
Teacher can present a word by pointing to an object. Real objects make it possible to teach not only nouns but also
other parts of speech. They can be touched and manipulated, which provide possibility to introduce new adjectives and
verbs.
Teacher can also use his/her body language to illustrate the meaning of a word through gestures and mimes.
New words can be also introduced by giving them graphical forms which help memorize them. In this technique
students try to give the word a shape which can be easily associated with its meaning.
Good idea is also drawing a diagram. Students are provided with or draw simple sketch or a picture of certain object
(for example “a car” or “a men”). They name each element of the picture or number them and make a list of words used to
name these elements. Such diagram can be used as a kind of picture dictionary.
An interesting way of explaining the meaning of word families is drawing ‘word thermometers’. “These are useful for
indicating degree in e.g. size, speed, age, distance, emotion. Students are given a list of words in jumbled order and they
have to place these words in the correct place on the thermometer.” 41
b. Grammar teaching
Andrew Wright writes that “at some stage in T/L sequence the teacher will probably want the learner to become
consciously aware of the grammatical principle behind the new language being learnt.” 42 Visuals help there in many ways.
Wright provides an example of visual material used for a statement of principle. There are two pictures of a cat. In the first
one the cat is eating a fish, in the second one there is evidence that the cat has eaten the fish. These pictures are
prepared in such way, that they direct the students’ attention and present the differences between the tenses. 43
In tense teaching very common is application of a time line. Timelines are used to explain language in the more
universal form of pictures, diagrams and symbols. They enable the communication of sophisticated concepts to the
lowest level of learner.
Visuals are also very useful in drilling. Practising description, comparing pictures, naming, asking the questions and
answering them students are using certain tenses or grammar structures, either in a written or spoken form.
c. Rising awareness of phonology
Visuals can be used to help students with their pronunciation, intonation and accent.
Teacher prepares minimal pairs of words which can be presented visually. Then s/he presents these words
pronouncing them carefully one by one. Students’ task is to show the picture presenting the word teacher is pronouncing
at the moment.
While practicing intonation and stress teacher can also present it visually. S/he uses for example squares instead of
syllables, where the biggest one means syllable stressed. Such technique is useful also to teach whole sentence melody
and intonation. Teacher can present rising and falling intonation using rising and falling indicators or gestures of his/her
hand. 44
d. Promoting interest in culture
Foreign language is strongly connected with the culture of people who use it. For this reason a language teacher
should provide the students with aids which would make this culture more familiar.
There are many objects, customs, habits, places and traditions which are alien to a language learner. To make the
meaning clearer, teacher can use visual images to support the explanation. Visuals and real objects add to the
atmosphere and remind students that the subject has a great deal to do with life outside the classroom. These can be
pictures, photos, magazines, post cards, films, brochures and other target-culture visuals. Thanks to them lesson is more
interesting and the students aware of cultural differences and similarities are more involved in target language learning.
39 Ibid., 165-166.
40 Ibid.,163.
41 Alan Matthews, Mary Spratt and Les Dangerfield, At The Chalkface. Practical Techniques in Language Teaching
(Walton-on-Thames Surrey: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1991), 186.
42 Wright, “Audio-Visual Materials”, 265.
43 Ibid.
44 Komorowska, Metodyka, 109-110.

e. Testing
Visual aids are used also as a stimulus during oral testing. David A Hill points that they “make an excellent focus and
starting point for discussion in oral examination.” 45 This type of technique, according to him, allows the examiner to
assess the student’s “ability in the skills of general description, detailed description, self-expression, prediction, and their
breadth of vocabulary.” 46
The examples of the techniques based on visual aids given above can not cover all possibilities. There is wide variety
of application of these aids provided in methodological literature, but teachers themselves can also ‘invent’ their own
ways of using them.
Some of these techniques are more appropriate for teaching young children than others, but generally all of them can
be applied to some extent. Rich possibilities they give, make visuals an important devices of the foreign language
teaching process.
Conclusion
The process of teaching foreign language to young learners is very demanding. Teacher takes heavy responsibility to
make them interested and involved in language learning. To generate their motivation and make learning easier and more
pleasant s/he applies wide range of methods, techniques and teaching aids searching for those most effective.
The main aim of this work was to present the advantages of visual aids in teaching English to children aged 10-12
years. I presented therefore kinds of visuals used in language teaching, factors determining their choice and main
techniques based on visuals application. By emphasing the benefits these aids give, I tried to encourage the English
language teachers to use them in their everyday work.
Visual stimuli are effective means of transferring information. In addition to this they help motivate and activate
students, keep their attention, create a relaxed atmosphere and provide a context in which the students use new
language. Visuals are not simply teaching aids. They are chunks of real world brought to the classroom to make using
foreign language meaningful.
The present work is not an exhaustive presentation of the subject. However, it provides some useful information
about visual aids and possibilities of their application in teaching English to young learners. I strongly believe that
advantages they give are worth of cost, time and effort they require.
45 Hill, Visual Impact, 16.
46 Ibid., 17.