Importance of Visual Aids in Language Teaching for Students

Question: Write about theImportance of Visual Aids in Language Teaching for Students. Answer: It is necessary for a teacher to have access to a wide range of resources available in the classroom for the development of the students as a result of the learning process. These resources need to be pictures or visual representations so that the students can understand the topics which they learn in class even better. The things which people see in their daily lives have a huge amount of significance in influencing and providing suitable knowledge. The focus needs to be given on providing the students a reason for performing different acts. The visual elements are in this way, a very good reason for motivation of the students for different unknown language interaction. This use is by means of meaningful elements which call their attention and also provide them with the motivation to use the language in different ways. These actions utilizing several skills are helpful in the classroom in comparison to the others in which there is only one possible task for the students. Visual aids not only help putting in the new language out for the students, but also help remind the students of the tongue they have learned as the class go on. In case the students make mistakes, they can be redirected to the visual aid in order to show them where they can go wrong and do it as earlier. The class is made more dynamic and fun by the use of visual aids (Al Mamun). Visual aids help the students in understanding and grasping concepts more effectively. Whenever a concept is presented using a visual aid, the students are provided something with which they can associate the concepts which they have learned. Afterwards if they need to recall it, they only need to use the image they have used (Tomlinson). The visual aids also assist in presenting visibly and smoothly without any sort of complications or tangents. The different visual aids available to the teacher are discussed as follows: Pictures: Pictures are major way for presenting many nouns, adjectives and simple patterns of a sentence. In case a textbook is being used in class, the pictures need to be utilized to make the lessons better. The younger students make them understand the concepts better. It is necessary to call the students and attain their feedback at certain times to make sure what they actually feel. There are certain cases in which realia which are actually pictures from newspapers or magazines, which help understand the topic discussed in class better. There are certain ways in which pictures can be incorporated in the classroom teaching. Personal pictures can be used or the power points or games can be used. This will make it even more memorable and worthwhile for the students and the words can stick much easily (Fidanboylu). In certain cases if the pictures of celebrities who are famous or followed ardently are given in the presentations or games, the students are bound to perk up and the possibility of putting up their attention is even more (Cruz and Stephen). In cases where relevant or sufficient solutions are not available simple figures can be drawn like simple drawings or stick figures. These stick figures take only a moment to draw and can be used to teach almost anything and everything (Pinter). One particular thing that pictures are not very helpful in introducing is that of grammatical patterns. Particularly anything beyond the present simple or the present continuous tenses are not being explained well. Timelines are a major way of showing tenses and time expressions. In order to teach the differences between the different words timelines are crucial (Fidanboylu). Charts and graphs are important pictorial representations for explaining lessons pertaining to finances and statistics or economics majorly. The charts are also utilized for nouns, adjectives adverbs and so on. FluentU is a super effective category of aid that is also an English immersion platform. It has a huge collection of authentic English videos, news, inspiring talks and also personalized learning lessons. It also has a huge collection of authentic English videos which people watch regularly. So these can be incorporated in the classroom for interaction and also to make the classes interesting (Cruz and Stephen). The videos are categorized by skill level and are also clearly annotated for the students. They will be able to add then to their vocabulary lists. The words also come with an in-context definition and sentences which are actually example. There are also no chances of students being faced with harder contents (Madhuri). Wall chart is also an effective pictorial or visual aid which is beneficial for the purpose of teaching. It is basically a chart on which all the details of the class are discussed and provided clearly. It is a good form of a representation which the students can refer to at any form of representation (Asokhia). A flashcard is a nature of card where some visual element appears which appears to be a picture or photograph or text. These might be large enough for the students to see and use. Several activities can also be conducted along with the flashcards (Pinter). Another visual aid that can be used is that of the overhead projector. It can be problematic to have the object in class but it is extremely useful especially in large classes as the teacher can face the students as he or she is using the slide to write or is explaining anything which is appearing on it (Richards and Theodore). It is extremely useful as the teacher does not need to spend time writing things on the blackboard as everything on the slide. In case some other explanations are required they can be written in the slide or in the blackboard. The overhead projector needs to be special or difficult preparation. The simple act can be used to make many creative activities in which the students can guess what the teacher is explaining to them. The blackboard use is also one of the most important visual aids. It is something which an integral part of any classroom and can be utilized for several purposes without any sort of specific preparation. It helps in making things clearer for the class and needs to be utilized to explain anything clearly to the students (Tomlinson). Utilizing the visual aids in the procedure of understanding encourages the students to respond to the activity in any way or even for listening to it. The issue here is to assist the learners to give answers as they are real in everyday communication scenarios. The abilities of the students vary but for those who are slow learners, the visual aids prove to be really helpful. Different aids are useful for different learners. Videos can be used for learners, group learners can be given flashcards or realia and so on. In conclusion the importance of teaching through visual aids cannot be underestimated and teachers need to stay updated with new technology. The teacher needs to apply new aids according to the needs of her classroom. The visual aids motivates the students and reinforces the learned language. References: Al Mamun, Md.Effectiveness of audio-visual aids in language teaching in tertiary level. Diss. BRAC University, 2014. Asokhia, M. O. "Improvisation/teaching aids: Aid to effective teaching of English language."International Education Science1.2 (2009): 79-85. Cruz, Brbara C., and Stephen J. Thornton.Teaching social studies to English language learners. Routledge, 2013. Fidanboylu, Kubra. "Teaching Language with Visual Aids." (2014). Madhuri, J. Naga. "Use Of Audio Visual Aids In Teaching And Speaking."Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL) A Peer Reviewed International Journal-https://www. rjelal. com1.3 (2011). Pinter, Annamaria.Teaching young language learners. Oxford University Press, 2017. Richards, Jack C., and Theodore S. Rodgers.Approaches and methods in language teaching. Cambridge university press, 2014. Tomlinson, Brian. "Materials development for language learning and teaching."Language teaching45.2 (2012): 143-179.