ELTWeekly Issue#12, Subscriber space: Article by Nikunj Lad, part 2

Use of Audio-Visual Aids in Teaching English, Part 1

By Nikunj Lad

 

Click here to read the part 1 of this article.

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF THE TEACHING AIDS

As we all that, each and every coin, situation, object, person and thing has two sides good and bad. In the same way, the use of audio-visual aids has advantage and disadvantages. But much depends upon the classroom teacher, the selection of the teaching aid, its efficient handling ,its appropriate use at the right moment are points to be keep in the mind. 

ADVANTAGES

– For the teacher they are friends in need.

– They bring the whole world in the classroom and impart knowledge of English among trainees, teachers and students.

– They can be used at all levels of education.

-Teacher can prepare as well as create materials according to the needs of the students.         

– They stimulate the pupil’s interest and make teaching very effective.

– They make difficult points easy and the pupils are able to grasp the subject matter easily.

– The teacher can avoid the use of another language and give audio as well as visual impression to the pupils.

– The teacher can lessen the burden as s/he has to talk/discus/speak less in the classroom.

– The teacher can present and demonstrate situations, Objects and actions in the classroom.

– They create curiosity among the students and at the time students become more attentive.

– They can never substitute the teacher but can positively supplement the teacher’s classroom activities.

DISADVANTAGES

– They need the mechanical facilities in particular education institute.

– The teacher’ knowledge about the various teaching aids must be there.

– They need strong preparation while teaching in the classroom. In other words we can say that they require pre – preparation strongly on teacher’s side.

– The teacher can not teach entire book so s/he has to choose some important points.

– Sometimes they can break the classroom atmosphere.

Though, there are some disadvantages of the use of audio visual aids, the teacher can not neglect or can’t afford to neglect the use of audio visual aids because they are more useful than any other ways of teaching in the classroom.

VARIOUS AUDIO VISUAL AIDS

RADIO

Radio is the oldest audio aid and its cost is so normal that each and every educational institute meet the expense of it. The radio can be used in the teaching of:

– Pronunciation, stress, rhythm and intonation.

– Grammatical patterns like (sentence structures, different tenses structures)

– Reading comprehension.

– Recitation of poetry.

– Listening of stories, letters, etc on radio enhance listening skill which is foundation skill of language.

It appeals to the ears only; there is no visual appeal so sometimes this medium becomes monotonous. 

TAPE RECORDER

It covers many aims and purposes of language. It records the speech of a speaker and the same speech can be played back. Even Students can record their own speech and listen at convenient time and place and find out their mistakes & even make their speech & pronunciation correct. That is why a tape-recorder is preferred to a radio. It would be beneficial if both a radio and a tape recorder are kept in a language laboratory. It is really a useful device to motivate pupils in developing correct speech habits. 

BLACKBOARD

Can you image a classroom without a blackboard? It is the easiest available aid. For one or the other reason the mechanical devices fail. The verbal aids are not found to be sufficient. Under these circumstances, the blackboard is the ever ready tool for the classroom operations. It is the constant companion and never failing friend of the teacher. The teacher can exploit the blackboard for much reason like:

– S/he can write explanations of words, phrases, tense, etc.

– S/he may draw a picture and explain the situation.

The blackboard work reflects the abilities of the teacher. 

PICTURES

Today we are living in the 21st century which is consider an age of technology. There are many sources from which we can collect pictures. Internet is mines of pictures where each and every type of pictures is easy to acess. They have great educative value and at the same time easily available. According to Ruskin,” a room without pictures is like a house without windows.

– The pictures will help the teacher in enriching and illustrating the conversations and thus make the teaching successful and fruitful.

– The pictures create and establish a direct link between object and the concepts conveyed by them so students can understand the matter very well.

– Vocabulary can be taught very effectively by pictures.

– Unnecessary verbal explanations can be safely avoided.

– The use of pictures is necessary at all the stages, particularly at the early and middle stages.

Pictures can be used by various ways;

– They can be used for the introductory talk of the lesson. 

– They can be used for aesthetic training. 

FLANNEL BOARD 

This is a new aid which is origin of Great Britain & the U.S.A.it is called a flannel board because it is a board which is covered with felt or flannel of suitable colour .it is very helpful in teacher words, stories and oral composition.

The teacher should make sure that the pictures to be displayed on the board are attractive and sufficiently large to be clearly seen by all who are looking. 

FLASH CARDS

Flash cards are like playing cards. They can be 15 inches long and 2 or 3 inches wide. They are made of soft paper, on them pictures of objects and action with illustrative words written below them. For example, a card has picture of parrot and the word parrot is written below the picture. 

MODELS: STATIC & WORKING MODEL

The teacher can use different models while teaching in the classroom. When the teacher is not able to present the real objects s/he can use models. For example teacher cannot bring factory in the classroom. So in such situation, by showing the model of a factory, his/er purpose can be served. Today working models are easily & teachers can use very effectively.

But here, the teacher should show only good models which are exact and accurate. They should never give a wrong impression to the pupil. So they must be a true of the original. 

CHARTS

Charts convey ideas more effectively. They give exact visualization of the subject matter. The teacher can prepare the chart to present different grammatical structures, drilling material, etc. it can be written or drawn on thick paper sheet. But here it is necessary for the teacher to see that charts are clear and intelligible. Moreover, they should fit the age and standard of the class for which they are used.

FILMSTRIPS

Filmstrips can be used for teaching sentences, oral & written composition and life of people in other countries. Some of the lessons can be conveniently illustrated with their help. While teaching a lesson, the teacher can project relating to it and give an explanation. 

LANGUAGE LABORATORY

Like flannel board Language Laboratory is a recent innovation.A.S.Hays says in his book, Language Facilities,” a

Language Laboratory is a class room containing equipment designed & arranged to make foreign language learning more effective than is usually possible without it.” 

As far as possible, a Language Laboratory should be in every school. Its reason is that it has many advantages. Referring to them A.L.Kohil writes; Firsly it relives the teacher from the task of providing linguistic models by themselves. Secondly, in a single period each student has enough listening & speaking practice. Thirdly, each student can work on his own pace. Fourthly, the student can make self correction by listening to the correct responses on the tape. 

ELECTRONIC/DIGITAL DICTIONARY

From many years students,teachers,lectueres, etc have been using big dictionaries with much weight. Sometimes it is very monotonous & hard to find out word meaning. But now-a-days new device is introduced by U.K. which is known as electronic/digital dictionary. It looks like small calculator. But here I would like to mention that this new device is much in practice. It provides various types information’s like word meaning,antonyms,synonyms.sentence examples, phrasal verbs idioms.expressions,pronunciation,etc. it has limited information’s which may lead students to incomplete meaning.

TELEVISION

Television is the common instrument which we find in each & every home. Channels like B.B.C., N.D.T.V.India, CNBC, DISCOVEY, ETC help to cultivate speaking and listening skills. The educational programmes are also telecast from respective centres. Now –a days institute like IGNOU giving lot of maths, science, language programmes on television, students can learn so many things.  

COMPUTER 

Computer is a more interactive aid compared with others, such as tape recorder, film projectors, and such frequent utensils – marker and white board. Books and recording can tell a student what the rules are and what the right solutions are, but they cannot analyze the specific mistakes the student has made and act in response in a comportment which leads him not only correct solution The computer may act as a teacher or tutor, providing material, guiding a student how to learn it, and giving more information and explanations. In teaching grammar computers play a much more relevant role. The enormous amount of specific software that has been created for learning English includes the possibility of teaching and training the skill of speaking and listening. Many other advantages of computer as a teaching aid are also flexibility for the students so they can work at their own speed, at the time that is best for them. Another significant benefit obtained from computer is that it can be a very affective and efficient reference book. It can also be utilized to communicate visually with students. So it is imperative that the computer as a teaching aid be designed well from the start. Computer must bridge different learning styles to be fully effective; therefore, it should offer different types of examples and ways to solve the problems. Instructors and students using and web-based learning must be sure to give frequent feedback.  

LINGUAPONE

It is very much like a gramophone. It is of great utility in teaching English pronunciation. The pronunciation and accent of the English teachers are awfully defective. In comparison to them, the records of the standard speakers prove far more efficacious for teaching English pronunciation. They train the ears of the pupils and enable them to produce accurate sounds. They can be of great help to teachers themselves, who can improve their own pronunciation. Besides teaching correct pronunciation, linguaphones are used to teach grammatical structures, poetry reading, etc.

CONCLUSION 

Language, so far as we know, is something specific to humans, that is to say it is the basic capacity that distinguishes humans from all other living beings. Teaching aids play important role in teaching English but here I would like to mention that Indian Schools are not in a position to make use of these aids because they have no fund s at their command. Under these circumstances, only one option is open to them. They should make an efforts to get money from the Government. 

Reference Book:

Teaching of English in India by P.D.Pathak