Usage of visual and voiced materials in English Language Teaching!

The effect of visual materials in language learning is quite important. Students can remember and keep the information in their long term memory by consuming visual and voiced material while learning a foreign language. ‘We live in a world where media are omnipresent. An increasing number of people spend a great deal of time watching television,reading newspapers and magazines,playing records and listening to the radio...The school and the family share the responsibility of preparing the young person living in a world of powerful images,words and sounds.’(UNESCO, 1982) Since media is common source, it is easy and useful to use these kind of materials in education. And it is very useful especially in foreign language education. Because foreign language students can have fun while learning, also it may help to develop students pronunciation and listening skills and may lead to a fluent language speaking. ‘Films are invaluable teaching resources for many reasons. They present colloquial English in real life contexts rather than artificial situations, and they expose students to a wide range of native speakers, each with their own slang, reduced speech, stress, accents, and dialects.’ (King,2010) Another benefit of using visual materials in foreign language education is motivation. Students may observe their own growth in their speaking and listening skills. Their accents, speech, pronunciation skills may improve and by observing that improvement, students may feel more confident and more motivated and this increase in their motivation may urge them to study more. ’People learn through reading, and reading about interesting new things in one’s interest subject, undoubtedly helps motivation.’(Sanderson, 2002)’ Using visual materials may also be more efficient than traditional education techniques. It may save both teachers and students time and effort, hence it contributes the process of learning and teaching a foreign language more productive, satisfactory, and effective. To sum it up, visual and voiced materials are beneficial sources in language education, because they are easy to find and use, they increases students verbal and listening skills, expand students confidence and motivation, and these materials are efficient compared to other methods.’Video is seen as an important resource for use in the EFL/ESL classroom because it is dynamic,immediate and accessible.’ (Lonergan in Walker, 1997)

REFERENCES

UNESCO Declaration of Media Education, Grunwald, FRG, January 1982

Sanderson, Paul, “Using Newspapers in the Classroom”, (2002), CUP

Tafani, Vilma, “Teaching English Through Mass Media”, (2009), Acta Didactica Napocensia Volume 2 Number 1.

King, Jane, “Using DVD Feature Films in the EFL Classrooms”, (2010), Computer Assisted Laguage Learning(Online)