AUDIO-VISUAL AIDS IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH
In teaching, the teacher conveys some concepts to students When to convey the concepts more efficiently and successfully to students, the help of some verbal-visual material things is taken, those things are called audio-visual aids. The rationale is to appeal to eyes and ears of pupils and make the learning easy as well as permanent. It is the era of audio-visual aids in Education. Prof. C. S. Bhandari opines, "Our aim of teaching English is to import certain skills without making the process of teaching and learning monotonous." Here audio-visual aids come as rescue. Although a teacher is the best audio-visual aid, he does need some other audio- visual aids to supplement him. These aids help him in imparting good instruction. F. W. Noel is right when he says, "Good instruction is the foundation of any educational programme. Audio- visual training aids are a component part of that foundation." Hence, an English teacher should know about the various audio-visual aids he can use successfully in teaching English.
Types of Audio-Visual Aids :
The different types of audio-visual aids can put into three categories:
(a) Audio Aids: All those materials which function as aids by appealing to the ears only are called audio aids. They are usually used to form speech habit.
The following are the main audio aids :
1. Gramophone, Linguaphone and Headphone
2. Tape-recorder.
3. Radio
(b) Visual Aids: Material aids which appeal only to eyes are called visual aids. Some visual aids are:
4. Text-book
5. Black-board.
6. Flannel-board
7. Flash-cards
8. Pictures
9. Charts maps. figures and models
10. Slides and films strips.
11. Epidiascope.
(c) Audio-Visual Aids: These are the aids which appeal to both ears and eyes. These aids are expensive. The following are included in it:
12. Film
13. Television
The use of all these aids in teaching English is described in the following lines
1. Gramophone, Linguaphone and Headphone:
These aids are very useful in teaching students to speak English and correct pronunciation. The linguaphones assist in learning English sounds. Gramophones and linguaphones are cheaper than other audio aids. In them, records are available with booklets. They repeat speech patterns with correct pronunciation, intonation etc. over and over again. The material is carefully selected and graded. One record is worth three complete lessons. Linguaphones are also used to teach grammatical structure, poetry, usage, etc. Such records can be available from the English Language Teaching Institute, Allahabad. The English teacher should know the technique of stopping and restarting the records. The headphones solve the problem of dealing with individual students. With this he can attend each student.
2. Tape-recorder:
It is a costly aid. It records the words uttered by a speaker. Those words can be reproduced later on as many times as desired. In teaching English, it can be used for the following purposes :-
(a) Speech-correction.
(b) Reading a talk, story, play, poetry, pronunciation of different word, etc.
(c) Reading improvement
(d) Musical appriciation.
(e) Sound knowledge.
(f) Teacher's comments on film strips and slides etc.
Tape-recorders should be used for well selected material and it should be presented stage by stage. But the teacher must know that by writing them off and on, he can spoil the effect. Pointing towards the importance of gramophone and tape-recorder, S. R. Ingram has said, "If used intelligently, the gramophone and the tape-recorder can help the teacher to provide a wider range of linguistic experience, variety in material and style and a real stimulus to individual effort."
3. Radio:
Radio is a useful aid in language learning, since comprehensive courses in language learning are presented by radio. It can prove more useful by:
(i) The co-operation between educational and broadcasting authorities.
(ii) Recording radio broadcasts.
(iii) Making the broadcasting programme known to pupils
(iv) Adjusting the periods of English with the broadcast.
The following are the merits of radio as an aid :-
(i) It helps in developing comprehension by listening.
(ii) It gives the correct spoken language.
(iii) It presents the lectures of outstanding speakers.
(iv) It can be used inside as well as outside the class-room.
(v) It is cheaper.
But the following are the main demerits of radio :-
(i) Repetition is not possible.
(ii) Adjustment between English periods and broadcasting time becomes very difficult.
(iii) Children sometimes find it uninteresting due to impersonal touch.
4. Text-book:
It is an aid as well as a method. In olden days, too, books served as aids. These days, text-books are according to the curriculum prescribed for a class. A text book should have the following qualities:-
(i) The subject-matter should be based on students' liking and interest.
(ii) The matter should be graded properly.
(iii) The subject-matter should be practical.
(iv) Books should be attractive and illustrative.
(v) These should cover the objectives of teaching English.
(vi) At the end, sufficient exercises should be given
(vii) They should be well printed but not costly.
5. Black-board:
It is the cheapest aid which can be handled easily. Almost in every school, in every class, there are black-boards. They are of different types such as wall, standing, reversible. The boards should be in light green colour which, soothes eyes. This aid can be used for the following purposes in English teaching :-
(i) For exposition and explanation of words.
(ii) For teaching structures.
(iii) For teaching grammatical forms.
(iv) For teaching writing.
(v) For writing sentences, answers and compositions.
(vi) For drawing figures and pictures.
(vii) Finally, for testing.
The teacher should follow the following suggestions in order to make the black-board a useful aid -
(i) The board should be put in a correct place. Every student of the class should be in a position to see it.
(ii) The teacher should write in straight lines with agreeable space
(iii) Coloured chalks should be used for drawing sketches and pictures
(iv) The black-board writing should be legible.
(v) While writing on the board, some attention should be given to the class
(vi) The board should be cleaned before leaving the class.
(vii) Too much use should be avoided.
6. Flannel-board:
It is also called a flannelgraph or felt-board. It can be made easily A board of plywood is covered with flannel or felt. The board should be 60 cm x 90 cm. Figures, pictures, pieces of papers etc. with sand paper on their backs can be stuck to it. They can be easily removed. It can be used for:
(i) Teaching reading.
(ii) Teaching story
(iii) Teaching word and sentence
(iv) Teaching oral composition.
As the teaching proceeds, pictures, figures, words and sentences written on pieces of paper are demonstrated by the teacher one by one on the flannel-board.
7. Flash-cards:
Flash-cards are like playing-cards or post- cards. They can be 15 inches long and 2 or 3 inches wide. They are made of soft thick papers. On them, pictures are made with illustrative words or sentences written below them. They can also help in mastering correct word order and speech habits.
8. Pictures:
These are widely used and are very useful aids in teaching English. There is an old Chinese saying, "A picture is worth ten thousand words." According to Ruskin, "A room without pictures is like a house without windows." In teaching English, pictures of schools, shop, market, fair, railway station, post-office, river, mountain, man, boys, girls, festivals and picturesque scenes can be shown to the class for teaching:
(i) vocabulary
(ii) structures
(iii) com- position and
(iv) dramatization.
Pictures can be of these kinds :
(a) Picture-postcards
(b) Snap-shots
(c) Cutouts from newspapers and periodicals and
(d) Wall pictures.
Advantages of Pictures Some of various advantages of pictures in English teaching are as follows:
(i) They are useful in Direct Method. Pupils can easily form an association between the word and its meaning.
(ii) The help in developing aesthetic sense.
(iii) They also help in developing observation and imagining powers of students
(iv) They are the means of giving concrete form to abstract things.
(V) They are based on psychological principle of interest,
Some Suggestions
Following are some suggestions to make pictures more useful as a teaching aid
(i) They should not be overused.
(ii) They should be put at a place from where pupil can see them.
(iii) Pictures should be bright and colourful.
(iv) They should be clear contrast of light, colour and out- line with a lot of life and movement in the scenes.
(v) They should have a clear bearing over the lesson.
9. Figures, Charts, Maps, and Models:
Within figures come sketches and diagrams Figures and charts are valuable aids. They are neither costly nor difficult to handle. The teacher can draw them on the board or on paper. They supplement the work of pictures. Things which cannot be taught with pictures and are not clear through a picture can be taught by figures and charts Vocabulary, grammar, stories, sentence structures can be taught through them. Maps can be used in teaching about cities, countries, rivers, mountains, oceans, seas, etc. Models are used to give an illusion of reality. They are made of clay, plastic, cardboard, paper, rubber word etc. They can facilitate Direct Method According to F. G French, "We can use the models for telling stories, for conversation. and for making the abstract language feel."
10. Slides and Filmstrips Slides and filmstrips are other useful aids for showing objects and actions. Slides are single, whereas filmstrips exhibit a series in a compact and economical form. They can prove efficient in teaching (1) sentence structure (i) oral and written composition of life, society and culture of peoples of different countries and (iv) stories. The educational slides are available from the Directorate of Extension, Programmes for Secondary Education, New Delhi and foreign embassies.
11. Epidiascope:
It is an easily operating apparatus which projects the enlarged images of objects whether opaque or not by reflection on to a screen or wall. It can be used for
(i) teaching composition, calligraphy, structures, story,
(ii) revising lesson and
(iii) projecting maps, pictures, figures charts, pages from book, extracts, solid objects.
Its advantages are:
(i) There is no need of enlarging pictures, etc
(ii) Small pictures can be easily stored than large ones
(iii) Teaching becomes interesting.
12. Film:
Film is an expensive but very useful aid. It appeals not only to eyes cars, but also emotions. A film is full of colour, movement and new ideas. For educational purpose, they can be used for:
(i) to teach phonetics and pronunciation,
(ii) to show English stories, plays and novels,
(iii) to acquaint pupils with the life, custom and culture of different countries,
(iv) to acquaint them with wild life and
(v) to teach them through the lives of great people.
13. Television:
Television is an expensive aid. It appeals to both ears and eyes. It has all the advantages of a radio plus the advantages of visual pictures. It is available only at some privileged schools these days. It can be used for all those purpose in English teaching for which a radio is used.
Advantages of Audio-Visual Aids :
(i) They create interest for learning in students.
(ii) They are time saving, because they explain the idea easily and precisely.
(iii) By their use, the burden of the teacher is reduced.
(iv) The teacher can improve his own English by aural aids, students.
(v) They are the sources of a variety of experiences for
(vi) They are bases of Direct Method.
(vii) English is a difficult language. Audio-visual aids make learning English easy.
(viii) A good English teaching is possible only in a English environment. Audio-visual aids help in creating that type of environment
Limitations of Audio-Visual Aids
(i) Some aids such as television are costly and cannot be afforded by many schools.
(ii) They give an impersonal effect which is not mach effective
(iii) The teachers are required to know the technical skill handle them.
(iv) Some teachers overuse them.
Some Suggestions:
(i) They should be used only where they are needed. Overuse should always be avoided.
(ii) Teachers should use the cheaper ands efficiently, if y ones cannot be procured.
(iii) When the purpose is fulfilled, they should be removal.
(iv) They should be according to the age and harmonal development of students,
