CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
In this chapter shows the
strategies of using the pictures for teaching EFL/ESL students. Also it
analyzes the effective of using the pictures in classroom, how does it affect
for EFL/ ESL learners. For helping the students to get the meaning without
translate the first language. Teachers feel confidence to present the lesson by
using the pictures, students learn fast and interesting. It is also challenged
the students want learn more and want know more because they understand the
concept. The literature review in this chapter, thus, focuses on nine important
areas. First, it discuss about the effectiveness of pictorial for EFL/ESL
students; second, the reason of use picture in classroom; third, it makes students
want to learn, teacher want to teach; fourth the way to help to storytelling; fifth,
it presents the motivation; sixth learning strategies; seventh, improve
vocabulary, eight using flash cards; the last point is long term memory.
2.1. The effectiveness of
pictorial for EFL/ESL
Recently,
picture has been one of the most actively researched topics in second language
and foreign language. EFL/ESL due mainly to impact of the effectiveness for
learner's interest wants to use it in their study. According to David Ausubel
(1918), Most of the time, successful learning is achieved through a process of
teaching that leads to meaningful reception learning. Pictures contain a lot of
meaning, so learner is interested because they see the words next to the
pictures leads them to pay attention to learn in class. When new materials is
linked with pre-existing knowledge and concept, it is linked to the old
information ( David Ausubel, 1918). Pure discovery method requires an excessive
amount of learning time. There is little evidence that information is
remembered for longer or that knowledge transfers to other tasks. ( David
Aububel, 1018). For more advanced English-Language
Learners, using photos can be a good way to help them learn about Bloom's
Taxonomy. As Hill
(1990) pointed out, “the standard classroom” is usually not a very suitable
environment for learning languages. That is why teachers search for various aids
and stimuli to improve this situation. Pictures are one of these valuable aids.
They bring “images of reality into the unnatural world of the language
classroom.” (Hill1990: 1) Pictures bring not only images of reality, but can
also function as a fun element
in the class. Sometimes it is surprising,
how pictures may change a lesson, even if only employed in additional exercises
or just to create the atmosphere. Pictures meet with a wide range of use not
only in acquiring vocabulary, but also in many other aspects of foreign
language teaching. Wright (1990: 4-6) demonstrated this fact on an example,
where he used one compiled picture and illustrated the possibility of use in
five very different language areas. His example shows employing pictures in
teaching structure, vocabulary, functions, situations and all four skills.
Furthermore he pointed out that “potential
of pictures is so great that only a taste of their full potential can be given”
in his book. (Wright 1990: 6) To be more specific, beside lessons where
pictures are in the main focus, they might be used just as a “stimulus for
writing and discussion, as an illustration of something being read or talked about,
as background to a topic and so on” (Hill 1990: 2) However, “pictures have
their limitations too”. (McCarthy 1992: 115) For example in teaching
vocabulary, pictures are not suitable or sufficient for demonstrating the
meaning of all words. (McCarthy 1992: 115; Thornbury 2004: 81) It is hard to illustrate
the meaning of some words, especially the abstract ones such as ‘opinion’ or ‘impact’.
Therefore, in some cases, other tools are used to demonstrate the meaning (see chapter
2.2 of the Theoretical Part), or alternatively pictures might be supplemented
by other tools. There are many reasons for using pictures in language teaching.
As Wright (1990: 2) pointed out, they are motivating and draw learners’
attention. This fact will be repeatedly demonstrated in the Practical Part of
this thesis. Furthermore, Wright (1990:2) refers to the fact that they provide
a sense of the context of the language and give a specific reference point or
stimulus. Pictures, being suitable for any group of learners independently on
age or level, can be used in lots of various ways. As Hill (1992: 2) stated,
“What is done is limited16 only by the preparation time available, the visuals
to hand and the imagination of the individual teacher.” Hill (1990: 1) listed
several advantages of pictures, such as availability (one can get them in any
magazines, on the internet, etc.); they are cheap, often free; they are personal
(teacher selects them); flexibility - easily kept, useful for various types of activities
(drilling, comparing, etc.), they are “always fresh and different”, which means
they come in a variety of formats and styles and moreover the learner often
wonders
what comes next. (Hill 1990: 1) From my
experience, learners always pay attention and are curious about what are they
going to do with the pictures shown. However, there is always a downside: it
can be quite time consuming to find the right pictures for a specific type of
activity for a beginning teacher who lacks his or her own collection. Still on
the whole, this drawback
is greatly outweighed by the above-mentioned
pros. Furthermore, when the collection of pictures is once made, it can serve
for a long time. Another matter is the question of how to use pictures
effectively. It counts as general methodological knowledge that in learning
languages, students should perceive the input through as many channels as
possible. Therefore it is important to include variety of stimuli in teaching.
It is important to find a balance and not to use pictures or
visuals only but to combine them with other
techniques and different types of stimuli (movement, verbal stimuli, sound,
etc). Moreover, pictures used for demonstration of the meaning should be
repeatedly connected with the spoken and subsequently also written form of the
word or chunk of language.
2.2. The
reason of use picture in classroom
There
are various types of pictures to be used for language learning, practicing and
organizing. They differ regarding their size, form and origin, which make them
fit for a number of activities depending on their type. For several reasons,
they help students remember the words better and they help the teacher to make
the lesson more interesting and beneficial. Canning-Wilson, Using
Pictures in the EFL/ESL
Classroom reproductions, or anything that helps one "
see" an immediate meanings. Visual input can also come in the form of
signs or symbols. Moreover, these visuals can come in concrete and recognizable
forms or as abstract images that may or may not indicate relationships. Research
has shown that people prefer illustrations that are colored, contain a story,
related to previous experiences and that can be associated with places,
objects, persons, events or animals for which they are familiar. In addition,
research has also demonstrated that if a visual stimulus is suddenly terminated
that it remains available in the conscious system only for about a second in
detail. Furthermore, it has been suggested that when a visual is flashed with
time for comprehension and/or is masked with another visual that recognition
can be impaired. Moreover, it is important for the practitioner to think of how
they are using the visual images, as visual imagery is known to interfere with
performance in various concurrent visual tasks.
Why should ESL and EFL teachers use
visuals in the classroom? Firstly,
research
has shown that imagery facilitates learning. Moreover, imagery combined with texts make
subjects more likely to think about the process of the language more fully. Overall pictures
help us as individuals make sense of output and input surrounding us in our daily lives. Visual images
allow us to predict, infer, and deduce information from a variety of sources.
Moreover, pictures can bring the outside world into the classroom; thus, making
situations more real and in turn helping the learner to use appropriate
associated. Though we use all our senses to learn, it appears that
seeing is the sense where most of our learning comes from. So this tells us
that the most effective way to clarify and bring understanding to what is being
taught is to actually show the children. Here is a demonstration of how seeing
something gives much more clarity than just hearing about it. Imagine a picture
of 13-spiraled circles with four of the circles on top of the others. Within
the spirals of the circles are different colored ovals of blue and yellow.
Black and white areas separate the ovals. As the spiral goes to the middle of
the circle, the ovals get smaller, blending into a black dot. If you move your
eyes around and look at this picture it appears that the spiraled circles are
moving. Now that you have a picture in your mind of what is being explained, turn
the page and see if this is what you imagined. Chances are what you imagine
this to look like is much different from the actual image. Before moving
on to the advantages
and the different ways in which pictures can be used, it may be important that
we discuss different learners’ styles. According to the ‘Technical Advisory
Service for Images’ (2004), the two sides of the brain “have different
attributes and responds to different stimuli”. The left side of the brain is
“analytical, verbal, sequential, and linear; while the right is visual,
spatial, holistic and relational”. Accordingly, the left is more logical and
responds better to textual material, whereas the right is imaginative,
responding better to visual content. This shows that different learners have
different learning styles.
2.3. Makes
students want to learn, teacher want to teach
When the lesson has plenty of
materials, teacher feels motivated to teach the students, teachers make lesson
plan using the different materials. Pictures can be a black and white or
colorful help teachers a lot to keep their class interesting. They can draw
attention from students on the materials. Moreover, teach feel less stress for
prepare the lesson to teach the students. is taken for granted as
a natural process. As simple a process it may seem, the root of understanding
how we learn is not as straight forward. The existence of numerous definitions
and theories of learning attest to the complexity of this process. A random
sampling of any educational psychology text will illustrate the variance in
views to what exactly is learning and how we do learn. In Educational
Psychology: An Introduction, for example, the authors write, "Learning
implies a change in the individual as a result of some intervention. It may be
viewed as an outcome or as a process." (Belkin and Gray, 1977, p.211)
While this definition reflects a behaviourist view of learning, for it equates
learning as an outcome, it is a starting point for the authors to expand their
description of learning into many other realms, namely the different theories
of learning. They in effect, devote a whole chapter of their text just to
describe the many ways of defining learning. While it may seem somewhat
premature to evaluate the aforementioned definition of learning and to equate
it with a specific theory, it is important to recognize that
"intervention" in the learning process can imply many different
things. The degree of intervention, by who or what and how, are the defining
factors of a learning theory. These factors help distinguish the many different
theories. As you will see these theories are not stagnant. They are evolving
and changing as we discover new ways of viewing human cognition. "The
mechanistic model of the mind of the behaviour era has given way to the
logical-computational model favoured by artificial intelligence and cognitive
science theorists" (McLellan, 1996, p.6).
2.4. To help to storytelling
Storytelling
is the original form of teaching (Pederson, 1995). Many researchers believed
that story learning plays an important role in students’ language development
(Hsu, 2005). All kinds of interesting storytelling are used in different
situation which depend on the suitable of students’ age and situation. As
Jianing (2007) reported that using storytelling in English classroom is one of
good activities to encourage students to study English. Storytelling also can
help ESL learners become more self-confident to express themselves
spontaneously and creatively (Colon-vila, 1997). Moreover the storytelling is
not only assisting to stimulate students’ imagination, but also in developing
their language abilities (Koki, 1998). According to Strong &Hoggan (1996),
storytelling is a process that offers opportunities to practice organizing,
categorizing, and remembering information concurrently with practice in predicting,
summarizing, comparing and contrasting information. The process of connection
language and though to imagery is the basic element involved in oral and
written language comprehension, language expression, critical thinking (Bell,
1991), increased listening and reading comprehension (Applebee, 1978), greater
language fluency, and increased vocabulary (Wellhousen, 1993). Although using
storytelling in ESL classroom is still satisfy nowadays, it is almost used in
the kindergarten, elementary, primary school, and higher education
respectively. In the level of higher education and undergraduate are rarely
studies English through storytelling. Because of the older age, the simple
storytelling may not be enough interesting for learning English of undergraduate
students. Therefore, the way to increase technology for being a part in the ESL
classroom is chosen. As Super, Westrom&Klawe (1996) support those providing
technology occasional entertaining diversions motivated students during
learning task. In this study, technology which is chosen to be tool in the ESL
classroom is “Digital”, which is the use of computer in the language learning
process. A tool which can also improve the students’ integrated English skills
and more interesting is now requiring. However, the interesting tool chosen in
this study is “Digital Storytelling” which has an impact on students’ learning
and motivation through technology integrates with language learning.
2.5. It presents the motivation
Motivation
refers to “the reasons underlying behavior” (Guay et al., 2010, p. 712).
Paraphrasing Gredler, Broussard and Garrison (2004) broadly define motivation
as “the attribute that moves us to do or not to do something” (p. 106).
Intrinsic motivation is motivation that is animated by personal enjoyment,
interest, or pleasure. As Deci et al. (1999) observe, “intrinsic motivation
energizes and sustains activities through the spontaneous satisfactions
inherent in effective volitional action. It is manifest in behaviors such as
play, exploration, and challenge seeking that people often do for external
rewards” (p. 658). Researchers often contrast intrinsic motivation with
extrinsic motivation, which is motivation governed by reinforcement
contingencies. Traditionally, educators consider intrinsic motivation to be
more desirable and to result in better learning outcomes than extrinsic
motivation (Deci et al., 1999). MOTIVATION 5
Motivation involves a constellation of
beliefs, perceptions, values, interests, and actions that are all closely
related. As a result, various approaches to motivation can focus on cognitive
behaviors (such as monitoring and strategy use), non-cognitive aspects (such as
perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes), or both. For example, Gottfried (1990)
defines academic motivation as “enjoyment of school learning characterized by a
mastery orientation; curiosity; persistence; task-endogeny; and the learning of
challenging, difficult, and novel tasks” (p. 525). On the other hand, Turner
(1995) considers motivation to be synonymous with cognitive engagement, which
he defines as “voluntary uses of high-level self-regulated learning strategies,
such as paying attention, connection, planning, and monitoring” (p. 413).
In
order to improve and learn a language effectively and successfully, particularly,
speaking skills, students should be motivated since motivation encourages
students to put more effort to their learning and it helps them think
positively about their learning. Also, motivation helps students become
confident and have a strong belief about success of their learning. According
to Dornyei (2001), he states that the learner’s expectancy of success results
from motivation. Motivation urges students to participate in learning
activities actively. As Williams and Burden (1997, p. 136) put it “If people
attach a high value to the outcome of an activity, they will be more likely to
be motivated to perform it.” Furthermore, Harmer (2005) mentions that
motivation leads to success in most fields of learning. In addition, Brown
(2007) suggests that there are a number of studies showing that motivation
plays a very important role in the success or failure of almost any task,
especially learning.
2.6.
Learning strategies
As far as learning strategies
concerned, there are plenty of language learning strategies employed by
students in order to increase their L2 proficiency. Those strategies which are
believed to be among the main factors that help determine how and how well our
students learn a second or foreign language are divided into six main categories
of L2 learning strategies. These include cognitive strategies, metacognitive
strategies, memory-related strategies, compensatory strategies, affective
strategies, and social strategies (Oxford, 2001). Moreover, there are many
studies conducted in order to find out the relationship between language
learning strategies and English proficiency. Results from most of the studies
show that learning strategies, particularly communication strategies, play a
very important role in developing language competence (Nakatani, 2006; Burrows,
2009; Alqaltani&Alhebaishi, 2010). Although communication strategies (CSs)
have been defined differently from one researcher to another, they help promote
students’ communicative competence (Nakatani, 2006; Burrows, 2009; Alqaltani et
al., 2010). Education has always been awash with new ideas about learning and
teaching. Teachers and Administrators are regularly bombarded with suggestions
for reform. They are asked to use new curricula, new teaching strategies, and
new assessments. They are directed to prepare students for the new state
standardized test or to document and assess students’work through portfolios
and performance assessments. They are urged to use research-based methods to
teach reading and mathematics. Among educators, there is a certain cynicism
that comes with these waves of reformist exhortations. Veteran teachers often
smile wryly when told to do this or that, whispering asides about another
faddish pendulum swing, closing their classroom doors, quietly going about
their business.
2.7. Improve vocabulary
Learning language is to
develop vocabulary to be able to produce the language out for communication
with other people. Vocabulary plays an important role in listening, speaking,
reading and writing. The present study focused on vocabulary not only has a
positive effect on reading comprehension but also leads to reading proficiency.
Despite the fact that vocabulary is a major factor in reading comprehension,
research has showed that many Cambodian students still regard vocabulary as
their greatest read for learning EFL/ESL for public school. Vocabulary is one
of the means through which meanings, ideas, and feelings can be conveyed. Vocabulary has a significant role in teaching
and learning any language. Learning
vocabulary is an important aspect of language development. Some scholars consider vocabulary knowledge
as the most important factor in academic achievement for second or foreign
language learners. Researchers indicate that vocabulary knowledge is closely
linked to reading proficiency, and additionally it leads to greater success in
school (Tozcui & Coady, 2004). Evans (1978) indicates that vocabulary has
an important role in the development of the four language skills: speaking,
listening, reading and writing. He claims that vocabulary can provide clarity
and can enable the speaker to diversify language. He further points out that
wrong use of vocabulary can lead to misinterpretation, while correct use of
vocabulary makes it easier for people to read and write better, understand the
main ideas and speak correctly (as cited in Iheanacho, 1997). In this respect,
Allen (1983) indicates that the reason for the importance of vocabulary is
that: “through research, the scholars are finding that lexical problems
frequently interfere with communication; communication breaks down when people
do not use the right words” (p. 5).
According
to Knight (1994), vocabulary acquisition is considered by many to be the
primary problem in second language learning. He indicates that the majority of
students studying second languages and their teachers cite vocabulary as their
first priority. The recognition of the importance of vocabulary in language
learning by many researchers has encouraged the search for effective pedagogical
methods of teaching new words.
In
this respect, Shrum and Glisan (1994) provided many pedagogical methods for
developing vocabulary skills. They expressed the view that new vocabulary
should be introduced in a context using familiar vocabulary and grammar. In
order to learn new words more effectively, they recommended the use of visuals
for introducing new vocabulary (as cited in Iheanacho, 1997). In addition,
Uberman (1998) pointed out some traditional techniques that help teachers in
teaching vocabulary to their students. These techniques include verbal
explanation, dictionaries, and visual techniques. He indicated that the visual
techniques enable the students to remember better the vocabulary items. Sutton
(1999) adds other techniques such as pictorial schemata, word relations,
examples, anecdotes, context, semantic mapping, word roots and affixes. Ellis
(1995) further reports that frequent exposure of the learner to new words for
purposes of recognition and production enhances automatic lexical processing of
these lexical items by the learner. Grasping all meanings of a given word
requires conscious learning along with more in-depth strategies such as
semantic mapping and imagery, which are mnemonic techniques related to explicit
learning. Knowledge of a word requires conscious learning of its spelling,
pronunciation, syntactic properties and relationships to other words in the
semantic network. It also requires connecting these forms with extensive sets
of visual referents (as cited in Duquette & Renié, 1998). This review
supports the importance of vocabulary in learning a foreign language.
2.8.
Using flash cards
Howard
Gardner's multiple intelligence theory reminds teachers that there are many
types of learners within any one class. Gardner's research indicates that
teachers should aim to appeal to all the different learner types at some point
during the course. It is particularly important to appeal to visual learners,
as a very high proportion of learners have this type of intelligence. Flash cards
can be bright and colorful and make a real impact on visual learners. Many of
the activities outlined below will also appeal to kinesthetic learners.
For children at reading age, flash
cards can be used in conjunction with word cards. These are simply cards that
display the written word. Word cards should be introduced well after the
pictorial cards so as not to interfere with correct pronunciation. Flash cards
are a really handy resource to have and can be useful at every stage of the
class. They are a great way to present, practice and recycle vocabulary and
when students become familiar with the activities used in class, they can be
given out to early-finishers to use in small groups. I sometimes get the
students to make their own sets of mini flash cards that can be taken home for them
to play.
Flash cards are very versatile teaching resource especially
for ESL and language teaching. They can be used virtually in any lesson and at
every level of teaching ESL. In fact flash cards are indispensable for the
beginner and elementary level as at these stages the learners are engaged in
developing their vocabulary. Flash cards are useful for teaching vocabulary in
a number of ways: matching words to pictures, drilling vocabulary,
concentration games, singular and plurals, nouns, verbs, adjectives etc. Flash
cards are also very useful for sequencing activities, pair work and group work.
Flash cards are very useful for teaching grammar structures as well. This quote
highlights the pedagogy/andragogy of using flash cards. For example “Howard
Gardener's multiple intelligence theory reminds teachers that there are many
types of learners within any one class. Gardener's research indicates that
teachers should aim to appeal to all the different learner types at some point
during the course. It is particularly important to appeal to visual learners,
as a very high proportion of learners have this type of intelligence.
Flashcards can be bright and colorful and make a real impact on visual
learners. Many of the activities outlined below will also appeal to kinesthetic
learners.” It is not difficult to find flash cards, you just have to Google the
term and then surf the websites to locate the relevant flash card resources.
However not all teacher have the necessary of time that is required to do this
so I have collected some of the websites for ease of reference and access. I
hope that this resource is useful for colleagues own use in their classrooms as
well as using flash cards to produce imaginative worksheets to share on ESL
printable for benefit of all. Where can we get them?
Buy them - Some course books provide a supplementary pack
of flash cards or they can be bought in sets.
Make them yourself - If you don't have access to
professionally produced flash cards, don't worry, it's really easy to make your
own even if you're not very artistic. You can use pictures from magazines, draw
simple pictures or copy from the internet or clip art. The most important thing
is to make sure they are all of the same size, on card (different colors for
different sets) so you can't see through them. If possible you can laminate the
sets as you make them and they will last for years. The advantage of making
your own, apart from the fact that they're cheap and yours to keep, is that you
can make sets for your specific needs. You may like to make a set to use in
conjunction with a story book or graded reader, or even to accompany project
work.
Students make them - I have recently begun to
incorporate the production of flash cards into the classroom. After introducing
a new lexical set, using regalia or the course book, ask students to produce
the flash cards for you. Give each one an item to draw. They can be mounted on
card to make the set.
2.9. Long
term memory
Pictures are
the visual knowledge with students see in the environment around them. When old
knowledge connects to the new information it is link to the long term memory.
Images are
representations based on the structure or appearance of the information
(Anderson, 1995a). As we form images we try to remember or recreate the
physical attributes and spatial structure of information. For example, when
asked how many windowpanes are there in their living room, most people call up
an image of the windows "in their mind's eyes" and count the panes. The
more panes, the longer it takes to respond. If information were represented
only in a proposition such as "my living room has seven windows
panes," then everyone would take about the same time to answer, whether
the number was one or 24 (Mendell, 1971). However, as we saw earlier,
researchers don not agree on exactly how images are stored in memory. Some
psychologists believe that images are stored as pictures, others believe we
store proposition in long term memory and convert to pictures in working memory
when necessary.
There probably are features of each
process involved some picture copying memory and some memory for verbal or
propositional description of the image. Seeing image "in your mind's
eye" is not exactly the same as seeing the actual image. It is more
difficult to perform complicated transformations on mental images than on real
image. (Matlin & Forey, 1997). Nevertheless, images are useful in making many
practical decisions such as how a sofa might look in your living room or how to
line up a golf shot. Images may also be helpful in abstract reasoning.
Physicists, such as Faraday and Eistein, report creating images to reason about
complex new problems (Gagne, Yekovich, 1993).
Schemas, propositions and images are
fine for representing single ideas and relationship, but often our knowledge
about a topic combines images and propositions "in order to deal with the
fact that much of our knowledge seems intergraded, psychologist have developed
the idea of schema". (Peaget & Vygotsky).
