VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

Vũ Thị Kim Loan

Using visual aids to motivate non- major English
first year students in speaking English at Hanoi
Tourism College.

(Sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan nhằm gây hứng thú cho
sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên học nói
tiếng Anh ở trường Cao đẳng Du lịch Hà Nội.) M.A Thesis Linguistics

CODE: 60 14 10 HA NOI - 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………………………………….II

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………….IV

TABLE OF CONTENT……………………………………………………………………….V, VI

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………. 1

1.1 Rationale……………… ………………………………………………………………1
1.2 Aims of the study…………………………………………………… 3
1.3 The significance of the study……………………………………… 4
1.4 The outline of the thesis…………………………………………………………… 4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………… 6
2.1 Visual aids as a supporting device in language learning……………………………6
2.1.1 Definition of visual aids…………………………………………………………… 6
2.1.2 Visual aids as a supporting device………………………………………………… 7
2.2 Visual aids as a motivating device in language learning………………………… 10
2.3 Visual aids used teaching speaking………………………………………………….12
2.3.1 Teaching speaking………………………………………………………………… 12
2.3.2 Using visual aids in teaching speaking…………………………………………….14
2.4 Summary…………………………………………………………………………… 15
CHAPTER 3: THE METHODOLOGY……………………………………………… 16
3.1 Rationales for the use of action research……………………………………………16
3.1.1 What is action research? 16
3.1.2. Rationales for the use of action research………………………………………….17
3.2. The research questions………………………………………………………………18
3.3. Description of the data collection instruments…………………………………….18
3.3.1. Informal talks with the students………………………………………… 18
3.3.2.Questionnaire…………………………………………………………… 19


This chapter, Introduction, contains 4 sections. The first section will be the
rationale. The two aims of the study will be presented in the second section. After
that, the significance of the study will be discussed in 1.3 and the outline of the rest
of the thesis presented in 1.4.
1.1 Rationale
Students‟ poor involvement in speaking lessons is one of the concerns of
classroom teachers. It is documented in the literature that students‟ involvement in
language lessons in general and in speaking particular depends on cultural,
linguistic, and effective factors. There has been a variety of different pedagogical
solutions recommended to increase students‟ involvement in speaking lessons. The
choice of those solutions is depend on what factors that inhibit students‟
involvement.
I was in charge of teaching English to class C5B2, which has 40 non major
English first year students at Hanoi Tourism College. Lifelines pre- intermediate
written by Tom Hutchinson Ann Ward is currently chosen to teach English.
Lifelines pre - intermediate was chosen because it has some good points. First, in
this book, the students are guided to an understanding of the new language, rather
than just have examples of it on the page. Second, the skills work is integrated and
balanced, the students have equal opportunities to practice all the four skills in each
lesson and there is no exercise for only one skill. Third, the material comes from a
wide range of reliable sources- newspapers, magazines, biographies, short stories,
radio programs, songs. However, it is not difficult because it has been simplified
and adapted to suit the our students‟ level. Last, much attention was paid to practice
activities. There are greatly various speaking activities, controlled and free,
personalized and impersonal. In addition, there is a good combination between long
and short activities. Each unit has one or two long activities interlaced by many
short ones so the students can follow them easily.

2

3
times teaching the course, I had frustrations because I often found many of my
students were not motivated in class. From my personal observation in the
classroom, students seem to be unwilling to practice speaking English. They appear
to be reluctant in participating in classroom activities that require them to practice
orally. The reasons for this students‟ poor participation could be that they are not
sufficiently motivated to speak, which is resulted from their lack of ideas and
stimuli to speak English in addition to their low English proficiency. To address this
problem, I postulate that students need to be provided with necessary cues and
stimuli that can help encourage them to speak.
To solve this problem I undertook this action research. First, I talked with the
students to find out the reasons why they did not want to speak English in the class
room. On the basis of the information I gained from these chats with the students, I
developed a questionnaire to identify the major factors that inhibited them from
speaking English in the class room. It was found that students did not like speaking
very much because they were not stimulated and largely they did not have ideas to
speak, and finally they did not have enough vocabulary.
The results of this questionnaire encouraged me to undertake this action
research in which I wanted to identify if visual aids help to involve students better
in speaking lesson.
1.2 Aims of the study
The study was carried out with the aim to increase the students‟ participation
in speaking lessons. With the hypothesis that a use of visual aids can increase the
motivation of non- major English first year students at Hanoi Tourism College to
participate in speaking lessons, this study aims at:
 Investigating the reality of students‟ poor participation in
speaking activities and the possibility of visual aids to increase their
participation in classroom speaking activities if necessary.

4

limitations of the study and there will be some suggestions for further study.

6
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter, Literature review, will discuss about visual aids in language learning.
There are three main issues in this: the discussion of visual aids as supporting
device, visual aids as motivating one and visual aids in teaching speaking.
2.1 Visual aids as a supporting device in language learning:
2.1.1 Definition of visual aids:
According to Wingard (2000) the aids can help in teaching languages and
that can be seen are called “visual aids”.They provide practical solutions to the
problems of a language teacher whose equipment, as a rule, consists of nothing
more than books and classroom. They include black-board, pictures, actual objects
(realias) that facilitate the process of teaching. Visual aids are anything visible to
students, which the teacher uses for different purposes in the class. They can be
used in different stages of a lesson, and they are rich in forms , cheap to make, easy
to find, convenient and effective use in a language class.The function of each of
these in helping the teaching process is discussed below.
* Black board: A big strong piece of wood, called black-board, is the oldest
associate of the teacher but an essential teaching aid. It is used to reading and
writing to the pupil. Anything to which the teacher wants to draw the attention of
the students, is written on it, e.g. difficult words, phrase patterns, structure patterns,
grammar works, questions to test comprehension. In this way the teacher finds his
lessons more interesting, lively and effective. It is an important means of picture
composition.
*Pictures: Pictures comprise text pictures and class pictures. Text pictures
are to be found in the texts designed primarily for beginners. The meaning of a
single word can be shown in different pictures. For example, the very first lesson of
the beginner's text may have different patterns of heads of persons and animals to
teach the word head. Class pictures may be sub-divided into picture cards and wall

teaching, visual aids are also known to dispel the monotony of practice work by

8
creating variety. They can introduce a play element in serious work and make
lessons lively. Even the introduction of a readymade substitution table at the right
moment in a grammar lesson can enliven the class. Display of various charts, tables,
pictures, models, etc on classroom walls will lend an atmosphere of gaiety to the
room and at the same time help the pupils to learn a troublesome item. Such visual
aids can be systematically put up to focus attention on a particular item and changed
periodically to present other items.
Visual aids are a good and useful tool for examination purposes because they
lead the student into drawing out language from their own knowledge and personal
experiences through exposition , immersion to the stimuli presented before them.
Visual aids permit strategies to orgazine knowledge into semantic or associative
clusters. In testing and teaching situations pictures items can can be developed to
test whether the students understands the syntax or structure of the target language.
Visual aids allow for options, responses alternatives patterns and ranges. Students
can see immediate meaning in terms of vocuabulary recognition provided the item
exists in the first language. Pictures can be develped into a test to see whether the
learner understands the structure and the syntax (Canning 1998; 2000).
Visual aids can help make a task or situation more authentic. Pictures can
help testers and teachers to identify or manipulate structures, vocabulary, functions,
situations and skills. Visual aids used as testing prompts can be used to measure
semantic and associative clusters. Pictures allow students to focus on the whole
item or a piece of an item. Pictures can give or not give a context depending on
what needs to be tested. Pictures offer test takers options for more interpretive
responses, patterns and ranges to answer posited exam questions.
According to more current research, the more sensory modes in which
mental representation is stored, the more likely they will be remembered (Borsook.
Higginbotham &Wheat, 1992) Bagget (1989) posits that images are stored in

sentence at a time.
It is a biological fact that the eye is not separate from the brain. The eye and
brain are part of the same organ. Because human beings have evolved to have

10
several distinct intelligence and no one general intelligence, interpretation of visual
aids and the use of visual aids may affect learners in different ways. Studies such as
those in the early 1970s at the University of California at Berkley show that the
different hemispheres of the brain may affect human learning. Physical perception
of what is scene may differ amongst different learners thus allowing a greater range
of responses to any given visual aids. For example if "Learner X" is given a picture
or a real object the student may be able to interpret how they see the picture or the
real object and relate it to language in two distict ways. First they may use top down
pictures or realia to test ideas against facts or solve specific problems. Secondly the
student may use bottom up the picture or real object to scan and organize
information with the use of graphics (Canning 1997).

2.2 Visual aids as a motivating device in language learning:
Visual aids have been used in learning teaching for a long time, although
their effect is still hypothetical. They are often thought as a motivational tool or as
an aid in cognitive in language learning. Empirical studies have emphasized the
function of visual aids as a contextual cues in reading comprehension. It is also
known that imagery is instrumental in processes of retention and recall (Horst and
Helmut ; 2000).
Using visual aids lead individual students to predict information, infer
information, deduce information, analyze today‟s world so that it can be brought
into today‟s classroom and offer social settings which can immerse or expose the
learner to new ideas or further promote an already created setting.If a visual aid is
used in a testing or teaching situation it can enhance clarity and give meaning to the
text or to the message being communicated. Visual aids can serve to create a solid

allow the student to interpret the use and physical appearance in great detail that
may not otherwise be obtained with just a textual prompt. Therefore, it can be
concluded that visual aids positively affect learning strategies and writing
capabilities of nonnative students of English. 12
2.3 Visual aids used teaching speaking:
2.3.1 Teaching speaking:
According to Hubbard et al (1983)and Nunan(1991) oral skills are the most
important ones in L2 teaching and learning and it is also believed that one of the
most important aspects of learning a foreign language to most people is mastering
the art of speaking.It is indicated that teaching speaking in general and teaching
speaking to motivate students in particular has become a big concern among foreign
language teachers. The techniques that should be used to stimulate students‟
motivation in speaking lessons will be discussed below.
When we think about speaking, we mean when the students use any and all
the language at their command to perform some kind of oral task. The important
thing is that there should be a task to complete and that the students should want to
complete it. Therefore, it is believed that the more motivated the students are, the
better they participate in learning tasks.
The reasons why it is a good idea to give students speaking tasks which
provoke them to use all and any language at their command are mainly three:
1) Rehearsal: when students have free discussions or conversations inside the
classroom they have a chance to rehearse having discussions or conversations
outside the classroom.Simply enough, when they meet a new friend from abroad the
first conversation will be about introducing oneself, one's own family etc. Having
them take part in a role-play at the lost property office allows them to rehearse such
a real-life event in the safety of the classroom. It is a way for students to "get the
feel" of what communicating in the foreign language really feels like.

attitudes towards the learning task, the learning condition, the material, the
curriculum of the course, the teaching method etc…In my practical teaching , I
assumed that the factors such as the learning condition, the material, the curriculum
of the course, the students aptitude and attitudes towards the learning task and the
context of my teaching seem most likely problematic and in fact, some factors can
be managed by the teacher. In this situation, regarding to material and teaching

14
method, I concentrated on using visual aids in stage 1 of speaking lessons in order
to provide the students ideas related to the oral topics so that they can take part in
speaking activities well.
Firstly, using visual aids in teaching speaking to introduce to the students the
oral topic by drawing their attention to the topic. According to Hudbard et al (1983:
111) visual aids help to introduce a topic to students in an interesting and attractive
way because they are visible, stimulating, colorful as well as imaginative.
Moreover, in teaching speaking skill, teacher are expected to use visual aids
given in section 1 of the unit to orientate students to the topic that they are going to
deal with and organize some visual-based activities for students to discuss the
provided leading questions. It is expected that with the help of provided visual aids
the topic should be introduced interestingly and attractively enough for students to
have opportunities to exchange their ideas so that their ideas can be enriched and
they can take part in well in the oral interaction activities at while- speaking stage.
Using visual aids in teaching speaking also provide students with the ideas
that they may need in their discussion in section 3 of the unit. Visual aids can help
provide students with ideas by getting them to show what they have known and
what they want to know about a certain topic. According to Kang (2000) pictures as
visual organizers are “effective in terms of helping to elicit, explain, and
communicative information because they clarify complex concepts into simple,
meaningful display” .
Finally, things that we see have an enormous importance in affecting and

there will be the description of the subjects who are the students taking part in the
experiment. Finally, last part will be the procedure of the study.
3.1 Rationales for the use of action research
3.1.1 What is action research?
Action research involves a self-reflective, systematic and critical approach to
enquiry by participants who are simultaneously members of the context in which
the research takes place. The aim of action research is to identify „problematic‟ (in
sense of areas that can be problematised) situations or issues that participants
consider worth investigating, and to undertake practical interventions in order to
bring about informed changes in practice (Cohen and Manion, 1994).
The action research process has a number of steps or phases which progress
as a spiralling and evolving process. Kemmis and Mc Taggart‟s (1988) „classic‟
model of this process includes four steps:
1. Planning - a problem or issue is identified and a plan of action is developed
in order to bring about improvements in specific areas of the research context
2. Action - the plan is put into action over an agree period of time
3. Observation - the effects of the action are observed and data are collected
4. Reflection - the effects of the action are evaluated and become the basis for
further cycles of research

17
To this model, Burns (2000) added a fifth step, dissemination, where the
result of the research are made known through presentations and publications to a
wider audience.
Burns (1994) also identified some essential features that help to distinguish action
research from other forms of educational research:
1. It is small-scale, contextualised and local in character, identifying and
investigating teaching-learning issues within specific situations.
2. It involves evaluation and reflection aimed at bringing about continuing
changes in practice.

variables such as attitudes and motivation for learning the second language. Some
kinds of interview are: „open interview‟ which provide the interviewee with broad
freedom of expression and elaboration and often resemble informal talks; „semi-
open interview‟ in which there are specific core questions determined in advance
from which the interviewer branches off to explore in-depth information, probing
according to the way the interview proceeds, and allowing elaboration, within
limits; „structured interview‟ which consists of questions defined from the start and
presented to the interviewee. No elaboration is allowed in either the questions or the
answers. This type of interview is usually employed when uniform and specific
information is needed and when it is necessary to interview a large number of
subjects (Seliger & Shohamy, 1997).
Informal talks were conducted to get information about how students rate
their participation in speaking tasks and the level of students‟ interests in speaking
lessons . I had informal talks with my students during the short break after the
speaking lessons. I chose this time for having the talks with the students because I
assumed that when students were having a break, out of the teacher‟s control they
were free to express their opinions or points of view frankly, comfortably, and
honestly. So that the results might release the real causes of the problem. Being

19
aware that students might not dare to express negative problems about their study or
about the way the teacher ran the lesson, I tried to do several things. Firstly, I tried
to avoid using direct questions. Secondly, besides talking with all of the students, I
talked with the monitor and the vice monitor, who were my close students, hoping
that the relationship between these students and me was close enough for them to
feel comfortable to give me further information. The findings from the talks with
the students are presented in the next chapter.
3.3.2. Questionnaire
This kind of data collection instrument is chosen in this study because of
several reasons. Firstly, questionnaires are self-administered and can be given to

them to participate in speaking lesson and the teacher‟s stimuli for students‟
motivation in speaking lessons. The researcher designed a sort of questionnaire
containing close- ended questions, half close- ended questions, half open- ended
questions and open- ended questions to make a good use of this kind of questions.
According to Nunan (1992, p147),
“One of the great advantages of close- ended questions is that they yield
responses which can readily be quantified and analyzed, particularly if one has
access to computer packages”.
Questionnaire 1 consists of 4 questions, the two first were close- ended
questions, the third question was half closed and half- opened and the fourth
question was an opened - item. Questionnaire 1 was delivered each of students after
each speaking lesson in the first phase of the action class which was carried out
before the experiment, to gather on 3 aspects. These are the level of students‟
interest in speaking English in the class, the rate of students‟ participation in
speaking activities in the classroom and the factors that inhibit students from
speaking in the classroom.
Questionnaire 2 consists of 4 questions. Questionnaire 2 was applied in the
second phase of the action research to gather data on students‟ participation when
carrying the experiment. The results from Questionnaire 2 was used to evaluate the

21
solution to the problem set up in step 2 of the action research. The findings from
Questionnaire 2 are presented in 4.4.
In order to obtain valid information, the 8 questions related to each aspect
were designed:
Question 1 helped to point out the level of students‟ interest in the speaking
English lessons. Basing on the fact the researcher could know whether students like
speaking English and know the importance of this skill for their future job or not.
Question 2 gathered information about the rate of students‟ participation in
the speaking English lessons. Like question1, this question could help to know