Critical Appraisal of Visuals in Learning - Essay Example

Critical Appraisal Introduction To be good educators, teachers should look for any opportunity of their skills’ advancement and promotion of the interests of their students. It is not easy to promote English as a second language, and representatives of different countries face numerous challenges in the process of language learning. There is no doubt that the role of IT technologies and media in the educational process has been acclaimed. For the students to go global, they should be focused on their proficient knowledge of the English language. To get acquainted with the culture of Great Britain or America, to witness the peculiarities of communication of representatives from these countries, the students should be motivated to watch video and improve their knowledge of language. Implementation of different visuals in the process of learning is very much important and every learner should try hard and deal with the challenges of the contexts and plots of video films and video clips shown to them during their lessons. It is not very easy for a teacher to find the most attractive and interesting plot of the film or a video clip, which will be comprehensible for the students’ audience and would trigger their further discussion and critical thinking. Visuals in Learning Visual tools play a significant role in education environment. Visual materials support oral and written information given to the students in the classroom. Visual aids help both students and educators to organize information in a better way. Interactive experience created with the help of visuals reaches students with a broad range of abilities and types of information perception. Canning Wilson (2001) points out that visual materials are essential in the provision of content samples of a foreign language, which improves the comprehension of the audience. Visuals include various types of materials, such as videos, pictures, posters, charts, and slides. The main tool in a classroom work with any language is a textbook. Textbooks provide well-structured and pre-determined information which is essential to build up a lesson workflow. However, successful language practice would be impossible without supplementing materials that help teacher create a socio-cultural context, which is necessary to help students penetrate into foreign culture, enrich the classroom environment and help the audience experience real-life situations. With the help of visual tools, teachers provide examples of lifestyle and behavior in the country of a target language. Practicing real-life use of a language would be impossible without creating contextualized situations that visual tools help to build. Visuals work effectively for students who have different levels of language proficiency because visual aids stimulate imagination and interest in the foreign culture and language. A lot of practices and methods in foreign language learning may be supported by visual materials. Some points that are difficult for understanding can be simplified with the help of visuals. The first article by Xiaoning (2007) “On the Use of Video Clips in College English Teaching/utilisation du videoclip dans l'enseignement de l'anglais universtaire” is devoted to the strategies and tactics of video clips implementation in the process of the English language learning as a second language. The author talks about implementation of both video clips and video films in the learning process. Films and clips in the original language (English) can attract the students’ attention and be effective in their learning process (Michigan State University Center for Language Education and Research (CLEAR), 2007). Moreover, it should be noted that visual media, such as multimedia equipment, and a teacher’s desire to deal with innovations and challenges in the learning process are necessary conditions for a potential success of this type of learning approach. There are some multimedia course wares, which are available for the students together with their course books, e.g. College English (new) published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, New Horizon College English published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press etc. Some interesting ideas, fascinating plots and the original English language can be heard by the students in these video clips. In accordance with this study, it is better that video clips lasted 3-5 minutes, for the students not to be tired and grasp the main idea of the video clip’s plot. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is a technique, where interactive visuals are available and are the primary attractive tools both for teachers and students in their learning process. Almekhlafi (2006) devoted his study to the peculiarities of interactive multimedia (IMM) CD-ROM among the sixth grade students. This study is referred to as a modern innovative study, which is mainly focused on benefits of e-learning. There was not an essentially higher level of the achievement, but it was evident that IMM should be applied more widely in the process of individual learning of ESL. CALL is referred to as an approach to language teaching and learning, where different types of computer technologies facilitate the process of information presentation, reinforcement, and assessment of material to be learned. Therefore, interactive visual tools can combine texts, pictures, audio and video files etc. For example, adolescent high-intermediate Japanese language learners implemented the strategies of CALL in the language learning process. Firstly, they learned the structure of the language, its content, technology skills of the students, motivated multiliteracies and created their own projects in the process of foreign language learning. There are also many other digital video projects, which are further referred to as Village Voices, Global Visions  Miller & Borowicz's (2005), City Voices, City Visions projects etc. These are short clips, which outline contents of the lesson, text or any theme, which will be discussed in class.  After watching these short video clips, the students had enough time to discuss the peculiarities of video clips, covered themes etc. It is evident that the students had a perfect opportunity to improve their listening and speaking skills, because: “they presented, defended, and discussed their story board ideas with mediation from the teacher(s). Students negotiated and agreed on an idea and assigned roles (director, script-writer(s), movie and music editors, camera person, staging, actors, and so forth), all in the foreign language” (Almekhlafi, 2006). A collective and individual work is motivated in case visuals are used in the learning process. Even if the students lack special knowledge and cannot understand the real essence or a central message of a video clip or a video film, they can obtain help from their group mates. Some visuals can be shared among students. They can use a digital camera and one Macintosh iBook computer, which facilitate their own skills in video films shooting for their learning. Macs have many options of language change and students are implementing iMovie, iTunes, and word processing in English only. Therefore, native speakers of English shared their noncommercial video clips with other foreign students.  These video techniques are often referred to as “multimodal, experiential, and hands on, involving multiple senses and drawing on multiple intelligences. It bridged traditional and new literacies and fostered foreign language and content learning, technology skills, and critical thinking with regard to power in interlocking structures of class, language, culture, and  environment” (Michigan State University Center for Language Education and Research (CLEAR), 2007). Therefore, implementation of different visual strategies in the process of learning is acknowledged around the world. There are much more advantages than facilitation of the learning process or something else, because the students are getting acquainted with the foreign culture and can be aware of peculiarities of culture of England from these video clips or films. Moreover, presentation of different video clips or films in terms of the programs of Village Voices or Global Visions, students’ knowledge was extended and they were dealing with the transformative learning (Goulah, 2007). Nevertheless, visuals should not be considered as the only effective or correct practices in the process of English learning as a second language. It is possible to claim that in many underdeveloped countries, there is a lacking of video or audio resources, which are available for the students in their learning process. These are the major limitations for teachers not to implement their strategies in the language learning processes. Another study is devoted to a peculiar visuals implementation in teaching English as a second language. Video stages and production of the lessons, which are based on video clips and video films, are often mediated by teachers without any external support or financing. Of course, very often colleges and universities are interested in interactive programs implementation to the earning processes, but there are many factors which prevent these strategies of implementation. Teachers very often invent something and implement the most available visuals, such as tables or posters. These are simple, but rather effective methods too. Looking at these visuals, a student can better memorize a new word or information about a certain phenomenon or event. Activation of visual channels in the minds of the students is as much effective as triggering of audio channels in their minds. If all “ways” to reach the students’ minds are activated, then it is possible to contribute much to the students’ knowledge. For example, it is possible to apply for the CNN International Open Forum, available option of the station's broadcast encouraging the audience viewers to send emails and post their comments on the event covering (Pino-Silva, 2007). Therefore, the students should watch this video segment, then react to it, plan their answer and organize their thoughts and integrate both listening and writing skills. In the same way, it can be said that the video-based short comment is a certain reaction to the content of a video segment, a segment of a live broadcasts, a piece of DVD documentary etc. Thus, there are many different options for the teachers to select the most convenient and comprehensible form for students’ knowledge development. Conclusion It is possible to give a piece of advice to a teacher of English as a second language: there is no need to litter the minds of the students with verb tenses, noun forms and other grammar horrors. It is better to evoke their imagination, inspire them and apply creative strategies to the learning process (by means of video films, video clips, news segment, broadcast segments etc). Let your class be a fertile land for listening and writing skills development of the students. In this case, modern young learners of English will not only become sound participants of the global society, but also turn into proficient language speakers with an extended worldview and well-developed critical thinking skills. Let a teacher of English become a discoverer of the global world for his students and for this purpose, he needs to put all his efforts to mediation and realization of creative and educational tactics and strategies. References Almekhlafi, A. G. (2006). The Effect of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) on United Arab Emirates English as a Foreign Language (EFL) School Students' Achievement and Attitude. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 17(2), 121+. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Goulah, J. (2007). Village Voices, Global Visions: Digital Video as a Transformative Foreign Language Learning Tool. Foreign Language Annals, 40(1), 62+. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Interactive Video Used in Teaching Hebrew at University of Michigan. (1989). T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education), 16(6), 45+. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Michigan State University Center for Language Education and Research (CLEAR). (2007). Language, Learning & Technology, 11(1), 24+. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Pino-Silva, J. (2007). The Video-Based Short Comment Writing Task. Foreign Language Annals, 40(2), 320+. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Xiaoning, W. (2007). On the Use of Video Clips in College English Teaching/Utilisation Du Videoclip Dans L'enseignement De L'anglais Universtaire. Canadian Social Science, 3(2), 84+. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Read More

 

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