The use of visual aids for presenting, coaching, and teaching has been around since the 1920s and 1930s, consisting of filmstrips, glass slides and physical pass- around objects. Several universities have amassed catalogs of visual aid products that trace the history of using visual literacy and visual education to reinforce main content. The appeal of the aids is that they address additional learning styles. Not all people are auditory learners who can synthesize information from lectures and speeches. Many learners are visual learners who respond better to still or moving images
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I.4.1.Effectiveness of using visual aids in teaching English.
According to the saying “A picture is worth more than a thousand words,”
with most learners, the visual sense is very important.Visual support helps students learn successfully. In this sector, I would like to focus on some following benefits:
save time, help students to enhance understanding, memory, organize teacher’s ideas, gain and maintain attention and interest, and illustrate a sequence of events or procedure.
I.4.1.1. Save time
Time management in a lesson at high school is very important. In fact, at Vietnam high schools, a teacher has 45 minutes for each lesson and with young teacher, having unsuccessful lesson plans because of lack of time is very popular.
Therefore, how to save time to have a successful lesson is necessary.
Using visual aids is a good way to save time. With posters and flipcharts, the teacher can summarize all the key points and this will not waste time to write down on the board. Moreover, teacher can use worksheets to give tasks for students.Furthermore, using computer slides is very effective way to save time. By PowerPoint software, the teacher can design his lesson on the computer and only with a mouse click, he can easily move from this slide to another slide in onesecond. It is not time-consuming.
I.4.1.2. Enhance students’ understanding
Of your five senses, you learn more from sight than from all the others combined. In fact, it has been estimated that more than 80% of all information comes to you through sight. To many people, seeing is believing. We are a visually oriented society. For example, most of us learn the news by seeing it present on TV. Because your audience is accustomed to visual reinforcement, it is wise to consider how you can increase their understading of your speech by using presentation aids.
Visual aids can quickly and efficiently demonstrate ideas that are difficult to explain verbally. Many core math, science and art concepts can only be effectively taught by showing students as well as, or instead of, simply telling them.
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Therefore, they will help students to understand clearlywhat teacher are talking about.
I.4.1.3.Enhance students’ memory
As students muddle through the school day, their heads often become so full of knowledge that they struggle to organize and retain the information. Teachers can aid students in their struggle by providing them with visual aids. Researchers estimate that you remember 10% of what you read, 20% what you hear, 30% of what you see and 50% of what you simultaneously hear and see. When you teach with visual aids, you make it easier for students to retain the information because they are given a visual as well as an auditory reference point. By integrating visual aids into your classroom, you can increase the excitement of your lessons and your students’ overall comprehension of complex material.It is the fact that you remember most what you understand best.
I.4.1.4. Gain and maintain students’ attention and interest
There is a fact that you are more interested in your lesson if your teachers use images to illustrate his ideas, especially funny images. If the teacher only talks to students and writes words on the board, that lesson will be very boring and students will not concentrate on what teacher says, even they can do something in the lesson. However,colorfulphotographs, objects and models can attract their attention. With audiovisual aids, students not only can hear wonderful sounds but also watch what happen. That will make them very excited and encourage the students in studying. Moreover, by using the PowerPoint software, the teacher is able to use plentiful and interesting animation to make the students focus on what he is present.
I.4.1.5. Help students to organize ideas
Most listeners need help understanding the structure of a speech. Even if you clearly lay out your major points, use effective internal summaries and make clear transition statements, your listeners will welcome additional help. Listing major ideas on chart, a poster or a flipchart can add clarity to your talk and help your students chart your main ideas. For instance, visually presenting your main points
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can help students follow them as you bring them into the lessons. You can display key points at the end of the lessons.
I.4.2. Guidelines for designing visual aids
Effective visuals help your students understand and remember the key points of your presentation. Overhead projectors and slides, blackboards, flipcharts, computer programs like PowerPoint,etc. can greatly enhance your message if they are used effectively. The following tips will help you design effective visual aids.
I.4.2.1. Keep visual aids simple
Visual aids should be simple, clear, and to the point. Limit each aid to a manageable amount of information, and beware of the tendency to go overboard when using programs such as PowerPoint. It is possible to create a photographicthat displays two charts, a photograph, and ten lines of text in five different typefaces with 250 colors but who would be able to read it?
Simple visual aids usually communicate best.Words should be limited to key words or phrases. Lengthy dissertations on poster board or an overhead transparency usually do more harm than good. Visual aids support your lessons, not are your full lessons. As CEO John W. Roe wisely expressed, “Visual aids should be made to steer, not to row”.
I.4.2.2. Make sure visual aids are large enough
A visual aid is useless if no one can see it. Keep in mind the size of the classroom that you will be teaching and make sure your aid is big enough to be seen easily by everyone. As you prepare the aid, check its visibility by moving to a point as far away from it as your most distant listener will be sitting. If you have trouble making out the words or drawings, your audience will too. By making sure your visual aid is large enough, you will avoid having to introduce it with the comment “I know some of you can’t see this, but . . .”
What is about using all capital letters? That might seem a great way to ensure that your print is large enough to be read easily, but researchers have shown that a long string of words in ALL CAPS is actually harder to read than is normal text. It
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is better to reserve ALL CAPS for titles or for individual words that require special emphasis.
I.4.2.3. Make a consistent photographic theme
You should choose a basic design and color scheme and use it throughout the presentation to convey a sense of unity. To carry out a consistent theme, choose a symbol other than a round bullet o use for emphasis, maintain a consistent color scheme and use consistent spacing.
Repetition, however, can be boring, so you may want to vary your visual aids a little but keep in mind that a consistent theme will help your students to process and remember complex information.
I.4.2.4. Choose fonts and font size carefully
A font is a typeface of a particular size and style. Font size is measured in points; a point is 1/72 of an inch. The larger the point size, the larger the letter. It is easy to be carried away by all of the possibilities, but if you combine typefaces carelessly, you will soon discover that your choices conflict instead of complement one another. The strategies discussed below should help you avoid conflict in your design.
You also need to think about readability when you decide what size to use for various elements in your graphics. Your visual aids must be big enough to be seen by people in the back row of your students. How big is big enough? Microsoft offers some general guidelines for visual aids. They recommended using 44- point type for titles, 32-point type for subtitle or for text if there is no subtitle and 28- point type for the text if there is also a subtitle. The Microsoft designers reason that it is better for a visual aid be too big than too small. If you are not sure your font are large enough, try to looking at your visual aid in the setting where you will be marking your presentation.
It is better if you use a limitednumber of fonts.Some variety of fonts in a visual aid is appealing, but too much can be distracting which uses a different font for each line. Most experts recommend using no more than two fonts in a single visual aid—one for the title or major headings, another for subtitles or other text.
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Standard procedure is to use a block typeface for the title and a rounder typeface for subtitles and text.