Mohammed Kheidher University of Biskra
Literature and Foreign Languages Division
Foreign Languages Department
The English Section
(Major) TEFL
Pedagogical Aids
Objectives : By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Identify pedagogical aids ;
Explain their overriding importance in teaching ;
Spell out their similarities and differences ;
Plan their effective use in the classroom ;
Discuss their utility to promote learners’ achievement and motivation.
Food-for-Thought Questions :
1. What are pedagogical aids ?
2. In what way may they be said of overriding importance ?
3. How can technology involve reluctant learrners in classroom practices ?
4. What are the debts and credits of pedagogical aids in EFL classrooms ?
Terminology Used in This Tutorial :
Audio-visual aids/ audio-visual materials/ audio-visual media/ communication technology/
educational or instructional media/ learning resources/
Based on a True Story :
In retrospect, my teachers almost never used technology that was available in the 80s to drive
their point. They exclusively count on our imagination to figure out their input. We’d better be
imaginative or otherwise the grimace quickly appears on the teachers’ faces as though they
were saying ‘‘Hey, there ! Are you a moron or something ?! How can’t you imagine this
simple thing ?’’. As senior student in the high school, I remember my physics teacher asking
us to look through a slide to see the colors of the spectrum. Each time,we mentioned a color
he did not expect, he said that it was due to the impurity of the slide ! Even those cheap slides
were expired but still in use. Worse still, they were misleading and as a by-product, they
chipped away at the credibility of the information. One more thing, our textbooks contained in
most of cases black-and-white pictures, and to make things worse, most of the pictures were
blurred ! Teaching then was too abstract and less involving. Don’t you think so ?
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5. Do teachers of English need special training and coaching to use effectively
technology in their classrooms ?
Introduction :
According to Eric Ashby, education witnessed four (04) revolutions : (1) education from
home to school, (2) written words as tools of education, (3) invention of printing and use of
books, and lastly, (4) the fourth revolution is to use of electronic media (radio, TV, tape
recorder, and computer in education) (qtd in Bagulia, 2005 :2). The 21st C. witnesses a wealth
of resources to be used in the classrooms to enhance learners’ interests, meaningful
involvement, motivation, and meeting learners’ expectations, needs, styles, and wants. The
call to the judicious and effective utilization of technology is more pressing than ever.
Communication technology can offer an exceptional opportunity to provide quality teaching
and learning to 21st C. students at all levels. Edgar Dale argues that ‘‘audio-visual materials
supply concrete basis for conceptual thinking, they give rise to meaningful concepts, enriched
by meaninful association, hence they offer the best antidote for the disease of verbalism’’
(Ibid. 3). This tutorial is concerned with the attempt to sensitize would-be teachers to
consider the use of technology to enhance students’ meaningful engagement and ultimately
satisfy their future students’ needs and learning styles.
Pedagogical Aids : An Historical Backcloth
All civilizations favored the use of some
1. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) : This Dutch philosopher discouraged
memorization, and instead advocated that children should learn through the aid of
pictures or other visuals.
2. John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) : In his book Orbis Sensulium Pictus (or The
World of Sense Objects), this Czech educator included 150 pictures on aspects of
everyday life. It is therefore the first illustrated textbook in the Western world for
children.
3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) : The Geneva-born philosopher stressed the
need of pictures and other play materials. He condemned the use of words by teachers
and stressed the role of « things ». he pleaded that the teaching process must be
directed to the learner’s natural curiosity.
4. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1756-1827) : Pestalozzi put his fellow countryman (i.e.,
Rousseau) theory into action in his « Object Method ». He based his instruction on
sense perception.
5. Maria Montessori (1870-1952) : The Montessori classroom has its basis in reality
and nature, so as to reflect the real world. Equipment is authentic and child-sized and
materials are limited to one of each so that the child must learn to wait if the work he wants
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type of ‘‘objects’’ to teach children. Pictures and
dolls seem to be the best choice as they were accessible to lay-people. These devices and
others were meant to facilitate learning, meaningfully engage students, induce collaboration
and cooperation among students, save time and energy, and entertain students with the view
of leading them to learn.
is in use. Montessori environments often have gardens to tend and animals to care for to
create a natural connection with the outside world.
Beauty and atmosphere of the Montessori classroom is achieved through a comfortable and
homelike environment. Authentic objects and real wood materials are preferred over
plastic and real artwork decorates the walls alongside student created pieces.
Audio-Visual Aids Definitions :
Different scholars have different perspectives as to the definition of audio-visual aids.
However, they share some common ground.
1. Burton : Audio-visual aids (AVA) are those sensory objects or images which initiate
or stimulate and reinforce teaching.
2. Carter V. Good : AVA are those aids which help in completing the triangular process
of learning (i.e., motivation, classification, and stimulation).
3. Edgar Dale : AV are those devices by the use of which communication of ideas
between persons and groups in various teaching and training situations is applied.
These are termed as multi-sensory materials.
5. McKown and Roberts : AVA are supplimentary devices by which the teacher
through the utilization of more than one sensory channels is able to clarify, establish
and correlate concepts, interpreation, and appreciation.
6. Abdul Mannan Bagulia : AVA or devices or technological media or learning devices
are added devices that help the teacher to clarify, establish, co-relate and co-ordinate
accurate concepts, interpretations and appreciation and enable him to make learning
more concrete, effective, interesteting, inspirational, meaningful and vivid. (Ibid.2)
Most of these definitions have overlooked the two main aids in the teaching-learning process :
teachers and students. The human aspect in the classroom may be considered the most
precious and effective pedagogical aid. As McLuhan says « We shape our tools, and our tools
shape us », and therefore both teachers and students become aids to their own pedagogical
devices that they collected or made to help them teach and/ or learn.
Credits of Pedagogical Aids :
AVA have a great impact on the teaching-learning process.
1. Meeting Students’ Learning Styles : Different learners exhibit different preferences
in learning. AVA help address these individual differences in preferences.
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4. Kinder, S. James : AVA are any device which can be used to make learning
experience more concrete, more realistic and more dynamic.
2. Meeting Students’ Needs : PA meet students different needs (security, belonging,
self-esteem, etc.)
3. Facilitating Learning : The utilization of PA relieves anxiety and fear and in the
same breath induces favorable factors that lead to meaningful engagement.
4. Inducing collaboration and cooperation : If properly used, PA encourage interaction
between the stakeholders (here, teachers and students).
5. Saving Time and Energy : It is often quoted that a picture is worth a thousand words.
PA help teachers drive their point smoothly and efforfully.
6. Entertaining students : PA relieve boredom since many of them are like games.
Through the judicious use of PA a humorous and enjoyable atmoshere sets in.
Pedagogical Aids and the Learning Process :
Verghese argues that « « no effective teaching is possible without appropriate aids ». This
statement clearly and amply asserts the necessity of the appropriate aids for teaching and
learning to occur. As 98% of learning happens through the five senses (namely, feeling,
hearing, sight, smell, and tasting), teaching therefore should target to « provoke » these
senses. Learning occurs when the five senses coalesce to grasp information. A mere look at
Cobun’s findings (1968) reveals the amount of learning through the senses :
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1% of what is learned is from the sense of taste
10.5% of what is learned is from the sense of touch ;
3.5% of what is learned is from the sense of smell ;
11% of what is learned is from the sense of hearing ; and
83% of what is learned is from the sense of sight. (Bagulia, op.cit. :6).
Types of Pedagogical Aids :
Basically, any person or object that facilitates the intake can be called a pedagogical aid.
Nowadays, a wide plethora of PA are available.
1. Teachers : Teachers are pedagogical aids in the way they wear, speak, move around,
and write.
2. Textbooks : Textbooks are the manuals used to impart knowledge. They contain
linguistic and non-linguistic content that lead to teaching and learning.
3. Blackboard : According to Verghese the blackboard is « the most versatile and
indespensable visual aid ». There are different types of chalkboard (in American use) :
whiteboards and interactive boards.
4. Flash Cards : Flash cards are sets of cards with words or phrases written on one side
and their meanings on the other.
5. Charts/ Graphs : Charts are useful visual aids (VA) ; they come in different types :
bar charts, pie charts, etc. They explain the development of an event or otherwise over a
period of time.
6. Slides : Slides focus on sequences projected on a large screen. Data-Show with its
colored slides are of enduring importance and displaying information and keeping attention
focused on the items presented.
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Consequently, the inclusion of PA should concern itself to consider these figures while
collecting and/ or designing lesson and corresponding as well as relevant PA.
7. Pictures : Pictures have been around at least from the first days of the creation of
photography. They are used for a variety of purposes (description, narrating, etc.)
8. OHP : (In other words, Overhead Projectors). They are used to introduce a variety of
activities (games, stories, teaching of lexico-grammatical items, etc.)
9. Recorders : tape recorders, camrecorders and other types of recording devices are
used to introduce sequences of social, historical, political, life or otherwise.
10. Movies/Films : Movies are very motivating and extremely informative. They can be
shown on PCs, laptops, and DVix, etc. Multi-media laboratories can be very effective in
using videos and movies.
Pedagogical Aids and Lesson Preparation : Some Do’s & Don’ts
PA are usually tailored to the objectives of the lesson in question. They need to be
collected or designed beforehand and mentioned in the lesson worksheet. It is preferrable
that PA of one lesson should not be used in the next lesson with the view avoiding
confusion and unwanted associations. When I was teaching in the high school, I used
occasionally to display some pictures already seen by my students in previous lessons to
convey a new message. Some of my students could not help associating these pictures with
the previous information. They grew more confused, and less sure of the new input.
What is more, it is worth of note to mention that PA planning needs to take into
consideration the availability, practicality, and respect of the cultural, racial, and social
values of the class. PA that may conjure up thoughts and memories offending the values
cherished by a learning class are counter-productive.
Quiz :
Peruse your notes and if necessary conduct some research to answer the following
questions :
1. Undoubtedly PA are extremely important and an integral part of any effective
instruction. Can you think of some debts of PA ?
2. Can you classify the diverse types of PA so that it is easier for novice teachers to
differentiate between them ?
3. « AVA are meant to suppliment and enrich the usual method of teaching » (Das
1985 :161). Explain in your own words.
4. What are the factors that teachers need to consider while preparing a lesson and
collecting corresponding PA ?
PS :
Some of these questions may be included in the examination paper.
Therefore, you’d better start considering them.
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PA are not planned only for the sake of making the lesson appear interesting. They need to
contribute in the intellectual growth of the students. Besides, they ought to be introduced to
lead the students to the next Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), to put it in Vygostky’s
terms. Das (1985 :160) observes « The aids must be adapted to the intellectual maturity
and previous experiences of the pupils ».