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To:

Mr. Iurie Cristea, Principal

From:

Roman Marinciuc, C2 English class student

Subject:
Date:

Audio-visual method in teaching English


4 February 2016

Introduction
The objectives of this report are to present results of the conducted research on the
efficiencies and drawbacks regarding audio-visual methods of teaching English and to
provide the general students opinion on the efficiency and potential disadvantages of
these methods. The survey includes opinions of 15 students from 10 th, 11th and 12th forms
(5 per form). The research of the topic on how the audio-visual method is used in other
countries/schools was based on the following criteria:

Foreign experience of audio-visual teaching


Other schools results
Students average performance on exams
Time spent per session (lesson)

Foreign/other schools experience


The research was focused on the efficiency of the implementation of audio-visual method
of teaching English in a EFL (English as a Foreign Language) class in other Moldavian and
foreign schools. According to it, audio-visual materials are a great help in stimulating and
facilitating the learning of a foreign language. On the contrary, there are some
disadvantages of using this method. Both advantages and disadvantages of audio-visual
method supported with examples, are presented below:
Advantages:

It contributes to the understanding of another culture via vicarious contact with


native speakers, through both audio and visual means (used in top private schools
in UK i.e.: The Glasgow Academy, Queens College etc.)
Video is a visual aid presenting the target language naturally (puts an emphasis on
communicative techniques; provides an authentic language input)
The information intake process has proved its efficiency over reading on students
exam results
Video makes meaning clearer by illustrating relationships in a way that is not
possible with words (five minutes of video can provide up to an hour of classroom
work).

Disadvantages:
The teacher plays a key role in using the video as an aid for language teaching and has
prime responsibility for creating a successful language learning environment. The teacher
must be a controller, an assessor on organiser, a prompter and a participant as well.
Therefore, scarcity of qualified teachers is the main problem in audio-visual teaching
implementation. Another technical disadvantages are:

Qualitative audio-visual material involves higher costs than textbooks


Maintenance of presentation equipment
Fear of technology (widespread among older teachers)

Moldavian schools experience:


In the Moldavian schools, audio-visual method is mainly used via projectors
presentations, videos, on-topic live research. The schools which frequently use projectors
are Theoretical High School-Orizont, Lyceum "Prometeu-Prim and LASM. This number is a
small one compared to European and American schools.

Internal survey results


According to my internal survey results, 5 out of 5 12 th, and 11th form students support the
implementation of audio-visual method referring to its efficiency. 4 out of 5 10 th form
students showed same results while one 10th form student didnt support it referring to the
lack of students concentration while watching a video.
The most chosen disadvantages of the audio-visual method of teaching English are: costs
of implementation, big digital size of video files, quality of resources.

Conclusion
In the light of the results of the survey and poll, audio-visual methods of teaching English
proved to be an effective alternative to the traditional copybooks and other teaching
resources. 14 out of 15 students opted for implementation of this method in LASM. Foreign
experience analysis showed that the main advantages of audio-visual are: better
comprehension of another cultures, natural language presentation and its effectiveness;
whilst main disadvantages are: qualitative audio-visual material costs, maintenance of
equipment and domestic conservative outlook towards new technologies.
Taking aforementioned data into consideration, the implementation of audio-visual
methods of teaching English will be a good investment into LASM students academic
performance and will positively impact the lyceum national and international image.

Research sources:
-

Wright, A. (1976) Visual Materials for the Language Teacher, Essex


Bouman, L.(1990) Veni, Video, Vici: Video in Language Teaching. Journal of English
Teaching Forum, vol.18-2 p.8.
Christine Canning-Wilson & Julie Wallace (2000) Practical Aspects of Using Video in
the Foreign Language Classroom. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VI, No. 11,

November 2000. Retrieved April 15, 2006 from


internet:http://iteslj.org/Articles/Canning-Video.2001 html
-Hemei, J. (1997) Teaching with Video in an English Class, Journal of English
Teaching Forum, vol.35-2, pp 45- 47

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