the effect of picture on learning foreign vocabulary
EFFECTS OF PICTURES ON MEMORY & LEARNING
Walter KLINGER
ウォルター クリンガー
Foreign language instruction material has become increasingly highly visual--from pictures on flashcards for vocabulary learning, to richly illustrated textbooks, to multimedia software, to films and movies. In this article, we consider what the advantages and disadvantages may be of using visual material. What happens when we look at pictures, or at written words, or at pictures and words together? Is there a further effect when we hear words spoken along with visual or written material? We find evidence that visual material has strong influences on memory and learning, but its effectiveness for language learning depends on the goal of the instruction as well as student learning abilities and preferences.
The goal of my classes for first-year college students is to encourage and develop ability in speaking and hearing English, as contrasted with ability in reading and writing, so I often use visual material to divert students’ attention away from the written word. I sometimes use movies and songs with video clips and I have developed a number of games which were described in previous articles (Klinger 1999, 1998) and are available online at http://www2.ice.usp.ac.jp/wklinger/QA/cardgameshome.htm/. One game I use is a set of several dozen drawings, without captions, of everyday events and activities. Players in turn put down a card to make a continuing story of what happened one day. The play is noisy and lively since a player with a card that is more related to the exposed card can challenge someone who tries to put down a less related card. Almost always, however, the sentences the students spontaneously say are grammatically incorrect, so in some classes I ask the students to write out sentences beforehand and check them for correct grammar and usage.
Another game is a set of question and answer cards. Each pair of cards has the same picture but different captions;
Walter KLINGER
ウォルター クリンガー
Foreign language instruction material has become increasingly highly visual--from pictures on flashcards for vocabulary learning, to richly illustrated textbooks, to multimedia software, to films and movies. In this article, we consider what the advantages and disadvantages may be of using visual material. What happens when we look at pictures, or at written words, or at pictures and words together? Is there a further effect when we hear words spoken along with visual or written material? We find evidence that visual material has strong influences on memory and learning, but its effectiveness for language learning depends on the goal of the instruction as well as student learning abilities and preferences.
The goal of my classes for first-year college students is to encourage and develop ability in speaking and hearing English, as contrasted with ability in reading and writing, so I often use visual material to divert students’ attention away from the written word. I sometimes use movies and songs with video clips and I have developed a number of games which were described in previous articles (Klinger 1999, 1998) and are available online at http://www2.ice.usp.ac.jp/wklinger/QA/cardgameshome.htm/. One game I use is a set of several dozen drawings, without captions, of everyday events and activities. Players in turn put down a card to make a continuing story of what happened one day. The play is noisy and lively since a player with a card that is more related to the exposed card can challenge someone who tries to put down a less related card. Almost always, however, the sentences the students spontaneously say are grammatically incorrect, so in some classes I ask the students to write out sentences beforehand and check them for correct grammar and usage.
Another game is a set of question and answer cards. Each pair of cards has the same picture but different captions;