Course: Material Development For Group: 3

Language Teaching
Students’ name:
Instructor: Mr. Nguyễn Đăng Nguyên Vòng Vy Nguyệt Ánh 1757010051
Nguyễn Ngọc Hồ 1757010097
Class on Tuesday afternoon at Thu Nguyễn An Khương 1757010132
Duc Campus Huỳnh Hồ Đông Nhi 1757010176
Huỳnh Ngọc Hiền Nhi 1757010177
Trương Mỹ Tiên 1757010251
Lê Thị Hoài Trang 1757010261
Trương Vũ Nguyên Uyên 1757010283

VISUAL ELEMENTS IN EFL COURSE BOOK

I. Introduction
1. History: from the picture-free days to full of stylish colour drawings and
state-of-the-art photographs
- Since Pit Corder’s ground-breaking The Visual Element in Language Teaching in 1966, a
number of methodologists wrote books showing the importance of various kinds of pictures
in English language teaching over a 15-year period from the mid-1970s
to the early 1990s.
- After a gap of 18 years, two new works arrived in the same year 2009 emphasized the new
accessibility of images through the internet.
- In 2011 a resource book on using works of art was also published. For the period 2011–
2012 a scan of copies of two popular practical English Teaching Professional and Modern
English Teacher magazines revealed very occasional articles dealing with the use of visuals.
and completely visual-centred idea.
⇒This suggests that, even in these electronic and virtual days of language teaching, the use of visual
material in the classroom continues. And, of course, British and world coursebooks have moved on
from the picture-free days, through the early black-and-white line drawings, to the current range of
materials which are full of stylish colour drawings and state-of-the-art photographs.

2. The aim of this chapter

With this continuing interest in and use of visuals, and the vast quantity of pictures available
in British coursebooks aimed at the international market for young adults and adults, this
chapter seeks to examine what use is actually being made of pictorial material there, and to
suggest what use might be made of it.

II. Visuals in recent British coursebooks

1. What do we get?
In order to see what the current situation is with regard to British coursebook visuals, the
writer examined three Student’s Books at the Intermediate level spanning the previous
decade:
a. Inside Out (S. Kay and V. Jones (2000), Oxford: Macmillan
Heinemann)
 b. face2face (C. Redston and G. Cunningham (2006), Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press)
c. Outcomes (H. Dellar and A. Walkely (2010), Andover: Heinle,
Cengage Learning EMEA)

1.1 The approach to have analysis: Initially finding out in the main text pages of the
coursebook units the balance between black-and-white and colour illustration, and
between drawings and photographs and analysing what the pictures were actually
illustrating.

1.2. The analysis of statistics:

- These figures only show the existence of a separate individual illustration, regardless of
size. All three books are roughly A4 format (c. 21 cm x 30 cm), and the pictures typically vary
in size from 20.5 cm x 16 cm down to 3 cm x 4 cm. Cartoon story sequences in a block are
counted as one illustration.

- Perhaps the most obvious thing which stands out from the figures in Table 7.1 is the
overwhelming dominance of colour pictures (475/529) to black-and-white (54/529), and the
overwhelming dominance of photos (392/529) to drawings (137/529). The use of black-and-
white photos is generally limited to historical photos that only exist in that form; the use of
black-and-white illustration is generally limited to the use of single funny cartoons.

- It is also noticeable that the earliest book – Inside Out, which was developed in the 1990s –
has a higher number of drawn illustrations – more than twice as many as the later two
books; this may indicate a greater and simpler access to different types of photographic
images parallel to the increased use of electronic technology in publishing.
- The figures in Table 7.2 indicate that far more pictures show straight portraits, and people
doing something (actions) or interacting with each other.

- It is interesting to note that the vast majority of portraits are photographs (111, against only
5 drawings) while a relatively high number of the interaction pictures are drawings (38 out of
106); this reflects the fact that it is much easier for a picture editor to get an agency portrait
of, say ‘a woman in her thirties looking happy’ than ‘a couple of students arguing about
shopping in a supermarket’ – although many of this last category of photos are clearly
staged for the purpose.

1.3 The implication from this statistic:

- There are various kinds of photographic images used in coursebooks over time thanks to
the development of electronic technology in publishing.

- The illustrations often focus on portrait, interaction with each other and actions of people as
well.

* Although this analysis of what pictures are to be found in coursebooks is intrinsically

interesting, it may be more revealing about the process of textbook production than it is
about how the pictures are expected to be used.

III. How are they used?

Generally, visual elements in EFL materials are fundamentally used into 2 major ways:
Decoration ( merely use for providing illustration or space-filling) and Specific use ( Directly
related to particular learning activities).

1. The Approach to have analysis: Initially, find out in the text of student's book how
many of pictures we specifically used and how many were merely used for decoration.

2. The analysis of statistic:

This statistic shows:

• Half of the images 53,4 percent ( 40,8 %+ 12,6%) across the three books are still used
purely for Decoration.

For instance, If a conversation takes place in a restaurant, there is a photo and

drawing of a restaurant beside the dialogue. ( Although students are not asked to refer to the
picture )

• In terms of Face2face book: it has fewer pictures than other two courses >< the highest
percentage which are used by students:

((68+16)/141)×100=59,6 % (specifically used)

Comparison : Face2face : used (59,6%). (The highest )

Outcome :used ( 47,7%)

Inside Out: used ( 35,9%)

• Inside Out & Outcomes : have an almost identical number of pictures in them:

Inside Out : Specific use ( 35,9%) , Decoration ( 64,1%) => not balanced.

Outcome : Specific use ( 47,7%), Decoration ( 52,3%) => almost equal.

=> The three coursebooks are representative of all coursebooks.

3 The implication from this statistic :

- It's more or as important to provide attractive space-filling accompanying illustrations in

the coursebooks than it is to provide pictures with related activies.

-Example: Major problem in the production of the coursebooks: If the authors of the
coursebooks doesn't provide a brief for a particular picture for use with an activity, then
 the rest of the production process up to the editors and designers=> They add decorative
images to fill the space.

And what goes onto a page is dependent upon a member of non-educational

factors. The space left has been included by the necessary exercises and illustrations.

Ilustrated straplines are included at the top of pages or start of chapters and
how many pictures they can afford from picture agencies without going over budget.

4. The role of using illustrative elements:

- According to Harmer (200,p.135), we can see the essence of his terms

“Ornamentation” ( my “decoration”): interesting pictures -> appeal to at least some
members because they have the power to engage students

-Especially, Students nowadays prefer the colourfully decorated pages.

IV. What kind of use?

46.6% of the illustrations in the three coursebooks analysed do have activities attached to
them.
=> In materials, some activities are usually attached with illustrations.
=> Illustrations become a useful tool
+to help students deal with the activities more easily and interestingly.
+to help teachers engage students and work out the lesson more efficiently.

We may classify those activities into the following types:

1. Activities dealing with precise elements of the unit language focus (syntax/
vocabulary):

● Finding objects from a written list in the

picture.
● Matching written texts with pictures.
=> Controlled practice.

● Using situations in pictures to work out

what people are saying.
● Using the pictures as cues for written
grammar drills.
● Giving physical descriptions of people or
places in the pictures.

=> Controlled/ Semi-controlled practice

2. Activities working on listening comprehension:
(Face2face/38)
● Recognizing and labelling
people/objects on the basis of a listening
passage.
● Spotting differences between details in
the picture and information given in the
recording.
● Deciding what people are saying in the
pictures based on the recorded
dialogues.

3. Finding or giving information:

● Illustrations which clarify details in a reading text.
Reading u2/6 (New Inside Out)
● Looking for information in the picture.
 4. Deduction and creativity:
● Making judgements and inventing information about people and situations in the
pictures.
Ex:
- The individual part of the speaking test in EF (USSH): In this part, a picture
with a relating topic is given to students. They will have one minute to observe
the picture and prepare some ideas about the topic that the picture may refer
to. After that, they will have 2 minutes to describe the picture and express
their opinion.
=> Free practice

Through the analysis, we can make distinction between

Purely functional illustrations which Illustration to stimulate mental and

have the aim of making linguistic response
comprehension of target language
easier

Ex: Photograph of an object of an event Ex: Illustration positioned to allow

in a text readers speculation at the end of one
and before the beginning of another
piece of text

Illustration facilitate explicit teaching Illustration facilitate task

 Ex: Defining the meaning of words by Ex: By illustrating an interactive
having a picture of their referents situation which students are using the
language for

The illustrations are commonly being used for fairly low-level language practice, with few
activities aimed at stimulating students to use the language at their disposal creatively
starting from the pictures
Ex:
The Roads activity (Hill, 1990, p.34): Different type of country roads (which have no people,
animals or vehicles) are given to students. These students then have to imagine they are
standing on that road and note down their own responses to several stimulating questions
like:
● something they can see outside their picture to their left, which we can’t see;
● something they can hear;
● something they can see outside their picture to their right, which we can’t see;
● something they can smell;
● something small they find on the road, pick up and take home with them;
● something they see in front of them which they do not like when they walk down the
road and out of the picture.

The students then suggested to share with their partner about their responses.
→ This activity helps learners to develop the ability to use second language in daily conversation

Further example:

Another familiar activity was the analyzing of colors (The image in language teaching, Kieran
Donaghy and Daniel Xerrie, p. 74):

Prepare students with some ‘colors’ codes’ (like yellow for young and joy; green for money,
nature, jealousy and luck; brown for solidity, neutrality and straightforwardness…) then give
them various colorful pictures of brand logos and ask them to analyze the hidden meaning
under the color usage of those logos.

→ By implementing colors and pictures in the lesson, the activity give students a more
comprehension stimulate emotional response and help them practice speaking

V. What might we do with visuals in coursebooks?

-The common problems of the visual elements in coursebooks:
It seems to me that having over 50 per cent of the pictures in a given coursebook used
for purely decorative purposes.
➔ This results in a great waste to effort on the part of publisher and opportunity for
language learner and teacher as well.
In reality, many teachers use the decorative pictures accompanying reading passages with
the aim of arousing interest in and/or awareness of topic by discussing what the
learners can see in the pictures. Let us see what we find in the coursebook.
Take a page from Unit 10 of Outcomes Intermediate as a fairly typical example for
the use of decorative pictures. (see Figure 7.1)
+There is a sense in which the use of the picture feels deceitful : The pictures are full of
color while the rest of the page isn’t so that one’s eye is automatically attracted to it
+It takes up an area of 189cm2 out of the whole 588cm2 of the page – one-third.
Yet despite the importance of colour and size affords the picture, it is not used directly.

The page works through a series of nine activities under three headings: Speaking(1),
Vocabulary (4), and Pronunciation (4)
➔ They all deal with aspects of the topic relating to events and entertainment
What is actually happening in the picture is not clear, but it would seem to be young
Japanese people at a rock concert. It therefore relates clearly to some of the sentences in
Vocabulary exercise A and could relate to Vocabulary exercise D and Pronunciation
exercises A and B, too, without being directly referred to.

It means that all the exercises aim to help students describe attendance at events using
more interesting and colourful language. So the picture provides a context of a kind ,
however it is not used for any linguistic purpose. The activities would work just as well
without the picture. Students can almost certainly describe events through:
+ Because of the written information given in text of the coursebook
+ Examples they hear on the recording
➔ Not because of the picture.

Through some picture-related discussion, using rubrics as follows would lead into the
language tasks and stimulate linguistic purposes:
- What kind of events do young people enjoy going out to in the evenings and at
weekends?
- How do young people dress when they go to a rock concert?
- Look at the picture below. What nationality do you think these people are? Are
they dressed and behaving like young people at a concert in your country? Why/
why not?
 - How do you think they are feeling?
+ The issue here is not only dealing with what is seen, dealing with what the learners know
but thinking or deducing more into the content presented. It is of utmost importance to make
the distinction between ‘talking about’ a picture and ‘talking with’ a picture. If you talk
about a picture, you are limited and constrained by what you can see – “Some of them are
dancing and others are. . . .” It is factual and visible.
+ However, this need not be an end in itself, but the way into talking with the picture: ‘The
girl with the blonde hair looks as if she’s enjoying herself dancing, and this guy in the red hat
and white glasses reminds me of someone I saw at the last concert I went to . . . he was…

Here, with a suitable task, the picture allows learners to bring their own reality,
experiences to the lesson. Coursebooks seem to offer very few opportunities to use
pictures to stimulate their own inner meanings.

An ideal example on how to use visual elements:

In the author’s coursebook for the Italian Biennio, Corpus, a series of good colour
photographs are used on a large scale in relation to some pages on Art Nouveau. First, they
are used to consolidate vocabulary via a listening passage about collecting Art Nouveau
objects. There is a relatively simple labelling activity (‘talking about’) first, and then there
follows a series of three questions which broaden the topic out to a discussion of the
learners’ feelings related to the Art Nouveau objects illustrated (‘talking with’).
Besides visual elements presented in coursebooks, other types of materials that can be
named as to stimulating the linguistic purposes and involving more learning experience
such as using flashcards, cue cards, printed materials, handmade/hand drawn pieces, real
objects,...

VI. Conclusion
Visual elements are mostly for decorative purpose
● Linguistic purposes are rare and mostly for low level language
● Ways to improve using language tasks
● Types of other materials for meaningful and involved language learning experience