a Individual pictures
These are single pictures of objects, person or activities. There is an enormous variety of material from newspaper, magazines, catalogues,
greeting cards, trail brochures, advertisements, old textbooks and even wrapping paper.
b Specialized pictures posters, charts, advertisements, brochures
Wall posters are not designed especially for teaching, but rather for advertising or propaganda purposes. Although they provide very little
textual information, they cannot be dismissed from the ESL classroom as they can be used to illustrate topics and provide motivation for
discussion.
Several kinds of picture above give a new knowledge about the picture itself which can be found in daily lives. Human daily activity might
be also present the pictures on it. For example, when someone reads newspaper, heshe will find a picture on the headline news; or when
someone wants to eat an instant food, heshe will see a picture on the package. There are
many kinds of picture around the people.
3. Function of Pictures
After discussed about the definition and kinds of picture above, it is known that there are many definitions and kinds of picture. Besides, it also
important to know about their functions whether the functions of picture are important or not in teaching learning process. Here are some functions of
picture given by the experts as follows:
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Pictures are very useful for presenting new grammatical and
vocabulary items. They help to provide the situations and contexts which light up the meaning of words or utterances, and help the
teachers to avoid resorting to translation or to lengthy explanations of meaning.
Pictures can be used for revision from one lesson to another as well
as for long-term revision of vocabulary and structures.
Pictures can be used as the basis of written work, for instance, question writing.
Pictures increase student
s’ motivation and provide useful practice material as well as test material.
28
Francis J. Pirozzolo and Merlin C. Wittrock, ed., Neuropsychological and Cognitive Processes in Reading, New York: Academic Press, 1981, p.212.
Pictures can be used to give students an opportunity to practice the
language in real contexts or in situations in which they can use it to communicate their ideas.
From the statement above, it can be concluded that picture is very useful for language learning in understanding their material. It gives them
motivation to understand the situation, and can guide them to learn the material, in writing aspect for example.
Andrew Wright also stated in his book, “Specifically, pictures
contributed to: 1 interest and motivation 2 a sense of the context of the language 3 a specific reference point or stimulus”.
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This statement also strengthen the previous explanation that picture gives a higher motivation
for the learners to understand the context of the language.
4. The Criteria of Good Picture
According to MAC M. Ramirez, “The pictures should be directly
relevant to a specific teaching objective and should be identified by the lesson with it is to be used. Besides that, the pictures should be simple
graphic and easy to use or manipulate ”.
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This statement tells that when a teacher wants to use picture in hisher teaching, it should be relevant with
the subject which related to the teaching objective. If it is not relevant with the subject, the learners will be difficult to catch the idea of presentation
from their teacher. According to Andrew Wright, there are some criteria for selecting
good pictures for the students, such as:
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a. The aid must be easy to prepare and organize by the teacher
b. The aid must be interesting for students
c. The aid must be meaningful and authentic
29
Andrew Wright, Pictures for Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, p.2
30
MAC M. Ramirez, The Neglected Tools can Work for You. The Art of TESOL Selected Articles from the English Teaching Forum, part two, 1975. P.268.
31
Andrew Wright, Pictures for Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, p.3
d. The aid must be sufficient amount language.
Andrew Wright has the same opinion about the criteria of good picture in language teaching, but in different words. He said in the
statement above that picture must be meaningful and sufficient for students. If it is not meaningful, for what reason a teacher gives it to
hisher students. It also should be interesting, in order to get students’
interest and motivation to see it. Therefore, teaching learning process will be easier to handle.
5. The Resources of Pictures
According to Noor Azlina Yunus in her book Preparing and Using Aids for English Language Teaching
, she mentioned that, “Pictures are the most widely available of all teaching materials. There is a veritable
goldmine of suitable pictures in newspapers, magazines, old textbooks, catalogues, brochures, calendars, etc.”
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It implies that pictures are very easy to be found, because it can comes from many sources.
According to Andrew Wright, the source of pictures can be found in: “Newspaper, magazines, advertisements, holiday brochures, business
brochures, catalogues, calendars, greeting cards, postcards, reproduction of arts, posters, wall charts, instructions, old books, comics and cartoon
strips, family photographs, stamps, playing cards, wrapping paper, course book, the teacher’s and students’ own drawings, photocopying”.
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Those statements above tell that it is not difficult to find picture, because it is around human daily lives. But it is not easy to find a suitable
picture for the teaching if a teacher does not pay attention of the criteria for selecting a good picture that have to be relevant with the subject itself.
32
Noor Azlina Yunus, Preparing and Using Aids for English Language Teaching, Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1981, p.49
33
Andrew Wright, Pictures for Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, p. 182-187.
