Visual aids and speaking skills

Abstract

English holds a prominent position as one of the most prevalent languages worldwide; thus, establishing its significance in the realm of language acquisition. Consequently, the development of oral proficiency becomes a paramount aspect in acquiring a second language, facilitating real-time communication with others. Hence, this thesis investigates the influence of visual aids on the development of speaking skills The study enlisted the participation of 39 students, comprising 19 males and 20 females, enrolled in the 1st year of General Baccalaureate at Vicente Anda Aguirre Educational Unit, aged between 14 and 15 years. The intervention consisted of eight in-person sessions using Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) lesson plans in conjunction with Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT). To measure the efficacy of the intervention, both a pre-test and post-test were administered, employing the speaking component of the standardized KET exam by Cambridge. Additionally, the students' English proficiency level in speaking was evaluated using the Cambridge A2 Flyers rubric. This was a pre-experimental study. The results show a 1.4-point improvement in students' speaking ability after implementing various activities using visual aids as a teaching strategy. All collected data were subjected to statistical analysis, and content analysis was conducted utilizing the SPSS software to reject the null hypothesis, thereby confirming the acceptance of the alternative hypothesis. Consequently, the effective utilization of visual aids has proven instrumental in fostering oral proficiency, leading to enhanced fluency and pronunciation among students.