An investigation into how to use charts and graphs to teach and learn writing skill of eleventh grade students at some high schools in quang binh

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine The information reported in this paper is the result of my own work, except where due reference is made The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently submitted to any candidature for any other degree or diploma Hue, June 2011 Author Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong i Acknowledgements First, I am indebted to my supervisor, Dr Phan Van Hoa, for his professional guidance and support Without his help, this thesis could not reach this present standard Second, I am very grateful and thankful to the English Staff of HUCFL for their valuable suggestions in approving the initial proposal for this thesis, for their guidance and help with valuable evaluation and encouragements Third, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the English Staff in Ninh Chau high school and Dao Duy Tu high school for their helps during the time I carried out this study Last, but not least, I wish to express my deep thanks to my mother, siblings and friends for all their support during the time I was conducting this project ii Table of contents Pages TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………… …………………………1 LIST OF TABLE .6 LIST OF CHARTS ABSTRACT .7 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Research aims 12 1.3 Research Significance 13 1.4 Research questions 13 1.5 Scope 13 1.6 Organization of the thesis .14 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 15 2.1 Theories of English writing skill 15 2.1.1 English writing skill 15 2.1.1.1 Academic writing 16 2.1.1.2 Product-oriented writing 17 2.1.1.3 Process-oriented writing 18 2.1.1.3.1 The process of composing 20 2.1.1.3.2 The process of communicating 20 2.1.1.3.3 The process of improving 20 2.1.1.4 Top-down and bottom-up approaches .21 2.1.2 Assessment and Evaluation in writing 22 2.1.3 The teaching and learning of English writing skill 22 2.1.3.1 The teaching of English writing skill 22 2.1.3.1.1 The sense of purpose 23 2.1.3.1.2 The sense of audience 23 2.1.3.1.3 The sense of direction 24 2.1.3.2 The learning of English writing skill 28 2.2 Definitions, types, functions of charts and graphs in EFL writing 30 2.2.1 Definitions of charts and graphs 30 2.2.2 Types of charts and graphs in language education 31 2.2.3 Functions of graphs in the teaching and learning of English writing skill 33 2.3 Techniques in the teaching and learning of chart and graph description .34 2.3.1 Features and language 36 2.3.1.1 Trends 36 2.3.1.2 Comparison and contrast 37 2.3.1.3 Correlations .38 2.3.2 Frame and language 38 2.3.2.1 The introduction 39 2.3.2.2 The body 39 2.3.2.3 The conclusion 43 2.3.3 Graph writing activities and tasks 44 2.4 Difficulties for graph application in EFL writing classes 46 2.4.1 Syllabus and curriculum constraints .46 2.4.2 Time and psychology challenges 46 2.4.3 Technical and theoretical knowledge 47 2.4.4 Material unavailability .50 2.5 Previous studies on the use of charts and graphs for English education 50 2.6 Chapter summary 52 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES 53 3.1 Research approach 53 3.2 Research subjects 53 3.3 Data collection methods 54 3.3.1 Questionnaires 54 3.3.2 Interviews 54 3.3.3 Classroom observations 55 3.4 Data analysis 56 3.5 Sample lesson plans 56 3.6 Procedure 56 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 57 4.1 Functions of graphs in teaching and learning English writing skill .57 4.2 Teachers' and students' perceptions on using graphs for writing skill 59 4.2.1 Teachers' and students' attitudes towards graph writing 59 4.2.1.1 Teachers' attitudes towards graph writing .59 4.2.1.2 Students' attitudes towards graph writing 61 4.2.2 Attitudes towards teaching and learning graph description 62 4.2.2.1 Teachers' attitudes towards teaching graph description 62 4.2.2.2 Students' attitudes towards learning graph description .64 4.3 Teachers' and students' practice 65 4.3.1 Students' abilities and teachers' activities in graph writing 65 4.3.1.1 Students' abilities to graph description .65 4.3.1.2 Writing activities or tasks in teaching graph description 66 4.3.2 Teachers' and students' reality 68 4.3.3 Feedback and error correction 73 4.3.3.1 Teachers' feedback giving and error correction 73 4.3.3.2 Students' response to feedback giving and error correction .75 4.3.4 Writing motivation 77 4.3.4.1 The effects of graph writing on EFL classes 77 4.3.4.2 Teachers' motivation provision 78 4.3.4.3 Students' motivation 79 4.3.5 Teachers' and students' difficulties 80 4.3.5.1 Teachers' difficulties in using graphs for teaching writing .80 4.3.5.2 Students' difficulties in using charts and graphs for learning writing 83 4.4 Teachers' and students' suggestions 85 4.5 Chapter summary 87 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 88 5.1 Summary of the findings 88 5.1.1 The functions of Cs&Gs in teaching and learning the English writing skill 88 5.1.2.Teachers' perceptions and practices in teaching English writing with Cs&Gs 88 5.1.3 Students' perceptions and practices in learning English writing with Cs&Gs 89 5.1.4 Possible solutions for better use of Cs&Gs to improve students' English 89 5.2 Conclusion 89 5.3 Implications and recommendations 90 5.3.1 For teachers and students 90 5.3.2 For future researchers .92 5.4 Concluding reflection .92 REFERENCES 93 APPENDICES List of abbreviations - C&G: chart and graph - Cs&Gs: charts and graphs - EFL: English as Foreign Language - ESL: English as Second Language - L1: First Language - L2: Second Language - SLA: Second Language Acquisition - Ts&Ss: teachers and students - Ts&Ss': teachers' and students' LIST OF TABLE Table 1: Teachers' and students' ideas about the functions of graphs in writing 57 Table 2: Teachers' attitudes towards writing about charts and graphs in English 59 Table 3: Students' attitudes towards writing about charts and graphs in English .61 Table 4: Teachers' attitudes towards teaching graph description in English 62 Table 5: Students' attitudes towards learning graph description in English .64 Table 6: Reality of teaching and learning graph writing 68 Table 7: The atmosphere of graph-wrting classes 77 Table 8: EFL teachers' motivation provision 78 Table 9: EFL students' motivation in learning graph writing 79 Table 10: Suggestions for better use of graphs in writing skill 85 LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Students' abilities of graph description 65 Chart 2: Writing activities or tasks used by teachers in graph description 66 Chart 3: Teachers' feedback and error correction .74 Chart 4: Teachers' feedback giving and error correction for students 76 Chart 5: Teachers' difficulties in using graphs for teaching writing skill .80 Chart 6: Students' difficulties in using graphs for learning writing .83 Abstract This research studies how charts and graphs (Cs&Gs) are used to teach and learn English writing skill Describing Cs&Gs plays important roles in the innovation of teaching and learning methods to suit communicative approach and to meet students' communicative needs in economic development They help students to develop writing and other language skills and knowledge as well as social and economic knowledge Moreover, in the tendency of economic and knowledge integration, students cannot be successful in future world if they are not fully prepared with what usually exists in the real world C&G description, which appears in international economies, sciences and examination systems, gives students chances to develop their thoughts, creation and self-learning Therefore, Cs&Gs are indispensable in English teaching and learning In this research, the teachers' and students' perceptions on teaching and learning to describe Cs&Gs in English have been discovered; their reality of applying Cs&Gs to teach and learn writing skill in English at Quang Binh high schools has been analyzed and discussed based on some theories and approaches Some suggestions for better use and improvement of C&G description have also been made Two sample lessons are designed as solutions for this thesis The study employs both quantitative and qualitative research methods The data used in this research are collected from 15 EFL teachers and 100 EFL students of high schools in Quang Binh province via the research instruments: questionnaires, interviews and class observations The research procedure consists of data collection, data analysis, findings and discussion From the results, conclusions for the research are drawn The implications for using Cs&Gs in writing English more effectively in order to improve students' writing skill as well as communicative abilities in English are also mentioned in the conclusion part of the research CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale There is a fact existing in Vietnam and Quang Binh that, a large number of students or high school leavers are not confident of writing different genres in daily communication and taking part in international examinations such as IELTS and TOEFL, and especially that even very few participating these exams can get success in graph description in IELTS' Academic Writing Task because they are not good at writing skill This fact is a barrier preventing Vietnam and Quang Binh learners of English from integrating themselves into the English-speaking world This problem is partly originated from the EFL teaching and learning process in high school classes that requires a profound research For current high school curriculums and textbooks of English published after 2006, the problems in the English writing skill in the old textbooks (published before 2006) such as writing skill as the last skill to be addressed, the shortage of communicative tasks, and no lessons about Cs&Gs, and so forth are mainly solved However, there are still some difficulties and shortcomings existing in these new versions, curriculums, and teachers' and students' (Ts&Ss') performance, especially in graph-writing lessons, which need studying deeply and widely Actually, the series of the current English textbooks such as Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11, Tiếng Anh 12 (Van et al., 2006, 2007, 2008), take their consideration into the important role of language skills thanks to the innovational viewpoint of the whole program textbooks in education These new textbooks consist of a variety of topics to develop students' writing skill, and bring considerable benefits both in teaching linguistic and communicative competence and in training language skills The communicative approach such as clear communicative purposes, emphasized whole-text writing are mainly highlighted and simplified in these writing tasks Moreover, in current high school textbooks of English, there are a few lessons for graph and table description, such as, Unit 16 (Tiếng Anh 10), Units 5, 7, 11 (Tiếng Anh 11) and Units 7, 15 (Tiếng Anh 12) According to the teachers' guide books Actually, in opinions of many teachers teaching in big cities where modern technology is available, the combination of graph writing and PowerPoint brings more effectiveness, especially for the prewriting stage Computers can show and store systematically useful language, distinction of kinds and trends of graphs and so forth, in case information on the black board is erased to make room for students' writing performances Once EFL teachers design a lesson with PowerPoint program, they can use it for many writing classes It is true that everything cuts both ways and the application of charts and graphs in language teaching also has its advantages and disadvantages The reasons why some teachers sometimes or rarely used charts and graphs effectively in their language classrooms might be generated from some of the difficulties above 4.3.5.2 Students' difficulties in using charts and graphs for learning writing Chart shows students' difficulties in using graphs for learning writing skill in English The data were extracted from question 09 in the set of student questionnaires 100 9.1 Difficulty admission 96 90 80 70 67 71 75 9.2 Time constraint 83 84 83 9.3 Unability to understand 69 9.4 Unability to write 59 60 9.5 Lack of suitable knowledge 50 41 40 9.6 Logical organisation 30 9.7 Mistake fearing 20 9.8 Short and not enough words 10 9.9 No specific contexts Students' Difficulties 9.10 More difficulties with PowerPoint Chart 6: Students' difficulties in using graphs for learning writing It is the matter of the fact that, in some way, it is more difficult in writing than in speaking because there is a requirement for coherent organization and logical 83 thought in writing (Hedge, 2000) These difficulties were expressed with admission of 96% of respondents Seemingly, in contrast with teachers' indicators, there is, in students' response, no clear extreme division and a rather equally high percentages for the subjective constraints such as inability to understand (71%), to write (75%), lack of suitable knowledge (83%), troubles with logical organization (69%), mistake fearing (83%), and shortage of required word number (84%) These students' difficulties in graph writing seem to be serious and might be a barrier to prevent students from gaining English from graph writing lessons, as an interviewed tenth-grade student said: When writing about graph in class, I usually feel nervous because I find it difficult to talk and write I don't dare to write by myself, so I keep silent, and wait for my teacher' writing model or my friends' discussion and writing in the group If I have to write, I copy every thing from the writing models of my teacher, in my textbook, in my reference books; and as a result I don't understand what I have written, I don't remember much after the lessons Another interviewed twelfth-grade student supplied: I'm able to write complete sentences, but my text become unintelligible and chaotic because I don't know how to connect ideas I want to include in my writing Moreover, if I write what only necessary, mine is short and does not have enough number of required words Thus, I sometimes have to repeat one thing many times Generally, some students seemed to have mastered the simple sentences or paragraphs but exploded into a chaotic discourse when asked to compose a fulllength composition or report because of the problem of the logical organization that seems to be minor in graph writing Moreover, these difficulties might be more serious because of one objective challenge, that was the textbooks with no specific context and the teacher' insufficient instruction 59% of students found, once again, no senses of purpose, audience and direction in the textbooks' and teachers' instruction so that they could not know how to write about graphs appropriately 84 Of the researched students, 41% recognized it was more difficult to learn graphwriting lessons with the help of PowerPoint The rest, more than a half, might think it was possible to apply this computer software into the teaching and learning of graph description writing lessons, which may facilitate the learning process In sum, the implementation of graphs in EFL classes in Quang Binh high schools is also constrained by both teachers' and students' difficulties 4.4 Teachers' and students' suggestions Table 10 shows teachers and students' suggestions for better use of charts and graphs in writing skill (See questions 10 in Appendices 01 and 02) Suggestions Teachers' N=15 % 10.1 Lessons should deal with more related specific language 11 73.3 10.2 Both should understand clearly the purposes of used graphs 11 73.3 10.3 Lessons should begin with discussions 13 86.7 10.4 Students should own positive awareness in learning 15 100 10.5 Teachers should pay attention to whole-text writing tasks 14 93.3 10.6 EFL staff should collect necessary materials and tests 15 100 10.4 Students should be practiced writing more in class X X 10.5 Students should be handed out more difficult tasks X X 10.6 Teachers should correct more students' drafts X X 10.7 Students should be practiced writing more at home and 15 100 after related skills 10.8 Teachers should supply senses, specific contexts for writing 15 100 10.9 There should be training courses and workshops for both 13 86.7 10.10 Both should take advantage of modern technology 11 73.3 Table 10: Suggestions for better use of graphs in writing skill Students' N=100 % 48 48 65 65 67 67 X X X X X X 34 34 27 27 66 66 46 46 69 63 66 (Note: most of the questions in two sets of questionnaires are correspondently similar to each other; only three pairs in the middle are different, that is, some exist in the teachers' questionnaires but not in the students' and vice versus.) As can be seen from the table, most of teachers agreed with the given suggestions, whereas, just around a haft of students did the same The almost absolute number of teachers suggested that they should pay attention to tasks which help students to write whole pieces of communication, to link and develop information, ideas, or arguments (93.3%); they should supply senses of 85 69 63 66 purpose, audience, and direction in the given instructions sufficiently; and EFL teacher staff should record, store and make a collection of necessary materials and suitable tests for graph description (100%) A rather high percent of teachers paid attention to other techniques in teaching graph writing, such as lessons should deal with more specific related language (73.3%); both teachers and students should understand the purposes of used graphs before writing about it (73.3%); and lessons should begin with a discussion about the main purpose and features of graphs, and provide exercises for learners to practice identifying these correctly (86.7%) For students, researched teachers counted on students' motivation and activeness in learning writing about graphs 100% of teachers thought that, for improvement in learning writing, the students should own positive awareness in learning English; and that they should be practiced writing more about graphs at home and after acquiring other related skills Moreover, in additional answers, some teachers expected their students to be mostly dynamic and motivated in graph description and to be more flexible in learning English, searching the related topics on the Internet, participating in national or international exams, making up collections of English for specific purposes These advices are very proper The change and modernization of teaching methodology need students' cooperation Meanwhile, the percentage of students' suggestions is not high It seems that studied students were unconcerned to the problems or afraid of dealing with this topic When answering the interview, one twelfth-grade student revealed: In learning writing about graphs, I think it is enough when learning what have already been provided in the textbooks It is no need and no use dealing with more specific language, more practice, more difficult tasks and so on The only thing I need is my teachers should correct more my drafts and give feedback appropriately This idea is probably shared by other rather good and hard-working students Like most of teachers (86.7%), 63% of students required training courses and workshops on graph description for both teachers and students This is very 86 interesting because, by contrast with the indifferent students analyzed above, there is a rather considerable number of students hoping to study more about charts and graphs and English Relating to the Internet and technological devices, a rather high percent of teachers (73.3%) and students (66%) suggested both of them should take advantage of modern technology The advantages of computers and the Internet in teaching and learning are clear However, these numbers of choosers in this study are still lower than expected, in this modern technologic era In sum, a large number of teachers shared absolutely suggestions in their questionnaires It means that they took good care of graphs and English writing skill By contrast, students appeared to be unconcerned with these suggestions as well as advices for their better and further study 4.5 Chapter summary Overall, in the innovation of the teaching and learning methodology accordance with communicative approach, Cs&Gs have had important contributions Although these equipments have not been brought into full play, they have had partly positive impact on developing some students' communicative abilities and language knowledge Despite some difficulties that teachers and students have had in applying visual aids, to some extent they have gained certain success to make a considerable change in language teaching and learning 87 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND Implications Chapter 5, the last chapter, firstly gives a summary and conclusion of the main points of the study In addition, some implications for better use of Cs&Gs in language classrooms are suggested At the end of the chapter, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are also mentioned 5.1 Summary of the findings 5.1.1 The functions of Cs&Gs in teaching and learning the English writing skill The study results showed that a large number of EFL Ts&Ss at eleventh grades in Quang Binh high schools had the high appreciation of most of Cs&Gs' functions Most of participants considered Cs&Gs as valuable tools for the education of English writing skill They are aware of the important functions when applying Cs&Gs in EFL classes However, some teachers did not find Cs&Gs could be exploited to writing approach of communicative process, which would effect negatively to their teaching practice 5.1.2.Teachers' perceptions and practices in teaching English writing with Cs&Gs Some teachers have really applied these devices in their teaching of writing process and have gained some certain achievements However, teachers' activities or tasks about Cs&Gs used to enhance students' communicative abilities in writing were not organized frequently and systematically in writing classes Because of lacking convenient conditions and many other factors, these visual devices were not brought into full play and their potentials are not exploited fully According to the collected data, there is not enough graph writing lessons for teachers to exploit systematically in English writing classrooms In addition, because of the problems such as time-consumption and lack of technical knowledge and material, not all the teachers often used Cs&Gs for writing skill in their EFL classrooms Some of teachers might hesitate or be unwilling to use these visual devices with the help of PowerPoint though the available lessons are rather easy However, they tried their best to make lessons more interesting and effective 88 5.1.3 Students' perceptions and practices in learning English writing with Cs&Gs Despite difficulties the students encountered, they express their rather appropriate perceptions on learning English writing with Cs&Gs, find out the benefits of visual learning aids in language classrooms and try to acquire English However, students seem not to be eager to learn English with Cs&Gs They are not highly motivated to learn and not get absorbed in English Many students did not perform well in their writing lessons or writing works A lot of students made many even common errors and mistakes, and did not draw out experience and make progress Their practice of writing about Cs&Gs as well as writing skill in English was not still enough In addition, difficulties in describing trends and movement, using proper language and style, and following writing stages add to the obstacles that constrain students' use of Cs&Gs for learning English 5.1.4 Possible solutions for better use of Cs&Gs to improve students' English Teachers should be improve themselves by many ways: taking part in training courses or profession courses, workshops; developing related vocabulary and conventions; teaching systematically; studying and providing proper and specific writing contexts; taking advantage of modern technology and so forth Students should practice and publish more writing about Cs&Gs in class, at home, with more difficult tasks, after learning other skills relating to Cs&Gs They should pay attention to reading about this convention and write after the models 5.2 Conclusion This survey partly reveals the fact that, in Quang Binh, Cs&Gs are still used sparingly They exist in EFL Ts&Ss' thought but are not popular in their practice They are not taught and studied deeply and systematically To some extent, the use of Cs&Gs initially has gained a few achievements in improving some students' English-using ability In conclusion, C&G writing plays only a minor supplementary role to the education of English in Quang Binh high schools 89 5.3 Implications and recommendations 5.3.1 For teachers and students Firstly, more educational investments must be spent to improve technologies and facilities in classroom so that Ts&Ss can be taken advantage of to illustrate for their lessons or for what relating to the lessons such as features, defining trends, movement, comparison, contrast and correlation, equivalent vocabulary, and so forth Some teachers not apply Cs&Gs, or only apply those in the textbooks unsystematically because there is not enough equipment There are many useful related exercises for kinds, trends, vocabulary of Cs&Gs for all skills on the Internet, but there are no computers connected with the webs in EFL classrooms for Ts&Ss to implement EFL writing classes cannot provide learners with technique, real-life or authentic situations to communication; consequently, there are few chances for them to develop their communicative abilities Therefore, besides exploiting students' geographic knowledge in graph description, it is better for teachers to make use of the assistance of modern teaching aids such as computers and the Internet since computer-assisted language learning and computer mediated communication provide students chances to enhance their communicative abilities (Lee, 2000) With the help of the computer and Internet, many colorful pictures in the shape of Cs&Gs also motivate students and, as a result, encourage students to explore more this description topic in English for further study Thus, Ts&Ss need facilitating good conditions to access modern technology in order to keep pace with the development of language requirements and acquirement Secondly, there should be courses and workshops to train teachers how to use Cs&Gs effectively and help them to be aware of the importance of teaching facilities in language education (Tu et al., 2006) They should be trained how to clarify kinds, features of graphs; how to read, interpret, and exploit information from these authentic materials; how to teach them effectively and in appropriate ways Lack of technical knowledge, teachers will feel unconfident and unwilling to teach, and students will not be eager to apply these complicated visual devices Teachers need to become familiar with all the necessary aspects of Cs&Gs such as 90 trends, movements, vocabulary and writing style They should seek support from others how to use these visual aids in classrooms Consequently, they will be better prepared for teaching aspect and feel much more comfortable in showing students what to Moreover, attending professional courses raises teachers' awareness of the relationship between teaching aids and language teaching By this way, teachers as well as students will get many benefits from the use of Cs&Gs Thirdly, one of the difficulties in using Cs&Gs is time-consuming Many related things need concerning and done in a limited time of a writing lesson, teachers have to spend a lot of time finding materials Therefore, it is better for each school and EFL group to build up a system to store database, materials, CD/DVD/VCD relating to Cs&Gs for teaching and learning not only writing skill but also the others These materials should be collected and stored into files in the library and on the school websites with the EFL groups' management Sharing information and materials is a good way for Ts&Ss to save time and learn each other's experience Ts&Ss should be encouraged to make a software system based on the textbooks which provides all kinds of exercises, tasks at many levels With this software, teachers can bring available materials into full play and control the whole class during teaching process Especially, dealing with hardcopies or softcopies of IELTS instructions or exercises is very useful for both Ts&Ss in order to save time, to describe graphs in English effectively, to have chance to get good marks in international examinations and to accord the modernization and globalization Fourthly, EFL teachers should use and encourage students to use Cs&Gs in teaching and learning English Both of them should hold many competitions or teaching model lessons with C&G description, using PowerPoint lesson plans, and teachers could use these sources of language teaching as reference Competitions of using teaching and learning aids play an important role motivating Ts&Ss to implement modern devices in their classrooms I hope this thesis is a contribution to help EFL Ts&Ss be aware of using Cs&Gs in language teaching and learning Hopefully, in the future Cs&Gs will be applied successfully in the teaching and learning of English writing skill in Vietnamese context in general and in Quang Binh in particular 91 5.3.2 For future researchers - Further research need to be conducted into the communicative activities in which Cs&Gs are applied so that Ts&Ss can use these visual aids better The correlation between and the impact of graph description on students' writing motivation and writing performance should be studied more profoundly Future researchers should pay attention to the application of Cs&Gs in teaching and learning other skills such as reading, speaking and listening Studies of how to improve English with Cs&Gs, and other visual aids such as tables, diagrams, mind maps, in language education should also be taken into consideration - Larger-scale study on the application of Cs&Gs in the teaching and learning of English need to be done, which will reflect the real situation more profoundly 5.4 Concluding reflection In conclusion, despite some limitations, such as the small-scale study, my lack of experience in doing research, this thesis reflected partly the general reality of the application of Cs&Gs in the teaching and learning of English writing skill The author hoped to raise the awareness as well as to improve the practice of C&G description in English among EFL Ts&Ss With this study, the author also learned a lot by updating the theoretical and technical knowledge of graph interpretation and its teaching; and gaining valuable information from participants From this study, I myself, have learned that how to use graphs for English writing skill successfully in EFL classes is always problematic.There are always new issues emerging that need Ts&Ss' efforts to overcome Moreover, I understand that, in order to improve effectiveness of the use of Cs&Gs, I should think over what kinds of Cs&Gs should be used, when and how to use them with what purposes to suit students' levels A salient thing to remember is that Cs&Gs are visual aids, and can be difficult to describe, but they offer new opportunities for better language practice, particularly for English writing skill Therefore, I had better not to abuse these aids What really matter is how we use pictures, visual aids effectively and what benefits Cs&Gs bring to students 92 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