The Effect of Using Visual Materials in English Preparatory Schools in

Turkish Universities
Oğuzhan Balaban
Middle East Technical University
Ankara, Turkiye

Highlights Abstract

English-language proficiency is now required due to the

globalization of education, which makes English-preparatory
 Investigates the impact of visual materials on
language learning in Turkish university schools an essential part of higher education in Turkey. The impact
preparatory schools. of including visual resources in English preparatory school
 Reveals insights into educator strategies for curricula at Turkish institutions is examined in this study. The study
effective integration. is about a quarry that was conducted with English preparatory
 Indicates positive shifts in student attitudes students at Middle East Technical University. This research
and increased engagement with multimedia examines the motivational and educational impacts of the use of
elements. visual materials in English preparatory schools. This study intends
to provide important insights into language education practices in a
Turkish environment by investigating the efficacy of visual aids in
language acquisition. In English Language Teaching (ELT), the use
of visual aids is growing globally. However, there is a lack of
research specifically focused on the effects of using them in the
Turkish context of EPP. This research seeks to address this gap by
exploring the effects of integrating visual materials, such as
multimedia presentations, videos, and graphics into English
language instruction. This research’s main aim is to investigate how
integration of visual materials influence the language learning
experience in EPP’s in Turkish universities. By the evidence from
Article Info: Research Article the students who are in EPP in METU, this research aims to provide
recommendations for educators and curriculum developers. The
Keywords: English Preparatory Schools, Visual,
Educational Materials, Turkish Universities, ELT, research conducted by using surveys to 35 English Preparatory
Student Motivation, school students in Middle East Technical University.

1. Introduction

1.1. Background
Learning English is becoming more and more important in Turkey because Turkey aspires to catch up to
more developed nations in terms of technology and the economy. As a result, there are attempts that are
being made to improve its foreign language education from elementary school through university.
However, according to the TEPAV (2013) Turkey National Needs Assessment study, Turkish students
receive more than a thousand hours of teaching between Grades 4 and 12, but their proficiency in the
language remains basic, and they are unable to communicate in it. There is an argument that students' lack
of motivation for learning and using English is mostly caused by the fact that their proficiency in the
language has no impact on their results on university entrance tests. (TEPAV, 2015) Among non-native
Doi: http://doi.org/
Received xx; Revised xx; Accepted xx
ISSN: 2618-6586. This is an open Access article under the CC BY license.o
 Balaban, O.

speakers, English is the language most frequently used as lingua franca (TEPAV, 2013, p. 29).
Furthermore, it is the language of research in a wide range of fields and a significant communication tool
in postsecondary education, as indicated by Flowerdew and Peacock (2001 This, along with
internalization in higher education, has led to an expansion in English-medium universities globally,
including in Turkey (Kirkpatrick, 2011). In order to give its students, the tools they need to speak in
English in both academic and general contexts, the majority of foundational and state universities in
Turkey now offer one-year intensive English Preparatory Programs (EPPs). These programs offer one
year of intensive English Language Teaching for the students who enter the university’s departments.
This application provides students with a chance to get accustomed to the university while they have also
the chance to learn the language used in their future lessons. Some of the universities in Turkiye offer
30% English programs while some of them offer 100%. In the universities that offer 30% English
integrated programs, EPPs are not mandatory. In both of the programs, a similar curriculum used to teach
English to the students. In this research, the use of visual materials and its effects on students’
engagement and language acquisition will be investigated.
1.2. Hypothesis and Research Questions
Hypothesis: The integration of visual materials into English Preparatory Programs’ curricula in Turkish
universities positively affects the student engagement and language acquisition.
Research Questions:
- How do visual materials impact student performance in English preparatory school language
proficiency assessments?
- What are the students' attitudes toward the use of visual materials in language instruction in EPP?
- In what ways do educators integrate visual materials into their English preparatory courses?
2. Literature Review
There are several research on the subject of EPPs and their effectiveness on the students’ language
acquisition. Sağlam & Akdemir (2018) conducted a research about the opinions of students about EPP
in Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University Foreign Languages department. In their research, along with
other questions, students were also asked if they learn the four main skills better when visual-auditory
materials are used. Out of 249 students, 109 (43,8%) of them answered ‘totally agree’, 105 (42,2) of
them answered ‘agree.’ They come to the conclusion that using visual aids in EPP is important.

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They also asked them whether they engage in the lessons more when projectors, video and visual
presentations are used. 195 (78,3%) out of 249 students answered ‘yes.’ This is a similar question to the
first one. It can be seen that most of the students prefer learning English with the aid of visual materials.

As Bowen (1982) and Bellver (1989) suggested, teachers can create a strong bond between the student
and the reading text with the help of using visual materials, therefore, they can motivate them to read the

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text more enthusiastically (as cited in Akçor, 2017). The visuals, just like metal frames of a building
(Carney & Levin, 2002). The visuals in reading texts act a bridge between the native language of the
students and English. (Carney & Levin 2002) They can infer the meanings from their current knowledge
and use it to understand the text more effectively. They can understand the language without translations
or explanations with the help of visuals. Akçor (2017) conducted an experiment to her students and at the
start of her every lesson, she played a video or showed visuals about the topic. As a result, she observed
an increase in motivation and student engagement. She conducted interviews with her students about her
research. She says that most of the students found visual enjoyable and useful stating as:

Student 1

“With my partner we really tried to understand the text. We found the main idea. I really liked the poster
presentation activity, maybe because I like doing handwork. It really helped me to understand better.
Both watching videos and reading the text were very effective for me, especially the videos we watched
about the festivals in the last week. I do not like reading by myself in the class because our paces are
different, and some people finish reading quickly and start talking, so I cannot focus. The video about
festivals helped me a lot. While reading the text, I took a note of important points. When I see them on the
video, they stuck in my mind”.

Student 2

‘’ Interactive activities and visuals help me remember better. When I read all by myself, I do not
remember anything because my basic knowledge of English is not very sufficient and I cannot focus
easily because of not being able to understand most of the things in a text. Normally I cannot tell
anything about Bolivar in English, but thanks to video I have some things to say”

Student 3

” The videos and visuals helped me learn many words and remember the context easily. I can get help
from my friends during the interactive activities”.

In another research, Shabiralyani et al. (2015) conducted a mixed method experiment on the effect of
visual aids in students’ motivation to participate in the lessons. The results were that 70% of the students
who attended the research thinks that visual aids in education helps them to keep being motivated in the
classes. Also 75% of them think that visual aids in the lessons helps to clarify the topic and creates less
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room fort he need of more explanation from teachers. According to the same research, 68% of the
students believes that visual aids increase their vocabulary, because visuals in a text act as a explanation
of some of the words and actions in the text. When students infer meanings from the visuals themselves,
their chance of remembering those vocabulary items increases.

Educational videos support students’ inferencing skills by reflecting real-life events (Akay, 2021),
however, this achievement depends heavily on the use of materials such as educational videos and
documentaries with face-to-face interaction (Delali & Mwila, 2022)

Moreover, in the research conducted by Delali & Mwila (2022), teachers were also asked about how
visual aids affect the learning. 41% of the teacher attendees agreed that they are simplifying the
instruction, 28% of them think that they motivate students in the teaching and and learning process. 12%
of them thinks that they arise interest of students in learning a particular subject.

Ahmad et al (2017) conducted research to see what kind of visual materials are used in the classes of
Libyan preparatory schools. Results of one of their surveys is as the following chart.

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Methodology

Research Model/Design

As a research model, a structured survey was used. A google forms survey created to collect quantitative
and qualitative data. This survey consisted of 14 questions which includes 2 open ended and 12 multiple
choice . Questions are categorized as demographic information, their general perceptions about the visual
material use, motivation and engagement factors, learning outcomes, preferences and suggestions, and
overall satisfaction. Responses were collected with the help of using the Likert Scale.

Data Collecting Tools

An online survey which was created via google forms was used to collect data from participants. This
form spread within WhatsApp groups of English preparatory program in Middle East Technical
University. Participation was voluntary. Participants were assured of the confidentiality of their answers.
The survey ensured anonymity of the responders. Moreover, informed consent was taken from all the
participant as the first question in the survey.

Participants

Participants of the study consisted of 35 students of EPP program in METU. They are either enrolled in
EPP or graduated from EPP in the last year. They are from a range of English proficiency levels (from
beginner to advanced).

Data Analysis & Findings

The survey starts with a consent text. After they agreed on the consent text they can continue to respond
to questions. The first category is Demographic information. The first question is ‘’What was your first
level when you started the English Preparatory Program?’’ second questions follow as ‘’What was your
last level when you finished the English Preparatory Program?’’ In METU, there are different levels to
categorize students and educate them accordingly each semester. In the fall semester, there are beginner,
elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate and upper-intermediate levels while in the spring term, they
change into pre-intermediate, lower-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate and adcanced levels.
Also, there is a repeat level for students who cannot finish EPP in one year. The responses are as follows.

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Most of the students who started in one of the levels stayed in their changed form in the spring semester.

The third question is ‘’What is your major field of study?’’ This question is for understanding if the
faculty of students have an effect on their ideas on the visual use in ELT. The responses are as follows.

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In the chart, the faculties of responders can be seen. After this demographic information category, there
comes questions about general perceptions about using visual materials. The first question is ‘’To what
extent do you believe visual materials enhance your understanding of English language concepts?’’ This
question is to examine responders’ first look on the subject. It can be seen that most of the participants
(54,3%) thinks that, using visual materials enhances understanding of English language concepts
significantly. The participants who chose ‘extremely’ are less than expected. It can be seen from the chart
that none of the participants believe that there is no effect of visual materials.

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The next question in this category is ‘How frequently do you encounter visual materials in your EPP?’’
The purpose of this question is to assess the current situation of using visuals in METU EPP. It can be
seen from the chart that visual use is lower than average.

In the category ‘Motivation and Engagement’ the first question asks participants’ opinions on if the visual
materials motivate them to actively participate in class activities. It can be seen from the results that a
great percentage of participants agree that visual materials encourage them to engage in class activities.

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After seeing that visual materials help students to be more active in the classroom. The survey asks them
to scale on what extent they make lessons more interesting. The results show that most students like
seeing visuals in their English courses. It can be seen that the participants do not see them as crucial but
an important aid in the lessons. Most of them chose to mark 6 and 8 out of 10. The lowest choice is 4. The
average point is 7,42. According to this survey question, it can be inferred that students think visual
materials in their EPP make the lessons more interesting 7,42 out of 10.

The next category is on learning outcomes because of visual materials. The question is on how visual
materials helps participants to understand grammar and vocabulary items. As Delali and Mwila (2022)
suggests, visuals helps teachers to create less room for long explanation as most of the visual aids used in
the lessons are self-explanatory. Also, in this research survey it can be proved as most of the participants
think that visuals help their comprehension of vocabulary items and grammar subjects.

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The next question asks participants if they observed any improvement in their English language skills as a
result of incorporation of visual materials in the courses. None of the participants thinks that they play a
great role in the improvement of language skills. However, 42% of them believes that they affect their
English language skills significantly while 26% of them thinks they affected their skills moderately and
slightly. Participants who think visual materials improved their language skills slightly and moderately
are equal.

There comes another category which is about preferences and suggestions on the visual material use in
EPP. The first question in this category is an open ended short answered one. It asks ‘’Do you have a
preference for specific types of visual materials. (e.g. videos, presentations, charts). The participants

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could answer this question more than once. As can be seen from the pie chart, most of the participants
believe that videos are more helpful to improvement of language skills. For videos being both visual and
auditory most of the time. It can be said that most preferable visual, just visual, material helping language
skills improvement is presentations, after videos.

The next question asked participants what challenges they face, if any, with the use of visual materials.
And the results show that. 12 out of 35 participants do not seem to have any difficulties with the use of
visual aids. 7 of them believe that their instructors do not use sufficient visual materials. Some of them
said that the visuals sometimes are too complicated and colorful, therefore it makes distraction. The use
of black and white images can be a problem according to one of the participants. One answer says
‘’Overly complicated visuals in a single page.’’

The last question in this category asks participants’ suggestions on the use of visual materials. One of the
participants answered, ‘The department's sharp material preferences in some subjects may be limiting
teachers' creativity, the use of materials provided by the department may be optional, and teachers could

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be given seminars and training on the use of visual materials.’ There are several suggestions to teachers
to show more effort to integrate visual materials to lessons.

The last question is on overall satisfaction. It asks participants On a scale from 1 to 10, how satisfied are
they with the use of visual materials in your English preparatory courses, and the results are as the
following.

It can be seen from the graph that overall satisfaction average is 5,25. It can be inferred that participants
are not so much happy with the visual material use in the METU EPP.

Conclusion and Suggestions

In conclusion, this study aimed to investigate the impact of integrating visual materials into the English
Preparatory Program in Middle East Technical University. In this research, 35 participants from Middle
East Technical University English Preparatory Program are surveyed on their opinion on the visual
material use in their lessons, and their ideas about their effects on the improvement in their English
language skills. It can be concluded from this research that students think that visual materials help them
to improve their language skills. Most of the participants think that visual material use in EPPs is
significantly helps them to actively participate and engage in classroom activities. Findings of this
research reveal that visual materials play a significant role in English language teaching in EPPs in
Turkish universities. Participants expressed their positive opinions on visual materials’ increasing the
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motivation, improving understanding of English language concepts. However most of them believes that
there is not enough visual material use in the preparatory programs. While the study gives some insights
on the use of visual materials, it is still limited, because this research conducted only with the students of
EPP in METU. There is a need for more extensive studies in this field. The use of visual materials should
be increased in EPP programs in Turkish universities. The insights gained from this research aimed at
optimizing language instruction in diverse educational settings.

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