Pictures as a Didactic Support in Enhancing EFL Learners’ Writing Skill

Abstract

Writing in any language seems to be one of the most challenging and complex tasks for language learners to master and specifically for foreign language learners. It is an awkward skill that requires considerable effort and practice on the teachers’ part to raise their pupils’ writing level through the application of certain methods and techniques to help the process flow. Writing is considered as one of the most problematic obstacles pupils’ face among the four skills, because it is new and complex for them as middle school pupils. It is a needed skill to be constructed for the sake of assessment, especially for those of graduation (fourth year). The aim of this research work is to discuss the importance and effectiveness of pictures as a didactic support in improving EFL learners writing skill and to know about teacher’s awareness of such strategies. Therefore, making teachers aware of the effective methods of teaching writing that help them overcome the difficulties their pupils face when they write and produce appropriate written paragraphs. To achieve this objective, it is hypothesized that if teachers use pictures as an aid in written expression section, students’ level in writing will increase. On the basis of the latter, few questions are stated: How could visual aid be important in educational settings? How could pictures be helpful in students writing improvement? Do teachers reach the exact intention through using pictures as an active strategy? In this respect we relied on two questionnaires given for both teachers and pupils from Zaghez Djelloul Middle School of El- Alia Biskra where we investigated the hypothesis. The feedback that we come with through these questionnaires reveals that both teachers and students value the use of pictures in the written section positively, but long programme, lack of training courses and lack of time and motivation hinder the process flow. Pupils problems of writing skill will possibly decrease only if they get such support (pictures). Moreover, the government should decrease the length of the program as well as increase training courses.