Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1989. 19/3. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 19)

Kovács, Éva: The History of Teaching Vocabulary

- 140 hard and fast and leave little freedom for the teacher. Ihe audio-visual method attributes an extremely great importance to pictures and the representatives of this method are convinced that the combination of picture and sound will make it possible for the pupils to understand the context completely. The importance of audio-visual aids in language teaching is beyond guestion. The significance of the audio-visual technigues in teaching foreign languages has been analysed by several methodologists in several works such as: Audio-visual Techniques in Teaching Foreign Languages by Theodore Huebener The Visual Element in Language Teaching by. S. P. Corder The use of pictures in language teaching, however, goes back to as early as 1658, to Comenius's 'Orbis Sensualis Pictus'. The use of audio-visual aids has proved to be very effective in every method and in all types of school, especially in the primary school as these aids: 1. make the teaching process more effective, durable and interesting; 2. iiave a character of experience, which can be very stimulating; 3. contribute to arousing the pupils' interest so they have a motivating power; 4. as 'learning by all the senses' they can extend the pupils' knowledge and intensify what they have learnt; 5. make it possible for the pupils to learn and get more information about the country the language of which they are studying. The audio-visual method, however, is not equivalent with audio-visual aids but it should be looked at as an integral system. Ttie origins of the audio-visual method in this sense go back to 194 5 and is the result of the team work of three methodologists, i. e. Paul Rivenc, Jean Guenot, Petar Guberina supported by the Ministry of Education in France. The basic principles of the audio-visual method were summarized among others by Petar Guberina, the member of the team from Yugoslavia in his The Audio-Visual, Global and Structural Method. One of the basic concepts of this method is that the four secondary skills should be taught in the following order: Hearing - Speaking Reading and - Writing so that there should be a time lag between the