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Uso de pictogramas para mejorar la comprensi�n lectora en estudiantes j�venes de ingl�s

 

Using pictograms to enhance reading comprehension in English young learners

 

Usando pictogramas para melhorar a compreens�o da leitura em jovens estudantes de ingl�s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Correspondencia: cindy.suarezmedina5393@upse.edu.ec

 

Ciencias de la Educaci�n

Art�culo de Investigaci�n

 

 

* Recibido: 27 de noviembre de 2024 *Aceptado: 13 de diciembre de 2024 * Publicado: �31 de enero de 2025

 

        I.            Universidad Estatal Pen�nsula de Santa Elena, Ecuador.

      II.            Universidad Estatal Pen�nsula de Santa Elena, Ecuador.

Resumen

La lectura es una habilidad fundamental para los j�venes estudiantes de ingl�s porque demuestra la comprensi�n de las palabras y aumenta su vocabulario, lo que les permite hablar este idioma extranjero. Por lo tanto, es una buena estrategia utilizar pictogramas para comprender mejor las actividades de lectura para estudiantes principiantes. Este art�culo de estudio tiene como objetivo conocer c�mo el uso de pictogramas mejora la comprensi�n lectora en estudiantes j�venes aplicando un enfoque cualitativo a la muestra seleccionada. Por lo tanto, para obtener los resultados esperados, se entrevist� a 5 maestros a trav�s de una lista de preguntas para recopilar datos y luego analizar los resultados para la discusi�n. Adem�s, 20 estudiantes participaron en un grupo focal utilizando un plan de lecci�n durante 80 minutos para identificar las percepciones de los estudiantes sobre el uso de pictogramas y los resultados fueron los mismos que la revisi�n de la literatura donde los pictogramas ayudan a los estudiantes a comprender y conectar m�s actividades de lectura que solo textos.

Palabras clave: pictogramas, comprensi�n lectora, estudiantes j�venes de ingl�s.

 

Abstract

Reading is a fundamental skill for young English learners because it demonstrates the comprehension of words and increases their vocabulary, allowing them to speak this foreign language. Hence, it is a good strategy to use pictograms to comprehend the reading activities for beginner students better. This study article aims to know how the use of pictograms enhances reading comprehension in young learners by applying a qualitative approach to the sample selected. Therefore, to get the expected results, 5 teachers were interviewed through a list of questions to collect data and then analyze the results for the discussion. Also, 20 students participated in a focus group using a lesson plan for 80 minutes to identify the perceptions of the learners about using pictograms and the results were the same as the literature review where pictograms help students to understand and connect more reading activities than only texts.

Keywords: pictograms, reading comprehension, English young learners.

 

 

 

Resumo

Ler � uma compet�ncia fundamental para os jovens estudantes de ingl�s porque demonstra a compreens�o das palavras e aumenta o seu vocabul�rio, permitindo-lhes falar essa l�ngua estrangeira. Por isso, � uma boa estrat�gia utilizar pictogramas para compreender melhor as atividades de leitura para os alunos iniciantes. Este artigo de estudo tem como objetivo conhecer como a utiliza��o de pictogramas melhora a compreens�o da leitura em jovens aprendizes, aplicando uma abordagem qualitativa � amostra selecionada. Assim sendo, para obter os resultados esperados, foram entrevistados 5 professores atrav�s de uma lista de quest�es para recolher dados e, posteriormente, analisar os resultados para discuss�o. Al�m disso, 20 alunos participaram num grupo de foco utilizando um plano de aula durante 80 minutos para identificar as perce��es dos alunos sobre o uso de pictogramas e os resultados foram os mesmos da revis�o de literatura, onde os pictogramas ajudam os alunos a compreender e ligar mais atividades de leitura do que apenas textos.

Palavras-chave: pictogramas, compreens�o de leitura, jovens aprendentes de ingl�s.

 

Introduction

Reading is an action in which readers read a text and extract information from what they read to share it. It is a nice technique for achieving success in learning English because it allows the student to discover numerous memorable words. It is also extremely important for students because it provides numerous benefits. Reading allows students to expand their knowledge, as a result, students must master reading skills to comprehend English texts. According to Patel and Jain (2020), reading ability is a key instrument for academic success, for that reason, students need to improve this skill and understand how important is to study another language.

Likewise, pictograms are an excellent strategy for enhancing reading skills in young learners because they interact with each other by guessing or remembering the word behind the pictogram and connecting it with the sentence. Early introduction to reading and the need to expose young learners to reading materials have been practiced by parents and teachers at an early age. It is proving to be the starting point of more complicated functions, as it needs to extend its ability to interpret text interactions (David & Sulaiman, 2021).

To effectively understand the information presented in a text, it is essential to develop certain reading skills. Once mastered, readers can efficiently deal with more complex texts by quickly and skillfully identifying the main idea, determining the communicative purpose of the text, and extracting implicit and explicit information. The use of pictograms is a powerful tool to help achieve this objective in the educational context, which is why effective communication is essential to ensure that young people understand essential concepts according to their level.

According to Coellar and Argudo (2024), �pictograms are visual representations that convey meaning through simple, universally recognized symbols," which makes them an ideal tool for communication and comprehension in young learners. Because of that, the study aimed to determine how useful are pictograms in English learners' reading comprehension skills. To assess the children's comprehension, Mafikuyomi et al. (2022) employed a questionnaire and conducted interviews with the subjects. The findings revealed that children tend to be more familiar with certain words and have a stronger connection with their everyday vocabulary by using pictograms.����

The role of pictograms in reading comprehension

The sociologist Otto Neurath and the illustrator Gerd Arntz founded the International System of Typographic Picture Education1 (ISOTYPE) in 1934 to graphically convey ideas. This marked the beginning of the contemporary iconographic and pictogram language to instruct illiterate workers in their jobs and help them succeed was the basic objective. After that, they created about 4,000 pictograms that will be used (Sandner, 2021)

Pictograms are considered visual teaching resources, with an integral connection to reading and writing; in fact, it is known from history that pictograms are an essential component of hieroglyphics, symbolic, and phonetic writing within the same sentence or text. When analyzing pictograms, one refers to visual illustrations that express meaning through images knowledge, action, or specialized information. The recipient understands the intent behind these pictures by visualizing the expressed content (Coellar and Argudo, 2024).

Reading pictograms relies on intuition and prior experience, drawing on what young people already know. For people who struggle to decode what is known as letters in the same way as their classmates, interpreting drawings and images could be extremely helpful. These visual tools help students understand new concepts and improve their reading comprehension. When images are included with text, students may understand the material more clearly and participate more actively in the reading process.

According to Razalli et al. (2018) using pictograms entails combining words and images, each of which works together to illustrate student learning. The same author stressed that by using an illustration method, students are given control over their material and likewise make different connections among various ideas and features. Pictograms are easier to understand if the images are related to the text provided. Nowadays, education is demanding inclusion and diversity, therefore teachers need to create and acquire a wide range of additional materials to meet these students.

Pictograms are instructional tools that teachers employ to support their students' language and communication skills. However, it is crucial to keep in mind that modern pictograms are suitable as a therapeutic tool when working with kids who have mental health problems such as autism. Heredia (2021) mentioned that pictograms must catch the attention of the students, be illustrative, and be easier to understand. He emphasized image presentation and its shape, color, and position in the text.

Regular usage of pictograms improves children's attention span, supports concepts like spatial and temporal perception, and helps them associate places with people and activities. It also engages memory since children anticipate the images that will appear. Additionally, pictograms serve in education to create patterns and routines for activities that are relevant to the development of new language skills, phonological improvement, writing and spelling skill improvement, and observable improvements in communication (Lascano, 2019).

Lascano (2019) stated that in the context of EFL, students develop and reinforce their learning process by generating connections between actions or things and the appropriate visuals using illustrations. They could connect the correct method to write a word with its image while doing so. Additionally, young learners are linked to a word's pronunciation and meaning when teachers employ phonetics. The same writer concurred that this method aids students in connecting the illustration's meaning to the proper way to write it and, eventually, to pronounce it.

Pictograms make reading and writing more accessible by fostering comprehension even when students do not fully understand a text, providing visual exercise and promoting visual discrimination, improving memory capacity by allowing students to codify information verbally and nonverbally, being appealing and potentially improving concentration in the reading process, and facilitating the acquisition of new vocabulary (Z��iga, 2021).

 

 

 

Image 1: Set of pictograms to create a story

Note: Author�s own elaboration based on Wright 2010, [Images], free pictograms from https://www.pictofacile.com/es/app

 

Jumps (2021) stated that pictograms should be included in educational practice due to the variety of settings that the learner associates with reality, because the students learn on experiences, allowing for the transmission of knowledge. Thus, learning pedagogy is established in the field of language in response to the student's need to be able to express his feelings, thoughts, and moods in an artistic context tied to culture and society.

Paez (2021) affirmed that pictograms' creative use in the work and practice of the teacher is infinite in terms of pedagogical implementation. As a result, educational approaches that allow students to build a thorough understanding of reading and writing through them have a significant opportunity. It is not only necessary to identify alphabetical and numerical symbols but also to associate writing signs and sounds based on the alphabetic code to develop comprehensible orality and reading skills.

According to Veintemilla et al. (2022), visual resources such as pictograms and graphic organizers aid in identifying the major aspects of the text more understandably. This is because the learning process involves the development of practical skills while also being subject to conceptual processes in the classroom, which include both oral and written information. The assimilation of the information to be transmitted must be sequential; each student has his own learning pace, and how the representation of what they have in their mind is assimilated will be heavily influenced by the stimulus and motivation inherent in the visual and verbal codes.

Effectiveness of pictograms in English young learners

Teachers typically employ visual support to improve language comprehension, prepare for contextual changes, and assist students in completing specific tasks. Visual supports function as natural settings with big groups of young ones, small groups, or single adolescents. Educators employ a variety of visual supports, such as real items, photographs, line drawings, or text.

Ilomo (2021) spoke briefly about pictograms for language acquisition and how they have been used since the 1920s-1930s, mostly through filmstrips, photographs, slides, and object passes. He mentioned in his research that visual aids have traditionally played an essential role in English language education.� Jewitt (2006) in his study on the impact of visuals on language acquisition published in the Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology mentioned how the use of visual objects, experiences, and practices play a significant role in presenting language information and facilitating discourse and engagement among learners in the classroom.

Andr� et al. (2020) referred to pictograms as an illustrated resource and how the meaning of a word or its letters, rather than solely as a sign. Learners understand better an unfamiliar word using their visual, and sound senses and contextual information. To successfully employ pictograms for vocabulary learning, it is important to understand how the human brain works. The brain's left and right hemispheres have distinct functions and work closely to enhance learning. Pictograms activate the right brain's visual center, leading to improved comprehension by engaging both sides of the brain together (Takil, 2016).

Takil (2016) mentioned in his study how an educator presents the pictograms by guessing the meaning of the word, or the teacher explains the meaning ahead of time and then has the students match the meanings to the pictograms. This process engages learners in the learning process, allowing them to correlate experiences and realities with words and their

meanings. According to the same author, if the words in the pictograms have abstract meanings, matching activities could help to interpret them to create a situation.

Maina (2023) established in her study the use of pictograms as teaching materials would help young students learn better by combining words with graphs, maintaining interest, increasing vocabulary, and serving as a stimulus for pronunciation and practice. Therefore, their reading skills would improve by acquiring novel words using the relationship between images and letters, in other words, pictures are easier to process and understand than words.

Pictograms help to systemically join words and therefore sentences in the reading process, which has a good impact on the development of textual reading articulation and, as a result, syntactic language development. The teacher's accompanying and parental involvement are critical for monitoring language comprehension growth and improving reading and writing in English young learners (Zambrano, 2024).

 

 

 

Image 2: Story using pictograms (ICONS)

Note: The story shows common vocabulary replaced by pictograms. Adapted from So Hungry [Photograph], for Johnson, S. 2009, Pinterest

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/magazine/fr09feb34_hungry.jpg

 

Paivio (1986) claimed that �memory and other cognitive tasks are mediated by linguistic processes and a unique nonverbal imagery model of the mind�. He explored the philosophy of science linked with the �dual coding technique,� highlighting the benefits of empiricism in studying cognitive phenomena and demonstrating that the theory's core has withstood empirical challenges over time.

Dual coding technique

Dual Coding refers to the method of teaching students with both verbal and visual materials simultaneously. Cognitive psychologists have found the six most effective learning strategies for boosting long-term memory, one of which is dual coding (Main, 2021). Visual representations of learning materials include graphic organizers, flow charts, diagrams, cartoon strips, an editable timeline, and infographics. Having the same information in both modes (visual images and text) provides two methods to remember it. This area of research has sparked a lot of attention as a learning tool (Paivio, 1971).

Readers strive to comprehend what the author means by interpreting what they read, for that reason, Candlin and Hall (2011) stated, "Reading is the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately". In other words, reading is a good activity because it provides pupils with knowledge while simultaneously indirectly improving their English proficiency. Although reading is one technique to improve knowledge and practice language, the method of teaching reading has an impact on many students who continue to struggle with the English text.

 

Image 3: Image and word are interconnected

Note: This is a process where two senses (vision and hearing) work to get the knowledge. Adapted from Dual Coding [Photograph], for Davis, M. 2021, Versant Learning Solutions

�https://versantlearning.com/dual-coding/

 

Reading helps pupils improve their vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension skills, in other words, it is a good activity since kids not only receive knowledge from the text but can also indirectly improve their English skills. Some elements contribute to kids' reading difficulties, particularly with descriptive texts. The students' problems are that the majority of them dislike studying this language. They are still having difficulty mastering all of the skills, particularly reading (Terry, 2023).

Some students sometimes may not understand the meaning of the book and struggle to pronounce the words in it, due to that problem as stated by Khoirunisa et al. (2023) kids with lack vocabulary, have difficulty identifying the primary concept of a descriptive text, and the teacher's teaching technique is uninteresting. As a result, researchers apply dual coding theory to improve reading learning and increase students' scores. Will (2018) mentioned the technique for using this idea is to train pupils to integrate pictures and words by visualizing while reading the text. The images they envision in their imaginations connect with more linguistic or vocal input from the book and help children recall the story and what is being stated.

If EFL teachers sought to communicate the subject matter through both verbal and nonverbal techniques, students would benefit from it. Still, what happens in the classroom is that English teachers mostly employ verbal ways to educate when, in fact, the usage of images would aid in the processing of the subject being studied. Dual coding, when properly utilized, improves students' information retention and reduces cognitive burden while learning new concepts (Al-Gharaibeh and Al-Jamal, 2016).

Kanwal et al. (2023) declared if enabled intelligently the application of pictograms, will not increase the teacher's workload; in fact, it may minimize it. Secondary school teachers are also witnessing the benefits. Even the most complex curriculum subject is made accessible through the pedagogical approach. Using graphics in conjunction with a well-crafted teacher statement increases the likelihood that students will understand the underlying concept.

Challenges and considerations in implementing pictograms

The usage of pictograms has been interesting in the context of education

�because this strategy enhances reading skills and is beneficial in several language education disciplines, they support certain oral and written expression skills by automating and memorizing them. Therefore, illustrations promote reading comprehension by providing thematic context. They aid in remembering links and supporting materials by combining verbal and iconographic memory (illustrated vocabulary) processes (Mart�nez and Cevallos, 2016).

Mart�nez and Cevallos (2016) mentioned pictograms as a versatile communication tool that is used in diverse teaching contexts to support students with unique educational needs and language impairments, it is crucial for understanding their surroundings and messages. They are easily recognizable, simple, and lasting, consequently, are beneficial for anyone seeking to comprehend and organize the world, but especially for those with difficulties with attention, memory, language, and generalized developmental disorders.

Moreover, the textbook, which is intended for young learners, must be carefully developed and planned, they typically use a variety of visual aids, such as photographs, drawings, and sketches, to teach vocabulary and grammatical structures to young students (Muliati and Aprizani, 2020). So, the textbook for young learners includes a variety of visual illustrations in the form of photos and images. If a word has a picture illustration in the textbook, the instructor uses it without wasting time on effective language instruction. As a result, the efficient use of visuals makes the lesson vibrant and exciting, making learning easy for both teachers and students (H. Kanwal, 2021).

Pictures facilitate learning for both teachers and students, and the retention of information is extremely long-term, but if a teacher continues to explain things in words, it will be dull and tedious for the students, and effective learning may not occur. Instead of words, if the teacher uses the pictures in the textbook or in the reading to teach specific grammatical structures or vocabulary items, it can make the task both easier and more entertaining (Hussain and Khan, 2022). The handbook intended to instruct young learners includes several pictorial pictures that depict a variety of objects. If a word has a pictorial illustration in the textbook, the instructor employs it without wasting time and inefficient language instruction.

Conforming to Muliati et al. (2020) pictograms are often utilized to transmit information, and they are especially good for teaching actual vocabulary objects like food or furniture, as well as specific vocabulary topics like places, occupations, descriptions of people, acts, and activities. The textbook for young learners is carefully developed to consider their age, interests, and intellectual ability. However, students are drawn to visual assistance; thus, designers employ as many graphics as possible to make the textbook entertaining and easy to keep their attention. This pictorial description of the subject or object in issue makes the meaning evident to the young learners, making the teacher's job easier. Also, the learners can retain the information for longer.

Vocabulary acquisition constitutes the foundation of the language learning process when teaching English because young learners cannot comprehend others or communicate their thoughts without it. As a result, students learn it first because no one is capable of speaking this language with a limited vocabulary in the same way that those who lack a corresponding quantity of vocabulary will struggle in the learning process (Muliati et al., 2020). For that reason, the teacher should be imaginative in selecting instructional materials and able to engage students' interests.

Teachers consider the students' profiles and the surroundings when deciding which kind of pictograms will be most useful: images, more or less abstract icons in black and white color, and so on. The decision is influenced by factors such as the engagement of any senses and cognitive and verbal abilities. Additionally, pictograms are tailored to each mental, and visual child's qualities and needs to produce age-appropriate visuals. According to Alberto Garc�a Martos (2008), pictograms enhance attention, and motivation, and simulate situations through scenes, and murals, making them useful in various fields of teaching, including language and literature, and special education (Donaghy et al., 2017).

Therefore, Venegas (2021) emphasized the need to understand how learners interpret the teacher's ideas or information to develop their reading levels because the translation of pictograms is critical for the teacher to identify their achievements with cards that use tangible symbolic representations. The student performs a cognitive process of reading and writing in both verbal and nonverbal ways, which is the learning process that allows associating linguistic development with the use of visual tools, such as pictograms, allowing the student not only to recognize the characters but also to associate them reflexively with their environment when reading and writing.

The same author stated this is because the learning process involves the development of practical skills while also being subject to conceptual processes in the classroom, which include both oral and written information (Venegas, 2021). The assimilation of the data to be transmitted should be sequential; each student has his learning style, and how the representation of what each one has in his mind is assimilated will be heavily influenced by the stimulus and motivation inherent in the visual and verbal codes. The activity of identifying the meaning and use of words could not be a memoristic process, but a practical one, taking into consideration that the student's cognitive processes can be complex in terms of obtaining goals.

�

Methodology

Pictograms have the probability to enhance reading comprehension in young English learners, therefore, this research is developed through a qualitative approach that focuses on the analysis of the information given by the interviewees. It is descriptive research because it is a method used to investigate and understand the significance that certain individuals or groups of people attribute to social or humanitarian issues (Creswell, 2018). Phenomenological research is crucial for this investigation because it gathers information that is analyzed for a better understanding. English teachers and students are the population of this study. Students aged fourteen to fifteen at Peninsula de Santa Elena School, Ecuador.

The sample is determined through the objectives of the research of getting precise data using purposive sampling because it offers a more focused and specialized sample that aids in addressing research inquiries about that particular demographic or phenomenon (Abbas, 2023). There are 102 students in tenth grade but twenty of them and five English teachers in the school mentioned were taken into account for the sample in this research.�

The data collection technique used was a one-on-one interview and focus group (students) because they offered the opportunity to interpret details obtained during the face-to-face meeting. These techniques permit knowing the interviewees' position and position in front of a topic. To conduct this research, 5 questions were used to quickly, straightforwardly, and cost-effectively obtain information from the interviewees (teachers and students) (Adosi, 2020). The interview for the students was conducted in their mother tongue because they needed to understand the questions and answer them in their native language for appropriate, reliable information.

Results and Discussion

The results obtained through the interviews included the teachers� information about using pictograms in their teaching process and students� perceptions of how those are beneficial to them in their learning.

Teachers� interview

 

Image 4: Pictogram Usefulness

Note. The image represents the data obtained from the first question of the questionnaire taking in mind the words repeated. From Word Cloud Generator by Suarez Cindy, September 2024.

 

Teachers reported that using pictograms in teaching is crucial for students with low and limited vocabulary. They use some techniques to associate pictures with�������

words in reading activities to enhance linguistic competence and engage students to learn English with interactive tools such as Pictionary where learners create their pictogram, in this way, they are the learning center in the class.

They agreed that visual support is important because students connect images with text by promoting faster understanding and thus avoiding translation of those common words. This visual tool acts as a bridge, allowing students to absorb the material without being overwhelmed by foreign vocabulary. Pictograms benefit neurodiverse students, such as those with autism, by relating images to concepts and words, making abstract ideas more concrete.

 

Image 5: Students� engagement and motivation

Note. The image represents the data obtained from the second question of the questionnaire taking in mind the words repeated. From Word Cloud Generator by Suarez Cindy, September 2024.

 

The usage of pictograms significantly improves student interest and involvement in reading activities therefore, teachers stated that have observed that when pictograms are used in lessons, learners become more curious and participatory because they make readings more interesting, resulting in increased engagement. Teachers reported that pictograms catch students' attention when utilized correctly and inspire interaction, particularly among beginning learners who benefit from the relationship between pictures and words.

They also mentioned that students improve their vocabulary and comprehension by linking images with words. Pictograms allow a variety of learning styles, making reading more accessible to young English learners with varying abilities. However, there was general agreement that pictograms should supplement, rather than replace, traditional text-based learning to ensure that they continue to gain normal reading abilities such as grammar and deeper comprehension.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students focus group

 

Image 6: Pictograms for reading comprehension

Note. The image represents the data obtained from the first focus group question of the questionnaire taking in mind the words repeated. From Word Cloud Generator by Suarez Cindy, September 2024.

 

Students through the focus group mentioned that pictograms are often useful for helping them understand unfamiliar words and sentences. The visual connection enables them to decode meaning without requiring ongoing instructional assistance. The majority of them feel that pictograms make stories more entertaining and easier to follow. The visual feature increases when the use of images instead of words, for instance, they started to enjoy more the class, especially the readings when they had some pictures or pictograms to identify the words and connect them with new vocabulary.

 

Image 7: Differences in learning outcomes with and without pictograms

Note. The image represents the data obtained from the second focus group question of the questionnaire taking in mind the words repeated. From Word Cloud Generator by Suarez Cindy, September 2024.

 

Students regularly report that when pictograms are used, they understand stories better and faster. They feel better capable of understanding content without requiring as much external support. They recall particular times when pictograms aided them in comprehending unfamiliar things, such as new terminology or complex ideas. Also, they mentioned that to remember more pictograms than words because they keep in mind what image they tried to connect with the rest of the story. At the end of the focus group, students agreed that the use of pictograms is useful for them in this foreign language to learn unknown vocabulary.

Students find the readings boring and difficult to understand, for that reason, they expect the teacher to translate all the reading to be easier. Also, they remembered the �Three Little Pigs� story worked in the focus group, and made feedback related to the singular and plural nouns by observing the pictograms. As a consequence, they established a preference for using pictograms instead of only text-based for reading activities.

 

Table 1: The main information gathered from the instrument collection

Note: Author�s own elaboration

 

This study aims to know how useful are the pictograms for reading comprehension in English classes for young learners. The discussion between the literature and the findings was the same results as the researchers Zambrano (2024), Coellar and Argudo (2024), and Adosi (2021) and the information data gathered from the interviews (students and teachers). Razalli et al. (2018) stated that combining words and images, of which works together to illustrate student learning because pictograms are easier to understand if the images are related to the text provided. In the same way, the results provided showed that pictograms are interesting and interactive activities for reading skills.

Z��iga (2021) demonstrated the efficacy of new engaging strategies in education English classes, while Andr� et al. (2020) and Muliati et al. (2020) supported the main character of utilizing pictograms to enhance vocabulary acquisition because it is important to increase the student�s knowledge in the classroom. The findings of this research revealed that students get new words by visualizing first, then they decode the pictogram and connect it with the rest of the sentence, in this way, they prefer to work with pictures rather than only text.

Finally, Donaghy et al. (2017) found that students feel motivated and actively want to participate in class working on reading activities when the teacher employs pictograms in group works, similarly, the results of the current study are in line as teachers detailed the acquisition of new words by fostering effective language, this stimulate and taking part of the learners in class at the moment to apply pictograms.

 

Conclusion

This study found that using visual aids such as pictograms makes a significant difference in how well students learn, as seen by data demonstrating an increase in young learners' vocabulary. It is perceived that EFL teachers struggle to use visual elements effectively in their teaching. However, it is possible to conclude that students and teachers see pictograms as an effective and motivating technique for improving vocabulary development in young English learners. All of the teachers agreed that using pictograms aids their students' knowledge and classwork, which is encouraging evidence for using these visual resources to construct English language teaching materials.

The researcher suggests that English teachers try to use some techniques or different strategies to enhance reading comprehension in their students to improve retention and motivation in classes. Based on the literature in this study, it is possible to recommend pictograms, especially in readings, using a plan before, looking for apps to facilitate the work, and then employing it in the classroom. It is not only for common learners; teachers should apply pictograms for neurodivergent students to help them comprehend the words through visual posters.�

 

References

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      2.            Al-Gharaibeh, S., & Al-Jamal, D. (2016). Communication Strategies for Teachers and their Students in an EFL Setting. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306323804_Communication_Strategies_for_Teachers_and_their_Students_in_an_EFL_Setting

      3.            Coellar, C. P. P., & Argudo-Serrano, J. (2024). The effects of using pictograms during the English teaching-learning process in primary school. Religaci�n, 9(39), Article 39. https://doi.org/10.46652/rgn.v9i39.1141

      4.            Donaghy, K., Xerri, D., & Kress, G. (2017). IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING.

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      6.            Kanwal, A., Rafiq, S., & Afzal, D. (2023). Impact of Workload on Teachers� Efficiency and Their Students� Academic Achievement at the University Level. 39, 131-146. https://doi.org/10.51380/gujr-39-02-02

      7.            Kanwal, H. (2021). Perception of University Teachers and Students Regarding the Use and Effectiveness of Audiovisual Aids in their Daily Classroom Teaching. Pakistan Social Sciences Review, 5(IV), 726-736. https://doi.org/10.35484/pssr.2021(5-IV)55

      8.            Khoirunisa, M. A., Kurniawati, D., & Suryawati, S. S. (2023). The use of dual coding theory (dct) to enhance students� reading ability in descriptive text. RiELT Journal, 9(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.15548/rielt.v9i2.7742

      9.            Lascano, D. (2019). Pictogramas en el desarrollo de la destreza lectora del idioma ingl�s.

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