THE EFFECT OF USING AUDIO-VISUAL AIDS VERSUS PICTURES ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE VOCABULARY LEARNING OF INDIVIDUALS WITH MILD INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effect of using audio-visual aids and pictures on foreign language vocabulary learning of individuals with mild intellectual disability.
Method: To this end, a comparison group quasi-experimental study was conducted along with a pre-test and a post-test. The participants were 16 individuals with mild intellectual disability living in a center for mentally disabled individuals in Dezfoul, Iran. They were all male individuals with the age range of 20 to 30. Their mother tongue was Persian, and they did not have any English background. In order to ensure that all participants were within the same IQ level, a standard IQ test, i.e. Colored Progressive Matrices test, was run. Afterwards, the participants were randomly assigned to two experimental groups; one group received the instruction through audio-visual aids, while the other group was taught through pictures. The treatment lasted for four weeks, 20 sessions on aggregate. A total number of 60 English words selected from the English package named 'The Smart Child' were taught.
After the treatment, the participants took the posttest in which the researchers randomly selected 40 words from among the 60 target words.
Results: The results of Mann-Whitney U-test indicated that using audio-visual aids was more effective than pictures in foreign language vocabulary learning of individuals with mild intellectual disability.
Conclusions: It can be concluded that the use of audio-visual aids can be more effective than pictures in foreign language vocabulary learning of individuals with mild intellectual disability.