EN
The paper presents the results of the inquiry that was carried out among the secondary school teachers of English in Łódź by the Department of Applied Linguistics of the Institute of English, University of Łódź, four years ago. The inquiry concerned the use of audio-visual (AV) aids in the process of teaching English in secondary schools. Majority of the inquired teachers use AV aids during lessons: the most popular aids are tape-recorders and gramophones; film projector is used very rarely. It is striking that head projectors are not used very often though the schools seem to be well provided with the projectors. According to the answers, the advantages of AV aids are (among others): bringing variety to the lesson, increasing the pupils' interest and giving them the best models of pronunciation. The most important disadvantages are: problems in achieving pupils' full concentration on the lesson, lack of suitable materials for AV aids and the fact that a teacher needs a lot of time to prepare a lesson with the use of AV aids. The inquired teachers claim they are well prepared to use AV aids during lesson though they may have problems with operating more complicated equipment (language lab, film projector). It appears from the results of the inquiry that there are still difficulties in supplying the schools and the teachers with suitable materials for AV aids. It is also important that the students, prospective teachers of English, should be instructed not only in operating but also the principles of the use of AV aids in the process of teaching English.