Week 3 : The Use of Multimedia in English Teaching ZHANG Zhen

The Use of Multimedia in English Teaching ZHANG Zhen

What is multimedia?

          Multimedia is the field concerned with the computer-controlled integration of text, graphics, drawings, still and moving images (Video), animation, audio, and any other media where every type of information can be represented, stored, transmitted and processed digitally.

The Definition of multimedia

      The use of computers to present text, graphics, video, animation, and sound in an integrated way.

The use of multimedia in English teaching

Components of Multimedia

      Text  ➤  It is fundamental element in all multimedia applications. 
      Graphics  ➤  It refers to images and pictures, such as chart, diagram, and photograph, which contain no movement.
      Animation  ➤  It is The rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement.
      Sound  ➤  It is speech, music, or any other sound that is stored and produced by computers. It has more advantages than tape recorder.
      Video  ➤  It is the visible part of a television transmission and broadcasts visual images of stationary or moving objects.

The Setting of Multimedia Classroom 

      (1) MPC—multimedia personal computer; 
      (2) VCD/DVD player—video compound disk/digital video disk; 
      (3) Amplifier and Hi-Fi acoustic system; 
      (4) Overhead/slide projector; 
      (5) Screen/curtain; 
      (6) Projecting apparatus; 
      (7) The Internet access; 
      (8) Cassette tape recorder; 
      (9) Camera recorder.

 The Necessity of Multimedia in English Teaching

The Necessity of Development of Modern Educational Technology
        Modern educational technology, which is characterized by more information and stronger intuitive, is a combination of modern education and modern technology.
The Needs of Quality Education 
        The answer is that multimedia is one of the ways to promote the development of quality education. Multimedia English language teaching can enable students to be involved in a variety of sensory organ in the learning process and stimulate the students in the corresponding cortical function area.
The Needs of Students’ Cognitive Mental
        Cognitive psychology studies have shown that 94% of the information learned through the visual and auditory access, of which 88% is obtained through the vision, 12% through hearing.

The Multimedia Teaching 

Advantages

       Arousing the students’ interest.

       Famous scientist Albert Einstein had a famous saying: “Interest is the best teacher”. So the interest has always been seen as the best helper to learn the knowledge.

       Improving students’ self-learning ability.

       The most important thing is teaching students how to learn and making students change from “want me to study” to “I want to learn” in thinking, from passive learning to active learning.

       Improving students’ innovative ability. 

       Meanwhile, multi-media teaching can also develop student’s ability to innovate. Things need to innovate, Einstein said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge, and is a source of knowledge”.

       Cultivating students’ communication skills. 

       Through multi-media teaching, we can create real-life scenes in the classroom. It is not only to shorten the distance between teaching and practice and give students the opportunity to use English to communicate.

       Increasing classroom capacity.

       The use of multimedia technologies can make students notice a clear knowledge and a new expansion by huge information capacity which shows by all kinds of media.

Problems

       Confusion  ⟹  Some English classes are totally dependent on multi-media, ignoring the role of teachers.  What is worse, some teachers have directly brought a CD-ROM courseware for their lessons, or copy other people’s courseware overall.

      Performance on behalf of the lead  ⟹   the teachers use the multi-media presentation to replace the guidance of teachers completely.

      Lack of special skill  ⟹  There are many multimedia teachers who just have half-baked knowledge. The preparation and workload of teachers increase virtually. And multimedia teaching requires teachers with multimedia computer operation experience. Owing to traditional educational system, many teachers are not good at computers.

     Over-use of multimedia  ⟹  The teachers turn the multimedia classroom into a show stage and what they act in class is nothing but a new generation of button-pusher.  Because of the teacher’s lack of enthusiasm and creation and his or her dependence on the multimedia technology, the teachers act as sole information-giver to the students.

      Lack of interaction between teachers and students  ⟹  The tie between the teachers and students becomes loose and it seems to them that teacher is only caring about the machine and they are also focusing on the screen.

 Strategies for Using Multimedia

Combining Modern Teaching Methods With Traditional Teaching Methods 

        Teachers should combine their strong points with modern teaching methods, which not only raise classroom teaching quality and efficiency, but also improve teaching and learning environment between teachers and students.

Viewing Multimedia as the Assistance to Teaching

        Multimedia enables students to manipulate and create material to learn by doing. But when we use computers in the teaching, we should understand they can only assist but cannot take place of all the other teaching methods. Therefore, multimedia can only be used as a supplement to classroom English teaching.

Building the Ideal Relationship Between Teachers and Students

       Teachers should play a leading role in the teaching. In the past, students were thought of to be passive knowledge receiver.

 Strengthening Teacher Training

       It is a challenge for teachers using multimedia because of heavy preparation work and increasing workload. They should know well about modern educational theories and techniques.

The Principles of Multimedia-Assisted Teaching

       (1) Scientific principles. Namely, courseware design cannot appear any errors; 

       (2) Subsidiary principle. We must always adhere to: Although multi-media teaching has many advantages, it is only a supplementary means, and does not substitute for the role of people; 

       (3) Interactivity principle. More interactivity between teachers and students, students and multimedia, more effective results we will have; 

       (4) Combination principle. Combine the advantages of modern teaching and the traditional teaching organically

           regardless of the difficulties lying ahead, we must admit that multimedia do make a revolutionary impact on language teaching. To be sure, it is a permanent task for a teacher to do more and deeper studies in the application of multimedia. It is no doubt that more practical and effective ways can be worked out to improve English teaching.