Using Multimedia in EFL classrooms Grades 4-6
Chapter 1
Introduction
Being an English teacher, I do love my profession very much. I have learned what to teach and also how to get along with different kids. Before every class, I have to prepare some handouts for the instructions. I always search for websites or go to bookstores to find out new ideas and games. I try to make my classes interesting and varied. However, it is not easy to achieve all my expectations. What I hope to develop for my English classes is a series of innovative English teaching methods.
Consequently, I prepared some songs, instructional videos, some animated games and cartoons for students to appreciate and enjoy. I felt the class was different from the traditional English cram school when I played some songs or videos for class warm-up or wrap-up. It made me and my students feel relaxed and happy. After class, I would hear some students sing out aloud. That really made me satisfied and glad on my way home. Besides this, playing English instructional videos, such as the famous English teaching TV program in Taiwan , “Magic ABC,” also taught students different English contextual usage. The reasons that I wanted to use videos was that students not only learned from broad topics but also from lively and vivid studio films. These films made students keep watching quietly for about 30 minutes. Furthermore, when I taught my tutoring students, I showed them animated English cartoons from one Shanghai elementary school website. They couldn’t stop watching, and wanted to know what would happen next even when the dismissal time had passed. These interesting facts above are the main reasons that I chose “Multimedia English teaching” as the topic of my thesis.
In Taiwan , there are many different English cram schools. Going to cram schools to learn English is a fad and trend nowadays. Different teaching slogans, such as Communicative Language Teaching, phonics teaching, KK phonetic symbol (Kenyon and Knott Phonetic Symbol) teaching, Whole Language education, are widely used in cram school advertisements around this island. Students not only receive instruction from the public schools’ English courses, but also most of them go to different private English cram schools to enhance and augment their English ability. Everyone’s goal is the same, which is to pass the different English assessment tests such as GEPT (General English Proficiency Test), STYLE and JET.
However, in the author’s opinion students taking long-term English courses through the traditional pen/pencil on paper are not receiving enough! They need something interesting and different teaching ideas, such as multimedia. I feel that English teaching through multimedia is the best means to supplement and enliven the English teaching world in Taiwan . The author believes they are some of the most productive and instructional devices. This is because students receive different sensory aids and input and internalize their concepts via the stimulation of multimedia. What’s more, they motivate students’ learning and provide appropriate input for different learning styles.
In addition, multimedia English teaching presents real and authentic English to students in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) settings in Taiwan . Students don’t have to spend a great amount of money to go abroad to learn, since they can receive the same target materials as native speakers. By using multimedia, they are better able to present what the real English world is like and how the target culture is naturally conveyed in the EFL setting. Unlike typical instruction in the EFL settings, students can receive real and authentic target language in their own country.
The use of multimedia in the classroom has numerous advantageous. Students can learn from auditory and visual media like video, songs, audio-books, animated cartoons and stories. Through the wise use of multimedia, students can develop the four English skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing effectively and efficiently, as well as the subskills of vocabulary and grammar. Students can listen to the target language as many times as they want. Students can read as much understandable material as they need. Receptive skills can be practiced until the total digestion of the material is completed. Related to this, students can practice speaking as fluently and accurately as they possible. Students can write as native-like possible. Their productive skills can be sharpened. Besides this, students learning a wide range of topics are released from traditional stiff and inflexible textbooks. Different topics such as life, health, entertainment, science and other current topics can be updated frequently. Receiving knowledge about such topics does not usually occur through just one source, such as the teacher. Instead, students usually gain knowledge through different sources and media such as the internet, TV, radio and so on. Through these interactive teaching and learning methods, students don’t just sit quietly in the classroom. Use of multiple learning styles will encourage them to move around the class to explore what they are deficient in. There are many of the advantages that multimedia English teaching brings to the contemporary classroom.
The first chapter of this paper is the introduction that states the purpose of this topic and broadly mentions the following chapters’ order of presentation. The author has presented the point of view that the English teaching environment in Taiwan has several problems in the traditional classroom.
The second chapter of this paper will talk about the English teaching environment in Taiwan and factors that affect students’ learning outcomes such as motivation and learning styles. The author will provide details and talk about the impact of a deficient environment on English learning in Taiwan . Moreover, the author will discuss the benefits of using authentic materials in an EFL setting.
The third chapter of this paper will specify recommended media for English teaching such as songs, videos, audio books and animated cartoons and stories. The author will note some advantages to teaching English via these media and channels. Questions to be considered include: Has the video presented authentic English language and culture? How do songs stay on the learner’s mind and enhance children’s carefree and free-minded childhood? How do audio books develop reading abilities in young readers? How do animated cartoons stimulate 4th-6th grade reading interest and fun? There will be one teaching procedure for each media. Besides, i-Tunes will be introduced in Chapter 3.2.5 .
The fourth chapter of this paper will apply what the author discussed in Chapters Two and Three. There will be four lesson plans using songs, video-i-Tunes, audio books and animated cartoons for an EFL classroom, grades 4-6. Given these grade levels, the author will present how these multimedia enhancements can assist students in learning English more effectively and productively.
The last chapter of this paper is the conclusion. The author will summarize what was covered from Chapters 1 through 4. Given this background, expectations and recommendations for multimedia English teaching for this on-going ‘knowledge explosion epoch’ will be addressed. This paper will help teachers realize how the implementation of multimedia in the English class is beneficial and a suitable means to supplement the insufficient traditional classroom, textbook or teacher-centered setting.
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