The Advantage and Disadvantage of College Enlish Teaching with Multimedia1

1、the advantage and disadvantage of college enlish teaching with multimedia abstract with the development of society and economy, more and more talents capable of mastering english are badly needed in the world. under the influence of traditional english teaching mode, most english learners can only r

2、ead and write. they are usually called deaf-mutes. therefore, traditional english teaching mode is greatly challenged. with the continuous development of modern technology, multimedia is applied to teaching more and more widely. this is of special significance to english teaching. because applying m

3、ultimedia to english teaching could create more and more authentic language environment for the learners, which enables them to communicate in english in real-life situations. so does the communicative language teaching approach (clt). at present, the clt approach is the most popular language teachi

4、ng method in the world. it emphasizes learning english during the process of communication and for communication. so, the authentic environment and communicative purposes make it possible to combine multimedia as an english teaching assistance and the clt approach. but, because applying multimedia t

5、o teaching is a new thing at present, there is a misunderstanding that using multimedia is pointing and clicking the mouse. then, how to use multimedia effectively? it is an effective way to combine multimedia with the clt approach, though it needs a long time to combine them perfectly.key words tra

6、ditional english teaching mode; multimedia teaching; the communicative language teaching approach摘 要 随着社会和经济的发展，世界对于英语人才的需求越来越大，而且所要求的水平也越来越高。 而在传统的外语教学模式下所培养出来的人大都只会读与写， 这样的英语被称作“哑巴英语”。因此，传统的英语教学模式受到挑战。随着现代科学技术的不断进步，多媒体被越来越广泛的应用于教学，而对于英语教学而言，多媒体具有尤为重要的意义。因为运用多媒体进行英语教学可以为学习者创建更多更真实的语言环境，让他们在真实的语境中用英

7、语进行交际。这点符合交际法的理念。交际法是目前最盛行的一种语言教学方式，它强调在交际的过程中学语言和学语言是为了交际。因此，真实的语言环境和交际目的为二者的结合提供了基点。目前，由于运用多媒体进行教学是一种新兴的事物，所以在使用中存在着播放课件就是使用多媒体的误区。那么， 在英语教学中要如何有效得使用多媒体呢？虽然要将多媒体教学与交际法进行完美的结合还需要很长的时间，但是它是一种和有效的方法。关键字 传统的英语教学模式;多媒体教学;交际法1. introductionthe twenty-first century is an age of information explosion, in

8、which the speed, the amount and the extent of knowledge spreading are unparalleled in history. the relationship among countries and among people is becoming much closer. in other words, the world is much smaller than before. therefore, it is nicknamed the earth village. peoples activities are not on

9、ly performed in their own countries, but also in the world. so, the importance of english as an international language is obvious. the persons who can listen and speak as well as can read and write are badly needed in our society. but under the influence of traditional english teaching mode, the stu

10、dents can only read and write. they are called deaf-mutes. so traditional english teaching mode is difficult to meet the needs of society. it is challenged by multimedia as a new english teaching assistance. multimedia results from the development of society and modern technology and is a breakthrou

11、gh of the computer assisted teaching technology. 2. the differences between traditional english teaching and the english teaching of using multimedia as assistance2.1 what is multimedia?then, what is multimedia? according to the webpage webopedia (), multimedia is the use of computers to present tex

12、t, graphics, video, animation, and sound in an integrated way.1 it is based on computers and the internet. when a student receives new information through multimedia, he/she can use his/her eyes, ears, mouth, hands ect., which would make the student get twice the result with half the effort at the s

13、ame time. treicher, an experimental psychologist, has ever done two famous psychological experiments: one is about the channels of humans getting information. that is, how human beings get information. by a large number of experiments, he has proved that of the information human beings received, 83%

14、 is by sight sense, 11% by hearing sense, and 94% by combining listening with seeing. besides, 3.5% is by smell sense, 1.5% by touch sense, and 1% by taste sense. the other experiment is about maintaining information. in other words, how much man will store the received information. the result is as

15、 follows: generally speaking, man can remember 10% of what he/she just read, 20% of what he/she heard, 30% of what he/she saw, 50% of what he/she saw and heard. and if he/she was talking with others, he/she would remember 70% of what he himself/she herself just said. 2 another investigation shows th

16、e same result. according to the result of it that is provided by france, a student can only maintain 15% of all the given information only by hearing sense and 25% only by sight sense. but if by combining hearing with seeing, the percentage will increase to 64%. 3 thus it can be seen that multimedia

17、 is clearly superior to traditional english teaching and if it is used in english teaching, the efficiency of teaching and learning will be greatly raised.2.2 the definition of traditional english teaching mode and its charactersthen, what is traditional english teaching mode? the traditional englis

18、h teaching mode is called cramming method of teaching. that is, teachers treat students like ducks, force-feeding them with boring grammar points and important phrases and sentences and paying no attention to the fact whether they understand them or not. so most of the students who are learning engl

19、ish feel that english is a trouble and a burden so that they dislike and even fear and hate it.traditional english teaching mode is of the following characters: firstly, teacher-centeredness. in traditional english teaching mode, the teacher is at the center of the class, regarded as the authority,

20、the director of the learning process and the model for students to follow. the primary role of the teacher is thought to spoonfeed knowledge, to teach language skills and to answer questions for the learners, that is, to transmit the target language. 4 secondly, product-oriented evaluation. the trad

21、itional evaluation system is based on product, to be more exact, on the students marks. the vital, even the only criterion to judge the teacher and the students is what the students achieve, not how the students achieve it. in other words, the criterion is product-oriented, not process-oriented. thi

22、rdly, the academic purposes. the traditional english teaching focuses on the grammatical explanation. it values what people know about the language rather than what they comprehend or produce. 5 the teaching style is called the academic teaching style, sometimes known as the grammatical-translation

23、method and characterized by teaching techniques of grammatical explanation and translation. 6 fourthly, focus only on two language skills: reading and writing. it is well known that the teachers teaching strengths and teaching style preference influences the character of learning climate or environm

24、ent. 7 under the influence of the traditional english teaching method- the grammatical-translation method, the students tend to prefer the information be presented visually rather than in spoken form. 8 they often find that it is easy to read and write but quite difficult to listen and speak. fifthl

25、y, limited learning resources. in traditional english teaching, textbooks and tapes are the only resources for students to learn english. but most of time, only textbooks are available for the sake of examinations.2.3 the definition of multimedia as a teaching assistance and its charactersunder this

26、 mode, english cannot be used for communication. multimedia, as a new technology, can provide text, graphics, audio, video, etc.9 and combine reading, writing, speaking in a single activity . 10 it is a remedy for the defects of traditional english teaching mode. compared with traditional english te

27、aching mode, multimedia, as a new teaching form, has the following obvious advantages. first of all, learner-centeredness. the relationship between teachers and students is no longer subordinative. the class is planned and organized according to the students need, that is, what to teach, when to tea

28、ch and how to teach are made with reference to the learners. students have become active participants in learning and are encouraged to be explorers and creators of language rather than passive recipients of it (brown, 1991).11 they can actively choose what to learn and learn them in their own way a

29、nd at their own pace. the role of the teacher is also changed. heshe is not a director or a dominator but a facilitator who assists the learner to develop a natural capacity to communicate in english. secondly, comprehensive input. multimedia, as an advanced educational technology, provides more aud

30、io-visual-text information. that is, people can get the information by different senses, such as by sight sense and hearing sense at the same time. the relative data is given above: when we receive the information by the two senses, we can remember 64% of it. moreover, multimedia is good for long-te

31、rm memory. thirdly, the communicative purposes. multimedia provides the possibility of creating more authentic language situations, for listening is combined with seeing, just like the real world.12 fourthly, varieties of learning resources. besides the traditional learning resources-textbooks and t

32、apes, videotapes, cds, etc. are available. fifthly, integration of four skills. the variety of media make it natural to combine reading, writing, speaking and listening in a single activity.13 finally, a major advantage of multimedia is that it facilitates a principle focus on the content, without s

33、acrificing a secondary focus on language form or learning strategies. 142.4 the major differences between traditional english teaching mode and the english teaching of using multimedia as assistancetake unit 18 new zealand in senior english for china students book 1b for example. this unit mainly in

34、troduces the nature and the culture of new zealand. under the mode of traditional english teaching, what teachers focus on is the language form (grammar) rather than the content, such as, making a list of the functions of the word it, for example, to use it as subject. 15 oppositely, using multimedi

35、a as a teaching tool, the content is the focus. by using multimedia, more background knowledge can be given. then, a world map, a new zealand map and even a short film about new zealand can be provided, and students are asked to discuss in groups. thus, they can have a general idea of the real situa

36、tions in new zealand. moreover, their interest is aroused. einstein ever said, interest is the best teacher. 16 so even the important grammar points seem to be not so boring and intolerable.and the table below summarizes the major differences between traditional english teaching mode and multimedia

37、as a new teaching tool (experiential model). it is adapted from nunan, 2001.table: teachers role and view of knowledge in traditional and experiential educational models compared 17 dimensiontraditional modelexperiential model1.view of learningtransmission of knowledgetransformation of knowledge2.po

38、wer relationemphasis on teachers authorityteacher as learner among learners3.teachers roleproviding mainly frontal instruction; professionalism as individual autonomyfacilitating learning (largely in small groups); collaborative professionalism4.learners rolerelatively passive recipient of informati

39、on; mainly individual workactive participation, largely in collaborative small groups5.view of knowledgepresented as certain; application in problem-solvingconstruction of personal knowledge; identification of problems6.view of curriculumstatic; hierarchical grading of subject matter, predefined con

40、tent and productdynamic; looser organization of subject matter, including open parts and integration7.learning experiencesknowledge of facts, concepts and skills; focus on content and productemphasis on process; learning skills, self-inquiry, social and communication skills8.control of processmainly

41、 teacher-structured learningemphasis on learner; self-directed learning9.motivationmainly extrinsicmainly intrinsic10.evaluationproduct-oriented: achievement testing; criterion-referencing (and norm-referencing)process-oriented: reflection on process, self-assessment; criterion-referencingthe role o

42、f language teacher has changed from a dominator and a director in traditional language teaching to a facilitator in the teaching of using multimedia as assistance. in traditional language teaching, the teacher is at the center of the class and teaches language with academic purposes. in contrast, in

43、 the teaching of using multimedia as assistance, the teacher is a facilitator, monitor, counselor, consultant, or orchestrator, and initiator. 18 by using multimedia he/she creates more authentic language environment to facilitate his/her students learning.the teacher also works with very different

44、kinds of teaching materials if he is to encourage learners to communicate in order to develop their own language learning - rather than to learn language in order to communicate. in other words, the teacher will teach a living language through the textbook instead of teaching the textbook. in tradit

45、ional english teaching mode, the book often reigns alone, and the teacher often teaches the book, neglecting the language which lives around us. by using multimedia as an english teaching tool, the teacher will use of every source possible to facilitate learning.19 he will use audiotapes, videotapes

46、, cds and so on to supplement the textbook.3. some misunderstandings in using multimediabut in fact there are some misunderstandings in using multimedia. some teachers think that using multimedia is pointing and clicking the mouse. they know that chalk and blackboard are out-of-date. they type the c

47、ontent of the textbooks into the computer. in the whole class, they still thoroughly explain the grammar and the words that would bring difficulties and translate the important and difficult sentences to students or ask the students themselves to translate them. even some teachers read aloud the con

48、tent on the screen from the beginning to the end to the students. they ignore that teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn, setting the condition for learning (douglas brown, 1983). 20 as for students, they are busier with copying the script than before, because

49、with the help of multimedia, everything to be taught has been typed into computers before class, so a lot of time can be saved and therefore, more things can be crammed into them. therefore, there is no time left for them to think or to communicate. english is still learned for examination not for c

50、ommunication. so, for them english is still a burden and a nuisance.4. how to use multimedia in english teaching effectively?4.1 what is language?then, how to use multimedia effectively in english teaching? before answering this question, we should gain a clear idea of what language is. it seems to

51、be very easy to answer this question. but, in fact, it has always been difficult for linguists and philologists to give a concise definition of language. although there has been an enormous amount of research in language in the past half century, no authoritative answer has been given to what is lan

52、guage? rather, people talk about views of language, seemingly allowing for or accepting different theories for the moment. however, language teachers clearly need to know generally what sort of entity they are dealing with and how the particular language they are teaching fits into that entity (brow

53、n, 1994a). 21 here are some sample definitions of language found in dictionaries and linguistics books:language is a system of arbitrary, vocal symbols which permit all people in a given culture, or other people who have learned the system of that culture to communicate or to interact (finocchiaro,

54、1964:8).language is any set or system of linguistic symbols as used in a more or less uniform fashion by a number of people who are thus enabled to communicate intelligibly with one another (random house dictionary of the english language 1996:806)language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used

55、 for human communication (wardhaugh, 1972:3).language is a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings (websters third new international dictionary of the english language 1961:1270).language is a sys

56、tem of communication consisting of a set of small parts and a set of rules which these parts can be combined to produce messages that have meaning (cambridge international dictionary of english 1995:795)22as the above definitions show, language is a tool for human communication. english is a kind of

57、 language, so it is also a communicative tool. and the essence of english teaching is also communication. teaching is of communication. teaching is by communication. teaching is for communication. 23 that is to say, teaching is an activity which should be performed by teachers and students together.

58、 it needs them to communicate with each other and to exchange their ideas and thoughts. without whichever aspect of the two, teaching activity cannot be carried on smoothly, and even cannot be done. and it should integrate all kinds of skills which are required in real life communication: reading, writing, listening and speaking. so, evidently the purpose of language teaching is for communication. and english is taught as a second language in most non-english countries. a second language, also known as foreign language, or non-native language, refers to a language