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of second language teaching. The boredom and the routine
of using only a course book and repeatedly drilling the
same types of exercises can be easily avoided.
As the issue of the comprehension of spoken language
is crucial, teachers should try miscellaneous resources of
podcasts. Traditional course books usually offer gap filling
and true or false exercises, which do not really give a sense
of real communication. Students very often complain that
podcasts going along with course books seem to be artificial
and fake. Fortunately, a wide range of free podcasts made
specifically for language learners, is currently accessible
on iTunes, YouTube, SoundCloud etc. Another reliable
source that can be used for a purpose of listening practice
is the radio. It offers news broadcasts and interviews
which are available on their websites. Moreover, teachers
might even use songs played
currently on the radio as
most of the students recognize them easily and are more
familiar with the lyrics even though they do not know the
meaning standing behind the words. Nowadays, almost
everyone owns a computer or a smartphone. Due to this
fact, students are able to create podcasts and recordings
on their own which give them a chance to practice their
pronunciation.
The key role in eliminating the monotony from the
classroom is occupied by videos, which support both
the expansion of the vocabulary and the development of
listening skills. While children prefer watching cartoons
or animated stories, older learners are more likely to watch
documentaries or travel journals. Lyric videos are very
entertaining and give numberless options considering the
fact that the teacher can use students’ favourite songs.
As a result of such activities, students can experience the
language not only aurally but also visually. It gives them a
better context and insight into the natural use of English.
A majority of young students have access to, and are
actually fond of using the Internet as much as possible.
In this case the teacher can use countless resources with
online games, which stimulate and improve every aspect
of language skills. The Internet
provides the classroom
environment with a diverse range of games that are free
and available for everyone. These games are designed
to practice and examine for instance target vocabulary,
a specific grammar construction, or comprehension of
a text. Moreover, students have a chance to practice
their skills at home by downloading applications and
games on their phones or computers. Digital versions of
hangman, Scrabble, crosswords, or even memory games
are entertaining for all age groups. The teacher might even
display these games on the interactive whiteboard and
engage the whole class.
The concept of the enhancement of writing skills by
encouraging students to create online blogs is also worth
considering. Blogging platforms such as Blogger, or
WordPress, give students an
opportunity to create blogs
for free. Sometimes students find blogging engaging and
encouraging because they can write about anything they
find interesting. The fact that not only the teacher can
read their virtual journals, but basically everyone with the
access to the Internet, makes them put more effort into
writing. Getting feedback from a larger audience may have
a positive influence on the development of one’s skills
as well. If the idea of blogging weekly or daily does not
appeal to the students, they can use their blogs as digital
portfolios of their best works.
Multimedia is a recent and popular term in the field
of computer usage. Generally speaking, multimedia is
the combination of text, sound, pictures,
animation, and
video. Typical set-ups include CD-ROM, CD-ROM
player, sound equipment, and special hardware, which
allow the display of sophisticated graphics. With the rapid
development of the internet, which has become a powerful
medium for it provides a number of services including
“e-mail, the World Wide Web (WWW), newsgroups, voice
and video conferencing, file transfer and exchange and
numerous corporate services delivered through specialized
programs”.
In the context of teaching, multimedia can
be called an integrated media, which consists of various
media forms such as text, graphic, animation, audio, etc.
to browse, query, select, link and use information to meet
pupils’ requirement. Smith and Woody defined multimedia
as “the use of both visual aids and verbal descriptions to
illustrate concepts” [1].
According to Mudge , Multimedia applied in English
teaching may include four stages. The original stage
can be dated back to the 1950s when only a few foreign
language institutes started to employ phonograph,
broadcast, movie, tape recorder and other current media
in foreign language teaching. During that time, audio
and video were once considered a significant revolution
to the teaching of foreign language. Following in the 70s
and 80s, audio and video developed dramatically with the
advancement of electronic technology. Electronic taping,
slide projectors, videocassette players, language labs and
other electronic devices were included in this era. By
the turn of 90s, multimedia technology was becoming
increasing available in foreign
language instruction
because of the development of computer technology and
the coming of the digital revolution. In the early 2000’s,
the internet became a powerful medium for the delivery of
computer-aided learning materials. The internet provides
a worldwide means to get information, lighten the work
load, and communicate with each other at any time and at
any place. CALL which is Computer Assisted Language
Learning came into play during the later part of the 20th
century. Warschauer divided the history of CALL into
three stages: behavioristic CALL, communicative CALL,
and integrative CALL. Behavioristic CALL applied in
1960s and 1970s was based on the behaviorist learning
and featured repetitive language drills. The computer was
regarded as a mechanical tutor to deliver the materials to
the pupils. An example of a behaviotistic CALL strategy
is PLATO [2].
PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching
Operations), the best-known tutorial system, is a special
hardware consisting of extensive drills, grammatical
explanations, and translation tests at various intervals. The
next stage, communicative CALL, appeared in the late
1970s and early 1980s. It focused on the communicative
teaching method and encouraged pupils to generate
original utterances through
the process of discovery,
expression and development rather than just repeat the
prefabricated language. Pupils were supposed to make
use of the computer or the hardware to assist them in
language learning. What they actually work with is not
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the computer but their classmates or teachers. In this
model, the computer is viewed as stimulus or tool. Popular
CALL software developed in this period included word
processors, spelling and grammar checkers. Following
this stage is the third stage, integrative CALL which
included the development
of multimedia computers and
the Internet. This model not only integrates various skills
(e.g. listening, writing, speaking and reading) but also
bonds different technologies serving as effective and
comprehensive tools for language learning and teaching.
With integrative CALL, teachers were moving away from
communicative perspective of teaching to a more social
way, which emphasizes the language use in authentic
social environments. Applying this multimedia networked
computer in the language class provides pupils a more
effective means to learn English. For instance, pupils
can have rapid access to the background, grammatical or
vocabulary explanations, pronunciation information while
the main lesson is in the foreground. Besides, pupils under
this model are usually encouraged to engage in their own
language development rather than learn in a passive way.
The history of CALL suggests that multimedia can serve a
variety of purposes for language teaching. It can serve as
a tutor to offer language drills or a stimulus to stir pupils
to think. With the advent of the advanced technology and
internet, computer usage in language teaching provides
an authentic environment for pupils to communicate with
native speakers in an Nevertheless,
the application of
multimedia in English teaching is not as widely used as
expected. A reason for this could be the underdevelopment
of technology and immature pedagogy about using
multimedia in teaching foreign languages. For example,
multimedia cost is high and not all educational institutions
can make use of this tool. In addition, many teachers are not
trained in using multimedia to teach English. According
to Gong & Zhou, some teachers who have been aware of
the applicability of multimedia teaching tend to focus on
the flowery and fancy courseware and neglect the teaching
aim, teaching object and teaching content, so the whole
English classroom would become a demonstrating hall of
computer functions.
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