SWEDISH JOURNAL OF ROMANIAN STUDIES

THE USE OF MULTIMEDIA IN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Gabriel-Dan BĂRBULEȚ
1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba-Iulia

e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract:
The most common method to teach foreign languages is the use of course books.
However, the 21st century serves other possibilities to use during learning, such as
multimedia tools. The use of Internet, newspapers, the radio, or TV might be an
alternative to typical language teaching methods.
Multimedia can be defined as the exciting combination of computer hardware
and software that allows you to integrate video, animation, audio, graphics, and test
resources to develop effective presentations on an affordable desktop computer. The
method of teaching a foreign language through Multimedia has been used wider and
wider and it has contributed a lot to higher teaching quality. Chalk-and-Talk
teaching method is not enough to teach a foreign language effectively. We should
change our teaching ideas and recognize their impersonal attribute as one kind of
teaching method. Thus we can utilize modern education technology reasonably to
fulfill the target of language teaching. We live in times where multimedia tools
accompany almost everyone in their daily activities, e.g. one can get ready to leave
home with the rhythm of the music on the radio, while another person cannot
imagine breakfast without reading a newspaper. This illustrates the media’s
enormous impact on people. It seems to be more enjoyable when knowledge is
gained through multimedia tools: entertainment, language authenticity, and
encouragement to learn more are provided. Consequently, boredom, which
sometimes accompanies working with a course book during lessons, might be
avoided. Of course, everything depends on the teacher’s attitude and preparation.
What is more convincing, is the fact that all the skills may be taught with the use of
multimedia tools. Moreover, they may satisfy all types of learners, which is not
always possible during teaching with a course book.

Keywords: multimedia; language teaching; language acquisition; educational

technology.

1. WHAT IS MULTIMEDIA?
Text, graphics, sound, animation, and video are all combined into
multimedia, which is then interactively supplied to the user by electronic or
digitally modified means. The name “multimedia” is derived from “multi-”

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which means many, numerous, and “media,” which are a medium for
information delivery and presentation, including text, graphics, speech, images,
and music.
Media that solely use primitive computer displays, including text-only or
conventional types of printed or hand-produced material, contrast with
multimedia. A live performance can include multimedia, which can also be
recorded and played, displayed, interacted with, or accessed by information
content processing equipment such as computerized and electronic devices.
Electronic media players called multi-media devices are used to store
and view multimedia content. In fine art, multimedia is distinguished from
mixed media since it has a wider scope and, for instance, includes audio. In the
early days of multimedia, “rich media” and “interactive multimedia” were
synonymous, and “hypermedia” was a form of multimedia. Bob Goldstein, a
musician, and artist first used the term “multimedia” to promote the launch of his
“Light Works at L'Oursin” performance in Southampton, Long Island, in July
1966. Goldstein might have been familiar with American artist Dick Higgins,
who had spoken two years before about a brand-new method of creating work
that he called “intermedia.” In the 1993 first edition of Multimedia: Making It
Work, Tay Vaughan declared

“Multimedia is any combination of text, graphic art, sound, animation,

and video that is delivered by computer. When you allow the user – the
viewer of the project – to control what and when these elements are
delivered, it is interactive multimedia. When you provide a structure of
linked elements through which the user can navigate, interactive
multimedia becomes hypermedia.” (Vaughan, 1993:25).

The word was given the distinction of German “Word of the Year” in 1995 by
the German language society in recognition of its importance and pervasiveness
in the 1990s. The institute succinctly stated that “Multimedia has become a
crucial word in the marvelous new media landscape” to explain its position.
Multimedia, as it is often used, is a collection of media that has been
electronically transferred and can be viewed interactively. This includes video,
still photos, audio, and text. Millions of people understand that a lot of the
material on the internet today fits this criterion. A CD-ROM drive, which
allowed for the transport of several hundred megabytes of video, picture, and
audio data, was a feature that certain computers sold in the 1990s were referred
to as “multimedia” computers. Multimedia educational CD-ROMs were also
produced more frequently during that time. Presentations using multiple media
formats can be viewed live on stage, projected, streamed, or played locally using
a media player. A multimedia presentation that is being aired could be live or
recorded. Both analog and digital electronic media technology are used for
broadcasts and recordings. You can download or stream digital online media.
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Multimedia streaming can be on-demand or live. Multimedia games and

simulations can be played locally with an offline computer, gaming system,
or simulator as well as in a physical setting with special effects. The many
technological or digital multimedia formats may be used to improve the user
experience, such as by facilitating information transfer that is quicker and
easier. The blending of several media content types enables higher levels of
engagement. Online multimedia is moving more and more toward object-
oriented and data-driven architectures, allowing for applications that support
end-user innovation and customization on a variety of content types over
time. Examples of these include multiple forms of content on websites, such as
photo galleries with user-updated titles or text and images or pictures, as well as
simulations with modifiable simulation coefficients, events, illustrations,
animations, or videos that allow the multimedia “experience” to be changed
without having to be reprogrammed. Haptic technology enables virtual things to
be touched as well as seen and heard.

2. THE INTEGRATION OF ELEMENTS IN MULTIMEDIA

LANGUAGE LEARNING SYSTEMS
Although the idea of reaching the language learner through as many of
his/her senses as possible is not a new idea, modern technology provides so
many means of doing so that at first the mind reels. Diagram 1 shows the full
panoply of stimuli which may reach the learner, from open circuit broadcasting
through recordings of one kind or another, books and kits, to the range of
human contacts s/he may make. Indeed, the resources made available to a
learner in a learning system of this kind may be classed in the first instance as
human and material.

Diagram 1
TV
Information broadcasts
Sound
and query
broadcasts
services
Slides
and
filmstri Films
ps
The
learne
r Oral
CD's
tests

Reali Writte
a kits n tests
Textbook
Workbooks
s

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The most important human resource is the learning effort of the

learner himself, in terms of time, intensity, efficiency and appropriateness of
that effort. All other components in the system are evaluated by their effect
upon these learning parameters. A system that makes it possible for the
learner to work longer, more intensively, more efficiently and appropriately
will be more highly valued than one which does not. It is rather difficult to
assess the social cost of learner effort. So much depends upon the competing
claims upon that effort. Even leisure learning is achieved at the expense of
other satisfactions and attainments. Where language learning requires, say,
an executive or a highly skilled craftsman to interrupt his professional
employment the direct socio-economic cost may be very high.
The second human resource is the teacher, i.e. an initiator who
organizes, arranges and presents the material to be learned, checks on
progress, provides feedback on performance and finds ways of overcoming
learning blocks and difficulties, building and maintaining motivation,
fostering and controlling group dynamics.
A third human resource is provided by the 'native informants', i.e. the
members of the speech community who produce the behavior to which the
learner is assimilating himself, or a corpus of linguistic artifacts on which
the learner models his behavior, as well as the framework for direct
conversational and pragmatic interaction. This latter service is also provided
by the learner's fellow pupils.
Fourthly, human resources lie behind the provision of all material
resources employed in the learning system, and its organization (engineers,
technicians, writers, printers, publishers, secretaries, producers, etc.) The
cost of these human resources depends on such interrelated factors as skill,
training, availability, efficiency, and the extent to which their commitment is
specially commissioned (thus 'immersion' learning benefits from the fact that
the behavior of members of the speech community is produced in the course
of everyday living and is not specifically changeable). Language learning is
a “spin-off benefit”. The per capita cost depends furthermore on the scale on
which a service is provided, i.e. the number of learners amongst whom the
cost is divided.
Material resources, produced by large number of people whom the
student never meets (which may be very large) are of many kinds, each
taking over some function or functions from teachers and informants. In
making a brief survey of material and technical resources one may
concentrate upon the 'software' directly used by the learner, without
forgetting the substantial industrial machine which stands behind its
production, and that of the 'hardware' devices which are necessary to its

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employment. They include printed documents (textbooks, course books,

workbooks, pamphlets, newspapers, journals and magazines, works of
fiction and non-fiction), realia kits (coins, bills, tickets, cultural objects).1

2.1.EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AND OTHER TEACHING

EQUIPMENT
As language teachers we use a variety of teaching aids to explain
language meaning and construction, engage students in a topic, or as the
basis of a whole activity.

2.1.1. PICTURES AND IMAGES

Teachers have long utilized images or visuals to support learning,
whether these were created by the teachers themselves, taken from books,
newspapers, or magazines, or captured on camera.
Cue cards, which are little cards that students use in pairs or groups
during instruction, flashcards, giant wall pictures that allow everyone to see
the details, photographs, and illustrations are all examples of pictures
(typically in a textbook).
Additionally, some instructors present computer visuals, slides from a slide
projector, or images from an overhead projector.
The following examples demonstrate the variety of uses for images
of all types: With lower-level pupils, cue-response exercises are a traditional
way to use images, particularly flashcards. Before naming a student and
asking for a response, we hold up the cue. We then raise a second one,
designate a different student, and so forth. Flashcards are a great tool for
practicing vocabulary, cuing new sentences, and “hammering” grammar
points.
Teachers employ larger wall pictures that students can respond to by
pointing to a specific detail, such as Paul is swimming in the pool or There is
milk in the refrigerator. Teachers will occasionally assign students to
couples or groups and provide them a stack of cue cards with a suggested
statement on each card.
As a result, the student must ask a question after selecting an image
of a piece of cheese. The subsequent student chooses a picture of eggs and
must ask, How many eggs have you got?; and so on. Pictures are very
helpful in a number of communication activities in communication games,
especially when they have a game-like feel to them, like in describe-and-
draw exercises where one student describes a picture and a partnered
classmate must draw the same picture without seeing the original. Another

1
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/ELT The Use of the Media in
English Language Teaching

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option is to divide the class into groups and offer each group a unique image
depicting a distinct scene from a novel. After the group members have
looked over their image, we remove it. New groups are created, and through
exchanging the details depicted in their images, they must determine what
narrative the images as a whole tell. When conveying and confirming the
meaning, one of the most suitable uses for graphics is understanding. For
instance, including an image of an airplane makes it simple to explain what
the word means. The use of pictures in a lesson might help students predict
what will happen next. Therefore, after carefully examining an image,
students might infer what it represents. Then, the students read a text or
listen to a CD to check whether it fits what they anticipated based on the
picture. The students will be more engaged in the task at hand thanks to this
effective use of visuals. When used in talks, images can prompt queries like:
What is it showing? What does it do to you? What was the point of the
photographer's or artist's design? Whether they are in a book, on flashcards,
or on a wall, images can be utilized to express ideas in English in
imaginative ways.
So, pupils might examine an image and make an educated guess as to
what it depicts. Then they listen to a CD or read a text to see if it matches
what they expected on the basis of the picture. This use of pictures is very
powerful and has the advantage of engaging the students in the task to
follow. In discussions, pictures can stimulate questions such as: What is it
showing? How does it make you feel? What was the artist’s/ photographer’s
purpose in designing it in that way? Pictures can also be used for creative
language use, whether they are in a book, flashcards or wall pictures. We
might ask our students to describe a picture, make up a dialogue between
two characters in a picture, or, in a specific role-playing exercise, respond to
questions as if they were figures in a well-known artwork. The selection and
application of images is mostly a matter of personal preference, but there are
three characteristics that must be present in order to arouse the pupils’
interest and be linguistically effective.
We might ask our students to write a description of a picture, to
invent a conversation taking place between two people in a picture, or in a
particular role-play activity, ask them to answer questions as if they were
characters in a famous painting.
The choice and use of pictures is very much a matter of personal
taste, but we should bear in mind three qualities they need to possess if they
are to engage students and be linguistically useful. First and foremost, they
must be suitable for the classes they are being used in. Students might not
enjoy them if they are too juvenile, and if they are culturally insensitive, they
might insult individuals. The primary requirement for photos is that they be
clearly visible. They must be large enough for all of our students to see the

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required detail. Last but not least, we will not spend hours gathering photos
only to have them destroyed after the first use. It is important to consider
how to make them durable. Maybe they can be adhered on cards and covered
in transparent materials.

2.1.2. THE OVERHEAD PROJECTOR

Since they enable us to prepare visual or presentation material,
overhead projectors (OHPs) are incredibly practical pieces of technology.
They typically do not require a lot of technical expertise and are portable.
Overhead transparencies (OHTs) can display just about anything, including
complete texts, grammar exercises, images, diagrams, and student writing.
Transparencies can be of very high quality because they can be copied on a
photocopier or printed from any computer. The overhead transparency offers
the opportunity for the elegant, well-printed script, particularly in cases
where students' handwriting is not appreciated by professors. The fact that
we do not have to show everything on an OHT at once is one of the main
benefits of the overhead projector. We can obscure what we do not want the
students to view by placing a piece of cardstock or paper over a portion of
the transparency. In order to progressively move the paper or card
downward, we might, for instance, expose the first two lines of a story and
ask the students what would happen next before disclosing the following two
lines and then the next. On one side of the transparency, there may be
questions, and on the other, there may be solutions. In order to keep the
students' interest, we begin the teaching sequence with the answers already
known.
Sometimes we can place a text on the OHP with vacant spaces and
then place a transparent sheet on top of it so that students can come up and
write what they believe belongs there with OHP pens. Alternately, students
working in groups can construct a list of their arguments after discussing a
subject (such as whether or not the students under 12 should have a curfew
starting at 10 every night) and display it to the class as they present it.
Although overhead projectors are very adaptable, they can also present
certain issues. They are also not very strong, especially when compared to
windows and doors that let in natural light. They can be uncomfortable to
look at when projected onto slick surfaces like boards, and when projected
onto some other surfaces, it can be quite challenging to see what is on them.
The size of the projection square on the wall or screen and whether the
image is in focus both play significant roles. However, the overhead
projector is a very useful resource if all these possible issues are considered
and fixed. (Harmer, 2001: 251).

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2.1.3. SONGS AND MUSIC

Songs on recordings, video/DVD or perhaps played on a guitar in the
classroom are often used as a filler activity to change the mood or pace of a
lesson. They sometimes tend to get relegated to the Friday afternoon slot as a
sort of reward for the week’s hard work.
Songs can be used in many of the same ways that we might use an
ordinary speech recording. Interesting lyrics and clarity of vocals help to
make a song into appropriate classroom material, and for this reason, folk
music or a solo singer-songwriter are often a better bet than a heavy-metal
band.

2.1.4. TV, DVD AND VIDEO

The most obvious way to use visual aids is to place students in front
of a television. Turn it on. Let them finish watching the show. This is the
standard lecture from a “lazy” teacher. The majority of teachers who have
access to the equipment have used it, and it works perfectly. But video must
be more than just this! We may develop some fantastic lessons simply by
fiddling about with this straightforward case. Many excellent video courses
with supporting resources have been released. Some of them try to teach
grammar or function, while others center on improving pupils' listening and
understanding. A growing number of recordings are being used in
conjunction with coursebooks and contain a variety of objectives and
activities. However, you can do a lot with recordings you make of TV news,
commercials, popular music, etc.
Video is only another teaching tool; it doesn't carry out the
instruction for you. It is not difficult to make out 30 to 60 minutes of study
from a three-minute video, and that might be much more beneficial than
playing a one-hour recording straight through as the students silently drift
off.

2.1.5. COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET

Many teachers nowadays have access to computers and the Internet,
whether in a separate ’Computer lab’ or perhaps with single machines in the
students’ normal classroom. Reactions to this high-tech equipment vary a lot
among teachers, and the popularity of CALL (Computer Assisted Language
Learning) seems to go in waves over the years. Sometimes it is ‘the future of
language teaching’ and at other times a fairly expensive white elephant. I
suspect it’s somewhere in between. There is obviously a great deal of value
in computers for home study, self-access, and distance learning. In terms of
classroom work, computers have many of the same advantages and
disadvantages as video recording. We need to make sure we exploit the

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materials rather than just plonk students down in front of the screen and
expect the programs to do all the work.
An obvious initial problem may be to do with your own computer
literacy. However, you don’t need to know very much in order to be capable
of providing some useful lessons. There are various commercial programs
designed for language learners, popular as self-access activities for students
working on their own, but which also work as well as class activities. They
often involve flexible variations on standard pen-and-paper exercises and
activities - fill in the gaps, match the words to the pictures, choose the best
answer, etc. Teachers have increasingly found ways to also exploit computers
in classroom time; even if you don’t have any special programs, there are still
useful things to do with just a computer and standard office-user software.

Here are a few general thoughts about using computers with students:

Writing texts: This idea may seem too obvious, but it’s worth noting that
the single best use of a computer is probably just to work on writing, in the
same way, that people in the world outside the classroom work on it. So, for
example, when students have a text to produce, let them work on it using the
computer. Three to four students could work on a single console and
cooperate in preparing a final text. The standard editing options (i.e. cut,
copy, paste, replace, etc.) can help make correction and re-drafting less
traumatic. Encourage students to spell-check, use the built-in thesaurus, and
experiment with different layouts, fonts, paragraphing, etc.
Marking students’ work: Ask the students to submit homework on an e-
mail attachment or computer disk. Mark it using a notes-adding or comment
option so that students can go back and review their work and prepare a new
draft.
Mark the teacher: Prepare a text yourself. Include spelling and grammar
errors. Get the students to work together to look at the text and correct it.
Edit source texts: Provide a number of source texts (e.g. short pieces with
relevant information or opinions) and set the students a task that requires
them to copy, paste and then edit to make a short text answering a specific
question. For example, set the task of writing a decision, with reasons, about
where to hold a professional conference. Provide source texts, such as short
descriptions of two possible towns and hotels, the needs of delegates, the
chairman’s suggestion, feedback from last year’s conference, etc. Although
less familiar than word processors, computer presentation programs (e.g.
Microsoft PowerPoint) are a good way of storing and showing images and
text in unusual ways, a sort of high-tech slide show. Here are two teaching
ideas based on using such a program to flash images or text only briefly to
students:

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Flash pictures: Flash pictures for one second each. Students meet up
afterward, recall them and make up a story including them.
Flash lexis: Do the same, but instead of pictures, show recently studied
words (maybe all from one lexical area, e.g. kitchen words). Students try to
recall them.
Many Internet-based lessons will involve research to find information for
some specific purpose. For this reason, it is important that students are able
to efficiently use search engines and directories. Beyond that, the web can be
used for many purposes including live text communication with other online
users (e.g. ‘Messenger programs); live audio (and/or webcam) chat with
other users (e.g. ‘Net meetings’); delayed-response text communication (e.g.
e-mails, message boards, forums, contributions to websites, etc.); reading
web-based text (newspapers, magazines, articles, catalogues, entertainment,
etc.); downloading or using web-based content (e.g. language exercises,
films, music, etc.); designing their own web pages and websites.

Here are a few ideas for activities involving the web:

Reading and research: ‘You have ten minutes to answer these three general
knowledge questions’; integrate use of web research into ongoing classroom
projects; follow up topics met in the coursebook with ‘find an interesting
article we can read about this subject’; ask students to find some exercises
on specific language points; get the class to agree on certain sites of
relevance to them which will be monitored on a regular basis (e.g. an
upcoming film, developments in space travel, etc.); join specific interest
groups focused on areas relevant to students.
Communication: arrange live online messenger chats with students in other
towns/ countries; organized-mail pairings between students in different
locations; send e-cards to people; add comments to user forums at club sites
of interest to students; send messages with suggestions, feedback, and offers,
complaints, etc. to companies, manufacturers, government, webmasters, fan
clubs, etc.
Tasks and projects: find real writing projects online, from simple things
like registering for websites, to taking part in surveys, and making
contributions to collections of stories or opinions; get students to design and
start up their own website on a topic of interest. (Scrivener, 2005:135).

Conclusions and recommendations

The main objective of this memoir was to study foreign language
learning as a foreign language, particularly to introduce to teenage learners,
during the teaching-learning process, didactic sequences based on Internet
sources using multimedia resources. Our action has been determined by the

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necessity of alignment to principles of the new methodology, active methods

proposed by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
(CEFR), as well as to line up to the new class practices, centered on the task
concept. Finally, we have reached the following conclusion: nowadays,
methodologists and language teachers disapprove of existing a unique and
universal methodology. The Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, of European Council, is a central
tool of contemporary didactics. Its aim is to mix well the teaching-learning
and assessment process of foreign languages in different European countries.
Therefore, we must create adequate conditions for our students, so that they
assimilate the content which they should use into a social or interactional
practice, under the teacher’s guidance. Eventually, we may assume that
learning a foreign language is like knowing how the culture of this language
works. And for this, multimedia represent the best resources to make the
students aware of the cultural environment and thus, to be able to integrate
themselves and use a multicultural repertoire.

References:

Harmer, J. (2001). Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman.

Jarvis, H. (2000). The Changing Role of Computers in Language Teaching and the
Case for ‘Study Skills’. Modern English Teacher.

Morgan, J. & Rinvolucri, M. (2004). Vocabulary: Resource Book for Teachers.

Oxford University Press.

Scrivener, J. (2005). Learning Teaching, A Guidebook for English Language

Teachers. Second Edition, Macmillan Books for Teachers.

The British Council, (1979). The Use of the Media English Language Teaching.
English Teaching Information Centre.

Vaughan, T. (1993). Multimedia: Making It Work. Osborne/McGraw-Hill.

Warschauer, M. & Healey, D. (1998). Computers and Language Learning.

Language Teaching.

Wright, A. & Haleem, S. (1991). Visuals for the Language Classroom. Longman.

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