多媒体在中学英语教学中的运用

赵杰

【摘 要】 通過多媒体技术和传统教学方法在英语教学中的比较，本文强调多媒体为学生学习和教师教学提供了很多方便。多媒体对培养学生的主体意识、创新思维及逻辑推理都很有用，也很必要。运用多媒体技术配合中学英语教学是目前英语教学过程中的主体观念，是培养学生的主体意识和创新思维的必要和重要手段。

多媒体辅助教学的很多优点正符合新课标中学英语教学的特点，是优化中学英语课堂的良好工具。在实际教学中，中学英语教师唯有在素质教育的大背景下，以先进的教育理论为指导，加强教学设计，合理利用现代教学技术，才能实现中学英语教学的真正目的。

【关键词】 多媒体 中学英语教学 主体意识 创新思维 素质教育

[Abstract]Comparing the traditional teaching method with Computer Aided Instruction （CAI） with multimedia， the paper emphasizes the convenience of multimedia to high school students learning and teachers teaching. Multimedia is very useful and also crucial to foster the students subject consciousness， innovative thinking and logical reasoning. Hence， multimedia technology serves as an integral means of fostering the students subject consciousness and innovative thinking during the English teaching in high schools.

The advantages of multimedia-assisted teaching suit well with the new curriculum standard for high schools， making it a good tool for optimizing English classes in high schools. In the backdrop of the nationwide quality education campaign， the English teachers in high schools have to， based on the guidance of advanced teaching theories， strengthen their teaching design and adopt rationally modern teaching techniques to meet the goal of English teaching in high schools.

[Key Words] Multimedia English teaching in high school subject consciousness innovative thinking quality education

There are five basic steps in rational application of multimedia in English teaching. They are revision， presentation， drill， practice and consolidation. It seems that teachers have no need to speak too much， for everything has been arranged well with the multimedia. Teachers just need to play the courseware. Modern English teaching requires teachers to cooperate with students. On the premise of this， teachers and students should have some interactions in class. If the teacher just plays a role of a screener， its not the purpose of applying multimedia. Accordingly， CAI requires teachers to communicate with the students under the consideration of usages of languages in our daily life. This requirement doesnt intend to make the students accept the knowledge passively or to make teachers to be a screener. So teachers should choose suitable multimedia and have inner communications with students， which means teachers should also be active in class.

Many teachers like showing more than ten pictures on the screen at the beginning of an English class. As a matter of fact， sometimes these pictures have nothing to do with what they will teach. Actually， these pictures are just used for setting off an active atmosphere at most time. Then how to judge the value of the application of multimedia？ In English teaching， its necessary to offer some pictures， but its more important to know how to combine the pictures with the topics. For example， when teaching a reading material （paper）， the teacher just needs to choose five pictures about the processes of making the paper. Observing the actuality of applying multimedia in English teaching in high schools， English teachers should attach greater importance on rational application of multimedia. Otherwise， functions and advantages of multimedia cant be embodied in English teaching in high schools.

There are many factors that influence the options when teachers choose the multimedia， such as teaching contents， teaching goals， task categories， students characteristics and teaching functions etc. （Zou Xia， 2006： 208） For example， if the teacher wants to teach some greeting phrases： good morning， good afternoon， good evening， good night， thank you， youre welcome， sorry， never mind， it doesnt matter...， the teacher can imitate a dialogue about greetings with multimedia. Generally speaking， dealing with the sounds， the teacher had better use 22 kHz or 44 kHz. And the teacher had better make every sentence， every word match with the pictures， sounds to express （Xia Ya， 2005： 207）. If editing pictures and photo-shops， the jpg or gif are usually applied； if editing sounds， the mid or mp3 are usually used， and if editing videos， the mpeg of wmv or rm is usually applied. （Xia Ya， 2005： 207） To apply multimedia correctly， teachers have to obey the regulations as follows.

1. Matching with teaching materials and students learning characteristics

Teaching materials consist of teaching goals and teaching contents. Teaching goals are the teaching center of the whole teaching procedures. They not only decide the teaching contents and form， but also decide the type of multimedia. Matching with teaching goals in multimedia application is also the request of new curriculum standards. Observing our texts， teachers will find out the teaching goals of every unit. For example， “Unit 1 Will people have robots？” Book 2， Grade 8， its teaching goals are cultivating students imaginations and creations. English teachers have to choose multimedia and apply multimedia on the ground of the two teaching goals.

Teaching contents guide teachers to make his or her teaching designs and courseware. So they are also important elements for using multimedia. We should choose different multimedia according to different contents. For instance， if the teacher wants to teach “Unit 2 What should I do？” Book 2 in Grade 8， he can use PPT or Flash； if he wants to teach “Unit 8 Why dont you get a scarf？”， he just needs PPT.

The characteristics of high school students have something to do with their ages and studying state. There are four stages of school education： education in primary schools， junior high schools， senior high schools and education in universities. Junior high school is the transition from primary school to senior high school； the students psychology is under the transformation from that of juvenile to youth. In the meanwhile， their plasticity offers them an opportunity to become more capable of learning more abstract and difficult knowledge. （Huang Yufeng， 1993： 79）

After analyzing the characteristics of learners， we know that pupils are different from junior students and senior students. They have their own characteristics. Pupils have more difficulty in understanding abstract materials； junior students are better than pupils in this matter； senior students are best at it. Accordingly， if the teacher teaches the pupils， he cant make his teaching design too complicated； if the teacher teaches the junior or senior students， he cant make his teaching design too naive or childish. If he wants to train students listening ability， he can play a short movie and ask them some questions. For example， teaching Grammar Focus： past continuous tense， “Unit 3 What were you doing when the UFO arrived？” Book 2， Grade 8， English teachers should not show a lot of pictures such as a dog or a bird to the students. Because these silent pictures cant arouse students interests in learning the grammar. Above all， our English teachers should apply multimedia considering the learning features of students in high schools.

2. Using the courseware

Teachers want to use multimedia effectively， he or she should make a teaching design and courseware. Both of them are very necessary in class. Everything has its key points， so is the application of multimedia. After all， our main purpose to apply multimedia is to transfer knowledge. Therefore， we cant let multimedia divert the students attention. Before making an outstanding courseware， the teacher has to write a good teaching design. In the meanwhile， the teacher should arrange some guiding materials according to the teaching contents to create an imitating situation for students and teachers communication. Making a courseware， you have to know the features of the multimedia. First of all， the contents shouldnt be too long. Secondly， the Flash should be combined with the voices. Thirdly， the contents should be controlled and deep. Finally， the screen style should adapt to the teaching contents. Of course， the key points should be obvious. While using multimedia you have to know how to deal with the background music and pictures， which should adapt to your contents.

3. Specific application of multimedia in English teaching in high schools

Multimedia has various functions such as making charts， copying pictures and playing movies. All of these functions are quite convenient for English teachers to teach culture， words， speaking and listening.

3.1 Multimedia application in culture teaching

Culture in English speaking countries is quite different from that in our country. Teachers can tell students the customs， histories， economy and politics. As we know， all these things are very abstract. Its hard for high school students to understand. Accordingly， students may just know about these a little and they may not have a deep impression on them after listening to teachers narrations. Few days later， they may forget or only remember little about the culture in English speaking countries. With the help of multimedia， students may have larger interests in culture learning. Teachers burdens may be decreased. They neednt just speak all the time in class， so that they have more opportunities to communicate with students. Theres an example to prove the importance of multimedia. Teachers can design six steps to introduce American scenery， food and customs. The first step， teachers can introduce American culture briefly. The second step， teachers can show pictures or play short movies about American scenery. The third step， teachers can show some pictures about food. The fourth step， teachers can show some pictures about customs. The fifth step， teachers can ask students to discuss about the pictures and short movies. The sixth step， teachers can draw conclusions about American culture.

With the help of pictures， students can understand American customs better and have a deep impression about it.

3.2 Multimedia application in words teaching

With the help of multimedia， teachers can draw pictures or make a short dialogue to teach some abstract nouns （CD Drive， cloud， music） and adjectives （exciting， important， happy， dangerous and expansive）. Teachers can draw a picture for these nouns and make dialogues for these adjectives.

3.3 Multimedia application in speaking training

Multimedia can help English teachers in speaking training. As we all know， grades are usually regarded as criteria for judging students. In order to be outstanding students， they have to lay more emphasis on getting higher grades in all subjects. Consequently， most of them neglect their oral English practice. Our teachers are also responsible for this phenomenon because we dont attach importance on train students oral English either. we may think training oral English will take up much time in class and we cant finish their teaching contents in time. Now， multimedia can solve the contradictory between speaking English in class and transporting knowledge.

3.4 Multimedia application in listening training

Multimedia has more advantages in listening training than traditional teaching methods. English teachers just use tape recorder to play listening materials before. Students can just listen to the dialogues or monologues with ears. Its quite hard for students to catch the main ideas of dialogues or monologues because most of them have some trouble in doing listening exercises. With the help of multimedia， English teachers not only can play listening materials， but also they can match some pictures with listening materials. So that it is easier for students to guess the meaning of the dialogue or monologue. And they will be more interested in English listening. Our English teachers can also benefit a lot from this. Before listening training， teachers can prepare all the questions and answers with PPT so that we can show the questions and answers on the multimedia screen after students have finished listening to the materials. We can correct students mistakes quickly. With the help of vivid pictures， students can understand listening materials better. Supposing using traditional teaching aid （blackboard， chalk）， teachers will spend more time. And students may not make progress in listening.

Besides these， multimedia can be applied in many other areas in English teaching such as in grammar teaching， reading teaching and writing teaching. In a word， multimedia offers us much convenience in English teaching and learning.

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