THE ROLE OF MEDIA-BASED LESSONS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
Под-секция №6. Теория, практика и методы обучения
Головина Л.А
старший преподаватель НТУУ “КПИ”
THE ROLE OF MEDIA-BASED LESSONS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
The necessity of using media when teaching a foreign language is self-evident. It enhances the language teaching process. In everyday practice teachers use the entire range of media: from magazine and newspaper clippings to more complicated aids such as video and computers. They assist teachers in their work, bring real world into the classroom and make the process of language learning more exciting.
Media help to motivate students by involving the outside world with its problems and events into the study process and by presenting the language in its communicative context. Audiovisual materials provide students with a great amount of information and help to process it efficiently. Media materials give authenticity to classroom situations and enrich the students’ language learning experience. Media can make use of prior background knowledge in the language learning process. Besides, media help the teacher to present material in a time-efficient way.
The activities based on the use of media materials should be carefully planned and interconnected with other components of the lesson, such as reading task, writing assignment and speaking tasks. The selection, adaptation (if necessary) and implementation of media-based materials are of great importance. The appropriateness of materials for learners, their technical and pedagogical value, teaching goal, pre- and post-activities play an important role in planning this part of the lesson. One should also bear in mind that activities based on media materials can be practiced not only at a concrete stage of the lesson but at any or several stages, complementing each other.
According to the traditional framework of the lesson supported by most scholars a foreign language lesson can be divided into 5 stages: the information and motivation stage where the topic and relevant background information are presented; the input stage where the teacher ensures comprehension of the presented material; the focus stage where students practice the tasks and are provided with guided opportunities; the more communicatively-oriented transfer stage in which students are given opportunities to offer personal comment or share experiences related to the topic; and an optional feedback stage where the students’ work is assessed in different forms (an interview, class discussion, a role play, a group problem solving activity, etc.).
The framework involving the use of media materials can be used at different levels of instruction and for studying different themes. For example, while discussing the issues of technological advance the teacher can begin with asking questions about the role of different gadgets in our everyday life, both at work and home, and how they affect our lifestyle.
Then the teacher distributes a set of advertisements of such items with accompanying texts from magazines and newspapers. The students identify the gadgets and read through their descriptions paying special attention to new features the products possess in contrast to older samples. The teacher together with the students revises the phrases/structures that can be used while comparing or contrasting different items.
The students in pairs discuss the advantages/disadvantages of new models, then pass the clipping to others and receive a new one. Later the students have an all-round discussion about products, their application , advantages/disadvantages making use of communicative patterns (comparison and contrast).
Further on the students are initiated into a discussion about some innovations that with the time can become obsolete, others will come into use in the future and, in general, how our life and lifestyle may change in a few decades. As a result, a writing assignment can be given (an essay, report, etc.).
To sum up, the lesson includes reading practice (both skimming and scanning), speaking in small groups, communicative activities, group discussion and writing practice.
While considering social issues the teacher may efficiently use, for example, an audiotape with recorded information about telephone helpline. First the teacher asks the students in what situations people may ask for advice and help anonymously and where they can find it. Then sheets with topical vocabulary are distributed among students and discussed. In small groups they identify possible problems (loneliness, children-parents relations, unemployment, poverty, etc.) and offer possible solutions. Then the teacher asks the students what telephone helplines they know and whether they have ever used them.
The students can be offered tolisten to the taped information about Parentline Plus telephone helpline (Great Britain) and work on answering prepared questions in small groups. Students are asked to formulate their own advice to the caller and predict the answer an expert will give to the caller. Then they compare their own advice with that of the caller. Later students can participate in a problem-solving or the role-play activity with situations prepared by the teacher with evaluating how useful and effective similar helplines can be in real life.
To conclude, when incorporating media usage into foreign language teaching the teacher should take into account teaching goals, types of language skills to be developed, the students’ level of knowledge and the students’ preferences (interests and experiences).
