• "An Initial Study on EFL Learners' Attitude towards Multimedia Application in Language Learning" by Antonia Lin

• "CMC: Its Pedagogical Aspects and Considerations" by Rozina Abdul Ghani and Nuraihan Mat Daud

AN INITIAL STUDY ON EFL LEARNERS' ATTITUDE
TOWARDS MULTIMEDIA APPLICATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
by Antonia Lin
Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages,
Taiwan, ROC
antonia@mail.wtuc.edu.tw

Abstract

This paper focuses on the attitude of EFL learners towards the integration of multimedia into a language learning program. It reports on a questionnaire-based survey administered at the end of the first semester of 2001 to 46 first year junior college students at Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages in Taiwan. All of these students were majoring in Spanish but were also taking English Listening and Writing as one of their required language courses. The survey was related to the English Listening and Writing course. The results of the survey indicate that the majority of EFL learners had a positive attitude towards the use of multimedia resources in their language program, appreciating, in particular, opportunities to practice and extend their language abilities by surfing the Internet, to take laboratory-based listening tests via a test analyzer, and to record and save their own writing and to make use of multi-media resources in developing their reading skills.

Introduction

Multimedia technology has been used worldwide and its application in the field of education has provided teachers a great deal of convenience in terms of teaching, learning, research, and communication. It also offers learners an alternative way of learning like e-mailing, discussing online, self-access learning, presenting assignments or projects with software.

Multimedia application in language learning has positive influence on students' attitude. Researches show that students have positive attitude toward the use of computers for language learning (Fujieda, 1999, Levine, Ferenz, & Reves, 2000). Warschauer (1996) reports that most students become motivated if teachers integrate multimedia in the curriculum, provide opportunities of interactivities, and help them get knowledge and computer skills. The more familiar students were with technology, the more positive attitude they had toward technology (Jones, 1992). Furthermore, self-access learning is one of the appealing characteristics of using computers in the language classrooms. Students develop learner autonomy through web-based learning individually or cooperatively (Brajcich, 2000).

Believing that Information Technology makes a difference in language learning and teaching and that learners' needs and learning styles should be taken into account when designing lessons, the writer has endeavored to reach out for available resources in terms of hardware and software to enrich her teaching, such as using the equipment in the language lab. The convenient devices of the test analyzer accompanying with the audio tape device to check listening comprehension with instant feedback and the online recording tool which enables learners to record, save, and submit their reading saves time and highlights the learning atmosphere. In order to find out the learners' feedback about such integration, the writer designed a questionnaire with statements and open-ended questions for the first-year Spanish major students and conducted the survey at the end of the first semester in 2001.

Presenting lessons with Power Point slides is a new way in the classroom instruction. Practicing listening and reading with technology is full of novelty. Active participation leads to motivation of students. The results of the study showed that most learners had positive feedback toward such computer-based learning procedures as, for example, taking listening tests with the test analyzer in the lab, recording and saving their story reading with the lab facilities, and surfing the Internet to appreciate other people's works online.

Literature Review

Computer Assisted Language Learning has been used in the field of language teaching for decades and has been regarded as a powerful tool for both the teachers and learners. Recently multimedia and Computer-Mediated Communication have been utilized to affect a whole new learning experience. Many teachers and scholars have reported studies of the effectiveness of educational instruction on achievement and students' attitudes regarding learning with technology (Salaberry, 2001; Oladejo, 2001).

Learners' motivation and attitudes are correlated with their language acquisition (Mantle-Bromleyan, Miller, 1991; Mantle-Bromley, 1995). According to Schoepp and Erogul (2001), the use of computer technology helps develop learner autonomy and independence as well as the growth of self-access language learning. Students gain confidence through "learning-by-doing" in an interactive environment. Affective domain does make a difference for language learners. When working online, especially in Internet-based collaborative learning, students develop the sense of community and respect different opinions. Computer-based learning provides an environment that combines the feeling of security, novelty, and exposure to the real world. It also makes students control their own learning pace, increase self-esteem, and improve academic skills. Pow (1999) indicated that learners experienced the value of group work when they were engaged in interactive activites online. Fujieda (1999) stated that learners who were involved in group work had positive feedback to the application of technology. Students perceived the value of word processing, paid more attention to mechanics in writing and favored computer-based writing (Cunningham, 2000).

As for the teacher's role, it has remained almost the same as the facilitator, designer, advisor, cooperator, except that the instructor has to develop computer literacy, manage links of resources, and create interactivities based on his/ her understanding of the characteristics of the modern "magic". Teachers who use computer or Internet as a tool in language teaching also develop their professional growth. The exposure to numerous teaching websites and authentic resources enables teachers to retrieve valuable materials and make necessary adaptations to meet learners' needs. Technology-supported tasks foster the development of cognitive strategies, socioaffective strategies, and metacognitive strategies (Loyo, deMagnago, 2001). In the new trend of technology-based learning, only through the teacher's experimenting with using IT, like the Internet and Computer-Mediated Communication, can both learners and teachers realize what they can or cannot do (Chen, 2001, Mantel-Bromley, Miller, 1991). The purpose of this study is mainly to examine students' attitude toward the application of multimedia. More specifically, it reports the perceptions of junior college freshmen who have never taken a formal language class with computer class as a whole group in school. This study is to be used as a pilot study for the upcoming project undertaken by the writer and the other two colleagues in the second semester to investigate the correlation between the learners' performance and the exposure to the technology-enhanced environment.

Method

Subjects

The study took place in the first semester of academic year of 2001 and the subjects in this study were the 46-freshman class of Spanish Department in Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages. The population was the first year junior college students who were taking first year English Listening and Writing as one of the required language courses while the study was conducted. The instructor met the class four hours a week, i.e. two hours in the classroom and the other two hours in the language lab where there are individual audio devices for students (a headphone set, a cassette tape booth) and for teachers (a teacher's control counsel with two cassette decks, a test analyzer, a videotape player, a screen, a projector, and a computer.) A new multimedia language lab with all the equipment mentioned above in addition to individual computer connecting to the Internet was installed while the study was undertaken. The writer reserved it twice in order to offer them an extra opportunity to actually learn with technology.

Instruments and Materials

The writer used the following instruments in the study:

1) a questionnaire with Likert Scale, a five-point scale ranging from 5 strongly agree to 1 strongly disagree and open-ended questions,

2) the regular language lab (E301) and the multimedia language lab (W002),

3) Statistics Package for Social Studies (SPSS) for Windows to analyze collected data quantitatively.

The materials used in this study included OHP slides for dicto compositions and the websites for teachers: ALELA (http://alela.wtuc.edu.tw) which students logged in with a fixed user name and password (the user name: ALELA, the password: antonialin), and ALELA at Blackboard, which was a free-of-charge website and was available before June, 2002. Dicto composition is a dictation training that has been practiced for more than a decade in Wenzao Ursuline College. At the first stage, students are given two to four pictures and listen to the teacher's story once without writing anything down in the first listening. Then the teacher reads a couple of sentences three times and students concentrate on listening to the sentences, which they write down after the teacher finishes each section. The same process continues until the whole story is done. At the final stage, students may check their writing while the teacher reads the whole story again. All the lessons covered in the first semester were presented in the transparencies in the PowerPoint format which were also uploaded to the teacher's website for learners to explore as supplementary learning or take an adventure in listening and writing on their own in their spare time.

Procedures

The first year students were scheduled to learn writing through dicto composition with which they were trained to listen to a passage and write down what they heard correctly. The principal instruction tool was transparencies and the writer’s ALELA website. The instructor used transparencies in the classroom for each lesson and students gave feedback on such an alternative way in learning English writing. The writer's website ALELA was introduced to the students in the language lab. Besides dicto composition, students were required to make a series of story mini books by using all the stories they had written. In order to accomplish this task, the newly installed multimedia language lab was reserved twice (four hours) for the class to experience computer-mediated learning in the last month of the semester. A guideline was provided to the learners so that they could operate the computer on their own with less anxiety. The main task of the first two hours was to practice how to surf ALELA page by page, appreciate the works in words or in sound, and practice using the recording devices to read their stories in the mini books. The instructor prepared a guideline as shown below for the class so that they could follow the steps of recording their stories, which the instructor had posted online. Thus, they could save their stories in the text file and voice file on the Internet as well as a sound file on a tape.

 As for the other two hours in the multimedia language lab, students were invited to record their favorite story formally and then mail it to the instructor who then classified them by topic and uploaded the learners' read-aloud to the website. Students were also invited to reflect on such a project in ALELA's guest book.

In the last period of the course, a questionnaire with a 5-point Likert Scale and open-ended questions was conducted with instructions. (See Appendix). The questions were grouped according to 1) learning in the first semester, 2) computer literacy, and 3) suggestions to classmates, teacher, oneself, and ALELA. This questionnaire took place in the lab and it took about fifteen minutes. Afterwards, the collected data were run under SPSS for Windows.

In the questionnaire, part I consisted of 16 questions, of which questions 7-16 were followed by reasons in addition to the scale. Part II consisted of 6 questions, of which questions 1-5 were the opinion scale and question 6 was to figure out the length of time these learners had worked on computers. Part III consisted of open-ended questions allowing them to evaluate their own learning, reflect on their peers' and the teacher's work.

Results and Discussion

Data collected from the questionnaire were qualitatively transcribed and quantitatively analyzed. The following tables show the results of students' preference in terms of learning in the first semester, multimedia application, and computer literacy. As for the open-ended questions, a summary of students' opinions follows the tables.

Additionally, the feedback of students' experience in the multimedia language lab is also summarized in this section.

My learning in the first semester

Eight statements concerning the activities of dicto composition are listed below.

1. In dicto composition I like listening to one sentence three times.

2. In dicto composition I like listening to two sentences three times.

3. In dicto composition I like listening to three sentences three times.

4. I can write well when listening to one sentence read three times.

5. I can write well when listening to two sentences read three times.

6. I can write well when listening to three sentences read three times.

7. I like using transparencies to learn writing.

8. I like revising writing with transparencies.

As shown in Table 1.1 below, over 73 % of the subjects agreed or strongly agreed that they liked listening to one sentence three times, and only 1 of the students (2.2 %) disagreed. Over 58 % of the subjects agreed or strongly agreed that they liked listening to two sentences three times, and 13 % of them disagreed. Only 6.5 % of the learners agreed that they liked the listening to three sentences three times, and over 60% of the subjects disagreed or strongly disagreed.

As for being able to dictate well, over 82 % of the students agreed or strongly agreed that they could write well when listening to one sentence read three times, and only one student (2.2 %) disagreed. Over 39 % of the students agreed or strongly agreed that they could write well when listening to two sentences read three times, and about 17 % of them disagreed. About 4 % of the students agreed or strongly agreed that they could write well when listening to three sentences read three times, and over 67 % of them disagreed or strongly disagreed.

In response to using transparencies as an instructional tool to learn writing, over 63 % of the students agreed or strongly agreed, and about 6 % disagreed or strongly disagreed. As regards revising writing with transparencies, more than 52 % of the students agreed or strongly agreed, and 13 % disagreed or strongly disagreed.

Table 1.2 indicates the mean and standard deviation of students' responses towards dicto composition. Most of them gave positive feedback (1 = 1.74, 2 = 2.41, 4 = 1.67, 5 = 2.74, 7 = 2.28, 8 = 2.48) except having the three sentences read thrice (3 = 3.63, 6 = 3.89).

Table 1.1. The Percentage Analysis of Students' Responses to Dicto Composition

Table 1.2. The mean and standard deviation of questions 1 to 8

The subjects had positive response to listening to one sentence read three times as well as writing well when listening to one sentence read three times. Likewise, they seemed to respond negatively to listening to three sentences read three times and writing well when listening to three sentences read three times. It appeared that listening to one sentence read three times was preferred since it was easier for the learners to handle. Listening to three sentences read three times was the least preferred since it was more challenging and stressful than the others.

Reasons

Showing transparencies in the classroom seemed to be less effective than in the multimedia language lab. The instructor orally inquired the learners' opinions about the transparency presentation in order to make improvement of the font, size, and the layout of the page. As for the use of transparency, over half of the students agreed or strongly agreed. This could be continuously used in the second semester, but the font of the words and the distance between the lines should be modified. It seemed that the class had never had the experience of learning English through transparencies. As regards the use of transparencies to learn writing, the learners made the following suggestions:

1. It is clear but the font should be enlarged.
2. It is not easy to see the whole text.
3. There are too many lines on the screen.

They also gave the following positive feedback:

1. I can concentrate on the lesson.
2. It is easy to learn and I can remember the lesson quickly.
3. It is the first time to learn writing in this way. I can learn more.

As for the revision of writing with transparencies, students thought they could see their mistakes immediately. Nevertheless, some of them were unable to catch up with the pace, and they could not see the text clearly.

Multimedia application

Eight statements in terms of multimedia application in language learning are listed below.

1. I like listening test with buttons in the lab.
2. I like recording my stories in W002.
3. I like recording my favorite story in W002.
4. I like sending my reading via e-mail.
5. I like surfing ALELA.
6. I like making storybooks.
7. I like making stories with the chosen words.
8. I like reading my story on the platform.

Table 2.1 shows the descriptive report of multimedia application. In response to the use of the test analyzer in the language lab (E301), more than 80 % of the students strongly agreed or agreed, and only 4 % disagreed. In terms of recording, over 80 % of the learners agreed or strongly agreed that they liked recording the stories in the language-computer lab, and only one student (2.2 %) out of 46 disagreed. More than 78 % of the learners agreed or strongly agreed that they liked the way of recording their favorite story in the multimedia language lab, and about 6 % disagreed. Almost 70 % of the students liked sending their reading via email, and only one student (2.2 %) disagreed. More than three quarters (76.1 %) of the students liked surfing ALELA, and only two students (4.3 %) disagreed.

As regards individual work in association with creative work, about 32 % of the students liked the way of making storybooks, and about 15 % of them disagreed or strongly disagreed. With regard to making stories with the chosen words listed in ALELA, nearly 37 % of the learners agreed or strongly agreed, and about 15 % disagreed. When being asked about reading their story on the platform, over one fourth of the learners (28.2 %) agreed or strongly agreed, and about 13 % of them disagreed or strongly disagreed.

Regarding the mean and standard deviation of students' responses towards their preference to multimedia application, all of them gave positive feedback as shown in Table 2.2. Their attitude towards story recording and sending the story via e-mail was positive. However, the means of their preference for story making and reading their stories out loud were not so high as the other activities in the category of multimedia application.