In India or elsewhere in the non-native speaking countries, English is used as a second or third language and for some people the first language. With the rapid development of English day by day and worldwide, now it is an important medium of communication among the people of different languages and culture. At present, the role and status of English in India is higher than ever as it is a medium of instruction and curriculum in the institutions. As a result, Teaching of English Language is one of the most important subjects in education.
As we see, with the remarkable development of newer technologies, such as multimedia technology, a drastic changed has come in the tradition of teaching English. The modern English language teachers have new duties and challenges given by the New Era. So it is important for language teachers to be aware of the latest technologies and to stop following the same old ways of teaching and experiment and acknowledge that the world is changing and we need to bring change in our methodology of teaching English. Teachers can use multimedia technology to create more colorful and stimulating language classes.
Multimedia technology refers to computer-based interactive applications that use both the hardware and software that allow people to share their ideas and information. It is a combination of text, graphics, animation, video, and sound. The language teachers should integrate it into their planning of lesson and assessment in the same way they have been doing with film, videos, and computer-assisted learning strategies.
Technology also makes teaching interesting and productive because it has the capability to attract language learners. The use of multimedia technology in the language classroom improves teaching content and makes the best use of class time. It breaks the teacher-centered traditional teaching method and brings improvement in teachers’ teaching efficiency. In this way, the teachers of English can take full advantage of Multimedia technology to teach English in non-native speaking countries. The benefits of using multimedia in the English classroom are as follows:
With the help of audio, visual and animation effects, multimedia technology motivates the students to learn English quickly and effectively.
It helps teachers to integrate teaching and learning and provides the students greater incentives.
It equipped students with knowledge about the culture of the target language.
The use of multimedia provides information sharing opportunity among students and makes them actively participate in the class activities and help the students to learn the language more quickly and effectively.
It creates more real-life environment for English teaching and improves interaction among students and between teachers and students.
The use of multimedia technology in classrooms improves students’ ability to listen and speak, and thereby develop their communicative competence.
It creates a context for language teaching by exchanging information among students and between teachers and students.
Thus it can be said that the use of multimedia technology creates a multimedia language environment for teaching English.
With the development of multimedia technology, multimedia-assisted English teaching has become an inevitable trend. It uses computer or other multimedia ways to assist English class teaching and uses pictures and videos to teach new knowledge so that students can get new knowledge and study great skills in a fun environment. Multimedia-assisted English teaching has its own specific definition and theories, which include: constructivism learning theory, cognitive psychology, humanistic psychology and so on. Constructivism learning theory: The environment of learning should be “ a place where learners may work together and support each other as they use a variety of tools and information resources in their guided pursuit of learning goals and problem-solving activities.” By using multimedia, learners can cooperate with each other in the learning process, which can form an effective stimulation in learning process so that students can improve their quality of learning. Cognitive psychology: The cognitive psychology emphasizes the internal psychological process of learners. It is a long process that students study English, so teachers need to be a leader of studying activities. Multimedia-assisted English teaching can create a good learning condition and environment for students. It stimulates learning motivation of students and provides reasonable strategies, so as to improve skills of English learning. Humanistic psychology: The humanistic psychology explores language teaching from psychology. It emphasizes dignity and value of human. (1) The humanistic psychology can pay attention to the development of learners. The humanistic psychology can advocate the process of learning. The humanistic psychology can emphasize the importance of learning. The teacher’s task is not to decide what the students should learn, but to discover and create a good atmosphere for students. Teachers should transfer their emotional factors to students, they promote students to learn actively. These theories can make teachers understand multimedia well. In short, multimedia-assisted English teaching can help teachers find some good ways of teaching. What’s more, it can make the learners have sufficient choice in time and content
