The Didactics of Foreign Language Teaching with Multimedia

Abstract

The way computers are used in foreign language teaching reflects teachers’ ideas about how foreign languages should be learned. We describe different methods of foreign language teaching, one of which is at the base of our computer program IT’S English. In this program, different types of exercises are implemented: receptive, reproductive, and productive. To implement our ideas of a communicative approach to teaching into a computer program, we built an intelligent tutoring system, which incorporates a dictionary, grammar rules, and the digitized pronunciation of words and sentences stored on a CD-ROM. The software is flexible in that the learning environment it offers can shift from a teacher controlled setting to a fully learner controlled environment. Four groups of eight pupils used the program during eight weeks and were compared with students not using the program. The research showed that the students interacting with the software used its various components in an adequate and goal-appropriate way and found the use of the software to be a positive experience. After the experimental period, knowledge of vocabulary was significantly higher for one of the computer-using groups compared to its control group, although in the word (re)production tests no significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups. Implications of the results of the experiments for teacher education are discussed, with an emphasis on the importance of teachers learning how to assess the pedagogical approach of software and the didactic principles involved in its design and intended use.