Pedagogical benefits and drawbacks of

multimedia use in the EFL classroom

equipped

with interactive whiteboard

By

Euline Cutrim Schmid

Olatz Oñate Muzás

olatxus@gmail.com

INDEX1. Key Words

2. General subject

3. Specific subject

4. Hypothesis

5. Research questions

6. Methodology

7. Results

8. Summary of key points

Improve classroom teaching

Multimedia systems

Pedagogical issues

Evaluation of CAL system

Interactive learning environments

1. Key Words

2. General Subject

“The process of multimedia integration in English Language

classrooms equipped with interactive whiteboard (IBW) technology”

(Cutrim 2008)

3. Specific subject

Pedagogical benefits and drawbacks of multimedia-

oriented approach in the IWB-based classroom

4. Hypothesis

Better memorising and learning when the sound, the word and the

image interact. (Plass, Chun, Mayer, &Leuther, 1998, 2003)

Too many multimedia materials may difficult the learning process (Plass

et al, 2003) so materials have to be designed within students cognitive

process.

6. Research questions

What is an effective integration of multimedia in the IWB- based

language classroom?

What is the investigated SS' and Teachers' opinion about using

multimedia devices?

5. Methodology

Research: Classroom-based qualitative investigation using the IWB

Teacher-researcher

Aim: Teach English for academic purposes (EAP)

Where: Lancaster University (UK)

Timing: 8 weeks programmes in the summers of 2003/2004

Groups: Postgraduate International students (China and Taiwan)

English Level: The IELTS scored at least 6.0

Age: 20-36

Study 1: “Using ICT for academic Study in English” (2003) 29SS

Study 2: “Web resources for Learning English” (2004) 23 SS

Procedures:

Classes video-recorded

Field notes and thoughts after each lesson

6 (study 1) 5 (study 2) critical language teachers

observed the lessons

wrote field notes

Fill a questionare at the end of the lesson

A questionare at the end to the SS

Group discussion with 12 volunteers (study 1)

Individual interviews (30 min) with 10 SS (Study2)

The data are the result of the interviews and the teachers' field notes

6. Results

1. Pedagogical benefits

Engagement and enhanced motivation

IWB to integrate different multimedia devices and increased motivation

British life and culture otherwise, an artificial lesson

Life-like format eased discussions and engangement with the topic

More interesting lessons

Technology helped them to concentrate because it was attractive

Facilitation of learning

100% of the SS said agreed that multimedia helped to understand the content better

Acces to the same information in different ways

Catering for various learning styles

Pictures helped with the new meanings

Non-textual media liked the students being a less theoretical

lesson

More holystic learning: Easy acces to definiton, pronuntiation

and images,

Seamless acces to multimedia resources

IWB ease the acces to multimedia devices and facilitate a

more interacttive use of the resources

SS agreed that the IWB made the lessons more effective

With IWB, more time for group discussions and active

participation

2. Pedagogical challenges

SS feeling overwhelmed by a lot of information in a short period of time

Not used to technologyNo time to digest the information

SS feeling “spoonfed” by the Teacher

Easy acces encourage lazynessSS understand the concepts without effort (no dictionary)SS don't process the information

Teachers use of hyperlinks

Pages prepared in advantage don't promote participation. It's a quick answer.Gives the Teacher more control of the lesson and its a time.saver but it lends less improvisationLooking for appropiate websites is a hardtask and the SS may end up having too many paths

8. Summary of key pointsSS consider that the use of IWB eases their learning of

English

ATTENTION

MOTIVATION

HELP TO REMEMBER VOCABULARY

DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES MIXED

But SS and teachers have to be overcome:

Cognitive overload

Lack of cognitive action with multimedia resources

RESEARCH + LITERATURE =Posible pedagogical implications for the effective integration of

multimedia in the IWB-based classroom.

2 main implications

Control the amount of information provided to the SS to avoid

cognitive overload

SS have to be involve actively with the multimedia resources to

assimilate the information effectively

Olatz Oñatebased on Cutrim

2008