CD Roms in English Language Teaching

Sohan-Robert, J. (2002). Interactivity in CD-ROMs for English language teaching and learning (Master’s thesis). Retrieved from http://libris.nie.edu.sg/

Background

The author saw CD-ROMs as a powerful pedagogical tool that transfers the classroom focus from the teacher to the students, encouraging more interactive and flexible learning.

Aims

This study investigated the extent to which interactivity triggers were present in educational CD-ROMs, which categories of CD-ROMs had the most interactive features, and whether they matched Second Language Acquisition principles.

Sample

Forty-three CD-ROMs used for teaching English language were picked at random from 600 found in the Teachers’ Network Library.

Method

The author adopted a five-stage approach to this study: (1) synthesizing existing evaluation forms into a evaluation tool for evaluating interactivity, (2) using the tool to evaluate a representative sampling of CD-ROMs, (3) studying CD-ROM interactivity in the light of SLA principles, (4) examining the different features in each CD-ROM to find out which category had the most interactive features, and (5) collating all findings to draw conclusions and make recommendations.

Findings

The synthesizing of evaluative forms surfaced 19 interactive features, which were sorted into three categories according to how similar they were to the interactivities carried out by teachers: (1) as a teacher does, (2) as a teacher might do, and (3) as only a computer can do.

It was revealed that most of the time (72%) CD-ROMs were duplicating what any teacher would already do. The authors also found that CD-ROMs functioned as a reflective and skilful teacher might do about 48.8% of the time and only 31.2% of the time performed as a computer only could do as in, for example, providing multiple chances for trial and error and providing immediate feedback on drills and practices. This suggested that the potential of computer technology had been underutilised.

Additionally, amongst the 43 CD-ROMs evaluated, only three were found to match SLA principles, sometimes outperforming traditional teaching methods, and supporting social interaction by mitigating unease and anxiety in learners.

Implications

The author recommended that teachers use the evaluation criteria used in this study to evaluate CD-ROMs before using them in class. They should pay attention to features that only computers could carry out so the computer does not duplicate what teachers could do equally effectively, and to ensure thoughtful application of technology to fill the gap that only an intelligent machine could.

Original article retrieved from NIE Digital Repository.