Listening to specific information obtained from the second level of the intensive course and multimedia course at the Language Department, University of Cuenca. Completing a Paragraph obtained from the second level of the intensive course and multimedia course at the Language Department, University of Cuenca. Answer true or false Obtained from the second level of the intensive course and multimedia course at the Language Department, University of Cuenca.
Finding the general idea obtained from the second level of the intensive course and multimedia course at the Languages Department, University of Cuenca. Summary of Listening obtained from the second level of the intensive course and multimedia course at the Languages Department, University of Cuenca. Talking about Daily Activities obtained from the second level of the intensive course and multimedia course at the Languages Department, University of Cuenca.
To describe the process of learning English as a foreign language using multimedia materials in the Language Department of the University of Cuenca. The participants were students from the University of Cuenca learning English as a foreign language on two different types of courses: a regular course and a multimedia course.
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION VS. SECOND
The following theoretical background contains relevant information about second language acquisition and the different ways of learning a second language, with an emphasis on teaching English as a second language through multimedia. The first topic to be analyzed is the difference between second language learning and second language learning.
APPROACHES TO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING
- Competency-Based Language Teaching
- Communicative Language Teaching
- Content-Based Instruction
- Task-Based Language Teaching
As one of the most popular methods that have appeared, Richard and Rodgers mention the Grammar Translation method, which focused on the analysis of grammar rules (5). However, different methods are used today to teach a foreign language, and the following are the ones currently used in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classrooms. Richards and Rodgers point out that CBL (competence-based language learning) puts more emphasis on output than input (141).
The main goal of this approach is to develop 'communicative competence', a term coined by Hymes in 1972. In contrast, Richards and Rodgers argue that CBI follows two principles: the first is that second language learning is more successful when is used to acquire information, and the second is that CBI is useful to second language learners for specific needs (207 ). The above methods were the most popular in the last century and are still popular today.
Despite all these methods, new methods and approaches to learning a second language have emerged. Due to globalization and the appearance of the Internet, many people have the opportunity to find new trends in learning English.
SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING WITH THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY . 18
In general, a curriculum using this method will include pre- and post-task activities; .. both will reinforce the main task included in the plan. Instead, the author argues that at least four conditions must be met for effective language learning through the use of technology. Technologies that support a cognitive approach to language learning are those that provide students with as many opportunities as possible to interact within semantically rich contexts through which they build and acquire language competence.
These authors also give examples of the technologies used in second language learning, namely; With regard to the last type of technology used to teach a second language, multimedia simulation software, multimedia courses are available today, and more and more students are drawn to them because they allow people to learn without constraining time schedules, among other advantages. Another definition given by the same dictionary says that multimedia is "the use of media in education: the use of film, video and music alongside more traditional teaching materials and methods".
First, it refers to multimedia as sitting in a room in which people are looking at a screen and/or listening to music using speakers; he describes this as a "live" performance. So multimedia can be used in conjunction with watching a video on a TV screen, listening to music or even watching a Power Point presentation (1).
INTRODUCTION TO MULTIMEDIA
MULTIMEDIA TO LEARN A SECOND OR FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Input
Therefore, the multimedia material that students use should be a guide so that they are able to notice what a word, sentence, passage or image represents. However, Plass and Jones suggest that in addition to multimedia input, immediate and focused teacher feedback is also important (472).
Interaction
At this point, teachers should also scaffold students' understanding so that they are able to connect prior knowledge with new learning.
Output
Finally, multimedia facilitates learning through the use of music videos, films or documentaries, which students may find interesting and motivating (par. 1-4). Among the disadvantages, Dovedan, Seljan and Vuckovic point out that sometimes the information on the Internet is not effective and cannot be controlled. Several studies have been done by authors who agree on how useful multimedia can be for learning a second language.
One of the results pointed out that the use of multimedia material, such as The Internet, chats, e-mails and video conferences facilitated the exchange of students' personal experiences and cultural knowledge with their classmates and foreign students in the target language (12-23). Chapelle suggests in a study called "Multimedia CALL: Lessons to be learned from research on instructed SLA" that CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) "can be developed on the basis of hypotheses about ideal conditions for second language acquisition" (1) .
Participants of this study were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: 1) control (no access to glosses), 2) choice search (access to verbal and pictorial glosses), 3) forced search (required to find all consult available verbal and pictorial glosses). The results revealed that choice and forced-search groups performed significantly better on the vocabulary test and summary than the control group (98-109).
MULTIMEDIA TO IMPROVE LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS
During the observation of the lessons, it was noticed that both listening and speaking activity are developed differently in the intensive course than in the multimedia course. The teacher's role in the multimedia course is different from that in the intensive course. The tables above show the frequency of the listening activities performed in the intensive course and the multimedia course.
The grades of students who remained the same in the intensive course differ from the results of the multimedia course. 15% of the intensive course and 10% of the multimedia course achieved even worse results on the posttest than on the pretest. In the same activity, half of the students improved their grades on the posttest in the multimedia group.
On the other hand, the students who achieved the same scores in both the pretest and posttest in the intensive course were 15% of the total number. While in the intensive course 65% of students improved on the posttests, in the multimedia course 100% of students improved on this activity. Comparison of total listening pretest and posttest scores of the second level of an intensive course and a multimedia course at the Department of Languages of the University of Cuenca.
Comparison of the overall results of the speaking pretests and posttests from the second level of the intensive course and multimedia course at the Language Department, University of Cuenca.
