Multimedia English Visual-Audio-Oral Teaching In Minority-Area Colleges

The multimedia English visual-audio-oral teaching (MEVAOT) in minority-area colleges has its own distinctive features. This paper, based on social constructivism, studies the MEVAOT practice in one of those colleges, Jishou University, through a questionnaire survey, interviews and classroom observations, thereby establishing a topic-demonstration-utteranceassessment model which involves various language activities on the pre-class, in-class and post-class stages.Before class, proper topic-related visual-audio-oral-reading materials are carefully selected from books and via Internet, and courseware is made in addition to the regular teaching plan. Meanwhile, useful data and a passage are available on the school online classroom or the teacher's blog for the students' previewing and reading. Besides, good English learning websites are recommended to help their audio-lingual practice. Before class, apart from finishing the reading assignment online, the students preview the vocabulary and audio materials in textbooks and think abont the upcoming topic with the help of reference books and online data by themselves or with their group members.In class, both the input of audiovisual materials and the oral output occur in a multimedia language laboratory. Key words and expressions in the previewed text are presented while a new topic is introduced, and the topic-related important expressions and idioms are represented repeatedly to activate the students' previous experience and knowledge. Students are taught with relevant listening strategies and advised to form good habits of listening and speaking. All contents should be visualized before they are listened to. This is based on the consideration of the distinctive features of MEVAOT in minority-area colleges. All the input not only creates an authentic context for listening but also provides language resources for speaking. From imitation to flee talk, many topic-related tasks are displayed and performed, which are unfolded in consistence with the occasions, and the students make choices according to their English levels and cognition. Effective communication is accessible. In class, the take-home assignments are given clearly as well.After class, except for reviewing the main words and expressions by themselves, the students review the topic, do further reading, discuss and exchange ideas in pairs or in groups. They summarize and record, at least once in two weeks, their after-class English audio-lingual practices or their group works, which are to be checked regularly by the teacher. What's more, preparation for next meeting is a must. Another important thing on this stage is to evaluate and optimize the classroom tasks and the teaching model.The whole process is a learner-centered one, focusing on the topic of target materials and integrating activities of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Based on the pre-class preparation, in-class demonstration, post-class activities and teaching evaluation, the topic-demonstrationutterance-assessment model is established for minority-area colleges, which enables non-English majors there to construct their own knowledge systems and improve their English listening and speaking abilities in the learning process. The study also provides a new perspective for the MEVAOT reform in minority-area colleges and has practical significance for training English talents for ethnic minority areas.