An Empirical Study On Application Of Multimedia-Assisted English Teaching In Rural Junior Middle Schools

In the wave of the new technological revolution, the computer and information technology have been implanted into the educational field to provide a new teaching instrument. Because of the powerful functions of the multimedia, multimedia-assisted language teaching (MALT) has been widely applied in many subjects at school, especially in English teaching. Moreover, along with the development of curriculum reform, rural junior middle schools also take considerable actions towards the implementation of MALT. However, in the process of applying MALT in English classrooms, there exist some problems.Through the empirical study from the aspects of teachers and students, this thesis aims to find out problems in MALT in English classrooms of rural junior middle schools and put forward some solutions to the problems so as to supply necessary references to the improvement of the application of MALT in English classrooms of rural junior middle schools. The subjects of the thesis are English teachers and students in the rural junior middle schools in Xinxiang City. Questionnaires from English teachers and students and interviews with English teachers are adopted in the thesis. Through the analysis of the questionnaires and the interviews, the following problems are detected: (1) Multimedia software and hardware equipments are inadequate in rural junior middle schools; (2) Multimedia is not utilized sufficiently; (3) English teachers'theoretical knowledge on MALT is deficient; (4) English teachers are not skillful enough in operating multimedia to teach English; (5) Students have great difficulties in carrying out autonomous learning with the assistance of multimedia.On the basis of the cognitive theory, the constructive theory and the modern educational transmission theory, the thesis analyzes the problems in the application of MALT in English classrooms of rural junior middle schools and proposes some suggestions on how to improve the educational level of MALT in rural junior middle schools. The suggestions are listed as follows: (1) English teachers should be guided to actively adapt to MALT through psychological counseling and professional training; (2) Rural junior middle schools should strengthen the construction of computer hardware and software to improve the environment of English teaching and learning with multimedia; (3) English teachers should optimize the design of MALT courseware to arouse students'learning enthusiasm; (4) Schools should provide English teachers with more training opportunities, including the training of both theoretical knowledge and operating skills in MALT; (5) Students should improve their ability of autonomous learning in English with multimedia; (6) Schools'management system also should be reformed.The results of the study show that even though there still exits many problems in the application of multimedia in rural junior middle schools in Xinxiang City, teachers, students and schools have realized the importance and significance of MALT. In the future, the government and rural junior middle schools should increase the investment in MALT and teachers should improver their own abilities to enhance the efficiency of MALT in rural junior middle schools.