A Preliminary Study On The Design Of Multimedia English Reading Courseware In Web-based Environment

The application of computer and Internet technology in English teaching, esp. English reading instruction, has attracted much attention in the education circle. The present study is just such an attempt, aiming at the design of multimedia reading courseware applicable in the web-environment.Compared with classroom reading instruction, the multimedia reading coursewares that utilize the computer and network technology have more advantages. However, according to the result of the present study, there are still many problems in the existing reading coursewares and network instruction. Most of them have not effectively integrated reading theories and teaching theories with computer and Internet technologies. They are mere electronic textbooks with monotonous interactive activities and lack of effective navigation and teaching strategies. In fact, what the students need to do is simply click the mouse from time to time.Bearing these in mind, this thesis proposes that quality reading coursewares should not only take in consideration of computer and network technologies but should integrate some EFL theories, esp. reading theories. In fact, a good reading courseware applicable in a web-based environment should be built on the perfect marriage of network technologies and teaching theories. It is due to this that we choose the interactive model of reading and the critical reading theory in our design. The interactive model of reading can ensure students' full participations in online study, while the critical theory can make sure that the learner would not get lost when faced with a vast sea of information. Furthermore, we believe that a reading course that can practically realize distance learning in web-based environment should write the roles of traditional teachers into itself, and should be able to monitor students' activities so as to guarantee their participations. Effective navigation can function as a teacher in a classroom, or even better, for it can achieve real individuality teaching.This thesis then explores some of the practical problems of combing these two reading theories with network technologies. Some examples are provided to illustrate the real designing of reading coursewares. Our designing are characterized with theIVfollowing advantages: 1) they provide effective navigation so as to make sure that the learner get detailed instructions, thus individuality teaching can be better achieved. 2) The learning processes are recorded and analyzed and the answers the learners submitted are all collected and processed. All of these materials can be used as a corpus useful for our further researches. 3) Through the use of chatroom, BBS, and e-mails, the cooperation and communication among learners are realized, thus facilitating their mutual study.The combination of network technologies and teaching theories is really a very complex thing that involves knowledge of different disciplines. The present study is simply a preliminary attempt that awaits future perfections. Therefore any suggestions are welcome.