A Study Of Multimodal Teaching In Senior High School English Class

In recent years, with the rapid development of modern educational technology, theteaching methods and educational philosophy of the language have been influenced andchanged. Multimedia teaching has also generally become a teaching tool for high schoolEnglish teachers. Rising in this century and as a new concept to be applied to the field ofteaching, Multimodal teaching is a new style, which not only adapts to the needs of thetimes, but also becomes the hot spot for exploring the reform of English curriculum.Although many teachers do not understand the theory of multimodal discourse analysis,multimodal teaching, to some extent, has been widely used in high school English class.In this study, from the perspective of teachers’ and students’ perception, and the students’point of view particularly, the researcher focuses on multimodal English teaching in highschool to reflect the implementation situation and the existing problems of multimodalEnglish teaching objectively and comprehensively.This study uses triangle validation method. Firstly, the writer knows about theapplication, teaching effectiveness, the existing problems and shortcomings ofmultimodal teaching in the English classroom teaching of high school throughquestionnaires. Secondly, based on the questionnaires, and through interviewing withstudents and teachers, the writer learns more about the application of multimodalteaching in high school English teaching and the influence of multimodal teaching onstudents’ learning. Thirdly, by observing the classroom teaching and the use of videoanalysis software, the writer explores some problems in the teaching process, whichprovides further evidence for the questionnaires and interviews, as well as how to usemultimodal teaching in English class of high school scientifically and effectively.In this study, through questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations ofteachers and students, the study comes the following conclusions that:(1) As a teachingstyle, multimodal teaching has been widely used in English teaching class of high schoolbecause it can improve students’ interest in learning and activate classroom atmosphere.However, it is used evidently less in Grade three than Grade one and two of senior high school;(2) The purpose of learning English affects student’s attitude towards multimodalteaching;(3) Students’ different personalities show different expectations on teachers’body language. Inefficient gestures and expressions from teachers will add difficulty totheir comprehension;(4) Multimodal teaching in some way activates classroomatmosphere and enhances the students’ interest in learning, the maintenance of students’memory in class, strengthens students’ autonomous learning ability after classes andpromotes their participation in classroom activities. However it has not been confirmedthat whether it will help improve the students’ academic performance;(5) The teachers’ability to render multimodal design is unstable because they do not understand andfamiliarize them with multimodal discourse analysis theory;(6) Teacher’s cooperation inlesson planning is yet common practice in senior high school.This study tends to recommendation:(1) under the New Curriculum and theunfinished transition from exam-oriented to “student-centered” education, multimodalteaching needs support from national policies, education department and educationalorganizations, such as provide teachers with opportunities of multimedia training andtheoretical study;(2) it is urgent to promote all levels of exchange activities onmultimodal teaching, such as sharing information with school colleagues, exchangingidea with senior teachers and junior teachers and most importantly sincerely listen to ourstudents and evaluate their opinions and suggestion;(3) both teachers’ cooperation inlesson planning and development of teacher community, are yet common practice insenior high school, may become the effective model of multimodal teaching.At present in China, the study of multimodal theory is still in the initial stage, andthe application of multimodal discourse analysis theory is also in the exploratory stage inforeign language teaching. So this study will have a great contribution to theestablishment of a scientific and rational multimodal teaching model and the curriculumreform in high school.