Research On Application Of Multimedia-assisted English Teaching And Strategies For The Optimization Of MALT In Senior High Schools In Minority Areas Of Gansu Province

It is generally accepted that multimedia technology has a positive effect on English teaching with itsmultiple presentations of easy illustration, audio-visual combination and voice-image coexistence, and it isbecoming one of the most indispensable teaching methods. Applying MALT into English teaching practicehas enriched teaching content, teaching means, teaching methods as well as teaching models profoundly.Meanwhile, it is teachers’ cognition and belief that dominant teachers’ behavior and process in teachingpractice. According to the pilot study of the author, there are some crucial problems in the practical level ofMALT in senior schools in minority areas of Gansu Province, which hinder the effect of MALT and need tobe solved urgently. In the very background, the author aims to make an empirical investigation and researchon the situation of MALT in five senior high schools in minority areas of Gansu Province, employing thequestionnaire, in-depth interview and classroom observation, with the purpose of learning the currentsituation of MALT in these areas. The present study investigates the situation of distribution, allocation,integration and utilization of hardware and software resources, teachers and students’ cognition andattitudes toward MALT, and teaching effect of MALT in these chosen schools. The results show that,although Chinese education institutes have promoted education informatization and regarded it as a primemeasure for accelerating the balance development of education and extended great supports on it, there arestill some problems in the practical level of MALT in the minority areas of Gansu Province. Theseproblems are as follows:(1) Shortage of allocation and preservation of multimedia hardware;(2) Lack ofexploration, collection and integration of multimedia software;(3) Inadequacy of teachers’ cognition onMALT, which results in the consequence that the role of multimedia cannot be defined correctly;(4)Teachers’ inadequate competence in operating multimedia facilitates, which causes problems in theteaching process. All these problems undoubtedly influence MALT and restrain the step of teaching reform.Based on the current situation, this thesis takes constructivism and multiple intelligence theory as itstheoretical basis and proposes following suggestions on improving the effect of MALT in the minorityareas of Gansu Province:(1) to strengthen the construction of multimedia environment, including theapplication, preservation, management and allocation of hardware and the collection, integration, sharing ofsoftware;(2) to encourage teachers’ training to improve their information literacy, including developingtheir correct cognition and attitudes toward MALT and enhancing their operating competence of MALT;(3)to emphasize the integration of humanware, hardware and software, making teachers’ applying the multimedia technology a highly self-conscious behavior. The author expects that these suggestions couldnot only enhance the effect of MALT in the English classroom but also provide some support forsustainable development of MALT and finally better promote English teaching in senior high schools in theminority areas in Gansu Province.