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Phùng Thị Hải Vân và Đtg Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 105(05): 151 - 155

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THE USE OF MULTIMEDIA IN ENHANCING ENGLISH ORAL

COMPETENCE FOR FRESHMEN STUDENTS AT COLLEGE OF SCIENCES

– THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

Phung Thi Hai Van, Nguyen Thi Que*

College of Sciences – TNU

SUMMARY

Speaking so far has been considered as one of the most important skills in English learning, yet it

is also one of the weakest skills that students possess. In many recent researches, advanced

technologies have proved to effectively facilitate foreign language teaching and make English

speaking so much more fun to learn with. However, whether multimedia really enhances students’

competence in oral communication in the Northern mountainous region of Vietnam like in Thai

Nguyen province has not yet been fully investigated. Therefore, in this paper, we introduce a

preliminary study on the use of Multimedia in the teaching of speaking skill to first year students

of the College of Sciences, Thai Nguyen University. Two groups of students who experienced two

different teaching methods namely traditional teaching method and multimedia participated in the

study. Pre-test means scores showed no significant differences between the control and

experimental groups while comparisons of the post-test mean scores showed a great improvement

in the students’ achievement. The study concluded that use of multimedia in teaching English

helps enhance EFL students’ mastery of English oral communication.

Key words: Multimedia, traditional approach, enhancing oral competence, college of Sciences,

pre-test, post-test.

INTRODUCTION*

Numerous studies have confirmed that English

is, in comparison with other languages in the

world, the most rapid form of international

communication. As a result, English has

become one of the compulsory subjects in the

education system of Viet Nam in recent

decades. It can be also noted that the use of

multimedia in teaching English is becoming

more and more popular in the modern world.

Multimedia means using more than one type

of communication tool. It may be any

computer application that integrates text,

graphics, animation, video, audio, or other

methods of communication. Multimedia is

different from television, books or cassettes

because the former lets you interact with its

application. When clicking on a word, you

can make a picture appear, or you can click

on a picture so that a video can be started.

Multimedia became more popular in the mid –

1990s when the price of hardware began to

*

Tel: 0963 888 288, Email: [email protected]

fall. Then, people started using it in the

industry, business, education, entertainment

and in other purposes. Today, multimedia can

be found at home, in school, at work, in public

places such as libraries, Internet shops or cafes.

In Education, students study interactive CD￾ROMs at their own speed and explore topics

by clicking on related links creatively.

Specifically, teenagers have played computer

games for years, but multimedia applications

combine education and entertainment and

they let the users visit virtual worlds or

change the ending of films. Brinton as quoted

by Hartnett (2001) claimed that multimedia

tool server is an important motivator in the

language teaching process because “media

materials can lend authenticity to the

classroom situation, reinforcing for students

the direct relation between the language

classroom and the outside world”.

Multimedia is convenient; however, it is

difficult for a lot of teachers in general and

teachers of English in particular in terms of

its application.

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