Reflection on “Practical considerations for multimedia courseware development”

After reading Liou’s paper, I can’t agree more on the claim that multimedia resources “Exposes the learner to the culture of the language”.

Firstly, the multimedia resources used in classroom makes students realize that language and culture are inseparable. Language is not only a set of sign system, but also the main expression of culture. However, in teaching practice, the relation between language and culture has not been given enough value. Multimedia courseware is a way to arouse students' interest in culture. At the same time, it provides an approach for students to interpret culture. At the very beginning, students can learn cultural knowledge only from their teacher's introduction and explanation. Gradually, students can consciously notice the existence of culture in multimedia resources by themselves. What's more, they can react to the culture and draw it from the resources. This is a great progress for them. In this way, they have a better understanding of English language.

Secondly, when students are exposed to the culture of the language, they adapt themselves to an English environment. English majors may have a good command of English, however, they may feel puzzled when they have a face-to-face conversation with foreigner. That is because they may be quite familiar with the accent of their teachers and they keep in touch with only a couple of foreign teachers. But they are not confident in others' accents, especially when they meet foreigners. Having the multimedia course, students may get a lot of opportunities to adapt to various kinds of accents. What's more, this kind of touch is from a machine. That is to say, they are willing to immerge into a foreign environment without any anxiety. When they finish the course and return to the real life, they may think of some topics related to the course and speak out the language more spontaneously.