Advantages and Disadvantages of PowerPoint in Lectures to English Students

Written by 

Ratih Wijayanti

1507042024

Today technology plays an important role in education. When teachers use it in their classrooms, in fact, they want to attract the students' attention, so that they can enhance effective ways of learning. It is obvious that learning a new language in a traditional way is not so enjoyable for today technology-dependent students, for this, the environment of the classroom has been changed. Ybarra & Green (2003) said that the process of learning a new language can be boring and painful for students, so they need much language support and the teachers who teach English know that any language support is helpful for language acquisition. One of the most important factors for learners is the method that teachers use in their teaching process to facilitate learning (Ahmadi Gilani, Nizam Ismail, & Gilakjani, 2012). Wartinbee (2009) said that technologies make learning more fun by placing control over learning in the hands of students.

Powerpoint is one of the application that can help the teacher to transfer the material. Powerpoint is very important for us, especially when we will present about the material easily. Using powerpoint, the material can be delivered more practice. Segundo & Salazar 2011) said that Microsoft Power-Point is a presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is a part of the Microsoft Office system which is widely used by business people, educators, students, and trainers. As a part of the Microsoft Office suite, Power-Point has become the world's most widely used presentation program. It is a complete presentation program that allows teachers to produce professional-looking presentations in EFL classroom.

Ozaslan & Maden (2013) concluded in their study that students learned better if the course material was presented through some visual tools. They, also, reported that teachers believed that PowerPoint presentations made the content more appealing; therefore, they helped them to take students' attention.

The results of Corbeil's study (2007) showed that students exposed to power-point presentations preferred them over the textbook presentations; she believed that the students were learning better when their attention was captured via highlighting, colour, different fonts, and visual effects. Power-point presentations could be used for presenting new structures to students, practicing and drilling, or for reviewing language structures which have already been taught (Segundo & Salazar, 2011). Stepp-Greany (2002), reported, in her study, a number of benefits for students related to the general use of technology in classrooms including increased motivation, improvement in self-concept and mastery of basic skills, more student-centered learning and engagement in the learning process.

PowerPoint and Information Recall

Savoy, Proctor, & Salvendy (2009) studied the quality of information retention and performance in students, comparing traditional (‘chalk and talk’) lectures and lectures presented with PowerPoint. Their findings are adapted and summarised in the table below. The content type categories are considered in more detail in the following sections.

Ding Xingeng,et al. (2012) said that the advantages, disadvantages, and strategies to avoid disadvantages of power point as follows :

Advantages of PowerPoint

• Producing better visual effects and deeper impression 
• Speeding up the Information Transfer 
• More Precise and More Systematic 

Disadvantages of PowerPoint

• Irrelevant information may be harmful 
• Neglect of interaction with students may make a lecture a monologue 
• The high speed may reduce participation of students 
• Too strict order of slides may limit the extemporaneous performance of instructor 

Strategies to avoid disadvantages

• Use PowerPoint as an assistant tool in education 
• Design a PowerPoint properly and delicately 
• Communicate with students in applying PowerPoint 
• Explore new ways to use PowerPoint

References
Corbeil, G. (2007). Can PowerPoint presentations effectively replace text-books and blackboards for                  teaching grammar ? Do Students Find Them an Effective Learning Tool ? CALICO                             Journal  24 (3), 631-656. 

Ding Xingeng and Liu Jianxiang. 2012. Advantages and Disadvantages of PowerPoint in Lectures to Science Students .I.J. Education and Management Engineering, 9, 61-65.

Savoy, A., Proctor, R. W., & Salvendy, G. (2009). Information retention from PowerPoint and traditional lectures. Computers & Education, 858-867.

Ozaslan, E. N., & Maden, Z. (2013). The use of power point presentations at in the department of foreign language education at middle east technical university. Middle Eastern & African Journal of Educational Research, Issue 2.

Segundo, E. & Salazar, D. (2011). The efficacy of using power point presentations to improve grammar and vocabulary learning among students of the intermediate II level (Regular program) of El Cultural Centro Peruano Americano in Trujillo, Peru. Repositorio institucional PIRHUA- Universided de Piura.

Stepp-Greany, J. (2002). Student perceptions on language learning in a technological environment: Implications for the new millennium. Language Learning & Technology, 6(1), 165-180