Teaching English Through Mass Media

Dwi Setiyawan  
(1507042027)

Using various kinds of Media in the classroom has always been a challenge, and how to bring these Media in the classroom is more than a challenge. Students and teachers should be able to use in their classrooms different media through different technologies. Media provide teachers and students with creative and practical ideas. They enable teachers to meet various needs and interests of their students. They also provide students with a lot of language practice through activities using newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, movies, books, Internet, etc, and tasks which develop reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. They entertain students and encourage reading English in general, both inside and outside the classroom, promoting extensive reading by giving the students the confidence, the motivation and the ability to continue their reading outside the classroom. Media “inform, amuse, startle, anger, entertain, thrill, but very seldom leave anyone untouched”. (Shirley Biagy, 1996) Bearing in mind all these features and positive input of Media in Education I thought to undertake this study to give my modest contribution to the enhancement of teaching and learning English.

            Mass media provide students with a lot of language practice through activities using newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, movies, books, Internet, etc, and tasks which develop reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. They also provide students with lots of inside and outside classroom activities, promoting extensive reading by giving the students the confidence and the ability to continue their reading outside the classroom and above all they enhance motivation. Media keep us informed about what is happening in the world, they extend our knowledge and deepen our understanding. Nowadays the information is abundant, it comes through different sources, but we should try how to benefit from this information, how to learn about specific issues, how to become aware of problems, opportunities and resources, how to find issues we are interested in, how to identify the issues that have impact on us, etc. So, it is easy to get this information but it is difficult to choose and more difficult to bring it to the classroom. 

References

Akis Davanellos (2001), Film Time, Iguana Press

Alessi Stephen, Trollip Stanley (2001), Multimedia for Learning; Methods and Development, Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA

Beckert Christine (1992), Getting Started in Mass Media, National Textbook Company, Chicago,IL

Biagi Shirley (1999), Media / Impact, Wadsworth, New York

Biagi Shirley (1996), Media Reader, Wadsworth, New York

Davies (1992), Multimedia Support for Studies in FL and Culture’, IBM

Garrett (1991), Technology in the Service of Language Learning, Modern Language Journal

Jane Sherman (2002), Using Video in the Language Classroom, CUP

Gavin Dudeney (2003), The Internet and the Language Classroom, CUP

Marion Geddes (1988), Video in the Language Classroom, Heinemann

Merill Paul (2002), Computers in Education, Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA

Morrison Gary, Lowther Deborah, DeMeulle Lisa (1999), Integrating Computer Technology into the Classroom, Prentice-Hall, Inc, New Jersey

Norton Precilla, Sprague Debra (2001), Technology for Teaching, Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA

Paul Sanderson (2002), Using Newspapers in the Classroom, CUP

Philippa Thompson (2000), The Primary English Magazine, February

Ryder James Randall, Hughes Tom (1998), Internet for Educators, Merill Prentice-Hall, New

Jersey

Tomei A. Lawrence (2002), The Technology Facade, (Overcoming barriers to Effective Instructional Technology), Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA

Willets (1998), ‘Integrating Technology into the Foreign Language Curriculum’, A teacher

training manual, Washington, Center for Applied Linguistics