Embedding Multimodal Resources In EFL Classrooms:A Case Study Of Eight EFL Teachers

The development of information technology has not only changed the traditional way of communication mainly by words,but also influenced foreign language teaching as well.Thus,multimodal teaching is developed and brought to the forefront by linguists and educators in worldwide.In the present English classrooms,more and more multimodal resources,such as images,videos,gestures and so on,are utilized in the construction of meaning.Therefore,multimodality starts to become the characteristics in the classrooms and the research on how to use multimodal resources in designing language teaching has also become a hot topic at home and abroad.However,up to now,research has mainly aimed at English language teaching in primary,middle or high schools.Not many researches on university English teachers are conducted.Therefore,the purpose of this study is to investigate how to employ multimodal resources in English class for the university English teachers in the Chinese context and to provide some enlightenment and suggestions for multimodal teachingIt is for these reasons that this study attempts to analyze the data of the usage of multimodal resources in university English teaching through interviewing eight university English teachers in Shandong Province to find different types of choosing certain resources,and the reasons and principles for teachers' choosingThe following are the research findings of the present study1.There is significant difference in the types of multimodal resources adopted by the eight teachers;however,Linguistic Design is still an essential part of foreign language class,while the Spatial Design is seldom selected2.This study finds seven potential constraining factors,through the empirical interviews,which also cannot be ignored,that is,overseas educational background of the teacher,technology perception,feature of multimodal resources,the nature of course,the content of course,gender difference and learning interests of students3.Based on the empirical interviews in the present survey,the author theorizes four selection principles from interviewing eight teachers in this study:the principle of being simple and logical in form,the principle of the moderation in time and quantity,the principle of moderation in time and quantity and the principle of the flexibility in design.On the one hand,in order to avoid distracting students' attention and making the class too entertaining,the time spent should be rational.On the other hand,for some abstract and difficult teaching points,teachers should be adept at designing the multimodal resources to be more intuitive or easy to grasp,so as to help the language learners better understand new knowledge or abstract concepts and enhance class efficiencyBy analyzing the types,reasons and principles of the employment of multimodal resources by the eight subjects,some features and rules of multimodal teaching of university English teaching are revealed in this study.Based on the major findings,it is hoped that this study could provide some useful suggestions and implications for future study.