The effectiveness of multimedia and computer-assisted activities in the teaching of Afrikaans as a second language.

[摘要] Teachers are increasingly aware of the technological world in which their students live.They are aware that the use of computers affects the motivation and attitudes of learners.There has also recently been governmental pressure to integrate ICT in the teaching andlearning at school level. The question remains how exactly these technologies should beimplemented, particularly to aid in the acquisition of a second language.This study investigates if the use of CALL in the teaching of second language Afrikaanshas affected the attitudes and motivation of learners and if it had any effect on the resultsthey achieved. A comparative study was conducted with a group Grade 11 learners inwhich they completed a series of research tasks that included no technology or computerrelatedinput. The same group was also exposed to lessons with a computer-assistedapproach, where a series of comparative research tasks were completed with the use oftechnology. The group completed reflective questionnaires on the tasks they hadcompleted. The sets of tasks were analyzed and compared to each other and thereflective questionnaires were analyzed and general trends and findings were noted.The findings in this study suggests that learners respond well to computer-assisted tasksand that there is a marked improvement in attitude and motivation when they are exposedto technology in the second language classroom. Furthermore it is evident that the shift inmotivation contributes to an overall improvement of their results, which in computerassistedtasks are on average 8%-12% higher.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand