外语教学中媒体的使用和评价之我见——从研究结果引出的若干可行性建议

TRANSLATING RESEARCH INTO PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE USE AND EVALUATION OF MEDIA FOR TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES (Part 2)

问题5 视觉媒体是否更能促进学生创造性地思维? 根据这方面的大量研究,答案是否定的。然而,与著名艺术家、作家和科学家的交谈表明:大脑想象对创造性地思考至关重要。例如,艾伯特·爱因斯坦就曾谈到,他是在想象自己乘坐一辆维也纳的缆车驰往月球的时候,领悟到了自己的相对论。他回忆在缆车接近光速时,自己如何惊奇地发现缆车变得越来越窄,而且车内的时间相对与维也纳当地时间变得慢了下来。类似的描述确能激发起我们的想象力,使我们盼望具有形象化思考的能力。形象化思考或许真的有助于产生创造性的思想(尤其对于那些有知识的科学家或者有成就的艺术家),但是迄今并无实例可以证明:视觉媒体能够增进大脑的想象力。事实上,有例子表明:人们不必具有丰富的视觉想象能力也能产生出最富有创造力的思想来。

Question 5: Do visual media promote more creative thinking by students? Recommendation 5: The argument that certain visual media promote more creative thinking and learning is not supported in the research. Instead it seems that the use of correct analogies to introduce and support the learning of new information helps creative learning. Question 6: Media such as teleivsion present teaching that is more realistic. Does realism enhance student learning? Recommendation 6: China should not select new and expensive media because of claims that it lends more 'realism' to teaching. These claims are not supported by research. Question 7: Do media increase the freedom of instructional choice by students? Recommendation 7: Requests by students that they be given the choice of different kinds of media presentation for their foreign language instruction are increasing. Yet, the evi- dence suggests that such choices sometime defeat the goals of educators. Question 8. Are some media less expensive than others for some types of instruction? Recommendation 8: When teachers are not available and the demand for education is high, the least expensive use of available teachers may be to continue and expand China's use of television and to make increased use of peer tutors. Question 9. If media do not increase learning, what technology does help in the learning of foreign lauguage? Recommendation 9: China should plan to develop its own practical but science-based technology of teaching foreign languages. This development effort should distinguish be- tween two types of educational technology: 1) media technologies, which influence the efficiency and cost of the communication of teaching, and 2) a technology of teaching method which influences the learning of a foreign language. CONCLUSION As educational psychologists, we remain committed to the use of media in education. When combined with supportive teachers, carefully planned lessons and a sympathetic educationaal system, it can provide inexpensive access by great numbers of students to a limited number of excellent professors. We are optimistic about the potential of media to solve some of the problems of developing nations and the children of the poor. Itis clear that we have not yet achieved a fair distribution of educational benefits in the third world, nor in some of the minority groups in the first world. These children of the poor require high quality instruction if they are to take their rightful place in their own co- mmunities. The technology of education which has been developing these past two deca- des could, if properly implemented, provide one critical part of the incentive these children need to obtain an education. In this regard, we are impressed with the progress being made in using media by nations such as The Peoples Republic of China, Indonesia, India and Mexico. Many of the problems encountered in these new media programs show us that the 'transfer' of technology between nations is a difficult task. It requires a great deal of communication and honesty.