Towards integrating television materials into english teaching and learning at the National University of Rwanda: an exploratory case study of the second year english course

2.4. Development of audiovisual materials for the language classroom

2.4.1. Background

The audiovisual movement can be traced back to the early 1900s when schools and museums began using visuals such as paintings, slides, film objects etc. ( http://www.ittheory.com/)^3(*) In the 1920s, other audiovisuals were introduced in class and these are slides and motion pictures. The success of audiovisuals generated a renewed interest in using them in the schools in the decade following World War II and research directed to understanding how instructional media affected classroom learning. With regard to the basic audiovisuals the world has known in the course of history (without mentioning the television network that I will discuss later), worthy of attention is the introduction of language laboratories, portable tape recorders and film-strip projectors. These came into general use in the classroom in the 1960s. ( http://www.aber.ac.uk//) ^4(*)

Meanwhile, the television network had already been developed especially in the US. As to the date of the television's invention, it is said that the first television broadcast, as we know it today was made available in 1936 in London ( http://www.high-techproductions.com//)^5(*) In the US, the 1940s saw great interest in television by educators but with little action towards it. By the late 1950s, educational television grew slowly but in the 1960s, the rate of the development of the educational television network increased. The US made tremendous progress in terms of television networks and in 1961, 53 television stations were affiliated with the National Educational Television Network (NET).

Early audiovisual courses consisted of taped dialogues, accompanied by film-strips that were designed to act as visual cues to elicit responses in the foreign language. Most audio-lingual courses were made of short dialogues and a set of recorded drills. Regarding the methods used, the behaviourist approach prevailed and held that language is acquired by habit formation.

Video has also been for a long time a tool of great necessity in the classroom. On the one hand it has been making the EFL teaching livelier in various aspects: beyond serving as an entertaining medium, it provides support in recording television programmes as teaching aids such as films, documentaries, etc. On the other hand, videos have proved effective in the language presentation phase as one way of illustration. The meaning of a language is not only determined by paralinguistic features such as gestures but also by the situation, the culture, in which it is used, etc. The video facilitates the presentation of all of these features.

Video has been used in various classroom settings and one may assert that there are also challenges in terms of its practicability in the language teaching and learning process. For instance, it takes time for the lecturer to preview and select authentic videos and to design activities for the learners. In other words, it is demanding on the lecturer to make a careful plan to prepare learners to watch and discuss the materials put at their disposal. The next section deals with the evolution of audiovisuals in the language class in particular.

* ³ The author is not provided on the website.

* ⁴ Ibid

* ⁵ Ibid