Sound pedagogy and innovative use of multimedia

Birna Arnbjörnsdottir arbejder med undervisning i islandsk og hun har sammen med et amerikansk universitet udviklet et online materiale til undervisning i finsk som fremmedsprog.

Sound Pedagogy and Innovative Use of Multimedia: Some Issues and Answers in Developing On-line Language Teaching Courses

In this presentation, we will discuss some of the difficulty involved in implementing a sound language pedagogy delivered through an innovative use of multimedia. The focus will be on the beginning language learner and on two aspects crucial in teaching language successfully on-line. These are the importance of taking into consideration the characteristics of the intended audience and their motivation for learning. And secondly, the need to recategorize the traditional language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking to skills focusing on accuracy, on the one hand, and fluency on the other, as these align themselves better to on-line curriculum development.

We will then demonstrate how we have met the challenges discussed above in the construction of a new Internet based program in teaching Icelandic as a second and foreign language. The goal of the program, Icelandic-On-line, is to meet the needs of the many but dispersed learners interested in studying modern Icelandic. The structure of the program is based on the following sequence:

1. an interactive motivator,

2. input,

3. interactive accuracy exercises, and

4. interactive fluency exercises.

We will describe our ongoing efforts to create a truly interactive course where multimedia is used to its fullest potential while at the same time being accessible to the average PC.

Needless to say, developing fluency exercises has proved to be the most challenging and we will demonstrate how we have demonstrate how we have endevoured to create authentic opportunities to use and practice real language on line.