The Impact of Using Digital Multimedia in Creating an Effective Image of the Target Culture and the History in Foreign Language Learning.

Abstract

With the rapid growth of science and technology, the use of multimedia technology has evolved into an effective tool in language teaching. The rapidly growing popularity of learning foreign languages including German, French, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean in Sri Lanka has paved the way for new teaching methods being developed to teach the target language. The aim of this study is to analyse the effectiveness of using multimedia in teaching culture and the history of the target country, namely German for Sri Lankan learners. The research question is to examine how the digital multimedia technology can enhance learner motivation and their performance. Data were collected from 30 undergraduates of German as a Foreign Language in the second year at the University of Kelaniya. The sample was divided into two groups. The same lesson was presented to the two groups with and without multimedia technology. The results of the study show that there is lack of motivation resulting in underperformance of students when teaching German culture and the history in the traditional teaching method. Multimedia technology with audio, visual and animation effects motivate the students to learn a language more effectively.