TEACHING TEXT AND CONTEXT THROUGH MULTIMEDIA1

http://llt.msu.edu/vol2num2/article1

This article talks about teaching language in its authentic cultural context, this research analyzes the interaction of text and context in a multimedia Quechua language program.

Nowadays language teachers are encouraged to use the technology, since it can give students a better understanding of culture nad language use nad imoprove their sociocultural competence of language. Most multimedia materials present language in a formal way and not in a discourse and interactive way nor related to the culture.

Culture has many signs used to give meaning to things in the enviroment, but when culture is shown through video or multimedia, we can only see what the filmer recorded and there are many things, situations or people that do not appear.

Multimedia transforms the way of language teaching from a formal system to a communicative practice that reproduces the thoughts and beliefs of people. Teachers tend to share linguistics prespective of language, they see it independently of the culture. The text has an example that shows the importance of the context in order to understand the conversation. The problem is that contexts can not be taught, it can only be experienced, but what we can do is to textualized the scene to hve a better understanding of the situation.

Teaching a language also implies teaching the culture, so it is important that the leanguage teachers has knowledge about the culture to develop socio-cultural competence in their students. In the text appears the example of a mony lender woman who was being judge, so in order to fully understand the context nad the way of speaking it is necessary to know some things such as the role of woman in Quechua society, the penal system, etc.

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Reflection

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From this article we can realize te importance that the context has when learning a language. We have seen that the language can not be separated from the culture, they both go together, in fact is the context and the culture that gives meaning to certain situations and behaviours. So we have to teach lenguage through culture and for this we have to use all the resources and technology that we have, and also appy all the knowledge we are acquiring at EWU.

As future teachers we have to keep this in mind, and we also have to take advantage of this great opportunity of studying in Eastern Washington University and try to learn the more that we can.

I am sure that living in USA and experiencing the culture by ourselves will be an unforgettable experience that will help us in our future careers as teachers and in our personal life as well.

... Go Eagles!!!