Multimedia as a means to enhance teaching technical vocabulary to physics undergraduates in Rwanda

Abstract

This study investigates whether the integration of ICT in education can facilitate teaching and learning. An example of such integration is computer assisted language learning (CALL) of English technical vocabulary by undergraduate physics students in Rwanda. The study draws on theories of cognitive load and multimedia learning to explore learning in a one-computer classroom in an environment where textbooks and multiple computers are not available. Two groups of students attended a 4-week English-language technical vocabulary course (eight three-hour sessions) taught by two ESP trained science teachers. One group (n= 13) was taught using computer-mediated multimedia to present technical vocabulary on-screen. The other group (n= 19) received blackboard presentations employing traditional methods to help students internalize the same vocabulary. Post-test scores of the two groups were compared. The results show that the effect of multimedia on the recall of the concepts taught is large (Cohen's d 0.95). © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.