Multimedia in learning english as a foreign language as preferred by German, Spanish, and Spanish teenagers

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a small-scale study investigating the preferences of German, Spanish, and Spanish teenage English as a foreign language (EFL) learners concerning their use of multimedia, such as Skype, Facebook, YouTube, e-mails, and TV-programmes in learning English. A group of 88 respondents was requested to complete an on-line questionnaire in order to specify how often some selected types of multimedia are used by adolescents in their autonomous EFL learning, and to determine their views on the extent to which some selected multimedia affect the development of their language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) and their English pronunciation. The outcomes confirm culture-specific preferences and provide some interesting insights into adolescents’ favourable tools for autonomous EFL learning which are invaluable for language teachers, researchers, and course designers. The results also show that the respondents view watching films and listening to music as very influential in improving their listening skills.