Investigating the Role of using Multimedia in Raising Cultural Awareness for EFL Learners

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the impact of using Multimedia in raising cultural awareness to the culture of native English on Sudanese EFL learners at university level. It also aimed to enable Sudanese EFL learners understand the important aspects of English culture. The questions of the study were: 1. to what extent does Multimedia help EFL university learners raise their cultural awareness? 2. To what extent can EFL learners at university level depend on Multimedia as one of their language learning strategies to avoid cross cultural language problems? 3. To what degree does Multimedia support EFL learners at university level to enhance their English language level? The descriptive and analytic approaches of methodology were used in this study. The researcher used two tools for collecting data: Multiple Choice Discourse Completion Test (MDCT) and a Classroom Observation Checklist. Randomly, 20 students from Comboni College/Khartoum, 4th year who majored in English language, were chosen as the sample of the study. They were then divided into two groups: experimental and control groups. The experimental group was taught with Multimedia lectures of 20 hours duration, while the control group taught by traditional means of teaching materials. The researcher used SPSS and independent T-test to analyze MDCT situations answers. The findings of this study confirmed the significance of multimedia role in raising cultural awareness of Sudanese EFL learners. It asserted Multimedia efficiency to help the participants avoid cross cultural language problems. It also helped them enhance their English language level. The study recommended that Multimedia technology should be used as a tool to solve cross cultural language problems, at the same time as an online alternative for English language teaching and learning in traditional classrooms settings. The researcher proposed further studies on exploring the advantages of online language learning versus classical learning for Sudanese EFL learners at university level.