A comparative Use of Traditional and Multimedia Modes of Teaching Curriculum Studies in English

Abstract

This study explored students’ preferences on the use of traditional versus multimedia modes of course delivery at the University of Eswatini. Since the advent of technology, the use of traditional and multimedia modes of teaching has received a lot of attention in research. Students’ preferences regarding either being taught in a traditional or technological way is one of the areas that has been investigated intensively, yielding different conclusions. This study was a cross-sectional survey. For data collection, the study used a five-point anchored Likert-scale. Forty-three (43) participants participated in the study. They completed a questionnaire that sought their preferences on the mode of teaching between two courses, CTE 319/519 and CTE320/520.  CTE319/519 was taught using multimedia, and CTE 320/520 was taught using the traditional mode. To establish the trends in the students’ preferences, data were analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS), mainly descriptive statistics. The mean, frequencies, modes, and standard deviation were the major domains for data interpretation. The results revealed that the students preferred the use of multimedia over the traditional mode of course delivery. However, when the data were further analyzed using the age-range, the older generation performed better than the younger generation in their preferences on the use of multimedia when teaching. Overall, the results have implications for the integration of multimedia technology when teaching English courses at tertiary.