Polymedia Based Instruction in Purposive Communication
Polymedia Based Instruction in Purposive Communication
Polymedia Based Instruction in Purposive Communication
Communication
Ryan Jayson V. Delos Reyes
College of Teacher Education, Urdaneta City University, Philippines
[email protected]; [email protected]
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Abstract
Polymedia is a kind of multimodal in the education area. This deals with the new trend
of learning in the four corners of the classroom. This combined the multimedia and
interpersonal communication that innovate the learning scheme of the learners because
their common learning style is exposure to technology. Polymedia is an emerging
environment of communicative opportunities that functions as an 'integrated structure'
within which each medium is defined in relational terms in the context of all other media.
Moreover, as studied by Madianou and Miller (2012), in conditions of polymedia, the
emphasis shifts from a focus on the qualities of each particular medium as a discrete
technology, to an understanding of new media as an environment of affordances.
This idea states the established learning environments that are responsive to the
learners’ diversity-interactive environments that are learning-focused and that efficiently
manage the learners’ behavior in physical and virtual spaces through the use of polymedia.
Students learn more if there is a practice of these modern adaptations of modalities. With
the incorporation of different media, the senses of the learners are used, which makes
them learn at a concrete level and learn more when the texts being taught to them are
presented in a manner that makes them more physically encouraging and appealing.
With this, the teachers' ability to apply developmentally appropriate and meaningful
pedagogy grounded on the content knowledge is also recognized. It takes into account
the teachers' aptitude in the teaching and learning process, as well as needed skills in the
use of communication strategies, teaching strategies, and technologies to promote high-
quality learning outcomes.
Along with the emergence of 21st-century skills, the modern classroom has also
enhanced its methods through the engagement of different learning modes which cater
to the different needs of millennial learners. Thus, this study is pursued to determine the
acceptability of the developed Polymedia Based Instruction (PBI) materials in teaching
Purposive Communication classes. This gives additional teaching-learning strategies for
21st-century learners.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Polymedia in Learning
Learning is an active process in which the learner uses sensory input and constructs
meaning out of it. The more traditional formulation of this idea involves the new
terminology that learning involves the learners in engaging with the world. Learning is not
the passive acceptance of knowledge but the organization of experiences that allows the
individual to "go beyond the information given" (Francis, 2007). This states that learning is
a continuous process where technology is used in classroom discussions.
The effects of mastering different tasks shed light on the use of interactive videos
on the job. Remember that the localization of information is an important objective of on-
the-job tasks in the learning process (Guthrie, 1988; Guthrie & Kirsch, 1987). This
information benefited the instructors because of the availability of topics in the multimodal
learning materials. However, efficient use of such features depends on the users' ability to
employ appropriate strategies using multimodal learning materials. In this respect, it was
shown that the localization of isolated information should be possible without further
instructional materials support, whereas training is necessary to prepare users for the
mastery of more complex task assignments. For this purpose, the students' prerequisites
that they bring to the learning environment, as well as the pedagogical objectives that the
instructor pursues.
Thompson (2013) added that interactivity was rarely defined directly; it is cited as a
concept that distinguished new technologies. He also introduced the advantages of
technology, namely: selectivity: the complexity of available choice, meaning the amount
and variety of user choices, the effort that any user of a media system must exert to access
information; and, responsiveness (conversationality): interactivity is a continuous variable
measuring how "actively responsive a medium is to users", information use monitoring,
that is, how well informed selection can be monitored across an entire population of users,
ease of adding information, meaning the degree to which users can add information for
access by a mass, undifferentiated audience, and interpersonal communication facilitation,
which comes in at least two forms: asynchronous (allowing users to respond to messages
at their convenience) and synchronous (allowing for concurrent participation). In this
study, these vouch for the effective use of technology in the communication classroom
especially in delivering topics by the teachers using Polymedia.
Consequently, teachers need to be trained to present their lessons in a wide variety
of ways and assess learners using different instructions according to their interests and
readiness in accordance to Gardner's (1993) Multiple Intelligences Theory where students'
potentials are further enhanced through multi-modal approaches. Included in the
multimodal approach is interactive teaching. This deemed the utilization of Polymedia in
such instructions in delivering the discussions.
Also, technology cannot stand without the teacher who will operate and provide
innovations for the effectiveness of the materials used in the delivery of language in the
classroom. The formulation of polymedia is anchored in the continuity of concepts in the
teaching and learning process of the teachers, learners, and technology.
METHODOLOGY
This study used descriptive and developmental research designs. The descriptive
research method describes situations. It is a fact-finding methodology with an adequate
interpretation of profiles, attitudes, opinions, views, and contrast characteristics of
communities, people, processes, and events. This pertains to the gathering of information
about certain conditions or situations for description and interpretation. Descriptive
research was utilized in the interpretation, analysis, classification, and tabulation of the
result of the developed PBI materials.
In the planning stage, the researcher asked the instructors to determine the topics
needing Polymedia Based Instruction (PBI) materials in the Purposive Communication
course through a questionnaire. The development stage follows. The researcher gathered
information in the development of PBI and edited the materials based on the need of the
learners in the course. A collaboration of ideas among the instructors was done during the
development. Then, the validation stage follows. Language experts evaluated the validity
and appropriateness of the PBI materials; comments and suggestions were examined and
incorporated. These were all inputs to its final revisions.
RESULTS
This study is designed to develop, assess, and validate Polymedia Based Instruction
(PBI) materials in Purposive Communication (PC) and to test their acceptability. This
section presents the findings and interpretation of the study.
Table 2 presents the top 5 ranked that needs PBI materials in Purposive
Communication. Effective Communication was ranked 2nd to be needing of PBI materials
by the PC instructors. Among other factors, difficulty in expressing ideas especially during
recitation, presentation, and reporting activities was observed to be a common problem
among the PC students. Instructors believed that one of the reasons for this is a lack of
confidence. Respondent F observed that learners opt to stay quiet as they are rather afraid
to be criticized when an error is committed. The language uses wisely, Respondent E
shared that criminology students can hardly express themselves in English; whereas
engineering, architecture, and computer students perceive this to be less relevant in their
course.
Given the above concerns and with the instructors' interest in providing innovation
in getting the students to engage in effective communication, PBI materials were
perceived to fit the teaching of this topic. Generally, the materials integrated images and
voice prompt associated with the experiences and interests of the learners to facilitate a
better understanding of the topic and increased participation. These are also considered a
word choice/ terminology that caters to the group's level of understanding believing that
interactions may arise while regulating fear of sharing ideas. The ideas in the materials were
presented and explained comprehensively to encourage the learners to participate in the
discussions.
PBI materials for PowerPoint presentation follow guides in using this tool. The
respondents proved that PowerPoint presentation as topic needs of PBI materials. These
make learning how to make presentations with animations easy, added with images and
objects to attract the attention of the learners. It is also observed that the respondents are
into technology because presentations make it easy for them to prepare discussions. As
their practice, these should not contain heavy texts and animations. Thus, the profound
transformation in the usage of increasingly converged communication technologies has
implications for the ways interpersonal communication is enacted and experienced. This
scenario brought about the necessity of the use of polymedia based instruction (PBI)
materials in teaching.
Direct PBI materials were developed containing images with spoken texts, mini-
lectures, related examples, and computer-aided instructions. These deliver mini-lectures
that bring the learners into a better understanding. The use of examples through
computer-aided instructions may capture the interest of the learners to participate. These
also use images, moving objects, and spoken texts in sending information to the learners.
Direct approaches and principles are seen in the topics of effective communication,
intercultural communication, power of ICT, and plagiarism. As to language use, these
expose the learners directly to the target language. Practically useful communication
instances are also provided. Interactive materials developed similarly contain images with
spoken texts, mini-lectures, related examples, and computer-aided instructions with the
inclusion of clips and interactive voice prompts. These materials were considered because
pictures and video clips attract and catch the attention of the learners to listen and
communicate following the examples and questions addressed to them. Also, computer-
aided instructions capture the interest of the learners to listen and speak. Task-based
materials present in PBI materials include related examples or activities, interactive voice
prompts, and computer-aided instructions. These materials were categorized here
because the examples and activities are addressed through spoken texts' directions. Task-
based materials are seen in effective communication focused on listening skills, review, and
activity in intercultural communication, tutorial in PowerPoint, and articles in plagiarism.
This focused on accomplishing activities and delivering explanations through computer-
aided instructions.
The results of acceptability of PBI materials along with content (Table 3) and
presentation (Table 4) -- organization, mechanics, and audiovisual presentation were
determined.
Content. Along with the highest indicators, the respondents considered the PBI
materials as relevant, clear, and concise about the objectives of the 5 topics. PBI materials
delivered the topics appropriately and effectively. This also adds motivation to get the
learners' attention. However, the respondents are aware of the objectives of each topic
because these were manifested in the result of PBI materials which is highly acceptable.
Moreover, the integration of PBI materials in teaching the topics was also remarkable to
the respondents because these were presented during their scheduled class hours. In
support, Respondent 7 said that the most useful aspect of the PBI materials is that students
become more attentive. This encouraged them to participate because they see the
discussions. Another, Respondent 14 said the developed PBI materials promote a better
understanding of the lessons and great learning.
Presentation. In this study, cohesiveness is about the ideas that are fit together in
portraying clear understanding while unity expresses a single concept of the topic. This
means that the presentation has a coherence of ideas that helps to provide the vital
concepts in PBI materials. These are arranged in a comprehensive manner where the
learners are provided with a sort of activities to reinforce their understanding to learn
better. Also, this means that the information shown in PBI materials were transferred
attractively and comprehensively to the learners. This material is a reinforcement to the
teachers in teaching the topics. PBI materials only run for 4 to 8 minutes. So, the teachers
are asked to pause or interrupt the PBI materials if they need to explain or add information
about the topics. It can be gleaned in the 5 PBI materials the cohesiveness and unity of
concepts. However, this is shown that exposure to the internet, social media platform, and
movies influenced students' learning scheme. Students now possess gadgets to easily
access information on the internet. Integrating social media and movie clips in their
gadgets provides a better source of learning. Thus, PBI materials include these in the
discussions of the 5 topics.
DISCUSSION
This present study delved into the acceptability of the PBI materials in the Purposive
Communication course. This underwent a smooth yet rigid process to determine the result.
Initially, five topics were determined by the 8 PC instructors. These are Effective
Communication, Intercultural Communication, Guidelines to Avoid Plagiarism, Power of
Information and Communication Technology, and PowerPoint Presentation. The topics
were ranked highest because these need reinforcements of new teaching strategies to the
learning scheme of the PC students. The collaboration of ideas among the instructors and
the need of the learners started the development of Polymedia Based Instruction.
Subsequently, PBI materials developed from each topic was conceptualized. This was
presented in 3 categories namely: direct materials, interactive materials, and task-based
materials. These PBI materials developed supported the teachers in delivering the
discussions to the learners. This improved the learning process of the students because the
students are attracted to the materials developed integrated with PBI. This also improved
the learners' schemes in better understanding the topics. Finally, PBI materials were given
a highly acceptable remark from the pre-service teachers in the Purposive Communication
course. There are two areas of PBI materials namely: content and presentation. These
areas met the requirements needed in PBI materials which are also given highly acceptable
remarks. This proved that these PBI materials are considered new platforms of teaching
and a remarkable learning scheme of the pre-service teachers in Purposive Communication
class.
IMPLICATIONS
As this research has shown, PBI materials serve as an innovation of a new trend of
teaching among the PC instructors. Also, this is an additional avenue of learning for learners
who are technology-oriented. Indeed, learners nowadays are living with technology. This
means that everything can be found through ICT. Although this may be true, students can
learn independently using technology. Thus, PBI materials are also designed to be used by
the students and learn exclusively.
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