Multimedia-Based Activity in Young Learners’ English Class: Implementation and Outcome

IDA ZURAIDA SUPRI Multimedia-Based Activity in Young Learners’ English Class: Implementation and Outcome MULTIMEDIA-BASED ACTIVITY IN YOUNG LEARNERS’ ENGLISH CLASS: IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME Ida Zuraida Supri Department of English, Widyatama University, Indonesia Email: ida.zuraida@widyatama.ac.id APA Citation: Supri, I. Z. (2015). Multimedia-based activity in young learners’ English class: implementation and outcome. English Review: Journal of English Education, 3(2), 210-222 Received: 10-03-2015 Accepted: 27-04-2015 Published: 01-06-2015 Abstract: This research aims at investigating how multimedia facilitates young learners’ learning English. The study utilized a descriptive method. This comprised observing, collecting data, classifying data, and analyzing data. Observation to the multimedia is carried out to seek for steps of lessons and the steps are facilitating young learners leaning. The subjects in this study were series of multimedia programs. The results showed that the multimedia programs have presented to five young learners’ learning traits in designing the lessons. Those traits were transferred in terms of activities presented into stages, time allotment/duration, having specific topic, providing songs and funny cartoon characters and scenes, and materials recycling in the lessons. Thus, it can be concluded that the use of multimedia program is beneficial and recommended either in a classroom as a supplementary activity, at home for home learning or watch for fun. Keywords: multimedia, young learners, learning traits INTRODUCTION Young learners are categorized into generation who are aware of technology at a very young age. In learning English, then, it is obvious that multimedia such as computer, internet and video are advantageous to be used in children classroom. On the other hand, English mastery is important in preparing learners for better achievement in all levels of education and future career. This has made educators both in formal and non-formal schools try to facilitate the best way of teaching and learning English. In some big cities in Indonesia, English has been introduced to young learners starting elementary level of education. Many parents send their children to English courses to learn English. They do this with the assumption that if their children are introduced to English since early stage of life they will get sufficient exposure (Mustafa, 2002). With sufficient exposure they are expected to be successful language users in the future. Of course, this can be realized if the children get good quality of exposure, such as good pronunciation; and sufficient frequency and volume of contact with the target language (Mustafa, 2002). The challenges above should be well observed and solved. They may be solved by providing young learners suitable, good and interesting materials. In accordance with good and interesting material, using multimedia in teaching young learners are beneficial (Harmer, 2002; Ellis and Brewster, 2002; Stempliski, 1990). Therefore, the present study seeks to explore whether multimedia program, 210 ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education Vol. 3, Issue 2, June 2015 ISSN 2301-7554 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE specifically ME were designed by attending to young learners’ learning traits and also to find young learner’s response towards them. Following are young learners’ learning traits that are synthesized from different sources. According to Brown (2002) and Shin (2006) another characteristic which should be noted is that young learners have limited attention span; unless activity are extremely engaging they can easily get bored, losing interest after several minutes of the activity. Because they are centered to here and now, on the functional purposes of language, activities should be designed to capture their immediate interest (Brown, 2000). Shin (2006) emphasizes, “One way to capture their attention and keep them engaged in activities is to supplement the activities with lots of brightly colored visual, toys, puppet, or objects to match the one used in stories that you tell or songs that you sings”. Young learners learn best when learning is kept whole (whole language approach), meaningful, interesting and functional; as opposed to adult who learn from parts to whole; they learn words, phrases, sentence constructing, (Brown, 2002). In line with Brown’s words, Musthafa (2002) also states that they tend to learn things holistically in the form of script (such as going to a market, going to school, family, etc.). Building on this theory, in the case of learning English as a foreign language, children will find it easy if it is embedded in play, such as story lines, or real life conversation. Providing them video may be useful because generally they are presented in topic (Ishihara and Chi, 2004, Ambrose, 2002). Young learners are able to deal with one thing at a time without much difficulty. Teaching or presenting a lot of things to them at once may cause frustration and failure, both to the children and the teachers. Sinaga (1997) in his article proposes when teaching ‘likes and dislikes’, for example, a teacher does not have to use all the subjects at once as it is possible to be done in adult classes. He should limit based on their timely need (I and You first then next session followed by He and She). Shin (2006) highly recommended teach the lessons in themes. It is obvious that young learners pick up new things easily and quickly, but at the same time forget them quickly. This is because they have a relatively weak long-term memory. To facilitate this learning character, Shin (2006, p. 4) proposed: “moving from one activity to others that are related in content and language helps to recycle the language and reinforce students’ understanding and use of it”. This is in line with Sinaga (1997) that lesson should be recycled and children should be reminded frequently of what they have learned. Well (1997) as quoted by Ashworth and Wakefield (2005), also stated that knowledge cannot be transmitted in isolation, but must be reinvented as the learner brings to each new situation his own previous experience and background and interprets new information from that perspective. Moreover, young learners’ learning is a process, not merely a product. The process of learning can be accelerated or enhanced by breaking learning into stages and providing building blocks which connect these together (Bruner, 1983 as cited from Ellis and Brewster, 2002) Young learners cannot be expected to sit down and do a certain activity for a long time. Activities should be designed 211 IDA ZURAIDA SUPRI Multimedia-Based Activity in Young Learners’ English Class: Implementation and Outcome to capture their interest, short, and varied to allow a change of mood on the part of the children. According to Ellis and Brewster (2002, p. 162) song is an ideal vehicle for language learning because young learners love songs and sing songs are fun for them. They also added that letting young learners watch video or film also is another way to vary activities in order to capture and maintain their interest. On the other hand, instructional materials play an important role in English learning. Appropriate instructional materials should be carefully selected based on the instructional objectives and children‘s interest. Teachers may choose book appropriate for the children. Suyanto (1997) writes that there are various kinds of materials, which can be used for children in English program, such as songs, stories, games, flashcards, and reading texts. As mentioned earlier that learner learns better through fun activities. Teaching techniques for them should vary so that they will not feel bored. Clapping hands, playing games, chanting rhymes, singing, and drawing real objects can also be done to create fun atmosphere English class. The role of instructional media is very important in a foreign class. According to Richards (1988) as cited from Suyanto (1997) good instructional media should have, at least, three roles i.e. attentional role, communicational role and retentional role. Using media, particularly multimedia, is to attract children’s attention and heighten their curiosity while the teacher is delivering the message. In this case, using pictures, and realia are very helpful for teacher to do his activity. This is in line with Wright (1989, p. 23) who stated “… pictures are not just an aspect of method but through their representation of places, objects, and people, they are an essential part of the overall experiences which we must help our students to cope with”. It does not only provide them the sound of the language but also facial expression and gesture which can give them better overall understanding of the use of the language in particular context. Another benefit is it allows children to look at situation far beyond their classroom, for example, in greeting besides shaking hands, people can also greet by taking off their hat or nodding their head a little. From video, children can also learn food eaten or apparel worn by people in other countries. In terms of motivation, children show an increased level of interest when they have a chance to see language in use as well as hear it, and if this is coupled with interesting tasks. As quoted from Harmer (2002) one of the main advantages of video is that learners do not just hear the language, they see it too. This greatly aids comprehension, as for example, in actuality general meaning and moods are often conveyed through expression, gesture and other visual clues. it does not only provide them the sound of the language but also facial expression and gesture which can give them better overall understanding of the use of the language in particular context. Another benefit is it allows children to look at situation far beyond their classroom, for example, in greeting besides shaking hands, people can also greet by taking off their hat or nodding their head a little. From video, children can also learn food eaten or apparel worn by people in other countries. In terms of motivation, children show an increased level of 212 ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education Vol. 3, Issue 2, June 2015 ISSN 2301-7554 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE interest when they have a chance to see language in use as well as hear it, and if this is coupled with interesting tasks .Thus, children observe how intonation can match facial expressions. Stempleski (1990) also adds that the introduction of the moving picture component as a language teaching aid is a crucial addition to the teacher’s resources. Through video children feel their interest quicken when language is experienced in a lively way. The combination of moving picture and sound can present language more comprehensively than any other teaching medium. Video can take students into the lives and experiences of others. The use of video sequence in class makes students more ready to communicate in target language. Ellis and Brewster (2002, p. 205-206) also state that there are three main reasons for viewing. The first is global viewing or viewing for general understanding. This means young learners need to see a whole video sequence or extract shown straight to the first so that they can follow and understand the global meaning. After that the teacher may go back over the sequence or extract and exploit it in order to focus on particular aspects of language and content. The second is viewing for detail. This usually requires young learners to focus on something very specific and they may require a physical response such as putting up a hand each time they see a specific item or hear a specific word or structure. The third is viewing for pleasure. Young learners are given opportunities to absorb language presented and practiced through the video in order to accomplish particular tasks assigned, like comparing information, writing instructions or recipes, questionnaires, etc. After completing their tasks, they are rewarded by viewing the video again for pleasure. Gersten and Tlustý (1998) cited in Amato (2003) found out that the use of video program would have a positive effect on their students’ performance and participation. Interviews with students afterwards revealed that they had all found the experience helpful in developing English proficiency and in using English to communicate. Amato (2003) also adds that the use of interactive multimedia program in the classroom serve as an excellent tool for developing communicative skills in a language. It can be concluded that armed with the knowledge of the reasons of video viewing, teachers can be highly assisted in designing kinds of activities in the class in which video are used. Teachers may confidently decide what pre and post viewing activities given. Using multimedia in teaching English is beneficial. Since it is audio visual, young learners can see and listen the use of language displayed. Therefore, they have an opportunity to get exposed the target language used in context and performed by native speakers. There have been numerous studies on the use of multimedia in teaching English language (Mayora, 2006 and Ishihara and Chi, 2004) in informing how useful the use of multimedia in teaching English. Although these studies are different in terms of participant, the studies are considered relevant. Mayora (2006) conducted a research on integrating multimedia technology in high school EFL program in Caracas, Venezuela. The results show that all those students felt that it provided them with substantial opportunities to listen to 213 IDA ZURAIDA SUPRI Multimedia-Based Activity in Young Learners’ English Class: Implementation and Outcome authentic language, which is a key element for the acquisition of English. A large majority of the students also felt positive about the opportunities the multimedia provided to increase their vocabulary and practice grammar. In addition, most students indicated that computer- and video-based activities had a positive effect on their process of learning English. It can be said that the results indicates that the students regard the use of multimedia, particularly computer- and video-based, in general as motivating, productive and advanced way to learn English. From the elaboration above it can be seen that studies on the use of multimedia in teaching English with 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Hello Family Happy Houses Friends Animal Friends It’s delicious Happy Birthday Tick Tock Time different participants have had positive responses and outcome. The use of multimedia indicates many benefits (Mayora, 2006), such as it is more appealing and entertaining; it exposes students to authentic language in natural situations; it provides a situational and visual context to language interactions; and it exposes students to authentic nonverbal (body language, cultural tradition) and verbal (register, colloquial speech) elements of language. ME released by the Walt Disney to provide children with an interesting way in learning English through multimedia, which is called Magic English. Table 1.Topics in ME Series 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Night and Day Let’s Play Numbers At Home My body Party Time Cooking The Forest METHOD This study aimed at unearthing young learners’ learning traits attended to by ME and how those characteristic are presented in ME. Strauss and Corbin (1990, p. 75) state that “it was largely qualitative which could be used to uncover and understand what lies behind any phenomenon about which little is yet known”. To gather the data, observation is conducted to ME. There are three series under focus: Happy Birthday, Tic Toc Time, and Night and Day. Observation on the above series is to see the flow of the lessons in each series. This activity essential to see whether ME’s contents attended to young learners’ learning traits or not. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. The Sea Let’s Travel Colors Wild Animals Funny Faces Country Life Music Mountains Descriptive inductive analytical approach is applied in this study. The general patterns of data analysis were a simultaneous action during the data collection stage. In the observation method it is suggested that the analysis is carried out as soon as the observation finishes (Maxwell, 1996), otherwise it will lose visual details that might be important and they might be forgotten if it waits to be analyzed at a later time. Since this study applies largely qualitative, so the findings would only be true to the subjects involved in it. Therefore, there will not be an attempt of generalization because there might be other possible interpretation to the issues raised in this study. 214 ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education Vol. 3, Issue 2, June 2015 ISSN 2301-7554 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE characteristic. This can be indicated by having its own topic; almost the same; duration: around twenty five minutes; presenting the topic into stages with different kinds of activities the flow; and focusing on one topic in each series. The flow of lessons of ME is summarized into a table (see table 2). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Data from observations reveal that ME series have presented to five young learners’ learning traits. They were learn when kept as a whole, limited attention span, one thing at a time, fun learning, and learn fast forget quickly Table 2. Flow of lessons series#1 Stages Opening Presentation 1 Practice 1 Song Presentation 2 Practice 2 Presentation 3 Practice 3 Closing Duration 1.50 6.05 1.19 0.46 5.24 1.24 5.32 1.34 2.29 Total 25.03 series#2 Stages Opening Presentation 1 Song Practice 1 Presentation 2 Practice 2 Presentation 3 Practice 3 Presentation 4 Practice 4 Closing Total Duration 1.50 2.51 1.29 1.02 2.18 2.20 2.32 1.23 4.11 4.18 2.08 25.02 series#3 Stages Opening Presentation 1 Song Presentation 2 Practice 1 Presentation 3 Practice 2 Presentation 4 Practice 3 Closing Duration 1.50 5.24 1.16 6.13 0.34 1.26 5.04 2.32 2.11 2.24 Total 25.10 * Duration is in minute. * Opening and closing are presented through a song entitled Magic English. * Presentations are stages where the materials of the lesson are explained. * Practices are stages where viewers should do exercises, such as repeating words or expressions, answering questions. * Song is a song related to the topic is presented. Viewers are invited to sing along. The first young learners’ learning characteristic facilitated by ME is limited attention span. Young learners find it difficult to stay focus on a lesson discussed in a long period of time unless the activities are really engaging. They can easily get bored and lose their interest after several minutes of activities. ME try to facilitate the above characteristic. It was observed in terms of activities presented and time allotted. In terms of activities, looking at the table presented earlier on the flow of lessons of ME (table2) shows that each series applies similar flow of lesson; opened by a song ME followed by several presentations and practices, a 215 song related to the topic is also inserted, then closing. It can be inferred that the flow of lesson in ME facilitates young learners to focus on the show and to follow what is given easily. With the nature of young learners which cannot stand doing one activity for a long time, the design of the lesson of ME may engage them to keep watching because it is not monotonous. The activity changed; from presentation, in which they should listen, watch, and understand what is presented, then they should actively involve with the practice activities, such as repeating some words or expressions, answering questions and singing. Furthermore, the appearance of IDA ZURAIDA SUPRI Multimedia-Based Activity in Young Learners’ English Class: Implementation and Outcome popular cartoon characters that they may already know helps to draw and maintain their attention to keep watching until the end of the show. In terms of time, it was observed that the duration of each series is around twenty five minutes; series#1 25.03 minutes, series#2 25.02 minutes, and series#3 25.10 minutes. . It is quite short for a show. The duration of each stage ranges from two to five minutes. It relates to the characteristic of limited attention span mentioned by Brown (2002), and Shin (2006). Furthermore, the duration of each series is approximately twenty five minutes which are divided into several stages of presentations and practices allow learners to maintain their attention during the watching. The explanation above is in line with what is stated by Holden (1980) quoted by Brewster (1991) quoted by Sinaga (1997) to limit one activity to ten minutes maximum. It can be interpreted that with the flow of lesson of ME learners may have no chance to do other activities but watch. The appearance of Disney’s cartoon characters may keep them watch and enjoy slides of stories or films presented on the screen. Even tough, the stages in the Multimedia follow the same patterns. In accordance with the characteristic of young learners, who respond easily to particular theme they have already known, this pattern helps them to predict what they are going to find in the next stage. However, there is an element of surprise since the song is not inserted in the same sequence. Sometimes it comes right after Presentation 1 like in series#2 and series#3 or after Practice, like in series#1. Therefore, it can be concluded that the flow of the lesson facilitates the limited attention span characteristic. Secondly, ME facilitates young learners whose learning traits is holistic learning. They learn best when learning is kept whole (whole language approach), meaningful, interesting and functional; as opposed to adult who learn from parts to whole; they learn words, phrases, sentence constructing, (Brown, 2002). In line with Brown’s words, Musthafa (2002) also states that young learners tend to learn things holistically in the form of script (such as going to a market, going to school, family, etc). This characteristic is facilitated in ME. It can be observed in terms of having specific topic in each series. ; series#1 Happy Birthday,series#2 Tic Toc Time, and series#3 Night and Day. Packed in a specific topic, the series facilitates young learners whose learning characteristic is learning holistically to learn better. Since the lesson is kept as a whole, they may find it meaningful, functional and interesting. Slides of pictures and stories/films related to the topic help learners to understand what is being presented. Words and expressions are not only presented in verbal form but also in written form. Therefore, learners can listen how the words and expressions are pronounced and also see the spellings. It can be said that when young learners find the lesson meaningful to them they would be interested to pay attention to what is given in the show. When attention is obtained, the process of learning is expected to take place. As mentioned earlier that words and expressions were given either in written or spoken. This is good because they are not only exposed to the spelling of the word but how the native speakers of the 216 ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education Vol. 3, Issue 2, June 2015 ISSN 2301-7554 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE birthday party, singing, dancing are things and activities that they commonly encountered in birthday party. The word birthday is something that learners may know. They celebrate their birthdays and sometimes are invited to birthday parties. And in birthday party they sing Happy Birthday. Therefore it can be said the vocabulary in this topic is meaningful and functional to them. In series#2, the following expressions such as What time is it? It’s eight o’clock, Wake up!, Seven o’clock, Breakfast, it’s breakfast time, School, It’s school time, It’s lunch time, It’s play time, It’s dinner time, It’s bed time are things and activities that they routinely do. Since the words and expressions are presented with slides of stories and pictures, learners may find it easy to understand. For instance, they can understand wake up from the movement of the cartoon character and the background of the picture. The cartoon character is in bed sleeping then the clock is ringing and he opens his eyes. Then a voice says wake up! Seeing this fragment, it is expected that the learners understand the meaning of the expressions. series#3 which discusses day and night is also presented in the same way. Words and expressions like: language pronounce them. This relates to what is stated by Ashworth and Wakefield (2005, [p. 4) young learners need to hear the language model. Furthermore, since in this stage of life they experience what Brown (1991, p. 12) called “critical period” for language acquisition, they are expected to be able to absorb a lot of simple vocabulary, say and write them correctly. Hopefully, in the future they will be good language users. Moreover, slides of pictures and stories or films related to the topic help learners to understand what is being presented. This condition is in line with what is stated by Stempleski (1990) that children feel their interest quicken when language is experienced in a lively way. The combination of moving picture and sound can present language more comprehensively than any other teaching medium. In addition to that, the availability of slides of stories or films greatly aid comprehension, as for example, in actuality general meaning and moods are often conveyed through expression, gesture and other visual clues. Thus, children observe how intonation can match facial expressions (Harmer, 2002). Words and expressions are not only presented in verbal form but also in written form. This way, learners not only can listen how the words and expressions are pronounced but also see the spellings. Because English words are spelled and pronounced differently from that of Indonesian, this is quite difficult to handle for most Indonesian students. The display of the spelling of the words or expressions may help them recognize and remember them. Moreover, The words and expressions presented in each topic is meaningful and functional, for example in series#1 cake, presents, party, The moon. Look at the moon. The stars. Look at the stars. It’s morning. Good morning. What a beautiful morning! The sun. It’s a new day. What a beautiful day! It’s night. What a beautiful night! The above vocabulary would be meaningful to them because they are parts of their daily life. They are presented in slides of stories or films which help them understand the meaning of words and expressions 217 IDA ZURAIDA SUPRI Multimedia-Based Activity in Young Learners’ English Class: Implementation and Outcome written on the screen. In presenting the moon, a picture of a moon in a dark night is displayed. By looking at the picture, learners are facilitated to understand the word. Judging from the discussion on the topics presented, we can see that it has catered the principle of learn when kept as a whole principle. Fun learning is the third traits attended to by ME. Young learners’ willingness to learn emerges when the lessons are presented in interesting ways (Brown, 2000; Shin, 2006). This characteristic can be observed in terms of providing songs and funny cartoon characters and scenes. Each series was opened by a song titled Magic English. The song is relatively easy and interesting to listen to and to follow. It is not long; the duration is around one minute fifty seconds. The lyric of the song is about activities that students can participate during watching the series. The following is the song: Besides ME song which can be found as the opening in each series, there is also one song related to the topic presented in each series; series#1 Happy Birthday song, series#2 Tic Toc Time song, and series#3 Night and Day song. It can be said that fun learning characteristic is attended because of the availability of the songs. This relates to Ellis and Brewster (2002) who mentioned that song is an ideal vehicle for language learning. Young learners love songs and sing songs are fun for them. ME Multimedia provide songs in each series. If what is preferred by young learners is facilitated, they are expected to learn better. Ellis and Brewster (2000) also mention the benefits of songs in language learning, such as they allow new language to be introduced and structures and vocabulary to be reinforced and recycled and are motivating and fun to help develop positive attitudes toward the target language. Therefore when they listen to the song they are exposed to how words in English are said. When it comes to their turn to sing, their pronunciation skill is being trained. The song uses certain terms in asking students to do activities while watching it. Instead of using a term “do exercises”, it invites students to do exercise by saying “Play Time”. It can be inferred that the instruction is given that way to attract students’ interest because play is something fun. Play is children’s part of life. From the last verse of the lyric of the song it is clear that the exercises or “Play Time” involve singing, repeating and answering questions. Not only do the songs make the Multimedia fun but also the display of Disney’s cartoon characters, which young learners may know or recognize in some funny scenes such as, Donald Magic English, Magic English Magic English, Magic English Have fun with Disney every day, have fun with Disney everyday Come along and discover English Listen well, watch carefully You can singyou can play And you can have fun with Disney Magic English, Magic English Look and speak and sing and play Magic English, Magic English Have fun with Disney everyday Have fun with Disney everyday Look! When you see this, it’s your turn to play Play time! If you see this ♪it’s your turn to sing Play time! If you see this ☺ it’s your turn to repeat Play time! If you see this?It’s your turn to answer 218 ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education Vol. 3, Issue 2, June 2015 ISSN 2301-7554 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE and Daisy duck, Mickey and Minnie mouse, Snow White, and others may attract them to watch and listen to it. For instance, when explaining how to ask someone’s age and how to respond to it a funny scene below is presented: A smiling cute baby only wearing a diaper crawls in a cute way. Then, a voice asks “How old is she?”. There is pause for few seconds, then that voice responds “she is one year old”. After that, a character of an old fat man with long white beard looks like a Santa Clause, walks in a funny way. Again a voice asks, “How old is he?” The response is “He is a hundred years old”. The above evidence shows what Ellis and Brewster (2002) propose that the advantage of using multimedia is because it combines sound and vision and provide a full context for language so children see language in use making it more accessible and memorable. Furthermore, it shows all factors of communication, including non-verbal communication. Therefore, young learners may find the content of the Multimedia meaningful. ME also facilitated young learners in terms of learning traits is to learn fast but to forget quickly. This is observed in terms of presenting the lessons into stages and recycle. It is obvious that young learners’ learning is a process, not merely a product. Bruner (1983) as cited from Ellis and Brewster: (2002) mentioned that the process of learning can be accelerated or enhanced by breaking learning into stages and providing building blocks which connect these together. In terms of presenting the lessons into stages, looking at the flow of lesson previously presented in table 4.1, the presentations are given in several stages. Some vocabulary given in Presentation 1 may reappear in the next presentations, for example #1, in presentation 1 vocabulary like present, surprise, party, cake, a dress are reappeared in presentation 2 . in #2 words and expressions like, what time is it?, wake up!, it’s breakfast time, it’s school time, etc are presented in presentation 1 and practice 1 are reused in practice 2, presentation 3 and practice 3. Recycle of material is also found in #3. For instance, the use of yes/no questions and how to respond to them related to the topic Night and Day can be found practice 1, presentation 3, and practice 3. Following are some examples, Is it night? Yes, It’s night; Is it day?, No, It’s night; What a beautiful day. So, it is clear that the Multimedia recycle materials of the lesson. The above examples show that the materials taught are not only divided into stages but also recycled. It can be concluded, the flow of lesson, which is divided into stages, interprets the scaffolding of learning. The series have applied the theory mentioned by Bruner (1983) to accelerate students’ learning. Reappearance of vocabulary presented in the earlier presentation in the next presentation is a method to recycle the materials. In practice stage, vocabulary to be repeated and questions to be answered by learners are those which appear in presentations stages. Therefore, learners may find practice stages fun because the questions given are things that they have heard, seen, and they are not overwhelming. In short, young learners, whose learning characteristic is learn fast and forget quickly, are facilitated. This may help them to learn better. Young learners learn one thing at a time is also catered by ME. It can be 219 IDA ZURAIDA SUPRI Multimedia-Based Activity in Young Learners’ English Class: Implementation and Outcome observed in terms of giving specific topic to discuss in each series. Topic of #1 is Happy Birthday. It discusses things and activities related to a birthday. #2, Tic Toc Time, discusses time; how to ask and tell the time, activities done in particular point of time, like in the morning, the activity is breakfast time, school time, etc. In #3, Night and Day is the topic. Since each has its own topic, it can be said that the design of ME adopted one thing at a time principle. Young learners learn one thing from each series. This may help them deal with the materials presented. They may not find the materials overwhelming because they learn specific thing at a time. Having a specific topic in each series, ME Multimedia has adopted the one thing at a time principle. Each series focuses on one thing or one topic. Learners are exposed to expressions, and activities related to a birthday in #1. They learn how to say happy birthday and to tell the age. They also learn words, expressions and activities related to a birthday party, like presents, cake, sing, and, dance. Therefore, the adoption of one thing at a time principle may facilitate learners to learn the target language easier as mentioned by Brown (2000), and Harmer (2000) who state that young learners are able to deal with one thing at a time without much difficulty. Teaching or presenting several things at once may cause frustration and failure, both to the learners and teachers. From the discussions above, it can be concluded that since five traits of young learners learning have been attended to, they may be facilitated when learning English using ME Multimedia. The lessons were designed to assist children’s learning characteristic. 220 Therefore, this may result in positive learning outcome. CONCLUSIONS This research is completed as the answers to the two questions posted earlier were obtained. Based on the findings and discussions in the previous chapter, it can be concluded that firstly, this multimedia programs facilitate young learners’ to learn English. Apparently, the making of them were carefully designed. This can be observed in terms of attending to five young learners’ learning traits in designing the series of Multimedia. Those traits were limited attention span, learn when kept as a whole, fun learning, learn fast forget quickly, and one thing at a time. Those traits can be observed in terms of presenting activities into stages and allotting relatively short time, having specific topic, providing songs, funny cartoon character and scenes, and recycling materials in the lessons. Secondly, with respect to young learners’ responses, all data obtained indicate that in general all Multimedia under focus gained positive responses. This can be observed from their positive attitude when they watched them and their willingness to actively take part in the activities provided, namely repeating some words or vocabulary, answering questions, and singing. Positive responses were obtained because multimedia alone is interesting for young learners and when it is designed in an interesting way it may obtain positive responses. In addition, in terms of young learners’ traits the affective factor is also noticeable in ME. So, through the use of ME warm, supportive and safe atmosphere in learning the language may be created and this may lead to ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education Vol. 3, Issue 2, June 2015 ISSN 2301-7554 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE lessen the above potential barriers in learning. The efforts can be observed in the Multimedia from the availability of cartoon characters, colorful pictures, funny show fragments, and interesting songs. Finally, it provides authentic and meaningful language. The topics discussed in each series are within young learners’ world. Happy Birthday, Night and Day, Family, and so on (see table 3.1). Therefore, they may be willing to learn the language if it can be used for here and now. Because the series were designed by attending to some young learners’ learning traits, the use of them in young learners’ classes would be recommended. It is useful to use as a supplementary lesson in the class. Since young learners are easily get bored, giving them as a variation of learning English would be fun and enjoyable. They would find learning English is fun not monotonous. Before the it is played, teachers need to explain what learners are going to watch, and what they have to do during the watching, especially, when they watch it for the first time. They might not know what the teachers expect them to do. By doing so, they will not feel confused what to do and they may feel ready with the watching activity. However, as it is mentioned earlier that they can be used as supplements. Teachers still hold the important roles in a class room. Multimedia could not replace teachers’ roles. There may be some questions or comments from learners after watching them that teachers should answer or explain. Finally, the series can be given to the class as pre or post activity. When it is given as pre activity, learners should get the core explanation from the teacher after watching them. If it is given as post 221 activity, teachers should have explained the lesson before they watch them. By doing so, they aid learners to focus on what they are learning. To summarize, the use of multimedia programs as supplementary activity is recommended because their lessons are designed by attending several young learners’ learning traits. This can vary the learning activity so that learners may find learning English is fun and enjoyable. However, Multimedia cannot replace teachers’ roles. Teachers still have to explain when learners ask question after watching. REFERENCES Alwasilah, A. C. (2002). Pokoknya kualitatif. Bandung: Pustaka Jaya. Ashworth, M. & Patricia, W. (2005). Teaching the world’s children ESL for ages three to seven. English Teaching Forum, 43(1), 2-7. Brown, H. D. 2000. Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. New York: Longman Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative & quantitative approaches. California: Sage Publication, Inc. Fillmore, L. W.& Catherine, S. (2000). What early childhood teachers need to know about language. Retrieved on 23 February 2015 from http www.ericdigests.org/20013/early.htm Harmer, J. (2002). The practice of English language teaching. Kualalumpur: Longman Klein, K. (2012). Teaching young learners. English Teaching Forum, 31 (2) Retrieved on 23 February 2015 from http//exchanges.stategov/forum/vol2/ vol31/no2/pg14/htm. Latha, R. H. (2005). A reading program for elementary schools. English Teaching Forum, 43(1), 18-23. Maxwell, J. A. (1996). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. California: Sage Publication, Inc. IDA ZURAIDA SUPRI Multimedia-Based Activity in Young Learners’ English Class: Implementation and Outcome Musthafa, B. (2002) EFL for young learners. Bandung: Crest. Musthafa, B. & Wachyu, S. (1993). Teaching EFL learners sociolinguistics concepts for intercultural understanding. Retrieved on 23 February 2015 from files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED397661.pdf. Paton, J. (2002). Fostering second language development in young children. ESL Articles Collection. Retrieved on 10 May 2015 from http://www.1-language.com Pinter, A. 2006. Teaching young language learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Suyanto, K, K. E. (1999). Teaching English to young learners in Indonesia (p. 164-171). Presented in National Seminar: The Development of TEFL in Indonesia. 1999. 222 Shin, J. K. (2006). Ten helpful ideas for teaching English to young learners. English Teaching Forum, 44 (2). Sinaga, M. (1994). Teaching English to children (as opposed to adults) (p.173-178) Presented in National Seminar: The Development of TEFL in Indonesia, 23 1994 Strauss, A & Corbin J. (1990). Basic qualitative research: grounded theory procedures and techniques. New York: Sage Publication. Amato, R. & Patricia, A. (2003). Making it happen: From interactive to participatory language teaching. New York: Longman Stempliski, S & Barry, T. (1990). Video in action: Recipes for using video in language teaching. London: Prentice Hall.