teaching in computer-mediated classroom

Chapter 4 in Computers and Teaching of Writing in American Higher Education reminds me so much of the teaching of English in China. 1989-1991 witnessed the change where computers transform from being personal to interpersonal in America. Such transformation had its impact on the pedagogy of composition classroom and thus attracted many scholars’ attention to the dynamics in the composition classrooms. In China, personal computer did not become popular until the late 90s in the last century. It was in the recent 10 years that thesis and dissertation should be saved in Microsoft Word and printed.
However such late flourish of PCs also brought changes to the English teaching in Chinese universities. In 2002, teachers who taught undergraduates in the foreign language department in the university where I used to teach were required to prepare classes in the form of PowerPoint because the university built many well-equipped multi-media classrooms. We spent some time learning PowerPoint and were quite amazed at what PPT can do to make the class more attention-grabbing and dynamic. Lectures in the form of PPT were considered a way to share resources since teachers could take turns to prepare the class and if someone had additional information, we only needed to save that to our flashdrive(I found that flashdrive was introduced in China a lot earlier than the US). Such a reform saved me lots of time preparing for the class and students were so excited by the new way of leaning English. At that time, my university was the only one in Shaanxi province where English was taught in a multi-media classroom.
But soon many problems came. I think some instructors paid too much effort to make the PPT attractive and fancy. There were lots of effects and transitions. We spent so much time waiting for the next line pop up on the screen. Meanwhile, the real student population in Chinese universities was not seriously considered. I think such a computer-mediated classroom was to help students interact more with their peers. However, just as what it was stated in the book “The teachers’ behavior did not change significantly as the semester progressed, nor did the teachers noticeably adapt their teaching styles to the new environment”(202) So really no great changes took place in the classroom. It was still lecture-heavy and teacher-centered. I failed to give students many opportunities to speak and share since we only had a 90-minute class and I had more than 100 students in the class. I had a hard time deciding who should speak in class. So the intention of having students speak more English in class never became a reality. Many problems like “the marginalization of individuals” and the intentional or intentional “silencing” of some students(203) were still there.I did not consider my class a success. I sometimes wonder how I can implement what I have learned here to a Chinese English classroom.