CALICO with IALLT 25TH Annual Conference
“Bridging CALL Communities”
University of San Francisco
March 18-22, 2008
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CALL Design and Video Comprehension:
Insight from Research and Practice
Luba Iskold, Ed. D.
Muhlenberg College
Allentown, PA
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Presentation Outline
• Examination of theoretical perspectives
• Exploration of the ways to integrate research, design and
development
• Demonstration of examples of online materials to facilitate
• Comprehension of:
– Simulated authentic discourse
– Authentic online newscasts
– Collaborative service-learning project
• Discussion of a Student survey
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Background Information:
Why is Listening Important?
• Rivers (1975) reported data on how adults spend their
communicative time:
40%-50%
25%-30%
11%-16%
9%
listening
speaking
reading
writing
• In our “media saturated” world students are “increasingly expected
to obtain information from oral rather than written sources” (Joiner et
al., 1989, p.427)
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Statement of the Problem
• How do students develop listening skills by using video materials?
• Do they learn best by mere exposure to “comprehensible input”?
• Should we assist learners in comprehending a videotext?
• Do listening tasks performed during video viewing help learners
concentrate on important information in that videotext?
• Which tasks leave learners with higher levels of video
comprehension?
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Comprehension-based Approaches
•
Krashen, 1985-1990; Terrel, 1986 articulated the most influential and the
most controversial hypotheses about L2 acquisition
•
Advocated a “natural order” of language acquisition
•
Emphasized listening to large amounts of “comprehensible input” in early
stages of instruction
•
Was instrumental in bringing listening comprehension to the front with
regard to its importance to the overall process of language acquisition
•
Provided the foundation for comprehension-based approaches to L2
•
Supporters: Terrel, Ehrman, and Herzog, 1984
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Cognitive-theoretical View of Language
Learning
• Is based on cognitive view of learning represented in the work of
Anderson (1985), and instructional implementations drawn by
Gagné (1985), Perkins & Solomon (1989)
• Contradicts the view of L2 acquisition as a learning process which is
most effective when it occurs unconsciously (Schmidt, 1990)
• Advocates high degrees of learner involvement in the process of
learning
• Learners:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Consciously select information from their environment
Organize this information
Relate it to what they already know
Retain the information they consider important
Use the information in appropriate contexts
Reflect on their own success in learning
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Cognitive-theoretical View of Language
Learning
• O’Mally and Chomat (1993), based on cognitive-theoretical view of
learning, assert that in classroom and non-classroom settings
L2 learners:
–
–
–
–
–
Think about the language demands
Apply prior knowledge and skills to new learning
Model “expert” performance; Seek feedback
Refer to rules for refinements in performance
L2 learning occurs most effectively with high degrees of learner
involvement
– Learners should be able to achieve expert-like performance.
Automaticity is the shift from conscious to spontaneous processing
(McLaughlin, 1990)
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Sociocultural Approaches to Language
Learning
• Place L2 acquisition in a context of social practices
• Emerged from a more general sociocultural theory proposed by
Vygotsky (1962, 1978)
• Examine the relationship between
–
–
–
–
Mind
Language
Communication
Culture
• Focus on three major concepts:
– Genetic Analysis
– Social Learning
– Mediation
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Sociocultural Approaches to Language
Learning
• Genetic analysis
– Interpretation of learning should take into account social, cultural, and
historic trends
• Social learning
– Learning to read and write is a social practice rather than an individual
skill
– Interactions with teachers or peers allow learners to advance through
their “zone of proximal development” (ZPD), the distance between what
they can achieve by themselves and what they can accomplish when
assisted by others (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 58)
• Mediation
– Interprets the teacher’s role as a “facilitator, guide, and, when
appropriate, expert” in apprenticing students into “discourse and social
practices” of the communities of native speakers
(Warschauer, 1997, p. 90)
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Research Related to Listening
• The process of listening consists of internal operations and
therefore is not easy to measure
• Process refers to how listeners interpret input in terms of what they
know, or identify what they do not know, and use different kinds of
signals to interpret what is said (Rubin, 1994, p. 210)
• Researchers examined top-down, bottom-up, and parallel
processing: Bacon, 1992; Bernhardt & James, 1987; Danks, 1980;
Chaudron, 1983; Glisan, 1988; Lund, 1990, 1991; Rubin, 1994;
VanPatten, 1989
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“Listening to Learn” & “Learning to
Listen” (Lund, 1991)
• Traditional approach: listening is a language-recognition skill
rather than a cognitively controlled process (Swaffer & Bacon, 1993)
• More recently, listening began to be recognized as the foundation
of language instruction. The receptive skills of listening provided
the basis for comprehension-based approaches which Lund (1991)
characterizes as “listening to learn”
• At the same time, Rubin (1994) suggests that teachers and scholars
“will recognize more and more the importance of teaching listening
comprehension in a L2 classroom (p. 199), which Lund defines as
“learning to listen” (p. 105)
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Factors that Affect Listening
Comprehension
• How do listeners integrate phonologic, syntactic, lexical, and
sociolinguistic information?
• According to Rubin (1994), the following factors affect listening
comprehension:
– Text Characteristics (variations in listening passage/text or associated
visual support)
– Interlocutor Characteristics (variations in the speaker’s personal
characteristics)
– Listener Characteristics (variations in the listener’s personal
characteristics)
– Process Characteristics (variations in the listener’s cognitive activities
and in the nature of interaction between speaker and listener)
– Task characteristics (variations in the purpose for listening and
associated responses)
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Video as a Source of Authentic Discourse
• Geddes and White (1979) draw a distinction between the
types of authentic discourse:
– Unmodified authentic discourse, a genuine act of communication
– Simulated authentic discourse, a discourse for pedagogical purposes,
but at the same time exhibits features that have a high probability of
occurrence in genuine acts of communication (p. 130)
• This presentation examines three types of videotexts:
– Simulated authentic discourse in a video-driven course package
– Authentic online newscasts
– Interviews of native speakers conducted by students as part of
a Service-Learning Project
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What is Service Learning?
• Method of teaching, learning and reflecting that combines
academic curriculum with meaningful service experiences
that meet community needs.
• As a teaching methodology, it falls under the category of
experiential education
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Why Use a Variety of Videotexts?
•
Factors that Affect Listening Comprehension as found in
Course Packages
–
–
–
–
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Text Characteristics
• Present scripts produced solely for student consumption
• Created to introduce specific linguistic structures
• Useful, but often insufficient for bring the target culture to students
Speech (Interlocutor) Characteristics
• Produced by native speakers, scripted discourse
Listener Characteristics
• Most students have had little prior exposure to authentic discourse
• L2 learners exhibit low tolerance for information gaps and find listening difficult
Process Characteristics
• Negotiation of meaning is absent from discourse
• Viewers carry out a passive, receptive role
Task Characteristics
• Solicit answers to artificial, unauthentic questions
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Why Use a Variety of Videotexts?
Newscasts as a Source of Authentic Videotext
•
•
•
•
Available on the Internet in overflowing supply
Major resource for information gathering, similar to newspapers
Provide current information on matters in the target country
Present paralinguistic information, including manners, gesture, and
speaking styles
• Rich in cognates
• Allow viewers to see a country the way that country sees itself
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Factors that Affect Listening
Comprehension as Found in Online
SCOLA Newscasts
Text Characteristics:
• Unmodified authentic discourse: Texts are produced by native
speakers and for native speakers
• Dry, monotonous monologues delivered by “talking heads” with little
visual support
• Subject matter unfamiliar to students
• Long sentences with complex relative clauses
• Sophisticated, frequently unfamiliar vocabulary
• Figurative expressions, including idioms and metaphors
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Factors that Affect Listening
Comprehension as Found in Online
SCOLA Newscasts
Speech (Interlocutor) Characteristics
• News anchors and reporters express meaning efficiently, thus
speech is characterized by:
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–
–
–
–
–
Fewer normal pauses, hesitations, corrections, paraphrase
Diminished word or even sentence boundaries
Reduction of vowels and assimilation of consonants
Input is rehearsed and read (vs. produced spontaneously)
Written language is delivered via an audio-visual medium
Interviews are prepared and edited, thus merely resemble
natural discourse
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Factors that Affect Listening
Comprehension as Found in Online
SCOLA Newscasts
Process Characteristics
– By nature, a newscast is a one-way medium
– Negotiation of meaning is absent from discourse
– Viewers carry out a passive, receptive role
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Factors that Affect Listening
Comprehension as Found in Online
SCOLA Newscasts
Task Characteristics: Ancillary Materials Provided by SCOLA
• Pros:
– Insta-Class is an excellent addition to SCOLA
– Provides weekly English translations for one news episode
– Provides weekly comprehension questions for that same episode
• Cons:
– Materials created by SCOLA developers are limited in quantity and
variety
– Seem appropriate for classroom environment only
– Need substantial reworking to be completed online
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Factors that Affect Listening
Comprehension as Found in
Student-conducted Interviews
• Text Characteristics
– Texts are produced by native speakers for native speakers, but with
learners of Russian in mind
– Subject matter unfamiliar to students; no visual support
– Long sentences with complex relative clauses
– Sophisticated, frequently unfamiliar vocabulary
• Speech (Interlocutor) Characteristics
–
–
–
–
Normal pauses, hesitations, corrections, paraphrase
Occasional reduction of vowels and assimilation of consonants
Input is not rehearsed and is produced spontaneously
Interviews represent natural discourse
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Factors that Affect Listening
Comprehension as Found in
Student-conducted Interviews
• Process Characteristics
– Negotiation of meaning and questions for clarification characterize
discourse
– Listeners carry out an active participatory role
• Task Characteristics
– Learners solicit answers to authentic questions of their interest
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Instructional Challenges
• Adapting videotexts to the learning needs of students
with various proficiency levels
• Adapting material to instructional goals:
Listening to Learn vs. Learning to Listen (Lund, 1991)
Listening to Learn – using video as a vehicle to other skills an integrated approach
Video provides a starting point for work on productive skills:
– vocabulary development - structural analysis – conversation - analytical writing -
Instructional Objective:
•
Creating activities to cultivate productive skills
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Instructional Challenges
Learning to Listen - skill acquisition for comprehension
• Purely receptive approach that involves the teaching of listening
strategies
Instructional Objectives:
• Creating activities to cultivate listening skills for structural and
sociocultural comprehension
• Developing learning activities to accompany unmodified
authentic discourse
• Assisting viewers with comprehension of unmodified
authentic discourse
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Designing Tasks for
Video Comprehension
The concept of helping students to develop their listening skills through
specific strategies has emerged in the past fifteen years:
Richards (1983) suggested manipulation of two variables:
the input and the task (pp. 227-229)
INPUT

MICRO-SKILLS
 TASKS
Activities & Tasks:
Pre-viewing • Watching the Video • Post-viewing
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Pre-viewing Objectives
• Elicit students’ background knowledge
• Identify students’ previous experiences
• Generate a meaningful framework for further development
of comprehension
• Generate a meaningful framework for further development
of linguistic skills
• Reduce anxiety of confronting the unknown
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Low-production Activities & Tasks
while Watching the Video
• Scaffolding, assisting with comprehension of lexical items: (e.g., add
subtitles, or full scripts, then steadily withdraw
help as the semester progresses)
• Identifying main ideas, characters, places (multiple choice)
• Focusing attention on particular features of the videotext
• Scanning the videotext for specific information
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Low-production Activities & Tasks
while Watching the Video
Low-production Activities & Tasks while Watching the Video:
Item format: multiple choice or T/F:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Recognizing vocabulary
Identifying cognates
Conducting grammar observations
Testing hypotheses
Classifying statements (T/F)
Determining intonation patterns
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High-production Activities & Tasks
and Post-viewing Objectives:
• Facilitating retention of linguistic items processed during video
viewing:
– Paragraph-level oral and written summaries
– Cloze exercises for active vocabulary development
• Fostering critical thinking and students’ analytical skills:
– Express your opinion about the event
• Tasks that bring the language of the video into active use:
– Recall, recognition, and application exercises
– Comparing findings with other students in the group
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Sample Student Survey
Question
Mean
Standard
Deviation
Using Video Guides helped me to stay focused during video viewing.
2.05
0.42
Using Video Guides helped me to remember the video episodes better.
2.00
0.61
In my opinion, using an interactive Video Guide may help me learn more from the
video episodes.
2.00
0.50
I would like to continue using a Viewing Guide while watching «Начало» episodes
next year.
1.82
0.52
I liked the design of the current Video Guide.
2.17
0.80
The Video Guide distracted me from watching the video.
3.82
0.95
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Conclusion
Avoid
• Cognitive overload
• Task overload
• Long video episodes, exceeding 3 min. in length
Provide
• Comprehension checks to sustain high degree of concentration
• Parallel texts for reading (full text, captions, key words)
• More viewing sessions of fewer discrete episodes
• Class time and screen space for note taking
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Contact Information:
Dr. Luba Iskold
2400 Chew Street
Muhlenberg College,
Languages, Literatures and Cultures,
Allentown, PA 18104
Phone: 484-664-3516
Fax: 484-664-3722
E-mail: iskold@muhlenberg.edu
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/forlang/LLC/iskold_home/index.htm
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