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Student Engagement with Digital Video Production
Article in ELT Journal · April 2021
DOI: 10.1093/elt/ccab050
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Student Engagement with Digital Video Production
Alastair Henry
Abstract
In many contexts of contemporary ELT, the L2 can be widely encountered beyond the
classroom. In these settings, teachers need to maximize opportunities for meaningful
participation. Digital video production (DVP) provides one such opportunity. Little, however,
is known about the types of DVP common in particular contexts of ELT, the extent to which
DVP functions as a motivational resource, or how engagement is generated. This mixedmethods study in a Swedish context addresses these questions. Results show that DVP takes
place in genre-specific forms, and has significant motivational potential. Analyses suggest
that DVP can generate embodied forms of engagement. By creating appealing characters and
storylines, and through the use of mobile devices and easy-to-use video-editing software,
students can engage in authentic self-expression in meaningful and satisfying ways. Insights
into the ways in which engagement is generated can provide teachers with valuable
knowledge when designing learning activities that incorporate DVP.
Introduction
1
Digital technologies have changed ELT in significant ways. In many contemporary
classrooms, students become involved in media production, using digital tools to create texts
in multiple semiotic modes (Hafner 2015). The creation of multimodal digital media—for
example audio-visually supported presentations, videos and podcasts—is regarded as highly
beneficial for language learning. Not only does the creation of new media prepare students
for life in a digitally-mediated world, but in providing a better fit with digital literacy
practices in out-of-school environments, participation in classroom activities is also enhanced
(Hafner 2015). Reviewing research on the affordances of multimodal media production, and
in particular the ways in which digital video enables experimentation with multiple modes of
expression, Hafner (2015) argues that “embedding digital video projects in the language
curriculum can be highly motivational, fostering learner autonomy, teamwork, creativity, and
interaction with an authentic online audience” (488).
In language classrooms, digital video production (DVP) can be understood as a
learning activity that takes place in project form, and where students “experiment with a
range of digital video technology in order to create personally meaningful multimodal
artifacts” (Hafner and Miller 2011: 72). Videos can be produced on personal or schoolprovided devices. Films can be uploaded onto video-sharing sites, such as YouTube and
TikTok, or shared among peers in local networks. Because it promotes autonomy, teamwork
and creativity, DVP shares many of the motivational qualities associated with technology use
(Henry and Lamb 2020). However, in addition to these generic motivational affordances,
focused energy may also arise through the particular activity of creating moving images and
audio narratives. It is these affordances that the current study seeks to explore. Drawing on
data from the Motivational Teaching in Swedish Secondary English (MoTiSSE) project—a
large-scale investigation of motivational practice in ELT carried out in Sweden using survey
and ethnographic methods (Henry and Thorsen 2018)—the focus of this article is on student
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engagement with DVP. Responding to a need (i) to map student engagement with particular
facets of L2 learning environments, and (ii) to generate holistic accounts of students’ positive
learning behaviours in these interactions (Dörnyei 2019), the purpose of the study is to chart
the ways in which DVP is used, to consider the importance of DVP as a motivational
resource, and to explore the nature of student engagement with DVP in classroom-based
learning.
Digital video production and motivational affordances
In studies focused on language learning and technology, it is common to find statements—
often in the ‘implications’ sections of an article—that emphasise the motivational potential of
the tools, applications or practices under investigation. Much less frequently do investigations
of motivation or student engagement form part of the study objectives. Moreover, when
claims are made about the motivational properties of particular technologies and the
influences on students’ learning behaviours, propositions tend to be framed in general terms
(Henry and Lamb 2020). This is unfortunate. Particular technologies, and the ways in which
they are used in language classrooms, need to be understood as providing unique
combinations of motivational affordances.
So far, studies investigating the motivational affordances associated with DVP
in ELT have mostly been conducted in Asian contexts. In one study where motivation was in
focus, Yang and Wu (2012) report on a 20-week digital storytelling intervention in EFL
classes. Here, Taiwanese senior high students in an experimental group scored significantly
higher on post-test task value and self-efficacy. In a study at an English-medium university in
Hong Kong, Hafner and Miller (2011) report that students found a DVP project to be novel,
fun, and challenging. In another interview-based study, Jiang and Luk (2016) identified seven
motivational properties associated with DVP in English language learning, namely:
challenge, curiosity, fantasy, competition, cooperation, and recognition.
3
While these studies provide baseline understandings of the positive learning
behaviours that can arise when students get involved with DVP, there is need for
development in two important respects. First, greater conceptual precision would be of value.
To take Jiang and Luk’s (2016) study as an example, the motivational factors associated with
DVP are wholly analogous to intrinsic motivation generated in instructional gaming.
However, as Karaganis (2007) reminds us, in the production of new media, technology use
needs to be understood as a specifically structured form of social participation, and as
involving skill-sets specific to particular modes of interaction. In the continued development
of understandings of L2 motivation and technology use, and as a means of generating
knowledge that is valuable for teachers, there is need to explore focused learning behaviours
in relation to specific digital tools, and in the context of modes of action characteristic to
specific participatory genres (Henry and Lamb 2020).
Meaningful participation and student engagement
In many contexts of contemporary ELT, the L2 can be widely encountered beyond the
classroom. In these settings the role of the teacher shifts to becoming an “instructional
designer” —someone tasked with maximizing opportunities for meaningful participation in
learning activities (Mercer and Dörnyei 2020). To provide teachers with knowledge that can
help them to develop design skills, and insights that can be of use when carrying out
classroom activities, L2 motivation research needs to move beyond the identification of
motivational antecedents; it needs additionally to focus on students’ participation in varying
activity types in particular contexts of learning. To a much greater degree, studies need to be
practitioner-oriented. Research should aim to provide holistic accounts of dynamic processes
of interactions with learning activities, and insight into how energy and focus arise through
participatory action. With knowledge generated in this way, teachers may be better equipped
to design and manage activities in ways that generate enthusiasm and hold students’ attention.
4
In this respect, student engagement (Skinner and Pitzer 2012) constitutes an attractive
construct. Because focus is trained on intentioned involvement with learning activities,
student engagement provides a means of understanding how motivation plays out in concrete
actions in particular learning tasks (Dörnyei 2019). Because it encompasses students’ agentic
behaviour in learning contexts, student engagement provides an important conceptual tool for
investigating—and developing—motivational practice (Mercer and Dörnyei 2020).
Purpose
While DVP can provide a highly stimulating medium within which language skills can
develop, studies on motivational influences are few. Little is known about the types of DVP
common in particular contexts of ELT, the extent to which DVP functions as a motivational
resource, or how engagement arises. In an attempt to provide answers to these questions, and
in the context of ELT in Sweden, the purpose of this mixed-methods study is to examine the
forms DVP can take, its motivational importance, and the ways in which engagement is
generated. The following research questions were formulated:
RQ1. What forms does DVP take?
RQ2. To what extent is DVP a motivational resource?
RQ3. What are the characteristics of student engagement with DVP?
Procedures
Data
To carry out these objectives, two datasets from the MoTiSSE project were used: (i) data
from a survey of secondary English teachers’ motivational practices, where an online
questionnaire was sent to 252 teachers of English in Grades 6–9 (ages 12–15, CEFR A2.1–
B1.1) at 64 randomly-selected secondary schools in Western Sweden, and (ii) data from
ethnographic observations carried out in the classrooms of 16 teachers identified in the
5
survey as successful motivators (see Henry and Thorsen 2018 for full details of the MoTiSSE
project methodology).
Analysis of the questionnaire data
For RQ1 and RQ2, an analysis of the survey data was carried out. In addition to multi-item
Likert scales measuring teachers’ awareness of students’ out-of-school encounters with
English, and use of activities connecting to these encounters, the questionnaire also included
an open question: “Describe an activity or task that you have carried out with your pupils
which you experience has motivated them”. Completed questionnaires were received from
112 teachers (response rate 44%). Of these, 97 questionnaires included a response to the open
question. Some teachers described more than one activity. In total 112 descriptions were
obtained (Henry Korp Sundqvist and Thorsen 2018).
Analysis of classroom observations
For RQ3, an analysis of fieldnotes from lesson observations (N = 258) was carried out. The
following steps were taken. First, lessons involving DVP activities were identified. In some
activities, DVP was one among a number of expressive resources that students could chose to
work with. In other activities, all the students in a class created digital videos. While in most
cases students used phones or laptops to record and edit videos, in a couple of cases
professional equipment was used. Mostly, DVP took place in project-form, and extended
over several lessons. In total, 8 activities involved DVP: video-recorded role-plays (2), videorecorded group discussions (1), narrative films (4), and vlogs (1). In a second step, fieldnotes
from these lessons were examined. In a third step, two examples of DVP were selected for
close-up examination. Selection was motivated because (i) the fieldnotes provided rich
descriptions of the students’ interactions, (ii) students used phones and laptops to create the
videos, and (iii) the DVP was typical of the two most common genres of user generated
content online (Mosebo Simonsen 2011). These were a) a short narrative sketch, and b) a
6
vlog. In a final step, and against the backdrop of theories of student engagement in roleplaying (Gee 2018; Rector–Aranada et al. 2017), analyses of the students’ interactions were
conducted.
Results and Discussion
What forms does DVP take?
The activity descriptions provided by the teachers (in response to the open question in the
survey) reveal how DVP activities fall into four broad thematic categories: travel-themed
videos, popular culture videos, news/documentary videos, and video-adaptations. These
categories are set out in table 1.
Table 1. Thematic categories of DVP
Category
Activities (As per the teachers’ written responses to the openquestion. Translations from Swedish)
Travel-themed videos
Making films about English-speaking countries
Making their own films about English-speaking countries
Making a travel program in English (an English version of ‘The
Holiday Program’)
Recording promotional videos for English-speaking
countries/cities
Travel blogs in groups where they visit an English-speaking
country – a mixture of written texts and videoblogs
Popular culture videos
An instruction video about the school for grade 7 students
A cooking program
A music video
News/documentary videos Making a news program in video format
A news report – local news, domestic and foreign news, sport and
weather for example
They do a report, and record it as a documentary using their
ipads
7
Video-adaptations
Writing the script for, and filming a scene from a novel or play
Not categorized
Making their own TV-program
Making a film using their ipads
Given the curriculum requirement that students should have knowledge about cultural
phenomena in contexts and areas where English is used, and the allure of native-speaking
countries, it is not surprising to find DVP in the context of travel in English-speaking
settings. Interestingly, three of the five activities in this category involve a particular genre (a
vacation program, a promotional video, and a vlog). In both the ‘popular culture’ and
‘news/documentary’ categories, genre is similarly central: an instruction video, a cooking
program, and news reports and documentary films. In generating engagement, working
within familiar genres can provide students with thematic templates for modelling DVP, and
opportunities for self-expression perceived to be authentic within the genre.
To what extent is DVP a motivational resource?
Of the 112 activity descriptions provided by surveyed teachers, 14 (12.5%) involved DVP.
While the survey response rate (44%) indicates that caution is needed when assessing the
motivational importance of a particular activity type, it is clear that DVP is a significant
motivational resource in secondary ELT in Sweden. In this respect, interesting comparisons
can be made with activities traditionally regarded as motivational, such as challenges and
competitions. Comparing the current results with those of Henry and colleagues’ (2018)
previous analyses of the same dataset—where the focus was on teachers’ motivational
strategies—it is noteworthy that while the number of DVP descriptions is similar to the
number of activities that involve a challenge (14), DVP is twice as frequent as activities that
involve competitions (7). Equally interesting is the fact that DVP features more frequently
than activities involving audio-recordings (podcasts and radio programs) (5). DVP is also far
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more common than other recognizably motivational activities, such as e-twinning, drama and
music.
What are the characteristics of student engagement with DVP?
Similarly to the activities described in the survey, the DVP activities observed in the
ethnographic part of the MoTiSSE project provided students with opportunities to create
videos using school-provided laptops or tablets, and/or their smartphones. Making these
videos, students were often intensely involved in the production process. Not only did they
demonstrate creativity in constructing engaging narratives, meticulous attention was often
paid to scenecraft, and to the technical aspects of production.
To describe the characteristics of students’ engagement with DVP, I draw on a
model of student engagement in role-playing developed by Rector–Aranada and colleagues
(2017). In a grounded theory study of a role-playing game, these researchers follow Gee
(2008) in arguing that engagement “is embodied through the role that the student plays”
(Rector–Aranada et al. ibid. 300). In this model, embodied engagement consists of three
dimensions: immersion, relatability, and voice and agency. Immersion involves connecting
deeply with the experience and feeling fully part of the action. Relatability involves interest,
enjoyment, or enthusiasm for the characters. Voice and agency involve opportunities to
speak, and freedom to act through the characters.
Using an adapted version of this model—where ‘relatability’ and ‘voice and
agency’ also encompass the narrative creation of storylines, voiceovers and soundtracks—
and with an additional focus on the use of mobile devices, I examine excerpts from fieldnotes
created in two lessons where students worked with DVP. In the first excerpt, two boys
created a video about an encounter with a stranger from a future time. In the second—which
was part of a project where students blogged about an imaginary journey to an Englishspeaking destination—a group of girls created a vlog about a visit to Disney World.
9
EXCERPT ONE
1
The two boys are working in a highly focused way. There are no points where they
drift into other topics of conversation or start doing other things. Rather the phones are
used as tools for making the film and I don’t notice that they are doing other things
(e.g. checking Facebook).
2
When they have written the voiceover – and practiced saying it using different
intonation patterns and in different varieties of English – both laughing and evaluating
each new attempt – they talk about how the film has to be finished today. So there is a
sense of pressure I note. However they are also concerned about the quality.
3
“It has to be good”.
4
“Are we going to show this to the others?” Asks one.
5
“Sure”, says the other looking at him very seriously. “Of course we are going to do
that”, this said with emphasis.
6
“Then we need to get to a final product” says the other.
7
Now they are working intensely. Negotiating about what to do, how the film should be
shot, the tone and voice that the lines should be said in, and the facial expressions
when they are acting. Now the filming begins. When each ‘take’ is made they watch it
and comment on it (like real film-makers it seems to me).
8
“Got it”
9
“That was like perfect!”
10
Takes are made using different accents. There is an Indian accent. And an American
accent. (The boys are playing with the language too. I note that there is a creativity not
just in the process of sketching out the scenes and making the video, but also in the
way they work with the language).
10
11
Towards the end of the session when the script has been written, the scenes recorded
and the voice-over recorded, they start looking for music for the soundtrack on their
phones.
12
4 minutes from the end of the lesson, one of the boys says “I think we have got it. I
think it is done!”
EXCERPT TWO
13
# 2 are in a group room filming the video blog. “Can I come in?” I ask. Yes, sure they
say.
14
They are very concerned about the quality of the film. In highly animated manner,
they discuss the script, and evaluate each take with great self-criticism. They talk
about whether or not they should include bloopers (“No, let’s not do that” they say
“because everyone else is including blooper clips in their blogs”).
15
I note that they have combed their hair and are ‘made up’, two are wearing headbands,
in a way that they not normally are. And they look straight into the camera, with broad
‘TV’ smiles.
16
The whole time they are talking in a highly animated, highly excited way. This is not
stupid, childish excitement, but serious, I feel, in the sense that they are on edge and
animated as if they were being watched by live audience. I leave the room and stand
outside. Listening in. They can’t see me. But I can hear them. They carry on in the
same highly animated manner.
(Note: In excerpt one, reported speech was in English. In excerpt two reported speech was
in Swedish)
Immersion
In the model of embodied engagement in role-playing (Rector–Aranada et al. 2017),
immersion involves connecting deeply with the experience of acting out a role or story, and
11
feeling fully part of the action. As can be seen in both excerpts, the students were deeply
engaged. The boys used their phones exclusively for the purpose of production (line 1), and
were focused on producing the video within the time available ‘“we need to get to a final
product”’(line 6); ‘Now they are working intensely’ (line 7). For the girls, each take and
subsequent evaluation was carried out in a state of intense, nervous excitement: ‘This is not
stupid, childish excitement, but serious’; ‘they are on edge and animated as if they were
being watched by live audience’ (line 16).
Relatability
Relatability involves interest, enjoyment, or enthusiasm for the characters. In a DVP context,
it also involves the creation of a narrative. The video that the boys produced included
between–character interaction, as well as a narrated storyline. As can be seen in the excerpt,
the boys experimented with the various scenes, ascribing different voices to the characters:
“Takes are made using different accents” (line 10). The voiceover was recoded in a similar
spirit: “using different intonation patterns and in different varieties of English”. The boys
were fully engaged in the production process: “laughing and evaluating each new attempt”
(line 2). For the girls—themselves the characters in the vlog—great attention was paid to the
performance of identity. With time spent on make-up and accessories, here DVP involved a
carefully choreographed act of self-projection. Recounting the day’s experiences, and
performing in the role of lifestyle vloggers, the girls ‘look straight into the camera, with
broad ‘TV’ smiles’ (line 15).
Voice and agency
Voice and agency involve opportunities to speak, and freedom to act through the characters.
In DVP, voice and agency also extend to the creation of narrative. For both groups,
engagement with DVP arises through the ways in which the students chose to represent the
characters in the video (the boys), and themselves as vloggers (the girls). Choices about
12
representation—having fun with their characters (the boys) and engaging in genre-authentic
self-representation (the girls)—generate deep engagement. While the boys ‘[negotiate] about
what to do, how the film should be shot, the tone and voice that the lines should be said in,
and the facial expressions when they are acting’ (line 7), the girls ‘in highly animated
manner’, ‘discuss the script, and evaluate each take with great self-criticism’ (line 14).
Mobile devices
Together with the understanding of how engagement with DVP involves voice and agency—
freedom to act through the characters and to develop an engaging narrative—it is important to
recognise the role played by mobile devices. In producing aesthetically appealing products
with genre-specific characteristics, smartphones, laptops and simple-to-use editing software
not only provide the resources for creative self-expression; they also open up a performative
space that facilitates experiences of flexibility and immediacy (Henry et al. 2018). Alongside
embodied forms of engagement involved in character portrayal and the development of
storylines, the use of handheld devices enables these students to competently manage the
ways in which performances are enacted, and to experience autonomy in the creative process.
Implications for ELT
While DVP is regarded as motivational, there is little reported ELT research exploring this
potential, or the ways in which DVP can trigger positive responses from students. In
investigating the motivational properties of DVP, and by making use of the construct of
‘student engagement with digital video production’, the study aims to fill an important gap.
While the research was carried out in the context of secondary English in Sweden, the
findings contribute more widely to practice development.
First, through charting the occurrence of digital video in motivational activities
in Swedish ELT, the types of DVP associated with positive student responses have been
identified. While Sweden is a society high in networked readiness (the exploiting of ICT
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affordances) and students in Swedish schools may have greater access to digital resources
than counterparts in other countries, it is clear that DVP requires neither state-of-the-art
devices, nor sophisticated software. Rather, user-friendly, free-to-use programs installed on
laptops and smartphones appear to provide adequate resources for generating engagement
with DVP. Here, an important insight for ELT practitioners is that technological finesse and
digital know-how may be of less importance than skills in activity design, and an ability to
structure activities in ways that enable students to work within familiar genres using
commonplace tools.
Second, it is clear from the manner in which technology is used, and the ways
in which engagement is shaped, that DVP not only provides scope for creativity and selfexpression, but also for voice and agency. While in a Swedish context such affordances may
be generally positive, this may not be true for other contexts of ELT. For all teachers, but
especially those working in settings where students have less experience of project work, it
can be important to ensure that working practices and learning outcomes are explicitly
formulated and carefully discussed.
The third contribution made by the study is in highlighting the construct of
student engagement (Dörnyei 2019; Skinner and Pitzer 2012), and its usefulness as a means
of conceptualizing and investigating focused energy in activities involving use of digital
technologies. With engagement as a lens, it becomes possible to roll back the various
influences that might affect students’ learning behaviours in generally positive ways, and to
focus more directly on energy that arises through particular forms of participation. Used in
exploratory practice (Hanks 2017), the construct of ‘student engagement with digital video
production’ provides a means by which teachers can investigate and evaluate activities
involving DVP. By exploring how and why students become engaged with the production of
14
digital video, emerging insights can enhance systematic practice development and improve
the quality of students’ experiences of technology use in language learning.
Future research
In this study a model of student engagement in role-playing (Rector–Aranada et al. 2017) has
been extended to DVP. Deployment of the dimensions of ‘immersion’, ‘relatability’, and
‘voice and agency’ has enabled an understanding of how interactions with DVP constitute a
form of embodied engagement (Gee 2008). Since other types of user generated content
commonly form a part of language learning (e.g., podcasting and various types of online
media creation), future research into student engagement with expressive resources should
focus on characteristics that are specific to particular technologies, that relate to actions
within varying participatory genres, and that arise in different contexts of ELT.
Acknowledgements
The research reported on is part of the Motivational Teaching in Swedish Secondary English
(MoTiSSE) project funded by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) (Grant 2013–
785). I would like to thank all the teachers and students who took part.
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