Title: Developing learning materials from authentic video-taped student presentations: not as daunting as it might first appear
Author: Teresa Ting
Last saved by: Mary
Company: Unical

Major article 4

Learning materials from video-clips of student presentations
Not  as daunting as it might seem

Y.L. Teresa Ting* and Annamaria Mandoliti°
The University of Calabria, Rende (CS) Italy

 In this paper, we would like to report how we encouraged language learning by video-taping students as they stuttered, sputtered and yet successfully sounded their thoughts and fears.  In particular, their fear of an upcoming exam.  Bashful or bold, few would deny the benefits of watching oneself speak.  In addition to becoming aware of  over-use of discourse markers, videos provide learners of a foreign language with hardcore evidence of their very own language problems and pronunciation pitfalls.  Besides, what more authentic a foreign language learning device is there than a video of oneself speaking in that foreign language?  Some may question the humaneness of video-taping our learners as they struggle to master the language.   The issue is certainly how we teachers can turn such recordings from a potentially embarrassing and confidence-smashing bad thing into a useful series of learning activities which actually go towards building learner autonomy as well as confidence.  The second more daunting issue of developing learning material from authentic videos of student presentations is that it can be very time-consuming.  Here, we would like to demonstrate that it need not require more time than our usual lesson-planning with more personalised learning material being the undeniably more motivating product.

The context was a group of second-year Italian university students majoring in the Communication Sciences and assigned to at upper-A2/B1 English course which was designed to prepare these students for B1-level certification following 100 hours of frontal instruction (provided by Teresa) and 30 hours of tutoring (provided by Annamaria).  Frontal instruction involved the more traditional learning format whereby students, working as a class, or through group-work, master various components of the foreign language (vocabulary, grammar, lexis, syntax etc.).  Tutoring was the novelty in that, with Annamaria as an overseeing and informed guide, students received individual attention and learning situations through especially designed EFL computer and video-based materials.  This very favourable instructor-tutor co-working situation has been in place at the Language Centre of The University of Calabria since its establishment in 2000 and provides students with a very humanistic learning context since networking in real-time, instructor and tutors can both monitor individual student progress and cater to learning problems immediately.  Teamwork certainly facilitated the development of materials and although instructor-tutor teams may not be the norm, collaboration may also be found in the context of teacher-trainee teacher programmes.

Phase I: Defining and Delimiting the topic 
Although the idea of video-taping had been brewing in the back of my mind (Teresa), I was inhibited by the belief that video-taping my far-from-fluent speakers would so devastate them that they would never want to speak another word of English.  However, knowledge that Annamaria and the students were a little dissatisfied with the stilted standard learning videos plus the antsy classroom atmosphere where exam-anxiety prevailed in Italian the week before the exams, I decided to do it.  

Students were given 10 minutes to prepare a 3 minute spiel about 
1)	why they have chosen to study Communication Sciences
2)	what courses they have been following this semester
3)	what has been their favourite course of the semester, and why
4)	what will probably be in the course exam next week, and why.

Grammatically, the students had already encountered the necessary tenses and lexically, they had each other and the instructor who functioned as a walking dictionary for 10 minutes.  This was the time necessary for the technician to set up the video machine and we rolled for the next 40 minutes through almost 10 (attendance was low due to exams) fairly spontaneous student commentaries on their favourite courses and what they foresaw in their examination-crystal ball.  
Tip: give a written list which defines what points the presentation must cover.  Although this delimits the possible things students may say, there is little risk that viewing will be boring as each student will work on only their own video but greatly reduces the amount of work for the teacher when it comes to the transcription and development of activities.

Phase II: Transcription of short presentations
The first step involved the transcription of the students’ presentations.  Although many at this point may scratch any notions of implementing this activity, the transcription of these short and delimited presentations was not as tedious as we ourselves had originally feared.  In fact, as each student produced no more than 7 sentences so transcribing was not time-consuming at all, taking no more than 5 minutes per presentation.  In addition, students also said very similar things as they had rigorous guidelines to delimit the content of their presentation – this facilitated transcription since the range of vocabulary was predictable and contained.  Although between-student redundancy may be a drawback if one hoped to learn from watching all the videos, it does not pose a problem in this context as students were asked to view only their own clips.  Finally, we just found it so interesting to actually dissect what students say – was that mumble-jumble the auxiliary before the V-ing form or does this student still not know they need ‘to be’?  

Here are the actual transcripts of two presentations:

Hello, I Michele I’m study Communication and I study Art History because the art is are a universal language.  I think is very important for the communication.  I learned Andy Warhol because it’s my personal God…fantastic and I wanna to know many information about Andy Warhol, it’s work from of the American art…I think it would be…there will be a simple exam…many contemporary artists.

Hi, I’m Stella and study communication and the next week will be a test in which will be the material and I study art of history.  I study this matter because is a form of communication.  I like this subject…I learn that a work of art…è (sic) very interesting and I understand that behind a work of art there is feelings and emotions of artist.

Not bad for an upper A2-B1 group being video-taped in English for the first time and only after a 10-min pre-taping preparation!  Students’ limited range of vocabulary and sporadic but intense L1-grammar interference (no subject pronoun and ubiquitous use of the present simple) was counterbalanced by their communicative maturity, i.e. desire to reveal personal thoughts and opinions despite their linguistic limitations.

Phase III: Developing learning materials
For each student, four sets of learning material were developed from their individual presentations.

Activity 1A: Pre-listening “Cloze-in-on-your-language”  
This pre-viewing activity asked students to “cloze-in” on their own good language.  The cloze-activity was actually based on the students’ own presentation from which their original erroneous language was actually blanked out.  They were not expected to remember exactly what they had said but, with what language they knew, were asked to complete the transcription.  Such “closing-in” on their own transcripts gave students an opportunity to actually produce the correct language in writing, solidifying their language knowledge before facing the mistakes they then witnessed in their own videos.  The following activity was thus developed from the two presentations illustrated above:

Hello, _______ Michele _______ Communication and I _______ Art History because the art _______ universal language.  I think _______ very important _______ communication.  I _______ Andy Warhol because _______ my personal God…fantastic and I _______ know _______ information about Andy Warhol, it’s work _______ American art…I think _______  be a simple exam _______ many contemporary artists.

Hi, _______ Stella _______ communication and _______ week _______ be a test in ______________ art of history.  I _______ this matter because _______ a form of communication.  I like this subject…I _______ that a work of art _______ very interesting and I understand that behind a work of art there is feelings and _______ emotions of _______artist.

Once they had completed their texts, students were instructed to ask Annamaria for their video (Activity 1B).

Activity 2: self-correction and lexis-building
Students were given a complete transcript of their presentation and given the instruction: “This is what you said – correct yourself.”  Below the text, the lexis-building note provided corrections or alternatives to erroneous utterances found in each student’s presentation with the instruction: “NOTICE! Here are some useful alternatives.”  Michele and Stella received the respective suggestions:

Michele: 

It is very important
It plays an important role in
It is central to

Learned Andy Warhol
Studied Andy Warhol
Learn = learn about Andy Warhol

Fantastic
Incredible
Wonderful
Exceptional

Stella:

‘matter’
subject
topic

argomento (It)  argument = litigio
(Stella, this is a false friend: ‘argomento’ in English is ‘subject’)

material
subject
issue

I like this subject
I enjoyed this subject
I learned a lot in this subject
This subject was very interesting

Feelings
Sentiments
Sensations
Thoughts
Interpretations

Students worked with transcripts which were double-spaced so there was plenty of room for them to implement their self-corrections. This activity helped them understand that direct translation usually does not work.  So, students received ‘useful lexical alternatives’ and were sensitised to L1-L2 false friends.  

Activity 3 targeted grammar and was entitled “Let’s correct together.”  We bracketed multiple-choice options into the transcripts to highlight grammatical and lexical errors that the students made.  As illustrated below, this was not a true multiple choice ‘test’ per se as it was clear that the correct choice was the alternative to what the student had actually said.  

Hello, (I/I am) Michele I’m (study/studying/studied) Communication and I (study/studied) Art History because (the art/art) (is/are) a universal language.  I think is very important for (the communication/communication).  I (learned/studied) Andy Warhol because (it’s/he’s) my personal God…fantastic and I wanna to know (many/a lot of) information about Andy Warhol, (it’s/his) work from of (the American/American) art…I think (it would be/there will** be/it is going to be**) a simple exam…many contemporary artists.

Hi, I’m Stella and (I study/study) communication and (the next week/next week) (there will be **/there is going to be) a test in which (there will be/there is going to be) the (material/contents) and I study (art of history/art history).  I study this (matter/subject) because (is/it is) a form of communication.  I like this subject…I (learn/have learnt) that a work of art…(è/is/it is) very interesting and I understand that behind a work of art there (is/are) feelings and emotions of (artist/the artist).

This basically provided students with teacher-feedback correction of what they had said, without the presence of the teacher but requiring a little more thinking than just a glance through the red ink.  Students were then instructed to “Ask Annamaria to check you!”  As only one tutor is available at any one time at the Language Centre, presenting students with corrections in this way also made more efficient and effective use of Annamaria’s time.

The asterixes were inserted to refer students to a grammar footnote on the use of simple future and the ‘going to’ future form.  This had only just been covered in class and this video-viewing proved an opportune time for students to review this new item.  In fact, as all the students had to foresee the contents of their upcoming exam, they all received the same footnote which read:

** 
YOU SAID:
…there will be a simple exam

YOU SHOULD SAY:
…there IS GOING TO BE a simple exam

**********
Remember that “WILL+” and “GOING TO+” are both future tenses but one is for more pre-programmed intentions and one is for spontaneous decisions.  

See if you remember which is which.  Look at these correct sentences:
•	I am going to HAVE a birthday party…would you like to come?
•	He is going to STUDY languages at Oxford.
•	They are going to GET MARRIED next year!

In each sentence, 
•	which is the verb?
•	which is the auxiliary – what verb it its?

**********
Now look at these spontaneous decisions:
•	OH, someone is at the door!  I’ll go see who it is.
•	I don’t have any money! Don’t worry, I’ll lend you some!
•	The phone is ringing!  Will you answer it please?

**********

Now, ask Annamaria for the activities involving WILL and GOING TO.

Activity 4 dealt with the other very challenging component of the English language for Italian learners: forming the interrogative form since the affirmative and interrogative are invariable in Italian, with the interrogative markers being a change in intonation when speaking and the question mark when writing.  Students were given the following instructions:  “You are a VIP (Very Important Person) and you are interviewed!  Here are YOUR answers, but what are the interviewer’s questions?”  This was followed by five very short answers which were based on each students presentation.  Again delimiting the context of each presentation made the making of this activity also relatively time-efficient as the first three questions of this activity remained the same for all the students with the last two being more reflective of what individual students said.  For example, for Michele, the activity consisted of the following questions:

You are a VIP (Very Important Person) and you are interviewed!  Here are YOUR answers, but what are the interviewer’s questions?”  

1. _________________________________
I study Communications

2. _________________________________
OH…next week!

3. _________________________________
There are going to be four exams!

4.  _________________________________
Art History.

5.  _________________________________
Well, he’s the BEST!

For Stella, question 4 happened to be the same while for others, it was another course such as Computer Science, Linguistics etc. and question 5 was, for Stella, “Well, behind a work of art, there are the feelings and emotions of the artist.”  These last two questions conclude this set of video-based learning activities on a more humanistic and personalised note.  Of course the last piece of instruction on the handout was “Ask Annamaria to check ” bringing students back into the hands of a real-life tutor.  

Phase IV: Implementing the Materials: Results and student feedback 
Despite our very basic knowledge of Word, it took us only 3 hours to develop these fairly personalised and humanistic materials from 10 authentic videos of authentic student speech.  Many of the participants did not mind us using their videos (and thus activities) to help those classmates who were absent from the lesson.  The three hours invested into the development of this material thus provided ca. an hour of individual and semi-personalised learning time for nearly 18 students.  Considering how difficult it is to provide authentically individual and personalised learning situations, we believe that it was definitely an effective use of teacher-preparation time.

In informal interviews with Annamaria following the activities, students were generally positive about the experience and satisfied with what they learnt from the activities.  Although some found it embarrassing to be video-taped, most recognised the very personalised learning value that these tapes provide with “I am now more aware of where I make mistakes” stated often and “It helps with pronunciation” cited almost by all as a positive aspect of this set of activities. Others said that although they were embarrassed, they nonetheless had fun and enjoyed learning English in such an original way.   The activities which engendered the most enthusiasm from the students were activity 1B and 4.  In activity 1B, they had a chance to not only watch themselves and see what they had actually said but were able to compare their ‘spoken mistakes’ with the more correct language that they themselves were capable of producing in written form in Activity 1A.  Basically, preceding the video-screening with activity 1A built learner confidence as they realised that even if their ‘spontaneous speech’ is not perfect, they do know the proper language.  They were after all, one of the more elementary groups!  

Students also expressed interest in Activity 4 as they enjoyed pretending to be a VIP being interviewed.  Again, this enthusiasm stemmed from the realisation that  they were able to come up with several correctly formulated questions to ‘their’ VIP answers.  As the interrogative form in Italian is identical in word order to the affirmative form, the English interrogative is one of the more challenging forms for Italian learners of English so the successful completion of this activity was a boost to student confidence.

Conclusions and additional insights gained in retrospect 
Our first experience in developing these personalized activities by videotaping Italian students proved to be a positive one. Despite our initial doubts regarding the utility of these video-based activities, students were very enthusiastic about the whole project as watching themselves speak in English, and doing so surprisingly reasonably actually solidified their English persona which became more real given this new learning context.  Given the chance, all those who were video-taped claimed that they would do it again as the experience was helpful and provided worthwhile and highly personalised learning.

From the collaborative end of the project, we found it highly gratifying to further our instructor-tutor collaboration towards the production of learning material that was totally different from the usual standardized activities found in grammar books and commercialised English-learning videos.  Again, the individualised nature of the learning material was undoubtedly very authentic.

In retrospect, we found that such short video-clips provided invaluable guidance for teaching.  This resulted from the fact that in the short 5 minutes needed to transcribe each students’ presentation, we became fully immersed in the individual students’ English-world.  In fact, actually transcribing what each student says provided a means to objectively evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of individual learners, not only globally but on a per-item basis: grammar, lexis, syntax, pronunciation etc.  For example, in the case of an extrovert student who is a DJ by night and who has no problems getting his message across in the classroom, transcription revealed that his grammar was very poor and he often amputated the last vowel off of Italian words to invent a new English word!  Likewise, strong L1-accents which pose no problems in class became a glaring problem on the video.  As teachers living amongst Italians, we begin to understand our students despite their English-ised Italian words and incredibly overpowering Italian accents.  Myers (2003) has demonstrated how videos can be used to help teachers see how they teach.  We suggest that very short video-clips may also be used to guide teachers in what they teach!  

Indeed, in teaching hundreds of university students year after year, it is refreshing to find out that 
what appeared a potentially time-consuming method to be avoided at all costs can actually be a useful gadget for both the learner and the teacher.  We hope to have provided sufficient details to encourage foreign language teachers to use video-clips of their own students as a source of authentic and highly personalised learning material.

References
J. Meyers.  Eight teaching fellows tell what it’s like to be videotaped.  http://bokcenter.harvard.edu