THE USE OF VIDEO IN EFL CLASSROOM

Written By

RATIH WIJAYANTI

1507042024

Language learning is a complex process: in this process, language teachers can’t be far away from the technology, which is the application of scientific knowledge to practical tasks by organisations that involve people and machines. It is a fact that technology cannot be separated from society. Machines have social origins and they emerge from the needs of society. Therefore, teachers need technologies relevant to the teachinglearning situation. If the educationalists want children to be technologically equipped, all the changes and preparations ought to be done within the curriculum, school, architecture, teaching organisation and finance.  

It is a well-known fact that audio-visual materials are a great help in stimulating and facilitating the learning of a foreign language. According to Wright (1976:1) many media and many styles of visual presentation are useful to the language learner. That is to say, all audio-visual materials have positive contributions to language learning as long as they are used at the right time, in the right place. In language learning and teaching process, learner use his eyes as well as his ears; but his eyes are basic in learning. River (1981:399) claims that it clearly contributes to the understanding of another culture by providing vicarious contact with speakers of the language, through both audio and visual means. 

In recent years, the use of video in English classes has grown rapidly as a result of the increasing emphasis on communicative techniques. Being a rich and valuable resource, video is well-liked by both students and teachers (Hemei, 1997:45). Students like it because video presentations are interesting, challenging, and stimulating to watch. Video shows them how people behave in the culture whose language they are learning by bringing into the classroom a wide range of communicative situations. Another important factor for teachers that makes it more interesting and enjoyable is that it helps to promote comprehension. We know that deficiencies in vocabulary can make even a simple task very difficult for our students. Video makes meaning clearer by illustrating relationships in a way that is not possible with words, which proves a well-known saying that a picture is worth thousand words. Two minutes of video can provide an hour of classroom work, or it can be used to introduce a range of activity for five minutes. A ten-minute program can be useful for more advanced students. Less advanced students may wish something much shorter because their limited command of the language also limits their attention span.   

It is obvious that non-native speakers of a language rely more heavily on visual clues to support their understanding and there is no doubt that video is an obvious medium for helping learners to interpret the visual clues effectively. According to a research, language teachers like video because it motivates learners, brings the real world into the classroom, contextualizes language naturally and enables learners to experience authentic language in a controlled environment.

REASONS FOR VIDEO IMPLICATION IN EFL CLASSROOM. 

A great advantage of video is that it provides authentic language input. Movies and TV programmes are made for native speakers, so in that sense video provides authentic language input (Katchen,2002). That is to say, it is obvious that the practical implications of video in the classroom in any classroom environment it can easily be used; teacher can step in the process whenever he wishes; he can stop, start and rewind to repeat it for several times where necessary. Any selected short sequence from the programme can be utilized for intensive study. To pay special attention to a particular point in the programme it is possible to run in slow motion or at half speed or without sound.  

Besides, the learner can concentrate on the language in detail and interpret what has been said, repeat it, predict the reply and so on. The learner can also concentrate in detail on visual clues to meaning such as facial expression, dress, gesture, posture and on details of the environment. Even without hearing the language spoken clues to meaning can be picked up from the vision alone. Using visual clues to meaning in order to enhance learning is an important part of video methodology.  

The other point that should be focused is that in foreign language to interpret attitude is very difficult owing to the fact that the listener concentrates himself on the verbal message, not the visual clues to meaning. Video gives the students practice in concluding attitudes. The rhythmic hand and arm movements, head nods, head gestures are related to the structure of the message. Moreover, the students have a general idea of the culture of the target language. It may be enjoyable for the learners to have something different for language learning apart from the course books and cassettes for listening. 

On the other hand, besides advantages, the disadvantages of video should also be taken into account. The main disadvantages are cost, inconvenience, maintenance and some cases, fear of technology. Additionally, the sound and vision, quality of the copies or home-produced materials may not be ideal.  Another important issue in this case is that the teacher should be well-trained on using and exploiting the video. Otherwise, it becomes boring and purposeless for students.  

SOME TECHNIQUES FOR VIDEO IMPLICATION

It is easy for a group of imaginative teachers experienced in using video in ELT to sit down and draw up a list of different ways of using video in the classroom. There are many accounts where interesting video lessons are reported in the literature. Canning-Wilson (2000) suggests that as F/SL educators we must not loose sight of the educational purpose it has in the language classroom although it may be a popular tool to use with students. To get a successful result in language teaching using the video as an aid there are some techniques that should be benefited by both teacher and learner.

1. ACTIVE VIEWING

Active viewing increases the students’ enjoyment and satisfaction and focuses their attention on the main idea of the video presentation. So, it is necessary for students to take an active part in video teaching presentations. Before starting the presentation the teacher writes some key questions on the board about the presentation so that the students get an overview of the content of it. After viewing the questions the students answer the questions orally, or the students may take notes while viewing

2. FREEZE FRAMING AND PREDICTION

Freeze framing means stopping the picture on the screen by pressing the still or pause button. Video gives us an additional dimension of information about the characters’ body language, facial expressions, emotions, reactions, and responses. Teacher freezes the picture when he or she wants to teach words and expressions regarding mood and emotions, to ask questions about a particular scene, or to call students’ attention to some points. By freezing the scene the students can be asked what is going to happen next. So they speculate on what will happen in the next act. Freeze framing is excellent for speculation. This activity also fires the imagination of the students by leading them predicting and deducing further information about the characters.

3. SILENT VIEWING

As video is an audiovisual medium, the sound and the vision are separate components. Silent viewing arouses student interests, stimulates thought, and develops skills of anticipation. In silent viewing, the video segment is played with the sound off using only the picture. This activity can also be a prediction technique when students are watching video for the first time. One way of doing this is to play the video segment without the sound and tell students to observe the behaviour of the characters and to use their power of deduction.

4. SOUND ON AND VISION OFF ACTIVITY

This activity can be interesting and useful to play a section of a video unit and remove the visual element from the presentation by obscuring the picture so that students can hear only the dialogue but unable to see the action. Through this activity the students predict or reconstruct what has happened visually depending only what they hear.

5. REPETITION AND ROLE-PLAY

When there are some difficult language points in the video unit, closely repetition can be a necessary step to communicative production exercises. A scene on video is replayed with certain pauses for repetition either individually or in chorus. When students have a clear understanding of the presentation, they are asked to act out the scene using as much of the original version as they can remember. When students become confident with role playing and are sure of vocabulary and language structures, more creative activity can be introduced in which they are asked to improvise the scene to fit their views of the situation and the characters they are playing. Role-play involves students as active participants. As each student plays the   assigned role, s/he becomes more and more involved

6. REPRODUCTION ACTIVITY

After students have seen a section, students are asked to reproduce either what is being said, to describe what is happening, or to write or retell what has happened. This activity encourages students to try out their knowledge. Students will benefit from experimenting in English, even though it is challenging and mistakes are made. As it seems a bit difficult to perform, guidance, help and reassurance may be needed. 

7. DUBBING ACTIVITY

This activity can be done when students have the necessary language competence. In this activity, students are asked to fill in the missing dialogues after watching a sound-off video episode. It is interesting and enjoyable for the students to complete a scene from the video by dubbing.  

8. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY

It is important that a video presentation should lead to follow-up activity as the basis for further extended oral practice. Discussion stimulates communication among students, and it helps to achieve communicative practice. With this activity students have an opportunity to develop sharing and co-operative skills.  

MIND MAP OF SOME TECHNIQUES FOR VIDEO IMPLICATION

References

Christine Canning-Wilson & Julie Wallace. 2000. Practical Aspects of Using Video in the Foreign Language Classroom.  The  Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VI, No. 11, November 2000. Retrieved December 15th, 2016 from internet:http://iteslj.org/Articles/Canning-Video.2001 html.

Christine Canning-Wilson. 2000. Research in Visuals. Video Special Interest Group at the International TESOL Arabia 2000 Conference. Arabia.

Hemei, J. 1997. Teaching with Video in an English Class, Journal of English Teaching Forum, vol.35-2, pp 45- 47.

Katchen, J.E. 1996. Using authentic video in English language teaching: Tips for Taiwan’s teachers. Taipei: The Crane Publishing Company, Ltd Video in ELT—Theoretical and Pedagogical Foundations. Proceedings of the 2002 KATE  (The Korea Association of Teachers of English)  International Conference ,pp. 256-259. 

Wright, A. 1976. Visual Materials for the Language Teacher.  Essex : LongmanWilson.