Title : Teaching Interactive Strategies with Video Clips
Time : 11 minutes
Pages : 8 pages
Thesis statement : Because of Young EFL
learners are often hesitant to speak up and participate in Oral Communication
courses, the writer presents an effective use of Near Peer Role Modeling
(NPRMing) combined with video clips as a way to model interactive strategies.It looks at the theoretical background behind interactive strategies,
interaction and learning, and NPRMing. It also explains and gives examples of
how to use the clips in activities or as strategy reviews in conversation
classes.This strategy is important for improving their knowledge of communication.
Research Questions :
- What is the interactive strategy for the teacher to increase Young learner's competencies?
- How does the video clips impact the learners to speak up ?
Methodology :
1. Strategies
According to the Longman
Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics (2010), a strategy is
a “procedure used in learning, thinking etc., which serves as a way of reaching
a goal.” In language learning, strategies have
a wide range of meanings from a general approach to teaching such as the
Communicative approach all the way to specific actions or techniques such as
the phrases used to ask your partner how to spell something. Cohen divided strategies into two groups, Second Language Learning
(SLL) and Second Language Use Strategies (SLUS). The distinction between the
two groups is that in SLL, learners are improving their knowledge in a target language and in SLUS,
learners are employing the language
that they have in their current interlanguage. The word
strategy as previously defined by Longman insinuates that strategies are a
conscious action that learners are aware they are doing in order to improve
their ability. The writer would like to include the distinction that if
leaners are aware they are using a certain expression or technique, it is a
strategy. If they are able to use the strategy unconsciously, then it becomes a
skill. Interactive strategies could be classified as both SLL and SLUs in
Cohen’s Hierarchy of Strategies as they not only inform and assist learners in
improving their knowledge in English but also have the students use the
language they have learned in order to communicate for meaning.
2. Learning
and Interaction
The second
theoretical idea behind the video project is learning through interaction.
Especially relevant to this project is that most university students in Japan
have studied English for academic purposes and test taking and not with a goal
of improving their communicative ability. As a former high school teacher in
Japan, the writer was witness to the endless hours students spent working through
complex uncontextualized sentences the teachers had adapted from text books.
The grammar translation method and teacher-fronted classes often leave students
either, afraid, unable, or even occasionally hungry for authentic interactions
in English. Giving students the chance for output and the realization that they
can improve in new areas by interacting with each other brings into focus the
importance of learning and interaction.
3. Near
Peer Role Modeling
The final
part of the theory behind this project is near-peer role modeling. According to
Murphey & Arao (2001) Near Peer Role Models (NPRMs) are “peers who are
close to one’s social, professional, and/or age level, and whom one may respect
and admire.” By using these peers or role models to interact with relatively
novice language learners they can have a positive and motivating effect.
According to Lantolf & Thorne (2006, p. 256), learners who interact (in
this case writing) with NPRMs provide more “proximal and obtainable proficiency
goal(s)” than native speakers.
In the
activity proposed in this paper, older students’ examples are used to model
strategies for younger, less proficient students. Some of the key points are 1)
younger students observe older students, 2) the older students’ examples
provide evidence to the younger students that they can and will improve in the
future, 3) the younger students will be motivated to improve to become more
like their advanced peers.
The video
project explained in this paper draws on the three ideas previously explained,
namely strategies, interaction and learning, and NPRMing. As coordinator of
first and second year Oral Communication courses in my department at Nagoya
University of Foreign Studies (NUFS), his curriculum instructs teachers to have
students speak in “guided conversations” for 30 minutes or more per class. This
emphasis on output is supported not only by a text book which provides topics
and vocabulary, but also by interactive strategies that help students to be
able to negotiate and learn from each other. The video project has been an
effective way to present and teach these strategies to students. Students in
first year classes watch clips taken from their peers in second year classes.
The clips can be used to supplement interactive strategies being taught in the
text book or they can be used to review strategies in the middle or end of the
semester. The collection and classification of clips is an ongoing process that
also requires the permission of students.
The process
began with making a comprehensive list of strategies. Next, he arranged the
strategies in order of difficulty and then started filming student
conversations. While viewing the conversations, he selected clips of exemplary
use of strategies. Later, he used these exemplary clips to teach specific
strategies or for reviews.
Findings :
Examples
of Activities Using Video Clips
Example 1: Asking your partner the same
question
This strategy
is important for beginning students in order to keep the conversation going and
also forces them to listen to the answer of the partner and then formulate a
question based on the answer. Although this strategy is simple to understand,
it also serves as a good example to young learners of the importance of
interaction.
The first
step to using this strategy is to introduce the strategy and explain it to the
students. The students can read through the examples from their handouts and
repeat the necessary question (i.e., “How about you?”). Next the writer choose a student
and read through the short example conversations in order to show him or her an
example of the strategy. The examples are of a typical conversation that lacks
interaction and also of a conversation that is more interactional because of
the use of the strategy.
Next he has
the students read through the conversation from the video, also on their
handouts. This is a cloze exercise where have them try to fill in the answers
before he play the video clip. He does this because it isn’t a listening exercise
and he want them to think about the language that is being used. Finally, he play
the clip and have students check their answers.
The final
part of this activity is something that he does with all of his strategy
activities; he has them try to use the language they have just studied in a
speaking activity. he has found that students can better understand the
strategies, not only by watching the clips, but by trying to use the strategy
while producing language.
In this case, he want them to have an opportunity to use the strategy so he gives them a simple
task like talking about what they had for dinner last night. He encourage
students to give answers and then ask their partner the same question.
Example worksheet
1:
|
Video Clip 1: Asking Your
Partner the Same Question
A basic strategy to increase interaction and make a
conversation more natural is to ask your partner the same question that he or
she just asked you. You can do this by saying, “How about you?”, “And you?”,
or by repeating the question (e.g., “What’s your favorite color?”).
Common example of beginner’s conversation:
A: Which baseball team do you like?
B: I like the Dragons.
A: Who is your favorite player?
B:
I like Ibata.
A:…I like the Tigers.
A better example:
X: Were you in a club in high school?
Y: Yes, I was on the softball team.
X: What position did you play?
Y: Shortstop. How about you?
X: Me?
Y: Were you in a club?
X: Yeah, I was on the volleyball team.
Look at the conversation below. Try to guess what the
speakers are saying. Watch the video and check your answers.
that’s great what kind of
riceball how about you what did you eat
for breakfast
A:
_______________________________________________________?
B: Breakfast?
A: Yes.
|
B: I eat a
riceball…for breakfast.
A:
Oh_______________________________________________________?
B: It’s
salmon.
A: Salmon,
oh.
B: I like
Salmon.
B: Yes, me
too.
A:
_______________________________________________________?
B: Uh, I ate
rice and miso soup.
A: Miso
soup?
B: Miso
soup, yeah.
A:
Oh,_______________________________________________________!
Speaking Activity: Ask your partner questions
about what they ate for dinner last night. Practice using this strategy by
asking them the same question after you give your answer.
Example 2: Offering clarification
He chose this
video clip because it is often a necessary and useful strategy for EFL learners
and it is also a more difficult example than the previous one. For this
strategy, he first explain what clarification means and why it is important to
offer clarification when you aren’t sure if your partner understands you. Then he has the students read through the questions about the clip before showing it. Because it is
important for students to watch the clip, he insist they put down their pencils
and watch the clip. He lets them write the answers to the questions the second
time I play the clip. Finally, he have them check their answers with a partner
and then I elicit the correct answers as a class.
As a
follow-up to this activity, he tries and elicit some more ways to offer
clarification and help students come up with several more examples. The last
part of this activity is to try and have the students use the strategy to
further understand and internalize the language. In this case, he has them try
to brainstorm some unusual foods they have eaten, then explain the foods to
their partner, using this strategy if necessary, and using gestures, too.
Scene of student B
gesturing taken from video clip
Example worksheet 2:
Video Clip 2: Offering
clarifcation
If you think your partner doesn’t understand what you are
saying, it is important to offer clarification. Activity: Watch the video and answer the
questions.
1. The male
student wants to know if the girl eats more buns, rice, or noodles. What question does he ask?
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. The male student does two
things to clarify what he is trying to say.
A. What does he say?
__________________________________________________________
B. What does he do? ___________________________________________________________
What are
some other ways to offer clarification:
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________ _________________________________________________
Speaking
Activity: Talk
about an unusual food you have eaten. Use language or gestures to clarify.
Conclusions :
After compiling video clips, creating activities, and using
in several classes the past year, he has found the idea of showing exemplary
interactive strategies to other student peers to be an effective way of
teaching the strategies. Although many text books try to match topics with
strategies that would likely be used in conversations about those topics, this
video approach goes a step farther by using NPRMs who are “in the moment” and
using authentic language that is near their peers’ own ability. Although the
project takes time to start and requires permission from students and possibly
the administration, the long-term benefits have proven to make doing this
project worthwhile. Students have shown immense interest in the videos.
Although he hasn’t yet tried pre-test and post-test research on student
retention of strategies, there has been an obvious increase in student interest
and attention to strategies. In addition to the video project, the course has
two group speaking tests to review topics studied in the semester. The speaking
tests are graded on several competencies, one of which is using strategies. The
students receive feedback from the beginning, middle, and end of the year on
their competencies. By combining feedback with an interesting source of
strategies he is confident this course will be more effective and dynamic than
before he used these video clips.
Opinion/vocabulary-expression
learned : exemplary clips, teacher-fronted classes
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