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Using SCOLA for Instructional Purposes

Video is a useful resource for learning a language because it presents the student with language as well as pictures to enhance the context. This combination easily engages attention and interest. The disadvantage of using video is that it is time-consuming to locate the right clip. In searching for a clip several principles should be observed.

  1. In most cases the theme of the video segment should be handled in class extensively before the video is shown. TV news tends to resemble the written language rather than the spoken language, i.e. it has a high density of information, and is, therefore, difficult for foreign speakers to understand. Often the rapidity of speech is also a problem.
  2. The segment should not be so long that students will be overwhelmed. Even three minutes is usually too much for beginning students. Five minutes may be about right for students at level one plus.

Pre-listening Activities

Preparation for watching the video segment should include discussing the theme, e.g., the weather, discussing what the content might be so that incorrect expectations do not interfere with understanding, and discussing the order in which information will probably be presented. In other words, the teacher will have to introduce:

  1. the linguistic schemata (vocabulary and grammar, key phrases)
  2. the content schemata (what types of information we expect to hear in a weather forecast, a report on a bank robbery, an earthquake, etc.), and
  3. the text or organizational schemata (the way in which Chinese, Arabs, Russians, etc. present and order information on this particular topic).

All of this preparation can take place in a brainstorming session in which the teacher starts out asking students what information they expect to hear in a video segment of a particular type (weather report, news about shooting, etc.). Some teachers begin by asking students to list vocabulary words. However, this type of activity has a big disadvantage. Students work at the word level and the teacher may not discover how well or how poorly they can actually use the grammar they know to create meaning out of the words they are listing. Knowing how students make meaning is particularly important before a listening exercise since it may indicate that students' ability to listen and understand will be impaired by weaknesses in grammar. If students don't discuss the information they expect to hear, the teacher will find it difficult or impossible to introduce the content and text/organizational schemata.

Tasking

There are two types of tasks: global and specific.

Global tasks should be given before the first viewing. Such tasks help students orient their expectations. Such a task might be "Watch this segment and write down the order in which the following topics are discussed: 'the forecast for next week, the weather yesterday, the temperatures during the past eight hours, the temperatures expected tomorrow, the subjective commentary on the weather.' "

The global task should be followed by a specific task which requires students to listen for details. Such a task might be "Watch the segment a second or third time and evaluate the weather conditions in the north and the south on a scale of one to five, one being "excellent" and five being "disasterous". After making your evaluation, write three arguments based on specific facts which justify your judgement." Such tasks require detailed listening and give the instructor an insight into how much students actually understood. Students might be allowed to work together while listening. Many times weaker listeners will learn how to be better listeners from stronger students.

The discussion which takes place after students have completed their specific tasks will provide further enrichment of vocabulary and grammar. Students might also be asked to transcribe a small portion of the broadcas or they might be given a partial transcript with large portions of sentence omitted and asked to complete it by filling in the missing parts.

Follow-up

The instructor should complete the lesson by listing the reasons why students had difficulties and clarifying how they could improve. This might include going over the vocabulary or grammar or discussing listening strategies. In any case the feedback and follow-up should be individualized and based on the instructor's observations.

-- Dr. Maurice Funk