Video and Interactive Multimedia Technologies in French for the 1990s

Video and Interactive Multimedia Technologies in French for the 1990sAuthor(s): Mary Ann Lyman-HagerSource: The French Review, Vol. 68, No. 2 (Dec., 1994), pp. 209-228Published by: American Association of Teachers of FrenchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/396354 .

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THE FRENCH REVIEW,

Vol. 68, No. 2, December 1994 Printed in U.S.A.

Video and Interactive Multimedia Technologies in French for the 1990s

by Mary Ann Lyman-Hager

IN FEBRUARY 1989, the AATF's commission on pedagogy (MoPed) with author Patricia Cummins published a summary of the commission's findings on video and the French teacher in the French Review. At the time, this article very adequately described the current video usage and the video

options generally available to French teachers. Since then, however, a quite different scenario of video has emerged-literally, constituting a "whole new world" for course authors to examine. The availability and increased use of new technologies (videodisk, multimedia video "clipmakers," and

presentation tools, satellite receiving systems, VCR's with built-in video standards converters and freeze-frame capabilities, digital video interactive, etc.) and a new hybrid of authentic video materials which respond to teachers' needs for prepared activities and transcripts now exist. This paper derives primarily from the early stages of my experience as project director and French language coordinator of the Language 3 Initiative (L3), a foray into technology-enhanced language programs for third-semester French, German, Japanese, and Spanish at the Pennsylvania State University. The

purpose of this paper is to reflect my thinking in examining the new

possibilities for video usage in the French language curriculum, in particular for a third-semester language course which forms a part of the larger L3

technology project. Included are a description of the initiative, the underlying principles and implications of video technology as it relates to second

language acquisition theory, curricular goals, objectives, and examples of use in French 3, and recommendations for curricular implementation.

The L3 project as a whole focuses simultaneously and iteratively on four

aspects of video and interactive usage in the classroom: 1) definition of the

scope of the project and of its research agenda, 2) creation of materials and/ or selection of video/interactive video programs from other sources, 3) training for both students and teachers in the appropriate uses of video and interactive multimedia technologies, and 4) use with students in the classroom and assessment of the effectiveness of this approach. The last two issues are important and will be addressed in a later paper; in the interests of time and space they are mentioned only as they relate to the first two. Since the third semester of French instruction has experimented the most with the incorporation of video and began full implementation of the

209



210 FRENCH REVIEW

technology-enhanced program in the Fall of 1993, it serves naturally as a model for similar programmatic developments in the other three languages and will therefore be discussed exclusively in this paper.

Goals of the Language 3 Initiative

This initiative, sponsored jointly by the College of Liberal Arts, the Cen- ter for Academic Computing, and IBM, examines the ways in which technology makes a difference in foreign language learning and acquisition for a given level of instruction (the third semester) across four languages taught at Penn State. The third semester was deemed critical by researchers from the four participating departments (French, Spanish, German, and Japa- nese) because it marks the end of most students' involvement with foreign languages; the three semesters will fulfill foreign language requirements in certain colleges. More importantly, the third semester marks the firm es- tablishment and concretisation of intermediate-level language behavior in learners. According to some language acquisition theorists, at this level learners can profit immensely from exposure to authentic input via video, audio, and computer technologies.' The research question for this project is to determine the effects of this enhanced input on students' proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Since the third semester of language instruction is pivotal in determining a student's continuing to study the language and in firmly establishing language skills and attitudes, students' reactions to the video- and computer-enhanced curricula, their performance, backgrounds, and subsequent desire to continue in upper- division courses in the language are important data to the project.

Video serves as the cornerstone for future incorporation of the new technologies into L3, so its selection received primary emphasis in its early stages. Naturally the Cummins's 1989 article was of immediate interest. Access to the Internet and to satellite reception of foreign language programming has greatly enhanced language learning opportunities for all students, and the new L3 classroom settings described later in this article facilitate the exploitation of both video and computer materials in the curriculum. L3 researchers embarked on this venture, however, only after having reviewed the theoretical properties of video and its hypothesized benefits to the learner, according to accounts of the processes of second language acquisition drawn from several theoretical camps. The project director then proposed appropriate goals and objectives for the third semester courses and examined recommendations for technology implementation based on a prior study (Garrett, Hart, and Lyman-Hager) for the Defense Language Institute.

Video and its Relation to Second Language Acquisition Theory

Practitioners are often asked to offer cogent and compelling reasons for using technology in the curriculum: increasingly, they turn to second lan-



MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES 211

guage acquisition theorists for answers. Theoretical rationales justifying video technology's place in the foreign language curriculum, however, can be conflicting and contradictory. Some (Krashen, in particular) emphasize the primary effect of providing input: they see the learners' sustained exposure to this input (in this case, video) as prerequisite to output. They also view language acquisition as distinct and separate from other complex cognitive processes. Others (Bialystok, McLaughlin, Swain) stress either the interaction or mutually beneficial impacts of input and output on language acquisition. Finally, still others insist language acquisition works just like other complex cognitive processes, amenable to behavioral modification strategies and the use of other "learned" techniques (Anderson and Pear- son). Motivation plays an important role in all theories. Lonergan stresses the importance of the learners' active involvement with the media and their motivation to spend relatively longer periods of time watching video to learn about the culture. Few of the theoretical approaches would debate this point.

Krashen (1985) stresses the primacy of his fourth hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis, in creating sufficient data or "input" from which the student can subconsciously acquire requisite parameters of the language. If this input is at a level slightly above the learner's complete comprehension threshold, i.e., at the "i + 1 level of understanding," optimal conditions should be theoretically present for the learner to acquire a language (as opposed to "learning" it). However, if the linguistic level of the authentic material is at too high a level of difficulty, or if the learner is unfamiliar with the context of the text, a dysfunctional, elevated "affective filter" may be induced which blocks the anxious learner's acquisition of language rather than facilitating it (Krashen, 1985). Critics claim that it is impossible to determine just what the "i + 1" level could possibly be for an individual learner, let alone for groups of learners arbitrarily placed in an instructional setting (Garrett, personal communication.)

An alternative to the input hypothesis, or one that stresses more the cognitive, conscious activities the learner employs to make language meaningful is described by Anderson and Pearson as providing a theoretical basis for the development of learning strategies. Of the strategies listed by Rubin (cited in O'Malley and Chamot 4) as indicative of "good" language learners, several adapt themselves to video technology, including:

memorization: takes note of new items, pronounces out loud, finds a mnemonic, writes items repeatedly; guessing/inductive inferencing: guesses meaning from key words, structures, pictures, context, etc.; deductive reasoning: compares nativelother language to target language, groups words, looks for rules of co-occurrence; practice: repeats sentences until pronounced easily; listens carefully and tries to imitate; [and] creates opportunities for practice:... spends time in language lab, listening to TV, etc. (4)



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Unless prepared to receive the particular video text in its entirety, or unless the text is presented in smaller segments which can be chunked to existing available schema, students may experience anxiety at the great disparity between their imperfect comprehension and the apparent effort- less comprehension of their instructor (Joiner, 1991). Use of the strategies listed above may, in fact, reduce learners' anxiety about listening to rapid- paced authentic materials and permit them to understand more fully the "gist" of the passage. (In reality, even native speakers fail to attend to every sentence of a news broadcast in their native language, for example, but rather, as Altman has pointed out [personal communication, 1990], they pick and choose the information to which they will attend.) Lack of cultural knowledge has been shown to impact negatively upon comprehension in both reading and listening (Anderson and Pearson; Bernhardt), creating an even greater gulf between teacher and learner. Schema theory, script theory, and discourse analysis predict that students who lack the cognitive substrata or conceptual framework upon which to scaffold the input will not benefit from exposure to the language as much as those who have been prepared to receive this input (Phillips, 1991; Altman, 1989). Sociolinguists also emphasize the importance of background information in enhancing information:

From a sociolinguistic standpoint, a text is meaningful not so much because the hearer does not know what the speaker is going to say ... but because he does know. He has abundant evidence, both from his knowledge of the general ... properties of the linguistic system and from his sensibility to the particular cultural, situational, and verbal context; and this enables him to make informed guesses about the meanings that are coming his way. (Halliday 61, cited in Frommer 337)

In other words, students' apparent lack of comprehension is further com-

pounded by their unfamiliarity with the video's context and its relationship to the target culture. Yet many value authentic materials over all other choices and eschew the inauthenticity of the so-called "contrived" materials created particularly for ease of understanding of various linguistic levels of learners.

The Case for Authentic Materials

Current thinking in the use of video materials in the teaching of foreign languages emphasizes the ability of authentic materials to convey cultural and linguistic information simultaneously through authentic communica- tively-focused situations (Altman, 1989, 1990; Aulestia; Berwald; Joiner, 1989, 1991). Lonergan reflects this same enthusiasm for the video medium, but also lists some disadvantages of such "authentic" off-air television broadcasts: television's ability to reflect the "language of contemporary society" is offset by the "lack of control of language in the applied linguistic




sense" and potential censorship, for example (81). He pits the advantages of video's authenticity, its appeal to the generally perceived fascination of the masses with the television medium, and its potential for combining media studies with language studies against those disadvantages he cites (censorship by the country of origin and the lack of linguistic control and sequenc- ing). Copyright issues involving foreign countries may not be consistent with laws of the United States and seriously impact the usability and '"shelf life" of programs taped off-air.2

Implications from Various Theoretical Positions for the Language 3 Project

Anxiety reduction, attention to students' interests, and emphasis on motivation to listen and/or communicate in the target language can easily be derived from all theoretical approaches cited above. Effective video implementation also includes increasing the learners' understanding of the video material by emphasizing an awareness of its underlying cultural knowledge. A knowledge of strategies for processing "foreign" text, both written and spoken, as indicated above, is assumed to lessen student anxiety, activate appropriate pre-existing schema, and enhance language acquisition, even at low levels of linguistic competence. Selecting material that one imagines might be interesting to the student and to present it in such a way that the student is challenged and motivated by its text, but not overwhelmed and confused about the message or the intent of its sender appears to be a direct implication from Krashen.

Motivation can also be enhanced by students selecting the materials- the "video texts" they wish to see (Bush and Crotty, 1989). Many feel that students will naturally attend keenly to material that they have an interest in and will process and encode language regardless of the presence or absence of the hypothetical "i + 1" input called for by Krashen. An awareness of particular interests of students should accompany any reasoned selection of media. Blind appeal to generally perceived student preferences, however, should not dictate the entire array of video courseware. Height- ened cultural awareness and the blunting of long-standing acquired stereotypes come when students' assumptions are effectively challenged by new perspectives. Materials chosen uniquely by students could inadvertently reinforce stereotypes rather than dispel them if choice is based on commonly-perceived notions. For example, students are usually very inter- ested in French commercials: French teachers as well have long recognized the value of "la pub" in classroom teaching (Cummins, Doering) and cite the desirability of such footage from a linguistic and pedagogical standpoint. Advertising and political propaganda, however, are particularly vulnerable to misunderstanding by non-native speakers.3 An additional danger is that a certain genre of video or class activity associated with a video may be tagged as especially appropriate for a certain level of learner4 and this may constitute the only type of video lesson students of that level



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encounter throughout the term. Representatives of various genres (commercials, news, weather broadcasts, variety shows, documentaries, etc.), and of diverse populations of Francophone speakers (gender, races, ages, nationalities, etc.) need to co-exist within the whole curriculum for it to reflect the lives of French speakers throughout the world (Altman). Furth- ermore, values of the "deep culture" of these Francophone nations-their icons, symbols, and interpretative meanings-can best be revealed and challenged through the visual medium.

These considerations for curricular inclusiveness speak to the necessity of curriculum planning from top-down and bottom-up levels simultaneously to assure that representative video material be available to reflect pluralistic cultures and varied interests of students. For example, if the curriculum plan for French 3 calls for a unit on Martinique and, if, by chance, very interesting footage instead is found on Senegal from French TV and is recorded off-air from satellite, planners should make note of and catalog the Senegalese footage in a video computerized database, simultaneously writing for permission to archive the material for later educational use. (If permission is not received, however, the material must be erased.) The entire French department could consult various video data- bases and audio visual service/video library networks to retrieve information about this and other pertinent video material. Thus, through collaborative networking and sharing of information, any number of potential users can obtain knowledge about programs related to their curricular needs. In the case of L3, such networking to find information about footage on various topics and commercial availability and/or copyright holders' addresses was indispensable.

L3 Goals and Objectives

A statement of goals and objectives for various levels of language learners is an important preliminary step to creating the articulation among levels of instruction (Lyman-Hager). Respecting individual preferences and learning needs implies that we create video options for all learners, just as well-constructed textbooks offer textual- and activity-related choices within the framework of a given lesson. Flexibility in the choice and use of video materials could accommodate students' various linguistic competen- cies within the framework listed above, their learning modality preferences, and finally, their expressed interest in certain topics. Thus, selection of sources for video materials and, when required, creation of ancillary materials to accompany the particular video programs chosen, follow the stated curricular goals and objectives, not vice-versa.5 Learners within a level of instruction often do not progress toward achieving these course goals in a strictly linear fashion; moreover, learners' proficiencies vary for the dis- crete skills of listening, reading, speaking, and writing; that is to say, a given learner may perform consistently at the novice high level in speaking, yet




exhibit intermediate-level writing abilities. The anticipated proficiency ranges outlined in the discussion below focus on the average student:

obviously some students will perform at much higher levels. Some learners remain novice-level learners for all skills despite vigorous efforts on the

part of the teaching assistant to encourage language growth. The

sometimes-challenging activities planned for the class, however, presup- pose out-of-class preparation time for students, and may seem, at first

glance, geared for a marked higher level of proficiency than described in the

goals and objectives. This, like enhanced input, is assumed to promote language growth.

Although the rubric of culture has disappeared from the revised Profi-

ciency Guidelines as a descriptor, it remains an important goal for L3. It is

simply not assessed in terms of student performance as are the skills of

reading, writing, speaking, and listening. An objective translates the stated

goal into deliverables, in this case, the creation of ancillary materials. More

concretely, the French 3 course syllabus lists the following overall cultural

goal for learners:

Students completing level 3 (anticipated proficiency range distributed among the 4 skills: 0+ novice mid Ihigh to 1 intermediate low/mid) will: 1. have had opportunities to form tentative hypotheses about the language and culture underlying the language based on their increasing global awareness and knowledge of contemporary societies where the language is spoken.

The French 3 coordinator taught a graduate seminar, Video and Interactive Media Technologies, and asked students to examine the French 3 Goals and

Objectives (Appendix A) and to propose relevant video-based projects. The

graduate students started with the observation that teaching assistants in French 3 rarely have experience living in Francophone African societies, so this aspect of the cultural syllabus naturally became problematic. (Cur- rently, in order to increase student and teaching assistant exposure to diverse Francophone cultures, students are asked to attend an out-of-class

viewing of a feature-length French language film twice a semester in French 3. An African film, La Vie est belle (1987),6 although very popular in Zaire, did not initially evoke much enthusiasm among TAs and French 3 students.) A French speaker from Zaire, assigned to teach French 3 and enrolled in the graduate video seminar, agreed to be videotaped as a native "informant," explaining his attitude towards American and African cinema and briefly contrasting La Vie est belle (1987) with Coming to America (1988). French 3 students view this footage in class prior to viewing the African film, then complete film-based activities in class, following the templates suggested in Altman's VideoGuidelines (preparation, presentation, expan- sion) and incorporating suggestions from Moorjani and Field. The video

project (footage plus accompanying materials) offers an effective means of creating an appreciation for the otherwise unfamiliar context of the film and serves as a preparatory link to the study of other contemporary Afri-



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can cultures studied in French 3 (Senegal and Cameroon). To facilitate student access to the material in out-of-class environments, interactive multimedia programs from selected video sequences from the French 597c video project were created with digitized video and audio "clip makers" on the Macintosh platform, using Quicktime, the VideoSpigot, and Aldus Persua- sion7 as tools.8

Selection and Creation of Materials: So Many Videos, So Little Time

Although no formal surveys exist comparing video offerings in the late 1980s with today, a casual evaluation of advertisements in professional journals and French language video catalogs suggests much greater choice today of both standard video offerings and new interactive video and multimedia programs.9 In addition to the standard commercial video offerings, off-air French programs from Quebec, European, and Caribbean French- speaking television are readily available. Since the commission report of 1989 a new breed of video material has emerged, a hybrid between the authentic off-air satellite video materials and the traditional video (pre- packaged for teachers' ease of use, complete with transcripts and exercises). An increased collaboration between video publishers, governments, and non-profit institutions, such as that between PICS, for example, and French government and communications institutions, has created this new hybrid and has solved daunting copyright issues for the on-site, non-profit user by explicitly encouraging materials development by teachers using their video products. The PICS type of video includes both authentic materials and the learner-centered, pedagogically-oriented activities normally associated with the standard fare of video, or the "contrived" variety of video available from American foreign language textbook publishers, especially prior to the 1990s.

Contrary to the situation described by Cummins, teachers need no longer complain about the shortage of video materials or about prohibitive costs but rather about the difficulty of making wise choices and then incorporating these choices effectively into the curriculum. Choice is rendered all the more complicated, given the abundance of materials available, copyright restrictions (satellite off-air taping, digitization, and classroom use of the video materials), and limited available class time for viewing video. As seen above, curricular goals and objectives often (and should) dictate the choice of materials as well.

The new type of "video text," barely mentioned in the Cummins article, comes from 1) direct satellite transmissions of television programs from France and Quebec;op 2) videocassette subscriptions obtained via satellite reception from non-profit educational organizations, who have arranged for satellites to beam live or delayed TV programs to a central location from selected points world-wide; and 3) commercial publishers, who have nego- tiated with individuals involved in the second category or with private or




state videographers in-country to obtain video footage later transcribed and supplemented by pedagogical materials. This latter category consti- tutes the "new breed" of video material referred to above."1 Finally, a fourth category comes from the amateur efforts of foreign travelers-cum- teachers, who, with the newer technological advances in small video camcorders for consumers (equipped with internal motion stabilizers), are now able to videotape sometimes semi-professional quality footage with a bit of training. The latter approach certainly avoids many copyright issues; however, results are typically uneven and require professional editing services, which, in many cases, far exceed the cost of a commercially produced videotape.12

With these authentic materials of the first category, i.e., those without accompanying pedagogical materials, we must ask ourselves whether or not "authenticity," or materials which were originally produced to be used with native or native-like speakers, is worth the trouble. The investment in time and energy described briefly by Cummins and in more detail by Alt- man (Videoguidelines) required to make the video "texts" comprehensible to various levels and types of learners is daunting initially to the neophyte video user. Certainly copyright issues surface as well when using authentic video texts taken from off-air satellite: such materials are subject to "fair use" provisions and cannot be kept legally beyond 45 days without obtaining permission from the copyright holder. Sometimes determining addresses and identities of the copyright owner is simply impossible. Investing in this category of video texts seems therefore counter- productive, however interesting and engaging these video texts may be.

If we categorically reject the older, more common type of commercially- available video which directs itself at language appropriate to specific learners' proficiency levels and which Cummins describes as appropriate for the lower levels of language learners, we may find ourselves ironically in the same position as the language teacher of the 1980s. Precious few language educators have the time to prepare materials for the spontaneous, live, authentic off-air taped satellite programs or to travel in-country to prepare their own authentic footage. After the issues are weighed carefully (materials preparation, copyright, etc.), we may find that we have fewer viable choices than we have been led by publishers' advertising and professional journal articles to imagine, especially if we limit our video use to the off-air "authentic" variety alone. Curiously, we may be returning to the commission's description of a limited choice situation of five years ago, but for quite different reasons.

The Changing Role of the Teacher and the Learner: Implications for L3

In addition to the choices surrounding media use, additional compound- ing variables of individual teacher preferences, habits, and beliefs continue their impact on video usage in the 1990s. June Phillips lists some of these



218 FRENCH REVIEW

teacher-related variables impacting the implementation of video technologies into the curriculum:

Part of the difficulty in implementation lies in the fact that teachers are being exposed to technologies from which they have never learned themselves. The fact remains that they "overcame" language in spite of outdated methods, contrived materials, and an intensive emphasis on form over function in an environment consisting of teacher and text, paper and pencil, blackboard and chalk. While their head may acknowledge the logic of more communicative approaches and the insights gathered by research on acquisition, their hearts have not been fully convinced that what worked for them might not work for others. (313)

Earlier assumptions about video pedagogy and the roles of teachers and learners have been challenged by the immediacy of certain new technologies which create near-simultaneous video linking to parts of the world where French is spoken. 1) Spontaneity of the learners' access to video programming and 2) the degree of control the teacher exercises over the presentation of the material in the classroom emerge repeatedly during discussion of authentic materials' incorporation into the curriculum. Most of the video material to which Cummins was referring involved materials prepared for the foreign language teacher, or "contrived" video, as Altman has labeled it. Contrived materials were designed especially to accompany French course books or to form stand-alone "mini-courses," although they may also have derived partially from "authentic" materials, then modified or enhanced to become more comprehensible.

An alternative to the totally "contrived" video narrative is the partially scripted narrative technique used by A la rencontre de Philippe13 courseware writers, among others. Subtitling is a long-standing method used in the profession to render long passages "comprehensible." Cummins cites many sources for authentic feature-length films (with or without subtitles) and for educational programs and documentaries from French television. These types of material are now even more readily available than in 1989, at more competitive prices and with deep discounts to educators.'4 They retain strong support among teachers because, in the VHS video cassette format, they can be reviewed ahead of time and presented to the class in a predetermined, linear fashion in the method described below. If scripts are not included with the video package (as they increasingly are), they can be drawn up in rough form from the video text, and unknown words can be looked up and presented prior to the students' viewing.

Much of this first type of "contrived" video material comes "pre- digested" by a video series editor for ease of curricular integration: with vocabulary lists, exercises, and cultural notes provided in accompanying booklets, teachers have little to do in the way of advance preparation other than to review or personalize the material ahead of class time. An unfortu- nate tendency, perhaps inherited from prior experience with film, is to use long stretches of uninterrupted video because it appears not naturally divis-




ible. Alternatively, a segment of video text may be presented, or it may be divided into longer chunks of information that the teacher of literature or culture finds aesthetically satisfying. Because they are able to become familiar with the text ahead of time, or because they are aided by access to the transcript, teachers avoid the type of discomfort caused by fear of the unknown. Teachers may proceed linearly through the material just as they have been trained to do with the 16 mm film medium.'5 The spontaneity of live satellite broadcasts and simultaneous interaction of the students and teachers with the new material upsets this linear, sequential, planned approach to video integration and therefore may not appeal to some teachers. As Phillips points out, the challenge presented to teachers by the immediacy of authentic materials, unless accompanied by transcripts and notes, may be too overwhelming:

Equally challenging for teachers is that technologies and the shrinking world have brought spontaneous and unedited target language to their doorsteps. Teachers' own foreign language skills are compared, measured, and evaluated because native speech and authentic materials are available at the push of a button or on the magazine shelves of neighborhood bookstores. News broadcasts from around the world require that professors and teachers deal with content areas outside the traditional scholarly fields of linguistics or literature. Often they are prepared neither with the language nor the social sciences to understand and to explicate for their students live reports on Central American politics or chemical pollution of the Rhine. Teachers confront having to listen to or read texts for which they cannot define every word, and they do not have time to look up either words or background information without violating the timeliness factor which renders the content and language interesting and important. (313-14)

Implied in Phillips's comments is a call for a fundamental change in the teacher/pupil relationship. Students may, in fact, be better prepared by virtue of their background knowledge of a given topic of a newscast than their instructor. Embracing the new media in this instance requires that the teacher risk losing at any moment the sometimes-unwanted (or undeserved-) label of "expert-in-all-aspects-of-French-culture-and-language." This loss can bring forth new dimensions to the teaching/learning relationship: when teachers learn from their students, this can enhance students' feeling that they are contributing to the class and can increase their motivation to learn the language in order to express their ideas more clearly. A new classroom environment, one which is structured less hierar- chically and which allows for a seamless integration of the components of video and interactive multimedia technologies into the curriculum, can do much to usher in this change in the teaching/learning relationship. Teachers in the five regularly-scheduled L3 training seminars receive not only hands-on training in the use of the technology, but more importantly, the pedagogy behind the technology. This new role of teachers as collabora- tors rather than instructors in particular requires careful consideration dur-



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ing the weekly TA-Coordinator's meetings, as well as mention during the seminars.

Multimedia Classrooms and Materials

The somewhat futuristic classroom environment in which L3 multimedia are to be used suggests possibilities which, in 1988-89, might have seemed unrealistic. In many respects, the classrooms of the Initiative are reflective of a new world view of global education, emphasizing problem- solving activities requiring collaboration and consensus among learners with very different backgrounds. The classroom itself is transformed into a grouping of individual learners into "pods" of 6-8 learners seated together at a table. Several computer workstations are available per table, and learners work collaboratively in groups of 2-3 to create messages which can be shared interactively with learners seated at other tables, as well as with the teacher who operates the multimedia computer from a podium but also circulates among groups of learners. Students may move their chairs in a circle for activities involving the entire class, such as viewing video from the VCR or laser disk, or chairs may also be arranged in clusters around the center of each oval table for small group discussions and debates involving student groups. The teacher podium, or "bunker," has video and computer projection capabilities. A Pioneer 8000 laser disk player, a VCR, a stereo audio cassette deck and stereo speakers, and an IBM Multimedia computer (model 57 SLC 486) are located in the teacher podium, which also can serve as a lecture podium for student-created interactive presentations. Satellite broadcasts via the campus cable network are available in the classrooms as well.

Thus, computer and video technology is available when needed but do not interfere with the primary communicative and interactive functions of human speakers in the classroom; rather, the technology supports, encour- ages, and enhances this "human" communication. All computers are linked together by a local area network, which is, in turn, linked to the campus classroom server and E-mail functions. Projection devices which fit directly on top of high-intensity overhead projectors display video and computer output onto large screens, where the attention of the whole class focuses on the output of an individual in the class or one of the small groups' work. Otherwise, students work together on various selected tasks set forth by the teacher on the smaller, networked personal computers. The analog format video projected on the overhead screen in this setting originates currently from the laser disk or the video cassette machine: with the advent of Quicktime for Windows and other IBM multimedia technologies,16 our initial Macintosh-based digital video effort is now available to PC users.

The environment of the L3 classrooms permits the use of today's technologies while envisioning a day when digital video replaces analog and when world video standards conveniently converge into one universally-




accessible format. Digitization will permit each student cluster to view video clips from their workstation, as well as on the large projected image on the screen in front of the class. Videos for which researchers have obtained copyright permission and which, by and large, are currently available in analog format will eventually be distributed to students in digitized form in the classrooms. Students and teachers alike can take part in the selection of video materials from authentic sources, giving both parties a sense of ownership in the course content. This digitization of the video clips will allow predetermined groups of students to work on different parts of the video material simultaneously. Following independent group work, students will focus on "reconstructing" a whole video text clip by soliciting information from each group, for example.

A number of foreign language materials in VHS videotape format listed in foreign language catalogs to which Cummins referred in 1989 have subsequently been offered in videodisk format, which opens up new possibilities for interactive video/computer-enhanced learning. The CAV laser disk format, although an analog technology, in particular allows for frame- accurate access of any of the 54, 000 individual still frame video slides on disk (which can also make up some 30 minutes of moving video) and the easy adaptation of video clips or still frames to a computer-driven interactive video environment linking a laser disk player to a computer.17 At Penn State, five interactive units are available for students to use in our learning laboratory with interactive video programs created by language developers from other institutions."8 These multimedia units can also be used in the creation of new interactive programs by L3 Initiative faculty and teaching assistants using the newly available videodisks and such easy-to-learn au- thoring systems as Multimedia Toolbook, and classroom presentation programs such as Media Blitz, Multimedia: Make Your Point, and Compel.'9 In addition, each of the multimedia classrooms has the same multimedia unit in the teacher podium, which is available for student use in the University Learning Center, located strategically down the hall. This configuration of classrooms in close proximity to the student lab, with the same video and interactive video capabilities as in the teacher podium, creates a coherent articulation between the laboratory and classroom experience and is critical to the success of the L3 Initiative at Penn State.

Conclusions and Recommendations

In the case of the L3 Initiative, the French 3 course coordinator and teaching assistants selected certain videos to supplement the video material that accompanied the chosen text for French 3, Allons Voir (Bragger and Rice). Six formal video sessions were scheduled at strategic points in the syllabus, along with two feature-length films shown out of class. Among the scheduled videos were a video about Martinique, Lettre de la Martinique from the Project for International Communication Studies (PICS); the feature-



222 FRENCH REVIEW

length film from Zaire (La Vie est belle) and the accompanying video of the graduate student from Zaire speaking about film; the feature-length film from France, Au revoir les enfants, and certain episodes (Lessons 24-26) from French in Action (Yale U P, 1986), pertaining to food and restaurants. The syllabus designers left room for out of class work on the interactive video adventure program, A la rencontre de Philippe, and for occasional in-class viewing of short clips from French-speaking countries chosen by individual instructors and used spontaneously to create interest in listening to the language. Thus, in our particular model, there are samples of "partially scripted" video (French in Action, A la rencontre de Philippe), "authentic" video with accompanying teacher-made materials (the PICS material on Marti- nique, Lettre de la Martinique), and "spontaneous authentic" video in the form of live, off-air satellite news clips and advertisements from French- speaking countries. The amount of teacher preparation increases from one category of video usage to the next, along a continuum.

Flexibility in video selection is built into L3. Some materials are available off-the-shelf with pedagogical materials supplied by the publishers; still others will require some previewing and planning by each instructor. The preparation of video materials must also be as flexible, based on pre- existing models or templates, as most teachers lack time and experience to prepare video adequately without these tools. The French component of L3 has collected listening activities, group discussion topics, and writing tasks based on videos and films used in French 3. These are to be made available on learners' computer stations across the local area network. Individual instructors and students share in the creation, selection, and circulation of these materials which constitute an ever-increasing corpus of useable material.

As mentioned above, the French 3 curriculum serves as a model for simultaneous development of Spanish, German, and Japanese language classes participating in L3. This article elaborates and summarizes the French Department's contribution to the L3 program at Penn State, ex- panding in particular upon the description of video resources by Cummins and the MoPed Commission in the 1980s, and examining both current and potential uses of authentic video and multimedia technologies in the French foreign language curricula of this decade and beyond. After having examined various theoretical perspectives of second language acquisition which support video usage, L3 personnel examined the question of "authenticity." Next, they decided upon appropriate goals and objectives that would situate the course clearly in the context of the whole language curriculum.20 Selec- tion of materials hinged around these goals and objectives, as well as around specific course content. Until the time that digital technology is readily available in the multimedia classrooms for interactive video implementation, the short-term solution is to use short analog video excerpts, reserving out of class time for longer assigned segments of authentic film and video.21 Templates created by course planners will permit effective




materials creation and in-class use for short SCOLA clips, as well as for

pre-edited, annotated, commercially-available video materials. The goal of the materials creation is to structure the input to make it more comprehensible to the intermediate-level learner.

Through collaborative composition and conversation activities in the modern technology-enhanced classrooms, learners receive additional video- based input and engage in meaningful dialogue with peers, both in the class and from a distance. Teachers in the new L3 classrooms become facilitators of learning, circulating among small groups of students, and encouraging collaborative writing activities related to the chosen video segments. When the expectations of students and teachers alike in authentic, rapid-fire media listening are not set at an unrealistically high level (i.e., full comprehension), both can benefit from live satellite broadcasts in French and feature-

length movies. These authentic videos increase the motivation of learners

by heightening their awareness of the living culture and the immediacy of the language. The real dilemma for all L3 course planners and researchers is determining how to exercise selective choice of the content, method, and format of video in classroom implementation, given the many seemingly attractive options which, by and large, were not available at the time of the Cummins's article. This article foregrounds the use of video technology in both a theoretical (second language acquisition) and a practical (curricular) framework and hopes that future project leaders will benefit from its

insights.

PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY

Notes

1After consultation with Japanese faculty and teaching assistants and after reviewing the ACTFL Guidelines developed for Japanese, it was determined that intermediate level proficiency was not an appropriate goal for Japanese 3 learners at Penn State. Separate Goals and

Objectives are in place for this language component of the Language 3 Initiative. Other individuals associated with the Language 3 Initiative included Project Administrators John Harwood and Kathryn Grossman and language coordinators and teaching assistants for French (Joanne Burnett), German (Linda Vieregge, Christiane Eydt), Japanese (Reiko Ne-

moto, Yoko Sakane), and Spanish (Lynn Gorell and Cathy Anderson). A sincere appreciation is extended for their participation and collaboration in this project. Also the author wishes to thank John Harwood and Lynn Gorell for their review of earlier drafts of this

paper. 2Other issues surface when language educators consider investing in satellite and other

media technologies based on authentic communications. These relate to pedagogy (media evaluation, selection, and presentation according to learner needs); pragmatics (cataloging and retrieving media efficiently, obtaining copyright clearance, and integrating it into the

curriculum); and finally, accountability (assessing the overall approach in meeting the stated

goals and objectives of the curriculum). All of these issues affect the eventual success of an otherwise carefully articulated language program, in addition to those Lonergan has mentioned. Unfortunately, with the notable exception of copyright issues, they can be idio-



224 FRENCH REVIEW

syncratic to particular institutions and their particular learning environments and therefore cannot be adequately addressed in this paper.

3Christopher Pinet (Contemporary French Civilization, 1978), speaks of the dangers of

stereotypes in advertising particularly. 4Cummins cites that "commission member Goldman finds that the 'spot publicitaire' [is]

an ideal length for maintaining authentic speech and adapting it to intermediate-level needs, although other short (one- to three-minute segments) selections can be treated in a similar manner" (413).

5The Goals and Objectives for French 3 are listed in their entirety in Appendix A of this

paper. Similar goals were earlier formulated by Jeannette Bragger of Penn State for French 1 & 2 at Penn State.

6Earlier in the semester Au revoir les enfants (1987), is shown. During alternate semesters, other choices are made which reflect a French and a Francophone culture, respectively. After each film, class discussion occurs in small groups, followed soon afterward by an oral discussion with the instructor.

7Quicktime for the Macintosh is available from the Apple Corporation, 20525 Mariani Avenue, Cupertino, California 95014. The Video Spigot is from SuperMac, 485 Potrero Boulevard, Sunnyvale, California 94086, and Aldus Persuasion from the Aldus Corporation, 411 First Avenue South, Seattle, Washington, 98104. Other software solutions may emerge as preferable to the above-listed packages by the time this article goes to press.

8Digitization refers to the transfer of video footage from an analog format, such as found on VHS tapes and videodisks, to a digital one which the computer can replay at the click of a mouse. The particular video sequences mentioned above are to be transported to the IBM

platform for use in the multimedia classrooms described below. Once the algorithms for

effectively transfering large video clips from the analog to digital formats have significantly improved, great flexibility in materials design will follow, enabling instructors to create instructional sequences suggested in Altman's VideoGuidelines and elsewhere. These digitized materials could be used in labs or technology classrooms which do not have a laserdisk or computer-compatible VCR at every computer station. As ever, copyright becomes a very important issue to resolve before proceeding with digitization, because the video materials are electronically altered, in effect, by virtue of their transfer in format.

9Title of a presentation by Rick Altman at the Andrew B. Mellon-sponsored colloquium (Learning to See: Seeing to Learn), hosted by Smith College and Mount Holyoke College, June 1990.

'OPrograms include TF1 and Antenne 2 news broadcasts available on the SCOLA network. These are not generally available off air without subscribing to a service like SCOLA in the North American hemisphere because the satellites that carry the European networks'

programming generally are not in a position to downlink to receiving sites in this hemi-

sphere. The satellites instead are geosynchronous and rotate with the earth in what seem to be fixed positions. Occasionally transmissions are "uplinked" and "downlinked" again so that they appear to be transmitted and received almost simultaneously from the other side of the world, as was the case with the Barcelona Olympic Games. Programs of all sorts from various Quebec television and radio stations (France Canada) can be received directly off-air from satellite transponders in this hemisphere.

"Examples of this include the Tilimatin (a video cassette from the PICS, or the Project for International Communication Studies) and its accompanying Tiliguide (Altman, Bjorn- stad, and Skogland), a video workbook to accompany the cassette, marketed by Houghton Mifflin (1989). Another video package is Tiletexte (Ciccone and Meyer), an intermediate to advanced French textbook and accompanying video program marketed by Heinle & Heinle, 1992. The former can be adapted to various intermediate levels using other principal textbooks; the latter is an entire course. TilePICS, a monthly TV "magazine" was available by subscription from PICS from 1991-93, in response to a survey results indicating perceived need in the marketplace for timely video material that was not taken from news broadcasts




(as France Panorama and France TV Magazine are). Due to the difficulty in providing the full

transcripts, previewing, viewing, and post-viewing activities at the same time as the video, PICS will not continue the service.

12An example of such a project of exceptional merit was one on the French Resistance, researched and filmed in France by former Amherst College French Instructor Evelyne Woestelandt and sponsored by Five Colleges, Inc., of Amherst, Massachusetts. Derived from interviews with local French resistance fighters and illustrated with actual documents and artifacts, this exceptional program is available at cost through the Five Colleges Foreign Language Resource Center, 102 Bartlett Hall, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. 01002.

13Various versions of A la rencontre de Philippe (Beta version 1-14 from M.I.T) were

implemented at Penn State and various selected sites throughout the country. Publication of the final product is by Yale U P, 1993.

14For example, Films, Inc. recently offered a "no preview promotional" offering a 50% reduction for purchasing videotapes of popular instructional programs such as A vous la

France, Zarabanda, La Mar&e a Ses Secrets, Espahia Viva, etc. The company also offers CAV- formatted videodisks of the same video materials.

5sThe 16 mm film medium did not readily permit interruptions or digressions like the new computer-controlled interactive video programs do. These new programs, coined "hy- permedia" programs, enable the learner to digress to other parallel points of interest suggested by a word or topic in the presentation by clicking on various options presented on- screen.

16Quicktime for Windows (1993), is from the Claris Corporation, 5201 Patrick Henry Drive, P.O. Box 58168, of Santa Clara, California 95052-8168. The IBM/PC-based digital multimedia technologies also include Video for Windows (1993), available from Microsoft

Corporation, 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington, 98052-6399, also available from

PCConnection, 1-800-800-0005. Ultimedia products (1992) by IBM are competing for this market. Many multimedia vendors offer products in both Macintosh and IBM formats. Macromedia Action, 410 Townsend Street, Suite 408, San Fransicso, California 94107, offered by PCConnection, 1-800-800-0005, is a popular "bundled" software kit for developers. Hardware, in the form of video capture boards, such as the VideoSpigot, must be purchased in order to make the transition from analog to digital video. Note: the products themselves will have undoubtedly changed by the time this article is printed.

'7CAV, which stands for constant angular velocity, or the angle at which the laser beam

"reads" the encoded material on disk, is preferred by developers over the CLV (constant linear velocity) form of laser disk for a number of reasons. Primarily, it distinguishes each frame of video (either still frames or a single frame among a series of moving frames) with a number and then, with the use of a hand-held controller or computer driven program, will allow users to go immediately to any of 54,000 individual frames per side.

'8An earlier grant by IBM made Penn State an affiliate member of the LLAMA Consor-

tium, a group of universities and colleges dedicated to developing state-of-the-art language materials using video and computer technologies. This grant provided Penn State's College of Liberal Arts with five multimedia PS2 Model 57 SLC machines, each or which was

equipped with an internal CD-Rom drive and an external laser disk player. The second part of the Language 3 Initiative provided individual instructors with PS2 56 SLC machines and word processors, linked to the campus backbone. Finally, the third wave of the Initiative

provided the workstations in the classroom, linked together via a network, as well as to the

campus backbone.

"gMultimedia Toolbook, available on the IBM format, is produced by Asymetrix Corpora- tion. The other three programs, also developed by Asymetrix Corporation, 110-110th

Avenue, N.E. Suite 717, Bellevue, Washington 98004, allow for the easy incorporation of

video materials into teaching materials in a presentation mode. Compel (1993) is particularly



226 FRENCH REVIEW

recommended because it has been written in the C language instead of ToolBook and thus

operates more quickly and efficiently. 20A chapter of a commissioned report to the Defense Language Institute Foreign Lan-

guage Center (Lyman-Hager) defines goals and objectives projected throughout a hypothetical undergraduate sequence of language instruction for commonly-taught languages, tying these goals and objectives to use of modern media.

21The ease with which video sources can be digitized from camcorders, VCRs, videodiscs, and CD-ROMs is something that Cummins could not have predicted in 1988. However, due to the massive storage required for high-quality video storage and replay on the

computer screen, digitization in 1994 is not yet practical for longer segments of video, especially feature-length films and documentaries. Thus, both the analog videodisk format and digital "clips" should co-exist for some time: improvement of storage andlor video

compression algorithms will dictate future trends in instructional settings.

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Berwald, Jean-Pierre. "Mass Media and Authentic Documents: Language in Cultural Con- text." Toward a New Integration of Language and Culture. Ed. Alan J. Singerman. Middle- bury, VT: Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 1988. 89-102.

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Appendix A: Goals and Objectives for Language 3 (Lyman-Hager, 1992)

Level three (corresponds to third semester of Category I-II language instruction)

A. Goals

Students completing level 3 (anticipated proficiency range: 0+ novice high to intermediate low/mid, depending on the language and the learner, as well as the specific skill evaluated) will:



228 FRENCH REVIEW

1. have had opportunities to form tentative hypotheses about the language and culture

underlying the language based on their increasing global awareness and knowledge of con-

temporary societies where the language is spoken;

2. be able to speak so as to be intelligible to persons generally unaccustomed to dealing with

foreigners in survival and social situations, some of which may involve sustained conversations involving topics of interest and relevance to the speaker;

3. comprehend the gist of natural conversations and "authentic" communications, as well as "longer" stretches of connected discourse, and in particular those adapted to the learners' needs;

4. be able to read authentic texts of at least essay length treating themes on a broadened range of topics related to the speakers' interests and daily needs; and

5. be able to write correspondence and compositions on selected topics, with increasing control of sentence structure, time sequences, and narrative strategies.

B. Objectives

It is reasonable to expect the following performance outcomes at the end of level 3:

1. Speaking: Students will create phrases for many basic conversational needs related to their interests and needs, exhibiting increasing flexibility in applying previously learned material to new situations, though accuracy decreases with more complex and spontaneous utterances.

2. Listening Comprehension: Students will be able to follow and interpret a native speaker's normal conversation on familiar topics, with a few repetitions and restatements; com-

prehend matters of tone, style, and "essence" of more formal discourse, such as lectures on semi-familiar topics or topics of great interest.

3. Reading Comprehension: Students will be able to read for information and enjoyment a

variety of texts of varying length, including short literary texts in the language, such as poems, excerpts from stories or plays, which are pertinent to topics of student need and interest, whose vocabulary and context are rather familiar or can be deciphered with some explanation (glosses, synonyms in margins, lexicons, etc.). Students will begin to utilize different reading strategies for different objectives, with greater discernment in choosing those strategies.

4. Writing: Students will be able to write personal messages, descriptions, narrations (in past, present, and future time) and short formal inquiries with increasing accuracy in the mastery of basic structures. Students, by the end of level 3, will exhibit great control in sentence structure, paragraph coherence, and text organization.

