Using Entertainment Video in EFL

Paul Maglione, Co-founder, English Attack! EFL Techniques 26 November 2013

Oh Edward… I don’t think I’ll ever get the

hang of these irregular verbs!

Unfortunately there’s no other way to learn them than just being exposed to them and

drilling. But it will be fine Bella darling…

Video Lesson Experience To DateQ1 –Q2 2009

Comparative review of Video-based EFL pedagogy

Q3 – Q4 2009Creation of English Attack!

Q1 2010 – Q2 2011Beta version with 350+ Video Boosters, tested by 25k Beta users

July 2011Launch of site

January 2012Launch of Premium Subscription; Schools Platform

November 2013• 1000+ Video Lessons• Launch of Coaching

functionality

Why Video?

• Our brains are wired for it hunting / danger

• Closest to life, to human experience

• The human eye is attracted to movement, even more than our ears are to sound

• YouTube, Facebook, smartphones, tablets have made short-form entertainment video ubiquitous and available 24/7 no longer a special occasion, but a must-have.

Graded or Authentic?

• Better at sparking emotion creates the intellectual opening for learning to occur

• Huge choice omeans we can motivate anyone according to their interests

BUT:- Impossible to shoehorn into structures like

CEFR- If not packaged properly, can be too difficult

for beginners

• Can be tightly targeted at specific skills or tasks

• Created for specific levels / consistency re level

BUT: - Production values / entertainment

often lacking- Can be perceived by learners as

“talking down” to them

Subject Matter of Authentic Video(in order of popularity with English Attack! users)

1. Current Movies

2. TV Series

3. Music Videos

4. Documentaries

5. How-To

Other topics of interest

• News (“evergreen” best, normal headline stories age fast)

• Business (movie scenes can be effective)

• Advertising (especially creative / humorous extended ads)

CHOICE = AUTONOMY = MOTIVATION

Ideal length• Too short (sub-1 minute): little chance

to build up dialogue in context• Too long (4 minutes+) : to many

linguistic elements upon which to focus confusion

• Ideal length is between 1 and 3 minutes – Average length of Youtube video is 3+

minutes– 87% of video shared on Facebook is

between 1 and 4 minutes long

Difficulty Level• Subject matter• Vocabulary• Speech speed• Speech clarity• Accent• Idioms• Slang• Visual clues• Is there a story or an

understandable context?

Related exercises need to be calibrated to the video’s intrinsic

difficulty level

Difficulty vs Content

• Our experience to date shows that the content type is the primary motivator. Learners don’t mind a difficulty “stretch” if the video content is of interest to them.

5,580,000 searches

22,000,000 searches

(learn English)

(songs in English)

Google France searches:

Subtitles?Can help with comprehension but creates listening “tune out” in favor of reading.

So call me maybe..

Donc appelle-moi peut-etre…

♫♪ ♬♭♭ ♫♪ ♬♭♭

English

L1

None

Great… if you want learners to improve their L1 reading skills.

Full emotional impact of source; no skills confusion; forces learner to focus and to look for visual / tone clues.

Video Transcript?• Be clear on purpose of providing: to work reading skills

• Thus, do not mix with gist comprehension exercises provide only sequentially, after listening skills have been covered

• Can be used for Detail Comprehension and to practice scanning for information.

• Buttresses development of Listening Skills

Structuring the Video-based lesson• The fun-factor of video should not obscure the

need for a pedagogical structuring of the video-based lesson.

• The sequencing of video-related activity must be planned as carefully as any other lesson

GistComprehension

ListeningSkills

DetailedComprehension Vocabulary Grammar

& Usage

Structuring the Video-based lesson• Pre / Tasks / Post jumping-off point for class

discussion

PRE TASKS POST• Summary• Target Vocab

• Practice Games• Discussion

Structuring the Video-based lesson• Error Correction / Positive Reinforcement

Structuring the Video-based lesson

Score vs Grade:

integrating the motivational dynamics of gamification into the video exercise scoring logic

Structuring the Video-based lesson• Providing assistance dictionaries, translation

Structuring the Video-based lesson• In-class vs. Homework

Requirements: interactivity, good design, visibility, stimulating content

Requirements: large selection of stimulating content, Teacher Tools for assignment and compliance monitoring

Achieving Repetition for MemorizationPractice Game: Swap Mania

Practice Game: Word Rescue

Practice Games are dynamically driven by

target vocabulary items in learning units

Making video-based learning Social

• Posting comments• Facebook • Twitter

SampleVideo Lesson

Pre-Task

Target Vocabulary

Clip Summary

Task Set-Up Instruction

First Exposure to Video Clip

Learners can start, pause, and replay video as often as desired

Gist comprehension exercise set-up

Gist comprehension exercise

Video resource

Expandable vocab resource

Instant error correction

Optional word-for-word translation tool

Gist comprehension exercise debrief

Interstitial Score

Encouragement regardless of segment performance

Listening exercise set-up

Listening exercise

Learners can do the exercise simultaneously with video

playback

Gap-filling from three similar-sounding alternatives actually

completes the transcript, which will be available for next exercise.

Listening exercise debrief

Detail comprehension exercise set-up

Detail comprehension exercise

Full video transcript now available as a resource; learners can either review

video or scan transcript to find details in exercise.

Detail comprehension debrief

Vocabulary exercise set-up

Vocabulary exercise

Vocabulary resource

automatically switches to selected

answer option

Vocab exercise: using target lexis in similar

story context

Vocabulary exercise debrief

Grammar / Usage exercise set-up

Grammar / Usage exercise

Sample line of dialogue taken from

video clip

Explanation as to why this form was

used

Exercise working same grammar or usage concept

(with instant answer feedback)

Grammar / Usage exercise debrief

Final Video Booster Debrief screen

Points breakdown

“Learnometer”

Coaching instructions

Progression metric

Points total

Post-task Practice Games: Swap Mania

Lexical items from the video clip

Definition clues and sample sentence

reveal

Pedagogical function: vocabulary

Post-task Practice Games: Word Rescue

Lexical items from the video clip

Definition clues and sample

sentence reveal

Pedagogical function: vocabulary

Post-task Practice Games: SayWhat?

Lexical items from the video clip

Pedagogical function: listening skills, vocabulary, spelling

Post-task: In-class or Online Messenger discussion

• What are some of society’s “distractions” you can think of?

• What could possibly cause a rebellion in your city or country?

• Is there anyone you would consider to be a “mentor” of yours?

Sample Class Discussion Topics

Pedagogical function: comprehension, vocabulary, speaking

User feedback

Conclusions• Video is a powerful, emotive stimulus to learning.

• Short-format authentic video without subtitles can be a highly motivational and effective pedagogical tool for helping build EFL/ESL competence.

• Video-based lessons need to be engineered just as carefully as any classroom lesson, with pre- and post-tasks and a natural flow from exposure and gist comprehension through to more detailed or nuanced skills.

• Specialist online learning platforms such as English Attack! package authentic video together with exercises to offer a huge choice of learning units of all difficulty levels across many topics and categories.

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paul.maglione@english-attack.com

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