Abstract:

This is a brief report of an eight-month research programme funded by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council), which was conducted at the Language Centre, Brighton Polytechnic, UK by Catherine Watts and Angela Pickering. The aim of the research was to probe the potential of interactive video to encourage small groups of students of English as a Foreign Language to talk and discuss issues arising from the video when used as an "out-of-class" resource. Previous studies have shown that interactive video is indeed effective in stimulating individual students to repeat aloud single sentences and short phrases. The authors decided to explore the logical extension of this and assess whether or not interactive video can be used as a group resource to provide "out-of-class" language practice for small groups of EFL students. Forty-two students working in groups of three were asked to work through a variety of language activities which involved group tasks, role plays and discussion activities.

Author: Catherine Watts, Angela Pickering