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Writer's pictureDidi Zou

Video: Task Design

Updated: Apr 21, 2021

<The images/ videos/ partial content are from the internet. These materials are for educational reference only. >


also has a unique place in the language classroom in that it has the power to situate language within its natural context and show students a far greater range of factors which interrelate with communication and impact on it beyond the actual words that we say.

Of course there are the negative sides of digital video in language classroom. It is this complex, contradictory and potentially dangerous nature of online video that makes it so important that we educate our students to use it in ways that are educationally enhancing, responsible and empowering.


Video Design

Here are information and tips to help you choose appropriate clips and design tasks around them.



CHOOSING A CLIP

One of the first things you need to know to start using video with your students is how to choose the right clip or clips to base your activities around.


Approaches to selecting a clip

  1. You can select a clip that you think your students would be interested in, then analyze it and decide on the best way to exploit it with them.

  2. You can decide what aim you would like to achieve and then try to find a clip that will help your students to realize that aim.

Criteria for selecting a clip

  1. Choose interesting content

  2. Keep it short

  3. The visual

  4. Quality

  5. Contemporary vs historical

  6. Humor

  7. Cultural references

  8. Slang

  9. Accents



TASK DESIGN

If you really want students to engage with and learn from viewing video you need to give them tasks which guide, develop and support their understanding of the content.

  • Grading tasks

  • Task setting

  • Pre-viewing tasks


First viewing tasks

  • Silent viewing

  • Identifying genre

  • Ordering events

  • Tick lists


Second viewing tasks

  • Comprehension questions

  • Student generated questions

  • Graphs and visuals

  • Summarizing


Focus on form

  • Gap fill

  • Differentiation

  • Correction


Designing online video tasks

  • Support

  • Control

  • Evaluation

  • Distraction


Post viewing follow up tasks

  • Personalization

  • Reflection

  • Extension

  • Re-contextualization


Reading and writing tasks for video


Some advantages of online tasks

  • Pace and control

  • Support tools

  • Note taking

  • Review

  • Student autonomy


CULTURE IN VIDEO

One of the major challenges of mastering any language is to understand its relationship to the cultural group that uses the language. Video is a very useful tool for making students aware of the target language culture.


The three Cs of culture

  • Portrayals of culture

  • Culture as shared experience

  • References to culture



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