I know it's Mother's Day, but it's business as usual over here so you're getting a blog post about a research paper I wrote for my Methods & Materials class. And it has nothing to do with mothers.
The use of YouTube in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom is common enough these days, what with all the students being digital natives. The most commonly cited uses of YouTube in the EFL classroom are showing students videos to expose them to authentic language, and having students create videos and upload them to YouTube to gain an audience and receive feedback.
My Methods & Materials professor required that we carry out original research for this paper, so I chose to focus on a lesser-known use of YouTube in the EFL classroom: as a motivational tool, or as a tool that can increase enthusiasm for learning. I conducted the research in my own two classrooms, and focused on the teacher's (my) perception of increased student motivation/enthusiasm for learning. Therefore, my results are more feelings-based than numbers-based, but that doesn't make them any less relevant. The way a teacher feels about her classroom can't really be numerically quantified or graphed on a chart, but I didn't want to deal with student surveys this time around. A teacher teaches better when she feels that the students are mentally present and engaged with the material, and I wanted to see if showing YouTube videos at the beginning of class could have an effect on the level of motivation and enthusiasm for learning in the classroom.
I won't bore you with the complete literature review, but if you're interested in this topic, then you should read Berk, R. A. (2009). Multimedia teaching with video clips: TV, movies, YouTube, and mtvU in the college classroom. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 5(1), 1-21.
When deciding what kinds of YouTube videos to show in the classroom, teachers have to consider what kind of tone they're going for - high-energy stuff to kick their students' attention into gear? Humorous videos to put them at ease with each other? Or calm, introspective videos that get the mind ready to think? - as well as what is culturally appropriate. In this part of the world, you can't get away with much, and teachers need to steer well clear of material that appears to question shared values.
The problem I was trying to solve with my research was this: from the beginning of the semester until about the time of the midterm, students are generally pretty good about coming to class and engaging with the material. The surroundings are new, the teacher is new, there's a different mix of classmates, and the subject is new. After the midterm, however, students tend to check out during class - at least mentally, if not physically. I wanted to see if I could help my students muster up a little more enthusiasm and motivation for learning by showing them neat YouTube videos at the beginning of class.
So that's what I did: at the beginning of class during the second half of the semester, about two times a week, I showed a YouTube video. (Actually, two of them were on vimeo.) Sometimes it was a high-energy, awesome video. Sometimes it was just something funny. Sometimes it was a calm, thought-provoking video. Here is a video showing clips of all the videos I used during this research project. It broke my heart to cut off some of them (and I couldn't bring myself to clip down Embrace Life at all).
The results? I felt that showing a short YouTube video at the beginning of class did increase the motivation and enthusiasm for learning of my students. After the videos, they seemed more ready to learn and more excited about doing it. I heard them talking about the videos after class. One student even told me that she looked up other ASL videos and learned a little sign language herself. Sometimes, I think kids just need a reason to get out of bed in the morning (especially when class starts at 8 or 9 o'clock, as mine do), and if one simple YouTube video is the kicker they need, great. It felt good to bring a little whimsy and energy into the classroom, even though it technically meant 1.5 - 4 fewer minutes spent on the textbook.
Plus, I had a lot of fun writing up this research.
If I were to carry out the results of this research in all future semesters that I teach (and I plan to), do you have any other videos that I should show? Remember that it has to be ultra culturally appropriate. Which reminds me - something that I chose not to focus on in the presentation of my research today was the fact that I forgot that there was a (tame, chaste) kiss in the World's Largest Rope Swing video (it's at 2:09). I swear that the sound of my female students' hearts getting set all a-flutter was practically audible when that flashed on the screen. Oops.
The use of YouTube in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom is common enough these days, what with all the students being digital natives. The most commonly cited uses of YouTube in the EFL classroom are showing students videos to expose them to authentic language, and having students create videos and upload them to YouTube to gain an audience and receive feedback.
My Methods & Materials professor required that we carry out original research for this paper, so I chose to focus on a lesser-known use of YouTube in the EFL classroom: as a motivational tool, or as a tool that can increase enthusiasm for learning. I conducted the research in my own two classrooms, and focused on the teacher's (my) perception of increased student motivation/enthusiasm for learning. Therefore, my results are more feelings-based than numbers-based, but that doesn't make them any less relevant. The way a teacher feels about her classroom can't really be numerically quantified or graphed on a chart, but I didn't want to deal with student surveys this time around. A teacher teaches better when she feels that the students are mentally present and engaged with the material, and I wanted to see if showing YouTube videos at the beginning of class could have an effect on the level of motivation and enthusiasm for learning in the classroom.
I won't bore you with the complete literature review, but if you're interested in this topic, then you should read Berk, R. A. (2009). Multimedia teaching with video clips: TV, movies, YouTube, and mtvU in the college classroom. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 5(1), 1-21.
When deciding what kinds of YouTube videos to show in the classroom, teachers have to consider what kind of tone they're going for - high-energy stuff to kick their students' attention into gear? Humorous videos to put them at ease with each other? Or calm, introspective videos that get the mind ready to think? - as well as what is culturally appropriate. In this part of the world, you can't get away with much, and teachers need to steer well clear of material that appears to question shared values.
The problem I was trying to solve with my research was this: from the beginning of the semester until about the time of the midterm, students are generally pretty good about coming to class and engaging with the material. The surroundings are new, the teacher is new, there's a different mix of classmates, and the subject is new. After the midterm, however, students tend to check out during class - at least mentally, if not physically. I wanted to see if I could help my students muster up a little more enthusiasm and motivation for learning by showing them neat YouTube videos at the beginning of class.
So that's what I did: at the beginning of class during the second half of the semester, about two times a week, I showed a YouTube video. (Actually, two of them were on vimeo.) Sometimes it was a high-energy, awesome video. Sometimes it was just something funny. Sometimes it was a calm, thought-provoking video. Here is a video showing clips of all the videos I used during this research project. It broke my heart to cut off some of them (and I couldn't bring myself to clip down Embrace Life at all).
The results? I felt that showing a short YouTube video at the beginning of class did increase the motivation and enthusiasm for learning of my students. After the videos, they seemed more ready to learn and more excited about doing it. I heard them talking about the videos after class. One student even told me that she looked up other ASL videos and learned a little sign language herself. Sometimes, I think kids just need a reason to get out of bed in the morning (especially when class starts at 8 or 9 o'clock, as mine do), and if one simple YouTube video is the kicker they need, great. It felt good to bring a little whimsy and energy into the classroom, even though it technically meant 1.5 - 4 fewer minutes spent on the textbook.
Plus, I had a lot of fun writing up this research.
If I were to carry out the results of this research in all future semesters that I teach (and I plan to), do you have any other videos that I should show? Remember that it has to be ultra culturally appropriate. Which reminds me - something that I chose not to focus on in the presentation of my research today was the fact that I forgot that there was a (tame, chaste) kiss in the World's Largest Rope Swing video (it's at 2:09). I swear that the sound of my female students' hearts getting set all a-flutter was practically audible when that flashed on the screen. Oops.