Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of group video viewing in a foreign language curriculum. The investigation was based on Destinos (VanPatten et al., 1997), a comprehension-based, video driven instructional package that is currently used by 763 universities and 1,383 school districts nationwide for teaching of the Spanish language (Martin, 1997). The study examined the effects of listening tasks performed by learners during video viewing on their immediate comprehension and further retention of the video episodes. The researcher investigated three conditions of group video viewing: (1) using traditional, exposure-only technique (passive viewing of an episode from beginning to end), as recommended by the authors of Destinos; (2) using viewing guides designed for the present investigation, which included research-based listening tasks, and (3) using the same viewing guides in combination with teacher intervention, based on a cognitive apprenticeship model (Collins, Brown, and Newman, 1989). The study was conducted at Muhlenberg College. Eighty-nine students enrolled in four sections of third-semester Spanish participated in the experiment for ten weeks. Two instructors in the study used the same syllabus and taught one control and one experimental group each. The researcher examined 44 measures on the dependent variables. The findings of the study indicate: (1) both experimental treatments facilitate immediate comprehension of a videotext [F (2, 83) = 2.61; F (2, 72) = 11.32, p < .05]; (2) viewing guides used in combination with teacher intervention appear to be the most effective viewing condition with regard to retention of the information from Destinos [F (2, 81) = 5.39, p < .05; F (2, 78) = 9.83, p < .05]; (3) participants who used the viewing guides in combination with teacher intervention were significantly more enthusiastic about the effectiveness of those guides than students who used the same viewing guides with no teacher intervention condition [t (43) = 2.8, p < .05]. The findings suggest that learners who perform listening tasks during video viewing receive a triple benefit: better comprehension of a videotext; better retention for further application; and more satisfaction from video-based language learning. However, listening tasks are apparently more beneficial when they are conducted in an interactive, teacher-guided mode.