Questions We Ask in Using Audio-Visual Materials
By: Harumi Kimura
In the October issue, Marc Helgesen wrote “the more senses we use, the more deeply we learn” (p. 25). I also wrote “the more hooks or scaffolding we have for memory, the better” (p. 21). Yes, we promoted using multi-sensory input in language teaching since our brain integrates information from multiple senses in natural environments. Furthermore, multi-sensory input makes neural pathways stronger in the brain for memory consolidation and automatic retrieval of stored information. I do believe we made a good case in that issue, but the other day I realized that teachers need to reconsider what questions to ask when using audio-visual (i.e., multi-sensory) materials in the classroom. Good questions have a potential to promote thinking and foster engagement, while bad ones might do more harm than good. Let me share the story of an elementary school English class for sixth graders in Japan.
The class was team-taught by a Japanese teacher of English (JTE) and an assistant language teacher (ALT), who is a native-level English speaker working in language classrooms in primary and secondary schools in Japan. The content theme of the day was “travel” and the main learning material used in class was an audio-visual material. It was a promotion video for Australia as a tourist destination. The JTE played the material on the monitor once, saying, “Let’s watch a video.” After viewing it, she asked the ALT to read the transcript and told students to listen to him carefully. The ALT read it more slowly than the recorded narration, with longer pauses between sentences. Then, the JTE asked a question. She said, “Naniga kikitore mashitaka,” meaning what (information) they had heard (and understood). “Kikitoru” literally means “catch the meaning of a spoken message.”
One female student, who seemed to be active and enjoying the English class so far, raised her hand and proudly said, “The sea was beautiful!” There was an awkward silence. The JTE looked at a loss. The recoded narration mentioned “the beaches,” but neither “the sea” nor “beautiful,” while the video showed a bird’s-eye view of a beautiful seaside area on a lovely day. A moment later, the teacher responded to her, saying “Well …,” but said neither yes nor no, and called on another student, saying “What about you?” Later, when one male student said rather hesitantly, “The beaches,” she quickly said, “Yeah, the beaches. Good!” The class activity moved on to the next phase without summarizing the students’ answers to the teacher’s “listening comprehension” question. Meanwhile, the female student mumbled something (I was not able to make it out), turned around, and talked to another student behind her about something totally unrelated to the English class. She seemed, to me, to be uncomfortable about how her contribution was dealt with and to have lost interest in the learning activities that followed.
Come to think of it, “Naniga kikitore mashitaka (What did you hear and understand)” is a modality-specific question. It showed that the activity was for the purpose of listening comprehension, while the material was multi-sensory. The question and the material were incongruent.
What questions can we ask in dealing with multi-sensory input? In this case, “Naniga wakari mashitaka (What information did you get)” would have been a better one. Then, not only does the question stimulate information integration, but also enhances classroom communication among students since those who are less skillful in listening to English can also join the discussion by using the visual information. Some students may notice things like the fact that school buildings and classrooms looked different from those in Japan or that people wore summer outfits at Christmas. The ALT can express in simple English these ideas from students and give them extra language learning opportunities. The JTE can relate the rich content information to other subjects like social studies (i.e., world heritage sites) and natural science (i.e., climate and weather). I learned from this that multi-sensory input can stimulate learning when appropriate questions are asked. It is teachers’ responsibility to craft good questions for the purpose of helping students establish associations between, at least, visual and auditory senses.
Harumi Kimura (EdD.) is a professor at Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University. She studied L2 listening anxiety in her doctoral study, and her academic interests include second language acquisition, learner development, learner psychology, multilingualism, and cooperative learning. She thinks that her mission is “to make learning another language less intimidating and a bit more rewarding plus fun.”