developing listening skills through online video activities

DEVELOPING LISTENING SKILLS THROUGH ONLINE VIDEO ACTIVITIES

Developing listening skills through online video activities for module 3A students at Centro

Cultural Colombo Americano Barranquilla

Larry Orellano Reales

Universidad Santo Tomás

División de Educación Abierta y a Distancia

Facultad de Educación

Licenciatura En Lengua Extranjera - Inglés

Barranquilla, Marzo de 2020

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Developing listening skills through online video activities for module 3A students at Centro

Cultural Colombo Americano Barranquilla

Larry Orellano Reales

A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Licenciado en Lengua Extranjera - Inglés

Advisor: Dixon López Bustos

Universidad Santo Tomás

División de Educación Abierta y a Distancia

Facultad de Educación

Licenciatura En Lengua Extranjera - Inglés

Barranquilla, marzo de 2020

iii

CONTENT

Contextualization ............................................................................................................................ 4

Research statement.......................................................................................................................... 5

Theoretical framework .................................................................................................................... 8

Listening skills ............................................................................................................................ 8

Engagement ............................................................................................................................... 11

ICT in language learning ........................................................................................................... 11

Related studies........................................................................................................................... 13

Design ........................................................................................................................................... 14

Research design ......................................................................................................................... 14

Action research ...................................................................................................................... 14

Data collection instruments ................................................................................................... 16

Instructional Design ............................................................................................................... 17

Implementation and data analysis ............................................................................................. 25

Implementation, data collection and analysis: First cycle ..................................................... 25

Implementation and data analysis: Second cycle .................................................................. 32

Conclusions and implications ....................................................................................................... 40

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 46

Appendixes ................................................................................................................................... 49

4

Contextualization

The Centro Cultural Colombo Americano (CCCA) is a non-profit bi-national English

language teaching center that has been promoting and supporting social and linguistic

development in Barranquilla since 1956. Despite its well-established reputation, the CCCA is

always looking for new ways to improve their teachers’ skills. That is why as part of the ongoing

improvement process, the use of technology must be included in every CCCA teacher’s toolbox.

In this aspect, the institution must catch up with the technology-related strategies that are being

currently used. This research proposal intends to address this issue starting by tackling a very

important language skill: Listening.

Morley (1984,2001) affirms that “listening is the most frequently employed language skill”

(as cited in Chappelle & Jamieson,2008, p. 125). It is also considered difficult for most students

(Chapelle & Jamieson, 2008). But what makes listening difficult? In this regard, Dunkel,

Flowerdew & Miller, Richards, and Ur (as cited in Brown, 2007) name eight characteristics of

spoken language that need to be taken into consideration when teaching listening skills:

Clustering, redundancy,reduced forms, performance variables, colloquial language,rate of

delivery, stress, rhythm, intonation,and interaction. In addition, students who live in non-English

speaking environments do not have continuous access to spoken English which makes

developing listening abilities more difficult altogether (Chapelle & Jamieson, 2008).

In order to overcome the difficulties, English learners need to be exposed to a variety of

listening material that will allow them to be able to identify paralinguistic clues, find specific

information,or get a general understanding, depending on the purpose they set out to (Harmer,

2007) . Currently, the students’ exposure to spoken language can be increased by using the

varied information and communication technologies available at present. On this matter,

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Chappelle et al (as cited in Brown, 2007) mention among the benefits of using technology in

language learning : “Opportunity for learners to notice language forms, a means for providing

optimal modified input to learners, multimodal (Visual,auditory, and written) practice,[…]

immediate and personalized feedback,[...] and a variety of resources available and learning styles

used[…]” (p. 201-202). Technology-related strategies have the potential to help students get a

fair exposure to a great diversity of English listening material presented in different ways so that

learners have a lot of opportunities to improve their listening abilities.

This research project aimed to assess the impact of using a series of online multimedia

activities on students’ listening skills improvement. A small group of students, 16 in total with an

average age of 19, in the beginning levels at the CCCA used an online tool called Edpuzzle. This

tool gives students plenty of opportunities to interact with multimodal material. It also allows

teachers to keep track of the students’ progress as well as providing immediate feedback to

learners. Throughout the text that follows, the details of this action research will be laid out.

Research statement

The CCCA module 3A students had expressed several times their need to work on their

listening skill. Their exam scores had shown that they are struggling to accomplish the listening

proficiency required. During class, the amount of listening activities had increased, but the students

who had the most difficulties demanded more repetitions and feedback than possible in a two-hour

class. Online multimedia activities emerged as a way to tackle these issues by exposing learners

to more material and providing immediate feedback. Students could work from anywhere and use

almost any electronic device at their disposal. They could repeat a listening exercise as many times

as necessary, and when an activity was finished, they knew what their mistakes were. Due to the

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limited practice time that students had outside the classroom, they wanted to be able to improve

their listening skills as well as review class content for quizzes and exams all at the same time.

New technology and communication tools (empowered by the web 2.0) offer a big range of

chances for personalized and cooperative learning through virtual environments, distance

education, online learning communities, as clear examples among an insurmountable amount of

resources that can improve the quality of teaching and learning in addition to extending learning

beyond the physical limits of an educational institution (UNESCO, 2013). It seemed natural to

look for a technology-related tool that would be useful to organize specific material found on the

web into listening bits that were content and level-appropriate for the CCCA module 3A

students. As the homeroom teacher and I discussed different options to help the students, two

surveys were designed : one for module 3A students and another one for beginning level

teachers. The surveys that were taken at the beginning of the module showed firstly that the

students believed that the implementation of an online tool could help them improve their

listening skill, and secondly that the beginning level teachers were using different online tools to

work on all four skills. One clear downside of the platforms the teachers were using was that

they could not keep track of students’ performance. Therefore, I could not use them for my

project and I had to look for a website which had a clear indicator of students’ work.

As a result of my search I discovered Edpuzzle. This online instrument allows teachers to work

with videos or audios from YouTube and other sources by adapting the material to the class’s

needs. It is possible to embed multiple choice quizzes, fill in the gap tasks, among other activities

in every assignment. Students get immediate feedback on their work and teachers can assess

learners’ performance through reading the Edpuzzle reports.

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I was aware of the students’ difficulties with listening comprehension and the potential

benefits that the use of an online tool might bring to the class. However, there are a lot of

possible techniques that can be used to teach listening skills so it was helpful to recognize the

different types of listening performance (reactive, intensive, responsive, selective, extensive, and

interactive) in order to design effective activities (Brown, 2007).

Tests at the CCCA have a strong emphasis on selective and extensive listening. So as to

help students not only improve their listening skills but to get better scores on exams, the focus

of this project was placed on developing better selective and extensive listening abilities.

The purpose of this research was to determine the outcomes of the implementation of online

video activities in the students’ listening skills regarding selective and extensive listening. The

problem stated in this section of my research proposal brings up the following questions:

General Question

What is the impact of selective and extensive listening online video activities on the module

3A students’ learning experience?

Specific questions

➢ What kinds of listening activities do the CCCA module 3A students consider more

effective in their learning process?

➢ How can the implementation of online video activities affect the module 3A students’

engagement?

The aims of this research project are:

General Objective

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➢ To assess the impact of selective and extensive listening online video activities on the

module 3A students’ English as Foreign Language (EFL) learning experience.

Specific objectives

➢ To identify the kinds of listening activities that module 3A students consider more

effective in their learning process.

➢ To inquire the effect that the use of technological resources has on the students’

engagement.

Theoretical framework

Listening skills

Brown (2007) affirms: “listening competence is universally “larger” than speaking

competence. Is it any wonder, then, that in recent years the language-teaching profession has

placed a concerted emphasis on listening comprehension?” (p. 299). So, developing listening

skills is very important in its own right. But working on listening also helps students improve

other aspects of language like pitch and intonation, stress, pronunciation, recognizing the sound

of individual words as well as those that blend together in conversation; therefore, as learners

listen to more material they get better not only at understanding speech but at speaking too

(Harmer, 2007).

However, listening can be daunting for most students because they need to be able to listen to

different things in different ways for dissimilar purposes (seeking specific information, general

understanding) in addition to recognizing paralinguistic clues (Harmer, 2007). The eight

characteristics of spoken language named by Dunkel, Flowerdew & Miller, Richards, and Ur (as

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cited in Brown, 2007) that need to be taken into consideration when teaching listening skills are:

Clustering, redundancy,reduced forms, performance variables, colloquial language,rate of

delivery, stress, rhythm, intonation,and interaction. If a student faces a listening task in which the

speakers use too many idioms or slang, rephrase and repeat constantly, talk too fast, have false

starts or correct themselves1; the foreign language learner may feel overwhelmed and

discouraged. In this research project the purpose of selecting and sometimes creating specific

listening material aims at diminishing the impact that the mentioned characteristics of spoken

language may have on the students´ listening comprehension success and their motivation to

continue learning. It is important to deliver challenging activities though, so that students keep

their interest and improve their listening skills all at the same time.

One of the most important keys, if not the most important, to effective instruction is

instructional design (Rost, 2011). Rost (2011) defines this key to language learning as “[…]the

selection and adaptive design of input, tasks, interactive and collaborative elements, feedback,

sequences, and evaluation that guide learning” (pág. 182). Brown H. (2007) and Rost (2011)

both agree that recognizing the different types of listening practice2 is very helpful for

instructional design. Due to the characteristics of the exams which are taken by the CCCA

students one of the focuses of this project will be on selective listening; the other one will be on

extensive listening, so that students get used to extended listening outside the classroom.

1All the traits mentioned are related to a specific characteristic of spoken language: Idioms and slang refer to the

characteristic Colloquial language; rephrasing and repetition to Redundancy; speaking too fast to Rate of delivery;

and false starts and corrections to Performance variables. 2 Rost’s types of listening practice are: Intensive, selective, interactive, extensive, responsive, and Autonomous.

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However, different types of classroom listening performance3 can be found as part of a broader

technique or task (Brown, 2007).

Selective listening refers to listening for specific information or in order to perform a task, by

paying attention only to what you are interested in hearing and ignoring everything else (Rost,

2011). It means that instead of processing everything that was said and heard, students should

scan the listening material selectively only for the pieces of information they set out to find:

Dates, people’s names, facts, location, main ideas, and conclusions,etc. (Brown, 2007).

Extensive listening refers to listening for an overall understanding of spoken language

and it is closely related to top-down listening techniques (Brown, 2007). It includes academic

listening4, sheltered language instruction5, and listening to prolonged periods in target language

outside the classroom just for the pleasure of it (Rost, 2011).

There are several kinds of activities that could be bound to a type of listening. For example,

Brown H. (2007) classifies the following activities as selective tasks: “(…)Listening cloze (

students fill in the blanks); verbal information transfer (students give a multiple choice verbal

response); picture-cued information transfer (students choose a picture); chart completion

(students fill in a grid); sentence repetition (students repeat a stimulus sentence)” (p.319). Brown

H. (2007) also includes a list of extensinve listening tasks:

(…) Dictation (students listen [usually 3 times] and write a paragraph);dialogue (students hear a

dialogue- Multiple Choice comprehension questions); dialogue (students hear dialogue— open-ended

3 Brown names the types of listening practice as types of classroom listening performance. Brown includes a type

called Reactive and does not mention the Autonomous type. 4 Also identified as listening for academic purposes. 5 Providing learners with whatever preparation is required so they do not feel overwhelmed: key vocabulary, prior reading, graphics, subtitles, or any additional support.

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response);lecture (students take notes, summarize, list main points,etc.); interpretive tasks (students hear a

poem— interpret meaning); stories,narratives (students retell a story).(p.319).

Engagement

In this research project three dimensions of engagement were considered: emotional, behavioral,

and cognitive. Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris (2004) define emotional engagement as the kind

that “encompasses positive and negative reactions to teachers, classmates, academics, and

school” (p.60). Behavioral engagement entails whether a student follows classroom norms and

rules (Finn, Pannozzo, & Voelkl, 1995). It also refers to students’ actions such as their “effort,

persistence, concentration, attention, asking questions, and contributing to class discussions”

(Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004). Cognitive engagement can be defined as a person’s

appreciation of the value of learning and how far beyond the minimum requirements is this

individual willing to go in terms of knowledge acquisition and assimilation (Attard, 2011). It

relates to the demonstration of highly strategic learning qualities such as self-regulation

(Zimmerman, 1990), suppression of distractions (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004), keeping

on track despite hardship, and feeling satisfied when tasks are challenging (Brophy as cited in

Maehr & Kleiber, 1987).

For each dimension of engagement, a data collection instrument was designed, as described in

the data collection instrument section.

ICT in language learning

Proper use of Information and communication technologies (ICT) can be very valuable when

brought to school education because of the variety of probable benefits in different facets, such

as: improving student outcomes, better teaching and learning, more student engagement, easier

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communication with parents, and a more efficient management and monitoring within the

institution (UNESCO, 2011).

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) refers to the extensive variety of activities,

electronic materials and tools related to language learning and technology such as: interactive

multimedia, online dictionaries, grammar checkers, webpages, and target language

communication via email Skype, blogs, or wikis (Chapelle, 2010). Due to the great amount of

learning opportunities provided by technology, CALL has been embraced by many language

learners from around the world and a lot of institutions have integrated it into the classroom by

means of curriculum (Chapelle, 2010).

The addition of web-based technology into educational processes has brought new chances

for students to cooperate with fellow classmates and teachers besides increasing in innovative

ways the interaction with content, thus drawing rising attention towards the theory and practice

of blended learning (Vaughan , Cleveland-Innes, & Garrison, 2013). Blended learning can be

defined as an approach that aims at successfully integrating face-to face interaction and online

activities, considering the educational needs of a course (Vaughan , Cleveland-Innes, &

Garrison, 2013). According to Arney (2014) it allows teachers “…to address learning goals

(individualization), enhance or extend the curriculum (rigor), or spend time analyzing student

data (monitoring)” (p.2).

Even though there is a strict syllabus that had to be carried out during class in accordance

with the institutional policies and that the pedagogical strategies favor predominantly onsite

activities, there is general awareness in the CCCA learning/teaching community that a skill like

listening needs further practice outside the walls of the institution. With the implementation of

online video activities, the teacher might have the chance to expand all the topics included in the

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course program and track the students’ performance systematically thanks to a free online

website that provides tools to create material out of any video and keeps records of pupils’ work.

This project intended to integrate technology into the classroom and beyond with the specific

purpose of improving the students’ listening skill.

Related studies

In Colombia there have been several studies which have tried to integrate ICT into listening

instruction. For example, Córdoba & Rangel (2018) aimed at getting students to work on several

meaningful oral activities using the Task-based language teaching (TBLT) criteria in order to

foster listening fluency. Ramos, L. & Valderruten, A. (2017) tried to determine whether the use

of a mobile application may have a positive impact on strengthening listening and linguistic

skills. It is also worth mentioning Rojas Serrano, J. (2007) who used his experience working in

the Audio-Visual Laboratory to report on some technological tools that were used in the English

Adult Program at Centro Cultural Colombo Americano in Bogotá.

Regarding international studies, I highlight the work of Aldowal, T. & Mosaab, A. (2018)

who carried out a project at a Jordanian school aiming at analyzing the possible effects that an

Addie-model-based computer program had on improving listening and reading comprehension

skills for ninth graders. Liu, X. (2014) whose research delved into students’ attitudes towards

computer-assisted autonomous learning applied to English as a foreign language (EFL)

education. I can also bring up Al Quasim, N. & Al Fadda, H. (2013)) who aimed at assessing

how podcasting could influence listening comprehension.

Technology as an important teaching and learning tool was emphasized in each of the

projects described above. Having read the articles it became patent that it was necessary to

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include not only CALL related notions as formerly planned, but also MALL concepts. All

successful websites nowadays offer a mobile version in the form of an app, take for example

Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. This is so, because it facilitates accessibility for users allowing

them to reach their desired content anywhere and anytime by means of a tablet, cell phone or any

other electronic device at their disposal. Edpuzzle, which is the website chosen to display the

multimedia activities to participants in this research, has a downloadable app in the Google Play

store.

The appraising of academic articles from different sources on the topic of the present

research was a very important step in shaping the whole project. It was a way of truly identifying

the kind of research that should be carried out according to the specific needs of the matter at

hand. A lot of concepts, such as engagement or autonomous learning, were reinforced and put

into the context of a study, presenting diverse forms of analyzing and managing them with the

data derived from polls, interviews, and surveys. This academic exercise provided a lot of

interesting insights on how to bring off a research project. It helped organize ideas and offered a

basis for the theoretical framework.

Design

Research design

This project was immersed in the research field The Teaching and Learning of EFL,

subproject 2, Pedagogical innovations that incorporate ICT in EFL teaching and learning

contexts. Therefore, it was carried out as an action research.

Action research

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Action research is a practical approach that allows practitioners to assess their work and

propose conjectures of their own practice, to make sure that their professional and personal

development is going according to specific goals (Mcniff & Whitehead, 2005). It enables

professionals to monitor, gather, and analyze information systematically so as to yield evidence

of their claims to knowledge6 (Mcniff & Whitehead, 2005). Elliot (1978,1990) states that action-

research at schools focuses on situations experienced by teachers that can be considered

inappropriate, problematic, prone to change, and which practical response is required for them

(as cited in Rodriguez Gómez, Gil Flores, & García Jiménez, 1999).

The action research approach includes the reflections and viewpoints of all the participants

involved in the matter at hand, for example, teachers and students (Elliot as cited in Rodriguez

Gómez, Gil Flores, & García Jiménez, 1999). It encourages teachers to get a deeper

comprehension (a diagnosis) and adopt a theoretical stand in which it is necessary to formulate

an explanation of the current situation by relating the contingencies of the context, before setting

a course of action (Elliot as cited in Rodriguez Gómez, Gil Flores, & García Jiménez, 1999).

Throughout my professional practice I have found several groups of students who struggle to

improve their language skills and I have provided different resources for them to work on. In this

research project I focused on the CCCA module 3A students who were having a hard time

attempting to accomplish a level-appropriate listening proficiency. Action Research helped me

measure and analyze the students’ progress methodically in order to adjust the current

implemented strategies according to their needs and development and thus increasing their

chances of succeeding.

6 Claim to knowledge: “…term used for when we say we have learned something, or now believe something to be the case, or we reconfigure existing knowledge to create new knowledge” (Mcniff & Whitehead, 2005, pág. 2).

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According to Lewin (as cited in Rodriguez Gómez, Gil Flores, García Jiménez,1999) there

are four stages that need to be carried out in an action research project: Planning, Acting,

Observing, and Reflecting. Mertler (2009) follows Lewin’s lead and claims four stages that

work as a cycle as shown in the figure below.

Figure 1. Action Research Model. (Mertler, 2009, pág. 46)

Data collection instruments

The data were collected in several ways:

1. An initial survey to determine module 3A students’ expectations about their English

language learning process and the use of technology.

2. A survey that the students completed at the conclusion of every face-to-face session. This

tool aimed at gathering data related to emotional engagement.

3. Observations of the students working on the online video activities during the face-to-

face sessions, using an observation format designed by the homeroom teacher and the

teacher-researcher. This instrument targeted behavioral engagement.

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4. Module 3A students’ scores on in each online video activity to measure cognitive

engagement.

5. A survey about how beginning-level teachers at the CCCA use technology in their

practice, so as to find out what resources they have been using.

Instructional Design

In the history of language teaching, when it comes to terms such as Approach, Method,

Technique, and Procedure, which are closely related to instructional design, there is not a

unanimous consensus but rather a set of different definitions proposed by several authors

(Brown, 2007). For the implementation of this action research project, Richards and Rogers´

(1982,2001) standpoints will be abided. These authors proposed a system that encompasses three

levels: approach, design, and procedure; and a superordinate term that comprises them: method

(Richards & Rodgers, 1982).

METHOD

Figure 2. Adapted from “Method: Approach, design,& procedure”, by Richards & Rodgers,

1982, TESOL Quaterly,16,153-168.

Approach

The CCCA has adopted communicative language teaching (CLT) as its main approach. The

core assumption underlying CLT is that learning a language requires learning how to

Design

Procedure

Approach

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communicate effectively in the real world (Knight & Knight, 2006). This view of language

learning and teaching focuses on interaction (pair work, group work) and meaning, aiming at

developing the four skills all together by using the target language (TL) from the very beginning

of instruction, without putting an excessive emphasis on structure and form (Knight & Knight,

2006).

The Presentation-Practice-Production (PPP) model of teaching is widely used in CLT

classrooms (Knight & Knight, 2006). As it is inferable from its acronym, during the presentation

stage new language is presented through an activity, may that be a listening exercise or a reading,

then students get to practice in a guided manner, and finally they can communicate in a freer way

and therefore produce more spontaneous language (Knight & Knight, 2006). In their pre-service

and in-service training sessions, the CCCA teachers are instructed on how to apply the PPP

model to their classes.

In this project, module 3A students worked on developing their listening skill and most of the

activities were carried out outside the classroom. Listening is considered by a lot of linguists as a

receptive skill, but a listener can either be active or passive (Knight & Knight, 2006). All the

participants were encouraged to look up new vocabulary, watch and repeat videos if they did not

understand, answer comprehension questions, and make comments, meaning they were urged to

be active listeners. During the face-to face sessions all the steps of the PPP model were put into

practice, and active listening was demanded for the online activities.

Design

Syllabus and pedagogical objectives.

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Module 3A syllabus comprised two units of the textbook English in Common 2. Each unit

had 4 lessons: Three lessons, each one with a specific goal to develop, and a fourth lesson which

was a unit wrap-up to review all topics. The course content was supposed to be brought off in

sixteen classes scheduled from Monday to Friday for about a month, in a total of thirty-six hours.

This pedagogical intervention started on January 9 and concluded on February 1, a period which

coincided with the course beginning and end as specified in the syllabus.

The pedagogical objectives of the implementation, the development of selective and extensive

listening, were aligned with those stated in the pre-existing course syllabus (see appendix A)

provided by the institution to be followed by the homeroom teacher. These objectives were:

✓ Identify countries and nationalities. (Selective listening)

✓ Distinguish numbers and vocabulary about family members. (Selective listening)

✓ Recognize numbers and letters to complete a simple form. (Selective listening)

✓ Understand a conversation about daily routines. (Extensive listening)

✓ Identify everyday objects (Selective listening)

Other pedagogical objectives were included as the project progressed in order to review and

reinforce previous course content. Also, the homeroom teacher’s suggestions were considered.

These objectives were:

✓ Understand a conversation about abilities (Extensive listening)

✓ Identify numbers from 1 to 100 (Selective listening)

✓ Identify vocabulary about places around town and prepositions of location (selective

listening)

✓ Comprehend conversations about past experiences (Extensive listening)

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It is important to remember that all the activities were meant complement the students’

activities in class.

The roles of the teacher

There are different roles that a teacher can adopt in class depending on the task that students

are performing, such as: Controller, prompter, assessor, resource, or tutor (Harmer, 2007). In the

implementation of this research project there were two teachers involved: the homeroom teacher

and the teacher-researcher. Their roles concerning the pedagogical intervention sometimes

overlapped and other times were clearly differentiated. During the face-to-face sessions the

teacher-researcher conducted the class and adopted the roles of tutor, controller, and prompter, as

the homeroom teacher assumed mostly the ones of prompter and resource. The fact that half of

the activities implemented were assigned to be finalized outside the classroom, demanded

learners to be autonomous. During this stage, both teachers assumed the roles of prompters,

assessors, and tutors.

Participants

A total of sixteen students took part in this pedagogical intervention. Their ages ranged from

fourteen to twenty-seven years old. They belonged to module 3A at Centro Cultural Colombo

Americano in Barranquilla. The class was conducted by Ruth Lozano, a young but expert teacher

who has been working at the institution for several years. The module7 started on January 9 and

ended on February 1, 2019.

7 The institution offers a complete course for adults that comprises 12 levels. The levels are divided in 2 modules that last about a month each. Module 3A , for example, is the first part or part A of the third level. Once students have achieved their passing goals, they will go on to module 3B, which is the second part or part B of the third level. The whole course is two years long.

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Procedure

Throughout the implementation a set of twelve online listening activities were designed

considering the syllabus provided by the institution and the students’ needs as the course

advanced. Two face-to-face sessions were held with the participants in which they worked on

some of the online activities, the other online assignments were carried out outside the

classroom. Each face-to-face session lasted ninety minutes and in each one an observation format

was completed by the researcher.

All the online video activities were brought off in the Edpuzzle platform. Students had to

register so they could log in and work on the assignments. The assignments posted on the

platform had a similar structure: A pre-listening activity reviewing vocabulary or grammar from

the course content, a set of questions to answer while listening, and a post-listening multiple-

choice questionnaire to check comprehension. Students could play, stop, and rewatch as many

times as necessary before answering the questions (See figure 3 on the next page).

During the first face-to-face session module 3A students were instructed on how to use the

platform whether the website version or mobile app. They worked on three online multimedia

activities as part of the initial assessment of their listening skill proficiency. The scores they got

were taken into account when creating new assignments. Having presented the basic information

about the pedagogical intervention, regular visits were made to the classroom throughout the

length of the course to make sure that the students had technical support in case they found a

hindrance logging in or working with the website or the app. Also, the participants were

encouraged to comment on the activities or share any assignment-related opinion they wanted.

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Figure 3. Edpuzzle (n.d.). Edison vs Tesla- War of currents/Tell me why. Retrieved October 13,2019,

from https://edpuzzle.com/assignments/5c51b8d1c0199740a25617c2/watch . Screenshot by author.

The second face-to face session took place on January 30,2019 . Each student worked

according to their own pace. Having finished their assignments, the students were surveyed on

their views on the platform (Edpuzzle), the activities, and the pedagogical intervention in

general. The multimedia listening activities were distributed as shown in table 1.

Multimedia listening activities Pedagogical Objectives How activities were

distributed

CYCLE

1. Listen to a rock song

and answer the

questions

✓ Identify numbers

from 1 to 100.

2. Asking for and giving

personal information

✓ Recognize numbers and

letters to complete a

simple form.

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✓ Distinguish numbers and

vocabulary about family

members.

First face-to-face

session

January 14,2019

FIRST

CYCLE

3. How was your

weekend? Part 1

✓ Comprehend

conversations about past

experiences

4. How was your

weekend? Part 2

✓ Comprehend


experiences

Autonomous

work From January 15 to

January 29

5. A song -Yesterday by

The Beatles

✓ Comprehend


experiences

6. Expressing ability with

‘Can’.

✓ Understand a

conversation about

abilities

SECOND

CYCLE

7. Asking and answering

questions about


✓ Recognize numbers and

letters to complete a

simple form.

8. Talking about people

from around the world.

✓ Identify countries and

nationalities.

9. Adverbs of frequency,

daily routines, and

object pronouns.

✓ Understand a

conversation about daily

routines.

10. Describing location

✓ Identify vocabulary

about places around town

and prepositions of

location .

✓ Identify everyday objects

11. Edison vs Tesla War of

currents

✓ Comprehend


experiences

Second face-to-

face session January 30,2019

12. Past simple tense-Know

what they’re saying

(Movie segment)

✓ Comprehend


experiences

Table 1. The distribution of activities throughout the project.

24

COURSE REG. x SAT./FRI. VAC. TECH. Semester: CONV. School:

TEACHER Ruth Lozano (Homeroom teacher) / Larry Orellano Reales

(Teacher-researcher)

MODULE 3A DATE January WEEK N/A

UNIT 1 and 2 TITLE/THEME Getting to know you/Work and leisure TEXTBOOK English in Common 2 (EIC 2)

CENTRO CULTURAL COLOMBO AMERICANO

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

AC-CD-F023

Versión: 01

Fecha Aprob: Agosto 10-2017

CONTENT SESSION OBJECTIVES (Students will …) INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES (Students will…)

Grammar: Simple present and past, object pronouns, possessive adjectives, expressing

abilities with ‘can’, there is/are. Vocabulary: Countries and nationalities, daily routine activities, numbers, family members,

occupations, places around town, prepositions of place

Learn how to use the platform EDPUZZLE. (January 14,2019). Understand simple conversations about:

1. Be assessed on their current listening skill proficiency level. (January 14,2019) Daily routines, family information exchange, and experiences from the past (All objectives

. are listed in a previous section)

2. Share their opinions about the online multimedia listening activity

by completing an online survey (January 30,2019)

RESOURCES ASSESSMENT

Computers, headphones, internet and a projector. Initial Assessment for students on January 14 / Most assignments have a score / A survey about the online video activities

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES

Beginning Activity: Face-to-face session 1 : January 14, 2019

The teacher talks briefly about the importance of technology in the process of learning a

foreign language. The teacher encourages students to share the kinds of different apps or

websites that they use to enhance their learning process or personal life.

Beginning Activity: Face-to face session 2 : January 30,2019

A short dialog with the students and homeroom teacher about their experiences with the online

multimedia listening activities.

VISITS.

In order to keep track of the students’ progress and provide technical or academic

support to them, several visits were made throughout the module.

January 9, 2019: During this first visit the students completed a survey about their

needs in terms of their learning process and preferences.

January 18, 22, and 25, 2019: During these visits, the students were informed about

their progress in the activities and about other online multimedia listening assignments that were recently uploaded to the platform. They were also encouraged to comment

on their experience.

OTHER ASSIGNMENTS

Video quiz 7: Asking and answering questions about personal information

Video quiz 8: Talking about people from around the world. Video quiz 9: Adverbs of frequency, daily routines, and object pronouns.

Video quiz 10: Describing location

Presentation 1:

The teacher explains the purpose of the session and tells students that they’re going to work

on some listening activities on a website.

The students create an account on Edpuzzle and learn how to log in, log out, and look for due assignments, and other basic commands.

Presentation:

The teacher tells the students which activities they are going to work on during this session.

Practice/Production:

The students work on the first three activities:

Video quiz 1: Listen to a rock song and answer the questions (Numbers).

Video quiz 2: Asking for and giving personal information Video quiz 3: How was your weekend? Part 1

Practice/Production:

The students work on the activities below. They can also work on other assignments they haven’t

completed so far.

Video quiz 11:Edison vs Tesla War of currents Video quiz 12: Past simple tense-Know what they’re saying (Movie segment)

Homework:

The students are supposed to work on three more online multimedia listening activities at

home or anywhere else from their computers or by using the mobile app.

Video quiz 4: How was your weekend? Part 2

Video quiz 5: A song -Yesterday by The Beatles

Video quiz 6: Expressing ability with ‘Can’.

Homework:

The students are supposed to continue working on all the activities they haven’t done until the moment.

The due date for all assignments is February First.

Closure: Several students explain to the class how the Edpuzzle platform works, and what they must

do as homework.

Closure: The students work on an online survey about their experience with the online multimedia listening

activities.


25

All the activities were done online. Module 3A students could log in the Edpuzzle platform

through its mobile or desktop version, anytime, anywhere and work on the assignments. In the

lesson plan format displayed above, you can see how everything was laid out.

Implementation and data analysis

Implementation, data collection and analysis: First cycle

In an initial survey (see appendix B) the module 3A students were asked about what they

considered to be their priorities in terms of learning. They were also inquired about how much

time they could devote themselves to practicing English outside the classroom and if a website or

mobile app would help them. Teachers in charge of beginning levels (from 1 to 3) also took part

in a survey (see appendix C) in order to determine whether they used technological tools or not,

and about what they thought could be the language skill (reading, listening, speaking, writing) to

focus on based on what they knew about their students.

Initial survey

On January 9, the very first day that module 3A started, the teacher-researcher conducted a

survey about the students’ preferences in their learning process. To the question about which of

the four language skills they needed the most due to their academic, personal, or working needs :

51.7 % of the students selected listening as their first choice. Reading and writing were the two

skills they were least interested in. To a related question about which of the four language skills

they considered the most difficult for them, the highest percentage was obtained by listening

with 42.9%. When asked about their willingness to use a website or a mobile app to help them

achieve their learning goals there were no detractors. Only 14.28% of the students were

considered as passive or indecisive. I had already been working with some online multimedia


26

activities in other courses and the results previously mentioned led me to create a project to

tackle listening as a problematic skill for this specific group of pupils. For more information

about the intitial survey, see appendix B.

Teachers’ survey

A group of eleven teachers, selected either because they were currently in charge of or have

taught beginning levels in the past six months, were asked several questions about the use of

technology in class in order to enhance learning. They answered an online survey that comprised

12 questions (see appendix C).

To the item “Organize skills from 1 to 5 according to the degree of difficulty you attribute to

them. Option number 1 represents the skill you consider the most difficult for your students, and

the fifth one the least”, most of the teachers (54.5 %) ranked speaking in the first place. Listening

and writing skills were classified in the first place by 18.2 % of the participants. Reading skill

was placed first only by 9.1% of educators. These results contrasted with the students’ answers

in the initial survey who ranked listening skill as their first choice.

When asked if a website or mobile app could help their students work on a problematic skill,

all the answers were affirmative. But when they were inquired about how desirable it was to

have a website or mobile app to develop course content, their opinions were divided: 64 % of

them were active supporters or promoters, 36 % were indecisive, and none were detractors. In

their justifications all of the teachers coicided that using technology was an alluring way to

review course content and boost autonomous learning.

To the question about how good they were at using technological tools 45.45 % of the

surveyed rated themselves as passive users and 9.09 % as poor users. This might explain why


27

some of them were indecisive about how desirable it was to have a website or mobile app to

work on course content. Overall, there is a good perception of the potential benefits that

technology can bring to language learning.

Although 54.4 % of the beginning-level teachers who participated in the teacher’s survey

considered themselves either passive or poor users of technology, when asked about apps and

websites they used in their classes, quite a few were brought up (see appendix C).

First session

During the first session carried out on January 14 in the digital room, the students worked on

three online multimedia listening activities. These first assignments scores provided information

about their English listening proficiency and were input to adjust the level of difficulty. For

example, their average score on the first activity (Asking for and giving personal information)

was 97.13% which indicated that they needed something more challenging to review the simple

present, countries, nationalities, and numbers. But the average score on the activity ‘How was

your weekend’ (76.38) reflected that it was necessary to provide more listening practice for the

simple past. All of this was considered when creating new assignments. The three assignments

posted on the platform were based on the contents that they had studied in levels 1 and 2.

An observation format (see appendix D) was completed by the homeroom teacher while the

students were working on the online multimedia listening activities and the teacher-researcher

was leading the class. The format comprised six criteria that were meant to determine if the

students were involved and enjoyed the activities. The six criteria selected, as shown in table 2,

were the result of a conversation between the two teachers participating in the project. Most of


28

them aimed at finding signs of boredom or misbehavior that might suggest that students were not

engaged.

Table 2. Observation format sample.

The following conclusions can be drawn from the data collected in the observation format as

shown in figure 4. The desirable behavior traits are represented by blue bars in this figure:

1. During the session most of the students (62.5%) were not disruptive or talkative. But still

a high percentage of them (37.5%) presented some kind of disruptive behavior during

their time in the digital room.

2. Most of the students (81.3%) did not get distracted by browsing other websites or using

the cell phone.

3. One out of four students showed clear signs of boredom or sleepiness.

4. Three fourths of the students tried to finish all the activities during the session. This

datum coincided with the amount of people who seemed to be focused on the activities.


29

5. Only a few students complained directly to either of the teachers about the length of the

videos.

6. Almost 70% of the students did not complain about the difficulty of the activities.

Figure 4. Observation format data graphic

Once the session was over, the homeroom teacher conducted a small survey among students

and tallied the results as shown below in table 3.

How difficult were the activities? Tally

a. Too easy 7

b. Too difficult 5

c. Level appropriate 4

How long were the activities?

a. Too long 3

b. Too short 1

c. Not too long or short 12

Do you feel motivated to continue

working on the online multimedia

listening activities for the whole

module?

a. Yes 15

b.No 1

Table 3. Class survey tally.

37,5%

62,5%

18,8%

81,3%

25,0%

75,0% 75,0%

25,0%12,5%

87,5%

31,3%

68,8%

0,0%10,0%20,0%30,0%40,0%50,0%60,0%70,0%80,0%90,0%

100,0%

SI NO SI NO SI NO SI NO SI NO SI NO

During a part ofor all the session

the student isdisruptive or

talkative.

The student getsdistracted by

browsing otherwebsites or using

the cell phone

The student isyawning or

showing othersigns of

sleepiness orboredom.

Most of the time,the studentseems to befocused on

finishing theactivities

The studentcomplains aboutthe length of the

activities

The studentcomplains aboutthe difficulty of

the activities or iscontinuously

asking for help

Observation form data graphic


30

This new survey revealed that 68.75 % of the students considered the activities either too easy

or level appropriate. It also showed that 75% of the pupils thought the activities were not either

too long or short. A high percentage of 93.75 % of all the participants felt motivated to continue

working with the online video activities for the rest of the module.

Triangulation

The next step in this analysis is comparing the viewpoints reflected in the observation format

and the survey. To do this, three categories were considered: Engagement, difficulty, and length

of the activities. In the observation format there were several items that aimed at discovering if

the students were involved, they are shown in table 4 below. With this information an average

was obtained and was used as comparison basis for the engagement section from the survey.

Observation ítem Positive Negative

Disruptive behavior

during sesión 62.5 37.5

Browsing other

websites 81.3 18.8

Students Yawning

or showing signs of

boredom

75 25

The student seems

to be enjoying the

activities

75 25

AVERAGE 73.45 26.58

Table 4.Engagement according to the observer.

The observation and survey data coincided for the most part. There are several items though

that had considerable differences. The length of the activities, for example, had a negative

perception of 12.50 % in the observation and 25% in the survey. This may be so, because in the

survey the students were asked about more specific options (too long, too short, or not too long

or short) while in the observation the teacher only focused on how many times a student


31

complained because the activity was too long (most students will not say anything if an activity

is too short). In the category engagement, the difference between the positive perception in the

observation and the class survey is about 20 percentage points, but still the positive perception is

outweighing the negative one in both cases. Even though there are some differences, the general

trend per category was kept as seen in table 5 below.

CATEGORY PERCEPTION OBSERVATION SURVEY AVERAGE

Difficulty of the activities

Positive 68.80% 68.75% 68.78%

Negative 31.30% 31.25% 31.28%

Length of the activities

Positive 87.50% 75.00% 81.25%

Negative 12.50% 25.00% 18.75%

Engagement

Positive 73.45% 93.75% 83.60%

Negative 26.58% 6.25% 16.41%

Table 5. Triangulation

Up to this point in the research project, the students seemed to be doing well at selective

listening. However, it was too early to determine whether the students were performing better at

extensive or selective listening. Particularly because during the first cycle only one of the

assignments that was predominantly focused on extensive listening could be graded as shown in

table 6 below.

Selective listening assignment Average

Score

Extensive listening

assignment

Average Score

Listen to a rock song and answer

the questions

82.3 How was your weekend?

Part 1

76.38

Asking for and giving personal

information

97.3

How was your weekend?

Part 2

This activity was not

graded

A song -Yesterday by The

Beatles

This activity was not

graded

AVERAGE 89.81 76.38

Table 6. First cycle average scores according to the type of listening.


32

The overall perception of the impact of the assignments on the students’ learning experience was

positive, as portrayed in the observation and survey.

Implementation and data analysis: Second cycle

Planning

During the first cycle six multimedia listening activities were uploaded to the Edpuzzle

platform. Only one of them was not meant to be graded: A song- Yesterday by The Beatles. The

video called How was your weekend? Part 2 was taken off the Youtube website by its owner,

therefore only two students were able to work on it. This specific assignment was not considered

when calculating the average score per activity or the overall average as shown in table 7 below.

No. Multimedia listening

activity

Average

score per

activity

Students

who

worked

on the

activities

How

activities

were

distributed

FIRST CYCLE OVERALL AVERAGE

FIRST CYCLE

1 Listen to a rock song and

answer the questions 82.3 15

First face-to-face session

85,7

2 Asking for and giving

personal information 97.1 16

3 How was your weekend?

Part 1 76.4 16

4 How was your weekend?

Part 2 *----- *2

Autonomous work

5 A song -Yesterday by The

Beatles ---- ------

6 Expressing ability with

‘Can’. 86.9 13

Table 7. First cycle multimedia listening activities scores.

The activity How was your weekend? Part 1 registered the lowest average score. This

assignment was included in the first face-to face session and due to its results, two more simple

past tasks were created as the first cycle went on into its autonomous work stage, as shown in


33

table 7 above. For the second cycle two more simple past multimedia listening activities were

included: Edison vs. Tesla -War of currents and Past simple tense- Know what they’re saying

(Movie segment). The students worked on a total of four assignments related to the topic of

simple past without counting the video called How was your weekend? Part 2 for the reasons

previously stated.

The length of the videos was one of the items which was perceived positively, not too long or

short, in the survey as well as in the class observation format results during the first cycle.

Therefore, during the second cycle, the videos kept a similar length with a difference of twelve

seconds between the video-length averages per cycle, as shown in table 8.

Second cycle First cycle

No. Multimedia listening activities Video length

No. Multimedia listening activities Video length

1 Asking and answering questions

about personal information 2:11 1

Listen to a rock song and answer the

questions 4:13

2 Talking about people from

around the world 4:27 2

Asking for and giving personal

information 3:22

3 Adverbs of frequency, daily

routines, and object pronouns. 3:29 3 How was your weekend? Part 1 3:22

4 Describing location 2:12 4 How was your weekend? Part 2 ------

5 Edison vs Tesla War of currents 2:42 5 A song -Yesterday by The Beatles 2:06

6 Past simple tense-Know what

they’re saying (Movie segment) 5:47 6 Expressing ability with ‘Can’. 3:21

Video-length average 3:28 Video-length average 3:16

Table 8. Video-length average per cycle expressed in minutes and seconds.

During the first cycle 31.28% of the students considered the activities too difficult (see Table

5). In the second cycle all the multimedia listening activities were adjusted so they were not only

level appropriate but challenging too. Four adapted videos taken from educational channels with

more familiar grammar structures and vocabulary, and two videos containing authentic

language: a movie segment and Tesla and Edison’s rivalry story (See table 8). It is necessary to


34

highlight that even though the material was taken from Youtube, the listening comprehension

questions and other activities were designed by the author of the project.

Implementation, data collection and analysis

The second cycle was divided into two parts: an autonomous work stage and one face-to-face

session. Most of the assignments were realized during the autonomous work stage. Only two

multimedia listening activities were worked on at the second face-to-face session.

Autonomous work stage

During this stage, the students were supposed to work on four assignments. Not all the

participants were able to work on all the activities, because each student moved forward

according to their own pace. The overall average score in the multimedia listening activities was

90.5. An average of 13.5 people completed the tasks, as shown in table 9.

No. Multimedia listening activity Average score

per activity

Number of students who worked on the

activities

1 Asking and answering questions about


2 Talking about people from around the

world 98 14

3 Adverbs of frequency, daily routines, and

object pronouns. 88.1 12

4 Describing location 86.8 15

Overall average

Table 9. Autonomous work stage scores

90.5 13.5


35

Second face-to face session

During the second face-to-face session carried out on January 30 in the digital room, the

students were meant to work on two online multimedia listening activities: Edison vs. Tesla -War

of currents and Past simple tense- Know what they’re saying (Movie segment). They were also

encouraged to complete other assignments from the autonomous stage that they had not finished.

In a similar manner to what was done in the first face-to-face session, an observation format (see

appendix E) was completed by the homeroom teacher while the students were working on the

assignments. The six criteria comprised in the format were the same ones used in the previous

encounter. Fifteen out of sixteen students took part in this session and later in the final survey,

because one of them was sick.

The following conclusions were obtained from the data collected in the observation format as

shown in figure 5. The desirable behavior traits are represented by blue bars in this figure:

1. Most of the students (80%) were on task during the session. Only 20 % of them were

somehow disruptive or talkative.

2. 80% of the students did not get distracted by browsing other websites or using the cell

phone.

3. Most of the students (66.7%) did not show any sign of sleepiness or boredom.

4. 73.3 % of the students seemed to be focused on finishing the activities as they did not

move from their seats until they had finished.

5. The majority of the students (86.7%) did not complain about the length of the videos,

even though the videos for the second cycle were slightly longer.

6. 20% of the students complained about the difficulty of the activities.


36

As this face-to face session was the last one to be held, the students were asked to complete

an online survey about their experience with the listening multimedia activities.

Figure 5. Observation format data graphic

Final survey

The final survey was delivered by means of an online Office form that provided instant

graphics in real time as the survey was completed. It comprised a total of fourteen questions

aiming at finding out the students’ perception of their experience working on the online video

activities (see appendix F).

To the question about how much they liked the activities on Edpuzzle, 80 % were active

supporters or promoters, 20% were indecisive, and there were no detractors. When asked about

the potential contribution of the multimedia listening activities to their listening skill

20,0%

80,0%

20,0%

80,0%

33,3%

66,7%73,3%

26,7%

13,3%

86,7%

20,0%

80,0%

0,0%

10,0%

20,0%

30,0%

40,0%

50,0%

60,0%

70,0%

80,0%

90,0%

100,0%

SI NO SI NO SI NO SI NO SI NO SI NO

During a part of or

all the session the

student is disruptive

or talkative.

The student gets

distracted by

browsing other

websites or using

the cell phone

The student is

yawning or

showing other signs

of sleepiness or

boredom.

Most of the time,

the student seems to

be focused on

finishing the

activities

The student

complains about the

length of the

activities

The student

complains about the

difficulty of the

activities or is

continuously asking

for help

Observation form data graphic


37

improvement in their learning process at the CCCA, 86.7% of the students agreed that it could be

very positive, 13.3% were not sure, and no one was against it.

From questions 4 to 7, the students were inquired about how they felt while working on the

assignments. When asked to pick between relaxed or anxious, 60% selected the first choice. The

answers to why they felt anxious varied from one person to another, but most of them reflected a

personal issue, like lack of confidence in their abilities or being too focused on the results. When

requested to choose between entertained or bored, 100 % went for the first option. In this case

the answers to why they felt entertained were more uniform : the activities were dynamic, visual

, and helpful.

80% of the students said they felt motivated to continue working on the online video

activities, and 20 % were hesitant. 93% of the participants stated that the videos on Edpuzzle

had an appropriate length (not too long or short). A staggering 100% affirmed that the

assignments were level appropriate. 66.7% considered that videos taken from reality with

authentic language such as songs, movie excerpts, etc., are the ones that most help them develop

their listening skills. 53% stated that the number of times they could repeat a video was the

feature that helped the most with improving their listening skill.

A summary of the information obtained from the survey is presented in table 10 below. In

this table, it is shown how several questions from the survey were grouped together, considering

how related their answers were to a category. The categories taken into consideration were the

same ones that were used during the first cycle.


38

SURVEY Positive (%) Negative (%)

Difficulty of activities Question 10 100 0

Length of the activities Question 9 93 7 % %

Engagement

Question 2 80 20

91.4

8.6 Question 3 86.7 13.3

Question 4 60 40

Question 6 100 0

Question 8 80 20

Table 10. Summary of the survey’s results.

Triangulation

In this section the viewpoints reflected in the observation format and the survey are

compared. So as to do this, the same three categories included in the analysis of the first cycle

were considered now: Engagement, difficulty, and length of the activities. The items aiming at

finding if the students were engaged as taken from the observation format are shown in table 11

below. The average that was obtained was used as reference for the comparison with the

engagement section from the survey,

Observation ítem Positive Negative

Disruptive behavior

during sesión 80 20

Browsing other

websites 80 20

Students Yawning

or showing signs of

boredom

67.7 33.3

The student seems

to be enjoying the

activities

73.3 26.7

AVERAGE 75 25

Table 11. Engagement according to the observer.


39

CATEGORY PERCEPTION OBSERVATION (%) SURVEY (%) AVERAGE (%)

Difficulty of activities Positive 80 100 90

Negative 20 0 10

Length of the activities Positive 86.7 93 89.9

Negative 13.3 7 10.2

Engagement Positive 75 81.3 78.2

Negative 25 18.7 21.9

Table 12. Triangulation.

Even though there were a couple of results that were a little apart from each other

percentagewise, the tendencies in the observation format concurred with the ones in the survey.

For example, according to the survey all the activities had a positive perception of 100% while in

the observation this item obtained a lower percentage of 80%. We can see similar results in the

other categories as shown in table 12.

During the second cycle the students performed better at selective listening than extensive

listening as shown in table 13.

Selective listening assignment Average

Score

Extensive listening assignment Average Score

Asking and answering questions

about personal information

87.14

Adverbs of frequency, daily

routines, and object pronouns.

85.36

Talking about people from around

the world.

98 Expressing ability with ‘Can’. 86.92

Describing location 84.19 Edison vs Tesla- War of

currents/Tell me why

79.27

Past simple-Know what they’re

saying!

79.2

AVERAGE 89.79 82.69

Table 13. Second cycle average scores according to the type of listening.


40

Conclusions and implications

Conclusions

This project, which is immersed in the line of research Pedagogical innovations that incorporate

ICT in EFL teaching and learning contexts of Universidad Santo Tomás, has added a new set of

conclusions and implications to the area of ICT materials design and evaluation concerning online

video activities for beginning-level students by means of a popular platform called Edpuzzle. The

findings of this research project are listed and explained in the following lines.

The overall results of this research project are encouraging, particularly in terms of

engagement and its three dimensions (emotional, behavioral, and cognitive) as portrayed in the

analysis of the students’ surveys, the observation formats, and online video activities’ scores.

However, to determine whether selective and extensive multimedia listening activities using a

platform such as Edpuzzle will have a great impact on the CCCA adult program students’

listening skill in the long run, it is necessary to implement more cycles in subsequent modules. It

is also important to include some experimental design principles that would allow to compare

groups of students in different conditions to determine whether their results vary or not.

Based on the data analysis, it is possible to affirm that module 3A students’ learning

experience was enhanced by including an online technological tool with selected material that

allowed them to work autonomously at their own pace. As the students were not forced by any

means to work on the activities, in terms of cognitive engagement, we can conclude that most

module 3A went beyond the minimum requirements by completing most assignments. They

reacted positively and are willing to continue working on more online video activities in the

future.


41

There were two kinds of videos that were included in this research project: the ones with

authentic language such as songs or movies, and the adapted ones which were created by

educators aiming at a specific language learning goal. The first category encompassed the

following multimedia listening activities: Listen to a rock song and answer the questions, A song

-Yesterday by The Beatles, Edison vs Tesla War of currents, and Past simple tense-Know what

they’re saying (Movie segment). The second category comprised all the other assignments. Four

out of a total of twelve, 33 % of the videos included authentic language. When module 3A

students were asked in the final survey (see appendix F) about what kind of videos they

considered helped them the most improve their listening skill, 66.67% said that the ones that

included authentic language. When considering the average score per assignment, module 3A

students performed better at selective listening than extensive listening, as shown in table 14

below.

Selective listening

assignment

Average Score

per assignment

Extensive listening

assignment

Average Score

per assignment

Listen to a rock song and

answer the questions

82.33 How was your weekend?

Part 1

76.38

FIRST

CYCLE Asking for and giving


97.13

How was your weekend?

Part 2

This activity

was not graded

Asking and answering

questions about personal

information

87.14

A song -Yesterday by

The Beatles

This activity

was not graded

Talking about people from

around the world.

98 Adverbs of frequency,

daily routines, and object

pronouns.

85.36

SECOND

CYCLE Describing location 84.19 Expressing ability with

‘Can’.

86.92

Edison vs Tesla- War of

currents/Tell me why

79.27

Past simple-Know what

they’re saying!

79.2

OVERALL AVERAGE 89.76 81.43

Table 14. Selective listening average score vs extensive listening average score.


42

Implications

During each face-to-face session, an observation format was completed by the homeroom

teacher concerning the difficulty, length of the activities, and how engaged the students were.

Besides, all students were asked in a survey, in each face-to-face session as well, about their

experience with the online video activities regarding the same items mentioned above. Both data

sources, observation format and survey, were triangulated per cycle. When comparing cycles, as

shown in table 15 below, some conclusions can be drawn. First, that the difficulty of the

activities was positively perceived in both cycles, which means that the assignments were

considered level appropriate and challenging at the same time with much higher positive

perception in the second cycle. A similar scenario was presented for the length of the activities,

but the positive perception was slightly higher in the second cycle. In none of cycles, the length

of the assignments went beyond 3 minutes and 28 seconds. It is advisable that the online video

activities are short, below 4 minutes.

As for engagement, the positive perception was 5.4 % lower in the second cycle, but still

positive. This point needed more analysis, so I turned to the information about the assignment

completion in the Edpuzzle platform.

First cycle Second Cycle

CATEGORY PERCEPTION AVERAGE

Difficulty of the

activities

Positive 68.78%

Negative 31.28%

Length of the

activities

Positive 81.25%

Negative 18.75%

Engagement

Positive 83.60%

Negative 16.41%

Table 15. Triangulation per cycle

CATEGORY PERCEPTION AVERAGE

Difficulty of

activities

Positive 90%

Negative 10%

Length of the

activities

Positive 89.9%

Negative 10.2%

Engagement Positive 78.2%

Negative 21.9%


43

Twelve online multimedia listening activities were designed in order to help module 3A

students achieve their listening skill goals. Five were meant to be worked on during the face-to-

face sessions and the remaining seven autonomously. Only one of the assignments was not

intended to have a score : A song- Yesterday by The Beatles. Another activity could not be

scored because it was taken off its Youtube channel before it was realized by the students: How

was your weekend? Part 2. Video owners can remove their material whenever they want, so it is

important to have a backup video in stock just in case. It is advisable to consider rigorously

aspects like availability and licensing of the videos. An average of 15 students worked on the

online video activities in the first cycle, whereas the second cycle average was 13.17, about 2

fewer. This may be so, because the students were working at their own pace, therefore some

were way ahead and others were a little behind. The activity which had the lowest completion

rate was Past simple tense-Know what they’re saying (Movie segment): 10. The difference

between the overall average scores for all the activities was 2.84 in favor of the second cycle

(See tables 16 and 17).

No. Multimedia listening activity Average score per

activity

Students who

worked on the

activities

1 Listen to a rock song and answer the

questions 82.33 15

2 Asking for and giving personal information 97.13 16

3 How was your weekend? Part 1 76.38 16

4 How was your weekend? Part 2 *----- *-----

5 A song -Yesterday by The Beatles ---- ------

6 Expressing ability with ‘Can’. 86.92 13

Overall Average 85.69 15

Table 16. First cycle summary chart


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No. Multimedia listening activity Average score per

activity

Students who

worked on the

activities

7 Asking and answering questions about


8 Talking about people from around the world 98 14

9 Adverbs of frequency, daily routines, and

object pronouns. 85.36 14

10 Describing location 84.19 16

11 Edison vs Tesla War of currents 79.27 11

12 Past simple tense-Know what they’re saying

(Movie segment) 79.2 10

Overall Average 88.53 13.17

Table 17. Second cycle summary chart.

As mentioned before there were 12 online video activities module 3A students were supposed

to work on. Two of the activities did not have a score, as previously explained, so the students’

performances could not be traced on them. As for the other assignments, it was possible to

determine who realized them and how well they did on them. Nine out of sixteen students

worked on all ten activities, 56.25%, and four out of sixteen, 25%, were either one or two

assignments away from completion. That is to say that 81.25 % of learners completed at least

80% of the activities. Only two students , 12.5 %, had a completion rate under 70%. Although

the activities did not have a considerable effect on the students’ course final grades because they

were optional and only worth some extra points on one unsatisfactory quiz grade, most of the

students completed most of the activities. Hence, it is inferable that they were cognitively

engaged and that they considered that overtime, their listening skill was going to improve and so

would their grades.

Aspects that can be improved in future cycles include the data collection instruments,

instructional design and the platform. For example, in addition to the observation formats and

surveys, I would like to include some interviews in order to get more information about students’


45

and teachers’ perceptions. I would also incorporate more criteria in the observation format so it

becomes more accurate. As for the surveys, it is important to keep the uniformity in the way

they are delivered. That is, they should be delivered using the same media: online or on paper,

but not on the board, as one of the surveys was carried out. Regarding instructional design, it

would be advisable to increase the amount of activities with authentic language from 33 % up to

40 % or 50 % of the total. If we must change the platform, it is imperative to find one that is able

to keep track of students’ results, so it is possible to compare performances throughout the

process.


46

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Appendixes APPENDIX A


50

APPENDIX B


51

INITIAL SURVEY GRAPHICS


52

APPENDIX C- BEGINNING LEVEL TEACHERS’S SURVEY QUESTIONS


53

TEACHERS´ SURVEY GRAPHICS


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APPENDIX C- BEGINNING LEVEL TEACHERS’ ONLINE TOOLS

Other websites or

apps Description

https://www.eslga

mesplus.com/

Website full of warm up activities for teachers.

Students can find a lot of grammar and vocabulary

exercises.

https://agendaweb.

org/

In this website students can work on their listening

and reading skills. It also has grammar and

vocabulary activities, as well as a text-to-speech

function.

https://kahoot.com/

Teachers use this tool for formative assessment

and warm up activities.

https://bebyaz.com

/ExamReader

App that allows teachers to create easy-to-grade

answer sheets by the cell phone or tablet's camera

as a scanner.

https://quizizz.com

Teachers use this tool for formative assessment

and warm up activities.

https://www.duolin

go.com/ Mobile APP to learn vocabulary.

Online dictionaries Vocabulary

LISTENING

Website/APP Description

www.Youtube.com

Website to watch videos about a

diverse range of topics

https://listenaminute.com/

Website that comprises hundreds

of listening activities ready to be

downloaded. It also has online

activities.

https://www.esl-lab.com/

(Randall's esl lab)

Website that comprises hundreds

of listening activities ready to be

worked on online.

https://es.lyricstraining.com

Website that allows users to

practice their listening skill by

using music videos.

SPEAKING


https://info.flipgrid.co

m/

Website that allows

teachers and students

to record and share

short videos in order to

foster communication

and discussion.

WRITING READING


Website/APP Descript

ion

Blogs

(Wordpress) Websites that allow

users to publish

text entries (Posts)

https://mrnussba

um.com

Website

that

contains

different

reading

activities

on a

broad

range of

topics.

https://www.eslgamesplus.com/

https://www.eslgamesplus.com/

https://agendaweb.org/

https://agendaweb.org/

https://kahoot.com/

https://bebyaz.com/ExamReader

https://bebyaz.com/ExamReader

https://quizizz.com/

https://www.duolingo.com/

https://www.duolingo.com/

http://www.youtube.com/

https://listenaminute.com/

https://www.esl-lab.com/%20%20%20%20%20(Randall's%20esl%20lab)

https://www.esl-lab.com/%20%20%20%20%20(Randall's%20esl%20lab)

https://es.lyricstraining.com/

https://info.flipgrid.com/

https://info.flipgrid.com/

https://mrnussbaum.com/

https://mrnussbaum.com/


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APPENDIX D

APPENDIX E


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APPENDIX F


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FOLLOW-UP SURVEY GRAPHICS


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FOLLOW-UP SURVEY GRAPHICS AND ANSWERS

Pregunta 5.

¿Por qué se siente relajado o ansioso cuando hace las

actividades?

Pregunta 7.

¿Por qué se siente entretenido o aburrido cuando hace

las actividades?


59

developing listening skills through online video activities

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