Abstract:

In the late 80s material designers and language methodologists advocated for the integration of video into language teaching (Allan, 1985; Cooper et al., 1991) and hence many articles, resource books for teachers, and video series were published for this purpose. Yet, looking back, we can see that in classroom practices video never had a prominent role in language learning and, if used, it was regarded as a tool to design “filling” activities which failed to exploit video watching or video making as a stimulus to generate genuine communication in the classroom.

Today digital technology provides a new framework as (a) it is accessible and affordable, (b) it simplifies the production process and (c) it helps students find an audience for their video productions, especially if they are delivered on the Internet (Buckingham et al., 1999). In such a context, it is not strange to observe that video making projects replace video watching activities in the language classrooms, particularly if teachers choose to adopt a constructivist approach to language teaching. Research on the potential of digital video making, then, should not be restricted to the analysis of current literature on the topic (see, among others, Hofer & Owings-Swan, 2005; Hofer et al., 2006; Goulah, 2007) and should also examine what teachers and their students produce (as in, for example, Fee & Fee, 2003). This paper aims to be a contribution to such an approach.

Here we will present the results of a literature study, conducted within the framework of a European project, DIVIS (Digital Video Streaming and multilingualism; 141759-LLP-1-2008_1-DE-COMENIUS-CMP), on exploring how different digital video devices and current approaches to video production can serve as tools for language learning. Our presentation will have a double-folded objective. On the one hand, we will present what current literature says on language learning through video making. On the other hand, we will analyse and categorise examples of video productions produced by language learners. In turn, this second objective will allow us to discuss what kind of video projects and tasks are more likely to help students develop both their linguistic and digital communicative competences and which are the new challenges teachers need to face.

Keywords:

video making, language learning, digital communicative competence.