|
|
Effective Meetings: using video effectively? |
| CONTENTS |
| 1. INTRODUCTION |
The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate the video course 'Effective Meetings'. First I intend to examine the video content of the course. Next I will examine the author's aims in the light of the accepted uses of video. Then I will examine the printed material and look at how the video content is exploited and suggest how it might have been exploited.
| 2. THE VIDEO CONTENT |
Effective Meetings (Comfort, 1996) is a video-based course consisting of four elements: a video, a student's book, a teacher's book and an audio cassette. This course is one in a series of, currently, five business skills related video courses (see appendix). Each video unit is based around a meeting. The meetings vary in purpose and type, and each unit focuses on a different stage of a meeting, or problems associated with meetings. Each meeting is shown in two versions: Comfort describes them as the 'poor' model and the 'good' model (1996: 5). Students may find this format repetitive, however, and it is therefore important that the video based activities exploit it in a variety of ways.
The video is scripted and therefore the language presented is not authentic. Nevertheless the dialogue sounds natural and the situations are realistic. If we compare it to another video aimed at the intermediate business student, 'Creating Opportunities' (Baldwin & Heitler, 1995), there is a marked contrast: the dialogues in the second sound stilted and the scenarios also tend towards the bizarre. In 'Effective Meetings' the scenarios are based on everyday business situations. This video thus presents "examples of language in use in an appropriate context" as Allan suggests (1985: 19). Such realism is also likely to be more motivating according to Stempelski and Tomalin (1990: 3).
| 3. ESTABLISHING THE AIMS OF THE COURSE |
According to his introduction, Comfort's (1996: 4) aim in Effective Meetings is to equip learners of Business English "with a range of skills and language to help them anticipate and deal with many of the difficulties they will face" when participating in various types of meetings.
If we analyze this single aim carefully we will see it is made up of several different elements, or various sub-aims, which we might achieve by use of the video content.
These aims include Allan's (1985: 19) first 'role' for video – presenting language – and go beyond that. The course also aims to present business 'skills', presumably transferable to meetings not conducted through the medium of English. Thus the aim is not only to teach students what to say in meetings, but also to train them how to conduct meetings.
Stempelski and Tomalin (1990: 4) suggest video can be used to make students aware of non-verbal aspects of communication and cross-cultural issues. The aim of helping students to anticipate difficulties might include both these uses of video.
Stempelski and Tomalin also suggest the use of video to encourage communication, or as Motteram and Slaouti (1996/7: 10) express it 'stimulating language production'. This is surely implicit in helping students deal with the difficulties they will face. Finally students will also need to develop their listening skills if they are to deal with meetings conducted in English. According to Allan (1985: 49) video is a 'good medium' for listening to a foreign language, because of the aid to understanding given by the visuals and the way it focuses students' attention.
I will be evaluating this course on how effectively use is made of the video content to meet these aims:
| 4. EVALUATING THE USE OF THE VIDEO CONTENT |
4.1 Developing listening skills
The short length of the extracts and yet the challenging nature of the language used make the video potentially excellent listening material. However, the tasks set in the Student's book 'Communications Skills' section:
"assume a high level of comprehension of the video material. The focus moves entirely onto the message … and language becomes the tool which gives access to the message."
Unfortunately, this is Allan's (1985: 74) description of listening tasks suitable for Advanced level students. Intermediate students she suggests (1985: 73) should attempt "to follow the general drift of the message". Certainly it would be unwise to assume such understanding, even for upper-intermediate students, in Vietnam, where many students have little exposure to English spoken by native speakers.
The problem here seems to be the 'Video meeting context' section of each unit of the student's book which gives away perhaps too much information and yet not enough: it reveals the purpose of the meeting and the participants feelings, but it doesn't tell students how the meeting progresses. I feel that students below advanced level would probably need an aid to understanding the content before moving onto discussing what is right and wrong in the way the meetings are conducted.
Lonergan suggests several ideas for encouraging active viewing; perhaps guided note-taking (1984: 24) would be suitable here.
Type of meeting: Purpose of meeting: Character X's point of view: Character X's feelings: |
The 'Who's who' section at the front of the book could be used to focus each student on one particular character. Exactly what notes the students would be guided to write would vary with each unit.
Comfort does use a similar exercise in unit two (page 13). Very few other questions focus on listening for understanding: an exception is in unit eight (page 51), where students are asked about the characters opinions and feelings.
4.2 Presenting business skills
The 'poor model/good model' format of the video allows students to contrast potential pitfalls with more correct behaviour. As Lonergan advocates (1984: 6) the activities ensure students are not merely passive viewers of the video.
In the introduction of the first unit, for example, students are asked to establish their own criteria for a successful meeting (page 8). They are then asked to judge the chair's handling of the meeting against their own criteria. Another good example is in unit five (page 33), where students are asked to anticipate how the characters will act in the good model. This is 'speculation' as advocated by Lonergan (1984: 51).
Although Allan (1985: 51) cautions that using video to present language may be difficult, the student's book's 'Communication skills' section, based on the video, almost completely ignores language presentation. This is left to the next, 'Language skills', section which is based on the audio cassette.
The video is only used to present language in unit six (page 39), where students are asked to note what each person says in the good model version to prevent one personality dominating the meeting. The visual element makes it easier to spot a person trying to interrupt, or when someone prevents interruptions. This is an activity similar to one of Lonergan's (1984: 16). But it might have also been used in other units, for example unit three (page 21), for the phrases used to control the agenda.
Lonergan (1984: 32) and Stempelski and Tomalin (1990: 108) also encourage a 'play and pause' technique for presenting language, which could be used here.
4.4 Raising awareness of nonverbal communication
As Allan points out (1985: 72) it is important not to neglect the visual element of video. Visual clues are an important aid to communication (Allan, 66). In unit four (page 27) Comfort uses silent viewing in order to concentrate on the participants' body language. Here one participant has difficulty being heard. The same technique might have been used in other units, for example unit six, where one speaker dominates the discussion.
Near the beginning of unit two, with the sound on, the video could be stopped after watching the participants reactions to the chair's statement that "We all know why we're here", to establish that, in fact, they do not.
Body language has important cultural implications too. Willis (1983: 29) draws a distinction between sensitizing students to visual clues they recognize, albeit subconsciously, and teaching them to interpret those that are different from what they are accustomed to. She gives the example that proximity when people talk varies widely between cultures. Students might be asked to comment on the closeness of speakers in unit eight of the video, for example. Some might thereby be sensitized to possible meanings of proximity; whereas some might be taught that distance does not necessarily mean unfriendliness.
4.5 Raising awareness of cross-cultural issues
In Effective Socializing (Comfort, 1997) the two guests are Spanish and Danish. Each unit includes a 'culture note,' highlighting potential differences between cultures. In unit five students are asked to notice reasons for the embarrassment of the guests, one of which is that they have dressed too formally for an invitation to dinner at a British person's home.
In Effective Meetings, one of the characters is an Italian, Franco Novelli, but there are no culture notes. In unit three, Franco strays from the agenda in the 'poor' version. However the fact that this may be the result of a clash of different business cultures is largely ignored. Students are asked (page 20) whether they stick rigidly to an agenda, and they are asked to comment on the chair's somewhat bossy style when viewing version two. Franco and the students may be used to a business culture where the agenda is seen only as a preliminary guideline. That it may be followed much more strictly in Britain is a good topic for discussion.
For Kramsch culture is about difference and, as she points out (1993: 208), both teacher and student may have false impressions of C1 and C2. Therefore, it is probably better to ask students to note elements in the video, which differ from what they expect. This could similarly be a starting point for talking about cultural differences. Differences in the formality of dress, the use of first names or lack of deference to seniority might be noticed in Vietnam, for example.
4.6 Stimulating language production
Most of the tasks based on the video consist of open questions to encourage discussion of the procedural problems of organizing meetings. Although there may be some problems with thus focusing on the message, students are encouraged to interact with the video as Lonergan suggests (1984: 5). As noted above however more use could have been made of the video to discuss other aspects such as non-verbal and cross cultural issues.
Writing is another aspect of language production and Lonergan also notes "the scope for open-ended note taking [while viewing] is very wide indeed" (1984: 28) Minute taking may be a skill some students will need in meetings. Unfortunately, none of the extracts is entirely suitable for minute taking since only short sections of the meetings are seen. Students are asked to make notes occasionally, however: for example, in unit three they are asked to note which points on the agenda are mentioned.
| 5. CONCLUSION |
As Allan points out (1985: 66) there is no single 'right way' to use video, only "as many right ways as there are effective uses." Comfort's way of using the video here concentrates on presenting business skills and stimulating language. Although a serious problem for students at the intermediate level may be the lack of exercises aimed at listening for understanding.
Presenting language is left to the audio-cassette based section of the coursebook so perhaps we can understand why the video is used so little for this purpose.
A serious neglect of potential exploitation however would seem to be in the use of video to explore paralinguistic, the visual non-aural, features of language and the many cultural differences that might be found. The neglect of these aspects also leads to a lack of variety, which because of the repetitive (poor/good version) nature of the video itself is to be regretted.
| 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY |
Allan M (1985) Teaching English with Video London: Longman
Baldwin R & D Heitler (1995) Creating Opportunities Oxford: OUP
Comfort J (1996) Effective Meetings Oxford: OUP
Comfort J (1997) Effective Socializing Oxford: OUP
Kramsh C (1993) Context and Culture in Language Teaching Oxford: OUP
Lonergan J (1984) Video in Language Teaching Cambridge: CUP
McGovern J Video Applications in English Language Teaching: ELT Documents: 114 Oxford: Pergamom
Motteram G & D Slaouti (1996/7) Educational Technology for ELT Unit 1: General Video Materials (CELSE Distance Learning Materials) Manchester University: Distance Learning Coordination Unit
Stempleski S & B Tomalin (1990) Video in Action London: Prentice Hall
Willis J (1983) 'The Role of the Visual Element in Spoken Discourse: Implications for the Exploitation of Video in the EFL Classroom' in McGovern J (Ed)
| 7. APPENDIX |
The "Effective" series
Comfort J (1995) Effective Presentations Oxford: OUP
Comfort J (1996) Effective Meetings Oxford: OUP
Comfort J (1996) Effective Telephoning Oxford: OUP
Comfort J (1997) Effective Socializing Oxford: OUP
Comfort J (1998) Effective Negotiating Oxford: OUP
| Click here to go back to the Video page. |
