Currently teaching in an intensive English program (IEP) at a
large, public state university, I regularly hear complaints from faculty
teaching general education classes that English as a second language
(ESL) students who have matriculated into their classes are struggling
through the lectures. Therefore, I wondered, as ESL teachers how can we
better prepare nonnative speakers for listening and participating in
academic lectures and consequently improve their academic experiences
after they leave our classes. To address this issue, I am currently
working on creating a video database of recorded lectures at the
University of Iowa to be used in higher level listening classes to help
learners prepare for their academic listening loads. This article
details my project and offers tips for implementing a similar project
within your own department.
Struggles With Listening
Academic listening is especially difficult for nonnative
speakers of English for several reasons, including the noninteractive
nature of the academic lecture, specialized vocabulary, speed of
delivery, and lecture organization (Huang, 2005). Matriculated students
also have difficulties with classroom culture (including both explicit
and implicit cultural expectations). Instructors of general education
courses may also assume a certain level of background knowledge or
personal, culture-related experiences that international students simply
do not have.
How Do We Currently Teach ESL Listening?
In general, IEP students appreciate a multimedia approach to
learning listening. Consequently, using multimedia would appear to be an
effective way to teach listening. In the classroom, a multimedia
approach to listening not only improves this skill, but it can also help
students enhance their vocabulary (Wenhua, 2014) and encourage students
to think creatively (Ananyeva, 2014).
So what are the ways academic ESL teachers currently teach
listening, and how effective are they at preparing ESL students for
general education courses?
Textbooks
Most instructors use textbooks to teach academic listening.
However, ESL textbooks are skill-based,
while target native-language textbooks are content based. Additionally,
the listenings and lectures included in ESL textbooks tend to be
short—these listenings are sprints, while academic lectures are
marathons. If we acknowledge this mismatch, we have the opportunity to
improve language instruction.
Podcasts
The most beneficial aspect of podcasts is that they are about the same length as an academic lecture
(depending on the podcast). There is a variety of topics available
through podcasts. While podcasts can help with vocabulary and speed of
delivery, they can be paused and relistened to, unlike an actual
academic lecture.
TED Talks and YouTube Videos
Many listening teachers utilize TED videos, which are interesting
and informative, for the classroom. They promote critical thinking,
generate discussion, and can be used to teach presentation skills
(Donovan, 2014). However, TED Talks are completely unlike an academic
lecture—they’re funny, captivating, and entertaining. A Chemistry 101
lecture is not likely to be as exciting.
Most listening instructors have used a YouTube video in the
classroom. They’re short, easily available, and enjoyable. However, it
takes ESL teachers a lot of time to sift through all the videos on
YouTube to find just the right one.
All of these materials have their purposes in the classroom;
all are helpful for students practicing listening skills. However, they
are not always successful in preparing nonnative speakers for academic
lectures. None of these materials address lecture organization or
classroom culture; they also tend to be entertaining. Furthermore,
these materials can be controlled by the instructor—number of times
played, speed, pausing, and so on. They are usually bookended by
prelistening activities and postlistening activities generally not
present in an academic lecture.
The Project (Thus Far)
The purpose of my project is to create a database of general
education lectures from the University of Iowa. These videos will be
accessed solely by the university’s three different ESL programs for
educational purposes. In an informal survey of participants in this
project, teachers indicated that matriculated ESL students struggle more
than their native-English-speaking counterparts with the lecture
format, critical thinking, analysis, and application of materials.
Instructors will be able to use this video database to help better
prepare learners for general education courses.
The benefits of creating this video database are threefold. ESL
lecturers will have access to a database of readily available
materials. They may also use the database as a source of secure
materials for assessment. Because the videos will only be used within
the department, there is no chance that students will have already seen
the material (unlike with Internet sources).
For ESL students, the main benefit is being able to practice
extended listening in a low-stakes environment before being thrown into
the sink-or-swim atmosphere of academic classes. They get a chance to
figure out what listening, note-taking, and participation strategies
work for them before their grade depends on it. They also may feel a
connection to the greater university community—if they see actual
University of Iowa professors teaching in classrooms located on campus,
students may be more able to visualize themselves taking those
classes.
General education lecturers will also benefit from the video
database project. Their incoming nonnative speakers of English will be
better equipped to handle lectures, ensuring greater academic
success.
Collection and Current Progress
The project was proposed in the spring of 2015. In the fall of
2015, I sent out approximately 60 emails asking general education
lecturers if they would be interested in participating. Of those who
responded, I followed up with additional emails at the beginning of the
spring 2016 semester confirming participation. I also sent an additional
20 emails to search for more participants. I started recording in
Spring 2016.
Out of the approximately 20 replies, I confirmed
11 lecturers willing to participate (and many allowed me to film more
than one class). So far, 12 full-length lectures have been recorded and
include courses such as Social Problems, Human Impacts on the
Environment, International Relations, Food in America, Media Uses and
Effects, Ancient Sports and Leisure, Fundamentals of Public Health, and
Introduction to Macroeconomics. So far, all professors have been very
accommodating and excited to participate.
Setbacks and Solutions
If you are interested in attempting a similar project in your
own department, there are some potential problems to consider.
- Time: The beginning of the semester has
the most accessible information in any academic course, but this is also
the busiest time of the year for ESL programs. Additionally, for ESL
instructors with full course loads, there may be only small windows
throughout the day in which to film.
- Interest of lecturers: Out of about 80
lecturers I contacted, I received around 20 responses, and 11
participants.
- Privacy Issues: Be sure to check your
institution’s privacy policy with regards to filming student
presentations or discussion groups.
To solve the problem of time, I hired an undergrad work-study
student to film the lectures. Hiring a work-study student is especially
beneficial because our department does not pay them—they are paid
through a financial aid grant.
I created an online Excel spreadsheet that included the
student’s class schedule and the classes to be recorded. As lecturers
confirmed their participation, I filled in the filming schedule with the
class title, location, and time. I also scheduled specific times for
the student to stop by the ESL offices to pick up and drop off the
equipment. So far, this has been satisfactory.
To secure enough participants for the project to be successful,
you may need to send out many invitations in order to record sufficient
materials.
Always ensure that you are properly following your institution's guidelines regarding student privacy.
Future Plans
I would ultimately like to create a test bank of lectures that
the higher level ESL listening classes can use for midterm and final
exams. However, I do not have nearly enough videos to do this. Taking
into consideration the different classes and a video rotation schedule,
I’ve determined that we would need at least 24 videos in the testing
bank. This may not be possible due to low lecturer interest. However, I
plan to continue filming throughout the summer and fall of
2016.
Additionally, I would like to use the videos I’ve collected to
create content modules for the higher level ESL courses. These modules
would include not only listening to the lecture, but would also
integrate reading, writing, and communicative tasks. Each module would
contain a content-based lesson similar to what students experience in
academic classes. In order to do this, I would like to survey the
participating lecturers about supplementary materials they use with
their lectures. For example: What readings are students required to do
before the lecture? What homework assignments are they expected to
complete after the lecture? It would be especially helpful if
participating lecturers either shared already existing homework
assignments or assisted in creating similar assignments for the ESL
content module, or came to the class as a guest lecturer.
Conclusion
Although this is still a work in progress, the positive
implications of such a project should be obvious. The main goal is the
academic success of our ESL students, and the authenticity of actual
lectures from the university they are attending. As can be seen, though,
the project doesn’t just benefit the students but also the ESL and
general education lecturers, creating a positive collaborative
environment all around. Therefore, I encourage you to use (or adapt) my
project for use in your own department.
References
Ananyeva, M. (2014). “Blogfolios” and their role in the
development of research projects in an advanced academic literacy class
for ESL students. Techtrends: Linking Research &
Practice to Improve Learning, 58(5),
22–26.
Donovan, J. (2014). How to deliver a TED talk. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education.
Huang, J. (2005). Challenges of academic listening in English:
Reports by Chinese students. College Student Journal,39(3), 553–569.
Miller, D. (2011). ESL reading textbooks vs. university
textbooks: Are we giving our students the input they may need? Journal Of English For Academic
Purposes,10(1), 32–46.
Wenhua, H. (2014). The effects of audiovisual support on EFL
learners’ productive vocabulary. Recall, 26(1), 62–79.
Erin Kuester is currently a lecturer in the Iowa
Intensive English Program at the University of Iowa, where she also
coordinates a campus conversation program and serves on a
university-wide women’s council. Her main research interests are
international student and community integration, teacher materials
creation, and project-based learning. She holds an MA in applied
linguistics from Ohio University. |