Using videos

Most people are regularly exposed to audiovisual texts, i.e. texts that combine sound and visual elements. Examples include face-to-face communication, movies, commercials, and theatre performances. This article focuses on audiovisual texts that refer to recordings of moving pictures and sound, such as different types of videos, which have become a ubiquitous form of media of our time due to video-sharing sites, social media and messaging services such as WhatsApp.

Media literacy

According to Marketing Charts (2021), traditional TV viewing is declining particularly among teens and the 18-to-24-year-old population, while the consumption of free and paid options of digital audiovisual media, such as videos on video platforms and social media, has been steadily rising. In view of these trends, media literacy is becoming increasingly important for citizens around the world. It can be defined as ‘the ability to identify different types of media and understand the messages they are sending’ (Common Sense Media).

Media literacy is an essential skill when dealing with internet content because most of the information posted on social media, video platforms, and on many websites has not undergone any previous quality control and verification, contrary to content published by reputable newspapers and TV stations, where editors and producers act as gatekeepers of information. The Hague University of Applied Sciences states that ‘the line between news, fake news and advertisements is blurring and “news” is spreading faster than ever. It is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between what is real and what is fake, and to form an informed opinion’ (2021).

Media literacy includes the following key skills: learning to think critically, determining the ‘persuasive intent’ of advertising, recognising points of view, and understanding the author’s goal (Common Sense Media). This means that students do not only need to understand the information, but also have to analyse and evaluate it, which refers to higher-order thinking skills according to Bloom’s 2001 Taxonomy revised by Anderson et al. (2001), such as critical thinking.

Audiovisual comprehension skills

Visual information and sound interact to enforce the message of fictional audiovisual texts. For example, a comedy combines funny images with witty dialogues and cheerful music, while suspense is built in a thriller by combining scary pictures with ominous music to make the viewers sit on the edge of their seats. Visual elements and sound are also frequently employed in audiovisual text types classified as factual in order to persuade viewers and/or sway their opinion. They comprise news reports, interviews, and documentaries as well as the highly persuasive genres of commercials and non-profit videos, which are released by governments and non-profit organisations to raise awareness of a social issue. In addition, digital media have given rise to various novel audiovisual text types that often contain persuasive elements, especially when they are used for marketing purposes. Examples of these videos include the Vlog, a video blog that revolves around the everyday life, thoughts, and feelings of a YouTube influencer; the reaction video, a type of video in which people react to a real-world issue; and How to/Tutorials, which ‘teach a task through the ins and outs of a product or service, sharing detailed features and use-cases, (…) like beauty, tech, cooking and auto’ (Mediakix 2019). For more information and examples, please see the blog article ‘The most popular types of YouTube videos’ (https://mediakix.com/blog/most-popular-youtube-videos/).

In view of the widespread consumption of audiovisual texts, media literacy training activities should include developing awareness of the techniques applied to persuade the viewers or manipulate their feelings, in other words, media users need audiovisual comprehension skills. According to Thaler, audiovisual comprehension is a communicative competence in its own right, which differs from pure listening comprehension (Thaler, 2007: 13) because the message is based on the combination of visual elements and sound and must be analysed and evaluated as such. This means images and sound are not separate entities, but are closely connected and interact to create a message. Some basic knowledge about the elements that make up an audiovisual text is required to be able to analyse it and evaluate its persuasive intent. The key elements of audiovisual texts are listed in Table 1.

Table 1 Elements of audiovisual texts

For information on camera shots and angles please see the link in the References to the ‘camera shots and angles’ handout (Education Bureau Hong Kong).

The website ‘Storyblocks’ provides a video tutorial on seven basic camera movements: https://blog.storyblocks.com/video-tutorials/7-basic-camera-movements/

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (Council of Europe, 2018) acknowledges the importance of audiovisual comprehension by including it in the key receptive language skills of its communicative language activities and strategies (Council of Europe, 2018: 54). In the respective descriptors of the C1 level, the CEFR mentions ‘identifying details, nuances and implied meaning’ (Council of Europe 2018: 66). These skills refer to critical thinking, while, at lower levels, the CEFR focuses mainly on listening comprehension. However, Ben Goldstein, an ESL teacher and teacher trainer, advocates including higher-order skills at lower levels when using video in the classroom: ‘(…) the exploitation of video is currently moving away from working on purely lower order thinking skills – such as description – and is now encouraging learners to interpret what they view. Encouraging a more critical response is something that can be done at even basic levels’ (Donaghy and Xerri, 2017: 28). This can be trained by combining audiovisual comprehension exercises with activities that develop critical thinking skills, whenever it is possible. The following key questions address media literacy and audiovisual comprehension skills:

Who made the video?

• Who is the target audience?
• What facts and figures does the video provide? Can the information be verified (by using a search engine to find out what other sources say about it)?
• Whose view is shown?
• Are all relevant aspects addressed or have some details been left out? (If necessary, other sources of information need to be consulted on the topic.)
• What persuasive techniques are used?
• How are audiovisual elements used to create a persuasive message (images, text, sound – see Table 1)?
• What is the intended effect on the viewer?
• What is the intention of the video (why has it been made)? What are viewers expected to do after watching it?
• Do you think the video is effective? Why (not)?

The above questions include some themes that are based on Callow’s paradigm for viewing an image, which consists of the following dimensions: affective (regarding the individual’s response when interacting with images), compositional (regarding the composition of images to create meaning), and critical analysis (referring to a critical analysis of images) (Callow, 2005: 13).

Proposed exploitation of a short video to train audiovisual comprehension and media literacy

Short videos that employ persuasive techniques are particularly suitable for exploitation in the classroom. They include commercials, non-profit videos, influencer videos and clips about a news item or controversial issue. The following example shows how a non-profit video can be used to train listening skills and develop media literacy and audiovisual skills in the EFL classroom. The activity is based on the video ‘Protecting our planet and combating climate change’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK_qzk6sJS4) (1:59 min) that forms part of the UN short film series ‘The Story You are Shaping’. It is suitable for students from intermediate level (B1).

Pre-viewing activity to revise and pre-teach relevant vocabulary

Ask students what environmental problems they are aware of. Write the problems on the board. Then, in small groups or with a partner, ask students to rate the problems according to their seriousness and justify their ratings. This makes them think critically about the problems.

While-viewing activities

1. Ask students what images are shown in the video and what they think the video is about. (In other contexts, questions that refer to Who, Where and When may also be relevant.) Then play the video with muted sound. Ask for students’ feedback and write the ideas on the board. The video consists of an introduction to climate change, problems that are caused by climate change and pollution, and some solutions.
2. Depending on the level of the class, pre-teach some vocabulary (if it has not already arisen during the previous activities). The following relevant words may be unknown: survive, displaced, drown in waste, biodiversity, sustainable, desertification, resilient. Ask students to verify their hypotheses about the video. This time, students watch the video with the sound on. Depending on the level and size of the class, they share their ideas in small groups before debriefing. Alternatively, ideas can be shared immediately.
3. Ask students how the video makes them feel. Then ask them what difference it makes to them to see the images with the accompanying sound. It is evident that sound and images interact to convey a clear message to the audience, mutually emphasise it and make it more memorable because visual and verbal information is combined according to Allan Paivio’s Dual Coding Theory (Thomas, 2014). Depending on the students’ level, students watch the video again and answer some questions that focus on the understanding of details.
4. Then ask students to watch the video again and pay attention to the images and sound. What kinds of images are shown? How are they filmed, from the top (bird’s eye view), from close-up? How do sound and images interact? What effect does this produce? If students are not yet familiar with audiovisual techniques, they probably lack the technical terms to describe them, but these can be provided later when discussing their use in the video.

The following audiovisual elements are relevant:

Visual elements

• A widescreen format is used. It fills most of the viewer’s field of vision and makes the images more impressive.
• The video consists of various shots of nature and of people around the world that succeed each other without transitions. The likely intention is addressing a global audience.
• Mainly images of nature filmed from far away and from the top are shown (extreme long-shots and bird’s eye views), which makes them breathtaking. For this, horizontal camera movements (panning) are used.
• People and animals are shown in (extreme) close-up shots and medium shots (to reduce distance and immerse the viewer).
• The scenes are interspersed with images of the Earth seen from space (which are iconic and inspire awe).
• No text or titles are displayed (probably to avoid distracting the viewer, which would reduce the impact of the images and voice-over).

Sound

• A voiceover informs the viewer in short melodic sentences about the environmental problems and some solutions.
• Orchestral music is played.
• Diegetic sound accompanies the natural phenomena that are shown (thunderstorm, collapsing ice sheets, storm, waves).

Post-viewing activities

1. Ask students to discuss the following questions in small groups. Then ask for their feedback.Who is the target audience?What concrete facts and figures are given?What persuasive elements are used?Why did the United Nations make the video?The target audience are citizens around the world. The video relies on a combination of persuasive elements (impressive pictures, music and a powerful message provided by the voice-over). It does not present any concrete facts or figures nor does it recommend concrete actions. One possible aim of the video is to raise the viewers’ awareness of environmental problems. Its main purpose is probably to convey a positive image of the organisation and its climate action (which can be supported by donations).
2. Ask students to write a short review of the video based on the following:Briefly describe the video and its intention (what is it about and who made it). What do you think of the video? Do you think it is effective? Why (not)?

Conclusion

The European Commission states that ‘media literacy has never been as important as it is today. It enables citizens of all ages to navigate the modern news environment and take informed decisions. (…) It is a crucial skill for all citizens regardless of age, as it empowers them and raises their awareness’ (Shaping Europe’s Digital Future 2021). Media literacy is therefore a skill that should be addressed in the ELT classroom, especially when taking into account the large amount of audiovisual information available in English on the internet. Audiovisual comprehension tasks can be combined with general media literacy training based on suitable videos. In this way, teachers can achieve two aims: students acquire some crucial twenty-first-century skills and use English for this real-world task.

References

Anderson L (Ed), Krathwohl D (Ed), Airasian P, Cruikshank K, Mayer R, Pintrich P, Raths & Wittrock M (2001) A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman

Callow J (2005) Literacy and the visual: Broadening our vision. English teaching. Practice and critique 4 (1) 6–19

Common Sense Media What is media literacy, and why is it important? Available at: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/news-and-media-literacy/what-is-media-literacy-and-why-is-it-important

Council of Europe (2018) Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment Companion Volume with New Descriptors Available at: https://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989

Donaghy K and Xerri D (Eds) (2017). The Image in English Language Teaching. ELT Council, 23–31. Available at: https://visualmanifesto.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/the-image-in-english-language-teaching-2017.pdf

Education Bureau Hong Kong. Camera shots and angles (handout). Available at : https://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/curriculum-development/resource-support/net/NETworking_Popular%20Culture/CD%20for%20govt%20printer%20-%20FINAL/3.%20Unit%20A.%20Captions%20and%20Photo%20Stories/1.%20Handouts/Handout%202A.1%20Camera%20Shots%20and%20Angles.pdf

Marketing Charts. The State of Traditional TV. May 12, 2021. Available at: https://www.marketingcharts.com/featured-105414

Mediakix. The most popular types of YouTube videos. May 16, 2019. Available at: https://mediakix.com/blog/most-popular-youtube-videos/

Thaler E (2007) Schulung des Hör-Seh-Verstehens. Praxis Fremdsprachenunterricht 4 12–17

Thomas N (2014) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mental-imagery/theories-memory.html

Shaping Europe’s digital future. Media literacy. September 23, 2021. European Commission. Available at: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/media-literacy

The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Media literacy can be learned. 11 October 2021. https://www.thehagueuniversity.com/about-thuas/thuas-today/news/detail/2021/10/11/media-lieracy-can-be-learned

Christine Roell is a lecturer of English and Spanish at the University of Applied Sciences Nordhausen, Germany. She trained as a translator and adult educator and has a Master’s degree in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language. Her current interests include task-based learning, using media and film in language learning, exploring e-teaching and e-learning tools and intercultural communication. Email: roell@fh-nordhausen.deWebsite: https://www.teaching-english-and-spanish.de/