Utilizing Selfies to Promote Language Learning

Christine Discoe,

Kyla Masciarelli,

and Loni Thorson

​

INTO Colorado State University

Selfie-video as a tool

​

• Using smartphone/tablet technology to focus on

learners’ speech production

​

• Encouraging students to

self-assess

​

• Focus on communication

​

​

Start with a selfie-video

Basic Rationale

​

​

Technology--

it’s what the kids want.

​

Expanding technology

• Smartphones that are leading the mobile charge. By 2020 they will account for 80 percent of all mobile data traffic.
• Emerging markets: Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa will account for 80 percent of all new subscriptions in the next five years
• Video chat is one of the fastest growing channels of communication. In a 5 year span, the number of video chat users grew by an estimated 317 million users.

https://customericare.com/infographics-the-untapped-potential-of-ecommerce-video-chat/

http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/02/6-1b-smartphone-users-globally-by-2020-overtaking-basic-fixed-phone-subscriptions/

Presentation Overview:

Part 1:

• 3 Reasons for Why Selfies?
• Rationale, Assignment types, and examples

Part 2:

• Ways to “submit”
• Feedback/Grading
• Things to be aware of

​

Part 1: Why Selfies?

• 3 Reasons for Why Selfies?
• Rationale, Assignment types, and examples

Why Selfie Videos for ESL?

1. Comfort
2. Awareness
3. Creativity

​

Reason 1- Comfort:

• Best Practices: Nation and Newton (2009) and Folse (2008)

“Comfort is Key” for communicative language activities.

• Genuine Communicative activities: In self-assessments, students at INTO rated Selfie Video assignments “highly effective/easy to access” in a wide variety of types of assignments.

​

• Media Culture: Students want online (and video) personna to be curated; they can comfortably and easily access the desire to self-correct, and to make themselves look and sound good.

Comfort: Young people and cellphones

• 67% [of smartphone owners] use their phone to share pictures, videos, or commentary about events happening in their community, with 35% doing so frequently.

In a national survey of teens ages 13 to 17

• Video chat: 59% of all teens video chat with their friends; 7% video chat with friends daily.

http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/

Comfort: Classroom rapport

• Growing comfort within the video:
• Greeting teachers
• Explaining surroundings
• Comfort between students
• Increased comfort over time
• Comfort viewing themselves (in English)

Sample of comfort: tell a story

Assignment examples connected to comfort

​

• Generating topical information about a topic
• Reflections on experiences

Reason 2- Awareness:

• Inward and outward attention. Daniel Willingham, Psychologist.
• College-age students have a unique awareness of their own self-presentation.
• Smart phone use doesn’t have to be just about outward attention (trolling for videos, instagram)
• Smart phones can be used effectively to look inward (self-correction)

Willingham, Daniel T. Smartphones Don’t Make Us Dumb. New York Times, Jan. 20, 2015.

https://customericare.com/infographics-the-untapped-potential-of-ecommerce-video-chat/

• 60% of hiring managers have conducted a job interview through video chat

​

Assignment examples connected to awareness

​

• Grammar point reinforcement
• Diagnostic tool at the beginning of a term
• Minimal Pairs pronunciation practice
• Open-ended questions with focus on self-correction

​

Sample of awareness: opinion sharing

Reason 3- Creativity:

• Selfies inspire a linguistically creative process:
• Selfies focus on creatively “trying on” and assessing what works in the video (grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure)
• novel utterances
• looking for grammar/vocabulary “on the fly” (not much time to reflect)
• forming the whole (gestalt) from the parts
• Creative practice of designing, organizing and implementing the video

​

Sample of creativity: 2 truths and a lie

Assignment examples connected to creativity

​

• Summarizing information prior to writing a summary
• Critical thinking: sharing opinions, making connections to class content/topics

Part 2: Classroom logistics

​

• Ways to “submit”
• Feedback/Grading
• Things to be aware of

Ways to “submit”

• Shared during class time
• Selfie-conferences
• Document camera (with sound)
• Share through Google Drive
• Class or school educational platform

​

Feedback Types

• Recorded video response
• Pronunciation links/exercises
• Peer feedback, class feedback
• Holistic/formative rubrics

​

Things to be aware of

• Students are nervous at first
• recording themselves, easy to review
• sharing with class
• providing feedback to other students
• Announce audience ahead
• Set expectations for assignment (formality)
• Uploading and technology issues (upright orientation)

​

Questions or comments?

Record a video and send it to us!

Christine Discoe christine.discoe@colostate.edu

Kyla Masciarelli kyla.masciarelli@colostate.edu

Loni Thorson loni.thorson@colostate.edu

Next slides:

Sample documents which are also linked throughout the presentation

​

Sample Assignments: Topical Information

Unit Topic: Gender and Society

​

Find a pic of someone in traditional or nontraditional gender role. Then, in a 1-3 minute selfie video:

1. Describe the picture
2. Explain why you think this is/is not an example of a traditional gender role.
3. Tell me what you think someone from your country would think of the picture.
4. Tell me what you think someone from the US would think of the picture.

​

Unit Topic: After Oil

​

Tonight you need to look at these charts and make a 1-2 minute selfie. In your selfie, tell me what the trends are regarding the production and use of different types of power used by the different states. Also, tell me what is interesting or surprising about the charts.

Sample Assignments: Reflections

Connecting to Content-Vocabulary Practice: Unit on Human Migration

​

In a 2 minute selfie, answer 2 of the following questions.

1. Where are your ancestors from? What do you know about them?
2. Has your family retained any traditions and customs? Explain.
3. What ethnic minorities are there in your country? How are they treated? Do people discriminate against them?

​

​

Presentation Reflection: Pre and Post

​

Preparation: Tonight you are going to practice your presentation and record yourself in a selfie video. After you have recorded your selfie, you will need to watch the video and give yourself a grade based on the rubric for this presentation.

​

Download this chart, complete it, and submit both your selfie and the chart on Canvas before class starts on Tuesday. You will need to review the descriptors in the rubric to help you assign yourself a grade.

​

Reflection: Tonight you are going to reflect on how your presentation went today by answering the following questions in a selfie: 1.

1. What do you think you did well? Why?
2. What do you think you need to improve for next time?
3. How will you prepare differently for your next presentation?

​

Your selfie should be 1-2 minutes long. Make sure you review my comments on your first selfie and listen to/watch your selfie video before you submit it. Watching yourself may sound a bit scary, but it will really help you improve your pronunciation and fluency.

​

Sample Assignments: Grammar Point Reinforcement

Past Tense

​

Each person will create a 1-3 min selfie-video using a cell-phone, tablet, or computer. In the video, you will tell a true story in the past tense. The story can be interesting, exciting, scary, funny, or embarrassing. You can record, and re-record the video as many times as you want/need before the due date. On the due date, you will bring your video to class (and submit it to Canvas) and you will show your video to the class. In the video, we (the entire class) will listen for comprehensibility (can we understand your story), and specific pronunciation/grammatical problems which impede or impact your communication.

​

Hypotheticals

​

You must speak for 3-5 minutes about the topic you choose. After listening, you will write comments about your own speech. This means that you will watch your video and make comments on your own grammar and pronunciation. I want to see that you are working on the specific areas I mentioned in your previous selfie videos. There are a number of resources in the Pronunciation Module, you should also utilize the Clear Speech textbook for additional pronunciation help.

• Hypotheticals- If____(past tense)___, I would _________
• If you were the president…
• If you were an alien visiting from another planet….
• If your best friend were suddenly mute (cannot talk)….

​

Sample Assignments: Diagnostic

Sample Assignments: Summarizing

Unit: World of Words

Watch and Summarize: Prior to story summary presentation

This weekend you will watch the Sleepy Hollow Movie.You need to take notes while watching the movie. Then, you need to summarize the movie in a 2 minute selfie video. Make sure that your summary includes the important points of the story so that someone who has not seen the movie can understand the story. Also, make sure your selfie does not exceed 2 minutes!

​

Read and Summarize: Prior to written summary

Today in class we read the article The Poet of the Outback. Tonight I want you to explain the article to me in a 3-4 minute selfie. In the first part of your selfie include a citation and the main idea of the whole article. Then, in the rest of your selfie, tell me about the the main ideas from the article.

Feedback: Sample Rubrics

Holistic

​

​

​

Formative

​

​

​

​

Sample Assignments: Listening Practice

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1bzyMZAXMLETWFJNTk3LTY1enM

​

Possible Assignments