Use of video and mass media aids in the classroom

The methods of using videos in language teachingclassrooms

One of the most appreciated materials applied to language learning and teaching is, of course, video. A recent large-scale survey by Canning-Wilson (2000) reveals that the students like learning language through the use of video, which is often used to mean quite different things in language teaching. It means no more than replaying television programmes on a video recorder for viewing in class or private study. For others, it implies the use of a video camera in class to record and play back to learners their activities and achievements in a foreign language teaching. It is a fact that most students have taken foreign language courses formally remain insufficient in the ability to use the language and to understand its use, in normal communication, whether in the spoken or the written form. The problem arises not from the methodology itself but from the misuse or incomplete use of it. That is to say, teachers still evaluate student performance according to the sentence structure and situational settings. But this not necessarily means that teachers should pay full attention to only communicative ways in the preparation and presentation of language teaching materials.
Video has been proven to be an effective method in teaching a foreign language as a second language for both young and adult learners. Video can be used in a variety of instructional settings - in classrooms, on distance-learning sites where information is broadcast to learners who interact with the facilitator via video or computer, and in self-study and evaluation situations. It can also be used in teacher’s personal and professional development or with students as a way of presenting content, initiating conversations, and providing illustrations for various concepts. Teachers and students can always create their own videotapes as content for the class or as a means to assess learners’ performance.
It is so close to language reality containing visual as well as audible cues - video is an excellent medium for use in the language classroom. It can be used in many different ways and for teaching or revising many different language points. These notes are intended to help you think about how you can use video in your classroom. They are not exhaustive, because ultimately the ways in which you use video are limited only by your own imagination.
Languages are not fixed but constantly changing, so is the media; television, radio and newspapers which are an extraordinarily rich source of language in use. In order to expose foreign language learners to the target language the use of technology need to be taken in the classroom as much as possible. For that reason, a great tendency towards the use of technology and its integration into the curriculum developed by foreign language teachers has gained a great importance. Particularly the use of video has received increasing attention in recent studies on technology integration into teacher education curricula.