Weyers: Authentic Video

The Effect of Authentic Video on Communicative Competence

Oh Mireille et Jérôme! Fond friends from French II and III in high school. Today's foreign language classroom makes much use of video as a teaching tool (many textbooks have a video component). This is logical as part of the goal communicative competence is to have a good listening comprehension. What's interesting in this article is the study of authentic video, specifically telenovelas in Spanish classrooms. Interesting to read about the pedagogical value of authentic videos from a scientific perspective.

The results of the study were consistent with prior research concerning the relationship between video exposure and listening comprehension. Weyers does make a point, however, of distinguishing between the different components of communicative competence, where one of the criteria was notably affected in the experiment--confidence in speech. He attributes this finding to the fact that students were hearing native Spanish speakers. In my opinion, confidence in speech, is extremely necessary for second language acquisition, and anything to aid the process is good to know! Perhaps Mireille and Jérôme will find a way into my classroom.