POINTS OF CONSIDERATION FOR ADOPTING OUR VIDEO CLIPS

• What kind of outcomes do we expect from the use of these video clips?
• How can we balance "speed listening" and "close listening"?
• Can we link the selected video clips with other related materials and tasks?
• What can we learn from the selected video clips in terms of the contents of their discussion?
• What can we learn from the visuals of the selected video clips?
• What kinds of styles or strategies can be studied by using the selected video clips?
• What kind of vocabulary or expressions can be studied by using the selected video clips?
• What kind of grammatical structures can be studied by using the selected video clips?
• How should the accompanying transcripts be used?
• How can we reduce the students’ apprehension for not understanding everything?
• What kinds of assessments should be conducted after using these video clips?

POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN ADOPTING OUR VIDEO CLIPS

This section introduces some points to take into consideration when adopting our currently available video materials. What is discussed below is based on our experiences in incorporating these video clips into courses at the UW-Madison and numerous discussions we had during workshops we held for language educators. If you have other suggestions concerning additional important issues to be addressed, please feel free to contact the project director, Junko Mori, at jmori@wisc.edu. We hope to incorporate as many suggestions from instructors as possible into the future development of this project.

What kind of outcomes do we expect from the use of these video clips?

As we develop a new curriculum or review new materials, we should consider what is the purpose of incorporating particular materials, activities, or tasks and what kinds of outcomes are to be expected. It is also important to share these thoughts with the learners at the beginning of a particular course, unit, or task instruction. This is particularly true for incorporating such materials as the video clips introduced in this project. If the learners have only experienced tapes and CDs accompanying textbooks, which contain very controlled language use, without clarifying the purpose and goal, it is likely that they will find understanding such naturalistic interactions very challenging, time-consuming, or even impossible.

As mentioned in the previous section, these video clips can be used for various purposes. When we select a particular video clip and incorporate it into a curriculum, we can set various purposes and goals depending on the learners’ levels or the purpose of a unit in consideration. For example, we can use these video clips to encourage learners 1) to get used to hearing spontaneous speech of Japanese speakers; 2) to pick up just a few pieces of information out of a video clip; 3) to raise their awareness of the existence of varying ways of speaking or ways of thinking; 4) to pay attention to subtle nuances; 5) to compare the ways of speaking illustrated in the clip with those of their own, and so on.

For learners who have used Japanese only in the classroom or class related assignments, it might be helpful to have them imagine the world outside of classroom, or more precisely scenes in which they need to use Japanese to communicate for real-life purposes. If their long-term goal is to be able to use the language and to live, study, or work in Japan, the introduction of these video clips of Japanese speakers (if it is done properly) can serve as an important motivator for pursuing the ultimate goal.

We should also note that some of the outcomes that we aim towards need a longer period of time for their achievement than the others. It might be possible to raise the learners’ awareness for certain features or issues of language use in a relatively short time, but it may require a longer time and continuous efforts to change certain aspects of their speech behaviors (see also What kinds of assessments should be conducted after using these video clips? for related discussion). When considering the purpose of, and expected outcomes from, the use of particular instructional materials, we need to balance short-term and long-term visions that are hopefully shared with the learners as well.

In order to consider further the potential purposes and goals of the use of these video clips, please review the following points.

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How can we balance "speed listening" and "close listening"?

For reading comprehension, the necessity of balancing "speed reading" and "close reading" in classroom instruction has been advocated and different types of instructional materials have been published for these two different types of reading. In contrast, for listening comprehension, the notions of "speed listening" versus "close listening" seems to have rarely been discussed. One of the reasons for this must be that the majority of listening activities that we undertake in real-life are essentially "speed listening," and it is rather rare to listen to the same speech over and over, or listen to it a little by little while stopping and reflecting on its meaning. However, for the purpose of language instruction, we should consider the effective use of the video clips provided here, by combining the two stages of listening, namely "speed listening" and "close listening."

As mentioned earlier, it is important to develop practical skills of picking up certain information from the initial listening despite the existence of unknown vocabulary or parts that are difficult to hear. But at the same time, we may also want to consider the significance of "close listening," which can be easily accomplished by the use of these digital materials. This process would help the learners understand the information or nuances that they were not able to pick up from the initial listening, or help them reflect on their own ways of speaking in comparison with the samples provided in the video clips. The understanding of some of the features may be further enhanced by the study of the accompanying transcripts (see the following section, How should the accompanying transcripts be used? for more details). There are a lot of additional instructions that we can provide through such "close listening" activities.

What is important is to consider the goals for the "speed listening" stage separately from the goals for the "close listening" stage.

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Can we link the selected video clips with other related materials and tasks?

As mentioned earlier, this project collected speech samples by asking the participants to talk about topics that appear to be frequently introduced in intermediate and advanced level Japanese courses. By doing so, we hoped that these video clips can be part of the various instructional materials that constitute a theme-based unit. Such a theme-based unit can create an effective context in which balanced instruction of the four skills (speaking, reading, listening, writing) is provided. We also consider it useful for learners to study and practice the use of particular vocabulary and expressions in a context of studying a particular topic, while comparing the differences in the use of the linguistic forms between spoken and written modes of discourse.

For instance, at the UW-Madison, we incorporated a few video clips in a unit on food culture in the era of globalization. For the reading materials, we selected excerpts from a book on the sushi craze in the US: a section in which the author criticizes Americans’ misunderstanding of the manners of eating sushi and another section in which the same author regrets the current westernization of food culture in Japan and the change in Japanese youths’ tastes. While studying these written texts, the learners also viewed video clips in which the participants discussed how their eating habits changed when they were in the US and what they thought of Americans’ eating habits. Because the contents of these reading materials and the video clips correspond to each other, some times we used the video clips as a pre-activity for the reading, while other times, the order was reversed. Further, after studying both the readings and the video clips, we actually invited Japanese guest speakers to talk with students on this topic. At the end of this three-week unit, the learners submitted their essays on food culture summarizing what they learned form various sources and expressing their own viewpoints. The learners in this class included not only American students raised in the Midwest, but also international students from other Asian countries, and as a result the class discussion included these Asian students’ perspectives towards American or Japanese cultures as well. By participating in these varying activities, we offered the learners opportunities to learn a new set of vocabulary, expressions, cultural knowledge, and different perspectives towards the issue of food culture and globalization.

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What can we learn from the selected video clips in terms of the contents of their discussion?

Linking the selected video clips with the existing reading materials enables us to facilitate students’ exploration of varying experiences of, or perspectives towards, a given issue by encouraging them to compare what is written in the texts and what is discussed in the video clips. One example on food culture was given in the previous section. Other examples from our test at the UW-Madison include a unit on gift giving customs, in particular on the "Japanized" customs of the Valentine’s Day. A textbook reading briefly provides some factual information regarding the Valentine’s Day in Japan; it is a day when women are supposed to give gifts (typically chocolates) to men including not only their spouses or boyfriends, but also their friends and colleagues, to show their appreciation. Furthermore, there is another day called "White Day" a month later, and the men who received gifts on the Valentine’s Day are supposed to return gifts to the women from whom they received the Valentine’s Day gifts. After reading this passage, the learners viewed a few video clips in which Japanese students were talking about their own experiences of, and opinions towards, these "Japanese" customs, and expanded the understanding of what is described in the reading material. In another unit that addresses the issues concerning women’s statuses and roles in Japan, the learners viewed video clips in which three Japanese students were talking about their parents in regard to how they divide housework or how they communicate with each other. While the textbook provides a stereotypical picture of Japanese family that emphasizes the burdens of women who take the sole responsibility of housework and child raising, sometimes in addition to pursuing their own professional careers, the video clips demonstrate that the three students’ families are all very different. One family follows the image provided in the textbook, while the others present different models. Thus, one way to use these video clips is to expand and deepen the learners’ understanding of contents introduced in the reading materials, through their exposure to diverse experiences and viewpoints held among Japanese people.

Another approach is to start with video clips and add more sociocultural information in order to enhance the learners’ understanding of the issues discussed. There are many occasions when the Japanese speakers in video clips assume their shared knowledge of the society and culture and develop their talk accordingly without specifically referring to this seeming shared knowledge. This fact can present challenges for the learners, who do not share the same kinds of information. In such cases, we can use the video clips as a prompt or a motivator for further study, and introduce related materials to promote their understanding of the assumed information.

One idea developed in the group project work during our workshop in Madison provides an example. In one of the video clips under the topic of "Host Family," a Japanese woman who used to host an American student talks about her amazement and concern towards the student’s habit of laundry – she piled up her worn clothes and underwear and did not wash them for a month. Viewing this video clip, the learners may understand this woman’s comments on the surface. However, the significance of this woman’s surprise and concern intertwine with the cultural circumstances, which she does not necessarily mention to the Japanese interviewer. These circumstances include the fact that most housewives in Japan do laundry at least once a day for various reasons: first, washing machines in Japan are, in general, considerably smaller than those in the US; second, clothing dryers are not usually available at regular households and clothes are dried in the sun even on small balconies of apartment units; third, Japan is very humid, especially during the rainy season, causing laundry to mold quickly; and the list goes on. Such background sociocultural information can be explained by showing photos, statistical figures, or short articles on these subject matters. After studying these related materials, the learners can come back to the video clip and renew their appreciation of the woman’s comments.

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What can we learn from the visuals of the selected video clips?

While many of the existing materials for listening comprehension only consist of audio recording, the current materials are accompanied with visual images. The visual data present various contextual and interactional features, which constitute integral parts of face-to-face interactions. Indeed, the participants of these interactions themselves incorporate their understanding of each other’s non-verbal conduct including gaze, facial expressions, gestures into their ways in which they construct their talk-in-interaction. Thus, the elimination of these crucial visual images would go against our purpose of introducing samples of "naturalistic interactions" to language learners.

At a glance, the viewer may consider apparently static images of talking heads in these video clips to be unattractive in comparison with many current films or TV shows. This recording procedure was chosen not only because we did not have trained videographers, but more importantly because we hoped to reduce possible distraction and intrusion that we might cause to the participants by constantly moving around them while they were talking with each other.

However, even from these seemingly undramatic visual images, we can gather information that is crucial for understanding the language, culture, and interaction. First, before playing a video clip, we can have the learners, by showing a static frame, examine the surroundings and appearances of the participants. For instance, interesting contrasts can be observed by comparing two video clips of the interviews with former host families. One features an older housewife interviewed in a very traditional Japanese room with tatami mats, a Buddhist shrine, a scroll handing in the alcove, etc. Another features a younger mother of three small children interviewed in a kitchen nook with western furniture. The comparison of these two images exposes the learners to diverse experiences they may have when they stay with a host family.

Further, by muting the sound we can have the learners focus on non-verbal means of communication such as head nods, gaze shifts, postures, facial expressions, or gestures (e.g., a woman covering her mouth when laughing). After having them discuss their observations and interpretations of these non-verbal behaviors, we can play the clip with the sound to promote their understanding of the coordination of verbal and non-verbal behaviors.

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What kinds of styles or strategies can be studied by using the selected video clips?

First of all, what do we mean by styles and strategies? These terms are used to refer to various linguistic forms and speech behaviors. Honorifics, speech styles, gendered speech, dialects, youth language, and so on can be considered as features that indicate particular styles adopted by the speakers, who may use them as strategies for accomplishing certain effects in interactions. As mentioned earlier, textbook dialogs and explanations accompanying them tend to end up providing standardized, simplified, and stereotyped patterns of usages, in an attempt to introduce certain features in a way that is accessible to novice learners. However, it is critical for the learners to understand how Japanese speakers’ usages of, and perspectives towards, these features may vary. That is, the use of particular linguistic features can index the speakers’ identity, personality, and assumptions of the relationship with their interlocutors and the settings, etc. The introduction of the current video clips would add different dimensions to the discussion on these linguistic features and their use.

Some readers, while fully acknowledging the importance of having the learners explore real-life language use and analyze sociolinguistic implications, may wonder whether or not the learners can handle such a complex task given their current level of proficiency in Japanese. Some programs, including the UW-Madison, offer courses such as "Language and Culture" or "Language in Japanese Society" taught in English, which complement regular language courses. These courses provide opportunities for various levels of language learners to discuss the kinds of issues mentioned above and to enhance their awareness of the complexity of the sociolinguistic issues that may not be addressed in language courses. Other programs, which do not, or cannot, offer such courses, may consider other ways to incorporate such a task into the curriculum of their language courses. While one approach is to wait until the learners develop a certain level of proficiency to handle these issues, another approach may be to let the learners use English during a certain class period, to engage in such analytical tasks. Yet another approach may be to have them explore such sociolinguistic issues as homework assignments and have them write down their observations either in English or in Japanese.

Further, when we talk about styles and strategies, we are concerned not only with the use of each expression or each utterance, but also with the ways in which the speakers and the listeners develop sequences of talk: how to deliver news or tell a story, how to ask questions; how to insert aizuchi or listener responses; how to indicate the understanding of the current speaker’s talk; how to deliver agreement or disagreement, how to support the opinions expressed, and so on. These aspects can be learned from the close viewing of the current video clips.

For instance, today many programs appear to incorporate interviews with native speakers as in class or out of class activities. Before having the learners meet their interviewees, we may reflect on the steps that the learners should take during the forthcoming interview by reviewing these video clips. Some video clips that contain interviews illustrate the typical procedure of interviewing: e.g., 1) providing a brief summary of background information; 2) asking a question; 3) demonstrating interests in the interviewee’s answer by providing short response tokens, brief comments, or clarification questions; 4) summarizing the interviewee’s answer as a closing of one question-answer sequence; and 5) moving on to the next related question.

When discussing styles and strategies, we should also be concerned with the learners’ desire to express their own individuality and subjectivity. For instance, the ways of inserting aizuchi or listener responses, a common target of discussion in Japanese language instruction, can vary among Japanese speakers. An individual may also change his or her style of listening depending on the speakers, contents of talk, or settings. Thus, rather than presenting particular samples as "correct" ways, we may want to underscore that there are varying ways for inserting aizuchi, and that each way may represent that particular speaker’s identity or judgment of a particular circumstance.

Further, we should encourage the learners to consider what kinds of self-images that they themselves want to create by adopting styles and strategies suitable for them. These sociolinguistic issues, however, become further complicated given that the standards and perspectives that Japanese speakers apply to non-native speakers of Japanese may not be identical to those that they apply to native speakers. While there is no easy solution for addressing these issues, we believe it is important to keep exploring various approaches with critical self-reflection, incorporating the current development of research in sociolinguistic and applied linguistics.

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What kind of vocabulary or expressions can be studied by using the selected video clips?

Next we consider different ways in which the study of various vocabulary and expressions can be enhanced by the use of these video clips. One way is to select key vocabulary and expressions for a theme-based unit and have the learners encounter them in various phases of learning, including reading written texts, viewing related video clips, and discussing the topics in class, and thereby promote their control of the particular set of vocabulary and expressions. On the other hand, we may also want to consider not providing translations of every single vocabulary that we assume that the learners have not yet mastered. As mentioned earlier, it is also important for the learners to be able to grasp the basic ideas expressed in interactions without being hindered by unknown vocabulary and expressions. We should encourage them to try to deduce their meanings from the surrounding talk, concurring gestures or facial expressions, and other clues.

Further, we can improve the learners' understanding of vocabulary and expressions that have been already introduced to them through textbooks and other materials, by showing their use in the contexts of interviews and conversations. For instance, there are numerous idioms that are related to ki (equivalent of chi or qi in Chinese, which can be roughly translated into mind, sense, or spirit in English): ki ga tsuku (to notice), ki o tsukeru (to be careful), ki ni suru (to worry), ki ni naru (to be anxious), and so on. It appears rather difficult and takes some time for the learners to understand the differences in nuance among some of these expressions and to use them properly. The current video clips often include these sorts of idioms, and therefore could be helpful for the learners to understand their usages in context. We can encourage the learners to consider why a particular idiom, among the list of seemingly similar items, is most suitable for that particular context, or consider if the other items can be used in the same slot. Japanese is also known for its richness in onomatopoeia or mimetics that are used as adverbial expressions (e.g., nikoniko, niyaniya, kusukusu, geragera among others describe different manners of smiling or laughter). To have the learners understand their usage and meanings, it might be helpful to have them examine concurring gestures or facial expressions.

In addition, we may consider highlighting metaphorical meanings or cultural ideologies hidden beneath the surface meanings of some vocabulary and expressions that appear in video clips. One example discussed during the workshop in Madison involves the expression, shisei ga warui (have bad posture), which is used by a Japanese student, a former participant in a study abroad program in the US, who comments on his observation of American students. In the video clip, he refers to American students’ physical postures such as putting their legs on a desk during class or reading books under trees. Probably it would be relatively easy for the learners to understand this literal meaning. However, by the use of this expression, this student and the other two participants of this conversation mean not only that those bad postures are not good for their health, but also that the American students’ attitudes towards study do not appear serious. The Japanese term shisei can signify physical appearances (posture, figure) as well as psychological conditions (attitude, stance). These Japanese students have been raised in the culture that emphasizes the correspondence between external physical appearances and internal psychological states and encourages people to keep good "posture/attitude" when starting any activity. Thus, for these students what they observed on American campuses was a bit of surprise. The idea presented at the workshop included how to introduce such cultural backgrounds so that the learners can enhance their appreciation of the Japanese students’ comments, while at the same time questioning the overly simplified stereotypical images of Japanese versus Americans.

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What kind of grammatical structures can be studied by using the selected video clips?

For the study of grammatical structures, we can also emphasize the current materials’ potentials for providing opportunities to study their actual use in the context of naturalistic, spontaneous interaction. Grammatical structures observed in spontaneous spoken language can be quite different from those introduced in textbooks. We may find that structures rarely introduced in textbooks are frequently used in actual spontaneous interactions, or that the prescriptive explanations provided in textbooks for certain structures would not fully describe their usages in these interactions. One of the future agendas for the CALPER Japanese project is to develop some empirical accounts for several key grammatical structures through the examination of these sample interactions by collaborating with the other CALPER corpus based projects (see http://calper.la.psu.edu/corpus.php, http://calper.la.psu.edu/chinese.php, http://calper.la.psu.edu/korean.php for more information).

For teaching grammatical structures in the use of these video clips, it is not always necessary that the participants’ talk in the clips actually contain the target structures. Another possible task is to have the learners describe the contents or images that appear in video clips by using target structures. In other words, even if the speakers themselves do not necessarily use the structures, we could encourage the learners to use certain structures in their retelling or summarizing of what they have seen in the video clips.

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How should the accompanying transcripts be used?

From the Material Bank, you can download video clips of sample interactions as well as their transcripts. The transcription conventions can vary depending on the analytical frameworks adopted by transcribers and the purposes of their use. Since the aim of this project is to provide the sample materials for language education, we considered that it is important to balance the accurate representation of actual interactions and the readability for teachers and learners of Japanese. Compromising these two factors, we decided to use the conventional Japanese orthography for the transcripts. The three symbols that we incorporated from the system developed in the methodological framework of conversation analysis are as follows:

[ onset of simultaneous, overlapping talk by two or more speakers
:: lengthening of the preceding sound
hhh HHH laughter tokens

Namely, the transcripts do not represent the pace and amplitude of speech, intonation, and so on. This fact is important to keep in mind when we use the transcripts for the development of tasks and instructions.

First, when we consider what kinds of information we expect the learners to gather from a selected video clip, we should not rely on our reading of the transcripts. Rather, we should listen to the video clip itself. That is, some of what is written clearly on the transcript may be actually uttered in speed, volume, or quality that are difficult to hear. Given that the transcribers (native speakers of Japanese) might have been able to catch these utterances only after a number of replays, it would be unrealistic to expect the learners to comprehend them by just viewing the video clip a few times.

Second, we need to consider if and how we are going to present the transcripts to the learners. The decision needs to be made in conjunction with the purpose and goal of instruction. For instance, if we are going to use a video clip just for "speed listening" or as a discussion opener, we may not need to show the learners the transcript at all. On the other hand, if we are going to have the learners examine specific expressions, styles, practices, etc. that appear in a video clip, we may want to show the learners the transcript after viewing the video clip a few times. By studying the transcript with their instructor and peers, the learners may have a better understanding of how these target features work in interaction.

We could use a downloaded full transcript as is, or modify it depending on the purpose. For instance, we can provide just a portion of the transcript that is difficult to understand or crucial for the overall theme; we can simplify the transcript to highlight the main ideas; or we can create fill-in-bank type of arrangements to have the learners focus on certain key words or expressions. To provide a more specific example, if the goal of instruction is to examine the use of aizuchi or listener responses, we may provide a simplified transcript in which only the main speaker’s utterances appear while all the listener responses are erased. We can then ask the learners to consider what kind of listener responses might be inserted in the development of the main speaker’s talk. After the learners spend some time considering the potential listener responses, they can then review the video clip and its full transcript and compare and contrast where they placed aizuchi and what actually happened (see Sample Materials for more details).

If the goal of instruction is to study specific linguistic features such as gendered speech or honorifics and their roles in creating certain images of the speakers, we may even consider providing a full transcript before the learners view the corresponding video clip. We can then encourage the learners to make educated guesses about the participants’ gender, age, personality and other attributes, by reviewing some of the linguistic features that appear in the transcript. After the discussion of their predictions, we can then show the video clip and see if what they predicted coincides with what is shown. The comparison of their educated guesses and the actuality could lead to an interesting discussion regarding the complex relationship between the language use and the construction of identity.

The effective use of transcripts that promotes the learners’ appreciation of a particular feature of the selected video clip should be explored, but it is important to keep in mind that the excessive reliance on transcripts as reading comprehension materials – defeats the purpose of the current project, which centers on the enhancement of the learners’ understanding of spoken language.

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How can we reduce the students’ apprehension for not understanding everything?

As mentioned earlier, understanding Japanese speakers’ spontaneous interactions can be very challenging for those who are not used to such materials. This can be considered a necessary challenge, but it is also important not to overwhelm or discourage the learners. When we tested some materials at the UW-Madison, there were students who informed us that they spent hours to understand every single word in just a few minutes of interactions. The following cautions should be exercised to provide the appropriate challenge for each level of learners.

First, we, instructors, should clarify the goals of a particular task. At the initial stage, we may want to emphasize to the learners that the goal is not necessarily to understand everything in a selected clip, but to grasp whatever ideas they can extract from it. As part of pre-viewing activities, we should consider providing contextual information or key words that are deemed necessary for a particular level of the learners. And during post-viewing discussions, we should not put an individual student on the spot, but may provide the learners a chance to work in pairs or groups for confirming their understandings and trying to reconstruct the entire content by sharing what each of them was able to comprehend. Depending on the level of difficulty, we may encourage the learners to listen to a clip or a portion of clip over and over. With proper equipment and facilities, we can have each learner view the video clip on his or her own pace even in a regular classroom (see the Technology Guide for more information) and confirm their understanding after such a process. For particularly challenging but important segments, we also have the option of having them view the clip while reviewing the transcript.

When we create task sheets to accompany a video clip, we need to keep reminding ourselves that we should not expect the learners to spend endless time figuring out everything. During the planning of instruction that involves repeated viewings of video clips and/or reading of transcripts, we tend to ignore that in such spontaneous interactions, there are occasions when even native speakers miss certain things at their initial hearing. It is important to reflect on this fact and set realistic goals; otherwise we may end up causing unnecessary frustrations for students rather than providing them with appropriate levels of necessary challenges.

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What kinds of assessments should be conducted after using these video clips?

An important issue that came up during our first workshop was what kinds of assessments we should conduct along with the use of these video clips. What we mean by assessments here can vary, including assessments to inform to the learners of their progresses as well as assessments for the instructors to reflect on the effectiveness of particular instructions. The former types of assessments also include those that determine or influence the learners’ course grades, or those that are used to estimate each learner’s progress in their long-term language learning and to provide support for future development (see the CALPER working paper, "Dynamic assessment of L2 development," written by Poehner and Lantolf (2003) for extensive discussion on the latter type of assessment). In all these cases, the contents and methods of assessment need to correspond to the purposes and goals of instruction. Thus, depending on how we incorporate these video clips into our instruction, we need to assess not only the learners’ listening comprehension skills, but also their acquisition of new information and perspectives, their enhancement of awareness of various speech behaviors and their effects, their incorporation of particular types of speech behaviors in their own speech, and so on. The learners’ holistic ability combining all the elements mentioned above may be of interest for certain instructors and learners.

To provide more concrete examples, we may assess how much information the learners can pick up through the process of "speed listening" or how well they complete task sheets developed along with the selected video clips. Their holistic abilities can be evaluated by having them engage in debates or role-plays that are related to the topics covered in the selected video clips and then evaluate how they incorporate ideas and expressions introduced in the video clips into their own performances. We can have the learners write an essay based on their reading of texts and viewing of video clips that are linked under a particular theme, and evaluate their writing. We may also have them actually interview Japanese speakers based on what they learned from the video clips (and video record the interview, if possible), and evaluate their performances (e.g. understanding of the topic, control of language, speech behaviors, etc.). Further, we may have them evaluate their own video recorded performance concerning both linguistic as well as non-linguistic behaviors (e.g. gaze, posture, gesture). If our instructional goal is to improve the learners’ awareness of these features, it is more meaningful to allow the learners a chance of self-evaluation and to assess their ability of self-reflection rather than simply to provide the instructors’ assessments of their performances. Assessment is an area where the CALPER Japanese project will collaborate further with the CALPER Assessment project .

In this section, we summarized some issues and thoughts that instructors might want to consider when adopting the "Learning Through Listening" materials. On the page Samples, you will find a list of topics for which video materials are currently available, and you can examine some clips and their transcripts. If you would like to have access to the full Materials Bank, please contact us by filling in our online application form.