The affordances of a mobile video-tagging tool for evaluating presentation skills in a second language

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the affordances of a mobile video observation and tagging tool used to evaluate presentation skills in English language classrooms. The data consists of 35 video-recorded presentations in a higher education setting. Using a digital evaluation grid, the students received feedback based on visual analytics generated by the mobile app. The students then were asked to reflect on their performances, and were also asked to comment on the affordances and limitations of the method and the tool. Qualitative data that came from (1) students’ written self-evaluations and reflections and (2) their reported perceptions of the affordances of the tool were analyzed using the Constant Comparison Method. Analyses of reflective writings indicated the dominance of negative self-evaluations of language use, while affective factors were also a strong theme. The video-tagging tool was found to be very beneficial by the learners, mainly in enabling them to notice their strengths and weaknesses in presenting in English and facilitating effective feedback. The results show that this data-led reflective presentation model can be beneficial for learners as they can identify points of development.

KEYWORDS:

• Presentation skills
• video enhanced evaluation
• mobile technology
• English

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Compliance with ethical standards

Written consent from all participants was gathered, and the research went through ethical vetting prior to data collection.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Asuman Aşık

Asuman Aşık is an associate professor at the Department of English Language Teaching at Gazi University, Ankara, Türkiye. Her main research interests include teacher training, technology and language teaching, teaching English to young learners, curriculum and materials development, corpora and language teaching, and CALL and e-learning.

Olcay Sert

Olcay Sert is Professor of English Language Education at Mälardalen University, Sweden and the editor of Classroom Discourse. He is leading Mälardalen INteraction & Didactics (MIND) Research Group and SOLD Research environment at Mälardalen University. He has a PhD degree in Educational and Applied Linguistics (Newcastle University, UK), and his research deals with classroom discourse, L2 interaction, and language teacher education.

Paul Miller

Paul Miller has worked with global education organisations to transform their learning practices using technology-mediated reflection and feedback. With a career spanning business, education and research, recent consultancy for Newcastle University, UK, involved designing and delivering both large-scale teacher CPD programmes and educational research across low income areas in west Africa. His interests lie in creating innovative and scalable learning platforms to meet twenty-first-century needs.