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http://mx.nthu.edu.tw/~Katchen/professional/Micollac.htm 1/9
InC.S.Heng,M.A.Quayum,&R.Talif(Eds.),Diversevoices:Readingsinlanguage,literature,and
culture.(pp.144152).UniversitiPutraMalaysiaPress,2000.
UsingVideotapedLecturesfor
ListeningPracticeStudentViews
JohannaE.Katchen

Abstract

ManyuniversitystudentsinTaiwangoabroadaftergraduationforfurtherstudy.Tomeet
theneedsofEnglishmajorswiththesegoals,anelectiveAdvancedListeningcoursewas
setupfocusingonvideo-basedacademicandinformativematerials.Aspartofthe
courserequirements,studentsweregivenanout-of-classassignmentusingvideotaped
plenarylecturesfromIATEFLconferences(InternationalAssociationofTeachersofEnglish
asaForeignLanguage).Theyhadtooutlineandsummarizetheirrespectivelectures,
transcribeafive-minutesegment,commentontheirlisteningskillswithregardtothe
video,andcritiquethelecture.Eachstudentmetwiththeteachertodiscussthedraftof
theirpaperbeforecompetingitandreviewthetranscription.Studentsingeneral
thoughttheassignmentwasuseful.ProblemsmentionedincludedcomprehendingBritish
English;learningtohearrapidly-spokenfunctionwords,elisionsandcontractions;
understandingnewvocabularyandconcepts;followingthemainpointsofthespeaker
tomakeanoutline;comprehendinghumor;andspeakeruseofrun-onsentences.
Studentsrecognizedandappreciatedcharacteristicsofagoodspeakeranddiscovered
specificareasofdeficiencyintheirownlisteningability.Inthispaper,abriefdescription
ofthecourseandassignmentwillbeprovided,afterwhichstudentreactions,comments,
andevaluationsoftheassignmentwillbepresented,andtheimplicationsforteaching
listeningforacademicvarietiesofEnglishwillbediscussed.

Background

Findingappropriatematerialsalongwithsufficientnativespeakerinputforourstudentscanbedifficultin
EFLcontexts. With more and more information coming to us in our mother tongue and even in foreign
languagesbywayoftelevision,videoscanbeaneffectivemediumforprovidinglisteninginputandother
linguisticpracticeaswellascontentknowledge.Forstudentswhoneedpracticeinlisteningforinformation,
news broadcasts, documentaries, and interviews can provide practice (for example, Koenig & Lindner,
1993Katchen,1996).ThoseplanningtostudyabroadmaybenefitfrompracticewithlecturesinEnglish

Research (see Flowerdew, 1994) indicates that lectures have their own special characteristics, that
ESL/EFLstudentscanhavevaryinglevelsofdifficultywiththem,andthatthesedifficultiesarenotbased
solely on language skills. Moreover, different disciplines may have different preferred patterns of
presentinginformationtostudents(DudleyEvans,1994).Tohelppreparestudentsforacademiclectures,
someschools(Haeseler&McCabeHidalgo,1996)havevideotapedlecturesgivenbytheirownstaffand
then developed activities for them. These applications to ESP may also be applied to the subjects of
linguisticsandEnglishlanguageteaching.Thatis,whilestudentsgoingabroadtostudyTEFLshouldhave
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ahighlevelofEnglishability,theymaystillbenefitfromaddedtraininginlisteningtoforeignlecturers.

In EFL situations, videotaping local lectures may not be practical because the only people lecturing in
English may be the teachers with whom students are already familiar. An alternative is to use
professionallyrecorded lectures. Since its 1994 conference, IATEFL (International Association of
TeachersofEnglishasaForeignLanguage,UK)hasbeenvideotapingandsellingcopiesoftheconference
plenarylecturestheselectureswereusedinthisproject.

ThereareanumberofgoodpointsinusingprofessionallyrecordedIATEFLplenaryvideos.Thequality
ofbothpictureandsoundishigh.Wehaveacloseupviewofthefrontface,pronunciationisvisibleand
easy to hear, while the nonverbal behavior is easy to see. Plenary lecture speakers tend to have clear
articulation, and many of the IATEFL speakers approximate Received Pronunciation with regional
features. As educated people, they use standard grammar and vocabulary and represent good British
English (practical for students in Taiwan used to standard American varieties). Moreover, the subject
matterisrelevantforstudentsstudyinglanguage.

For example, in the 1995 plenary English conversation: 1000 years on used for inclass instruction,
Professor David Crystal provides us with a speech brimming with excellent examples for teaching public
speakingskills.Heisentertaining,engaging,anduseshumourwithaccompanyingfacialexpressionsand
gestures. His speech is wellorganized and easy to follow he begins his speech by referring to the
immediatesituation(planesreadytotakeoffasthiswasthefinalplenary)followedbyarelevantanecdote.
He then introduces his theme by asking two questions(How rapidly is English changing? Are all areas
changingequallyrapidly?)andindicatesthedevelopment(fourareas:pronunciation,vocabulary,grammar,
discourse).Prof.Crystaldefinesterms(e.g.,Alfric,anAngloSaxoncleric)andgivesplentyofexamples
(e.g.,stresstiming,syllabletiming).Hesummarizesattheendofeachsectionandattheendofthespeech
andendsbyreferringbacktotheinitialanecdote.

Theonenegativepointisthattypicalclassroomlecturesarenotlikethis.Ordinary lectures are often less

wellorganized and may exhibit more hesitation phenomena, incomplete thought units, and seeming
confusion.Thelecturermaynotspeakclearlyors/hemayhaveanonstandardaccent.Inrealclassrooms
visuals are often usedOHP transparencies, chalk and board. These visual aids are used differently in
differentfieldsandmayassiststudentlearning(however,seeKing,1994,forevidencethatvisualaidsmay
confuse rather than clarify for some ESL students). In classrooms, not all students can see equally well
whatthelecturerisdoing.Thereisofteninteractionwiththestudentsintheformoftheteacheraskingthe
students questions or the students asking the teacher questions, whereas this behavior is usually not
exhibitedinplenarylectures.Nevertheless,forlisteningcomprehension,wecanstartwiththeideallecture
and then gradually introduce variations. Moreover, if students ever have to lecture in English (e.g., as
teachers/teaching assistants), they will have some idea of what native speakers of English consider the
featuresofagoodlecture.

TheProject

Untilrecently,allstudentsinTaiwan,includingthoseinthisstudy,begantheirformalstudyofEnglishin
thefirstyearofjuniorhighschool.
1
EnglishisoneoftherequiredsubjectsontheJointCollegeEntrance
Examination,andouruniversitystudentsareprimarilytheproductsofthistraditionalexamsystem.Thatis,
theymaybeadequatereadersandbeabletorecitegrammarrules,buttheirspeakingandlisteningabilities
arenotashighastheymightbe.EvenEnglishmajorsfeelthattheirlisteningabilityispoor.To address
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this need, the Advanced Listening class was set up primarily for third and fourth year English majors at
NationalTsingHuaUniversity,Taiwan.

WiththeAdvancedListeningclass,wefeltitwasnecessarytogivestudentssomesortofoutsideprojectin
addition to the inclass activities (various informationbased video materials with accompanying activities)
andamidtermandafinalbasedonthetextbookwithaccompanyingvideotapematerials(Stempleski,1994)
whichtheywereresponsibleforoutsideofclass.Inclasslisteningtestsshowstudentscurrentability,and
language abilities do not improve rapidly despite student effort. With an assignment in which students
could reveal both listening ability and serious effort, we felt they would be more motivated to complete it
andgradingwouldbefairer.Moreimportantly,studentsshouldbeabletolearnsomethingandbelievethey
learnedsomethingfromtheassignment.

During the second month of the course, the David Crystal lecture was used in class with accompanying
activities.Afterthis,studentsweregivenmoreindependentandindividualpracticewithanotherlectureas
outofclass followup fourteen other videotaped plenary lectures from IATEFL conferences were used
(seereference sectionof thispaper).All but three lecturers were native speakers of some form of British
English. Each student was responsible for one 60minute plenary and had approximately two months to
completetheassignment(fordetailsoftheassignment,seeAppendix).Theyhadtooutlineandsummarize
thelecture,transcribeafiveminutesegment,commentontheirlisteningskillswithregardtothevideo,and
critiquethelecture.This assignment was given when the course Advanced Listening was offered in Fall
Semesters1996,1997,and1998,andcommentsarefromstudentsinallthreeclasses,atotalof54students.

Results

Studentswerestronglyencouragedtochecktheirtranscriptionswiththeteacherbeforesubmittingthefinal
copyoftheirpaper.Inthesemeetings(about3045minutes),studentsexpressedanumberofdifficulties
with the assignment. Although they had previously taken three required linguistics courses and possibly
other linguistic electives, and some were either working as tutors of English or aspiring to be English
teachers,manystillfeltthattheyhadlittlebackgroundofthetopicofthelecture.Consequently,theyhad
trouble understanding the relationship of the general points and therefore with writing an outline and
summary. Another difficulty was with specific linguistic vocabulary, in particular with areas more
commonlydiscussedinBritishEFLcircles(e.g.,referencestocorpuslinguistics). Unfamiliar names also
presentedproblems.

Students written comments indicated that in general they thought the assignment was useful. Some
expressed shock to find that their listening was not as good as they had thought, while others gained
confidenceintheirabilities.Thefollowingtypeofcommentwastypical.

Frankly speaking, I am not a diligent student. This final project took me almost two
weeks to finish it. At the beginning, I hate it and I was almost driven nut[s] about the
presenters elegant accent. However, I kept on listening and listening, and finally
roughlyunderstoodit.Inthishardworkingprocess,Ilistenedmoreandmoreclearlyand
felt more and more confident. Up to now, its quite difficult to express that kind of
satisfaction.Iamsohappyandsatisfied.IthinkIdogainsomethingmoreinmylistening
ability.

For Taiwan students, who learn American English, British English was a challenge, but some expressed
thatitwasnotasdifficultastheyhadthought.
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British English was a headache when I was first brought into contact with it;
nevertheless, after being exposed to lots of programs in British English for a semester, I
graduallygotusedtoit.Thatis,thoughBritishaccentissometimesaproblemforme,itis
nolongeratremendousonenow.

Students thought meeting with the teacher to go over their transcription was useful and expressed
appreciation for being given help with the missing words as well as unfamiliar terms or names and for
gettinganswerstotheirquestionsaboutthecontentand/ormoregeneralbackgroundofthelecture.

WhatIregretfulisthatIdidntcomeandseemyteacherasearlyasIcan.Whatshe
has helped me was not only the solution of problems in the video but also creating my
confidence.

A few students felt themselves lucky to have the background to match the content of the lecture. One
studentwrotethatshehadtakenacourseindiscourseanalysistheprevioussemesterandthoughtMichael
Hoeys lecture on the subject did not present great difficulties in vocabulary. One of the students who
received the Claire Kramsch lecture containing examples from American students learning German
expressed great pleasure because she was taking German as her second foreign language and could
understandtheexamplesandfeelakindofsolidaritywithotherlearnersofGerman.Yetanothersaidthat
thelectureonvaguelanguagehelpedhertoconsolidatelinguisticmaterialshereceivedfromotherclasses.

ThecontentofthelectureincludessomeinformationthatIvelearnedfromsomeclassesbefore,suchas
AppliedLinguisticsandSociolinguistics.Therefore,thisprojecthelpedmetoreviewtheknowledgeIhave
acquiredbeforeandevendeepenmyimpressionabouttheinformation.

A problem mentioned by many students was that of going from word meaning to
sentencemeaningandbeyond,aproblemthatmay,atleastinsomecases,berelated
tohavingsufficientbackgroundknowledgeinthetopicarea.

...althoughIunderstandmostofthespeechintermsofwords,Icannotfigureoutwhat
these words convey. That is, I might know every word, but fail to understand the ideas
thespeakerwantstoexpress.

Generally, teachers tend to avoid giving students practice listening to nonnative speakers, and students
themselvesmayrejectthis,yetmuchofnonnativespeakersuseofEnglishtakesplacewithothernonnative
speakers, so such practice at advanced levels can be helpful.Those students who received the nonnative
speakerlecturesfeltthatthesepresentersspokeextremelyclearlyandwererathereasytounderstand,thus
breaking the stereotype that nonChinese nonnative speakers are difficult to understand. About the
Kramschlecture,onestudentwrote

It seems that she attempts to pronounce every word distinctly, and maybe because
she teaches German, she speaks in a German waymaking efforts to utter every word
strongly.ThisiswhyIcanunderstandmostofthesentencesinherspeechthefirsttime.

EnglishmajorsintheirthirdyearatNTHUarerequiredtotakeatwosemesterpublicspeakingcourse,so
perhaps they were more tuned in to factors involved in effective speaking. Students commented on the
helpful presence, or lack of, clear introductions and conclusions, the effective use of transition words, of
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pausestoattractattentionorshowtheendofaunit,theuseofexamplestoillustratepoints,theuseoffacial
expressions,gestures,andAVaidssuchastransparencies.

...herspeakingisalittlebitrapidforme.However,whenthespeakeristalkingabout
someimportantpointsandgivingsomeimportantinformation,shealwaysspeakswith
herspeedslow[ed]down....wheneversheisgoingtothenextpart,shewillsayO.K.
IthinkforalearnerofEnglishlikeme,itsreallyhelpfultoknowinwhichpartthespeaker
isandcanalsopredictwhatsheisgoingtosay....shewouldpauseawhilewhenshe
finishestalkingaboutonepart.Andthatgivesmeenoughtimetothinkaboutwhatshe
hasmentionedpreviously,andalsoletmepreparethenextpart.

Heusedsuchwordsasfirst,second,third,finally,etc.tohelptheaudienceunderstand
whathewastalkingabout.Beside[s],heusedalotofquotationsandavailablematerial
tomakethespeechmorecolorfullikethepopularissueofanimalrights.Furthermore,
youcanfeelthepowerofhiswordsthroughhisemotionalvoiceandsincereattitudes.

...Iwasdeeplyimpressedby[]sfacialexpressionstiltsofhiseyebrows,thecurves
ofhislipsresultedfromhissmiles,andhiseyecontactsaltogethercommunicatedwith
ushisagreements,disagreements,surprises,andallkindsofmoods.Inaddition,hisvivid
handgestureshelpedtheaudienceunderstandtopicsunderdiscussionmuchmore
easily.Plusthevisualaidshisratherpoordrawings,asheclaimed,andlistsofthe
alludedparagraphnotonlyenhancedmycapabilityofunderstandingbutcreatedan
easy,relaxingatmosphere.

Studentsthoughtthattransparenciesinparticularwereabighelp,primarilybecausekey
vocabularyappearedinwrittenformsothattheydidnothavetostruggletranscribing
thesesometimesunknownterms.Transparencieshelpedstudentsingeneralto
understandandenjoythelecture.

...providedmanyexamplesbyusingtransparencieswithabigscreen,andithelpeda
lottocomprehendthematerialssheusedtodescribeandsupportherideasonthe
topic.

Studentslearnedtorecognizesomeoftheirindividualproblemswithlistening:elisionandfastspeech(e.g.,
firstofall),hearingcontractionsandfunctionwords,anddeterminingwordsfromcontext(e.g.,dearor
deer).Themostadvancedstudentsnoticedspeakersusinglong,continuoussentencescontaining
digressionsandexpressedworriesaboutconjunctions,tense,andtheplacementofpunctuationintheir
transcriptions.

Now I regard that the conjunction, tense, and when to put the punctuation marks to
bethemostdifficultpart.Because every time she makes a conjunction, I will make it to
beanotherwordwhichmakesaconfusingmeaningofthesentence.Atthesametime,I
foundIwillunconsciouslydropoutthoseweaksoundswhichpresentsthepasttenseand
bepuzzledaboutthelocationofthepunctuationmarksandcausesalotofmistakes.

Ididnotcatchwordssuchastheyd,tests,andits.Ithinkthatitcanbe
avoidedtodroppingofthedands.IfIcanlistenmorecarefully,Icanavoidthis
kindoferrors.Otherthingscanbenoticedarethatthesamesoundmayhavedifferent
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form.ImadeafunnymistakethatIwrotedearinsteadofdeer.Therefore,when
Ilisten,Ishouldpaymoreattentiontothecorrespondenceofwordstothecontext.

OneisthatIfindmanyofhissentencesincompleteorinterruptedbyothersentences,
so sometimes it is hard to follow his ideas. The other is that he speaks very fast and
becomesverychallengingforunderstandingwhenhegetsexcited.

Whenspeakerstoldjokesandtheaudiencelaughed,studentsrealizedtheirlimitations,whichcanbedueto
linguisticorculturalfactorsorsimplylackoftopicbackground.

The speaker was humorous enough and used a lot of jokes to attract listeners, but
because I dont have the same linguistic knowledge or backgrounds with the speaker
andthelisteners,Icouldhardlyfeelherjokeslaughable.

...fromtimetotimetheaudiencewillburstintolaughwhenthespeakercracksajoke.
However, I cannot understand why it is funny and I feel I am so ignorant. And this is a
veryunpleasantfeeling.

Onalighternote,onestudentwhofoundpreviousrequiredlinguisticscoursesboringdiscovered,fromthe
practicalexamplesoflecture,thatlinguisticsandlanguagecouldbefun.

Infact,Ihavelittlestudyaboutlinguistics.This speech just gives me an opportunity to

knowsomethingaboutlinguistics.ItisnotsoboringasIfirstconsidered.

Moreover,someofthemsaidtheyactuallylearnedsomethingnewaboutlanguage.

In general, I find this speech is informative. It gives me some information about the
difference between the real language people speak and the conversations in EFL
books.Ilearnthatlanguageisalwayschangingandfindingnewexpressionforolduses.
ThisisveryinterestingandimportantforusL2learners.

Implications

ThisassignmentwillcontinuetobeonmysyllabifortheAdvancedListeningclassfor
futuresemesters.Commentsfromtheprevioussemestersinwhichtheprojectwasused
indicatethatalthoughstudentsfindtheassignmentalotofwork,theyfindthe
assignmentuseful.Whentheyfirstlistentotheirassignedlecture,theyfacethefactthat
theirlisteningisnotasgoodastheymayhavethoughtitwas.Afterlisteningseveraltimes,
generalcomprehensionusuallyimproves.Somehavedifficultyseeingageneral
structureandmakinganoutline;thisdifficultymaybecausedinpartbydisorganization
orsomelinguisticfeaturesonthepartofthespeaker.Astheyworkonthetranscription
segment,theydiscoversomespecificproblemstheyface,suchasinsufficient
vocabulary,lackofcarefulattentiontospecificsoundsmarkinggrammar,and
backgroundknowledge.Mostsaidthataftertheydiscussedtheirtranscriptionwiththe
teacher,manyoftheproblemsofbackgroundknowledgeandspecificvocabulary
wereclearedupandtheyfeltmoreconfident.

Theproblemofbackgroundknowledgeishardtosolve.Thestudentsareprimarily
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Englishmajors,manyofwhomareintheteachertrainingtrack.Thosestudentsinterested
inliteratureortheoccasionalonewhocomesfromoutsidethedepartmentusually
managequitewell,althoughthereareoccasionalcomplaints.Iftherearevalid
commentsonvoicequality,unclearspeech,ordisorganizedpresentation,Ieliminate
thatvideotapefromsubsequentassignments.Itistruethatinreallifeweoftenhaveto
listentopoororpoorlypreparedspeakers.Forthisassignment,however,Ifeelbetter
givingstudentsthebetter-presented,moreinterestinglecturesinordertogivethema
positiveexperienceinexchangefortheirhardwork.

Finally,letmeclosewithastudentcommentontheJoannaChannelllectureonVague
Languagewiththehopethatatleastaportionofitappliestothispaperaswell.

Ienjoyedhertalk,actually,especiallythequestionssheraisedandexamplesshe
illustratedonvagueexpressionsthatIdidntnoticebefore.Itwasnevertooseriousor
boringjustbecauseitwasalecturegivenbyateacherinaconference,whichpeople
oftenhavetheimpressionofformalityandacademicsonconferences.Infact,it
appearedtomequiteonthecontrary,notonlyinformingbutinteresting.Ithinkthats
whyIdidntfallasleepduringthetimeworkingonit.

Endnotes
1
Englishisnowbeingintroducedintheprimaryschools.
References

DudleyEvans,T.(1994).Variations in the discourse patterns favoured by different disciplines and their

pedagogical implications. In J. Flowerdew (Ed.), Academic listening: Research perspectives (pp. 146
158).CambridgeUniversityPress.
Flowerdew,J.(1994).Researchofrelevancetosecondlanguagelecturecomprehensionanoverview.
InJ.Flowerdew(Ed.),Academiclistening:Researchperspectives(pp.733).CambridgeUniversityPress.
Haeseler, J. and McCabeHidalgo, A. (1996). EFL students in the lecture hall: Noteworthy discourse.
Paperpresentedatthe30thIATEFLInternationalConference,UniversityofKeele,UK.
Katchen,J.E.(1996).UsingauthenticvideoinEnglishlanguageteaching.Taipei:CranePublishingCo.,
Ltd.
King,P.(1994).Visualandverbalmessagesintheengineeringlecture:Notetaking by postgraduate L2
students. In J. Flowerdew (Ed.), Academic listening: Research perspectives (pp. 219238). Cambridge
UniversityPress.
Koenig,J.&Lindner,J.(1993).Capitalizing on public broadcasting to teach academic listening. Paper
presentedatthe27thAnnualTESOLConference,April1317,1993,Atlanta,USA.
Stempleski. S. (Ed.) (1994). Earthwatch. ABC News Intermediate ESL Video Library. Englewood
Cliffs,NJ:PrenticeHallRegents.VideotapeandWorkbook.
IATEFLvideotapesusedforthisproject:*

Aitchison,Jean.(1997).Lostnailsandmaypoles:Somecurrentlanguageissues.
Brumfit,Chris.(1995).Peopleschoiceandlanguagerights:EFLlanguagepolicy.
Cameron,Deborah.(1994).Verbalhygieneforwomen:Linguisticsmisapplied?
Carter,Ronald.(1996).SpeakingEnglishes:Speakingcultures.
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Channell,Joanna.(1996).VaguelanguageWhatitisandwhatitdoes.
Crystal,David.(1995).Englishconversation:1000yearson.
Hoey,Michael.(1997).Howcantextanalysishelpusteachreading?
Houston,Gaie.(1995).Warfareofworkinggroup?
Kramsch.Claire.(1997).Inanothertongue.
Legutke,Michael.(1995).Redesigningthelanguageclassroom.
McCarthy,Michael.(1995).Whendoesgrammarbecomediscourse?
Medgyes,Peter.(1996).Teachersturnedambassadors.
Summers,Della.(1997).Credibilitygap:Thelanguageweuseandthelanguageweteach.
Thomas,Jenny.(1996).PragmaticsandEnglishlanguageteaching.
Ur,Penny.(1997).Arelanguageteachersbornormade?

*Thesevideotapesareavailableforpurchase.ContacttheInternationalAssociationofTeachersofEnglish
as a Foreign Language at IATEFL, 3 Kingsdown Chambers, Whitstable, Kent CT5 2DJ, ENGLAND.
Fax:(44)1227274415.Email:<IATEFL@Compuserve.com>
Appendix
OutsideAssignmentwithLectures
FL4077/4089Dr.
Katchen

You have each been assigned one 5560 minute lecture about some aspect of linguistics or English
languageteaching.TheselecturesweregivenatconferencesinEnglandin1994,1995,1996,and1997.
Allthespeakersusearelativelystandard,educatedvarietyofBritishEnglish.Theyareallteachers.

Therearetwolecturesrecordedononevideotape,soyouwillhavetocoordinateyouruseofthevideowith
classmate.
Foryourassignmentyouwilldothefollowing:

1.Writeabriefsummaryabouttwopages(doublespaced),toletmeknowthatyouunderstood
whatthelecturewasabout.

2.Writeanoutlineofthelecture(aboutonepage)toindicatethestructureofthelecture.Note:If
you have difficulty doing this, indicate why, for example, you didnt understand the topic very well, the
lecturerwasdisorganized,andsoon.

3.Chooseaboutafiveminutesegmentandwriteawordbywordtranscription.Thiswillnaturally
takeupafewpages.Makethissectiondoublespacedtoleaveroomforcorrections.

4.Commentonyourlisteningabilitywithregardtothevideo.Wasthespeakereasyorhardto
understand?Why?Haveastrangevoice?Speakrapidly?Useunfamiliarvocabulary?Didgesturesand
visualaidshelpyoutounderstandwhats/hewastalkingabout?Whatdifficultiesdidyouhaveindoingthe
transcription?Thisshouldtakeatleastonepage.

5.Thispartisoptional.Youmayalsocritique(pointoutthegoodandbadpointsof)thelecture
itself.Wouldithavebeenbetterif...?Whatwereitsgoodpoints?Badpoints?

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Pleasetypeyourassignmentonthecomputer.

PossibleProceduresforCompletingtheAssignment

Hereisonepossiblewaytostartdoingthisassignment.

1.Watchthewholelecturefrombeginningtoendforfunandtoseewhatthespeakeristalking
about.

2. Watch it a few more times to make sure you understand the main points of the lecture. Try
makinganoutlineofthemainpoints.Youmightwanttorepeatcertainparts.Youcanalsobeginwriting
partsofthesummaryatthispoint.

3.AsyoudoStep2,takenoteofplacesthatareeasy,difficult,enjoyable,etc.becauseyoumay
wanttogobacktothemlater.Youmaydecideonthepartsyouwilltranscribe.

4.Makeanaudiotapeofaportionofthelecture,especiallypartsyoumaywanttotranscribe.You
mayevenrecordthewholelectureandlistenwhenyouhavetime.

5.Doyourtranscriptionfromaudiotape.Goingbackandforthandpausingfrequentlyhurtsboth
machine and tape. VCRs are more expensive than ordinary tape recorders. After each section you
transcribe,youcangobacktovideotapetocheck.

6.Dontleavetheassignmentuntilthelastminute.Startonitassoonaspossiblebecauseitwill
takealotoftime.Youhaveabout8weeks,sodotheoutlinethefirstweek,thesummarythesecondand
thirdweeks,thetranscriptionthefourthandfifthweeks,writeyourcommentsthesixthweek,thencheckit
allduringthelasttwoweeks.Thisway,whenyouhaveheavyassignmentsortestsfromotherclasses,you
cantakeabreakfromthisprojectforawhile.

7.Wheneveryouencountersomedifficulty,comeandseeyourteacher.Bringthetapeandwewill
lookatthetroublespottogetherandtrytofigureitout.Youmayalsowanttodiscussthemeaningofsome
ofthepointsinthelecture.ThepurposeoftheassignmentisforyoutolearnsomethingabouttheEnglish
language,aboutthecontentofthelecture,aboutyourownlisteningabilities.Letslearntogether.
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