Performance and Evaluation of Communicative Tasks: The Video Camera in the L2 Classroom

United States Naval Academy

The Communicative Approach to language teaching which many of us have embraced and strive to implement in the language classroom raises important concerns for materials development, testing, and evaluation. This article addresses these concerns and offers some practical solutions which have proven to be applicable and successful in a college-level foreign language classroom with role-playing realia and a video camera.

The communicative approach to language teaching starts with a theory of language as communication, which implies that the goal of language teaching is to develop «communicative competence». The underpinnings of this approach include a commitment to the role of teaching in which the interactive process of communication receives priority. The process, in turn, requires activities which promote learning and support the learning process. They should be activities that students perceive as real communication in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks (Richards and Rogers 1986). However, in the college and university classroom, we are typically faced with limited time, textbooks which incorporate few communicative activities, and grammar-based curricula. In an effort to reconcile these seemingly irreconcilable demands, I have found that by videotaping student-generated skits (communicative tasks), communicative activities can be accommodated into curricular and time restrictions.

'Communicative tasks' are situations in which students must communicate in L2 in order to accomplish a task such as asking and understanding directions, ordering food, getting theatre tickets, making purchases in stores and markets, or getting a hotel room. The topics of the tasks are largely determined by the situational context of the textbook chapters, thereby 'sticking to the syllabus'. The communicative tasks may include reading activities if students are asked to use a restaurant guide or newspaper advertisements to select a restaurant, hotel brochures to select a hotel, train or airplane schedules for planning a trip, or newspaper advertisements to select a bar or club. Unrehearsed language is generated naturally within the group while students discuss and debate choices and preferences in the above situations.

The steps in preparation and performance of the communicative task are the following:

1) students prepare skits within certain contextual and structural parameters determined by the textbook

2) students practice skits in class with the help of the instructor and as assigned homework (rehearsals may be taped and performance evaluated during the preparation stage)

3) instructor videotapes performance of skit (communicative task)

4) students and instructor evaluate performance of task via the videotape

5) instructor debriefs communicative activity with student.

Textbook materials are used for the introduction of the situational context with pictures, drawings, vocabulary and grammatical structures for the communicative task at hand. The instructor may incorporate authentic photographs and videotapes of people engaged in the activity the students will be practicing and performing. After appropriate linguistic and sociolinguistic preparation students begin the performance component⁸⁶. A communicative task which can be assigned to supplement the chapter on food is the task of ordering food in a restaurant in Madrid. Three to four students may participate in the skit playing the roles of waiter and customers. The instructor may supply props and menus from Spanish restaurants to create an authentic atmosphere. The performance component allows students

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to prepare original skits in which they play roles and follow through to a logical conclusion what we are preparing them to be able to do in L2 -communicate to satisfy needs and interests.

From the beginning, students are informed that they will work in small groups to prepare, practice, and perform certain communicative tasks. In any approach which stresses oral communication and role-playing, it is important to reduce student anxiety in the L2 environment. Horwitz (1990) suggests replacing whole-class recitations with small-group activities. She reminds us that many students who are not specifically prone to foreign language anxiety may still suffer from communication apprehension (fear of public speaking). Small-group work allows greater opportunities for oral practice while at the same time reducing pressure to perform publicly.

With adequate preparation and appropriate realia, the groups begin in-class preparation of their skits centered around the communicative task at hand. Classwork gives students time and opportunity to consult with the instructor and gives the instructor time and opportunity to monitor the progress of the preparation and to make comments as a resource person. An important component of the monitoring process is the video camera. Portions (1-2 minutes) of each group's rehearsal activity are videotaped and the instructor and students view them together. Students participate actively in making suggestions and corrections in both linguistic and sociolinguistic areas. This serves to reinforce some discrete point of the performance of the task (command forms or question structures used for requesting) but within the context of the communication. All participants benefit from this viewing activity and make appropriate adjustments to their own skits. Students are given fifteen minutes classtime for three to four days to prepare the skits and their respective roles cooperatively. Skit preparation is also assigned as part of their homework for the same period.

This creative and cooperative effort in preparation, practice, and performance in small support groups creates a positive affective environment. Group activities foster an attitude of support and cooperation among students. They do not feel 'put on the spot' by being required to perform alone, and feel free to call on one another and the instructor for help and clarification. This preparation phase virtually guarantees the success of each student; self-confidence replaces anxiety. Horwitz (1990) finds that the more interesting an activity, the more likely students will be able to forget their self-consciousness and become involved in achieving the communicative goals.

Seeing themselves on videotape heightens student awareness that communication is not just words but behavior. With the help of the instructor, students learn that in any given cultural setting, certain roles and environments require certain behavior. This awareness of behavior develops the student's sociolinguistic competence, defined by Brown (1987) as «the knowledge of the sociocultural rules of language and of discourse ... it requires an understanding of the social context in which language is used: the roles of the participants, the information they share, and the function of the interaction» (200).

Prior to videotaping, students rehearse their skits while the instructor walks among the groups, monitoring and offering assistance. As the skit is being rehearsed in class, the students are reminded of the sociocultural rules of language and discourse discussed above. These may include topics such as table etiquette, attention getting gestures and expressions, alternate forms of direct commands for requesting and ordering, and complimenting and complaining.

On the assigned day, each group's performance of the communicative task is videotaped. The students and instructor arrange props and gather realia to make their sets as authentic as possible. Individual group performances last from five to ten minutes (less at the beginning of first semester), so the instructor is able to videotape and review the performances in one class session to provide students immediate feedback. They are encouraged to comment on their own performance as well as that of their classmates. The non-competitive atmosphere encourages students to make positive and constructive comments.

The next step in this activity is the evaluation of the student's performance of his task. No matter what explicit messages we give students concerning goals of language learning, they will not appreciate that language learning is not just a matter of translation or vocabulary and rule acquisition if these are the only kinds of learning outcomes that are evaluated. With the videotape the instructor is able to evaluate student performance of the communicative task. The suggested evaluation criteria with their relative weights are the following:

80% 1. Student accomplishes task in a manner which is linguistically comprehensible and socially acceptable to a native speaker of L2. This 80% credit does not require errorless performance

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(formal accuracy), keeping in mind that communicative competence is the desired goal (i.e. the ability to use the linguistic and sociolinguistic system effectively and appropriately).

5% 2. Excellent delivery (pronunciation, intonation, fluency)

5% 3. Excellent use of grammatical structures (phrasing requests as questions in a formal situation as opposed lo direct command forms, interrogative structures, appropriate tenses).

5% 4. Excellent control and choice of vocabulary.

5% 5. Appropriate sociolinguistic behavior, including appropriate use of formal and informal forms of address, starting and terminating conversations, and getting attention.⁸⁷

This evaluation system, while giving primary weight to the successful performance of the task, rewards excellence as well.

The final step in this activity is what Horwitz (1990) refers to as debriefing communicative activities. The instructor meets with students in their groups to discuss various aspects of the preparation and performance of their communicative task as they view their performance together. This meeting may take place in the instructor's office or in a language laboratory. As Horwitz suggests, teachers pay great attention to the preparation of our students to participate in these activities by offering vocabulary in advance and discussing appropriate behavior in the target culture, but often times once the activity is completed, the instructor simply assigns a grade for their performance and supplies little feedback. It is helpful to determine student reactions to the activity after the fact: How do they feel about their performance? What was difficult or easy for them? What vocabulary and structures did they need but did not know? While viewing the videotape together, the students and instructor are able to evaluate student performance in several important linguistic and sociocultural areas. This discussion gives the student something to build on as he continues to prepare for his next performance.

It may occur to an instructor that this activity is too time-consuming⁸⁸; however, it takes no more time than preparing, duplicating, administering, correcting and reviewing a written quiz or examination. This activity may be incorporated into a class syllabus these or four times per semester. In order to emphasize the importance of the acquisition of communicative skills, the performance of these tasks contributes 25% to each student's final semester grade. If the instructor tells the students that these skills are important, but does not follow through to hold them directly accountable for acquiring them, her rhetoric will fall on deaf ears. Furthermore, the activity ensures the active participation of all students during several class sessions and helps to keep the lines of communication open between instructor and student. The student is aware of 'how he stands' in the use of the language he is studying.

Although the target level of the described procedure is lower level, the same procedure can easily be adapted to more advanced levels of foreign language study. At more advanced levels, students may work more independently in the selection and preparation of a performance and the situations may vary considerably. Debates, oral presentations, interviews, and interpretation of literary selections may also be incorporated into the curriculum of advanced foreign language classes for purposes of evaluating student preparation of topics as well as continuing to monitor their language skills.

While this article has focused on its value as an evaluation tool in the classroom, the value of videotaping as a motivational tool cannot be denied. Role-playing with realia is fun. Knowing their performances will be videotaped, students prepare themselves exceptionally well for this activity and look forward to their opportunity to become video stars. Seeing themselves function in L2 gives them tremendous confidence as a speaker of L2, while building self-esteem and developing a positive self-image as a language student.

Brown, H. Douglas. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N7: Prentice Hall Regents, 1987.

Horwitz, Elaine K. «Attending to the Affective Domain in the Foreign Language Classroom». In Shifting the Instructional Focus to the Learner. Ed. Sally Sieloff Magnan. Middlebury: Northeast Conference, 1990. 15-33.

Konopacki, Steven. «Let Them Talk: Teaching High School Spanish Conversation». Hispania 73 (1990): 833-36.

Richards, 7ack C. and Theodore S. Rogers. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Hispania [Publicaciones periódicas]. Volume 75, Number 2, May 1992