1) More Entertaining
Some students thought that the videos could be more entertaining and less boring. One way which was suggested was to show the face of the speaker during the video. Having a talking head to explain complex information such as grammar might be of little value, as the video of the speaker is not conveying new information which isn’t already being conveyed verbally (
Brame, 2016). Learning can be enhanced when auditory and visual modes are matched to the content. By conveying new information using the appropriate channel of either the audio/verbal channel and visual/pictorial channel, instructors can enhance germane cognitive load, making lessons easier to understand (
Mayer & Moreno, 2003).
It’s boring. I can’t focus on the video. (Dana, one-to-one)
I would like to see your face in the video. That would be more easy to know what you’re really talking about. Make me feel like I’m really listening and it’s not that boring. (Zia, one-to-one)
The case for showing a presenter might be its entertainment value to the viewer. In a study of the design of English teaching videos on TikTok (
Zhang et al., 2022), a video sharing platform for short videos, of the 50 English learning videos with the most likes, 80% of them consisted of shots of the presenter. This highlights the importance of showing the presenter to receive likes and therefore more views. Creators should strive to make content which is entertaining and engaging, because if the students do not watch the videos, they cannot learn from them (
Brame, 2016). Another way to attract new viewers on YouTube was highlighted by an informant who said that the thumbnail or cover image for the video was more important than the title and description.
Make the thumbnail colorful. I go into some videos that look helpful. I only look at the thumbnail. Not really the explanation. (Zia, one-to-one)
Another possible way of making videos more entertaining might be to include short animations related to the content, as suggested by
Atmojo (2022). A note from the teacher’s journal suggested one way the teacher can encourage students to focus on the video. The teacher can set a good example of watching the video with the students during its presentation and not doing other things.
2) Reduce Cognitive Load
The informants made several other comments and suggestions of how to improve the teacher-generated videos which they watch in class that can be used to help make future videos better. Most of these suggestions would help to manage the cognitive load of the learning activity. One student thought the speech in the videos was too fast because she finds listening difficult and wanted to be able to control the speed of the video and slow it down. The importance of her opinion is supported by
Mayer (2009) who states that people learn better when a multimedia message is presented in segments at a speed adjusted by the user, thus managing intrinsic cognitive load. It is possible to adjust the speed of playback in the video settings on YouTube; however, viewers might not be aware of this feature, so it would be beneficial to highlight this option at the beginning of videos.
So fast to me, because I can’t listening well. (Joy, one-to-one)
Would you like to be able to control the speed? Adjust it? (Interviewer, one-to-one)
Yes, little bit slowly. (Joy, one-to-one)
The interviewees also highlighted their dislike of any background music played in educational videos. By excluding any extraneous material such as background music, people will learn better as their extraneous cognitive load is reduced (
Mayer, 2009). These statements regarding speed and background music were supported by quantitative research by
Fujita (2017) who reported that EFL students’ listening comprehension test scores were higher when speech was presented at a slower pace without background noise compared to normal fast speech with background noise added. Several of the students also commented that they liked there being a lot of whitespace in the video slides which helped them to focus on the important information. According to
Mayer and Moreno (2003), extraneous material which does not directly support the educational goal of the presentation can increase extraneous load and should be eliminated.
Music is no… more than hear well. (Joy, one-to-one)
When there’s no music, you can hear better? (Interviewer, one-to-one)
Yes. [Joy, one-to-one]
I like the video doesn’t have background music. Confusing our focus. The color is white, so focus easily. (Steve, one-to-one)
The interviewees suggested other methods that would have the effect of reducing extraneous cognitive load. Target language in the teacher-generated videos shown to the students is currently highlighted in bold. One student suggested that was not enough to bring attention to what they should be focusing on and that it should be highlighted in color.
Garza (1996) states that color highlighting can be used to target viewer’s attention to specific linguistic elements of the captioning such as lexicon or grammatical forms.
It will be better when you highlight target grammar or words in color. The video only have bold words to highlight it. (Hannah, one-to-one)
So that would make it stand out more? (Interviewer, one-to-one)
Yes. (Hannah, one-to-one)
Another suggestion was to find a better way to explain the target language more easily. One student wanted more difficulty levels for one topic or grammar point with separate videos for beginners, intermediate, and advanced learners. To address these concerns, the instructor has created beginner videos which simplify the lesson as much as possible by teaching the target language through repeated examples and context only, with no explanation of the grammar which can create extraneous load for the learner as they try to understand confusing explanations.
English is too difficult. I can’t understand. (Seo-yi, one-to-one)
One student said that they would like more examples of the target language in the teacher-generated videos as well as examples of common mistakes and how they can be corrected. Some of the mistakes commonly made by Korean learners might be because of L1 interference, such as omissions of articles because they are not present in the Korean language (
Zheng & Park, 2013). As the L1 interference of different languages will result in different common mistakes, the value of teaching common mistakes to an international audience might be limited; however, student engagement can be promoted by creating material which is designed “for these students in this class” (
Brame, 2016), so that it would be beneficial to edit the videos in a way to target the audience more closely. While this might be time consuming, the videos can be reused for other classes and other semesters.
I think it would be good to add more examples and wrong examples. Common mistakes examples is helpful to fix it. (Steve, one-to-one)
One informant wanted example sentences to be more relevant to daily life. While another wanted example sentences to match better with the examples in the student book. The desire by students for teacher-generated materials that support the textbook is highlighted in the research.
Kemm (2022) calls for teacher-generated material to be a bridge between the textbook and the students’ English proficiency and interests, and to compensate for perceived shortcomings of mandated textbooks. According to
Block (1991) contextualizing the language with real examples that are of interest to students makes the transition from using example sentences to talking about their own lives easier.
I like that you put lots of example that are related to Korea. (Kristen, one-to-one)
In the focus group, the students were more comfortable criticizing the teacher-generated videos. Two of the students highlighted examples from a recent video they had watched which might have described the target grammar well but were totally unrelated to their everyday experiences.
I think you can share more example from our daily lives. Machu Picchu is not common topic we talk about. (Kristen, focus group)
It was noted by the teacher in the journal that some of the videos did not always follow the recommendations as laid out here. For example, in one video, a spoken example sentence did not match the example on the screen for the students to read. Content creators should be prepared to update their videos if they become aware of any improvements in the presentation which could help to manage cognitive load. Another benefit of updating videos is that they could be better matched to the particular interests or needs of a class.