Reflection on the Liou (1994)

Based on the previous studies, Liou (1994) raised a proposal of using interactive videodisc (IVD) in promoting second language studies in the Department of Foreign Languages at National Tsing Hua University.

At first, the author stated the reasons and motivation of launch this project. The fresh students did not have the enough English proficiency for learning literature in college. So the classes or training for language skills were necessary (“language” rather than “communicating”). However, the courses provided in the Department were not satisfied, the reasons lied that in the first place, no “natural” target language was introduced, secondly, the large size of classes could not provide enough opportunities for the learners and last but not the least, the vast majority of EFL teachers shared the same L1 with learners.

Secondly, the author analyzed the advantages of IVD. Three adjectives were used here—authentic, adaptive, enchanting. Besides, in an IVD language learning lesson, a lot of skills could be developed, such as reading comprehension skill, speaking skill. The learners could also develop active use of language in natural environment, understanding of conversation, etc.

The project used films Ghostbusters in language teaching. 100 conversational turns were chosen for a form function analysis. The course were divided into four units—introduction, adaption of prototype hypertext format, viewing of the film, viewing of the film with instruction. Both the Chinese and English scripts were offered to the students during the learning process. The evaluation was also provided both with soft and hard methods.

The two major criticisms were the layout and the instruction for the Hyperscript.

In the end, the author also raised two important issues, firstly, the design of “template” for layman. Secondly, the development of multimedia courseware would be very consuming.

On this article, I think it is quite useful for inspiring me to do my own action plan. In addition, I found the soft methods used in evaluation part are quite new to me and I think they would definitely very helpful.

I found the project proposed in this article is useful. As a student majored in English, I also encountered the problems raised in the beginning of the article. I studied English literature before and I found it was extremely difficult to read the original works in English. We also watched movies as follow-up to enhance our impression of what we have learned. You know, a lot of novels have movie version, such as Pride and Prejudice, Vanity Fair and so on. However, we never have the instruction like that mentioned in the article, so we just got the plot of the play but never paid much attention to the language. Therefore, in my point of view, if conducted with great care, this project will gain success in promoting the language proficiency of the fresh English major students.