Promoting English Listening and Speaking Ability by Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

Video, one of diverse audiovisual inputs, has been applied to language classrooms for a long time. Not only teachers but also students benefit from using this useful resource in teaching and learning English. Traditionally, students passively view video to take in the learning content. However, few studies have been conducted to discuss how students actively adopt video as computer-supported collaborative learning activity in developing English listening and speaking ability. This study aims to explore the effects of video serving as online group work on students' English learning. The participants were 23 sophomores who enrolled in an English listening and speaking course at a university in Southern Taiwan. They were guided to actively construct their own video projects in small groups, review their video online and interact with peers for video feedback discussion in the forum. The participants' responses to the project and technology support were quantitatively and qualitatively collected by the questionnaire. Based on the descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis, the findings of this study revealed that reviewing the videos online and interacting virtually in the forum enabled the students to learn from one another and to reflect on their own learning. This study also highlights pedagogical implications for English teachers regarding the alternative opportunities for students to learn collaboratively with the aid of video and forum technology.