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1. Introduction

English is an indispensable medium for active participation in the international settings. Not only most conferences are held in English, but also academic articles are usually published in English, making academic English skill important than ever: It should also not be ignored that much of high quality research done in non-English speaking countries often go unpublished in English journals due to its unsophisticated English writing skill. While it is often argued that Third World suffers unbalanced knowledge flow, because it imports more knowledge products from other countries than it imports. (Altbach,1978) Japan, although considered an industrialized country, also suffers from such trade imbalance. This is largely due to the role language plays in the “global patterns of distribution of knowledge” (Altbach, 1978).

We as educators must also prepare our students for the information age when technologies advance rapidly and knowledge acquired may not necessarily be of much importance, in near future. What becomes increasingly important is for students to utilize technology and to communicate new knowledge to a wider community. At Keio University, Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC), we are developing an English curriculum that allows students to use English for productive purposes such as communication and presentation. As part of English education, we prepare graduate students to deliver presentations at international academic conferences.

To enhance learning experience of learners, we are searching for new ways to utilize new technology in the filed of e-Learning. We believe that in developing e-learning curriculum in English, both technological infrastructure and educational content need to be developed. In other words, in considering how to effectively use technology as a platform for language teaching and learning all aspects of technological application as well as English learning needs to be addressed.

The purpose of this study is to explore the possibilities of the next generation media for its further integration into language learning framework. A pilot study was conducted to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of using video streaming technologies to support academic English presentation tutorials. Individual English tutorials were given by an English instructor to students at Keio University. Presentations delivered by students were video recorded digitally at the university. Next, an English instructor created feedback digitally with comments on grammatical errors, formal English expressions, and pronunciation. All correspondences were done on-line. After the tutorial sessions were over, survey was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of the on-line tutorials.

First, this paper gives the description of the technology we used. Then, it briefly explains the procedure in which the on-line tutorials were conducted. It then discusses the survey we have administered to the participants who completed the on-line tutorials. Finally, consideration on the application of video streaming technology to English presentation tutorial is discussed.

2. Technological Application

We have utilized a PC desktop recording system to record video contents of students` presentations and the instructor`s feedback for tutorial sessions to facilitate students` English presentation skills. The advantage of using this technology is that it allows instant creation of digital video contents. In this study, students` presentations along with their Power Point slides were recorded by using the system.

The instructor can edit a student presentation video to add comments and give feedback in writing. Feedback can be directly written on the Power Point slides and video screen of student presentations using a pen tablet. The digital video contents with instructor feedback are saved on the video streaming server and are accessed on-line by the students. All the digital contents created were recorded using high definition XGA quality.

2.1 System Description

The system we are developing allows creation of digital contents by using three PCs: student’s PC or instructor’s PC, the mixing PC and the recording PC. The system instantly records the presentation on student's PC r instructor’s PC as a streaming video file. The video file is then saved onto the streaming video server. The interaction between the instructor and the students saved on the streaming video server can be retrieved on-line. Figure 1 and Figure 2 show the image and structure of mixing PC and recording PC.

Fig.1 Mixing PC and the recording PC

Fig.2 Structure of the system

2.3 High definition video and the access to video streaming materials

The system that we are developing can record all movements that occur on the screen as well as sound in the student’s PC. Because it is possible to record by a high resolution of XGA, the appearance of detailed characters can be recorded without any deterioration in image quality. The contents of the handwriting drawn on the screen by using a pen tablet can also be digitalized. The format of the video files is WMV (Windows Media Video). The average size of the file is about 500Mb for one-hour recording. By carrying out streaming distribution, the recorded video can be seen by a wide audience simultaneously.

3. Procedure of the study

In this study, ten graduate students who are preparing to present at an international symposium received on-line English tutorials from their instructor. The on-line tutorial session lasted from July 15, 2005 to August 24, 2005. The students who participated in the study were all non-native speakers of English with intermediate proficiency. All participants were doctoral students at Keio University, Graduate School of Media and Governance. The students were selected for this study since they were all preparing to present their research in English at an international workshop called “Ubiquitous Media and Social Infrastructure” held on August 26, 2005 at Stanford University. Therefore, the participants needed to practice giving presentation in English on a real occasion.

Fig.3 TOEFL Score of participants

The level of the participants` English skills was intermediate. Many participants were aware that they had weakness in their English skills. Fig 4 and Fig 5 shows how the participants felt about their listening and speaking abilities.

Fig.4 Listening ability of participants

Fig.5 Speaking ability of participants

Each participant interacted with the English instructor in three different stages; 1) delivering presentation using Power Point slides which were individually video recorded and streamed on-line, 2) sending an abstract written for the Conference Proceeding to the English instructor via e-mail and 3) accessing video digital contents feedback on the presentation and abstract on-line.

3. Stages of instruction

The following is the brief description of the procedure of the on-line tutorial. The participants prepared 20 minutes presentations with Power Point presentation slides on their research topics. Presentations were individually recorded using the PC screen recording technology previously described. They have also created Power Point slides to accompany the presentation.

After all the participants` presentations were recorded in the video streaming server, participants wrote abstracts of their presentation in English that would appear in the conference proceeding. Each participant wrote　a one-page abstract using Microsoft Word, as shown in Fig 6 and was individually sent to the English instructor for grammatical correction via e-mail. The following shows an example of the abstracts created by the participants.

Fig.6 Example abstract

After the English instructor gave feedback on the abstract, she received digitally recorded video files of participants` presentations using Power Point slides. The instructor watched the content of each video files. She then, added feedback to the original presentation video files, which was also recorded using the video streaming technology. As the instructor watched and played the original video files on a desktop computer, she made comments on the presentation by stopping the video temporarily and made correction onto the corresponding Power Point slides.

The instructor watching and giving comments of the individual presentation files was recorded using the video streaming technology. Fig.7 shows the actual digital video feedbacks that were created.

Fig.7 Presentation video feedback content

The instructor gave feedback using an instructional approach often called English for Specific Purposes (ESP) which focuses on teaching the functional aspect of language in specific genres. For example, in this case, emphasis was given to teach English skills needed to successfully communicate in an English speaking formal situation, such as an international conference. For instance, the difference between formal versus informal verbs, such as “get” versus “receive” and “gonna” versus “going to” were mentioned. These are some examples that show how different use of a verb is appropriate in a more formal situation compared to a more informal one. The English instructor gave feedback in the following areas:

Feedback Categories of English Communication for Specific Purposes

1. Appropriateness

2. Clarity

3. Formal vs Informal expressions

4. Functional expressions

-Argumentativeness

-Presentation

5. Grammatical correctness

-appropriate phrases

-parallelism

-redundancy

-spelling

-tenses, agreement and time

-use of articles

6. Length of message

7. Organization of information

8. Pronunciation

9. Rhetoric

The feedback contents were recorded and made available as a streaming video file for participants to watch at home. Figure 8 shows the sample presentation feedback that was created by the instructor. The instructor wrote the correction on the recorded Power Point presentation by using writing by hand the screen using a pen tablet.

Fig.8 Power Point feedback content

Again, the feedback contents were made available on-line for participants to watch at home. Together with the video contents of presentation and instructor`s abstract feedback, the participants received the corrected Power Point slides and abstract from the instructor via e-mail.

4. Survey evaluation

We have administered a survey to see the effectiveness of the presentation tutorial and usefulness of the video streaming technology to the ten graduate students who have participated in our study. The first section of the survey asked how effective the tutorials were to the students. The second section asked on the usefulness of the technological application. .

In the first section of the survey, out of five tiered answers from [1]“not 　effective at all” to [5]“very effective,” we were able to received [4] or [5] for all the

answers. The result is shown in Fig 9

Fig.9 “Is instruction using video effective?”

In the second section of our survey which consisted of questions with regard to the technological application, everyone except one person watched the feedback video content more than once. Fig .10

Fig.10 “How many times did you see your correction video?”

However, there were some problems with video quality and connectivity. Most participants had difficulty watching the video file from home. See Fig.11

Fig.11”Can you see the video from home?”

All participants who felt that they had difficulty delivering presentation in English and listening to presentation commented that having facial images of the instructor and the audio feedback of their tutorial session helpful. See Fig.12

Fig.12 “Should there be the image of instructor's face?”

5. Advantages of English e- Learning

In considering how to effectively use technology as a platform for on-line language learning, educators should consider what aspect of technological application is most effective. In this study, the instructor gave feedback on student works by creating digital video contents. There are a number of advantages in using the video streaming technology for individual online tutorials that are not possible by more traditional script- based or face to face individual tutorial sessions.

First, giving feedback through digital video content allows the students to replay the feedback to listen to the comments. Usually, in a face to face tutorial session, verbal feedback is not recorded. Second, by using the digital video system, the students received not only verbal feedback, but also script based feedback to the participants` Power Point slides, enriching the traditional literacy based feedback with verbal information. Another advantage is the spontaneity of synchronous face-to face interaction. The students were able to not only listen to their own pronunciation, but also, to listen to the pronunciation given by the instructors, which was recorded over to the original presentation digital content. Finally, all interaction between the instructor and the students can be recorded as visual, which include the original student presentation session and the verbal and script based feedback given by the instructor added on to the original digital content.

6. Conclusion

In considering how to effectively use technology for on-line language learning, all communicative mode of technological application needs to be considered. For instance, communication consists of different mode, such as audio, visual, and literal and semiotic modes. By using the high vision digital video system instructors were able to give verbal, visual and script-based feedback to students` Power Point slide along with the video recording of students delivering presentation. The participants of the study used the recorded feedback video content number of times for self study purposes.

The study showed that the instant creation and replay feature of the digital video recording technology can be a powerful tool for English teaching.

7. References

[1] Altbach, P. (1978). “The distribution of knowledge in the third world: a case study in neocolonialism”. Education and Colonialism.pp 301-325

[2] Iinuma, M. Dietrichson, A, & Chiyokura, H. “Multi-modality in on-line communication: Theory and Practice.” Proceedings of E-learn 2004 World Conference of E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare & Higher Education, Washington DC (2004) pp. 39