Effectiveness of the Interactive Videodisc Workstation in Use in the English Language Center at Brigham Young University

Abstract

Personnel in the McKay Institute and the English Language Center (ELC) at Brigham Young University have developed interactive videodisc workstations for use with non-native English-speaking students enrolled in the ELC program. These workstations, using the movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark" as an authentic language experience with student-controlled instructional processes, are evaluated according to their effectiveness and motivational value in teaching English as a second language. Nineteen ELC students (nine female and ten male) were involved in this three-week study. Two variations of the workstations were compared, each applying the instructional processes in different ways. Questionnaires and interviews were used to elicit subjects' affective responses and patterns of learning employed in the workstations. The results of the questionnaires and interviews indicated that both workstations were motivating and stimulating. These results should be viewed with the understanding that the subjects were volunteers. Pretest/posttest  gain scores were used for two purposes: first, in an attempt to find significant differences in the instructional processes involved in this method of instruction, and second, to find whether one workstation was more effective than the other. The test was designed to measure the effectiveness of the workstations in teaching content, vocabulary, and idiomatic expressions. Significant  difference in effectiveness between the workstations was found only in the area of idiomatic expressions. Differences in the application of the instructional processes, however, proved substantial for the subjects and merit attention. This is a report of an evaluation and therefore may not be generalized for all interactive videodisc workstations. It may prove helpful, however, to those who anticipate incorporating interactive videodisc into their language lab.