VIDEO.DE. An online video annotation tool for second language education

Audio-visual data are increasingly being used in academic language programs to incorporate authentic language use in the didactic practice and to enliven language learning material (Höfler-Hoang et al. 2011, Shrosbree 2008, Sydorenko 2010, Bargeron et al. 1999, Weyers 1999 a.o.). However, there is still need for a more systematic didactic embedding of videos as part of a blended learning program in language teaching practice. In this paper, we present the VIDEO.DE environment, an online platform that allows for a wide multiple employability of online video resources in academic language programs. The key feature of this environment is the student-oriented tool for the annotation of videos that was designed to involve students more actively with audio-visual material in a second language. Videos are thus coded by students according to a task-specific annotation scheme that is predefined by the language instructor and that can consist of parameters such as vocabulary, grammar and discursive features. The design of both the annotation tool and the flexible annotation scheme allows its application in different academic language programs. The didactic potential of this approach is tested in a pilot study for German as a foreign language and involves the collaboration between different partner institutions of the Association KU Leuven in Belgium. In a first step the VIDEO.DE - annotation tool is implemented in the curriculum of the partner institutions for German language instruction. By means of a questionnaire students are inquired about their motivation, involvement, self-activation and user-friendliness of the application. In a second step, the effect of video annotation on the implicit vocabulary learning, motivation and involvement of the students is measured in a small-scale case study. In contrast to most existing language learning environments based on video data, the VIDEO.de project provides a strongly student-centered annotation environment and interface, which stimulates students to engage in a process of collaborative annotation across the partner institutions.