Research Question

What is the relationship between the creation of real life and virtual videos and the development of oral presentation skills, focused on English for specific purposes (ESP) environments among undergraduate students from the USTA?

General

Specific

English for Specific Purposes

ESP appeared due to the need to integrate different English fields, topics, and users’ interests. ^{Paltridge and Starfield (2013)} point out that “[ESP] refers to the teaching and learning of English as a second or foreign language where the goal of the learners is to use English in a particular domain” (p. 2).

In USTA, ESP is not a tool EFL teachers use very often as the main focus of the general English classes, although the University does offer some ESP courses. In some cases, it is used to motivate students to improve and develop their English skills. Most of the English classes at USTA are not focused on ESP, but it could be used as an alternative way for students to learn English. What we also want to demonstrate is that the use of ESP will help students have different perspectives about the process of learning a second language in terms of developing their foreign language skills. Belcher (as cited in Bathia, Anthony, & Noguchi, 2011) “traces the development of ESP along sociodiscoursal, sociocultural, and sociopolitical tracks. In other words, ESP is always concerned with the ‘socio’ or the society in which the language is functioning” (p. 147).

In this way, when students are able to relate the knowledge they are acquiring in their undergraduate programs with ESP, they will generate meaningful learning in terms of improvement and development of their English skills since they are able to practice in real situations and contexts by using English methodologies that are different from what they use in standard classes. Besides, it is helpful for EFL teachers who want to carry out their job with effectiveness, while incorporating other methodologies that can provide a wide variety of possibilities in teaching the language.

ESP has been one of the components in some of the English courses at USTA, especially the highest levels, and its characteristics in this institution are as follows:

Students are interviewed at the beginning of the course regarding the topics, activities, and resources they would like to include in the course. This means students participate in syllabus design since it is flexible and allows them to negotiate with the ESP teacher.

Regarding this type of courses, ^{Marculescu (2015)} carried out a study on ESP at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies with first-year students from the Faculty of finance, insurance, and banking and the Faculty of international business and economics. “This study focused on project work for the purpose of improving and assessing the students’ knowledge of English, especially their oral communication skills” (^{Marculescu, 2015}, p. 230). According to Marculescu, “at the end of the research, the students improved their oral skills based on what is now called the 21^st Century Education Movement which emphasizes the four Cs: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity” (p. 230).

Simulation

According to ^{Meihami, Meihami, and Varmaghani (2013)} “a simulation game tries to copy various activities of real life in the form of games for different purposes: training, analysis, or prediction. Some examples are war, business, and role games” (p. 60). According to the authors, “there are three types of simulations”:

Live simulation: It involves humans and or equipment, an activity and a stage where they can act in a real way. Time is continuous as in real life. For example, video war games and car batteries testers.

Virtual simulation: It involves human beings or equipment on a computer-controlled stage. The time comes in discrete steps, allowing users to concentrate on what is important. For example: a flight simulator.

Constructive simulation: No human or computer involved as participants. More than time, simulations are handled in suitable time sequences. For example, hurricane simulators take into account temperature, pressure, and wind currents. (p. 60)

Simulation in this project is defined as imitation and projection of real life. It is a space where you can recreate real-life events. The study we are conducting at the USTA is about real life video vs. Moviestorm through machinima, which employs virtual simulation to resemble real-life cases with students of different undergraduate programs.

This is used in video games that recreate being on a battlefield or driving a car, among other situations. It is also used in the field of business to assume roles that can be carried out in real life. In education we find experiences such as metaverses, where participants can choose and design an avatar, receive a conference or virtual class, and be transported from one context to another simply by moving the avatar and creating learning communities according to their tastes, needs, and interests. ^{Meihami et al. (2013)} pointed out that “the simulation gives users the feeling of being in a real context that requires the development of motor skills and analysis to understand these environments and know how to behave in them as they would in real life” (p. 61).

Machinima

Machinima refers to

The use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production . . . In a broad sense, any piece of linear audiovisual content such as a short film or series made with settings, characters, or video game engines can also be seen as machinima. (Machinima, n.d., para. 1-26)

Machinima in this research is a key concept, as it was the end-product after resorting to Moviestorm (see Figure 1), the software that allows students to create their projects.

Figure 1 Scene in a Moviestorm-Machinima 3D Video Created by the Participants 

Although there are many subscribers to Moviestorm, studies on the use of this software by EFL students to create machinima area are scarce. One study by ^{Butler (2012)} involved students from Queensland University of Technology in the program of law and consisted of two courses where students learned, through simulations and virtual environments, how to develop negotiation and mediation skills as well as to address legal and ethical issues related to contract formalities. In the end, the results showed that the motivation of students towards certain subjects improved and that they were able to recognize the importance of creating virtual spaces that reflected the application of their profession in real-life (^{Butler, 2012}). This research is one of the studies related to our proposal, as it involves law students who simulate, in a virtual world, legal cases which reflect real-life environments and communication.

According to ^{Meyers (2014)}: Communication in a virtual world is then dependent on two levels of meaning making: in-world comprehension of digital action and a translation of that meaning to out-world significance. The two levels of meaning combined become a “literacy” of digital play. To be fluent in this kind of literacy requires immersion in the culture of the space. (p. 670)

Therefore, the use of the machinima technology through the software Moviestorm, takes students from a virtual space to real contexts in order to portray real life situations and give meaning to the simulation of different experiences related to English language learning.

Moviestorm

According to the Moviestorm official website (www.moviestorm.co.uk), “this is a 3D real-time software used to create animated films with machinima technology”. It is licensed software which has been used in the educational field with students of different educational levels to recreate situations of everyday life, using avatars that allow them to have another identity in the virtual world.

Moviestorm is a good tool for university students as it allows them to explore another way to create videos using different tools such as sceneries, characters, colors, cameras, and editing, among others. However, students at USTA are not very familiar with this kind of tools even while having access to the technological devices to use them. The present project about the contrast between real life videos and machinima produced through Moviestorm emerged as an innovative way to take advantage of these technological materials within an ESP course while promoting the development of oral presentation skills in two environments: real-life vs. 3D.

Use of Video in ESP

If it is demonstrated that students like videos, these could become an important part in academic spaces where the students can find additional tools to learn and improve their English skills. Learning a language implies applying various strategies to receive input from other sources and not just the teacher. Arthur (as cited in ^{Çakir, 2006}) claims that “videos can give students realistic models to imitate for role-play and can increase awareness of other cultures by teaching appropriateness and suitability” (p. 68). Using videos is a way to involve students in different issues and situations while at the same time using an approach that provides authentic language input.

Guidelines to Support English Oral Presentations

Nowadays, English is one of the most spoken languages all around the world. It is used for different matters such as education, science, politics, arts, and literature, among many other fields. English is a tool used to express and share information, as well as a means for connecting people by breaking down language barriers. One method that might allow English language learners to interact is oral presentations, such as those discussed in this research paper. Oral presentations might allow students to be part of a globalized world which demands better, qualified professionals willing to face new challenges and take risks.

Therefore, many authors have proposed different guidelines and recommendations to do oral presentations in any language. According to ^{Burns (2008)}, there are some do’s and don’ts to have clear:

^{Sukitkanaporn and Phoocharoensil (2014)} carried out a study with 26 students of the M.A. in English at Thammasat University (Thailand) that further illustrates the development of oral presentation skills. “The method used was a cross-sectional research survey. The students were divided into two groups: students who studied [the course] and those who did not” (p. 95). According to the authors, “the students who took the course on presentations were more organized but they should mostly improve their delivery, while the students who did not take the course should improve their organization/content, as well as their delivery” (p. 91). The authors concluded that “the course ‘Effective Presentations’ should be a required course for all graduate students” (Sukitkanaporn & Phoocharoensil, 2014, p. 91).

In the same way, King (as cited in ^{Živković, 2014}) states that “oral presentations represent an opportunity for developing real-world communications as well as leadership skills” (p. 469). According to King (as cited in Živković, 2014):

Among the many advantages of designing oral presentations for students are:

Oral presentation skills courses are crucial in any undergraduate program but at times, these kinds of courses are not common or explicitly required in university studies since they are not taken as specific subjects. However, students at USTA, given the holistic education promoted in the curriculum, must develop oral presentation skills which are included in their subjects in a subtle way. In the ESP and general English courses, these skills are taught through the teachers’ guidance, demonstrations, presentations and oral reports, among other techniques.

Participants

The participants in this study comprised 60 pre-intermediate English level students from law, computer science, and engineering at USTA. They were between 19 and 24 years old, and there were 23 women and 37 men. These students came from different parts of the country. Participants were informed about their role in the present project; in that sense, they were asked about their voluntarily participation as well as their rights in terms of ethical principles for educational research, consent, and privacy. In the same way, they signed a written consent form previously discussed and accepted by every single participant before they provided any information and allowed us to use their real-life and machinima videos as part of this study.

Data Gathering Instruments

We used three instruments to collect data: an interview, a survey, and students’ artifacts. Furthermore, we analyzed the information and systematized it. The instruments are described below.

Interview

In this study, we used a semi-structured interview since it contains “components of both, structured and unstructured interviews. [The] interviewer prepares a set of same questions to be answered by all interviewees; however, additional questions might be asked during interviews to clarify and/or further expand certain issues” (Dudovskiy, n.d., para. 5).

The interview is an instrument necessary to collect data which reflect a person’s attitudes, interests, issues, and opinions regarding a specific topic proposed or researched by the interviewer. In this way, the interviewer collects data which will help him/her arrive at an understanding of the way people act, think, and conceive the world. In the present project about real-life videos vs. machinima, interviews (see Appendix A) are used to obtain information regarding the students’ experiences and consider their strengths and weaknesses when dealing with two kinds of videos for educational purposes in their English learning process.

Survey

^{Marshall and Rossman (2006)} point out that “a survey research is the appropriate mode of inquiry for making inferences about a large group of people based on data drawn from a relatively small number of individuals in that group” (p. 125). In this study, surveys (see Appendix B) seek to corroborate information about the use of videos by undergraduate students, that is, the information gathered through the interview format and students’artifacts to create the research categories that arise or are common in the three elements of information gathering. In the format of the survey, open and close-ended questions were answered by the participants regarding the implementation of videos as an educational tool, the ability to talk about specific topics, learn about video production, and work together in order to contribute to the improvement of oral presentation skills.

Students’ Production Through Videos (Artifacts)

Videos “should be characterized as an information source within which data could be identified. To create data, the researcher strategically selected video segments from an available corpus and used them for a specific analytic purpose” (Goldman, Erickson, Lemke, & Derry, 2007, p. 18). Therefore, in this research, real-life and Moviestorm videos were gathered as a set of data in order to categorize and analyze them, taking into account the participants’ performances. To collect these data, a pedagogical intervention based on the students’ videos was implemented in order to see how this intervention worked in this specific context. Since this investigation analyzed oral presentation skills and new language abilities in computer software, the videos were an ideal tool for this study.

First Stage: Use of Real-Life Video to Promote Oral Presentation Skills

The participants were asked to create their own real-life videos based on some parameters for the design of educational videos and presentation skills. Such parameters included the technical part (editing) and aspects such as pronunciation, intonation, stress, language use, and body language, among other considerations.

During the creation of the real-life educational videos, participants were asked to write scripts based on a topic related to their majors. Then, they received feedback on their writing from us in order to make corrections. Final corrections were made on coherence of ideas and video production. In total, students spent 12 hours of class time writing and creating videos, keeping in mind comments that we had already given them. To illustrate the procedure, we will describe one video made by the law students. They were asked to form groups of three people and to think of a topic that was related to their field of study; in some cases, students worked by pairs. One of the groups chose the topic “violation of human rights in Colombia”. So, we asked them to write a script which was corrected by us and then they started preparing it in terms of pronunciation, intonation, and stress. They took enough time before recording themselves using cellphone devices. The results seen in the videos and analyzed from the rubric (see Table 1) were as follows: In 70% of the videos students did not look natural as regards their body language; on occasions, they looked nervous because of the camera, read the dialogues instead of presenting them, memorized the script and then repeated it without the necessary pauses which made them sound artificial.

Table 1 Rubric for Real-Life Videos 

One of the most noticeable aspects observed in the real-life videos was the creativity shown in making this kind of videos where students changed their scenarios, used objects around them, and assumed different roles within the situations on their specific majors.

Through this kind of video students learned new vocabulary and demonstrated knowledge about specific topics and their application to real contexts. We could see in the videos and from an analysis of the rubrics in terms of grammar that only some students focused on the grammatical correctness in spoken English, even though they were given some feedback during the writing of their scripts before recording the video. In terms of pronunciation, 80% of the students did not pay much attention to this aspect. For example, when they used technical words, participants mispronounced some of them. Also, some participants used different lexical resources since they wrote their scripts on topics related to their professions.

Students with a major in law and engineering participated in this investigation. For the most part, their reactions to filming real-life videos were varied. Most of the law participants found that producing real-life videos was appealing to them since their overall confidence in front of an audience made it easier to face a camera. On the other hand, it was found that some of the engineering participants found the real-life video activity difficult due to the need for spontaneous and natural acting when the camera is set on them. Besides, most of the participants from the different majors thought that speaking in English made them feel more anxious because they do not manage English as properly as their mother tongue.

The students were interviewed about the use of educational videos in an ESP course:

Teacher: Do you think the use of real life videos influences your oral production skills in English regarding pronunciation, intonation, stress, fluency, and body language?

S1:¹ I think it does contribute somewhat, it helps to improve fluency and development in public. (Interview)

S2: I think it is useful because we do not have the opportunity to speak in English during the day and by doing these exercises, the structure of these sentences, and speaking you perform better and you learn more. (Interview)

S3: By using the real-life video, you use body language and English proficiency orally. (Survey)

In the previous excerpts the students said that real-life videos helped them improve fluency, pronunciation, and public presentations; besides, they could perform better in English and learn more. Taking into account the previous opinions, it was observed that even though presentation skills improved, using videos in the ESP classroom implied repetition, perseverance, accurate use of language, appropriate use of technological resources, body language, and lexical range among other aspects mentioned above.

We observed in the videos that there is still a lack of understanding related to some technical vocabulary used by the students during their presentations and a lack of pauses, intonation, fluency, and so on.

During the survey, the students expressed their opinions regarding the creation of real life videos as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Question 5 From the Survey 

In general, the creation of real-life videos was useful for the participants to practice and develop oral presentation skills since the creation of these videos engages body language, creativity, and language use.

Second Stage: The Use of Machinima

The second stage of the project was about the creation of a Moviestorm video. We wanted to use Moviestorm machinima because it is used around the world for some people who might like to use this kind of tools in order to do different things through new technologies. Because of current pedagogical activities, for instance, the incorporation of technology, students might feel motivated to use it in order to face difficult tasks; for that reason, we incorporated this machinima technology to increase students’ motivation and to create new spaces to practice the language.

One machinima characteristic is the creation of animation through video games. In this stage, participants were asked to write their own scripts once again. They were trained in the use of machinima when the teacher-researchers presented the technology step by step. The first step was for participants to bring their computers to the classroom. They logged into Moviestorm and followed our instructions on producing and editing their machinima videos. Participants were given time to explore the different icons and terminology offered by the platform. They created their first avatars and simulations through settings, environments, and objects around each situation. There were some issues related to camera movement and sound incorporation. These problems arose from a lack of knowledge in specific software language and in training time needed by EFL students to edit and produce their video content.

Some of the participants (especially the law students) had some trouble during this stage. They found it hard using some items in the creation of characters and settings, as well as using the 3D cameras in the virtual environment. Those students also thought they needed more vocabulary to use Moviestorm because there were some items they did not know how to use. They also thought the software was hard to use because there were some aspects such as details related to clothes, settings and characters’ behavior that they could not successfully utilize.

In the video analysis and the rubric (see Table 2), 60% of the participants created good videos in terms of specific issues such as pronunciation, organization of grammatical structures to deal coherently with a suitable dialogue, accurate handling of cameras, and incorporation of different items to deal with avatars’ movements and actions; 65% of the participants demonstrated coherence and cohesion in the recording of the Moviestorm video, in terms of the organization, the presentation, and delivery of it. Seventy-five percent of the students used a great deal of lexical resources, taking into account specific topics related to their professions. Regarding grammatical range, 80% of the participants from the faculties of law, computer science, and electronic engineering made mistakes with the use of pronouns, possessive adjectives, verbs and some technical words, among other things, during the production of the 3D video. Regarding pronunciation, intonation, and fluency, 70% of the students did not pay enough attention to these aspects (even though they did not have to use body language) perhaps due to the technological problems they claimed they had during the recording and editing of the video. Finally, the delivery of the video in most of the cases (70%) resulted in a video with good delivery resorting to creativity, the use of the software, role-plays through avatars, and scenarios, among others (see Figure 1 for a sample of the participants’ machinima).

Table 2 Rubric for Moviestorm Videos 

Law students did not think Moviestorm was a suitable tool to work with because they said, “real life videos is sort of an easier way to use because the only tool we need is our speech” (interview excerpt). Students also think that they can use the body language that is meaningful because it supports their ideas, considering, of course, that they do not waste time using technology tools that make things harder. Nevertheless, law students pointed out: “using this kind of resources such as Moviestorm as part of the class is an appealing strategy because it is different from other typical activities as using a book or filling out copies” (survey excerpt); however, they think Moviestorm is not an entirely meaningful tool because it limits some aspects like spontaneous performances and body language useful to express feelings and they can not express them through avatars.

On the other hand, engineering students (computer science and electronic) consider Moviestorm to be a good tool for developing their oral presentation skills. First, they claimed that if they did not have a camera recording them, they would be able to act more easily because they might not feel pressured in any way, so they would have a better performance. They feel motivated when they have to use technology; for instance, one participant said: “When we record ourselves and listen there is a chance to delete, be aware when the words are mispronounced and if necessary to record it again” (interview excerpt). Engineering students also think these kinds of tools help them look for new ways to learn because they find Moviestorm a new way to improve their English language level. In the same way, they recognized that real-life videos are a good tool because, as they expressed: “We use the English we know and have the chance to improvise if necessary” (interview excerpt) in order to be able to communicate what they mean.

Students claimed the problem they found in Moviestorm is related to licenses considering that they are expensive and when the trial period expires, some items are restricted. They also pointed out, “there is a disadvantage because body language is limited a lot” (interview excerpt); they cannot use the body language they usually do to support the ideas they want to express. In general, engineering students perceived 3D video to be suitable because they could practice English without pressure and because it is a different tool; they also recognize the current importance of incorporating technology in classes. Finally, they expressed that they liked 3D videos because when they listen to their recordings, they can analyze their mistakes and correct them.

The students were interviewed about the use of educational videos in an ESP course:

Teacher: Which video, real life or Moviestorm, do you think is more appropriate for you in order to perform an oral presentation?

S4: For me it was Moviestorm, since when we recorded ourselves and listened there was a chance to delete it, be aware about the things that were not correct and if necessary to record it again. (Interview excerpt)

S5: In my case, it is Moviestorm because it is something different from other tasks, instead of the first video where we got nervous and we had to prepare so well the dialogues, so in this case we start improvising more, acting more, and using the tools we got. (Interview excerpt)

Creating videos can make students solve problems. For example, in the present research using 3D video, participants had trouble using the software and the organization of the presentation as such. However, working as a team, they tried to solve any difficulties to create videos based on a topic related to their professions and, in the end, they overcame the negative aspects and produced well-planned 3D videos by using the software Moviestorm. During the survey, the students expressed their opinions regarding the creation of 3D videos as shown in Figure 3.

6. Creating a 3d video (for example, Machinima) is useful for developing my oral presentation skills (pronunciation, fluency, intonation, etc.)

Figure 3 Question 6 From the Survey 

In general terms, students claimed that the creation of Moviestorm videos was a good technological tool to develop oral presentation skills in a different way by using specific software to create characters, assume roles, and talk about a technical topic. Students also realized that this kind of activities lets them recreate real life situations in different contexts.

ESP in the Implementation of Videos: Students’ Perceptions

Videos are tools that have been used for years in English classes in order to incorporate different input material for students to have different sources, especially in listening and speaking development. The main idea of using ESP videos is to have a pedagogical strategy for practising that allows students to learn while at the same time to connect English with their studies and careers.

Some participants in this study think that using videos in ESP courses is attractive because they think this is a way to practice English and study topics they really care about, and this is thus an accurate strategy.

They pointed out that if they use vocabulary about their major it will be useful in their future: “It is something useful when I travel abroad, I am sure”, “integrating something I am learning with something I like, I get interested so much more, because in the future I will use it, it motivates me a lot” (interview excerpts). For that matter, most of the participants think that when going abroad where English is spoken, they will use this sort of vocabulary and it will represent an advantage in terms of learning and communication.

Law students as well as engineering students agreed that using ESP videos for practising is a good strategy. Law students preferred real-life videos whereas engineering students preferred Moviestorm; they shared their points of view about having those activities which they found nicer, more useful and meaningful. As they expressed: “We can reinforce both aspects at the same time: English and the topics of our study program¨ (interview excerpt). In this way, there is no doubt about the advantages of creating ESP videos in courses since students in general like their study program. What this means is that if they are motivated in their fields, they will have that empathy for ESP.

There is nevertheless a small percentage of students who thought they would not feel motivated using ESP videos in English classes. “I personally believe that it would be a motivation or a limitation, you know? I want to learn the daily vocabulary and I do not just want to talk about my program of studies” (interview excerpt). It means some participants might think learning a language does not necessarily imply studying about things they usually like because they would also like to have a free space which they can use to do different things related to their academic programs. Even though they knew from the beginning of the ESP course about the objectives and requirements, it was more appealing for them to switch from one ESP topic to a general topic.

During the project, most students agreed using ESP courses helped them build up knowledge they might use in the future. Students think that when using ESP, they get interested in English because they feel they will have the opportunity to connect the new knowledge they are acquiring with previous knowledge and thus make relating to things they are studying easier and making learning English more meaningful.

Some students’ answers about the perception of using ESP topics are shown in the following excerpts:

Teacher: How do you describe your oral English production related to the use of your career topics?

S4: Well, I think that in my learning process it is good and those topics motivate me because I like my career a lot, it means, it is not just another topic, besides it helps to learn new words I might use when I travel in the future. (Interview excerpt)

S6: I personally believe that it would be a motivation or a limitation, I want to learn the daily vocabulary and I do not just want to talk about my career it depends on…not everybody likes what they are studying. (Interview excerpt)

S7: Integrating something I am learning with something I like, I get interested so much more, because in the future I will use it, it motivates me a lot. (Survey excerpt)

Finally, content knowledge is a relevant aspect in an ESP course because students use the foreign language to talk about a topic in their profession. In the creation of both videos, real-life vs. 3D, students wrote their scripts in English about a specific technical topic in order to show what they learned by investigating and studying the topic. Some students decided to present their topics through role-plays, assuming situations related to their university programs. In the end, the participants belonging to different undergraduate programs highlighted videos as comprising good technological tools for ESP classes. They can also be autonomous outside of the classroom, even though they receive guidance and feedback from the teacher. Moreover, videos can help students in terms of learning English and in the development of oral presentation skills.

Going back to the initial question (What is the relationship between the creation of real-life and virtual videos in the development of oral presentation skills, focused on ESP environments, directed to the undergraduate students from the USTA?), we can find some similarities in the implementation of both kinds of videos based on the data obtained from the participants:

Regarding the differences in the implementation of both videos: