The Video Comprehension Strategies of Chinese-Speaking University Students

Abstract

This study reports the strategies used by second language learners to comprehend computerized video material. In total, 211 students taking an English course in a public university in Taiwan joined the study, conducted over 1 academic year during which 63 students were involved in the pilot study in the first semester, and 148 joined the formal study in the second semester. The pilot study was conducted to identify distinct video comprehension (VC) strategies in order to develop a VC strategy questionnaire. There were two dimensions to the VC strategies: verbal and nonverbal. These two dimensions were further divided into three subcategories: compensation, memory, and cognition. In the formal study, each participant viewed three video clips, then completed self-reports and the newly developed questionnaire. The questionnaire data were analyzed quantitatively to investigate the most and least frequently employed verbal and nonverbal strategies, and the three subcategories. In general, there was no significant difference in the application of the two kinds of strategies. However, use of the memory category strategies outnumbered that of the compensation and cognitive category strategies. The self-report data were also analyzed qualitatively.