The role of digital video media in second language listening ...

unnoticed, is one of the most important in visual and verbal relations. Soundstructure supplements the visual structure of a production in that it helps to establishwhere to make edit points, or cuts, in a videotext. If applied sensitively, according toZettl (1990), “such an audio-video dialectic will increase the complexity of a screenevent without impairing its communication clarity” (p. 349).Zettl (1990) argues that two categories of picture-sound combinations exist:homophonic and polyphonic. In homophonic combinations, either the image orsound is intended to dominate a screen event. Conversely, for polyphoniccombinations, the picture and sound develop independently of each other as melodiclines. At points, they may be joined together to heighten or emphasise a particularexperience. This technique, called phasing, permits the creation of either an audio orvisual flashback within a narrative itself may vary in terms of speed, intensity orduration. According to Zettl (1990), phasing techniques contribute enormously tocomplexity of text structures.To return to Kozma (1991), the third part of his framework regards the processingcharacteristics of media. Because information is not held in memory but is active inthe learner’s mind, a learner may need to recurse over a section of text to recoverfrom comprehension failures. Digital formats of video media differ from analogueversions on two key features: precise control and non-linear access. Similar to printmedia, digital video media allow learners to recurse over poorly understood areas,stop the flow of information or concentrate on key areas in an effort to achievegreater understanding.Of relevance to the present study, a recognition that media vary in their processingcharacteristics may be particularly relevant to non-native patterns of usage. Althoughelements of tradecraft generally go unnoticed by native speaking television viewers(Findahl & Hoijer, 1982, p. 269; Henningham, 1988, p. 48), for example, it may bethat non-native listeners are far more susceptible to stylistic variations of productionwhen digital media are used because 1) they may attend closely to minute aspects of16