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

During the verbal reports, participants were allowed to manipulate the digitalvideotext themselves. This choice to let listeners direct their own interactions mayhave contributed to a reduction of commentary. Though not particularly noticeableduring initial phases of comprehension, the problem of silence grew during secondand subsequent interactions as listeners responded to task demands. Again,instruction that stresses the importance of continual talking may be the best way tominimise silence. The alternative solutions, that researchers segment videotexts orcontrol the medium themselves, are not defensible for studies that seek to havevalidity to listening behaviours as they occur in the classroom. The segmentation ofauthentic videotext raises issues of inauthentic presentation; researcher control limitsthe generalisability of results to structured environments.Participant fatigue also arose during the conduct of the verbal reports. The processof proposing and revising that eventually leads to the construction of a coherentmacrostructure requires that the listeners maintain confidence and expend mentaleffort. The process itself may be somewhat emotional, as one participant remarked inhis post-sessional interview: “I like to feel on top of things and there are times whenI have to fight feeling demoralised by the fact that I can’t understand something”(Peter, partial section of text unit 89). Although the majority of listeners were able tohandle exposure to three videotexts during the 90-minute reporting sessions,researchers should be aware sessions beyond those limits may be counterproductive.Qualitative data analysisTechniques in qualitative data analysis were integral to the completion of the presentstudy. At the start of the analytical process, it was useful to complete theseannotations in that they helped familiarise the researcher with the data set and led tothe first set of tentative categories in the three-part cycle of analysis. During thesecond cycle, problems arose with maintaining a consistent level of granularity in the283