This empirical research study inquires as to whether teachers of English as a Second Language and teachers of English as a Foreign Language apply the technological tool–YouTube videos–into their English teaching with the same purposes and approaches. This chapter addresses a variety of activities that teachers in two different ESL and EFL contexts utilize to integrate YouTube videos into their English teaching. Ten teachers from a university in the USA (ESL context) and a university in Vietnam (EFL context) were recruited for this study. The results demonstrate similarities and the differences in the use of YouTube videos and how both ESL and EFL students agree with the potential applications of YouTube videos to maintain students' attention and make them feel motivated in the lesson content. Also reported in this chapter is that ESL teachers believe YouTube videos are a great tool for reflection activities and dealing with challenging content issues, whereas EFL teachers mainly use them as a native-speaking modeling in class for doing language drills and grammatical practice.
TopBackground
Since February 2005, YouTube has been hosting videos that are viewed more than 2 billion times each day with numerous channels highly suitable for English teaching such as TED Talks, TED Edu, Crash course, and other channels designed exclusively for teaching English such as BBClearningenglish, etc. YouTube estimates that such media channels can be a promising resource for educators and language teachers in the era when their students are born surrounded by technology (Cardine, 2008). In ESL learning settings such as in the USA, the use of YouTube videos in English teaching have proven to generate numerous cognitive benefits, increase students’ attention, and develop language skills (Berk, 2009; Brook, 2011; Buzzetto-More, 2014; Chun, 2012; Desmet, 2009; Eick & King, 2012; Greenberg & Zanetis, 2012; Jaffar, 2012; Logan, 2012; Mayora, 2009; Tan & Pearce, 2011).
Not only ESL contexts, but also in EFL contexts in other countries, using Youtube videos in English teaching is also becoming increasingly popular (Alimemaj, 2010; Alwehaibi, 2015; Chen, 2013; Hsu, Hwang, Chang & Chang, 2013; Kuo, 2009; Tamim, 2013; Wang, 2005). Particularly in Vietnam, it has been sixteen years since the parameters for the English Program were revised by the National Education Department, highlighting the importance of incorporating technology tools such as YouTube videos into teaching and learning for 21st-century language learners with the emphasis on higher order thinking skills.
Though a great deal of research has been completed with analysis of the potentials and benefits of using YouTube videos as a resource in teaching, there has been limited research into the beliefs of English teachers in those two contexts (ESL and EFL) whether they truly support YouTube videos in English teaching or not. This current chapter addresses the belief that a study needed to be conducted to highlight teachers’ opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of using YouTube in 21st-century real-life classroom settings. The research project examined different teaching conditions and YouTube availability in both the ESL and EFL environments. Furthermore, from ESL and EFL teachers’ beliefs, a comparative perspective can be seen concerning the activities they design in their class with YouTube videos. From that, pedagogical implications are made available from the comparison about how to overcome various current implementation constraints; meaningful suggestions for effective YouTube video use in the future from both contexts are extracted. The research questions guiding this study are:
- 1.
What is the rationale of teachers in ESL and EFL teaching contexts when they integrate YouTube videos into their lessons?
- 2.
How do teachers in those two teaching contexts integrate YouTube videos? Which specific activities do they organize in class?
TopThe Integration Of Youtube Videos In Esl Contexts
YouTube videos have demonstrated their value and usefulness as a pedagogical tool. With the emphasis on the international undergraduate students, Tan and Pearce (2011) conducted a case study of the incorporation of YouTube videos in learning and teaching a ten- week introductory sociology course at Durham University, United Kingdom. The results of this research indicated that the use of YouTube videos in education could promote students’ deep understanding on the subject by providing alternative viewpoints and stimulate interactions amongst them. One of students expressed his belief that YouTube videos were particularly effective in generating more intriguing opinions (besides the lecturer) on the discussed topic, and then he could exchange ideas with his peers and collaboratively work out something innovative.