Conversation analysis: This activity is well suited for intermediate to advanced students, and it can create a heightened awareness of effective conversation techniques as well as common conversation problems that can be avoided. In the activity, students view teacher-selected clips (or browse YouTube and select clips for themselves) that demonstrate
effective or ineffective conversational techniques to reinforce material
taught in class. For example, students can find film or TV clips featuring conversations that suffer because of a lack of follow-up or clarification questions. Alternatively, students might search for videos in which a conversation is effective because the members are supportive by using phrases to elicit more information from each other. By searching through YouTube conversations for targeted discussion techniques, students are critically evaluating discourse and immersing themselves in English.
Student effort can be assessed by the number of illustrative conversations found on YouTube and how well the conversations demonstrate concepts discussed in class. Additionally, this project can be modified into a presentation in which students share their videos with their classmates