Academic Speaking Class with Video Self-Analysis - The 2nd Round

The new term at ICU starts tomorrow, and I'm mulling over some final syllabus items before I make copies for my classes.

I want to focus on my Academic Speaking class here. Last year was the first year that a video recorded assessment task was used, and I've been watching last year's footage to try to get a sense of what I want to do differently.

Basically, last year's system worked well. Students came in groups of three to my office, took turns leading a 4-5 minute discussion recorded by web camera, and watched their video file in a lab and set some goals for improving their speaking. We did this at the beginning and end of the term to compare, and got fairly good improvement results in spite of making the final questions more difficult.

Easy: Should all ICU students live in the dormitory or not? (List of 10 like this)
Difficult: Should all Japanese universities become liberal arts colleges like ICU? (List of 10 like this)

So, will we go with difficult topics for both the initial and final? Or give students a choice? I'll consider that later below.

1) Workload: Make some parts optional:
Last year, one main problem we identified was that the workload for students exceeded reasonable bounds a bit because we got too ambitious with adding the peer review task and transcription. This year, I will make those optional, so the homework burden should be fairly light. Just watch your 4 minute video two or three times to fill in a checklist of criteria for a good discussions (which we will study) and write a paragraph or so on what is noticed. I want to make the self-analysis form an online submission if possible to get data on what students feel about their own speaking.

2) Use Fewer Classes:
Another issue was the need to reduce the number of class hours that are used. This can be done by using two or three cameras instead of one--with students operating the cameras on their own, but that may get too complicated. It would be fine for me, but how would part-time teachers manage that, for example. Doing only one recording instead of two by cutting the initial "goal-setting" recording is one way, but...I want to stick to two recordings to assess their discussions skills before and after, preferably on the same topic or a topic of similar difficulty. I think I can cut the orientation class - double up by using the discussion skills classes to introduce the schedule and what will happen.

3) Topics:
That leads to the issue of topics. Should the same set of topics be used for the first and second recording? Is that too easy, or is it fine because we are focusing on discussion skills rather than opinion content. Should students be allowed to choose their own topic from the list?

4) Grading Scheme:
Last year it was 50% of the total grade with 20% for each recording and also a teacher's assessment of the final recorded performance. This year, at the course meeting, the teachers wanted to reduce the weight of the assessment, so, we have:
40% for attendance/participation (A=volunteers, helps others,
30% for quizzes, skits, and other homework (5 quizzes + 1 skit, each is 5%)
30% for the recordings and self-analysis--breakdown could be:
10pts for 1st self-analysis (Do checklist, write goals according to directions)
10pts for 2nd self-analysis (Same thing exactly)
10pts for teacher assessment (20 item checklist)
In the syllabus, just say more information will be given.

Decisions, decisions. I need to discuss these again with my colleagues.

Another thing I need to decide is what kind of quizzes to have to encourage students to review and learn functional phrases for controlling conversations, leading discussions etc. Last year, I used paper quizzes where students filled in sentences based on prompts such as "What is a good phrase for introducing a topic?" and they would write one from the list in the textbook such as "I'd like to lead a discussion about the issue of..."

Writing 5 sentences like that at the beginning of class keeps students reviewing for sure, but takes time and is not a "spoken" assessment. So, here are some ideas for brainstorming's sake:

1. Shorten it by making it fill in the blank or multiple choice. Still is paper, but shorter, and can lead to a mid-term or final test of knowledge of main functions for speaking in different situations.

2. Have students ask each other in pairs and peer grade. But peer grading could be seen as an inaccurate and potentially unfair way to grade.

3. Have students keep a blog and post a short dialogue (or solo recording of the key phrases) using several of the key phrases. They would go as a pair to a media lab and record it as homework and post it on a blog to show they tried to use the phrases in context. This may be fun, but students may hate the time burden for work outside class. Of course, if the classroom has 10 computers with audio/video input, it could be done...