Funciones del trabajador social penitenciario

The Intercultural materials integrated multiple tools: comprehension quizzes, play functions, transcriptions, and a search function. Participants took advantage of these tools and reported benefits associated with their use. Question 25, an open-ended question in the exit survey, asked participants to report what tools (i.e., transcripts, navigation buttons, search function, quiz) they found to be useful for them and why they found them useful. Analysis of responses showed that the majority of participants (n=62) found the

transcriptions of videos to be very helpful, as demonstrated by the number of comments for this category as seen in Table 25. In addition to transcripts, a large number of participants (n=19) reported benefits associated with comprehension quizzes.

Table 25. Summary of comments about usefulness of tools in the Intercultura video materials

Category Number of

comments

Example

Transcripts 62 Transcripts definitely! It was a backup if I didn't catch what the speaker said.

Comprehension quizzes

19 The most useful tool was the quiz portion of Intercultura because it helped me better understand the videos. Play functions 12 The navigation button was VERY useful because it

allowed me to go back and re-watch the videos so I can better understand the information.

External tools 6 Yes I did because I could review it several times at my own pace. Also, if I needed to look up a word in my dictionary I could pause the video, search the word, and then continue so that I could better understand what was being said.

Search function 5 The search function helped to find things much faster. The categories with the smaller number of comments in Table 25 correspond to the benefits of play functions (n=12), external tools (n=6), and the search function (n=5). Participants found the play options available in the interface to be useful because they could pause the video to look up words they needed to learn or rewind the video to review the material. These two benefits reported by participants are very important because they show that there are actions that learners want to engage in when viewing materials, which may not be possible in the context of the foreign language classroom in which video materials for the learning of culture are typically shown ‘as a class’.

There were many benefits associated with the use of transcripts and comprehension quizzes. These categories had the highest number of references in relation to the benefits of tools used and are discussed in two separate sections that follow.

Benefits of transcripts in Intercultura video materials

In the Intercultura materials, participants listened to four different speakers, each with a different accent and dialect. Providing learners with transcriptions of the videos proved to be a beneficial resource that participants could rely on when needed. As stated in the example for the category of transcripts in Table 25, participants used the transcripts as “a backup” if they “didn’t catch what the speaker said”. More than half of participants (n=62, 53.9%) provided a statement about the benefits they encountered from the availability of transcripts. In addition to using the transcripts as a resource to clarify misunderstandings, some

participants, as the statements in Example (21) show, use this resource to facilitate the understanding of different accents, new vocabulary, and spelling.

Example 21

I found the transcripts the most helpful. Some of the people speaking had very strong accents, and when I couldn't understand what they were saying I could always just look at the transcript to better understand the sentence. [Reference 4, Sections 5 & 6] I found the transcripts the most useful. It helped me understand what was being said and I was able to learn new vocabulary, and learn how words were spelled.

[Reference 15, Sections 3 & 4]

It is important to consider that similar to the experiences reported by participants in this study, learners in the foreign language classroom can have similar experiences in regard to the challenges imposed by the exposure to different or new accents. Providing learners with a resource that they can utilize to overcome this challenge could be of great benefit for learners, as participants reported in this study.

Benefits of comprehension quizzes in Intercultura video materials

Question 16 in the exit survey asked participants to rate the comprehension quizzes integrated in the Intercultura materials. The majority of students (n=75, 65.21%) rated the comprehension quizzes very high (as excellent or good). Only fewer than 2 per cent (n=2, 1.73%) of participants rated their experience as bad. Table 26 provides a summary of the distribution of ratings.

Table 26. Summary of ratings for comprehension quizzes

Rating Sections 1 & 2 (n=30) Sections 3 & 4 (n=43) Sections 5 & 6 (n=42) Total (n=115) Excellent 1 3 5 8 (6.95%) Good 17 24 26 67 (58.26%) Average 7 13 10 30 (26.08%) Below average 3 3 1 7 (6.08%) Bad 2 0 0 2 (1.73%) M=2.6 SD=0.96 M=2.37 SD=0.72 M=2.16 SD=0.65 M=2.35 SD=0.78

Question 25 in the exit survey asked participants to provide comments about the tools they found most useful. Some comments for this question show that participants were able to focus on specific information and to identify information that was relevant in the contents covered in the materials. In Example (22), for instance, we see how this participant was able to come to the realization of the function of the quizzes, and reported a positive experience with this tool.

Example 22

I found the quiz most useful because it did a good job in testing our understanding on a specific subject. This allows us to know what we need to work on and what we learned from the videos. [Reference 7, Sections 5 & 6]

Other comments about the benefits of comprehension quizzes described how the sequencing of the questions (e.g., a question appearing after a shot clip) helped participants in the understanding of the materials. A main difference between the quizzes in the

Intercultura materials and comprehension quizzes in video materials that accompany

textbooks is the sequencing of the presentation of questions. In the Intercultura materials, the comprehension quizzes were integrated in the video, presenting learners with a question after each short video clip. On the other hand, the majority of assessment materials that

accompany textbooks provide a comprehension quiz at the end of the video segment. Traditionally, in the foreign language classroom learners complete a pre, while, and post- viewing activity: learners briefly talk about the topic of the video, watch the video, and respond to comprehension questions. This sequencing contrasts with the format of the

quizzes in the Intercultura materials. The sequencing of the comprehension quizzes may have influenced the benefits reported by participants in this study in regard to the comprehension quizzes.

4.4.5 Attitudes of participants towards discussion forums integrated in the Intercultura