Engaging university students in an ESL live broadcast
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-08-2019-0186 |
| Published date | 03 February 2020 |
| Date | 03 February 2020 |
| Pages | 28-43 |
| Author | Lih-Juan ChanLin |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Engaging university students in an
ESL live broadcast
Lih-Juan ChanLin
Department of Library and Information Science, Fu Jen Catholic University,
Taipei, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose –This study aims to analyze the engagementof community members in an English as a second
language(ESL) live broadcast. A platform for encouraging language and culturelearning in ESL was planned
and implemented. Research purposes were to explore the following aspects for engaging students’
participation: operation-monitoring, planning and implementation,incentives and motives, interactions with
multipleformats and challenges.
Design/methodology/approach –The platform used for the ESL live broadcastwas Open Broadcaster
Software Studio. Through the live videos and instant messages delivered by the network, real-time
interactions from different virtual sites were achieved. Observations and operation documentation were
recorded. Interviews with the teacher, the library administrator and the students were carried out for
collectingdata. Inductive analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data from the differentsources.
Findings –It was observed that the ESL broadcastreached a great number of users weekly. To engage the
ESL broadcast community, efforts to monitor and plan for implementation were made. Students were
encouraged by both external incentives and internal motivation. Managing the connectivity problems was
essential for guaranteeing the quality of the real-time interactions. From their experiences, the participants
were positive about the broadcast approach to learning ESL. More diverse topics and alternatives for oral
interactionsin the class are suggested in future implementations.
Research limitations/implications –The implementation of the ESL live broadcastprovides a model
for inviting members within the universitycommunity to engage in the language and culture learning. The
research is preliminary andis limited to a specific university. Future research on diverse learningsettings is
needed.
Originality/value –The findings of this study will contribute to the research in streaming media
interactions.The case might be applied to other settings and other subjectdomains.
Keywords Higher education, English as a second language, Live broadcast,
Social live streaming service
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
To keep up with the globalized learning trend in higher education, English learning has
become an essential capability. To explore global knowledge, students need to use handy
communication tools to develop competence to comprehend, analyze, evaluate and
communicate with othersabout the meaning of learning content in specific domains(Lemos,
2017;Zhang, 2017). The universityand its library have striven to plan and providea variety
of supports (services and collections)that offer diverse opportunities for English as a second
language (ESL) learning on the campus. Close relationships among students, ESL
This project was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the Ministry of
Education (MOE), Taiwan. The author would like to express her appreciation to MOST and MOE for
their generous sponsorship.
EL
38,1
28
Received9 August 2019
Revised16 November 2019
Accepted19 December 2019
TheElectronic Library
Vol.38 No. 1, 2020
pp. 28-43
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-08-2019-0186
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0264-0473.htm
instructors and librarians are fosteredto engage students in real-life language learning and
applications (Bordonaro,2018,2019;Lin and Kim, 2019).
In recent years, the increasing popularity of ICTs (information and communication
technologies), mobile applications and live streaming technology has attracted much
attention in diverse educational applications; for example, learning about specific subject
areas (Dougherty, 2011;Montayre and Sparks, 2018;Seidelin et al.,2018), or use as a
dynamic communication medium for sharinginformation (Stewart, 2017;Tang et al.,2016).
In response to the interactive ESL learning atmosphereneeded on university campuses, the
integration of live broadcast teaching into the library might invite more interesting
communication among community members in the context of language and culture
learning. Students can benefit from learningwith the interactive technology which supports
sharing and participationof activities necessary for efficient language learning (Mackeyand
Ziegler, 2017;Reinhardt, 2019). In this study, the use of live broadcast technology was
applied in a university library to encourage students’interactive learning in ESL.
Specifically, severalresearch questions are listed, as follows:
RQ1. How was the operation of the ESL broadcastmonitored?
RQ2. How was the ESL broadcast planned and managed?
RQ3. What are students’motivesto participate in the ESL broadcast learning?
RQ4. What were the interactionsobserved in the ESL broadcast?
RQ5. What were the challengesin the ESL broadcast?
Related literature
Engaging students in learning English. Much literature calls for globalized professional
development and striving for connectivity and opportunities to cultivate students’global
competence during their college years. Approaches to exposing students to authentic
practice for maximizingtheir psychological engagement in the application of acquiredskills
have been suggested (Kagan, 2019;Mitchell, 2019;Reed, 2018;Wihlborg et al.,2018). Along
with the global nature of knowledge learning in the new era, higher education requires a re-
definition of classrooms and learning environments. It is also necessary for universities to
plan for diverse learning opportunitiesin English on campus (Kahn and Agnew, 2017).
Nested in the context of globalization, challenges exist in nurturing students via an
English learning environment because of the multifaceted nature of ESL (Holmberg, 2019;
Zhang, 2017). In Taiwan, choosing appropriatemethods for learning English is still open to
debate. If there is too much emphasis on a teacher-centred learning approach, studentswill
rely heavily on memorization, which discourages creativity and critical thinking in the
learning environment (Chien, 2017). To promote autonomous learning in universities,
libraries have purchased a wide variety of self-learning resources to fulfil students’ESL
learning needs on campus. Librarians can also collaborate with ESL instructors, and work
together as mutually supportivecampus partners in cultivating students’language-learning
skills (Bordonaro, 2018). ESL learning supports on campus can be a great facilitator of
students’pursuit of their academic objectives. With the ESL resources and activities
provided on campus, students gain language skills for knowledge acquisition, as well as
opportunitiesto enjoy language learning and cultural appreciation (Itoand Hilliker, 2018).
The use of technology impacts students’motivation and interest in language acquisition.
ESL educators have looked to electronic technologies as a way to enhance secondlanguage
ESL live
broadcast
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