From Spectators to Creators: The Role of Video in Teaching Catalan at the EOI

Abstract

This article analyses the potential of videoling (AUTOR 2 & Garcia-Vidal, 2021) as a teaching resource in the teaching and learning of Catalan as an additional language. The proposal advocates the active role of students as creators of audiovisual content, promoting communicative competence, creativity and social integration. The study is based on a teaching experience carried out with C1 level Valencian students at the Official Language School of Alzira, who produced audiovisual content on different linguistic aspects that was shared on the Instagram profile @eoivalencia, thus contributing to the social visibility of Catalan. Using a qualitative methodology, the characteristics and pedagogical value of the audiovisual productions created by the participants are examined. The results show that the creation of videos promotes meaningful and contextualised learning, encourages interaction between peers (in this case, learners of the target language) and increases student motivation, consolidating video as an innovative and effective tool for language work in the classroom and as a means of integrating the language into real communication practices.