Le chandail de hockey – The hockey sweater (review)

Le Chandail de hockey – The hockey sweater (THS) is an interactive multimedia application designed to promote language and literacy development among young and adult learners of English or French during classroom or independent learning practices. It was developed in part at the University of Calgary and produced by 3D Courseware. It received the 2007 Best Educational award from the Digital Media Association of Alberta. This review describes the software and highlights how its multimedia nature may foster learning.

THS provides learners with exposure to language and Canadian culture through multimedia tasks conceptualized on two aspects of Canada: its passion for hockey, and its anglophone/francophone duality. The tasks build on the story of the award-winning animated film Le chandail (The sweater) produced by the National Film Board of Canada and based on the classic story 'Le chandail de hockey,' by Roch Carrier. THS is available in English or French and is easy to install on Windows and Macintosh stations with minimal requirements. THS is designed for learners of advanced beginner (peewee), intermediate (junior), and advanced (pro) language levels. Its linguistic richness may overwhelm beginner learners willing to use the software independently. They may therefore benefit more from its use under teacher guidance.

THS tasks are organised into five sections: 1st period (première période), 2nd period (deuxième période), 3rd period (troisième période), zone (zone), and encounters (rencontres). The first two sections include interactive video watching, listening, reading, and vocabulary tasks focusing on the 10-minute video story presented in the 1st period. The 2nd period includes the largest number of interactive tasks that exploit the video story. The use of multimedia in these two sections is one of the software's strengths. It may not only motivate learners but also scaffold in-depth processing and retention of linguistic features and information. In the 1st period, for instance, comprehension of verbal input is enhanced with the aid of images. Learners can watch the complete animated video story and listen to an oral narrative by selecting The sweater, or they can watch and listen to the story in segments by choosing Video clips. Comprehension of the story is further supported through two audio-based tasks: Oral questions, in which students answer oral questions by selecting a multiple-choice answer, and Highlights, in which students match oral story segments with pictures.

The 3rd period, zone, and encounters sections expand learners' knowledge of Canadian hockey and the people behind the THS story. In comparison to the 1st and 2nd periods, these three sections present richer written texts and videos. The 3rd period includes impressive amounts of information from over 14 cultural notes with hyperlinks, about 30 biographies of Canadian hockey stars including their pictures and hockey statistics, a hockey song with listening exercises, and a historic Eaton's catalogue with a fillable order form and vocabulary tasks. Despite the authenticity and cultural richness of the texts, the multimedia tasks in these sections may not be sufficient to help learners process all the information and are not as interactive as the 1st and 2nd period tasks. Yet, classroom teachers could exploit the texts effectively.

Two valuable characteristics of THS are its non-linear design and the study support it offers. First, the non-linear design gives learners flexibility to navigate the software based on the information, language skills and activity types of their interest by clicking on a permanent top bar menu. This flexibility is particularly evident in the 2nd period, where learners can select from various multimedia task types organised by proficiency levels. Second, learners can obtain language support from an interactive dictionary available permanently in a bottom bar menu and write down and print their own notes using an interactive notebook.

Both English and French versions are available with a teacher's guide...