Video matters!: when communication ability is stressed, video helps

ABSTRACT

This study assesses whether remotely located pairs of people working on a collaborative task benefit from using video, looking in particular at people for whom communication is stressed. In this study, we extend the research on video-mediated communication to the domain of non-native speaker interactions. Thirty-six pairs performed a map task using either audio-only or audio-plus-video for communication. Half the pairs were non-native speakers, half were native speakers. As in many studies of video connectivity with native speakers, no benefit from the video was found. However, non-native speakers performed significantly better with a video connection than with audio-only.

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INDEX TERMS

Keywords:
non-native speaker interaction, remote work, video-mediated communication