Making Sense of Video Instruction: An Ethnomethodological Analysis of Following a YouTube Croissant Making Tutorial

Abstract

With the use of video instruction becoming more prevalent, this thesis looks at the methods learners use to navigate video tutorials through an ethnomethodological lens. As ethnomethodology is concerned with the way members of society, together, make sense of everyday situations, the way users make sense of video instruction, compared to other mediums of instruction, is an important ethnomethodological question. Using auto-ethnographic video recordings and multi-modal transcription methods, this thesis looks at an instance of a learner using a video tutorial to learn how to make croissants by hand. The auto-ethnographic methods used in this project are designed to attempt to mitigate issues of bias and representation often associated with this form of research, by using various iterations of participant-observation tools. As well, to ethnomethodologically examine the data captured, a multi-modal transcription scheme has been devised, using aspects of established schemes, but with features that are unique to this project. Many of the tasks completed by the learner involve methods of measurement that are either numerical and involve the use of scales or embodied, involving the culturally skilled human body. Acknowledging embodied forms of measurement more comprehensively will benefit studies of video-mediated instructions as well as the production of such instructions.