Students’ Perceptions of a YouTube Video as a Pre-Assessment Stimulus in EFL Dialogue-Based Speaking Assessment

Abstract

Speaking assessment in EFL contexts presents persistent challenges, particularly when students have limited familiarity with assessment topics. This study examines how eleventh-grade students at a senior high school in West Java, Indonesia perceived a YouTube video used as a pre-assessment stimulus before a single dialogue-based speaking assessment session. Using a qualitative case study design, data were collected through students' written responses to an open-ended questionnaire administered to 30 students immediately after the assessment and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three themes emerged. First, students perceived the video as building topical familiarity, helping them approach the dialogue with greater understanding of the content. Second, students viewed the video as a linguistic model, particularly for pronunciation, intonation, and spoken language examples. Third, students associated video viewing with greater psychological readiness, though this benefit depended on factors such as video length, speech rate, and vocabulary difficulty. These findings suggest that, within this single-session context, a purposefully selected YouTube video may support students' topical, linguistic, and psychological readiness before a dialogue-based speaking assessment. Practical implications for EFL teachers seeking accessible pre-assessment resources in secondary school contexts are discussed.