EFFICIENCY OF USING FILMS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Zamisheva G.A., senior teacher, master of Philology

M.Kh.Dulati TarSU, Taraz.

Over the last two decades the use of video tape recorder has become a increasingly more important component of English language instruction, and growing number of teachers promoted their use, bringing authenticity, variety and flexibility into the English language classroom. It was noted by G.V.Rogova in her book “Methods of English teaching”, that “Nor can the teacher ensure pupils learning a foreign language, if he uses only a textbook, a piece of chalk, and a black board” Students of today have a strong visual orientation, because of their contact with video.

It is a part of their lives, and of used carefully, it can be employed to the learner’s and teacher’s advantage. When video is brought into a classroom, even the most disinterested student will take a notice of what is going on the black box. And this is very important. Gary Ockey in his work ”Using video to teach four skills” affirms, that: “Video has many uses in the classroom. This medium makes explanations clearer, grabs the student’s interest, and is very adaptable to all levels of students and many different lessons”

The use of films is becoming more common with the spread of video equipment an audiovisual resources into educational institutions. Good films can serve as a valuable pedagogical aid, both for classroom use and self-study. As many teachers can attest learners seem to become more motivated about language learning when video is involved. So the use of video in English classes has grown rapidly as a result of the increasing emphasis on communicative teaching techniques.

Being a rich and valuable resource, video is well-liked by both pupils and teachers. Pupils and students like it because video presentations are interesting, challenging, and stimulating to watch. Video shows them how people behave in the culture whose language they are learning by bringing into the classroom a wide range of communicative situations. We like it because video helps promote comprehension. We know that deficiencies in vocabulary can make even a simple task very difficult for our students. Video makes meaning clear by illustrating relationships in a way that is not possible with words – a picture is worth a thousand words. Listening and speaking are the two major skills students should acquire, the video course not only teaches English through video but gets students to use the English they have learned in talking about the video.

Why Use Video to Teach ESL Students?

- it’s fun and adds a change of pace

- it’s good for visual learners

- it helps bring a subject to life

- the language in videos is usually more natural

- the language is set in a realistic context

- students hear natural pronunciation, stress and intonation

- depending on what’s shown, video can make a lesson memorable

- showing a small clip can be as effective as a whole movie

- video can be a great way to practice a wide variety of language skills

Which one you choose depends on the aim of the lesson at hand

1. Documentaries

2. TV shows, films and trailers

3. Cartoons

4. Homemade videos (including the students’ own home videos)

5. Advertisement

6. News clips and stories

7. Weather forecasts

8. Instructional videos (focusing on English language acquisition or other content areas)

9. Video clips from websites

10. Sports events

Below I’ve brought the most useful and interesting ways of using of films at the English lesson. As a basis I took the episodes from Ch.Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”.

What happens next?

Aim: To practice speculating and predicting, initiate authentic discussion and generate interest in a topic.

Material: A video with some kind of cliffhanger (it could be from a show’s bloopers reel to make it less predictable).

Procedure: Set up the situation. Teach any necessary vocabulary beforehand. Play the video and stop at a suitably exciting place. Have students discuss in pairs or groups what they think happens next. Elicit responses and write them down on the board. Play rest of the video to see if they were right.

What are they like?

Aim: To practice describing people and use language of speculation (could be, looks like, seems like, etc.)

Material: A short clip or still which clearly shows one person (and key details such as age, clothes, features, mannerisms, voice, etc.) This could be someone in a TV interview, a character in a film and so on.

Procedure: Review descriptive language, and then review or teach expressions of speculation before starting this activity. Play a short clip and get students to ask and answer questions about the character, including: age, job, personality, kind/unkind, intelligent/unintelligent, what hobbies they have, married/single and areas of expertise. To elicit further discussion, they can argue their points in groups justifying their opinions. For example, one student may get up and explain that “he looks like a lawyer because…” and go on to enumerate his lawyer-like qualities.

What are they talking about?

Aim: To practice language of opinion and speculation, show the importance of body language and generate interest in a topic or story.

Material: A short clip of two characters talking.

Procedure: Explain the activity. Discuss the importance of body language in communication. Review or introduce vocabulary and expressions of opinion and speculation. Play the clip with the sound muted. In pairs or groups, have students speculate on the moods, perspectives and relationships of the characters from their body language clues. See if anyone can figure out what the characters are actually discussing. Give feedback and then play the clip with the sound turned up. You could have further discussion on the importance of body language in language learning or in different cultures.

Video jigsaw

Aim: To practice telling a story, giving descriptions (scene, characters) and practicing language of speculation and decision making.

Material: For this one you’ll need a clip of a movie, TV show, advert or other video with a strong story line (having distinctive beginning, middle, and end sequences). This has to be divided into three (or more) parts. Each group will be watching a different part. You’ll also need access to separate computers or TVs in different rooms. If this isn’t possible, then one group can watch the film in a corner of the room while the other two groups work on a related task — then they’ll all swap around until each of the three groups have watched their clip.

Procedure: Put students in three (or more) groups, labelled A, B and C. Each group watches their clip from the video, which should be a different part of the clip. They discuss what they’ve seen and then form new groups made from one person from each of the original groups (grouped together like: ABC, ABC, ABC). They retell their part of the film to the others in their new groups. Then, each group tries to work out the correct order and the complete story. They then watch the complete film to check if they were right.

Phonology focus

Aim: To draw attention to the importance of the shape and position of the jaw and mouth muscles in the target language. To highlight the rhythm, stress and intonation of the language.

Material: Choose a video clip where there’s a close up of someone talking for at least 20 seconds.

Procedure: Introduce the topic – the idea of the “music” of a language and also what happens to the faces of people speaking different languages. Play the video with the sound muted, pointing out the mouth and jaw muscles they’re using. Note the shapes of their mouths, positions of lips and so on. Get students to imitate this, making it fun. Now play the clip with sound quite low so they can focus on the rhythm, stress and intonation of the language. Get them to repeat sections, trying to mimic the speaker as best they can without using the words, just the sounds. This will kind of sound like, “bla bla BLA,” or “da da DA da da da.” Again, this focuses attention away from the words and towards the music of the language. Finally, if necessary, hand out copies of the script and get the students to repeat the actual words while trying as much as they can to retain the “music.”

Memory test

Aim: To practice listening for meaning and to practice role play and improvisation.

Material: A clip with a short dialogue between two characters.

Procedure: Students work in pairs, A and B. Tell them that you’re going to play a short clip and Student A must remember what one character said. Student B must focus on the other character and remember what they said. Play the clip once, or more times as necessary. Try to keep this activity light and make it fun. If they can’t remember, improvise! They can then re-enact the scene and check for accuracy with the original at the end.

Which film?

Aim: To practice giving opinions, agreeing and disagreeing. Persuasion.

Material: Several movie trailers.

Procedure: Set up the task, teaching language and vocab as necessary. Tell them they’re going to watch a movie, but there’s only time for one. Let them know that in order to watch even that one, they must all agree on which one they want to watch — as a group. Play trailers from several films. Then, put the titles on the board. Put the students in groups and let the discussion commence! Try to get each group to agree on watching the same movie. Provide feedback to the whole class. If possible, play the whole movie or go and see it together as a class.

As I’ve told above, video is an effective teaching aid, and teaching with video in a conversation class is exciting and stimulating. Watching video presentations for language-learning purposes should be an active process for students.

Films also allow learners the possibility of thinking critically as well as using their imagination. They contribute not only to the development of inferential skills but also to aesthetic appreciation of the storyline and technical aspects of the film such as photography, special effects, electronic tricks, music and so on.

So in the beginning of the XXI century, with the advancement of technologies, EFL specialists can handle a wide range of techniques and approaches in order to motivate their learners to further improve their foreign language acquisition and learning, and video is a mighty power to be contributed to this process.

List of used literature

1. Cotton Randall. Using Video Feedback for Nurturing Self-Monitoring skills. New York. 1999.

2. Wesly Barney and Cotton T. Video and TV in ELT. New York. 1999.

3. Viney Peter. Non-authentic Video for ELT. Kanda University. 1996.

4. Wendy Ball. Oxford English Video. 1992.