Exam Focus 3: Film and Text

In this exam I’m going to focus on film and intercultural competence.

To my best abilities I will answer the research question below, starting to present different theorists’ take on the subject, like Mortensen and Mortensen, Gillespie and Toynbee, Iben Jensen. Then I will set these points of view up against some arguments I found online that films should not be used in the classroom.

Afterwards I will share with you how teaching culture through film has worked in my experience in different teaching practice placements and a teaching lab.

Research question:

How can film support the development of intercultural competence?

There are many different points of view on using films in the classroom. Mortensen and Mortensen state that we hook the pupils’ attention by using films in the education and that we can prepare them for real cultural pictures and language that they might meet in the future. They also think that movies often have many themes and reach a broad audience. They also argue that the pupils learn oral vocabulary of the language of the film being shown and as this can be supported by subtitles in the same language, they also learn written vocabulary.

Gillespie and Toynbee however, state that media does not simply reflect the real world as they have the narratives’ point of view built in them.

However it has been discussed in the media that watching films can be a bad way of teaching. Some of the main arguments are that it’s too time consuming for the learning outcome and that movies are not always historically correct.

Mortensen and Mortensen talk about using films in a “right” way; that if you use films in a right way in a lesson it is differentiating and a common experience. So you don’t just watch the movie for entertainment but also work with it.

In my experience it is very important to choose the right movies for learning intercultural competence. The movies have to get the pupils’ attention as well as being educational. It is important to set relevant tasks for the movies so the pupils gain more from it than just watching a movie.

Film used properly in a classroom can be very useful and effective tool as it “shows” us instead of “telling” us but when it is only used to get peace from the class for a moment I find it horrible.

References:

• -        Gillespie, Marie and Toynbee, Jason: Analysing Media Texts
• -        Mortensen and Mortensen: Om brug af spillefilm i fremmedsprogsundervisningen
• -        Jensen, Iben: Introduction to Cultural Understanding, ch 9
• -        Undervisnings Ministeriet: Fællesmål 2009, Engelsk
• -        http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/teaching/using_film_in_schools.pdf