Using movies to help learn a language - Unit 2

C1 Advanced · Cross Text Multiple Matching · Complete Advanced, Cambridge University Press

You are going to read four extracts from articles in which academics give their views about using movies to help learn a language. For questions 1–4, choose from the extracts A-D. The extracts may be chosen more than once.

If the key to engaging fully with language learning is for a student to find something they identify with, movies are perfect resources for learning. Script writers today are exceptionally skilled in reproducing genuine discussions, so it makes sense to note down unknown phrases while watching a film, take them away and investigate how they are used by proficient speakers in different contexts. These days, this can easily be done with the help of the internet and, although it takes patience and concentrated effort to become familiar and confident with the language as it is spoken on screen, it certainly brings rewards. Conversely, if the student reads the subtitles in their mother tongue – translated from the original – this minimises any potential for improvement as the viewer relaxes into the role of passive consumer, rather than active learner.

There is widespread agreement that bringing movies into the language learning process can be extremely valuable. That said, learners should avoid the temptation to repeat the carefully chosen language of a screenplay with the intention of communicating in an entirely natural way. The act of remembering and reciting phrases from films is unlikely to take a language learner very far. Furthermore, despite many tales I have heard of someone becoming proficient by spending hours on end passively watching one full movie after another, I always have my doubts. 'How did you manage it?' I ask. 'I listen in English and read subtitles in my language,' comes the reply. With the aid of a translation on screen, it is too easy to drift into enjoying the film on its own merits instead of focusing on the task at hand. As such, success seems improbable. Instead, allocating a little time each day to interpreting and understanding short sections of dialogue would seem to be the optimal route to achievement.

First-language subtitles allow the viewer to connect the known language (the one they are reading) to the unknown speech (the one they are hearing), with the result that they become more open to learning opportunities. Movie dialogue is perfectly capable of capturing the patterns of everyday speech, so a vocabulary notebook can be filled with examples of useful and authentic dialogue for the learner to adopt as their own. And, just as one would never expect to make huge improvements through sitting down and reading a dictionary from cover to cover, this notebook should be similarly treated as a reference tool for ongoing practice. A regular review of one's notes is the way forward, as the 'little-and-often' method creates the ideal conditions for learning. After all, becoming fluent in a language is essentially about being able to remember a huge range of set phrases and structures, and delivering them in conversation.

Many people devote hours on end to repeated viewings of the same film in order to build their ability to quote whole sections of dialogue by heart. This is a solid idea, if the only aim is to impress and entertain one's fellow film enthusiasts, rather than being able to converse with somebody else in an authentic way. While a belief did exist for many years among language learners that this type of 'rote learning' through repetition and, principally, memorisation, was an effective route to proficiency, this idea has since been rejected as entirely false. So too has the notion that reading subtitles is always a means for successful language development. This certainly can be the case, but studies have shown there is little effect on the learning process if these are displayed in the language of the viewer, rather than as spoken by the actors.

Which extract shares C's view of the extent to which movie scripts effectively imitate real-life conversation?

Which extract expresses a different belief from the others about the helpfulness of reading subtitles in one's first language?

Which extract expresses a similar view to B about the value of setting aside time for frequent study?

Which extract takes a similar position to D when considering how memory impacts on language learning?

Using movies to help learn a language

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