Boosting students’ motivation for vocabulary building with original movies

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Boosting students' motivation for vocabulary building with original movies

A.V. Dudoladova, PhD,

The paper addresses the problem of maintaining students' motivation to learn the syllabus-assigned vocabulary taken from classical texts. It suggests several ways of providing students with evidence, often such they have obtained themselves, of such classics-borrowed vocabulary being plentifully used in real-life contexts. Effective in this regard appears crosschecking the above-mentioned vocabulary with currently popular movies or TV shows, preferably to some degree mirroring real-world problems and environments. The paper particularly focuses on the benefits of making students investigate such movies for the under-study vocabulary to share their findings in class, and of first showing them the instructor- prepared compilations containing the vocabulary under study. This addition to the traditional learning routine helps breathe life into the “active” vocabulary, makes the memorizing process more motivated and effective, and favorably affects students' attitude to classics.

Keywords: audiovisual aids, foreign language teaching, original movies, students' motivation, vocabulary building.

У статті розглядається проблема підтримки мотивації студентів до вивчення передбаченої програмою лексики, взятої з класичних текстів. Пропонується кілька способів надання студентам доказів, часто отриманих ними самими, що запозичена з класики лексика широко використовується у реальних контекстах. Ефективною у цьому відношенні є перехресна перевірка вживання вищезгаданої лексики у популярних на цей час фільмах або серіалах, бажано відбиваючих певною мірою реальні проблеми і навколишню дійсність. Особлива увага у статті приділяється перевагам залучення студентів до дослідження таких фільмів на предмет лексики, що вивчається, з подальшим оголошенням результатів у класі, а також переваг первинної демонстрації їм підготовлених викладачем добірок з досліджуваною лексикою. Це доповнення до традиційного навчання допомагає вдихнути життя в «активну» лексику, робить процес запам'ятовування мотивованішим і ефективнішим, а також сприятливо впливає на ставлення студентів до класики.

Ключові слова: аудіовізуальні засоби навчання, іншомовна освіта, мотивація студентів, розвиток словникового запасу, фільми мовою оригіналу.

В статье рассматривается проблема поддержания мотивации студентов к изучению предусмотренной программой лексики, взятой из классических текстов. Предлагается несколько способов предоставления студентам доказательств, часто полученными ими самими, о том, что заимствованная из классики лексика широко используется в реальных контекстах. Эффективной в этом отношении представляется перекрёстная проверка употребления вышеупомянутой лексики в популярных в настоящее время фильмах или сериалах, предпочтительно в некоторой степени отражающих реальные проблемы и окружающую действительность. Особое внимание в статье уделяется преимуществам привлечения студентов к исследованию таких фильмов на предмет изучаемой лексики с последующим оглашением результатов в классе, а также преимуществам первоначальной демонстрации им подготовленных преподавателем подборок с изучаемой лексикой. Это дополнение к традиционному обучению помогает вдохнуть жизнь в «активную» лексику, делает процесс запоминания более мотивированным и эффективным, а также благоприятно влияет на отношение студентов к классике.

Ключевые слова: аудиовизуальные средства обучения, иноязычное образование, мотивация студентов, развитие словарного запаса, фильмы на языке оригинала.

Nowadays, students of schools of foreign languages in Ukrainian classical universities are to memorize long lists of “active” vocabulary under the corresponding syllabi. However, if we take into account the objective trend currently apparent in higher educational institutions, which is a reduction in classroom hours, and therefore offering students less time to practice the vocabulary to be learnt, or look into the usage peculiarities under their instructor's supervision, this goal may seem quite a challenge. The situation is aggravated by the fact that more and more today's students are treating the task of learning the “active” vocabulary as a waste of their time. They merely believe that the vocabulary initially taken from choice pieces of classical literary works, rather than modern newspaper or magazine articles, blogposts and Internet sources, to be outdated, no longer in use and hence useless in today's world and their future careers. All the above-mentioned conditions the relevance of the problem under study and calls for seeking out new constructive ways to boost students' motivation to build their vocabulary as an integral part of their language proficiency.

Providing language learners with sufficient authentic materials to improve their language proficiency is an axiom applicable in any foreign language learning environment. In addition, effective communication, either written or spoken, primarily means effective use of vocabulary to deliver the intended messages. Hence, the aim of this paper is to come up with an effective way to boost students' motivation to expand their foreign language vocabulary. The object of this study is students' motivation for vocabulary building. The subj ect is movies/TV shows in the original as a tool to boost students' motivation for vocabulary building.

According to Steven Stahl (2005), “vocabulary knowledge is knowledge; the knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits into the world” [5]. In this meaning, vocabulary as knowledge of words and word meanings can never be fully mastered, for we believe that it should expand and deepen over the course of a lifetime. Students of schools of foreign languages as future specialists are in need of specific instruction in active vocabulary. This can be achieved through the most common word-learning strategies:

wide or extensive independent reading to expand word knowledge;

instruction in specific vocabulary to enhance comprehension of authentic texts;

instruction in independent word-learning strategies;

word consciousness to motivate and enhance learning [7].

Thus, the instruction of foreign language learners should definitely include their direct/indirect exposure to native speakers' vocabulary choice and usage to be acquired within each particular topical block.

According to the findings of the National Reading Panel (2000) [6], which concluded the absence of a single method for teaching vocabulary, intentional vocabulary teaching should rely on a combination of direct and indirect methods, such as:

Specific Word Instruction (the words to be learnt should be carefully selected and extensively explained).

Word-Learning Strategies (dictionary use, morphemic and contextual analysis). Besides looking words up in a dictionary and using them in a sentence, philology students should be aware of the full paradigm of each word, thus being able to build all possible derivatives, etc.

A foreign language syllabus stipulates that the dominant content of learning a foreign language should include forming different speech skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing, i.e. formation of a communicative competence where the priority lies in identifying interactive learning tools for individuals or groups of students. To solve such problems, focus should be on selection of the best learning tools based primarily on their teaching features and functions. Learning foreign languages with the help of computer and telecommunication technology should ensure the implementation of the following tasks:

Improvement of listening skills through authentic speech;

Forming skills of translating and summarizing the information perceived;

Improving the skills of monologue and dialogue speech;

Building a culture of communication;

Expansion of active and passive vocabulary, reflecting a modern stage of development of the country's culture, social and political structure. Authentic videos realize the principle of clarity in

teaching grammar and vocabulary, offering a greater

variety of language and speech samples, including various regional accents in general use and special vocabulary, idioms, etc., and real contexts of their usage by native speakers. With the help of audiovisual means, students can receive more necessary information in less time, achieve better results, and form the required skills and abilities.

Following the famous modern educationist A.P. Shcherban's idea of using visual aids as one of the main factors to intensify training [4], we believe that audiovisual aids as a bright example of audiovisual method of teaching foreign languages, will be an invaluable addition to the traditional way of mastering vocabulary. The main advantage here lies in information coming to students through both visual and auditory channels. “The simultaneous impact of a complex set of stimuli to different analyzers ... has a special power and emotion. When receiving information through audiovisual training, a human experiences the influence of a powerful stream of information of unusual quality, which creates an emotional basis for the specific image to transfer easier to abstraction” [3]. Movies and videoclips provide dynamic images with audio commentary, simultaneous supply of image and sound, including speech or musical accompaniment, thus combining the visual perception and hearing [Ibid].

Video has a very strong emotional impact, affecting the formation of personal attitude to what students see. Another advantage is the immediacy of a film image of reality, leading a special way of communicating with the audience, the use of close-up, unobtrusive presentation of information, brilliance, and presence of the background music. When watching what is happening on the screen, students are immersed into conditions close to the natural language environment - a set of linguistic and non-linguistic terms that reflect the life, history, culture and traditions of native speakers of the language. In this way, video materials have a great potential to intensify the transfer of information to students, enhance their cognitive activity due to the following features: the demonstration of objects; modeling phenomena and processes in the dynamics of their development by means of television or computers [2].

Thus, the impact of psychological aspects of visual aids on students (the ability to draw attention of each student or group audiences, influence the amount of long-term memory, and increase the strength of memory, providing emotional impact on students' motivation, and improve learning) contributes to intensification of the educational process, and creates favorable conditions for shaping communicative (linguistic and sociocultural) competencies of students [1].

In addition, the following characteristics should be inherent in the movies selected for foreign language education: information abundance, dynamics of the plot, impact not only on the mind, but also on the feelings; logical completeness, because the visual aids are to give a complete picture of the active vocabulary being studied. The most important factor in the performance of audiovisual teaching aids, as well as all other technical equipment and means, is the right choice of an adequate method of their use. The efficiency factor of using visual aids depends largely on thoroughness and comprehensiveness of the preparatory work.

Preparation for the use of audiovisual training consists of the following stages: defining the material that requires audiovisual support; familiarization with the available video selection appropriate to the topic being studied (recordings of TV shows, movies, independent videos, etc.); preview, selection of guides and determination of their didactic value (how well they meet the set objectives in pursuit of mastering the new material); repeated viewing of the selected manuals necessary for determining fragments and time for their demonstration; inclusion in lesson plans. Without all this, students are not always to see on the screen what was meant for them to fathom. The content of the information memorized depends on many individual factors, including students' existing experiences, interests, preferences and so on. After watching, the instructor is to ask students questions on the fragment viewed, and to summarize the situation of communication and assess the level of comprehension through their responses [2, p. 86].

What watching movies does in terms of foreign language acquisition is inter alia enable the viewers to get immersed in the cultural and social peculiarities of the language, teach proper and acceptable ways to behave in and respond to daily situations, help develop communicative abilities, enhance interpersonal skills, enrich vocabulary and grammar used in everyday life. Within this framework, watching contemporary TV shows and movies, whatever the genre, affords you an opportunity to plunge into and “live” in the actual language environment without having to go on any trips abroad you might not be disposed to.

The above-mentioned methods find their implementation in the educational process organization at the School of Foreign Languages of V N. Karazin Kharkiv National University using the syllabus- prescribed series of textbooks under the editorship of V. D. Arakin “Practical Course of English”, which ensures comprehensive practice of the “active” vocabulary usage, including speech patterns, and set word combinations and phrases, through a variety of exercises. The series draws on choice pieces of classical literary works for the texts used as the foundation vocabulary source in each unit, and this is where the series may seem to be lacking in terms of its relevance to the real-life contexts. This breeds suspicion in students' minds that the vocabulary they are to master is obsolete, which significantly weakens their motivation to learn it and therefore the effectiveness of the learning process in general, as well as their performance in the subject (here: English as their first foreign language) in particular.

While getting today's students to read classics in the original may be an undertaking, exploiting their movie preferences may turn out to be the game- changer. Currently, television offers a vast choice of movies as well as TV shows for teenagers and young adults, such as The Hunger Games, Divergent, or The Maze Runner, to name a few. As a rule, these screen adaptations are popular with the young people, thus being a good motivation for them to explore what they see in terms of the language, particularly vocabulary, they are currently studying.

To dispel the above-mentioned popular misconception and to motivate students of the School of Foreign Languages of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University to take vocabulary-building more seriously, within the purpose of this research, we suggest that the instructor do one of the following:

Ask the students to watch a currently popular movie or TV show in the original at home and fish out as many instances of the “active” vocabulary currently under study as they can. The results are to be announced in front of the whole class. vocabulary text student film

Cut out the pieces from a currently popular movie or TV show in the original that contain instances of the “active” vocabulary currently under study and show the compilation during the class for the students to guess the movie or TV show and see a condensed version of the usage of the vocabulary they are supposed to study.

Both approaches have their benefits in motivation boosting. The first one, for instance, provides several shared findings at the same time (different students are likely to pick different movies/TV shows), the findings made by the students themselves rather than the instructor, which increases the trustworthiness and validity of the information in the eyes of the former. Besides, looking for the “active” units in the movies/ TV shows enables the students to memorize them better as they do. The other approach, on the other hand, gets a more condensed presentation of a larger number of instances in a much shorter time frame, which will have a more impressive and immediate effect on the students doubting the relevance of the vocabulary they are to study.

Combine the above approaches by first showing the students a compilation of the “active” vocabulary instances followed by the assignment set to them to do the same with a currently popular movie/TV show of their own choosing.

For the purposes of our paper, we would like to illustrate the second approach in more detail as the other two are dependent on the findings of the students, which will always be different, and the third one also has the second one as its component. To do that, we randomly picked one unit (Unit 2) from the “Practical Course of English. 3rd Year” under the editorship of V. D. Arakin [8] and cross-checked all its vocabularybuilding elements with the scripts of The Hunger Games film series (The Hunger Games (2012), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)), currently popular with teenagers and young adults [9-12]. (These scripts and Unit 2 of the “Practical Course of English. 3rd Year” thus served as the materials of the research conducted within this paper.)

Below are the findings, which are 45 usage examples of the active vocabulary from Unit 2, including 19 instances of speech patterns, 20 instances of essential vocabulary units and 6 instances of word combinations and phrases:

Speech Patterns:

“But maybe, if we got away from here, if we went somewhere safe, it could be different. ”

“You know I wouldn't believe you, even if you did. ”

“And I wouldn't have any regrets at all if it weren't... If... If it weren't for what? What? If it weren't for the baby. ”

“If I wanted to kill either of you, I would've done it by now. ”

“If they tortured her or did anything to her, forget the districts, there would be riots in the damn Capitol. ”

“And if we left, they would come. ”

“If the Mockingjay were gone, the rebels would already be using her as a martyr. ”

“All I know is that I would have saved myself a lot of suffering, if I'd just given that bread to the Pig. ”

“But I couldn't stop you if you wanted to come. ”

“So would Finnick, if he were here. ”

“But if I had to put you through it again “for this outcome, I would. ”

“But if I could I'd bet on you! ”

“And I think if you could see them, you would not root for them either. ”

“It might be easier if I didn't. ”

“If I didn't, I'd be dead. ”

“If you wanted to be babied, you should've asked Peeta. ”

“If that Head Game-maker, Seneca Crane, had had any brains at all, he would have blown you to bits then and there. ”

“Two brave young people, against all odds chose to die rather than to lose each other. ”

“All you need to do is give a few speeches, wave to the crowds, and enjoy your time in the spotlight. ”

Essential Vocabulary:

“Look, the tail points to 1 2. ”

“And as opposed to having you two pointing at each other, she's going to get him. ”

“If it gets to that point, I'll kill you myself. ”

“Anyone could see the game was over by that point. ”

“I don't see the point in that. ”

“By that point.. .they're pretty lethal. '

“It's kind of thing does happen at this point if there's...”

“She's gonna come down at some points. ”

“At what point did he realize the depth of your indifference towards him?”

“It was just a dream. I'm sorry. ”

“It's okay. You 're just dreaming. ”

“...this is a very interesting mix. ”

“All right. Well, Peeta, there are many who find this suspicious to say the least. ”

“Snow would drink from the same cup, to deflect suspicion. ”

“Are you aware of what's happened? ”

“There could be new pods that we 're not aware

of.”

“She interfered with a Peacekeeper. ”

“There was no resistance left inside the capitol or the mansion. ”

“...they so clearly are able to reflect the character of each district. ”

“You realize that your actions reflect badly on all of us. ”

Word combinations:

“We've all suffered so much. ”

“And then all of that suffering and fear is redirected. ”

“Commander Paylor, your people have suffered more than just about anyone else at the hands of the Capitol. ”

“We 'll turn their advance into a celebration of suffering. ”

“All I know is that I would have saved myself a lot of suffering, if I'd just given that bread to the

Pig. ”

“If we succeed, let it be for all of Panem... ”

This number of examples of the “active” vocabulary from just one unit is quite representative, in our opinion, to provide students with enough evidence that it is still widely used in contemporary contexts, especially when shown to them as a several-minute compilation of the corresponding cuttings from the movies, and considering that the movie choice is not random, but, on the contrary, being a dystopia, reflects the problems, daily routine manifestations and activities, although exaggerated, of today's world. This is sure to change the students' attitude to the vocabulary under study and boost their motivation to learn it. Moreover, visual perception itself directly contributes to memorizing and, therefore, in our case, helps our students retain the featured vocabulary better.

Thus, complementing the syllabus-prescribed textbook with a bit of movie-watching with a focus on identifying the examples of the vocabulary under study is an effective way of killing several birds with one stone: bringing the “active” vocabulary to life, enabling foreign language learners to master this vocabulary more quickly and effectively, boosting their motivation to learn better, and changing their attitude to classical literature as outdated in terms of vocabulary.

As for prospects of further research, promising are applications of similar approaches to teaching grammar, developing analytical thinking skills through comparison of the original novels with their screen adaptations, etc.

LITERATURE

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ILLUSTRATIVE SOURCES

9. Практический курс английского языка. 3 курс : учеб. для студентов вузов / [В. Д. Аракин и др.] ; под ред. В. Д. Аракина. - 4-е изд., перераб. и доп. - М. : Гуманитар. изд. центр ВЛАДОС, 2006. - 431 с.

10. The Hunger Games (2012) [Електронний ресурс]. - Режим доступу : http://www.springfieldspringfield. co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=hunger-games-the;

11. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) [Електронний ресурс]. - Режим доступу : http://www. springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=t he-hunger-games-catching-fire; 11. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014) [Електронний ресурс]. - Режим доступу : http://www.springfieldspringfield. co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=the-hunger-games- mockingjay-part-1; 12. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015) [Електронний ресурс]. - Режим доступу : http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script. php?movie=the-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-2

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4. Graves, M.F. (2000). A vocabulary program to complement and bolster a middle-grade comprehension program. In: B.M. Taylor, M.F. Graves, and P van Den Broek (eds.) Reading for meaning: Fostering comprehension in the middle grades. New York: Teachers College Press, pp. 116135.

5. Hurzhii, A.M, Kotsur, VP, Volynskyi, VP, & Samsonov, V.V. (2003). Vizualni ta audiovizualni zasoby navchannia [Visual and audiovisual means of learning]. Kyiv: In-t pedahohiky APN Ukrainy Publ.

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7. Shcherban, PM. (2002). Prykladna pedahohika [Applied Pedagogy]. Kyiv: Vyshcha shkola Publ.

8. Stahl, S.A. (2005). Four problems with teaching word meanings (and what to do to make vocabulary an integral part of instruction). In: E.H. Hiebert and M.L. Kamil (eds.). Teaching and learning vocabulary: Bringing research to practice. Mahwah, NJ : Erlbaum, pp. 95-115.

9. The Hunger Games (2012). Available at: http://www. springfieldspringfield. co. uk/movie_script. php? movie=hunger-games -the;

10. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013). Available at: h t t p : / / w w w. s p r i n g fi e l d s p r i n g fi e l d . c o . u k / movie_script.php?movie=the-hunger-games- catching-fire;

11. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014). Available at: http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/ movie_script.php?movie=the-hunger-games- mockingjay-part-1;

12. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015). Available at: http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/ movie_script.php?movie=the-hunger-games- mockingjay-part-2

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