Abstract:

Previous research has found that watching television series results in incidental language learning; specifically, it improves listening comprehension and enriches vocabulary knowledge in the target language. As for grammar, few studies have focused on incidental grammar learning, and fewer still have tried instructional treatments of short duration revealing no significant evidence of grammar acquisition. However, no study to date has investigated the effectiveness of the recursive use of one television series, in the classroom and over an entire course, to explicitly teach grammar. Mastering the grammar of a foreign language requires learning the rules as well as the contexts within which these structures are used. Receptive skills are not enough in order to function in a foreign language and formal grammar instruction must be augmented by exposing the students to authentic language for a deeper understanding of the structures.

In the past two years, I have successfully incorporated scenes from a popular television series into my Intermediate Turkish class (equivalent to CEFR levels A2/B1). The aim of this talk is to show that a television series appropriately chosen for the student population and duly integrated into classroom instruction can be an invaluable source of authentic language and an excellent means to teach and illustrate verb forms, tenses, word order etc., especially when these structures are very different or do not have an equivalent in the learner’s mother tongue. I back up my pedagogical arguments for using television series with recent research on grammar instruction. Scenes rich in suspense, arising curiosity or inducing laughter provide an entertaining and authentic communicative context to formally teach grammatical structures as they come up in the dialogues; or to reinforce them, if they have been previously introduced. Students are fascinated by the plot and the characters, and look forward to these lessons. They affirm that this method reduces their apprehension of learning grammar and increases their feelings of self-efficacy. Ideally, students should also be given pertinent writing tasks to put into practice these grammatical forms, and receive adequate corrective feedback. This method raises their motivation and creates a positive learning atmosphere in the classroom; as such, it warrants further empirical studies. The findings of future research may elucidate the ways to bridge the gap between grammatical knowledge and grammatical ability, on the path that eventually leads learners to communicative competence.

References:
[1] Ellis, R. (2006). Current Issues in the Teaching of Grammar: An SLA Perspective. TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 83–107.
[2] Gerngross, G., Puchta, H., & Thornbury, S. (2006). Teaching grammar creatively. Cambridge University Press.
[3] Richards, J. C. (2015). The Changing Face of Language Learning: Learning Beyond the Classroom. RELC Journal, 46(1), 5–22.
[4] Richards, J. C., & Reppen, R. (2014). Towards a Pedagogy of Grammar Instruction. RELC Journal, 45(1), 5–25.
[5] Vanderplank, R. (2010). Déjà vu? A decade of research on language laboratories, television and video in language learning. Language Teaching, 43(1), 1–37.
[6] Vanderplank, R. (2016). “Effects of” and “effects with” captions: How exactly does watching a TV programme with same-language subtitles make a difference to language learners? Language Teaching, 49(2), 235–250.

Keywords:

Foreign language learning, grammar, television series, communicative language teaching.