Teaching and Learning English Through Videos
[Abstract] Since the development of science and technology and the quality-oriented education are gradually valued by the whole society in recent years, the reform of the English class has been increasingly recognized, the aim of which is to enable students to use English effectively. Teaching English through the original movie series as a new teaching method has been carried out in many colleges. The feedback from students has proved that with the broad development of this teaching method involved in intonation, wording, speech, thinking and culture students can make further progress. As the communicative approach is gradually valued by the people, videos not only provide a form of entertainment to people, but also are used as a good way to teach or learn English. Based on the situation of them and their advantages and disadvantages, this article emphasizes the importance of the teachers’ role and requirement, the video option and time arrangement in the whole teaching process. At last, this article also offers some teaching methods and activities from pre-watching, while-watching to post-watching, in the hope of making the videos produce a marked effect in English teaching and learning. 英语影视教学 【摘 要】 近年来随着科技的发展和素质教育越来越受社会的重视，英语教学的改革也不断受到重视，其目的是使学生更有效地运用英语。而通过英文原版影视剧进行英语教学作为一种新的教学方法，已在许多高校得到开展。这种教学方式可以在语音、用词、会话、思维和文化等进一步提高学生的英语应用能力。如今英语影视不仅是一种娱乐方式，更是人们学习外语的好帮手，它具有广大的发展空间。本文根据影视英语教学现状及优缺点的分析，着重强调了教师在影视教学中的作用及要求、影片选择和时间安排的重要性。最后本文在对英语影视教学中如何更有效地使用英语影片分别从课前、课时、课后三方面来提出一些教学方法和活动类型。本文的目的是为了使影视片在英语教学中发挥最大的效用。 2. The present situations of using videos
[Key Words] English videos; situation; advantages and disadvantages; teaching methods and activities
【关键词】 英语影视、教学现状、优缺点、教学方法和活动类型
1. Introduction
Since the open-up in China these decades and the development of science, the video is widely used in English class. A shift of emphasis in foreign language teaching and learning from Grammar-Translation Approach to Communicative Approach has taken place in recent years. Now the communicative competence of English is essential for English learners. Meanwhile, there have been remarkable developments in English language teaching and learning. Teachers have been employing various ways to develop students’ abilities and improve the quality of ELT. Although various methods and techniques have been used to try to improve students’ ability to communicate in English, studies have proved that videos are quite an effective medium for English teaching and learning. “Harmer (1983:21) thinks that ‘the idea of simulation is to create the pretence of a real life situation in the classroom where students simulate the real world.’” [1] The videos just have this effect as it can offer us a real life world. Teaching and learning English through videos makes the process natural, educational and enjoyable. This article reveals the situations of using videos in English teaching and learning, advantages and disadvantages. This paper also discusses how to improve English teaching and learning with this effective media.
In recent years, the use of videos in English classes has grown rapidly in China as a result of the increasing emphasis on communicative teaching techniques. Being a rich and valuable resource, videos are popular with both students and teachers in China, now videos not only provide a form of entertainment to people, but also are used as a way to learn English language. “The video course offered to college and university students of a conversation class is called shitingshuo. In Chinese shiting means ‘watching and listening’ and shuo means ‘speaking’. As listening and speaking are the two major skills students should acquire, the video course not only teaches English through video but also gets students to use the English they have learnt in talking about the video.”[2]
Some students like video course, because they can learn a lot from people about their personality, their attitudes towards life, and cultural bac
