Designing Teaching Materials for the Development of Conversation. The use of films in online environments.

Abstract

Not all scholars are aware that successful foreign language teaching must be based on authentic language input, so that the proficiency level reached is appropriate to the initial goal set for our target cohort. Most textbooks haven’t got enough material with authentic or natural language. After all, we still expect students to reproduce grammatically correct sentences following a specific well-known grammatical rule. That is the main reason why the language we find in these books is rather “artificial”, something we cannot consider to be “daily language”. Teaching oral skills in a foreign language is a complex issue. For this reason, we propose film dialogues to be a more natural model of conversation than textbook dialogues. This paper is based on the most popular theories of spoken discourse analysis (Austin (1962), Searle (1969), Schmidt and Richards, (1980)), focusing on students’ familiarity with speech acts as essential components for them to be communicatively appropriate. Likewise, teachers’ updating is essential since they have to master both verbal and non-verbal language, discourse theories and their application to the teaching context. Thus, students have the opportunity to get more in touch with natural conversation. This proposal is focused on naturally occurring conversation and virtual learning. Methodology suggested is as follows: the teacher selects extracts leading to the subsequent design of activities. Later on, students will watch them, paying attention only to very specific aspects of language and culture previously discussed. It is understood that, if students are not fully guided or watch the whole film, they get lost or learn erratically. The aim of this type of activity is to reinforce students’ awareness of how native speakers behave and interact in their daily lives. A foreign language is a constantly changing activity, determined by many factors, which cannot be taught unless it is offered in the right context and through the right medium.