The article contains proposals on the use of mass media in the classroom. The main attention is paid to the use of mass media in the process of teaching foreign languages under the influence of intercultural communicative competence. Based on these examples, the objectives of teaching a foreign language are defined and an attempt is made to determine the content of teaching a foreign language through the use of mass media. Modern media, advantages and disadvantages of their use, as well as some aspects of influence on the perception of the world are characterized. Media education allows students to exercise their right to freedom of expression and self-identification of the relevance and topicality of problems covered in the media, which contributes to the personal development of students. Methods and methods of foreign mass media in the teaching of a foreign language are considered. A number of exercises are provided for acquaintance of students with such types of mass media as newspapers, radio, the Internet, which can serve as a tool for educational purposes. Also the methods of preparation of preliminary activities and practical activities are presented directly in the lessons of a foreign language.
Nowadays foreign mass media is the main source of relevant information, presented in any foreign language. In this regard, it is told about the loss of the literary language in modern culture and instead of the status of the acquisition of its media language. Foreign media consists of not only new information presented in a foreign language, but also it carries the information that reflected different national and cultural perspectives, different values and behaviors of media genres.
Mass media tools such as newspapers, radio, the Internet may serve educational purposes. The most important advantage of foreign language teaching through mass media is the contact with authentic language. The best ability to listen to the native speakers may facilitate own performance and understanding. Broadcasting of foreign language audiovisual media has the important character and the strongest potential to impact on the recipient. The effect of the presence of video messages from the native speakers in a special way affects the recipient's emotions and thus his or her consciousness and sub-consciousness.
The Internet is a media with non-linear nature different from the classical media, with the structure of the information field. Internet texts or hypertexts include hyperlinks system, which include the ability to disclose not only nearly but also in a far textual point. Internet media texts today, beyond the verbal level and the non-level imply any sequence of verbal signs. Each foreign language text of the media has a certain socio-cultural background and the ideological modality. Working with the mass media texts through the Internet requires an integrated approach aimed at the objectification of both factual information and specific cultural background.
Websites the most important device of the new age media. The Internet has a plethora of websites dedicated to various people, companies, brands, causes, activities, etc. The most usefulness of these websites is in providing information about different types of foreign language teaching and studying.
Broadcasting is now used as one of the important features of a fully integrated multi-media learning system and an article is devoted to the implications of this. The emphasis on broadcasting in this issue is merely a way of dividing the very large field. Broadcasting is increasingly linked with the audio and video as the volume of published recorded material expands, as off-air recording techniques improve and where copyright constraints permit. Despite the rapidly developing technology in sound and vision, radio remains the centre point of educational broadcasting. But the television screen does not necessarily provide more information in a given time than radio. Television does, however, provide information over a wide range. The combination of a sound and a vision can provide language in its context more realistically than sound alone. This dictates a different learning strategy: the attention of the eye as well as the ear.
Above all, the whole motivating effect of broadcasting and its impact on learning through other media is something about which very little is so far known. Approaching the use of the media through script writing, aspects of television, strategies for using broadcast programmes both as teachers and students and as organizers in an overseas situation, contributors to this issue have provided guidance in the understanding and exploitation of broadcasting. The article on multi-media integrated planning concerns an important step into a large field. The overview of BBC English by Radio and Television is given as the setting in which so much development has taken and it is taking place now. This is not intended to be an issue of foreign language teaching documents concerned with the BBC; its contents apply to broadcasting and multi-media enterprise throughout the world.
In the other hand, it is entirely appropriated that examples and experience from the BBC should feature largely, since that organization is undoubtedly the world's greatest repository of broadcasting expertise in the field of English language teaching. The final item in this paragraph is included by popular request. It is not specifically connected with the rest of the articles in that it does not deal with a specific aspect of teaching English through radio or television, but it is linked insofar as English through the various media is an intrinsic part of the FLT scene in all the countries today [1].
By all means, it is right to use different newspapers at foreign language lessons: authentic and local newspapers. The higher the quality of newspapers, the better the language teaching aids they make. There is certainly no better agent of good language teaching than the language teacher himself. The teachers should take the papers to class and show his students the unacceptable elements of language. They can be misspelling, ungrammatical constructions or wrong form of words, emphasize some specific structures, and concentrate on newspaper vocabulary and so on. The mass media can facilitate foreign language teaching and learning to seek for new ways and methods how to make classes more interesting and challenging for students.
Most newspapers are linguistically present and provide valuable linguistic data. They may be used for the wide variety of text types and language styles, not often found in textbooks. At the same time, newspapers provide a natural source of many varieties of written English that become very important to students, and valuable for language study as the students progress. So, they may be used as supplementary material and examples in text analysis while analyzing different types of texts. The variety of subjects and topics makes newspapers more interesting and motivating for the students to work with. Newspapers report the real life events, and this arouses students’ curiosity. Newspapers are an invaluable source of authentic materials. The more students read, the more they want to explore. Newspapers are also a great source for teachers. They can be used as teaching materials to develop students’ language skills. They can be used effectively with a wide range of levels from elementary to advanced, either interpreting them or using them as they are.
There are several ways of making newspaper materials usable for the various levels of students, by selecting interesting newspapers and the students will be interested in reading them and would skip some difficult expressions. In spite of the difficulty of the texts, the task should suit the level of students, this is more important than the difficulty of the text. The involvement of students in pre-activity, while-activity preparation techniques, in the selection of materials and in carefully designing the tasks are the key to success.
Media can help with many issues such as: motivation, clarity, recycling, drafting, revising, editing, variety, mixed-ability classes, updating information in the textbook, giving life and color to classroom procedures and methods, thus at the same time helping the students to improve accuracy and fluency. There are lots of issues that can or cannot be solved by media.
Internet has three main educational uses. It serves as a source of information, a place for collaboration, and a place to learn and publish. Some years ago it was thought that the computers would substitute the teachers but it did not work. Learning and teaching through computers is an alternative approach that stresses the student’s use of computers to solve real-world problems while learning.
It is also right to mention about various kinds of Internet media communications: postcards, E-Forums, E-Books, blogging, Internet TV and others.
Postcards – the mediums of mass communication that include short video or audio files. They can be seen and heard on mobiles, computers and portable media instruments which engage devices of media communication.
E-Forums – bulletin boards on websites where people start threads on particular topics, usually hosted on a website. These kinds of forums have open platforms to discuss a range of topics. Students can give their own opinions and share their experiences on various topics.
E-Books have a number of websites which have presented books on online libraries. The main benefit of using E-Books is that students don’t have to carry bulky books. To adjust the font size to suit best requirements is the best method to improve language skills in reading.
Blogging – it is a space on the Internet where a student or a group of students record their information and opinions on a given topic or exchange the tasks. It is an interesting and cognitive free platform to talk about any topics. Interaction can happen in the form of comments or feedback.
Internet TV is also known as online TV, one of the effective means of media communication. It usually has an archive of programmes or class activities. Students have to choose the specific programme. They can either view the programmes directly from the host server or download the content into their computers or portable media devices.
The use of high technology mass media teaches students to study the language in authentic context which represents a double challenge for language teachers. Internet media give students access to authentic language toward the ideology structure of any foreign language. It is also told about the techniques to prove the ideological representation of new structures and features of foreign language studying.
Lots of researches provide practical and efficient methods to enhance the FLT due to socio-cultural proficiency of students. It is recommended that teachers can provide analytical framework to help students to reflect on their language skills.
French sociologist A. Mol’ outlined the culture created by the media as «a mosaic of presenting information, which creates an additional semantic character of broadcasting into the mass communication» [2]. The use of mass media gives students a real access to authentic language and raises their minds to improve the ideological representation of communication and knowledge gaps.
The Scottish-born scientist A. Graham Bell presents four theoretical and practical types of media language which has always attracted the attention of linguists to communicative skills in media language. First of all, the media provides an easily accessible source of language data for research and teaching purpose. Second, the media is an important linguistic institution which makes up a large proportion of the media language that people hear and read every day. The third one, media reflects and shapes both language use and attitudes in a speech community. These include how different dialects and language can use in advertisements or how radio or TV can affect on listeners and viewers. And the last, the media is an important social institute. It is the crucial presenter of culture, politics and a social life shaping as well as reflection to media discourse to a society and contribution to the characteristics of society [3].
The use in the process of foreign mass media studying has a number of advantages, among which:
- relevance of necessary information;
- operational character information flow which becomes to be available;
- possibility of permanent and unlimited access to the information source (e.g. connection to the Internet via a mobile phone or a map-case);
- presence of various of information source (audio, video and electronic materials, genre and stylistic kinds of activities);
- address to the media the views of leading experts in various fields of knowledge, scientists, politicians, economists, artists;
- opportunity to express of own opinions in a foreign language by commenting and discussion in different forums [4].
However, the use of foreign media brings with the certain problems that require a very careful approach. In this case, it is necessary to list the main points that must be neutralized using a foreign mass media in the learning process: ideological orientation of materials, the media's ability to influence the recipient’ opinion to manipulate his or her perceptions of reality, the development of critical thinking through the language picture of the world, which has a consequence of any media impact.
It is considered the next methods of foreign mass media in foreign language teaching like Method of Analysis, Method of Literature Review, and Pedagogical Implications of Foreign Mass Media.
Method of Analyses.
The data of this study selected by two sources media language and actual information. They are different from each other. For instance, to media language is belonged «Al Jazeera», an Arabic network which is viewed by millions of people in all parts of the world. It is founded to cover the support interests of the Arabic countries and raise the consciousness of the Arab and Muslim people to stop manipulation of their mind by the opposite networks, on the other hand. To actual information is belonged «CNN», an American network which is sent to millions of people in all parts of Europe, America, Africa and Asia.
As we know because of political and economical background, the domain activity and coverage of these networks, «CNN» network is more widespread than «Al Jazeera». It is a kind of network which competes with «Al Jazeera», especially in events related to Middle East with attachment to the interests of the USA.
It is not surprising that as a result of this news coverage, people of the world get a seriously biased the version effects in issues related to Americans.
At English classes we have chose two these methods per Internet and have tried to compare with in a way that each source is covered with networks which have divergent perspectives. Because this provides the opportunity to understand how different networks cover the same facts differently. Linguistic tools usually show the differences to use two methods of foreign mass media in foreign language teaching.
Method of Literature Review.
According to the next kind of foreign mass media in foreign language teaching, method of literature review has different definition which refers to the paradigm of linguistic peculiarities in communication and knowledge gaps. T. A. Van Dijk, the Dutch linguist, states that structural descriptions characterize discourse at several levels or dimensions of method of literature review and in terms of many different units, categories, schematic patterns and many other mass media tools, differentiates the structural analyses of literature review in any broadcasting or press agency [5].
The tools connected with the method of literature review relate with media discourse which is drawn from functional linguistics and involves the analyses of the transitivity of sentences including the role and the direct participation of journalists or correspondents.
According to Johnson K. and Johnson H., critical linguists, attempt to explore the relationship between language use and the social conditions of information space in the epoch globalization [6]. The abovementioned critical linguists may formulate the ideology normally hidden in mass communication of the authentic language to the surface of inspection of media tools.
Pedagogical Implications of Foreign Mass Media.
The emergence of various critical perspectives since the mid of 2000s has been welcomed by linguists, particularly applied linguists and sociolinguists. And media language has been in the central attention of these principles. So, media discourse is important both for what we reveal about authentic materials and for what they can contribute to the pedagogical principle.
According to this method of mass media in foreign language teaching, the cultural factors of media language are true to life and authentic source for accent, dialect, style etc. It can be used a model in the auditorium. Cook P. regards pedagogical implications of foreign mass media as a critical literacy in terms of the pedagogical application of critical discourse analysis, and therefore a quite central concern for critical applied linguistics [7].
Pedagogical Implications of Foreign Mass Media is sometimes also combined with critical language awareness providing it with a critical and analytical framework which helps to reflect this method on its own media language. The method can imply the fact that in pedagogical camps or in some competitions teachers may raise the consciousness of their students to improve their mass media language in broadcasting.
To sum up all the methods of foreign mass media in foreign language teaching, they can provide good opportunities to enhance the linguistic and communicative competence of students.
The involvement of students in pre-activity and while-activity preparation techniques, in the selection of materials and in carefully designing the tasks is the key to success. Here are some pre-activity and whileactivity preparation techniques that can be used in combination with one another:
- Give the students the materials before the lesson and ask them to look for vocabulary at home;
- Explain any key vocabulary in the materials;
- Summarize the newspaper item;
- Ask the students to brainstorm what they know about the newspaper item;
- Tell the students the headline and show any accompanying photograph;
- Before reading, write on the board and explain key vocabulary
- Ask the students to predict the story-line;
- Allow your students to use a dictionary during the activity;
- Encourage your students to go for the overall meaning of a text, rather than to understand every word;
- Encourage your students to bring to their reading their own world knowledge;
- Try to help the students in understanding the grammatical complexity of the text, facilitate to assimilate the density of information, guess the low-frequency vocabulary, etc [8].
While using a film in the classroom to help foreign language teaching, we have paid attention to the accent, voice, body language, choosing of the words, training ear and the eye, lifestyle, plot idea, summary, what’s going on, why and how, and many other things depending on the aim we have put to ourselves. The overall aim has always been to maximize comprehension and learn more English. But we all know that watching a full feature film needs more time than teaching hours. So, we need to be able to fit films into a classroom schedule organizing different activities that help this aim. In order to save time we might tell the story of the film ourselves, illustrating it by showing three or four key scenes without telling the end. Another way is the use of video-cassette. The students may watch the film themselves in the video-classroom or at home and come the next day and present what they watched and what happened in the film. Another way of using the films to teach English is that of comparing the film with the book if the same story appears in both ways. This kind of activity can be done before or after watching the film, it can be used to adopt or compare characters, to compare differences and similarities.
We may also give assignments to our students and write about his or her favorite film or favorite characters and actors, etc. When a preliminary work is done before watching the film the above activities may produce interesting writing activities. These kinds of activities also contribute to the promotion of critical thinking especially in evaluating films and improving language skills. Other ways of using films in the classroom are: segmenting the film, pre-watching, while-watching and post-watching activities which are very useful as cloze exercises, quizzes, related readings, web sites, film presentations, discussions, research work, etc.
There is the fact that media has developed into one of the primary agents of socialization for students has been well researched. Media teaches them social norms and even influences how students perceive gender roles. It is told about one fact how mass media communication also negatively affects them. Young people are especially influenced by the media, and youth of all ages and cultures try desperately to imitate the prominent, glamorous role models they observe in the media. Many youth develop eating disorders, low selfesteem, psychological complications and experience of other difficulties by internalizing negative ideas found in movies, television, radio and advertisements. Negative media influences can warp the values and conduct needed to steer youth in the right direction. A society with strong moral roots is in direct opposition with the media landscape on many levels [9]. Some media messages have been linked to the cause of numerous health concerns for youth. Television, movies and the media may also encourage people to spend money, become promiscuous and take drugs and alcohol to fit in socially. Images used in entertainment can provide graphic, sexualized and negative representations of what life is like and what is considered acceptable.
Plenty of experts agree that media is dominated by sexualized images that place value on slim bodies and youthful appearances. One common argument among researchers is that presenting this image more often than others indicates to them that it is the ideal. It is also argued that these images negatively impact on the way students’ point of view. And many experts also argue that mass media has led to a rise in violence. The main theory is that images desensitize the mind making a person more susceptible being violent. Additionally, it is often debated whether or not violent images in movies or video games affect the way students’ view into media violence.
Additionally it is proved that foreign language teachers reflect on the fact that mass media communication has useful tools for teaching cultural studies to motivate students’ desire to study the foreign language. Because of this fact, the influence of media on the learning support students to practice the language in all the sphere of economy and business communication.
There are mass media activities which make a particular news item suitable pedagogical authentic material for the language classroom can be considered as follow.
First, authentic mass activities are more accessible and understandable than specialized exogenous contexts which may require more background knowledge and schema building. While endogenous contexts require little or no prior knowledge, these kinds of media activities and types of media tend to be more common. Authentic activities also require prior knowledge, but it is a kind of prior knowledge that language learners can be expected to already have, even though they may not have the vocabulary to express that knowledge.
Second is the issue of criteria in linguistic difficulty. Intensive listening and watching activities help students to work on bottom-up processing difficulties and balanced top-down approaches to listening comprehension. Redundancy of input is an important aspect in selecting appropriate authentic material and increased redundancy of input is often found in news stories.
It should be noted here that this article support teachers in selecting of appropriate media aids for the language area through providing empirical evidence of the effectiveness media communication in improving speaking proficiency. Mass media activities use different dialects and styles which can be interesting and cognitive for language learners and can familiarize them with different forms of language.
References
- Rivers W. Teaching Foreign Language Skills / W. Rivers. — Boston: South and Press, 2000. — Р. 56–76.
- Mol’ A. Language and the Media. In Annual review of Applied Linguistics / A. Mol’. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. — C. 23–41.
- Graham Bell National Historic Site / Bell A. Graham. — Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2012. — Р. 99–102.
- Hussein The Attitudes of Undergraduate Students towards Motivation and Technology in a Foreign Language Classroom /Hussein // International Journal of Learning and Teaching. — 2010. — No. 2(2), — P. 14–24.
- Van Dijk A. Introduction: Discourse Analyses As a New Cross-Discipline / T.A.Van Dijk. — New York, 2005. — P. 74–78.
- Johnson Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics / K. Johnson & H. Johson. — Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. — 24 p.
- Cook P. Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Introduction / P. Cook. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. — 18 p.
- Allen Language Acquisition in the Classroom / P. Allen. — Oxford: Pergamon, 2013. — 109 p.
- Меркиш Н.Е. Мультимедийная культурно-языковая среда как фактор успешного овладения иностранным языком и иноязычной культурой / Н.Е. Меркиш // Иностранные языки в школе. — — № 8. — С. 9–11.