TEACHING FRENCH ORAL INTERACTION THROUGH FILMS
Canan Aydınbek1
1
French Language Teaching Department, Anadolu University/Eskişehir (Turkey)
Abstract
In Foreign/Second Language Teaching field, instructors need a media that can represent the target
language and its culture. Films as authentic and audio-visual materials present many advantages when
teachers are able to design activities in terms of the objectives of instruction. According to
communicative approach, the main goal of the instruction is to teach to communicate with others in L2.
Therefore the interaction between learners is a key concept that allows learners to negotiate the meaning.
Since French films provide to learners the social context in which the L2 is used, they facilitate access to
the meaning of dialogues. The aim of this study is to raise awareness about the usage of films in teaching
French language and to give some ideas about the integration of films in the language classroom.
Keywords: authentic materials, using French films, teaching interaction through films
Introduction
Communicative language teaching is a meaning-based and learner-centered approach that
emphasizes the comprehension and production of messages. In this approach, fluency is more important
than language forms and accuracy. As traditional classroom practices have proved, learning solely
syntactic and grammatical rules of foreign language (L2) doesn’t allow learners to use them in order to
communicate outside the classroom. Therefore, teaching how to use the language effectively and
appropriately is considered as a vital part of L2 instruction. According to communicative approach (CA),
one of the most important concepts is “communicative competence” that consists of some combination of
four components: linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic. “Consequently, the concern for
teaching linguistic competence has widened to include communicative competence, the socially
appropriate use of language, and the methods reflect this shift from form to function” (Paulston, 1992).
1. The Use of Authentic Materials in L2 Instruction
A written or oral text is usually considered as an authentic material if it is used in a real-life
communication and if it is not produced only for language teaching-learning purposes. Nunan (1999)
defines authentic materials as “samples of spoken and written language that have not been specifically
written for the purposes of teaching language”.
Authentic language teaching materials are valuable sources that offer many advantages to the
learners. First of all, they give different opportunities for exposure to L2. Learners might discover various
dialects of L2 and the different aspects of target culture at the same time because this kind of materials
provides information on the life and habits of the people speaking L2. Moreover, authentic materials
motivate learners inasmuch as they can connect the real use of L2 with outside the classroom settings.
Thus, “regularly providing students at all levels with this kind of opportunity as a supplement to the usual
class routine would be an incredible motivator” (Melvin, Stout, 1987: 45).
Exposure to all types of authentic materials provides also a context within which the target
language can be situated, and maximizes the chances that learners will encounter items in different
contexts. Consequently, learners might realize the differences between formal and informal language.
“Fully exploited authentic texts give students direct access to the culture, and help them use the new
language authentically themselves and communicate meaning in meaningful situations rather than for
demonstrating knowledge of a grammar point or a lexical item” (Melvin, Staout, 1987: 44). However it
should be noted that, authentic materials do not replace the course, but it must be integrated into a
teaching method. As Nunan says, “learners should be fed as rich a diet of authentic data as possible,
because, ultimately, if they only encounter contrived dialogs and listening texts, their task will be made
more difficult” (Nunan, 1999: 27).
Today authentic materials are easy to access for L2 teachers and they can be extracted from
many different technological sources such as TV, radio, CDs, and usually via the Internet. But as a raw
document, this kind of materials does not have a didactic structure itself. “Taking full advantage of the
potential benefits of authentic materials may, however, require both a change of perspective and the
adoption of some new approaches” (Melvin, Stout, 1987: 44). As a result, teachers must learn to select
materials appropriate to the specific needs of learners and the objectives of the course.
2. The Use of French Films in French Language Teaching
In the digital age, films are such valuable and rich resources for teaching language, because they
present the use of L2 in real life contexts rather than artificial classroom settings. The abundant exposure
to L2 not only facilitates learners' listening training, but also raises awareness of pragmatics as an
essential component of communicative competence. The use of films provides many advantages for L2
teachers and learners. A study carried out by Chapple and Curtis (2000), emphasized the motivating
feature of using films in content-based EFL instruction. In addition to their communicative and
motivating values, films provide to learners a rich linguistic and cultural content that offer linguistic
diversities and paralinguistic information. Some studies conducted by Ryan (1998), Heffernan (2005),
and Gebhardt (2004) (cited in Bahrani  Tam, 2012), focus on enhancing motivation through the use of
films in language classrooms. Unlike the previous studies, the findings of the study conducted by Bahrani
and Tam (2012) have supported the empirical evidence pointing the positive pedagogical effect of
exposure to films on language proficiency.
Sturm (2012) noted that “film in target language is an efficient and effective link to the target
culture(s) in that it is highly visual; it is authentic in that it is made for the target culture audience; it is
readily available; and it is attractive to students accustomed to a multimedia environment”.
3. Interactive Language Teaching
The acquisition of communicative competence is the main goal of communicative approach. As
we all know, interaction is the essential part of communication. “Interaction is the collaborative exchange
of thoughts, feelings, or ideas between two or more people resulting in a reciprocal effect on each other”
(Brown, 1994: 159). Therefore, one of the best ways of teaching/learning communicative competence
seems to be to teach/learn to interact with others in L2.
Linguistic interaction involves conveying and receiving messages in a context of situation. The
meaning of messages is interpreted by participants through the interaction “in a context, physical or
experiential, with nonverbal cues adding aspects of meaning beyond the verbal. All of these factors
should be present as students learn to communicate: listening to others, talking with others, negotiating
meaning in a shared context” (Rivers, 1987: 4).
To encourage learners to express and understand original messages, classroom activities must be
designed to that end. From this perspective, films give learners some topics to discuss and communicate
about. “Only during interaction with the model- reflecting, verifying, clarifying, asking questions,
consulting classmates about it- does the language begin to make sense” (Price, 1987: 157). Moreover, the
fact that films provide a great amount of linguistic, non-verbal and cross-cultural information facilitate the
acquisition of L2 as it is used in real life context.
4. Learning Activities Based on Films
4.1. The selection of materials
Teachers have sometimes hesitations about film selection as to “Should they show a featurelength film or an excerpt or a film with or without subtitles? Which way will benefit their students most?”
The answer is that each one makes his/her decision depending on the teaching objectives and the
properties of the group of learners. Films become enjoyable learning materials only when teachers
provide well-structured tasks and activities that stimulate learners to use L2 in similar conditions of real
communication.
The most important criterion for selection of film is content. The story told in the film must
interest learners in order to bring the topic to life and please the majority of the class. The
comprehensibility is another important criterion for selection. Linguistic complexity of the dialogs must
be more or less close to the level of the students. It is important to choose scenes that present dialogues
with appropriate speech samples and comprehensible accent, and with abundant visual support, clear
picture and sound.
It is also important to choose a film that illustrates the linguistic concepts or cultural themes to be
studied. Movies that contain scenes of violence, nudity or negative images from a pedagogical point of
view must be avoided. In addition, the time available in the classroom should be sufficient for viewing the
film and for doing learning activities.
4.2. Some examples of film based activities
1- The whole film approach: after watching a film, learners discuss about the topic in the classroom. This
way of exploitation of feature movies is very usual in L2 instruction and it is more feasible in advanced
classes than with beginner level learners. However, for the comprehension of events presented in the film,
it is better to do some pre-watching and post-watching activities before discussion. The discussion might
be organized in form of TV debates. Learners are divided into two or three groups and each group
defends his opinions. Some learners should lead the debate. At the end, learners must agree on some
issues and explain the conclusions of the debate.
2- Using excerpts or a single scene: film excerpts might be used for oral expression and/or
comprehension. Teacher view the sequence without sound and ask learners to imagine the dialogs. Before
this activity, teacher should give the information about the characters, their relation with each other and
other factors of the situation of communication such as the time, place and the content of the dialogues. In
another version of this activity, the teacher plays only the sound of the excerpt with a black screen and
asks learners to imagine what might be happening. This type of activities allows learners to understand
the relation between the linguistic content (sentences) and the elements of the situation of communication.
(The interlocutors: who is talking to who? When? Why? About what? For which purposes?
3- Completing the story: The teacher views only the half of the film and asks learners to guess what might
happen at the end. It is also possible to view only the end of the film and the beginning is to be imagined
by learners. Other version of this activity is to view the beginning and the end of the film and to ask
learners to fill the missing parts. The teacher could also choose a scene and ask learners to imagine what
will happen in the next scene. Learners work in pair or small groups and each group explains his
hypotheses about the next scene. Finally, they decide together the group that has found the events that are
similar to those of the next scene.
4- Work on ıntonation and stress: the teacher chooses a sequence that contains conversations with
different intonations. He/she gives the transcription of the dialogues to the learners and explains in detail
the mood in which the characters speak (are they angry, anxious, happy, upset? etc.) Each learner plays
the role of a character, reads and repeats his/her utterances for fifteen minutes in order to speak with
appropriate intonation and stress. Next, the teacher views the scene and asks learners to compare the
performance of a learner with the speech of the relevant character. After peer critiques, learners play
again their roles with the most similar intonation to the original.
5- Simulation: Learners play the role of journalists who ask questions to the actors and actresses. Some
learners play the role of artists and that of director, some others play the role of journalists. Everyone
should get some information about the character in order to prepare for his/her role. As long as everyone
is well prepared, the communication will be so realistic.
5. Conclusion
Films could be motivational teaching materials when used appropriately. The use of films allows
learners to identify the elements of situation of communication and to explore the social and cultural
aspects of L2. Through films, learners might share their reactions and opinions, talk about many topics,
interact among themselves using authentic language. It can be concluded that the use of films in French
Language Teaching is beneficial both for teachers and learners in order to acquire competence of
communication.
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