by
*
Abstract
This article discusses the possibility of whether some of the new language teaching activities suggested in recent ELT and TESOL journals can be applied in the English language classrooms of Assumption University,
Thailand. Of the three articles selected from the two prestigious language teaching journals for discussion, two deal with making the most of a classroom with a culturally diversified student population. Advantages of using movies in language classes and techniques for addressing problematic content in them are discussed in an article entitled “Movies in the
Language Classroom: Dealing with
Problematic Content”. The idea of collaborative learning is discussed in another article entitled “Collaborative
Learning in Malaysian Postsecondary
Classrooms”, where the authors explain how this approach works well with students having different cultural backgrounds and linguistic abilities.
The last article entitled “Teaching
Grammar in Context” highlights a functional approach to the teaching of grammar known as “organic model”, which is claimed to be better than a
* The author is a Bachelor of Arts (English) and a Master in TESOL (Vermont, USA). He also has a post-graduate diploma in ELT from Leeds University, U.K. He taught English at Rangoon University,
Burma, from 1980 to 1991. Two of his articles dealing with communicative activities for language teaching have already been published by “The English Teaching Forum”, USA in 1994 and 1996 respectively. Presently he is teaching English at the English Department of Assumption University.

linear model in teaching the functional aspects of grammar. Keeping the upper-intermediate level students at
Assumption University and their learning environments in mind, the article calculates the applicability of these modern ideas in our situation.
Introduction
Together with the growing popularity of the communicative approach to language teaching, many open-minded language teachers have been developing teaching materials and techniques which encourage learners’ full participation in the learning process with a view to systematically exposing them to authentic examples of the target language in use. In her article “Movies in the Language Classroom: Dealing with Problematic Content” (TESOL
Journal, 1997), Elisabeth Gareis suggests that current movies, despite their problematic content, may turn out to be effective language teaching tools if chosen in conformity with the wishes of the students. Avon Crismore and Siti
Fauzeyah in their article “Collaborative
Learning in Malaysian Postsecondary
Classrooms” (TESOL Journal, 1997) discuss collaborative learning, which spotlights the promising aspects of peer-teaching. David Nunan in his article “Teaching Grammar in Context”
(E.L.T Journal, 1998) highlights a functional approach to the teaching of grammar known as “organic model”.
An Overview of the Ideas in Focus
In Gareis’s discussion on the use of movies in the classroom, examples of how problematic elements in a movie can be used as stimuli to inspired and productive learning are presented. The idea of exploiting movies to accelerate learners’ motivation is really great, for a movie is a true representation of life - so vivid and so absorbing. What makes her discussion doubly interesting is her superb suggestions for turning all the problematic elements in a movie to the learners’ advantages. Sex and nudity in films may be morally objectionable in many cultures, yet she takes advantage of this sensitive matter by directing the students’ attention to an activity called a “cross-cultural comparison”, whereby the whole class participates in reflective classroom activities designed in an objective way. It is not to be thought, however, that students are only “sitting ducks” in the hand of a authoritarian teacher, because any movie shown to them is chosen and censored by common consent. Indeed, they are the prime movers in the decision making.
Ways of taking advantage of other delicate issues like violence and sex crimes are also discussed in such a positive manner that all their pernicious content finally gives way, setting the stage for activities like debate, discussion or creative writing.
Collaborative Learning, as suggested by Avon Crismore and Siti

Fauzeyah (TESOL Journal, 1997), is a very effective student-centered activity.
This approach aims at helping passive students to become involved in their learning process. The knowledge that a bright classmate can teach his/her peers may imbue the latter with the muchneeded confidence, eliminating their deep-rooted belief that only the teacher knows everything, and is capable of teaching them. Equal share of the benefit goes to three groups: the bright students become brighter after taking on the roles of the teachers; passive students become expansive by imitating the role model of their peer-teacher while the pressure of the teacher’s presence is removed, and the teacher is somewhat relieved of his/her teaching load - thus killing three birds with just one stone.
Nunan (1998) in his article
“Teaching Grammar in Context” argues for an alternative to the linear model of language teaching, which he calls an organic approach to second language pedagogy. He states that this approach can be activated by:
teaching language as a set of choices;
providing opportunities for learners to explore grammatical and discoursal relationships in authentic data;
teaching language in ways that make form/function relationships transparent;
encouraging learners to become active explorers of language;
encouraging learners to explore relationships between grammar and discourse.
Feasibility of These Ideas in Our
Situation
Until recently, the use of films in foreign language teaching has been down-played because dealing with them is not only difficult but also timeconsuming. Yet, with the spread of video equipment and audiovisual resources into educational institutions, the use of films is now becoming more common. The ultimate goal is to arouse sensitivity in the learners and to provide a stimulus to stretch their imagination and creativity. Assumption University has the full capacity for exploiting movies in the language classroom if its administration provided all the required facilities. Thai youths, by nature, are movie lovers. Western movies are becoming more popular among Thai students due to their technical superiority over Thai movies. Yet they
(Western movies and Thai youths) remain like two close strangers, as the majority of the Thai students watch the
English movies only with the help of a written or recorded script in Thai version. So introducing English movies in the university’s English program will be like making the two nodding acquaintances develop into full-fledged friendship. Assumption University’s

large body of international students may lend itself well to cross-cultural comparison activities. Probably, different norms in the target culture regarding sex and nudity in films may offend learners at Assumption
University who come from different religious and cultural backgrounds.
This, as suggested by the author, can be avoided by conducting a cross-cultural comparison, whereby the whole class participates in reflective classroom activities designed in an objective way.
If conducted in a culturally diversified classroom at our university, this activity may help students exchange cultural knowledge with their colleagues.
Movies with moral or ethical implication may offer our students ground to raise their points in the form of essay or discussion. Sex crimes or sex-related health problems presented in the movies may arouse the students’ awareness of unhealthy sexual behaviour. Violence, despite its repulsive effects on students, can provide a source for critical thinking, equipping them with problem-solving skills. Our students can view the starting point of a violence scene in a movie and then try to role-play different ways of resolving it. How violence in the media affects real-life crime and how heavy a punishment should be for a particular crime could be interesting topics for classroom discussion.
Profane and slang utterances in a movie can be rewritten in colloquial and formal language with a view to helping the students see different registers and their degree of offensiveness or inoffensiveness. Some legal issues open to argument may set the stage for debate between opposing teams. Once a suitable film has been censored by common consent, we need to consider the specific techniques to be used so that the ensuing activities may provide our students with enjoyable and educational experiences. It should go without saying that a teacher’s selection of a technique or a set of techniques should be guided by his/her objectives for the class.
In the introductory phase of bringing the cinema into the classroom, it may be disheartening for the language learners not to understand every single word, but even native speakers may fail in this. The students should, therefore, be encouraged to get the global idea in the first place. In this regard, microteaching activities should be organized according to thematic issues and linguistic and conceptual complexity in concert with the learners’ level of proficiency. If necessary, the whole film can be brought into discussion to check and promote global understanding of the story, with questions on setting, characters, and explicit and hidden messages. Some of the outstanding sequences or key dialogues that constitute the crux of the story can be isolated so as to exploit significant topics (i.e., homosexuality, racial discrimination, superstition, justice system, etc).
As in all aspects of learning, it is essential for the learners to integrate

past knowledge with new information, extrapolating from what they have gained from viewing the film. In this respect, the learners can be asked to write a critical summary which requires them not only to reconstruct the macro structure of the story they have seen but also to include their critiques, allowing the students from various social and cultural backgrounds to respond to the issues in focus from their own standpoints.
Dramatization of a scene from a thriller can be quite motivating. Most of our students have been trained by either structural or communicative approach or a combination of both throughout their life, and some have much English stored in their heads from all the reading and writing they have done. A way to release that English kept in mothballs is through a play. Students who hate competition may benefit a lot from this creative activity and may even change their view regarding language learning. Mimicking sounds may be a pleasant way to learn vocabulary, with sound and movement helping them to understand. One undeniable factor is that they will have a chance to learn
English through experience rather than from a textbook or lecture.
Improvisation can also be another helpful technique. In order to help our students improvise successfully, we can select a certain portion of a movie, preferably a situation with conflict, and then have two or more students act out the scene. The students, of course, have no written scripts to fall back on, and so they must use their own vocabulary and sentence patterns they deem suitable.
This activity can give them a chance to think on their feet and to really express themselves within their own knowledge of English. The entire class may become involved as well since they are hearing new voices (not just the teacher’s) and they will be thinking of what they would do or say if they were in that situation. This activity will help to rekindle their imagination – which we all need as teachers, students, or actors.
The possibilities for using films in the foreign language classroom are endless, and the technique to handle them may be as different as the objective of each activity can be.
Reverting to Gareis’s discussion on the use of movies with problematic content in the language classroom, her assumption “If the student population in the classroom is diverse, the exchange will likely be an interculturally eyeopening experience and will uncover many interesting differences” looks plausible. Thus, movies dealing with sex crimes, violence or sex-related health problems may give room for exploitation of grammatical and functional aspects of the language in
Assumption University language classes as these things are often taking place in real life in Thailand. To what extent the author’s ideas are feasible in our situation, however, will be difficult to reckon until they are really put into practice.

According to Avon Crismore and
Siti Fauzeyah, the concept of collaborative learning was born of their desire to help passive students become involved in their learning process. The authors use this approach in their
English language classrooms at the
Polytechnic Staff Training Center in
Malaysia, where Malay students outnumber Chinese and Indian students.
Students, mostly poor, come from different cultures and have had little exposure to English. They stay in their mixed-ability groups together all semester, with Chinese students taking the leading roles. The objective, the authors state, is to give the shy and passive Malay students an opportunity to imitate their adventurous Chinese friends through cross-cultural use of
English. Though collaborative learning has never been experimented with in
Assumption University English
Programs, group activities in the forms of discussion, oral presentation and role play are not uncommon. If students in
Malaysian postsecondary institutions benefit from collaborative learning activities, so might Thai students at
Assumption University. Like Malay students, most Thai students are shy and passive. Their level of English is much lower than that of their international friends. But one advantage that Assumption University students have over Malay students is that, due to their families’ firm economic backgrounds, some have had schooling in English-speaking countries or in well-known international schools within the country. So groups leaders may be chosen among different nationalities on equal basis.
Theoretically speaking, whatever collaborative activities being done in
Malaysian postsecondary schools can be done at Assumption University. But difficulties might arise if group leaders were to take their roles on a long-term basis as is being practised in Malaysia.
The reason is that education expenses are higher at Assumption University.
They would not like to take the burden of teaching their peers while they themselves are paying high fees for their courses. But this situation may be put right if the intrinsic and extrinsic reward system being practised in
Malaysia could be made tempting enough for Assumption University students.
Nunan states that there are many different ways of activating organic learning, and that many “traditional” exercise types can, with a slight twist, be brought into harmony with this approach, particularly if they are introduced into the classroom as exploratory and collaborative tasks. It is true that we are inclined to teach
English in a sequential, step-by-step fashion in our situations, which, in
Nunan’s opinion, is a model inconsistent with the process of acquiring another language. But it does not mean that we cannot apply his ideas in our situation. In fact, some of the activities he shows as examples in his article are not totally new to us, as we have been using them in somewhat

slightly different styles here at
Assumption University. The fact that we do not deviate much from Nunan’s theory in our teaching has become obvious when he outlines some of the pedagogical implications of the organic approach in the second part of his article, illustrating them with practical ideas for the classroom. While discussing teaching language as a set of choices, Nunan makes use of an activity which is intended to help learners see that alternative grammatical realizations exist in order to enable them to make different kinds of meanings. The activity requires the students to focus on the parts of the conversation in italics and to think about the difference between what Person A says and what
Person B says. The following is a portion of his example:
1 A:
I’ve seen Romeo and Juliet twice .
B: Me too. I saw it last Tuesday, and again on the weekend .
2 A: Want to go to movies?
B: No.
I’m going to study tonight . We have an exam tomorrow, you know.
A: Oh, in that case,
I’ll study as well .
Definitely, Nunan is trying to help learners to understand the significance of some language forms in a given context. The students are also asked to compare their explanations with those of other groups. We very often do similar activities with our students at
Assumption University. We make them understand the significance of each tense in isolated sentences through verbal explanation, or we sometimes ask them to do the explanation by themselves. What we often fail to do is providing them a realistic context in our activities which might help our students to become aware of the relationships between form, meaning and use. With slight modification in our material design, however, we will certainly have no difficulty in teaching language as a set of choices, as proposed by Nunan.
His second way of activating organic learning involves discriminating between authentic and non-authentic texts, thus raising students’ awareness of the differences between the target language in use and the contrived textbook language. The language courses at Assumption University focussing on the four language skills usually include a balanced diet of both authentic and non-authentic texts – the former to show the students how grammatical forms operate in the “real world”, rather than in mind of a textbook writer, and the latter to make language easier for the students to comprehend. So our views regarding the use of both types of text are more or less the same as those of Nunan’s. His third principle involves creating pedagogical tasks in which learners structure and restructure their own understanding of form/function relationships through inductive and deductive tasks. The teacher can also determine which form/function relationships are focused on by giving the learners certain types of prompts.
This principle is more to do with

teaching methodology, and anyone willing to try it in their classes may do so without affecting our course objectives. Nunan states that, by exploiting his fourth principle, teachers can encourage their students to take greater responsibility for their own learning. For example, students can bring samples of language into class, and work together to formulate their own hypotheses about language structures, functions and grammaticality through reasoning. This kind of activity looks possible in theory in our situation, but, in practice it may be difficult to carry it out. In the first place, this type of activity - which requires students to participate individually - may take up too much time, and may also prevent us from achieving our course objectives to the fullest extent. Secondly, our learners are not studying only English.
They have many other subjects to attend to. The point here is not that his theory is placed in doubt, but that it may be difficult for us to put his principle into practice in our situation.
His last suggested approach is intended to encourage learners to explore relationships between grammar and discourse. Of the three tasks given as examples, task one (in which students are asked to produce a coherent paragraph by making use of the information supplied) still retains much of the traditional appearance. Task 2 and 3, however, enhance their knowledge of functional grammar by asking the students to compare their writing with those of their peers and with the original. Activities of these types have been so common in
Assumption University classrooms that few students will regard them as new.
The only noticeable thing is that, in his sample activities, Nunan uses effective and clear instructions so that the students will do what they are supposed to do: to explore relationships between grammar and discourse. The following instructions are used in his sample activities in the article, and we may benefit a lot if our instructions are as clear and task defining as his when we ask the students to do the same activities.
Task 2 Compare your text with that written by another student. Make a note of similarities and differences. Can you explain the differences? Do different ways of combining information lead to differences of meaning?
Task 3 Now revise your text and compare it with the original. (This is supplied separately to the students).

Conclusion
Evidently, two of the three articles discussed above contain ideas that have never been tried at Assumption
University English classrooms. Only the ideas from Nunan’s article seem familiar with Assumption University environment, and they really look promising with Assumption University students. While the ideas of using movies with problematic content and adopting collaborative learning in our language classrooms are likely to bring about positive outcome, some drawbacks may also be expected from applying them in our situation. In discussing the use of movies with problematic content in language classrooms, Elisabeth Gareis might probably have intended her activities for the students whose norms for sexual conduct and nudity differ from ours’.
That is the reason why she warns at some point of her article that teachers should consider the cultural and religious backgrounds of the students as well as their maturity levels during the selection process. If common consent cannot be obtained among the students regarding the use of such movies in language teaching, our plan of experimenting with this challenging technique in our language classes will have to be nipped in the bud.
Collaborative learning is successful in some Malaysian postsecondary institutions, and the same approach looks applicable in our situation as well. We lack nothing to have the idea implemented. What we have to consider is the quality that we expect of our students. The approach by no means guarantees the level of achievement our students make at the completion of a usual English course (i.e. English I to
IV ) , as it relies too much on the ability of student leaders. Another factor is that we, as teachers, can contribute little towards the success of this approach without the enthusiastic support of the students, who hold the sole responsibility of teaching their peers.
Whether majority of our students are in favour of this approach is another matter to think about. As the saying,
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating” implies, we will not know whether these ideas are really suitable to be used in our situation until we try them. Nunan’s approach regarding the teaching of grammar in context, however, may prove useful in our situation or elsewhere if exploited in conformity with his principles.
***
References
Elisabeth, G. (1997), “Movies in the language classroom: Dealing with problematic content”. TESOL
Journal , pp. 20- 23
Avon, C. and Siti, F. (1997),
“Collaborative learning in
Malaysian post secondary classrooms”.
TESOL Journal , pp.
15-21
Nunan, D. (1998), “Teaching grammar in context”. E.L.T Journal , pp.
101-109