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4 - Literature, TV Drama and Spoken Language Awareness

from Part I - Literature and Spoken Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2019

By
Christian Jones  and
Jane Cleary
Edited by
Christian Jones
Christian Jones
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
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Summary

This chapter reports on research in a study abroad context at a UK university. It centres on the use of literature which has been dramatised on television (the popular TV series Sherlock) and how this can be harnessed to develop a greater awareness of typical features of spoken language – in this case the use of ellipsis. An experimental study was undertaken which compared the results of three groups: one receiving explicit instruction plus input enhancement (experimental group 1), one receiving explicit instruction only (experimental group 2) and a control group who received no instruction. Both treatment groups worked with three short extracts from Sherlock over three lessons and were given explicit instruction, comprehension tasks and exercises to raise awareness of several features of spoken language, including ellipsis, requesting and modality. The experimental groups received the same explicit teaching (here understood as the teacher making it clear to the students what the lesson focus was), but experimental group 1 also had their transcripts enhanced via textual enhancement to highlight the aforementioned features of spoken language. Results were measured using a comprehension test and a test which measured receptive knowledge of ellipsis in spoken language administered at a pre-, post- and delayed test stage, which was 3 weeks after the classes. In addition, six members of each experimental group took part in a focus group to discuss the extent to which participants found the classes helped to develop awareness of ellipsis and how useful and motivating they found the literature materials to be. Results show clear effects for instruction, with significant gains made over time on the receptive tests for experimental group 1 when compared to the control group. However, no significant difference between treatment types was shown in the post- and delayed tests. Focus groups indicated that participants found the dramatised literature materials to be motivating and useful, and they also reported some noticing of ellipsis in their contact with English outside class time.

Keywords

study abroadspoken language awarenessTV dramalirareray adaptationnoticing
Type
Chapter
Information
Literature, Spoken Language and Speaking Skills in Second Language Learning , pp. 66 - 95
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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