The Filmic text in the English Foreign Language classroom

Contributing to students' language & culture

Abstract

This article analyses how an approach centred on the filmic text in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom contributes to the learners’ linguistic and cultural knowledge, as part of an action-research project carried out during the 2021/2022 school year in Sintra, Portugal. For the 8^th and 10^th grades, lessons were created to include the use of a film, which dealt with the topic of the unit. Each lesson worked on different skills, with a wide range of activities that aimed at developing students’ language and culture. At the end of each course unit, focus groups were conducted and written assignments were submitted. This facilitated the development of further lesson plans which catered for students’ needs and promoted language learning. Results show that learners’ participation in class increased both in quantity and in quality, as their discussions became more detail-oriented and included film analysis vocabulary and cultural meaning construction, thus revealing a growing cultural awareness when linking or contrasting the different cultures shown on screen with their own. All in all, the use of film in these EFL classrooms contributed to the learners’ linguistic and cultural learning process.