Towards integrating television materials into english teaching and learning at the national university of Rwanda: an exploratory case study of the second year english course

TOWARDS INTEGRATING TELEVISION MATERIALS INTO ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING AT THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF RWANDA: AN EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY OF THE SECOND YEAR ENGLISH COURSE.

By Pravda Mfurankunda

A mini-thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master's in Applied Linguistics/ Language Education in the Faculty of Education

at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Supervisors: Professor Zubeida Desai

The late Professor Prevot van der Merwe

Date: November 26, 2004.

Declaration

I declare that this mini-thesis is my own work, that it has not been submitted for any degree or examination in any other university, and that all the sources I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by complete references.

Pravda Mfurankunda

Date: November 26, 2004

Signed:

Dedication

To

the Almighty God

my late father Muswahili Paulin

my late mother Mukakigeri Prisca

my brothers and relatives

my beloved wife Kayitesi Marie Louise

for your love and patience

I affectionately dedicate this mini-thesis.

Acknowledgements

It is difficult to express in writing my sincere appreciation to several people who directly or indirectly helped me in completing this work.

Foremost, I wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to my lecturer and supervisor Professor Zubeida Desai, for her unwavering support and for containing my anxiety during times of uncertainty. Without her insightful remarks, this work would not have been possible.

I cannot fail to acknowledge the assistance of the late Professor Prevot van der Merwe for having guided the initial steps to my research.

I am also indebted to the Rwandan Government for assisting me with funding for my Master's programme.

May all the lecturers and staff at UWC receive here my admiration for nurturing my intellectual growth.

My thanks also go to all students and colleagues in the National University of Rwanda who enthusiastically contributed to this research.

Lastly, I acknowledge the unconditional support of my family.

Abstract

This study explores the possibility of integrating television materials into English teaching and learning at the National University of Rwanda for the benefit of second year English students in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Television materials offer Rwandan EFL/ESL students the authentic language input they need as they are not exposed to native speakers of English. Such materials can improve their oral and aural abilities in the language. It is believed that television as a learning tool can captivate the learners' interest as it communicates through sound and image. Incorporating TV materials (i.e. live as well as recorded materials from several TV programmes such as news, documentaries) can contribute to the acquisition and development of the students' language skills.

Different research techniques were used to obtain the data for this study. These included interviews, questionnaires and document analysis. The interviews were conducted with English lecturers in the Department of English at the NUR. The latter also responded to a questionnaire. The second year English students, the target group of this study too completed a questionnaire directed at them. Additional data was collected from the analysis of the content of academic English programmes in use at the NUR.

The findings reveal that students and lecturers acknowledge the importance of using TV in the English class and support the integration of television materials into the English teaching and learning processes. However, the lecturers expressed their disappointment with the lack of facilities to implement this. The findings also led to the conclusion that students encounter listening difficulties in relation to TV programmes in English. The main reasons for such difficulties could be the following: unfamiliarity with various English accents, in particular American accents and lack of exposure to native speakers' culture and intonation. Furthermore, the data reveals that there are attributes of TV materials that constitute a starting point for the teaching plan and its implementation. According to both students and lecturers, through TV materials, language learners are exposed to English culture, to a variety of accents, registers and paralinguistic features. In addition, the materials can be good sources of a model of English structures and pronunciation.

As far as exploiting these materials in class is concerned, lecturers recommend the selection of adequate instructional materials and judicious use of TV. This study concludes that TV materials can help students to improve their speaking and listening skills. Students can acquire these skills through different practical activities such as summaries, debates and group discussions on topics aired on TV. An examination of the English programmes at the NUR through analysis of the content of selected courses shows that there is provision for use of television materials in English class. However, a traditional approach to language teaching still prevails in this institution. Therefore, this mini thesis advocates the promotion of a communicative approach to language teaching (CLT) where a focus on activities that promote fluency rather than accuracy in English should be the guiding principle.

Table of Contents

Declaration ii

Dedication iii

Acknowledgements iv

Abstract v

Table of Contents vii

Chapter 1: General Introduction 1

1.1. Background to the study 1

1.2. Rationale for the study 5

1.3. Research question 6

1.4. Chapter Outline 6

1.5. Conclusion 7

Chapter 2: Literature Review 8

2.1. Definitions 8

2.1.1. Television versus other audiovisuals 8

2.1.2. Types of television materials 9

2.2 Educational television 10

2.3. Survey of approaches and methods in Foreign Language Teaching. 12

2.3.1. Grammar Translation Method 12

2.3.2. Direct Method. 13

2.3.3. Audio-lingual Method 14

2.3.4. Communicative approach to language teaching (CLT) 15

2.4. Development of audiovisual materials for the language classroom 17

2.4.1. Background 17

2.4.2. Audiovisuals in the language classroom 18

2.4.3. Television in the language class 19

2.5. Television and language skills 20

2.5.1. Speaking skills. 22

2.5.2. Listening skills. 24

2.6. Content- Based Instruction (CBI) 26

2.7. Principles of materials design 28

2.8. Conclusion. 29

Chapter 3: Research Methodology 30

3.1. Qualitative research methodology 30

3.2. Selection of the research site 31

3.3. Selection of the population 31

3. 4. Data collection procedures 32

3.4.1. The Questionnaire 32

3.4.2. The interview. 35

3.4.3. Document analysis 36

3.5. Ethical considerations 37

3.6. Limitations 38

3.7. Conclusion 38

Chapter 4: Presentation and analysis of data 39

4.1. Students' views from questionnaires 39

4.1.1 Background and experience in watching TV 39

4.1.2. Students' listening abilities in relation to TV English programmes. 41

4.1.3. Attitudes towards the role of TV in English teaching and learning. 42

4.2. Lecturers' views from questionnaires 44

4.2.1. Background and experience in watching TV. 44

4.2.2. Attitudes towards the role of TV in English teaching and learning 45

4.3. Lecturers' views from interviews 47

4.3.1. Background and experience in watching TV 47

4.3.2. Attitudes towards the role of TV in English teaching and learning. 48

4.4. Presentation of content of academic English programmes at NUR 50

4.4.1. Background 50

4.4.2. Structure of the English programme 51

4.5. Analysis of the data 51

4.5.1. Students' views. 51

4.5.2. Students' listening abilities in watching TV programmes in English. 52

4.5.3. Students and lecturers' perceptions of the use of TV in English teaching and

learning. 58

4.5.4. Constraints 67

4.5.5. Analysis of the content of academic English programmes at the NUR. 68

4.6. Conclusion 70

Chapter 5: Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations 71

5.1. Summary of the findings 71

5.1.1. Students' listening abilities in watching TV programmes in English 72

5.1.2 Students and lecturers' perceptions of the use of TV in English teaching and

learning. 73

5.1.3. Analysis of the English programme at the NUR. 75

5.2. Limitations 75

5.3. Conclusions and recommendations 76

5.3.1. Judicious course planning and selecting appropriate television materials for 76

use in English class. 76

5.3.2. Reinforcing practical activities for activation of listening skills and other 78

5.3.3. Promoting a communicative approach to language teaching (CLT). 80

BIBLIOGRAPHY 82

Appendix A: Questionnaire for Students 86

Appendix B: Questionnaire for lecturers 88

Appendix C: Semi- structured interview for lecturers 89

Appendix D: Extracts from transcripts of interviews with lecturers 90

Appendix E: Content of English Programmes at the NUR/Faculty of Arts

and Humanities, Department of English. 94

Chapter 1: General Introduction

1.1 Background to the study

Television remains a channel of communication that continues to attract a large part of the public. However, today the world is also undergoing a spirit of global competition where television is not the only form of electronic media. There is continuous development of more sophisticated technology. This is probably due to the users' demands for innovative applications. Here one can mention, for instance, some multimedia forms such as the World Wide Web, CD-Roms, videoconferencing, to name but a few.

Despite the development in the world of media mentioned above, television remains an affordable type of medium in poor nations, due to its increasing cheapness and easy accessibility. Unlike many other media, television can be viewed by an unlimited number of people simultaneously. One of the major challenges developing nations face could be to direct this medium into an approach that seeks a more active viewer-oriented perspective rather than a passive consumer-oriented one. The central point here is that television should, besides being an entertaining tool, educate the viewing public. As long as the latter can afford or access some facilities such as television sets and video equipment, television could play a dynamic role in this process.

While television has proven lucrative for advertisers and commercial companies, its input has yet to be fully exploited and embraced for use in schooling. The primary challenge for twenty-first century education in developing countries, Rwanda included, should ideally be to apply the tools of modern communication, starting from the most accessible (i.e. television), to the academic and cultural development of young people. For instance, as Marshall and Werndly (2002: 61) outline, television is a medium organised around rhythms of speech, not writing, and around accompanying visual signification such as the gesture, appearance and demeanour of speakers. It is within this framework that this research undertakes to investigate how Rwandan education stakeholders can develop practical ways of using television with its own potentialities, form and content to meet the demands of developing foreign languages, with English being at the centre due to its increasingly important role in the world as a language of wider communication.

The question one may ask oneself is the following: why should lecturers and learners of English have recourse to television as a learning resource? The answer can be found in the fact that television has the power of involving one's senses (i.e. sight and hearing) and the link between them facilitates learning. This relationship is reinforced by the visual element (i.e. the motion, the colourful setting) accompanied by the language. All these factors bring an overall meaning to the topic under discussion on television. To supplement the above assumptions, Bertram et.al (2001:97) present us a picture of educational opportunities offered by television. They claim that television is essentially a visual medium that tells its stories in images. Furthermore, television provides educators with opportunities. This is how they put it:

First we must find ways to ensure that learners view television, videos and films actively. Second, we must use the power provided by the `completeness' of the medium- the combination of explanation and visual illustration (2001:97).

Since this study explores how television as instructional medium can be integrated with EFL learning and teaching, in the following section I provide the background to English in education in Rwanda and to the use of audiovisual media in the teaching of languages. I first provide a view of the role of languages in general and that of English in particular at the National University of Rwanda (NUR). Then I present what has been done at the NUR in terms of using audiovisuals in the language classroom. I briefly examine the EFL/ESL situation in Rwanda and a context that has influenced the language educational policy in use at the NUR.

In the period after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the country inherited a particular linguistic background as a result of an influx of Rwandans who had been living outside their homeland. They all spoke Kinyarwanda as their mother tongue plus English or French, depending on whether the former country of exile was an English speaking state or not. Consequently, as Kagwesage (2001:2) explains, Kinyarwanda and French, which were previously [before 1994] used almost exclusively in all domains, were no longer enough to fulfil the communicative needs of all citizens. English had to be added to these languages of communication. Having gained a new status, it was then promoted to a national and an official language.

With regard to the role of foreign languages in education, it is worth mentioning that apart from French, that served many communicative purposes, English also acquired an important position in the Rwandan educational context. Mutwarasibo (2003:2-3) maintains that the current policy provides that Kinyarwanda (the country's main language) should be the language of teaching and learning in the first three years of primary education, while either French or English should take over in the next three years of primary school and the whole of secondary and tertiary education. At the NUR, it was until 1995, when studies resumed, that this language policy was adopted and implemented in higher institutions. The NUR was the first to put into practice this policy. All French-speaking students, also called `Francophones', registering at the university spend at EPLM (the school is known in French as Ecole Pratique des Langues Modernes or School of Modern Languages in English) a one year intensive English course whereas their counterparts, `Anglophones', learn French. After this initial training, both groups of students were allowed to study in either language as a medium of instruction or as a subject.

After this brief linguistic background of Rwanda, I now focus on the audiovisual situation in language teaching at the NUR. In 1970 the NUR established a Centre of Languages so that students were able to have English classes to become more proficient in the language. A language laboratory was built at the NUR for this purpose thanks to British technical assistance that was referred to as `British Overseas Voluntary Service'. The Language Centre was only operational until 1973 as the British assistance had come to its term. Therefore, the then Faculty of Arts overtook the running of the centre. The language laboratory continued to be used by the students of the Faculty of Arts in the department of English during their listening classes. Currently, language lecturers do not use these laboratories as the world is moving towards more practical and sophisticated technological materials such as audiovisual media like videos, television sets, etc.

Despite the current technological advancement in IT, the NUR still lags behind, partly because of the highly expensive infrastructure that modern materials require. Other possible factors may be the context of the teaching tradition that prevails at this institution. The learning process at the NUR is still content-based and the lecturer is still at the centre of the process. From my observation as an insider at the institution, I notice that the teaching emphasis is on competency and accuracy and fluency is ignored. There is a need for the promotion of participatory and learner-centred approaches. Using television materials in the language classroom for a lecturer is one way to foster this approach. Thus, this implies his^1(*) effort in supporting the development of interactive skills, group work skills etc. Under such learning conditions, learners can be given time to watch a variety of television programmes as part of their listening classes, for example.

Concerning the available audiovisual equipment at the NUR, the latter has at its disposal a number of television sets that the students and lecturers can use. Thus, those not using it should be asked why they have neglected this important aid to second language learning. This is the problem which this research addresses. As an employee at the NUR, I am aware that students in general spend most of their spare time in the main television hall watching different English channels. Now, how can lecturers take advantage of this to improve the teaching of English?

English teaching and learning by means of audiovisual materials is an area that has received attention in research worldwide but in Rwanda little has been researched about it in EFL/ESL. Only one thesis by Kabasha (2003) dealt with a related issue (ICT Applications in Effective Teaching and Learning of English as a Second Language at the National University of Rwanda). In fact, the EFL/ESL as a whole has been one of the fields to explore the value of audiovisual materials such as video and television as teaching and learning aids. In the next section, I deal with the primary reasons that prompted me to investigate this topic.

1.2. Rationale for the study

This study seeks to investigate how television materials can effectively be integrated into the teaching and learning of English at tertiary level in Rwanda, and more specifically at the NUR.

The motivation and choice of this topic has been informed by a number of factors. Teaching and learning English through television has not yet been examined at the National University of Rwanda, one of the prominent higher institutions in Rwanda. The role of the visual element in teaching and learning English as a foreign language has received very scant attention. I noticed that audio materials such as tape recordings are the only teaching tools used in the language class. Hence, this study aims to focus on how television can be integrated at the NUR as an instructional tool that offers more opportunity and input than tape recordings, which are only based on sound.

Rwandan students are not exposed to native speakers of English. This study aims to investigate how the use of natural and authentic^2(*) television materials (e.g. native speakers' English) can captivate learners' attention and interest. In addition, it can eventually lead to the improvement of students' oral/aural abilities. Incorporating television materials (e.g. movies, documentaries, news broadcasts, etc) into language classes can also provide some experience to learners of being immersed in a native-like context.

In this study, the target group is second year English students because they are expected to have a sound basis in listening. Hence, it is assumed that their English competence can enable them to afford the English used in television materials.

In this respect, the study enquires among other issues, into the extent to which the students are familiar with this technology-based tool and their perceptions of television as a learning medium. This study has also targeted lecturers in the English Department at the NUR with the aim of evaluating their attitudes, thoughts and feelings on the potential integration of television in English teaching and learning. Finally, in relation to the learning practices, this research analysed the content of academic English programmes in use in the Department of English. The stress was put on evaluating the extent to which the programmes provide ways of enhancing the acquisition of English by means of television.

1.3. Research question

This research evolves around the following research question: How can one integrate television as a teaching and learning resource at the NUR at English Second Year level?

The subsidiary questions are:

1) What is the current approach to English teaching and learning at the NUR?

2) How can television materials be used in the English class?

3) What do students think about this?

4) What are lecturers' views on using television as a teaching aid?

1.4. Chapter Outline

This mini thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One introduces the study, aims and scope of the research, the role of English in Rwanda and the rationale for this research. It ends with an outline of the chapters.

Chapter Two deals with a literature review on television and its role in education. I also examine the development of audiovisuals in EFL/ESL in general, and television in particular. In addition, this chapter briefly highlights approaches to language teaching. Finally, it explores principles of content-based instruction and materials design and how they are associated with the use of television in language education.

Chapter Three describes the research methodology. It offers detailed information and characteristics of the research tools used to collect the data such as the research site, the research participants and data collection procedures. The chapter discusses the benefits of each research method used and how relevant they were to this study.

Chapter Four is divided into two main parts: the first presents the research findings. It foregrounds all the themes and sub-themes that emerged from the interview and questionnaire responses. Different views are summarised and comments are added to help interpret the figures. The second part concerns the analysis and discussion of the data, combined with the theoretical notions developed in the literature review. More specifically, the chapter handles the respondents' perceptions on how television materials can effectively be exploited in English teaching and learning at the NUR for the benefit of second year English students. It also contains an analysis of the content of academic English programmes in use at the NUR.

Chapter Five draws out the conclusions of the study and presents a set of recommendations for the sound integration and use of television in English teaching and learning in tertiary education. The chapter also highlights areas where further research can be undertaken.

1.5. Conclusion

This chapter has shed light on the scope, aims, motivation and choice of the area of investigation. It has shown that English as a foreign language in Rwanda needs more attention and that television can be a valuable teaching and learning tool. In fact, television provides authentic language that English learners can exploit as an exposure to use the language naturally. The chapter has also introduced the structure of the mini thesis that is made up of five chapters. The next chapter focuses on the literature review.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

The previous chapter dealt with an introduction to the study with an emphasis on the background to the study, its rationale, the research problem as well as its subsidiary questions. Lastly it also provided an outline of the chapters.

This chapter tackles among other issues, background and explanatory notes on television as a concept, its relation with other types of audiovisual materials and its implications for formal English teaching and learning. In addition, I elaborate on approaches to English teaching and learning and provide some background to the development of audiovisuals in language learning. A look at principles governing language materials development is my concern as well. I also discuss Content Based Instruction (CBI) that serves as a basis for the analysis of the content of academic English programmes at NUR, a matter that will be discussed further in Chapter 4.

2.1. Definitions

This section provides, at the risk of oversimplifying, an introduction to some of the specialised language of television and other related audiovisual tools.

2.1.1. Television versus other audiovisuals

According to the Cambridge International Dictionary of English, television is referred to as a box-like device with a screen which receives electrical signals and changes them into moving images and sound, or the method or business of sending images and sound by electrical signals (1995:1497). This is commonly known as a television set, also called monitor or receiver. In Locatis and Atkinson's view (1984: 214), this device can also be defined as a system for sending and receiving visual images and aural (audio) sound over a cable or through the air electronically. According to these scholars, a more complete television system would have a means for receiving, storing, transmitting, and displaying information (1984:215). With regard to the production and management of sound and images, the task is handled within a broadcasting network known as `television station'.

Another lexical item that is closely related to television is `video'. This is defined in the Cambridge International Dictionary of English as a recording of moving pictures and sound that has been made on a long narrow strip of magnetic material inside a rectangular plastic container, and which can be played on a special machine so that it can be watched on television, or this container with the magnetic strip inside it (1995:1622). The playing machine is called VCR, video recorder or videocassette recorder or an example of software since it allows the hardware (i.e. monitor) to fulfil its task. More details on the `video' will be given in Section 2.4.1 on background to the evolution of audiovisuals. The next section deals with types of television materials.

2.1.2. Types of television materials

Firstly, video recordings constitute the most popular television material used. As Lonergan (1984:7) points out, video materials are subject to classification. He states that we can categorise the sources of video materials broadly as follows:

- video recordings of language-teaching broadcasts and films;

- video recordings of domestic television broadcasts, such as

comedy programmes and news programmes;

- video recordings of specialist films and television programmes,

such as documentaries produced by industry, or educational programmes;

- video language-teaching materials made for the classroom rather

than for public transmission as broadcasts;

- self-made video films, involving the teachers and learners.

Secondly, there are television programmes. In this regard too, Lonergan suggests a kind of categorisation of these programmes. He classifies them into the following: 1) entertainment 2) factual programmes and 3) shorties. The writer states that the first category includes drama of all kinds, light entertainment programmes, shows and musicals, and even sport (1984:81). As for the second type, this has mainly to do with discussions and documentaries. Concerning the third kind, the shorties cover those items on television which are on the screen for only a short time; say, from ten seconds to ten or fifteen minutes. This can include news, weather forecasts, sports results, lottery results, advertisements, etc (p.81-82).

Another scholar, Holland (2000:40) proposes her own categorisation of television programmes. She identifies three types of programmes that are part of the daily television flow:

- live programmes: These may either be broadcast simultaneously with the action, or they may be live, recorded, then broadcast without change sometimes only minutes later.

- Filmed programmes: In this case, `filmed' includes programmes made on film or videotape ... Filmed programmes are shot on a single camera on location or in a studio ...Programmes from major dramas to current affairs are made in this way.

- Segmented programmes: These are programmes made up of short inserts that may be live or pre-filmed. This type includes collaged or bicollaged programmes such as magazine programmes, news bulletins, advertisements.

Marshall and Werndly (2002:44-45) give us some simple definitions of common television programmes. For example, we have documentaries, news bulletins and some other programmes that are called arts programming. The latter are referred to as heavy or serious- toned broadcasts, such as classical music concerts, theatre productions, ballets and operas. With regard to documentaries these are defined as factual, usually short, films researched and produced to be informative about particular subjects, people or situations. (2002:45) Concerning the news bulletins, they consist of a series of segments which give factual summaries of daily, national and international events; they may cover items about Parliament, foreign conflicts, natural disasters or personal stories about well-known people (2002:45)

There are other television materials that are generally made use of in the language classroom and whose source provides authentic language. One can list among others: cartoons, short weekly programmes (on cooking, gardening, consumer complaints), educational programmes, plays, interviews, etc. The next section introduces us to the role of educational television.

2.2 Educational television

According to Fourie (2001:482), Educational Television or ETV in shortened form, is defined as the use of television as a medium for communication and development purposes. ETV has also been called Educational and Television Films, the latter considered as a collection of films that range from some of the most important historical events of the world. ETV has been a regular feature in diverse educational environments. On this note, Casey (2002: 76) states that educational television covers a wide a range of programming, from preschool-age children's programmes to broadcast material designed for schools, colleges and universities to documentaries and lifestyle programming.

Fourie (2001: 484) elaborates on theories and approaches pertaining to mediated teaching and learning and he refers to the well-known behaviourist theory with stimuli-response hypothesis. He argues that ETV programmes must be carefully planned and evaluated in order to function as clear and effective inputs or stimuli. The underlying principle is that the learners' cognitive processes must be stimulated through activities that promote participation and practice. In the field of language teaching through television there are a number of goals advocated in ETV and are stated with the purpose of developing the learner's knowledge as a whole. Among other goals, one can list: acquiring and developing basic skills such as to acquire information and interpret meaning through observation, listening and reading; to express information and share meaning with others through speaking, writing and nonverbal communication.

In addition, there is a set of principles governing the ETV learning process. Any learning situation that involves ETV (whether in a traditional classroom or any other formal or non-formal learning situation) involves four basic interactions: between learner and teacher, between learner and learner, between learner and ETV, between teacher and ETV (Fourie, 2001:496)

In the final analysis, according to Romiszowski (1988:206), educational television should not be confused with instructional television. The first has programmes that do not have specific pre-determined instructional objectives, but have educational value either as a source of information on current events (newsreel), opposing points of view (debates), interesting or famous persons (interviews) and so on. Regarding the second kind of television, the writer highlights the fact that it is possible to build educational programmes into an instructional system, as one form of stimulus component, but the teacher must devise appropriate practice tasks, in which the learners apply what they saw on television to tasks that lead to the achievement of specific worthwhile instructional objectives.

The next section tackles approaches to language teaching and learning taking into account their evolution in history up to the present. Since this study is focusing on EFL/ESL, it is necessary to examine the role of various approaches used in language teaching and the position they allocate to the use of audiovisual materials in language teaching.

2.3. Survey of approaches and methods in Foreign Language Teaching.

Approaches and methods to language teaching have known shifts and innovations in the course of history as people found it necessary to adapt to different situations prevailing at any given time. One can mention, for example, the purpose for learning a language, opportunities and means at the learners' disposal, their immediate needs, etc. The next section provides a brief overview of the main methods and approaches used in language teaching and learning.

2.3.1. Grammar Translation Method

This method dominated European and foreign language teaching from the 1840s to the 1940s. It is also called the `traditional method' and this does not mean that it is older than the others but that it was a reflection of the way Latin and Greek were taught as classical languages. As the name suggests, language was taught mainly for the purpose of translating texts from the target to the first language and vice versa and a thorough knowledge of the grammar of the target language was necessary (Kilfoil and Van der Walt, 1997: 9) Then, children entering the grammar school were initially introduced to a rigorous Latin grammar course that was taught through the study of rules. The following step was the application of this knowledge to the task of translating sentences and texts into and out of the target language.

Richards and Rodgers (2001:5) summarise characteristics of the Grammar Translation Method as follows:

1. The goal of foreign study is to learn a language in order to read its literature or in order to benefit from the mental discipline and intellectual development that result from foreign language study;

2. Reading and writing are the major focus;

3. Vocabulary selection is solely based on the reading texts used, and words are taught through bilingual word lists;

4. The sentence is the basic unit of teaching and language practice;

5. Accuracy is emphasised;

6. Grammar is taught deductively - that is by presentation and study of grammar rules;

7. The study of native language is the medium of instruction.

In the meantime, the decline of Latin led to a new method that was called the Direct Method. Advocates of the reform claimed that the previous one was favouring grammar rules at the expense of oral communication.

2.3.2. Direct Method.

The Direct Method became popular in the 1920s but was in its various forms influential around 1900. This method was a result of the teachers' interest in developing methodologies for language teaching based on naturalistic principles. They advocated the natural method of second language learning like first language learning. In other words, they realised the importance of being able to speak the target language. Thus, they argued, language could best be taught by using it actively in the classroom; the learners could be immersed in the language directly without the medium of translation. This is why it is called the `direct method'. Richards and Rodgers (2001:11) explain that a foreign language could be taught without translation or the use of the learner's native language if meaning was conveyed directly through demonstration and action.

Later this method showed some drawbacks. According to Kilfoil and Van der Walt (1997: 9), this method fell into disfavour when it was realised that students learnt better when the input they received was more structured and graded. This culminated in what has been called the `Reform Method' whose innovators claimed another approach to language teaching with a focus on the language used in daily communication. In this case, the reform supporters placed a marked stress on the teaching of pronunciation and courses such as phonetics held an important position. On the whole, the Reform Movement suggested changes on the basis of several reasons: lack of a rigorous basis in applied linguistic theory, the learning required teachers who were native speakers or who had native-like fluency in the foreign language, etc (Richards and Rodgers, 2001: 12-13). Owing to these problems, a further new method was proposed: the Audio-lingual Method.

2.3.3. Audio-lingual Method

The 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of this method. The Audio-lingual Method draws its name from the emphasis on listening (audio) and speaking (lingual) abilities. The appearance of the Audio-lingual Method resulted from increased attention given to foreign language teaching in the USA toward the end of the 1950s (Richards and Rodgers, 2001: 52). One of audiolingualism's central tenets is that learning a language is largely a question of habit formation, and for this reason a good part of the lesson is spent on drills, in an attempt to make the grammar point an automatic habit. A number of learning influences emerged. These became the psychological foundations of Audiolingualism and came to shape its methodological practices. Richards and Rodgers (p.57) give some of the central methodological practices:

1. Foreign language learning is basically a process of mechanical habit formation;

2. Language skills are learned more effectively if the items to be learned in the target language are presented in spoken form before they are seen in written form;

3. Analogy provides a better foundation for learning than analysis;

4. The meanings that the words of a language have for the native speaker can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context and not in isolation.

The audio-lingual method approached the teaching of the four skills as follows: nothing was spoken before it was heard, nothing was read before it was spoken, nothing was written before it was read (Kilfoil and Van der Walt, 1997:10) In other words, the order of skills presentation is adhered to: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In this case, the oral and aural skills receive most of the attention and what students write is the outcome of what they have first been introduced to orally (Larsen-Freeman, 2000:46). With this method came the trend which led to the use of tape recorders as instructional materials. This was promoted as a way of easing the burden of teachers in drilling and pronunciation. Tape recorders provided the opportunity for further drill work and for receiving controlled error free practice of basic structures. In this case, the teacher would pay attention to mistakes of pronunciation or grammar and correct them immediately. Tape recording was later replaced by the language laboratory model.

The Audio-lingual Method came to its decline even though it is still used today. It has been criticised as ineffective. As Richards and Rodgers assert (2001: 65), students were found unable to transfer skills acquired through Audiolingualism to real communication outside the classroom. Some theoretical attacks on audio-lingual beliefs resulted from Chomsky's theories. The American linguist argued that sentences are not learned by imitation and repetition but `generated' from the learner's underlying `competence' (Chomsky, 1966 as cited in Richards and Rodgers, 2001:66). The Audio-lingual Method came to be rejected due to its emphasis on drilling, repetition and memorisation. Although the desired aim was to teach learners to communicate, practically speaking, the goal was not achieved. Consequently, teachers felt the need to opt for innovations, hence the rise of the Communicative approach to language teaching.

2.3.4. Communicative approach to language teaching (CLT)

With the preceding methods, learners were not given enough input or examples of how language structures are used in everyday conversation and they did not get enough opportunity for communicating in English (output) (Kilfoil and Van der Walt, 1997:12). In other words, the purpose of learning English as a language of wider communication should not be to learn to communicate, but to learn while communicating (1997:12)

The origins of CLT are to be found in the 1960s. The learner was at the centre of the communicative approach. In fact, CLT regarded the learners as communicatively competent when they have ability not only to apply the grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentences, but also know when and where to use these sentences and to whom. In other words, being able to communicate required more than linguistic competence, it also required communicative competence.

Having surveyed the context in which CLT was proposed, it is necessary to look at some of its attributes in the language teaching and learning process. First and foremost, almost everything is done with a communicative intent. Students use the language a great deal through communicative activities such as games, role-plays and problem-solving tasks carried out specifically in small groups. In CLT practices, interaction is the leading point and activities designed for this purpose promote language used in meaningful tasks.

In the treatment of the four language skills, CLT supports the integrated skills approach. Kilfoil and Van der Walt (1997:19) claim that in practical terms this means that in the real world (i.e. in class) learners will often have to read while they are listening (looking for a telephone number while a friend is giving the person's name), write while they are listening (taking notes), speak while they are writing (when demonstrating something in a class) and so on.

To sum up, the communicative approach that gave rise to CLT traditionally refers to a set of principles about language teaching and learning where the focus is on meaningful communication and on use, not usage. In this approach, students are given tasks to accomplish using language, instead of studying the language. In other words, the syllabus is based primarily on developing functional language such as asking permission, asking directions and not on the structure of the language like learning how to form the past tense, conditionals, etc. Authentic and meaningful language input becomes more important. The class becomes more student-centred as learners accomplish their tasks with their peers while the lecturer plays more of an observer role or a guide.

I now look at the development of audiovisual materials for the classroom.

2.4. Development of audiovisual materials for the language classroom

2.4.1. Background

The audiovisual movement can be traced back to the early 1900s when schools and museums began using visuals such as paintings, slides, film objects etc. ( http://www.ittheory.com/)^3(*) In the 1920s, other audiovisuals were introduced in class and these are slides and motion pictures. The success of audiovisuals generated a renewed interest in using them in the schools in the decade following World War II and research directed to understanding how instructional media affected classroom learning. With regard to the basic audiovisuals the world has known in the course of history (without mentioning the television network that I will discuss later), worthy of attention is the introduction of language laboratories, portable tape recorders and film-strip projectors. These came into general use in the classroom in the 1960s. ( http://www.aber.ac.uk//) ^4(*)

Meanwhile, the television network had already been developed especially in the US. As to the date of the television's invention, it is said that the first television broadcast, as we know it today was made available in 1936 in London ( http://www.high-techproductions.com//)^5(*) In the US, the 1940s saw great interest in television by educators but with little action towards it. By the late 1950s, educational television grew slowly but in the 1960s, the rate of the development of the educational television network increased. The US made tremendous progress in terms of television networks and in 1961, 53 television stations were affiliated with the National Educational Television Network (NET).

Early audiovisual courses consisted of taped dialogues, accompanied by film-strips that were designed to act as visual cues to elicit responses in the foreign language. Most audio-lingual courses were made of short dialogues and a set of recorded drills. Regarding the methods used, the behaviourist approach prevailed and held that language is acquired by habit formation.

Video has also been for a long time a tool of great necessity in the classroom. On the one hand it has been making the EFL teaching livelier in various aspects: beyond serving as an entertaining medium, it provides support in recording television programmes as teaching aids such as films, documentaries, etc. On the other hand, videos have proved effective in the language presentation phase as one way of illustration. The meaning of a language is not only determined by paralinguistic features such as gestures but also by the situation, the culture, in which it is used, etc. The video facilitates the presentation of all of these features.

Video has been used in various classroom settings and one may assert that there are also challenges in terms of its practicability in the language teaching and learning process. For instance, it takes time for the lecturer to preview and select authentic videos and to design activities for the learners. In other words, it is demanding on the lecturer to make a careful plan to prepare learners to watch and discuss the materials put at their disposal. The next section deals with the evolution of audiovisuals in the language class in particular.

2.4.2. Audiovisuals in the language classroom

The development of audiovisuals in the language class was characterised by rapid growth of forms of technology that could be used as instructional materials. In fact, while describing the situation Huebener (1967:3-4) noticed that the teacher faced an open range of choice. There was no shortage of devices but rather the need to be guided in making a wide selection. In addition, audiovisual aids available to the FL teacher could be selected according to type, its usefulness and purpose in using it. For instance, you could have visuals referred to as `flat materials' (pictures, charts). Another popular category was made of projected materials such as film strips and tape recorders and radios that you can always find in language classes today. Lastly, television was the most familiar.

Since this mini thesis mainly concerns the use of audiovisual media with sound and images, my discussion will chiefly focus on the materials with the features mentioned above. In this category, let me begin with films. These have both advantages and disadvantages. Educationally, the learners can benefit from films in that the motion holds attention, there is a double impact of sight and sound, motion and colour heighten the reality. As for disadvantages, you cannot select any film to suit your aim but the choice is motivated by its effectiveness in a given situation. Films have also to be graded, especially if a foreign language is involved. For instance, accessibility to the language used is not guaranteed to the FL learner. Now, it is necessary to explore the requirements foreseen in a class setting. Huebener (1967:57) suggested the following had to be taken into account when the viewing session was planned: (a) motivating the film (b) discussing the background (c) anticipating vocabulary difficulties (d) indicating what is to be looked for (e) preparing a number of questions to be answered. These requirements seem to be valid and applicable even today in a typical language class where one is required to use any materials drawn from the video or television for instance.

2.4.3. Television in the language class

The coming of television as an instructional material can first of all be located in the context of educational television. In the past, different television stations started a number of televised programmes and this occurred considerably in the US. Therefore, there was discussion as to the value of such programmes and the place they should occupy in the school's language programme. Choat and Griffin (1989) conducting research on how television should be used in primary schools found that many teachers had become conditioned to using television on a regular basis by taking a series each week, irrespective of whether the programmes were regarded as part of the curriculum or whether they were meeting the children's needs (1989:15). On the other hand, teachers balanced the advantages and disadvantages of watching television and the benefits certainly outweighed the negative aspects of this activity. In general, integrating television in the class has been beneficial in the sense that the medium adds interest and motivation to the viewers. In the language classroom particularly, there are a number of qualities one may assign to television. Most researchers have agreed upon the fact that television provides a readily accessible source of authentic language, an input for language learning (Flint, 1989; Choat and Griffin, 1989; Goodwyn, 1992; Els et.al, 1984)

For instance, there are a number of benefits one can draw from the television medium. If you compare the print media and the audiovisual one, you notice as Flint (1989:44) did, the fact that printed texts cannot keep pace with linguistic change, television is often the best source of current vocabulary, pronunciation, and idioms. Another merit of television involvement in the language class is the way it helps early stages of language acquisition. When children learn new words, they need to associate the new item's pronunciation with its spelling. In this case, Choat and Griffin (1989:27) hold that the specific strength of television is in directing the learner- viewer (i.e. the child)'s visual attention to the precise graphic unit corresponding to what he hears. What makes a difference between television and other media is the fact that it gives opportunity to achieve a certain degree of contextualisation, i.e. presentation of authentic language use in real situations (Els et.al, 1984:289-290)

Before concluding this section, let me examine what Els et.al (1984:280) suggest as prerequisites to the usefulness of television as a teaching medium. They argue that teachers should first of all take into consideration the following points. First, the nature of the information conveyed by the medium, either linguistic or non-linguistic. Second, the phases in the process of teaching and testing, i.e. are these phases used for the presentation, repetition and exploitation of learning material or for testing? Third, the didactic function of the medium. In other words is it used to motivate learners, to convey information or to stimulate free language use? Fourth, the degree of accessibility and adaptability of the television is another point worthy of note.

2.5. Television and language skills

The importance of television in the classroom context has to a certain extent been handled in Section 2.4.3. Here I want to emphasise the role of television in assisting learners to activate their knowledge in English in general and to develop their language skills in particular. This section especially explores some aspects of language skills that are directly concerned with the language the learner-viewer draws from the television. The debate is done in line with the second subsidiary research question (i.e. How can television materials be used in the English class?)

The language skills that are my concern in this study are listening skills in the first place and speaking skills in the second. The NUR English programmes contain courses that aim at developing these skills. The problem that this mini thesis addresses is that television materials are not exploited in these language classes to reinforce the input learners gain from tape recordings they normally deal with. From students' views though, former EPLM students were sometimes exposed to TV materials in their classes. Why can't this be done in the Faculty of Arts where English students need more TV to develop their language skills? The answer to this question is tackled in subsequent chapters, particularly in Chapter 4 which analyses the data.

Developing language skills is a broad topic in the field of language teaching and learning. This mini thesis deals only with aspects of the class setting where a number of language skills can be enhanced. Such aspects could be, for example, classroom activities or tasks that should be designed around given television material (i.e. news, documentary). The latter constitutes the core unit of planning the instruction. Hence, specific language skills like listening skills might be developed. Other points that need to be tackled here are processes that are central to listening comprehension (i.e. top-down and bottom-up processes) and Brown and Yule's model (1983) of interactional and transactional functions of language.

Research on the role of television in language learning has been carried out by several scholars. Work by Sherrington (1973) paid attention to television and language skills. Others like Schroenn (1987) and Choat and Griffin (1989), elaborated on using television in the primary schools. All three of them acknowledge the importance of developing EFL learners' language skills through television.

Concerning television's contribution to language teaching in general, Sherrington (1973:25) argues that the medium enables us to structure for the viewer the contexts within which language behaviour occurs. In this case, television touches upon the listening skill in that the viewer's comprehension depends on the degree of integration of sound and vision. Besides, experience of television can be an effective means of integrating the skills we plan to develop, such integration is vital if we are to find time and place to fit television viewing experiences into English teaching and learning. Schroenn (1987:13) stressed that we have to ensure that we do not lose sight of the language skills to be developed, and that we do not neglect our central concern with promoting our pupils' language competence. Choat and Griffin (1989: 15) support the view held by Schroenn in the sense that children need to be encouraged to look and listen carefully to television and talk about what they have seen. The writers advise teachers to guide their pupils wisely into treating television appropriately in order to achieve success.

Debate over which language skill to promote using television ranges from an emphasis on speaking skills on the one hand to reading skills on the other. According to Choat and Griffin, it appeared that stress was put on reading skills (1989:26). It is obvious that the medium of television fits with receptive skills (i.e. listening in particular). Thus, as Sherrington explains, watching any television programme itself involves a receptive ability on the part of the viewer, to understand what he sees and hears (1973:66). Choat and Griiffin on the other hand, report on other peoples' assertions on the development of reading skills using television. They believe that television exercises and develops reading skills such as shape recognition, initial letter sounds, word combinations and difficult spelling combinations (1989:26)

The following section focuses on learning principles and approaches to listening and speaking that promote English comprehension and support interactional and transactional functions of the language. These are issues that are related to the language the viewer (i.e. NUR second year English students) comes across on television and is supposed to take hold of for various purposes, including academic purposes. In the section below, I deal first of all with speaking skills.

2.5.1. Speaking skills.

To begin with, it is necessary to be aware of what a skill is and how speaking can be referred to as one. According to Bygate (1991:3) it is obvious that in order to be able to speak a foreign language there is a set of requirements that one has to fulfil, such as knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. Knowledge is not an end in itself in the teaching and learning process. There is also a skill and the distinction between the two is crucial. Knowledge in this case can be for instance making decisions on how to produce language and adapt it to circumstances involved. On its part, a skill may have to do among other things with imitating and practising what you know.

In this respect, Bygate gives a brief background on two common and basic skills that have attracted scholarly attention for years and that are closely linked with oral skills and /or speaking skills: motor-perceptive skills and interactional skills. The first has been associated with the audio-lingual approach to language teaching, the kind of skills that involve perceiving, recalling, and articulating in the correct order sounds and structures of the language. (1991:5) The second type of skill is referred to as controlling one's own language production and having to make one's own choices (Wilkins cited in Bygate,p.6). Bygate (1991:6) has the following to say about interactional skills:

Interaction skills involve making decisions about communication, such as what to say, how to say it, and whether to develop it, in accordance with ones' intentions, while maintaining the desired relations with others ...

The scholar suggests two kinds of skill when one has to communicate meaning as part of the overall objective of the interaction. Firstly, people organise what they have to communicate and secondly they develop skills in solving problems which arise from spoken exchanges (1991:22).

With regard to speaking, Florez (1999:1) defines it as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information. Exploring the scope of the skill, she recommends what should be the learners' requirements as far as speaking is concerned. She says that speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence) (1999:1) (see Section 2.3.4 on Communicative approach to language teaching).

2.5.2. Listening skills.

Concerning listening skills, the current approaches to language teaching advocate integrated skills in the classroom. That is to say listening and speaking should not be separated from each other. Instead they should be integrated, that is reciprocal listening should be encouraged in order to allow learners to interact with the input and thus enhance comprehension.

Anderson & Lynch (1991:4) provide us with a situation where people can be faced with an unfamiliar listening environment with limited language proficiency. In this case, the sort of difficulty they have to cope with is predictable. Firstly, it shows that listening skills are as important as speaking skills; we cannot communicate face-to-face unless the two types of skill are developed in tandem. Secondly, another thing about listening is that under many circumstances, it is a reciprocal skill. Anderson and Lynch make this point in the following words:

We cannot practice listening in the same way as we can rehearse speaking, or at least the part of speaking that has to do with pronunciation, because we usually predict what we will have to listen to (1991: 4).

2.5.2.1. Interactional and transactional functions of language

Interactional uses of language are those in which the primary purposes for communication are social. Richards (1990:54) explains that the emphasis is on creating harmonious interactions between participants rather than on communicating information whereas transactional functions of language are those in which language is being used primarily for communicating information. They are message oriented rather than listener oriented (1990:55). As stated by Brown and Yule cited in Richards (1990:56) examples of transactional uses of the language range from several aspects such as news broadcasts, lectures, etc. Briefly, Richards concludes that language in its interactional functions is needed to interact with the teacher and peers while accomplishing class tasks, and language in its transactional functions is needed in order to acquire new skills, assimilate new information, and construct new concepts. (1990:56-57).

In short, as the visual element is the focus in this study, its importance in listening comprehension is vital. Hence, Kellerman (1990) cited in Kilfoil and Van der Walt (1997) indicates the importance of visual information for listening, because language learners are particularly dependent upon visual context for spoken information, in the sense that they need all the help they can get to make sense of the sounds coming at them (1997:150). In fact, from the association of both visual and verbal input television materials supply, students are able to develop effective listening strategies. These as Miro (1998:1) recommends, enable learners to do what native speakers would do: that is, to take a top-down approach to listening, by making inferences from what they hear. Top-down and bottom-up processing are explained below.

2.5.2.2. Top-down and bottom-up processing

To begin with, two listening processes are central to any theory of listening comprehension as Richards (1990:50) puts it. These distinct kinds of processes are referred to as `bottom-up' and `top-down' processing. Bottom-up processing concerns the use of incoming data as a source of information about the meaning of a message (1990:50). He furthers his discussion and argues that:

From this perspective, the process of comprehension begins with the message received, which is analysed at successive levels of organization- sounds, words, clauses, and sentences- until the intended meaning is arrived at. Comprehension is thus viewed as a process of decoding.

Regarding top-down processing, this deals with the use of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a message (1990:51).He gives further details about how background knowledge contributes to easier understanding of given listening material. He states that the background may take several forms. It may be previous knowledge about the topic of discourse, it may be situational or contextual knowledge, or it may be knowledge stored in long-term memory in the form of `schemata' and `scripts' - plans about the overall structure of events and the relationships between them (1990:51). The next section deals with a content-based model to language teaching.

2.6. Content- Based Instruction (CBI)

As mentioned earlier, this study also seeks to answer the first subsidiary research question (see Section 1.3.): what is the current approach to language teaching at the NUR? In this study, I was not able to conduct classroom observations to see what the prevailing teaching approach is but I was able to examine the content of the academic English programmes. In this regard, principles of a Content-Based Instruction model to language teaching will be of help. The latter constitutes a starting point for evaluating the current English programmes at the NUR. In fact, from my observations the prevailing teaching and learning practices in this institution reflect a content-oriented language teaching approach. This will be highlighted further in Chapter 4.

This form of instruction has been at the centre of the debates among several scholars and some of them are referred to below. For instance, Davies (2003) in his article provides us with a simple definition of CBI in line with the EFL context. He states that Content based instruction (CBI) is a teaching method that emphasises learning about something rather than learning language (2003:1). Curtin (1995:2), on her part stresses that Content-based instruction is a method of teaching foreign languages that integrates language instruction with instruction in the content areas. She adds that in this approach the foreign language is used as the medium for teaching subject content, such as mathematics or social studies, from the regular classroom curriculum. The list of definitions is not exhaustive. According to Richards & Rodgers (2001:204) Content- based instruction (CBI) refers to an approach to second language teaching in which teaching is organised around the content or information that students will acquire, rather than around a linguistic or other type of syllabus. To be more specific, they specify that CBI as an approach is grounded on the following two central principles:

(1) People learn a second language more successfully when they use the language as a means of acquiring information, rather than as an end in itself .

(2) Content-based instruction better reflects learner's needs for learning a second language. (2003:207)

They further emphasise that the second principle reflects the fact that many content based programmes serve to prepare ESL students for academic studies or for mainstreaming (2001:207). As a consequence, CBI proponents argue that a central priority would be to access the content of academic learning and teaching as quickly as possible, as well as the processes through which such learning and teaching are realised (2001:207) Within the approach to CBI, there is a theory of language and a number of assumptions about the nature of language underlie it. In this respect, Richards & Rodgers (2001:208) put forward three main points to take into account:

(1) Language is text-and discourse based;

(2) Language draws on integrated skills;

(3) Language is purposeful.

Briefly speaking, the first statement has to do with the fact that CBI addresses the role of language as a vehicle for learning content. The second one deals with the fact that CBI views language use as involving several skills together. The third and last, advocates the use of language for specific purposes. With regard to the theory of learning underlying CBI, the scholars make reference to the first core principle as listed earlier on as an indication (i.e. People learn a second language more successfully when they use the language as a means of acquiring information, rather than as an end in itself) In other words, acquiring information or the content itself constitutes the point of departure or organising principle of the course. (Richards and Rodgers, 2001:209)

Kagwesage (2001:22) states that advocates of the content-based model believe that language and content development should not be regarded in isolation from each other. Rather they are related and therefore students can learn the target language while they are learning other subjects. This is the case for second year English students at the NUR and more details on this are provided in Section 4.5.5.

As Crandall (1987:5) says, the focus is not just on learning the language, but in using it as a medium to learn something else. When using a language as a medium of learning (which is the case for the English students at the NUR), as Snow et.al put it, and when the learners' second language is both the object and medium of instruction, the content of each lesson must be taught simultaneously with skills necessary for understanding it (1989:202). In the next section, I briefly discuss the principles of materials design.

2.7. Principles of materials design

Tomlinson (1998:2) claims that people associate the term `language learning materials' with course books because that has been their main experience of using materials. In reality, the term refers to anything that is used by teachers or learners to facilitate the learning of a language. Regarding the concept of materials development, the latter has been equated with anything which is done by writers, teachers or learners to provide sources of language input and to exploit those sources in ways which maximise the likelihood of intake: in other words the supplying of information about and/or experience of the language in ways designed to promote language learning (Tomlinson, 1998: 2)

Tomlinson has been influential in the area of materials development in language teaching and scholars such as Richards pay tribute to him. Tomlinson (1998), cited in Richards (2001:263), lists sixteen characteristics of good language teaching materials some of which I refer to. For example, materials should expose the learners to language in authentic use, materials should provide learners with opportunities to use the target language for communicative purposes, materials should not rely too much on controlled practice, etc. Rowntree (1997), cited in Richards (2001:263) specifies other features pertaining to good materials. The latter, he states, should among other things, arouse learners' interest, encourage them to practise, help them to do better, etc.

There should be a set of criteria for acceptable materials to use in class. Willis (1996:70) provides us with some criteria that seem convincing to me. These can be referred to as for example: exploitability, topic, length/chunk-ability, linguistic complexity, and accessibility. She cautions her readers that the criteria above are inextricably intertwined. They are also applicable to materials sources such as texts and recordings that have already carefully been classified and labelled. Willis specifies that if any of the criteria presents a problem in a particular text it is still possible to design an initial task that makes it accessible to students (1996:70-71).

2.8. Conclusion.

This chapter dealt with issues surrounding the concept of `television' and its role in the area of English teaching and learning. A survey of types of television materials was made. This chapter also established the place of television and its importance in education in what has been referred to as `educational television'.

In addition, I have discussed an overview of the evolution of approaches to foreign language teaching. This chapter also dealt with the development of audiovisual materials in the language classroom and surveyed the use of television (or any other similar audiovisual material such as video recordings) in the language class. Here, two main language skills (i.e. speaking and listening skills) that are connected to the students' viewing experiences in the language class have attracted my attention.

Lastly, this chapter provided us with a model of language teaching, Content-based instruction, as the latter will help in the analysis of the content of English academic programmes. Some principles of materials development were also discussed.

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

The previous chapter focused on the theoretical framework that I employed to establish the boundaries of my research and to account for the debates in literature around the topic of using television for English teaching and learning. This chapter presents in more detail the research tools that I used to collect my data. It provides us with information on the research site, research participants and research techniques I used while conducting my research.

3.1. Qualitative research methodology

There are certain common research methods that are usually associated with collecting and analysing data. In this case, my study is mainly based on the qualitative research tradition.

In relation to qualitative research, Nunan stipulates that it is concerned with understanding human behaviour from the actor's own frame of reference (1992:4). He states that it is close to the data: the `insider' perspective, grounded, discovery-oriented, process-oriented. Neuman on his part says that qualitative researchers are more concerned about issues of the richness, texture, and feeling of raw data because their inductive approach emphasises developing insights and generalisations out of the data collected (2000:122). In addition, within the framework of qualitative methods, the researcher plays a central role in the elucidation and interpretation of the behaviours observed. Other common features of qualitative research include context sensitivity and inductive analysis (Best and Kahn 1998). Qualitative data refer to a detailed description, a deep investigation and understanding of the informants' experiences, beliefs, feelings, etc. In this case, context sensitivity means that the findings are placed for example in a social and temporal context in which the data were collected and thus the data cannot be generalised to other contexts. By inductive analysis, the researcher identifies theories or hypotheses from the data.

3.2. Selection of the research site

The research site is located in the Southern part of the country, in the Butare Province. This study was conducted at the National University of Rwanda (NUR) for the following reasons: firstly, the NUR is the veteran of all higher institutions of learning in the country since it was founded in 1963, while other institutions were started in the late 1980s and 1990s. Secondly, I decided to undertake my research at the NUR because this is where I have completed my undergraduate studies. I have also been assistant lecturer in this university for three years and therefore felt the insights I got from my Masters programme and research could particularly benefit the institution in the field of language education.

3.3. Selection of the population

My sample population was made up of fifty participants all chosen from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in the Department of English. The participants in the research were initially made up of ten lecturers and forty students at second year English level. Before discussing criteria followed in selecting my subjects, let me provide first a profile of the teaching staff in the Department of English. This unit has ten full time lecturers. While I was conducting my research, four of them were absent from duty due to several reasons: two were on study leave and two had not showed up at work for unknown reasons. Hence, I conducted my research with the six lecturers who were available. As far as students are concerned, it has to be noted that during the current (i.e. 2004) academic year, the Department of English at the NUR has had more than fifty registered second year students. I managed to get in touch with only forty students who were at University within the time frame I was working in.

The first criterion for choosing my sample population has been availability and willingness to answer my questions. However, in the selection of my subjects I had to take into account the requirements of my study which directed me to purposive sampling. As far as the latter is concerned, Cohen and Manion (1994:77) explain that the researcher handpicks cases to be included in his sample on the basis of his judgment of their typicality. The second criterion has been the fact that the students to be questioned had to be EFL learners and from the Faculty of Arts in the Department of English. The representativity of my sample has also been taken into account. The criteria for selecting lecturers were that they had to be lecturing in the English Department and involved in teaching English classes.

During the data collection, six lecturers received questionnaires to complete. After they had responded to them, I decided to interview some of them in a bid to get supplementary information on their views. Despite being overloaded by chores in relation to the beginning of the academic year, four lecturers agreed to be interviewed. Unfortunately, I could not meet the fourth because shortly before our appointment, he was called to an urgent commitment. As for students, only thirty out of the forty students in second year responded to my questionnaire.

3. 4. Data collection procedures

In my research, as I mentioned in the preceding section, I approached the main actors in the area of language teaching and learning at the NUR and these were lecturers and students. Questionnaires and interviews were the main methods for my data collection. I also had recourse to document analysis. In fact, I examined the content of academic English programmes in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The next section deals with each of the research instruments used.

3.4.1. The Questionnaire

The format of a questionnaire is usually made up of two items: an open item and a close item. In my research I have employed both. Nunan defines each of these terms. He says that a close item is one in which the range of possible responses is determined by the researcher. An open item is one in which the subject can decide what to say and how to say it (1992:143). The two ways of gathering data present a number of benefits.

According to Best and Kahn (1998:250), the advantages of closed questions are that they enable the researcher to easily compare and classify the responses. As a result, data analysis may be simple. Examples included such questions as: do you ever watch television? Has your lecturer ever used television while teaching you? (see Appendix A) As far as their disadvantages are concerned, the respondents' experiences and feelings are positioned by the researcher's intentions, leading the informant to be biased. To oppose this, the use of open items is advocated.

Concerning the open items, as Nunan emphasises, it is also likely that responses to these questions will more accurately reflect what the respondent wants to say (1992:143). Examples of these would consist of questions like `...how does your lecturer go about teaching English with the use of television?'(see Appendix A) Under this perspective, these questions have the merit of providing in-depth qualitative data since they offer an opportunity for clarification that automatically gives rise to more views and more ideas. Nevertheless, open questions may yield huge and different information that may demand time and energy to organise and analyse.

Having provided a background to the use of questionnaires, let me now proceed by elucidating how the questions in the questionnaire were relevant to my investigation.

The questionnaire consisted of twelve questions and the latter have been constructed around the research question `How can one integrate television at the NUR at English second year level?'(see Section 1.3.) In fact, the questionnaire was introduced by general questions pertaining to the background of the informant in watching television to see the extent to which the respondent is interested or not in this medium or to have an idea of the importance the informant attaches to it. In other words, I had to test if research on television was valid or not, if it was worth carrying out. This is the reason why both students and lecturers were asked such questions as `Do you ever watch any television programme in English? Which English programmes do you like to watch?' (see Appendix A & Appendix B)

The second part of the students' questionnaire was composed of questions in connection with the listening abilities of the students assessed from the point of view of watching television programmes broadcast in English. In fact, the rationale behind the different questions addressed to my subjects was a form of establishing a needs analysis. I wanted to investigate how listening materials designed or constructed from television sources can be exploited or developed to improve the students' listening abilities in future. According to Kilfoil and Van der Walt, sensitivity to the learner's needs is one of the most important considerations in the construction of a communicative course. They further argue that this analysis should indicate the level of competence at which the learner starts the course, the extent to which the learner will need the language, the purposes for which she will need it and at what level she will be expected to communicate in the target language (1997:15).

However, the lecturers were not concerned by the kind of question referred to above. Actually, I assumed that the lecturers' level of English proficiency was far better than their students. The fact that they are more knowledgeable and experienced allows them to follow English programmes on television without great difficulty.

The last component of the questionnaire and the most crucial for my research explored students' and lecturers' attitudes towards the role of TV in English teaching and learning. This part also comprised aspects related to developing language skills in the context of English language teaching and learning by means of television. I was informed by the communicative approach to language teaching and learning which devotes more attention to the learners' needs as discussed earlier. For this reason, I had to gather the learners' thoughts and wishes on how they think television as an audiovisual tool can assist them in improving, for instance, their listening as well as their speaking skills. On the side of the lecturers, they are mainly called upon to play a key role in the learning process as facilitators, managers and evaluators of the materials to incorporate into their class. Hence, questions like `how will you go about teaching English using television?' `How would you organise your English class as far as using TV materials is concerned?'(see Appendix B & Appendix C) were concentrated on in their questionnaires and interviews.

3.4.2. The interview.

Interviews are beneficial as a research method. Different scholars support this. For instance, Anderson (1990:222) states that there are fewer problems with people failing to respond. Best and Kahn (1998:320) to sustain this, hold that people are usually more willing to talk than to write. It is worth stressing that interviews are not time-consuming and they offer firsthand information on the matter discussed. Before I shift to the format of the interview, I would like to mention that the questions to my interviews have generally followed the format of the questionnaire with slight changes in the formulation. The interviews were primarily meant to provide supplementary information on lecturers' views or to complete the responses to their questionnaire.

Interviews fall into two main categories: an unstructured interview and a structured one. In Nunan's words (1992:149), an unstructured interview is guided by the responses of the interviewee rather than the agenda of the researcher. In a structured one, the agenda is totally predetermined by the researcher (p.149). For my research the semi-structured interview has been more favoured in that the researcher has initially a rough idea of where he leads or directs the interview, and what should be the outcomes. Nevertheless, this format does not only stick to the interviewer's direction but also allows flexibility and freedom on the side of the interviewee who could develop his ideas and speak more widely on issues raised by the researcher. In other words, interviewers are allowed to digress; that is interviewers are permitted to probe far beyond their prepared and standardised questions (Berg, 2001:70). Nonetheless, the questions should not deviate from the focal point of the interview. Instances include questions like `Do you think TV can be a valuable teaching tool, for instance while teaching English? (see Appendix D/Interview with lecturer No 2)

Closed items have also been included in my interview for the sake of rendering the comparison between answers easier which could facilitate me in the organisation and interpretation of the interview's responses. Examples included such questions as `Do you ever use television while teaching English? What English programme do you like to watch?' (see Appendix C)

During the interviews, my informants were tape-recorded and the interview was later transcribed and then organised into manageable chunks for analysis. Worthy of note here is the fact that I first of all briefed and explained to my interviewees the nature of my research and the purpose of my interview. On the question of using tape recorders, I had to consider more strengths than weaknesses of this research procedure. I therefore agree with Nunan's assertions when he lists the merits of tape recording as the following: `We are preserving actual language, have an objective record and data can be reanalysed after the event' (1992:153).

Relying only on the interviews and questionnaires' responses was not sufficient, for the latter might not reflect what was actually happening in the language classroom. I also had made recourse to written documents. Thus, some valuable information about my research has been obtained from the content of English programmes in use in the Department of English of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities as part of archival data.

3.4.3. Document analysis

Another research tool I used was document analysis. This had the primary objective of assessing the content of academic English programmes in the Department of English at the NUR. It's worth noting that literature on research methods does not provide much information on this method. However, some scholars have contributed to the understanding of document analysis, also referred to as content analysis. According to Neuman (2000:292):

Content analysis is a technique for gathering and analyzing the content of text. The content refers to words, meanings, pictures, symbols, ideas, themes, or any message that can be communicated. The text is anything written, visual, or spoken that serves as a medium for communication.

With regard to Fraenkel and Wallen (1993:41) the major advantage of document analysis is its unobtrusive nature. That is the researcher can observe without being observed. Therefore, as far as the analysis of the documents (i.e. content of English programmes) is concerned, I was compelled to establish a number of criteria as a checklist, mainly informed by principles to content-based instruction. These principles have been discussed in the previous chapter and a thorough and detailed analysis will be the focal point in the following chapter on interpretation of the findings. However, the different criteria or checklist for the evaluation of the aforementioned programme are presented in the following lines:

1) Does the programme state or show which English teaching and learning

approach lecturers should adopt?

2) Does the programme envision the use of television materials or any other type

of audiovisual material such as video recording, in the English teaching and

learning processes?

3) Does the programme promote and incorporate language tasks and/or activities

by means of television in the language class?

It is worth specifying that samples of the content of courses have been selected simply if they were directly linked to the use of TV materials as teaching and learning tools (see Section 4.4.2.).

3.5. Ethical considerations

I had to take into account ethical issues before collecting my data. As regards the administration of my questionnaire I first of all met the students during their class break time and briefly explained to them the purpose of my research. I made it clear that the data they would provide me was strictly meant for research ends and that their anonymity was totally guaranteed. This is the reason why, while analysing findings to the questionnaire and interviews, lecturers for example, have been referred to L1, L2, L3, etc. Here, L stands for `lecturer'.

Furthermore, for the sake of avoiding uneasiness that could arise from my presence while the students had to complete the questionnaire, they were allowed to take the document and comfortably write their answers at home. I, however, gave them a week to complete the task. It was also an opportunity for them to think carefully about their responses. Nevertheless, this alternative had its own disadvantage: out of 40 administered questionnaires, only 30 copies were returned. As for lecturers, I had to arrange an appointment with every lecturer on an individual basis and give them the questionnaire so that they could return it a couple of days later.

3.6. Limitations

Every piece of research encounters constraints and I too have come across some pitfalls while conducting my research. Firstly, I only had a month to collect all my data and secondly I was obliged to wait for the official opening of the 2004 academic year at the NUR to be able to meet my informants (i.e. students and lecturers). Thirdly, when classes had started it was not easy to arrange appointments with my subjects since the students in particular had first of all to cope with crash courses by visiting lecturers, which implies that they were not in a position to flexibly avail themselves for other commitments. Fourthly, classes that could interest my area of the investigation had not yet been introduced (i.e. Conversational English I & II and Listening English I & II) which prevented me from carrying out classroom observations. Such observations could have served as a means of triangulation of my data from interview and questionnaire responses. As a result, analysis of my findings was based on the document analysis together with answers I was able to obtain from the interviews and questionnaires.

3.7. Conclusion

This chapter was mainly concerned with the research methodology employed in this study. Research methods such as interviews, questionnaires and document analysis were the cornerstone of this chapter. A checklist for the analysis of the content of academic English programmes was also highlighted. In the next chapter, I present and interpret the data.

Chapter 4: Presentation and analysis of data

The preceding chapter dealt with the main methodological principles that have informed my research. Qualitative research was assessed to be appropriate for collecting the data and methods such as interviews, questionnaires and document analysis were used. This chapter focuses on the presentation and analysis of the data. Firstly, students' views based on the questionnaires are presented, followed by lecturers' views on the questionnaires and interviews and lastly, the content of academic English programmes are reviewed. Next, the data is analysed, drawing insights from the literature review.

4.1. Students' views from questionnaires

As mentioned in Section 3.3., my sample student population was initially made up of forty second year English students in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Only thirty of the questionnaires were returned. The questionnaire consisted of twelve questions in all. It was organised around three major themes: the first theme dealt with background and experiences of the respondents with regard to TV; the second with their current listening abilities in relation to different English programmes on TV (this only concerned the students) and the third with attitudes or opinions on the role of TV materials in English teaching and learning. In the following section, I first provide the original question and then the responses to it. I do this for each section that follows. The full questionnaire is provided in Appendix A.

4.1.1 Background and experience in watching TV

Questions 1 to 6 deal with this theme.

Q1: Do you ever watch TV? All 30 students gave an affirmative reply.

Q2: a) How often do you watch TV? 6/30 students indicated that they watch TV twice a week and the same number of respondents indicated that they watch TV every day, 5/30 said that they devote three times a week to it. Other responses show that the average ranges from thrice to once a week.

b) How long do you watch it? Fewer than half of my informants (i.e. 10/30) spent two hours in front of the TV screen a day whereas 9/30 indicated that they spend three hours. The rest of the students indicated that the time varies from one hour to less than an hour.

Q3: a) Which TV channel/station do you like to watch? This required students to specify channels or TV stations they like to watch irrespective of the language of broadcast. 21/30 watch TVR, the Rwanda National TV station and 20/30 watch CNN (American TV station), 18/30 watch TV5 (French TV station). Other channels that also received attention are BBC (British station) (i.e.13/3O) and Channel O (South African TV station) (i.e. 14/30).

b) Which programmes do you like to watch? Here, news comes first (i.e.30 /30), music follows next (i.e. 21/30), then comes sports (i.e. 20/30). Another type of programme that attracts attention from the students is documentaries with 8/30.

Q4: In what language (s) are these TV programmes broadcast? English (i.e.28/30) and French (i.e. 27/30) were used more often than local languages such as Kinyarwanda (i.e.18/30).

Q5: Do you ever watch any TV programme in English? All 30 students replied in the affirmative.

Q6: Which one do you like to watch? Rank your choices in order of interest. More than a half (i.e.16/30) mentioned news in the first place. 9/30 ranked sports in second place, both movies and music (i.e.10/30) were third and documentaries fifth.

After having a picture of how the second year English students replied to questions in connection with their background and experiences in watching TV, let me now present the data with regard to the students' abilities to understand TV programmes in English.

4.1.2. Students' listening abilities in relation to TV English programmes.

Questions 7 and 8 tackle this theme.

Q7: How well do you follow TV programmes in English? The students' responses show that more than half of the informants are not able to understand both the main ideas and details of programmes they watch (i.e.16/30). Only 6/30 get main ideas without details. 8/30 are in a position to provide details about the programme. The first group of students (i.e.16/30) indicated that they could get only bits of information that were insufficient to enable them to understand the programme sufficiently.

Their reasons for their listening abilities were as follows: the fact that they miss details or get the main ideas only is related to the kind of English used in some TV stations. When they listen, for example to news, they are likely to get as much information as required. However, when the news is from an American station, problems arise, which is not always the case with BBC English. When they listen to music or sports events they rarely grasp the commentary. In this context, as far as music is concerned, a student had this to say, `Most of the time we are enable to get details from a song because of the tune^6(*) that accompanies the text of the music' The student could presumably get some details if he were involved in listening to a simple speech without musical notes. Concerning sports programmes, they stated that reporters' speech is not intelligible enough due to extralinguistic factors such as the noise from sports fans.

Q8: Which accent (s) do you find difficult? This required students to rank English accents in order of difficulty. The respondents' answers indicated that American English comes first with 22/30, Indian English the second with 16/30. 14/30 ranked British English as difficult. Other accents, such as Ugandan follow with 9/30.

The next section deals with students' attitudes towards English teaching and learning in situations where TV is used as a teaching resource.

4.1.3. Attitudes towards the role of TV in English teaching and learning.

Questions 9 to 12 discuss this theme.

Q9: a) Has your lecturer ever used a TV programme while teaching you? From the students' responses, only 8/30 replied in the affirmative and 22/30 said that they did not have such an opportunity.

b) How does your lecturer go about teaching English with the use of TV? On this question, 5/8 students gave some examples such as listening to news broadcasts and making a summary of the main points. 4/8 stated that they would listen to an extract of news broadcasts and answer comprehension questions that had already been set for that purpose. There was also time for discussion on some points after viewing. One student stated that he had occasion to listen to different stations such as BBC and CNN and the lecturer would ask the class to tell the difference between the English accents used in the two stations.

Students who did not have any opportunity of learning English by means of TV (i.e.22/30) emphasised the usefulness of using the medium as a learning tool for the following reasons: 12 out of 22 students believed that listening to TV can help them become familiar with various English accents and at the same time have exposure to the culture of the language in use. In addition to this, they believed that gestures or facial expressions can help them in getting the intended meaning as they listen to a given programme. 4/22 students pointed out that listening to TV provides them with input about new idioms, expressions and vocabulary. Other respondents (i.e.3/22) found images and sound an added advantage to comprehension. Another insight drawn from the students' answers (i.e.3/22) is that the English used on TV constitutes a model for speaking by imitating native speakers of English with regard to structures, correct pronunciation, etc. 2/22 students acknowledged that TV is a valuable tool as various programmes instruct on miscellaneous topics such as business affairs, scientific issues, rural and urban development via documentaries. The next section deals with students' views on how TV materials can help them to improve their listening capacities (see Question 10).

Q10: Do you think that TV can improve your listening capacities?

It has to be noted that some of the views below have already been touched upon in response to Question 9. The students' main ideas are presented as follows. 10/30 respondents affirmed that `practice makes perfect' they thought that the more they listen, the more they improve their current listening abilities. They also assumed that with TV they get exposure to different speakers with different accents. In addition, 5/30 students said that watching TV is better than listening to radio because of images, words and sounds; the understanding is better when you listen to someone you can see. As stressed in responses to the preceding question, they found that facial expressions help in listening, e.g. movement of lips or other parts of the body assist the listener/viewer in comprehension. 15 of my informants mentioned that TV offers an occasion for practice of pronunciation features that have already been learned theoretically.

Q11: Do you think TV can improve your speaking capacities?

On this note, the respondents' views revolved around the following aspects: exposure to a kind of stimulus (i.e. model of speech presentation, pronunciation, register, intonation, etc) pertaining to native speakers' English. 20/30 students believed that foreign language users need to imitate this or internalise it in their everyday language. 10 remaining respondents stressed that answers to Question 11 do not differ from those in Question 10 in that they are interrelated since speaking and listening skills cannot be learned in isolation or separately. The final question (i.e. Question 12) concludes the discussion on students' attitudes towards teaching and learning practices.

Q12: How do you appreciate TV materials (i.e. live programmes) compared to ready recorded teaching materials (i.e. video recordings) as far as enhancing your English acquisition is concerned?

20 students believed that TV materials provide up-to-date input or authenticity of material which is reflected in several aspects: regularity of broadcast programmes, variety or range of topics. As for video recordings, 10 students believed that these materials are mostly prepared for a target group, especially beginners or intermediate level and limited to a few topics. They, however, acknowledged that both can be used to improve the learning process. The next section aims at presenting the lecturers' responses to the questionnaire.

4.2. Lecturers' views from questionnaires

As mentioned in Section 3.3., lecturers who responded to the questionnaire were six in total. It is necessary to state that they were included in my sample if they lectured in the English Department and if they were involved in teaching English classes. The questionnaire was made up of 7 questions. As has been the case with the students' questionnaire, the one for lecturers has also been designed around different themes. The lecturers' responses revolved around two main themes: first, background and experience in watching TV and second, attitudes towards the role of TV in English teaching and learning. Their answers and views are presented below.

4.2.1. Background and experience in watching TV.

Questions 1, 2 and 3 deal with this theme.

Q1: Do you ever watch TV? All six subjects replied positively.

Q2: How often? 5/6 are in front of their TV set on a daily basis.

Q2: How long? 4 of them range from three to four hours a day while 2 lecturers usually watch TV for about 45 minutes a day.

Q3: a) Which English programmes do you like to watch?

This required lecturers to specify their favourite programmes. Afterwards, they had to rank them in order of interest. The answers show that 5/6 ranked news in the first position. The next programme was documentaries with 4/6. Movies were ranked third (i.e. 3/6) while music was fourth.

b) Rank your choice in order of interest and provide an explanation for your

option.

Below are ideas supporting why they favour news over any other programme. All (i.e. 6/6) agree on the peculiar character of the news: keeping their minds alert on information about worldly matters. When it comes to the documentaries, my informants stressed that they learn more on the advances in the world, facts about real achievements. For instance, L1 states, `As a lecturer, I need documentaries because I learn more about real achievements and the advances in the world. In short, they sharpen my mind.' The next section highlights the findings concerning attitudes, feelings of the teaching staff towards the role assigned to TV in English teaching and learning processes.

4.2.2. Attitudes towards the role of TV in English teaching and learning

Questions 4, 5, 6 and 7 deal with this theme.

Q4: Do you ever use TV while teaching English?

4 lecturers acknowledged that they do not use this medium whereas 2/6 indicated that they had used TV in their English class.

Q5: a) Do you think TV can be a valuable tool while teaching languages?

All six respondents totally agreed that the medium is necessary.

b) If yes, how will you go about teaching English using TV? Explain.

The lecturers' views revolve around two main aspects: the first one concerns planning and selecting appropriate equipment such as video and TV stations and/or channels that can fit one's teaching situation. The second focuses on methodology or approach that can guide lecturers in teaching students with the use of TV materials. These two broad aspects of responses serve as a basis for analysis of the findings in Section 4.5. In response to the first part of Question 5, lecturers recommended the use of recorded and live programmes wherever possible. For example, 4 lecturers suggested that one may record live programmes on video cassette and then play it back using the VCR.

As for the second component of Question 5, my informants specified that through use of video tapes one can teach English pronunciation. Another possibility they (i.e.2/6) raised is to let students follow news over time to build comprehension, watching advertisements, movies, examining small bits of these programmes. One may also use the content of a TV programme to teach grammatical structures and the expressions used by the interactants. Two central points have been drawn from the lecturers' views: firstly, listening to different accents of English while also watching body language and events taking place. In other words, the learners practise how to accompany words with gestures. Secondly, the practical hint they (i.e. 4/6) recommended is that the tasks to this listening activity should be devised before hand and suited to the learner's needs and levels.

Q6: Do you think TV can help to improve your learners' listening skills?

Here, lecturers described how TV materials can improve the learners' listening skills. All 6 subjects focused on using the authentic language of TV. According to them the latter helps in the sense that the more learners are exposed to listening materials the more they get accustomed to them and hence the more they can cope with real life listening situations.

Q7: Do you think TV can help to improve their speaking skills?

4/6 stated that TV materials can be selected and used as models of speech to imitate in class. As far as selecting the appropriate speaking tasks are concerned, debates, role plays can constitute good practical activities for learners. The students can watch a movie clip and narrate what they see. This, according to all the respondents (i.e. 6/6) means that the learners could improve their speaking skills when after watching sessions, they are involved in discussions on the issues/topics developed in the TV programmes. In addition, 4 lecturers added that these tasks can be carried out in group discussions that may be reported to the class, thus adding presentation skills. L 5 suggested what students can do to develop their speaking skills, `For instance, students could watch the programme without sound and with images only and be asked to imagine what actors say.'

As mentioned earlier, the interview responses which follow provide supplementary information on lecturers' views.

4.3. Lecturers' views from interviews

As discussed in Section 3.3, I interviewed three lecturers out of six who had also responded to my questionnaire. The interview consisted of 11 questions. However, the number of questions varied depending on the interview circumstances. I sometimes reformulated questions to let the interviewee extend more his contribution on the topic. Below are the main findings that fall under two major themes as foregrounded in the questionnaire (i.e. background and experience in watching TV and second, attitudes towards the role of TV in English teaching and learning).

4.3.1. Background and experience in watching TV

Questions 1 and 2 deal with this theme.

Q1: Do you ever watch TV?

Regarding his past and present experience in watching TV, L1 (the first interviewee) told me that he only watches TV after work. On the same question, the second interviewee L2 replied that he watches TV on a daily basis and the duration may take from three to four hours depending on the programme. The third one (i.e. L3) emphasised that she sometimes watches TV but all depends on the topics aired. She stated that if the topics are not interesting, she just switches the TV off.

Q2: What are your favourite programmes?

Concerning this question, the first respondent (i.e. L1) specified that the news comes in the first position and the magazines afterwards whereas the second interviewee (i.e. L 2), affirmed that he was particularly interested in news and other programmes like music, live events, soccer and documentaries. L 3 on her part mentioned news as the programme she watches most of the time.

The next section contains lecturers' attitudes on the use (or potential use) of TV in English language teaching and learning.

4.3.2. Attitudes towards the role of TV in English teaching and learning.

Questions 6,7,8,9 and 10 tackle this theme.

Q6: Do you ever use TV while teaching English?

L1 stressed that he is not in a position to use TV due to facilities that have broken down. L2 has never made use of TV whereas L 3 used it with her former students at the EPLM. (see Appendix D)

Q7: Do you think TV can be a valuable teaching tool while teaching languages?

In response to this question, L1 assumed that TV is generally helpful. It helps students to understand languages better because they watch and listen at the same time. L2 believes that TV supports English learning when it is properly used. He added

As regards listening for instance you can use TV if you have video taped programmes that you use in the classroom. This can help students to improve or to get accustomed to various accents of English depending on whether the programmes are developed by American or British speakers.

With regard to speaking, he argued that students' presentation skills can improve if they refer to the speakers they watch on TV. In this case, they may be asked to be involved in similar activities as those on TV such as debates, discussions, role plays etc. L3 on her side stressed that, for example TV offers authentic material and different reporters have different pronunciations which the students are exposed to and so they can adjust to each situation.

As far as developing listening and speaking skills by means of TV materials is concerned (i.e. Q9: Do you think TV materials can improve your learners listening skills? Q10: Do you think TV materials can help learners improve their speaking skills?) my interviewees also expressed their opinions on the issue. L1 elaborated on how students' listening abilities can be improved in the following words:

... normally you record the target programme and then you let your students watch. Prior to watching, he would make a kind of preview of the programme, and then set questions so that the students watch while trying to find answers to those questions.

L2's views on developing listening as well as speaking skills have been referred to earlier (i.e. familiarity with other accents and acquiring presentation skills) but the interview provides additional information on aspects of the usefulness of TV in teaching speaking. He maintained that TV can also be a valuable teaching tool because it can help them to develop these performative skills: to speak, to use body language, to improve on their accents, expressions and so forth. On L3's part, her attitudes on listening have been touched upon above (i.e. exposure to different pronunciations). With regard to developing speaking skills, she has this to say:

... students had those TV presenters as models. So they could imitate them, imitate their pronunciation and get exposed to ways of pronouncing well known words.

In the next section, I present the documents that will be subject to analysis in Section 4.5.5. The documents discuss the nature of the programmes used in the Department of English in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the NUR. I examine their content in terms of the checklist mentioned in Chapter 3, Section 3.4.3. The criteria focus on the teaching and learning approach underlying these programmes, the provision they make for the use of audiovisuals, such as TV and the selection and design of materials and tasks based on TV materials.

4.4. Presentation of content of academic English programmes at NUR

4.4.1. Background

There are three kinds of academic English programmes at the NUR: first, the one year intensive English course at EPLM; second, the English course first year students have in their respective faculties after EPLM (i.e. Oral and Written Expression) and third, the different English courses the students in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities study both as subject and medium of instruction. The last category is my concern in this chapter. It is worth mentioning that the programme that will be analysed concerns the students who study English as their area of specialisation.

In fact, the Department of English has a four year English programme after which the graduates obtain a Bachelor's Degree in English. The first two years equip students with general and specific courses and skills. The latter constitutes a basis for the students to make a choice of their own from three options in the third year: literature, linguistics and interpreting and translation. This structure is a result of academic programme reforms that were undertaken in the years 2000 and 2001 at the NUR. The reforms in question have been informed by the general NUR policy whose guiding principle was professionalising its educational system. In fact, graduates from the previous programme obtained a Bachelor's Degree in General English and one could notice that, after their training they were neither linguistics specialists nor literature ones. The current programme offers the candidate a choice of three fields of study as stated earlier (i.e. translating and interpreting included) and students major in one of them.

4.4.2. Structure of the English programme

As said in Chapter 3, I examine courses whose contents are directly linked to issues related to the use of TV materials as teaching and learning aids. To be more specific, Listening Comprehension One and Two are related to this study as watching TV involves a great deal of listening. Likewise, Conversational English I and II prepare the students in basic listening features they come across frequently. As one can notice from the structure of these courses, the programmes at the NUR provide the following information: (1) course title and its code (2) objectives of the course and (3) content. The latter is made up of two parts: theory and practice. Details on the structure of courses mentioned above are found in Appendix E.

After having looked at the structure of the content of academic English programmes for some courses, the next section deals with analysis of the data I collected through questionnaires, interviews and documents at the NUR.

4.5. Analysis of the data

4.5.1. Students' views.

This section examines students' views on their listening abilities and their perceptions of the use of TV in English teaching and learning at the NUR. Before dealing with this in detail, I look briefly at some preliminary issues that emerged from the students' questionnaire. These are subdivided into four aspects:

1) background and experience in watching TV

2) students' preferable TV stations/channels

3) their favourite TV programmes

4) languages broadcast on TV.

Firstly, the data indicates that students attach a certain importance to watching TV 19/30, that is 63.3% spend two to three hours a day).Secondly, the students pointed out a number of TV stations and channels they like to watch and as the data indicates TVR, CNN, BBC and Channel O stations attracted most of their attention (see 4.1.1.) Since TV stations broadcasting in English are the focal point in this study, all four above-mentioned stations have English as the medium of communication. TVR, the national Rwanda TV station airs programmes in English, French and Kinyarwanda. When one looks at how much time students spend watching English TV stations (see 4.1.1.), one can assume that generally speaking they gain some knowledge from these stations.

Thirdly, the data indicates that news is the most favoured TV programme of my informants. The students believed that news reflects reality as it occurs and presents events and ideas of interest. As I pointed out in Section 4.1.1, other preferred programmes deal respectively with music, sports and documentaries.

Fourthly, as the data shows, English ranks first 28/30, that is 93.3 %. It is the medium of instruction and a school subject for Second Year English students. Other languages were also listed in this study: French and Kinyarwanda. Apart from their mother tongue and first language Kinyarwanda, they also speak and use French as their additional language.

The next section explores findings in connection with the students' listening abilities in watching TV programmes in English.

4.5.2. Students' listening abilities in watching TV programmes in English.

In asking Question 7 (i.e. how well do you follow TV programmes in English?) I aimed at assessing the current listening abilities of my subjects so that I could have some idea of what needs to be done in terms of improving their level of listening comprehension. In other words, lecturers can use this information to find out which sections they need to concentrate on.

Students' responses to the questionnaire show that more than half (i.e. 16/30 that is 53.3 %) are not able to get both main ideas and details from listening materials on TV. Failure to get the required information may be due to several factors. The students provided two main reasons: the first one is unfamiliarity with various English accents namely American English accent and the second, which relates to the first one, is lack of exposure to native speakers' intonation. This section also examines other underlying factors linked to incomprehension and looks at some strategies students make use of in their listening process.

a) Unfamiliarity with various English varieties.

Concerning the first reason, when they are required to watch different TV programmes of American English background, they are most likely to face listening comprehension difficulties. Here, my subjects (i.e. EFL/ESL learners) indicated that they had problems with what American English speakers say mainly because of unfamiliarity with English intonation of that accent. For example, this student expresses his problem as follows:

Frequently, I get main ideas only because American speakers' intonation^7(*) is difficult to follow and they speak quickly and it is not easy to get the whole message.

In relation to the problems second year English students face with `English intonation' Roach (2000:153) proposes a plausible solution in the following words:

The only efficient way to learn to use the intonation of a language is the way a child acquires the intonation of its first language, and the training referred to above should help the adult learner of English to acquire English intonation in a similar (though much slower) way-through listening and to talking to English speakers.

While discussing the question of variety of accents, particularly those causing difficulties for listeners, it is worth associating this debate with the students' views on Question 8 where I wanted to know which English accents my informants found more difficult than others. On this question the students ranked the different accents in order of difficulty. As you can see from their responses, the American variety of English is the most difficult (22/30, that is 73.3 %). Why is this accent one of the causes of listening difficulties for the second year English students? Unfamiliarity with the accent is one reason as mentioned earlier. Outside the classroom setting, the only languages they can listen to are either Kinyarwanda and French or any other indigenous language used in Rwanda.

English lecturers at the NUR whom students often listen to are either Rwandans or expatriates from neighbouring countries such as Burundi, Congo, Uganda and Tanzania. They are qualified in the English language but they are not first language speakers of it. The disadvantage is that students are used to their lecturers' accent as the sole provider of input which does not help them much.

In the case of the NUR, students need immersion into the English environment (i.e. living or travelling in the country where English is a first language) but the university's financial constraints would not allow this to happen. Until long-term solutions are found, the alternative one is to make use of TV. Here, lecturers should not expect miracles from this medium. Instead the success of TV in language classes depends on sound planning and a judicious exploitation of TV materials in a bid to achieve the lesson's objectives.

b) Lack of exposure to native speakers' intonation.

With regard to difficulties related to the American English accent pointed out in this study, particular aspects of English speech constitute the source of recurrent listening problems. As discussed in Section 4.5.2.a `intonation' constitutes a major obstacle to the students. As an illustration, the respondents do not find occasion to listen to native speakers in real life as they raise and lower their voices to express different meanings. Hence, authentic TV materials or video recordings offer opportunities to discriminate between a range of these features. TV programmes will be more practical in a class where the lecturer is not a native speaker of English and it will serve as a model of presentation.

TV can also be useful where the sound systems of British and American English are a major query for the viewer. Television presentation of such difficulties can assist the learner to have exposure to the intonation patterns referred to earlier. To illustrate this, when the students are trained to listen carefully to voice movement (i.e. tone) they can later know how certain utterances are used to express several language functions. These can be to signal whether to agree, disagree, question or hesitate, or indicate completion and continuation in turn-taking etc.

TV materials can serve as a model that offers accurate and quick explanation of specific language phenomena such as discriminating between varieties of American and English sound systems. Here, we can have production of some vowel sounds, or differences in vowel length, or consonantal differences, etc. This is another aspect where the language learner is once again called upon to apply the bottom-up approach to language learning (see 2.5.2.2.). He is required to decode, recognise and differentiate different sound patterns of English.

In brief, one solution to communication breakdown students normally face is use of authentic sources from the native speech community that helps to engage English students in authentic cultural experiences. Such sources can include TV programmes whose content should be selected with reference to the language features students need.

c) Other underlying factors to listening incomprehension.

It is obvious that success or failure in listening also depends on listening circumstances and purposes. If the students listen for entertainment purposes or academic ones, the results are going to be different. This is why for instance, in a listening class, motivation plays an important role. If the listening material and activities based upon it are stressful and if they are not relevant to their immediate needs or decontextualised (e.g. if the students do not know what the material will be about or what they will be expected to do, etc) the anxiety will increase and the quality of the intake will not improve (Kilfoil and Van der Walt 1997:146)

Besides, in relation to Question 9 where 22/30 (i.e.73%) of my informants asserted they have never been exposed to TV watching in the language class, this could be another factor behind their incomprehension. An additional cause could be that they might have not been trained to take a top-down approach to listening where the listeners/viewers are advised to infer from what they hear, to make use of their schemata (i.e. their background knowledge). This allows them to arrive at a sound interpretation of what they are listening to, rather than attempt to process every word.

Under this perspective, developing effective listening that overcomes the learners' difficulties as raised by my informants (i.e. Question 7), also requires promoting `holistic viewing'. This refers to the classroom situation where learners are given the opportunity to watch a video or TV extract in its entirety while undertaking a viewing task. This task could lead to a more successful listening activity. Now how can this task be designed? One way to do so is by using Wh- questions such as Who? What? Where? This can lead them to establish the context, the setting, the participants and understanding the global message (Miro, 1998:5-6).

In addition to this, in real-life situations, listening comprehension is aided by paralinguistic clues, as is the case when you deal with TV listening material. The circumstances surrounding the speaker provide hints to the meaning of the talk or speech. For instance, watching body language can assist language learners to improve their listening comprehension. In this case, some of the meaning comes from the speaker's facial expressions and body movements.

d) Listening strategies: hints or clues for better listening.

Despite listening problems the second year students encounter, they manage at least to experience easier listening situations when they are coping with some TV programmes. This is what they affirmed in response to Question 7. My respondents specified that it was easier to get more information (e.g. detailed elements of the information) while they were watching the news, for instance. My subjects mentioned some hints that help them to get the required information without much effort. Among these clues are news headlines/titles that provide more information on what is being said. These are known in specialised terms as `graphics' For instance, the latter can show the location where an event is being broadcast live or give a summary of the news content.

In general, the viewers have recourse to the textual organisation of the TV news that is predictable and whose modalities of information delivery assist in grasping the content of the news story. Nonetheless, in some cases, though the graphics may help the learners in the listening process, sometimes they do not appear on the screen long enough to be understood by the students, or the language patterns on the screen may be too brief to be fully comprehended.

It is worth pointing out that watching TV news and getting the required or intended information is not always predictable for the EFL/ESL student. There are factors underlying the easier access to the news content and some have been touched upon earlier. The main ones are background knowledge or content schemata required by viewers to fully understand a news item; formal schemata or viewer familiarity with the discourse structure and genre of TV news in general and in particular cultural contexts; and the linguistic difficulties of processing combinations of visual and auditory messages (Bell, 2003:1). Meanwhile, second year English students talked about other English accents that are likely to cause trouble in listening (e.g. Indian accent) but the reasons behind this problem already identified with regard to the American accent, apply as well to other varieties of English.

In the following section, I examine the respondents' attitudes towards TV in English teaching and learning. As most responses from students overlap with the lecturers' in a number of aspects, I decided to combine their views. In fact, the sub themes verify the expression of the learners' needs and the lecturers' responsibilities in satisfying their students' expectations.

4.5.3. Students and lecturers' perceptions of the use of TV in English teaching and

learning.

I examine lecturers and students' perceptions on the value and use of TV in class. All views revealed by my informants respond to subsidiary research questions 2, 3 and 4 (see Chapter 1, Section 1.3.). Worthy of note here is the fact that students who had a chance to have TV in class do not really know much more than their counterparts do in terms of familiarity with TV in the classroom setting. Fortunately, from both categories of students no contradiction appeared over the usefulness of TV as a valuable teaching and learning tool. Next is the presentation of different sub themes that came out of their feelings as far as the learning and teaching environment is concerned. The first part deals with attributes of TV materials and the second one highlights how these materials can be exploited in the language class.

4.5.3.1. Attributes of TV materials

a) Exposure to authentic language and English culture

b) Exposure to a variety of accents and different registers

c) Non-verbal communication/ paralinguistic features

d) Model of language structures and English pronunciation

In the following section, I elaborate on each of the sub themes listed above in the spirit of the views of my informants. As stated earlier, the discussion takes into account both students and lecturers' perceptions in parallel. I begin with the attributes of TV materials.

a) Exposure to authentic language and English culture

On this issue, students emphasised that TV provides them with English used by native speakers. In addition, they assume that while watching English TV broadcasts, they are exposed to natural use of English and the culture of the language is to a certain extent conveyed. The students compared this input to the English they are used to in their daily environment. The assumption here is that authentic materials should be used for the purpose of cultural familiarisation, since not only is the language native-like but also the target language culture is implicitly presented in context. The notion of culture with audiovisuals is of paramount importance in the sense that using authentic sources from the native speech community helps to engage students in authentic cultural experiences.

On their side, lecturers provide supplementary information that supports their students' views. For instance, L3 in reply to Question 5 of the questionnaire (i.e. Do you think TV can be a valuable tool while teaching languages?), had this to say:

TV gives authentic materials that can be exploited for the use of the classroom. This audiovisual brings in all the suprasegemental^8(*) features and extralinguistic features that learners need to be exposed to. Depending on the programme, TV materials can provide all the characteristics of authentic spoken language.

b) Exposure to a variety of accents and different registers

This is another point that emerged from my respondents' views. First of all, second year students strongly believe that TV materials have the quality of offering an opportunity to get familiar with different English accents. In response to Question 9, one student claimed that `TV can be a learning tool because from TV we can learn how to differentiate several accents'. The student's answer reveals his need to be able to distinguish between several English accents. When English learners are faced with problems of discriminating sounds of different accents, TV can assist them. In this case, L2 in a reply to my questionnaire suggests that a short, one-or two minute presentation by native speakers of the particular dialects, observed in surroundings typical of their own country, and heard to utter the same word in different ways, disposes of the problem efficiently.

In an interview with L3, I was able to have her opinion in relation to how students can get exposed to various accents and its implications in English learning. In fact, L3 is one of my interviewees who had the chance to use TV in the English class. Once she let her students watch news from different TV stations and now she explains her experience:

In order to vary the accents because the main concern was to be able to follow each accent, so we could follow Deutch Welle, and we had someone from Germany, we could follow BBC then we had someone from UK, we could follow CNN, we had someone from America, so we had those different pronunciations. And all those different stations have got different reporters. So, it was a very good opportunity for my students and for me also to be exposed to different accents and to know how we should adjust to each situation.

As far as language registers are concerned, students assumed that TV materials present models of speech from which they can learn and imitate the structures. For instance, a public speech held by a politician can help the viewer internalise the kinds of expressions or style used in a particular context. It can also portray the key features of an oratory. In other words, variety of register can be presented in TV listening materials and students become familiar with language use in particular settings from informal to formal. In addition, video recordings as one main component of TV materials (see Chapter 2, Section 2.1.2.) can help develop the students' sense of register as they will address, for example, a judge in the courtroom, a colleague at work etc.

Another lecturer I interviewed (i.e.L2) expressed his thoughts on how students can benefit from TV with regard to the model of speech presentation they can use as a starting point for immediate or further learning purposes. L2 conveyed his opinions as follows:

This can help students to improve or to get accustomed to various accents of English depending on the programmes developed by American or British speakers. Then it can also help learners to improve their speaking skills or their presentations skills if they refer to the models they watch on TV. This can also help learners to improve their speaking when for instance they are exposed to the kind of models, for instance they watch people who debate, who discuss then they may also be asked to be involved in such activities as debates, discussions or role-plays or other situations.

The next sub theme tackles one of the language characteristics TV presents to the learner-viewer, that is, non-verbal language.

c) Non-verbal communication/ paralinguistic features.

Under this point, my informants, both students and lecturers, stressed that TV has a particular attribute, that is, associating sounds and images. Besides, they add that this is an advantage to the process of listening comprehension in that the understanding of the message is better when you listen to someone you see. This is what L1 told me as a reply to the question of whether TV can be a valuable teaching tool. He expressed the usefulness of TV as follows:

The understanding is better when you watch and listen, because the body has a language, what we call body language, when the student does not get the meaning from words, he can get the meaning from the language of the body. So, there is an association between this body language and the verbal language.

In addition, second year English students affirmed that gestures and facial expressions play a significant role in listening because they add support and meaning to the interaction. This is what has been referred to as `non-verbal communication' or body language. In a response to Question 10 where I wanted to know if TV can help language learners to develop their listening capacities, one of the students maintained:

While watching TV you catch not only the reporter's voice but also you see how his lips and tongue move and this can increase your listening because you listen to somebody while he is speaking to you.

The following section focuses on the type of new language the viewer learns from TV which adds to existing knowledge of English or reinforces it.

d) Model of language structures and English pronunciation.

According to my informants, this theme is first of all linked with the language input the viewer gains from TV materials on different occasions. In this case, the students state that they can learn new English structures and/or expressions. Another point to raise is English pronunciation. This sub theme goes hand in hand with another English feature that my informants (both students and lecturers) mentioned as vital in English learning. This language feature is English intonation.

Concerning the kinds of language structures TV materials can provide to the learner, L4 said that one could use the content of a TV programme to teach grammatical structures used by interactants or expressions they use. This was a reply to Question 5 of the questionnaire where I asked lecturers to tell me how they would go about teaching English using TV. The lecturer's assumption is true as long as the selection of given TV material is relevant to the students' needs. Similarly, L2 supported the idea by his colleague. In an interview I had with him, he emphasized:

TV can be a valuable teaching tool in the sense that it can help them [students] to develop these performative skills: to speak, to use body language, to improve on their accents, expressions and so forth.

In short, it can be recommended that TV or video recordings be exploited when students prefer to focus on speaking by learning sophisticated language structures, current idiomatic expressions or developing their vocabulary.

In relation to pronunciation, students in particular, expressed their concern to develop English pronunciation that is acceptable as internationally intelligible. The students assumed that while acquiring English sounds and pronouncing English words, there should be some model accent to follow. The variety of English that displays the features the learners described above is mainly British English but American English is also affected. The students stressed different English features because they learn these in theory as part of the basic phonological notions in their Conversational and Listening classes (see Contents of English programme for first and second years in Appendix E).

Thus, TV comes as a source from which practical activities in this area could be enhanced. In an interview with L2, the lecturer recognised that when teaching listening `you can use TV if you have video taped programmes that you use in the classroom. This can help students to improve or to get accustomed to various accents of English depending on the programmes developed by American or British speakers.' Further, as regards the intonational patterns, the value of TV or video materials can be estimated in terms of assessing input the latter offer. For instance, the materials allow the language learners to perceive if what people say and how they say it is comprehensible and logical.

In the following section, I focus on sub themes that are crucial in this mini thesis since they relate directly to the second subsidiary research question (i.e. how can TV materials be used in English class?)(see Chapter 1, Section 1.3.). Again, this is an important step in the English teaching process whereby the lecturer's role is of paramount significance. I would like to elaborate on views put forward by students especially those who had a chance to have TV in their English class. This will help me to see the extent to which the learning experience they express matches somehow with what is expected to happen in the classroom setting. Furthermore, this should correlate with views offered by lecturers in their responses. Let me start by what students were exposed to in terms of teaching listening skills.

4.5.3.2. Exploitation of TV materials in English class

.

a) Developing listening skills through summarising, setting

comprehension questions.

b) Developing speaking skills through language tasks/activities,

group discussions, debates, role-plays.

c) Selection of adequate instructional materials and judicious use of TV

a) Developing listening skills through summarising, setting comprehension questions.

Here the students had the opportunity to listen to different programmes, mainly TV news broadcasts. After the programme, they were required to perform a number of activities in class such as summarising the content of the newscast. The lecturer would also set up comprehension questions but as my informants stated, this exercise was prepared before watching the TV programme. In general, the lecturers stressed the importance of designing tasks beforehand, that is, to make sure they are prepared to teach certain skills before getting in class.

Therefore, it is necessary to talk about how a lecturer organises his listening class. Three steps are involved in the process. They are closely linked and have traditionally been referred to as: pre-viewing, while-viewing and post-viewing. As I mentioned earlier, (see section 4.5.2c), effective listening strategies need to be undertaken such as holistic viewing (Miro, 1998:5). Since focus of the lesson is on listening, these tasks can also be called pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening tasks, but these terms apply most of the time to listening to audio materials.

In relation to this listening process, some lecturers expressed their opinions in line with these listening tasks. For example, in a reply to Question 6 of the questionnaire (i.e. Do you think TV can help to improve your learners' listening skills?), L5 claimed that she would start with a pre-listening activity so that the students are prepared for what they are going to listen to. Another lecturer whom I interviewed (i.e.L1) had this to say:

Normally you record the target programme and then you let your students watch. Prior to watching, may be you can make a kind of preview of the programme, then you set questions so that the students watch while trying to find answers to those questions.

All these principles to teaching listening as highlighted by my informants are relevant and are intimately connected to the first listening activity. On this note, Ambrose (2002:45) recommends that in viewing activities, using video effectively in the classroom requires a lesson structure that includes both previewing and postviewing activities. He adds that it is important to introduce students to the scenes by helping them create schema (see Section 2.5.2.2) before viewing and to follow up with creative activities that allow them to use new vocabulary in meaningful ways.

The next section deals with kinds of activities and tasks that characterise the English class when TV materials are exploited with an aim to develop speaking skills. In other words, my informants provided me with insights regarding what lecturers should do in order to plan adequate viewing, conducive to promoting advancement of speaking skills.

b) Developing speaking skills through language tasks/activities, group discussions, debates, role plays.

In the preceding section, it was a question of recalling what second year students witnessed in their English class while TV was involved in the language learning process. They also had opportunities to hold group discussions or debates following the programme they had just watched. The lecturer would ask learners questions about the topic of the programme. For instance, a student described what he experienced:

The newscast was about terrorism. While watching we were asked to note down

as much information as we could. After the show we were put in group work

to discuss the topic. We had someone to report the findings of our group.

This demonstrates the type of learning situation (e.g. debates in group activities) that helps the learners to develop their speaking skills. L6 who responded to my questionnaire (i.e. Question 7: Do you think TV can help to improve their speaking skills) believed that:

What students watch can be used as a starting point for speaking or writing. Talking about speaking for instance, students could watch and narrate what they see. They could also imagine how the actors feel in the movie clip.

To sum up, there are a number of techniques used as instructional models in using TV or video in classroom and most of these foster the development of note-taking skills as underlined by my informants. In this case lecturers give learners a list of questions before they watch TV/ video. Then, as a while-viewing activity, they are allowed to make short notes about the facts that will help them to answer the questions while looking at the material.

In the following section, I explore students and lecturers' views about the selection of adequate TV materials that are prerequisites for sound planning if one is expecting the class to yield good results.

c) Selection of adequate instructional materials and judicious use of TV.

While answering the last question of the questionnaire (i.e. Question 12) students gave their opinions about the importance they attach to the use of live TV materials and recorded materials in English class. In fact, I set this question with the aim of assessing the students' preferences and motivation towards these materials on the one hand and the familiarity they have with the materials on the other. My informants generally appreciated more live broadcasts than recordings for several reasons, namely authenticity of the language, real setting of language use and offer of a range of topics and regularity of different programmes. Here are views of one respondent on the matter:

First TV materials deal with almost all topics, but ready recorded materials are limited to some topics. Second, in recorded teaching materials, speakers try to adapt their accents to the students but in TV materials speakers talk freely regardless of aural weaknesses of their listeners.

Another student believes that live TV materials are less distorted than recorded materials. However, some students oppose the classmates' views. They say that with live materials, you cannot ask the journalist or the producer to repeat what he has just said. In general, I noticed that students were not very comfortable to tell specifically what materials could satisfy their learning needs, but at least they speculated over the materials that could help them.

In fact, materials recorded for ELT purposes are edited and scripted. They are generally produced for non-native speakers. Recorded materials have a number of advantages. One may be the fact that recording them from TV does not require sophisticated devices: with video recorders you do not have to be present at the time of recording when you have something else to do. Live materials are to be adapted to the learners' needs and classroom settings. In addition, they are favoured when a lecturer makes use of a short extract or a clip for use on spot. For instance, TV news offers genuine occasions for EFL/ESL learners to exercise themselves on making the necessary connections between the spoken text and background knowledge. In this case, lecturers urge students not to rely more on linguistic cues but on the background knowledge and link between topic familiarity and comprehension.

In relation again to Question 12, watching TV programmes makes the learning atmosphere animated. The students are motivated by the fact that TV captures their interest in a two-fold perspective: first, they see and second, they hear. This involves a receptive response from the viewer. In an interview with L3, the latter stressed this motivating factor she could notice from the session with her students:

They like using TV while teaching because it's sort of recreation. They learn with out anxiety, they feel at ease. You see you are the lecturer, instead of standing at the front of students you are just part of the group and all of you follow the same programme. So, if you ask them questions they are eager to respond. If the programme ends you see that the students are not yet tired. It's not like in the classroom when it's time for break, it's time for break but when they are watching the TV materials they don't want to stop to go for break.

The next section concerns the lecturers' contribution in ensuring the best use of TV materials in the English class. Here, the focal point is the adequate selection of these materials. On this topic, lecturers have not provided substantial information except that they all agree on one central issue: selecting appropriate materials and equipment before the actual class takes place. in response to my questionnaire, L6 stated that the lecturer, in a bid to teach language skills, has to capitalise on the visual facility he can afford. He has to select and adapt authentic materials accordingly. L2 in an interview specified that what is important is not the level of training of the learner but rather finding the materials adapted to their level of comprehension.

4.5.4. Constraints

Constraints that I raise here concern different views my informants provided as to what could prevent sound integration of TV materials into English teaching and learning at the NUR. Focus is directed on lecturers who are primarily responsible for effective implementation of principles governing use of TV in the language class. Two out of three interviewed lecturers agreed on one central problem: recurrent power cuts in the Butare province where NUR is also situated. This is a hindrance for both students and lecturers. On the one hand, lecturers need to preview materials they have to bring to class as their teaching materials and on the students' side, they are required to watch the prescribed TV programmes as take-home assignments. Fortunately, this problem will be dealt with by the government.

The next section deals with an examination of English programmes at the NUR especially in relation with provisions they make in terms of promoting use of audiovisuals or TV materials for the benefit of second year English students. Observations that I make after the analysis, along with findings from questionnaires and interviews will help me in laying out recommendations for further action.

4.5.5. Analysis of the content of academic English programmes at the NUR.

The first aim of this analysis is to locate the first and second year English courses within the content-based model of language teaching. The second aim is to see to what extent the current programme provides for the use of TV materials in the English class. The third one deals with how TV materials are to be used. These are the primary criteria presented as a checklist in Chapter Three.

To begin with, the first criterion seeks to see the extent to which the contents of some courses are consistent with a content-based model of language teaching. As an illustration, when one looks at the contents of Listening Comprehension I (LENG 0401104/see Appendix E) you notice that students are expected to cover some theories on several points such as listening for gist, listening for specific details to name just a few. In other words, the language learners are expected to acquire English through listening to and watching TV broadcasts (see aims of the course: familiarise students with listening for general information) and at the same time learn necessary skills to enable them to achieve these objectives (i.e. to listen for gist).

Another example that is more appropriate concerns Conversational English I (CENG 041104) where students are required to have a detailed theoretical basis on the sounds of English, on a comparison between British and American varieties of English (see contents) In fact, this course aims, among other things, at phonemic accuracy, that is the correct production of English phonemes (i.e. English sounds like vowels) (see aims of the course). Besides, this course is organised around the correctness of presentation and practice of English features. Generally speaking, this model of language teaching emphasises using language (i.e. English) as a medium for studying subject matter (e.g. English phonemes) and this is done in line with the learners' needs (i.e. CENG I is a prerequisite to other courses such as English phonology the students have to study later in third year).

The second criterion (that mainly concerns this study) leads me to examine if the use of TV in the English class is an integral part of the building of this programme. When I look at the contents of LENG I and II, it is clearly stated that listening comprehension courses of the two years envision the use of audiovisual media. For instance, objectives of LENGI stipulate that the course aims at familiarising students with listening for specific and general information and in the last place it also aims at listening and watching English programmes on TV and recorded documentaries.

The third criterion, that is directly connected to the second one, tests the content of the English course in terms of promoting language tasks and/or activities that support language acquisition by means of TV. In this respect, one can notice that objectives of some courses match or correlate with the practical part of it. This is why in LENG I, practice serves as an opportunity for the learners to do listening exercises that include various language teaching materials, radio and TV broadcasts, various recorded speeches, etc. Similarly, practical activities in LENG II are designed around different authentic materials such as documentaries on TV, video-films etc. Another remark worth making relates to the significant portion of hours devoted to practical works in the programme. LENG I & II are given substantial time for practice of the different points handled in theory (i.e. LENG I has 45 h and LENG II, 30 h) which is an encouraging input. As Skehan cited by Richards (2001: 161) argues, success in tasks is evaluated in terms of achievement of an outcome, and tasks generally bear some resemblance to real-life language use. Actually, one cannot pretend to learn a language without enough exposure to authentic materials that provide learners with a major source of contact with the language.

4.6. Conclusion

In short, Chapter 4 analysed the data which looked at NUR English students' and lecturers' views on ways and opportunities of effectively integrating television materials with English teaching and learning. Findings put forward in this study demonstrate that there is no major obstacle that could prevent this practice from being realised despite the current lack of use of such materials. The next chapter deals with conclusions and recommendations.

Chapter 5: Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

The preceding chapter presented and analysed the data. This chapter summarises the main findings, concludes the study and suggests some recommendations. The major concern investigated in this mini thesis has been attitudes towards integrating television materials into English teaching and learning at the National University of Rwanda. It is necessary to state that television materials refer to any television programme broadcast live or off-air in English. These programmes, as explained in Chapter 2 include news, documentaries, movies, etc. Another category of television materials comprises video recordings that are mainly based on television programmes.

As my topic required investigating on a given population's views or opinions on this matter, I chose to examine how second year English students and their lecturers view such integration and how it can be effective in the Department of English in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The methods used to collect the data were questionnaires and interviews, supported by document analysis. I conducted interviews with three lecturers from the six who also responded to my questionnaire. I also administered a questionnaire to second year English students. An evaluation of the content of academic English programmes at the NUR was also undertaken by me.

Using television materials at the NUR has received very little attention and I assumed that exploring this issue could benefit EFL/ESL students in Rwanda as they are not exposed to native speakers of English. Thus, television materials could help to improve the students' oral and aural abilities. From my informants' responses to questionnaires and interviews and analysis of the English programmes in use at the NUR, a number of issues have emerged and need to be restated here.

5.1. Summary of the findings

Firstly, students and lecturers provided ideas and insights on how television materials can be exploited to enhance English acquisition at the NUR. Secondly, a number of observations and remarks came out of the examination of the content of the programmes in use at the NUR.

To begin with, research findings indicate that second year English students strongly support the integration of television materials with English teaching and learning at the NUR. This is evident from the value they attach to television as a learning medium. There were no significant discrepancies between lecturers' attitudes and students' ones on this matter. The lecturers I interviewed and those who completed my questionnaire, acknowledged the importance of using television in the English class. However, they expressed disappointment at the lack of facilities to do so. The data also provides information on students' self-reporting on their listening abilities in relation to English television programmes. These views are summarised below.

5.1.1. Students' listening abilities in watching TV programmes in English

Responses to students' questionnaires (see question 7: how well do you follow TV programmes in English?) revealed that 16/30, that is 53.3 %, are unable to get both main ideas and details from watching programmes on TV. The data indicates that this failure is due to several factors some of which are as follows: unfamiliarity with various English accents namely American English and lack of exposure to native speakers' intonation. The findings also show that there are other underlying factors to the students' incomprehension.

Firstly, the students mentioned that they are unfamiliar with American English accents. In addition, lack of exposure to the native speakers' cultural environment adds to their listening difficulties.

Secondly, lack of exposure to native speakers' intonation also constitutes a major hindrance to the students' listening performance. In fact, they are not familiar with the way native speakers change their voice when they want to convey certain meanings. This phenomenon is also linked to difficulty of discrimination between the sound systems of British and American English accents.

Thirdly, there are other underlying factors to listening difficulties. One could be the fact that 23/30, that is 73%, of my informants had never been exposed to TV in their language class. This could be a potential cause of their incomprehension as TV is a medium they are not familiar with in the classroom.

Lastly, the students indicated that they would sometimes have recourse to some hints or clues to improve their listening situation. For instance, while watching TV news (a programme that the students favoured most, that is 30/30) they would follow headlines or titles that appear on the screen to grasp the message.

5.1.2 Students and lecturers' perceptions of the use of TV in English teaching and

learning.

Regarding views and attitudes towards the use of TV in English teaching and learning at the NUR, the findings indicate that the students' views overlap with the lecturers'. The informants' responses emerged in line with subsidiary research questions 2, 3 and 4 as stated in Section 1.3. Firstly, the data indicates that in relation to Question 9 (i.e. Has your lecturer ever used TV while teaching you?) there are two groups of students: those who had an opportunity to be exposed to TV in English class (i.e. 8/30) and those who did not (i.e. 22/30). Secondly, from students' and lecturers' responses a number of sub-themes emerged. The main ones are: attributes of TV materials and exploitation of TV materials in English class.

5.1.2.1. Attributes of TV materials

Concerning the attributes of TV materials, both students and lecturers' views stressed that these materials reflect the following issues: exposure to authentic language and English culture, exposure to a variety of accents and different registers, non-verbal communication or paralinguistic features and models of language structures and English pronunciation.

As far as exploiting the TV materials in English class is concerned, my informants emphasised the following: selection of adequate instructional materials and judicious use of TV, developing listening skills through summarising and setting comprehension questions and developing speaking skills through language tasks/activities, group discussions, debates and role-plays.

On the whole, TV materials have the primary quality of providing authentic English and once students are given chance to watch TV they can be exposed to the cultural use of the language. Besides, the learners have opportunity to distinguish between various accents of English. They are also exposed to a variety of registers and models of presentation typical to real-life English use. TV materials offer an advantage of associating sounds and images, gestures, facial expressions (i.e. body language/non-verbal language) in the process of listening comprehension. Furthermore, English used on TV can help learners to improve their English structures, expressions, idioms and their pronunciation as well. The students stated that the TV materials can also help them to practise certain pronunciation features they had learnt in class theoretically.

5.1.2.2. Exploitation of TV materials in English class

With regard to how TV materials can be exploited in the English class for the benefit of second year students, the latter frequently referred to the kinds of activities they carried out in class which helped them to improve their listening and speaking skills. These are summarising newscasts, answers to questions set before watching given TV programmes, debates, group discussions on topics raised on a TV programme, etc. Though these activities could be applied to any English class, the students acknowledged that they were helpful. Lecturers also stressed that these activities need to be properly planned if they are to enhance the English proficiency of EFL/ESL students. Such activities as previewing, while viewing and post viewing activities have also attracted the lecturers' attention as conducive to the promotion of students' language skills. Lecturers also support careful lesson planning and selection of appropriate television materials for English classes. Here, lecturers underlined selecting materials that suit their level. Another point worth considering is the students' views on the value they attach to live TV materials, as opposed to off-air materials like video recordings. In general, the students (20/30, that is 66.6%) preferred live materials for they believed that they provide up-to-date input, and are regular to cover a variety of topics.

5.1.3. Analysis of the English programme at the NUR.

As far as an analysis of English programmes at the NUR is concerned, the content of the different courses shows that there is provision for use of television broadcasts, as well as recorded materials. For instance, the content of listening courses (i.e. LENG 0401104 & 0401203) envisions use of television programmes in the practical part of the courses. In addition, based on analysis of the documents, this study reveals that the English programme at the NUR reflects a content-based model of instruction. In fact, in most of the courses, the content serves as a vehicle to learn English. For example, in conversational courses, the content proposes a detailed presentation of English sounds. One notices that students acquire content of academic learning (e.g. study of distinction between English vowels and consonants) to learn English. This study also tells us that the programmes fail to show or state clearly which English teaching and learning approach lecturers should adopt. The assumption here is that course tutors are left to themselves to decide on the kind of approach that suits them. The next section highlights limitations of this study.

5.2. Limitations

This study sought to investigate how TV materials can be integrated into the teaching and learning of English at the NUR at second year English level. However, there are a number of shortcomings in the study which need to be addressed.

One particular weakness was the lack of opportunity to carry out classroom observations. I am convinced that insights from such data would have been very useful. Such observations could have served as a means of triangulation of the findings from interviews and questionnaires' responses. Besides, they could also have enabled me to detect pros and cons among my respondents' responses to the questionnaires and interviews. In addition, I would have got more information on English learning and teaching realities, with regard to second-year English students' listening performances and how their lecturers handled and solved the students' problems. In the spirit of this research, a number of issues need to be taken into account and further strategies to be set up. This is what the next section aims at.

5.3. Conclusions and recommendations

These recommendations are meant to serve as guidelines towards more effective integration of television materials into English teaching and learning at the NUR. Since using television materials in the EFL/ESL class touches upon a number of aspects that are interrelated, I put forward my recommendations under the following headings:

· judicious course planning and selecting appropriate television materials for use in English class;

· reinforcing practical activities for activation of listening skills and other language skills and

· promoting a communicative approach to language teaching.

5.3.1. Judicious course planning and selecting appropriate television materials for

use in English class.

To begin with, lecturers should know how to handle audiovisual equipment such as TV sets and videos. The use of these media can only be effective if they are in all respects `user-friendly' (Els et.al, 1984:290). Lecturers should also be in a good position to monitor and guide their students to reach the class or course's objective. Bertram et.al (2001:115) remind us of strategies that work before viewing and that lecturers should think of when planning use of television and video materials in class:

- Make sure television sets and video playbacks/ recorders are working, and that the tape is ready to play at the correct place.

- Stand next to the television screen so that you can pause and rewind when necessary.

- Show learners that you are the facilitator of the process, and will not be settling down at the back of the room to `relax'

- Set the lighting in the room. If the room is too dark, learners will be inclined to watch passively. There should be enough light so that learners can jot down points and answer the questions that you have set them.

It is necessary to note that before the actual English lesson takes place, there are other steps that lecturers need to follow while selecting appropriate instructional materials. Several scholars suggest a number of them. In the sentence below I have adapted the ideas of Kortner (1999:1) and Bertram et.al (2001:109).

· Lecturers should look for quality programming, programs of appropriate length. In this case, making the best use of television requires not to record full-length programmes. Instead short clips or short excerpts are preferable because they lend themselves to easier exploitability. For instance, a lecturer may have a short clip of a hurricane or the US President's speech recorded from the news.

· Lecturers should look for motivating and/or stimulating television materials and the language should also be accessible to learners (see Section 2.4.3. & 2.6.3.). The materials should arouse learners' interest and curiosity.

· Lecturers should be urged to use materials that promote active viewing as opposed to passive viewing which is what happens at home. In this respect, it is better to support television clips with print media (e.g. worksheets with questions) to guide the viewing of the learners.

In short, selection of television or video materials must take into account some factors influencing the learning process. For example, a primary focus should be put on identifying learner's needs. For example, if the lecturer's objective is to activate listening skills for a particular group of learners, then he might have recourse to given television material as a relevant and suitable resource to assist him in achieving their purpose. The next section focuses on practical tasks that should be prepared to activate students' listening skills and other language skills.

5.3.2. Reinforcing practical activities for activation of listening skills and other

language skills.

This study has unveiled that second year English students need more support in terms of developing their listening abilities. The majority of the students asserted that they are unable to get main ideas as well as details when listening to some television programmes in English. This is an ongoing process and lecturers should design listening (watching at the same time) activities that encourage active viewing. In this case, most materials with appropriate exploitation by the lecturer, can assist the students to improve their listening performance. Here are some practical hints or clues that can help in this regard:

· Lecturers should train students to use a top-down approach to listening (see Section 2.5.2.2.). This means that students should learn how to make use of their schemata (i.e. background knowledge). This may be previous knowledge about the topic under discussion. Here, students infer from the contextual knowledge to arrive at the meaning they are looking for.

· Lecturers should use language materials that reflect what learners will cope with in real life outside the classroom. News broadcasts for instance attracted much attention from my informants and constitute a good source for listening practice. As Kilfoil and Van der Walt (1997:150) argue, `the news of the day is topical and could serve as an introduction for a discussion on current events.'

· Learners should be actively involved in structured viewing activities that are referred to as previewing activities, post viewing activities and while viewing activities.

It is worth stressing that listening strategies outlined above are subject to modifications depending on the lecturer's focus in his language class. It means that lecturers can decide to have more than three viewing activities provided that this does not prevent them from achieving their objective. He can have the following format: 1) previewing 2) first viewing (introducing students to the material) 3) second viewing (students watch but now they work in groups) 4) post viewing (students may take time to paraphrase or summarise the material) and 5) Other follow-up activities (students are given topics to discuss but that are related to the viewing) (Ambrose, 2002: 45)

In the above discussion, emphasis was mainly put on strategies to enhance listening abilities of students. It is important to recall that performance in listening can be enhanced when the latter is linked to other language skills (i.e. integrated-skills approach). On this note, the findings to this study revealed that for instance, speaking skills can be developed through viewing television materials (see Section 4.5.2). Thus, lecturers are required to design activities that involve students expressing their opinions on issues presented on TV or video. Then, as Lonergan cited in Miro suggests, students carry out role plays similar to the situations they have seen (1998:7). Writing skills are not left unnoticed and lecturers have options to use television materials to teach one particular aspect. Furthermore, I suggest that lecturers try one model of writing instruction as propounded by Jeremiah (1987) cited in Kortner (1999:1). Actually, he outlines an instructional model for using television news and documentaries for writing instruction. The model is presented as follows:

A step by step examination of a selected TV program can be undertaken in a single class period, using the following strategies: (1) as a warm-up mechanism, the teacher introduces the writing skill (for example, to inform or to persuade); (2) students are allowed time for questions and comments; (3) the news segment or documentary is shown;(4) students produce an outline for the news report they will write in response to the stimulus; and (5) the outlines are assessed for organization.

Using television materials for EFL/ESL purposes is broad and the scope of this study cannot allow me to exhaust this topic. I can add that content subjects such as literature courses can also take advantage of television materials. For example in the study of a novel, learners can view stories on TV and try to make sense of them. They may be asked simple questions such as: What is the story about? Who are these characters? What are they doing? Where is the story set? In brief, learners are trained to associate what they read with the visual images and sounds. Here, actions talk more than mere written words.

The next set of recommendations suggests an approach to EFL/ESL that could fit in with the learning and teaching processes at the NUR. This is the Communicative approach to Language Teaching (CLT).

5.3.3. Promoting a communicative approach to language teaching (CLT).

A Communicative Approach to teaching has the learner at the centre of the learning process. In connection with this study, it has been noticed that television materials have a didactic function of contextualising the teaching. In this context, lecturers should do their best to provide their students with the necessary support to gain most from this learning medium in line with CLT. As discussed in Section 2.3.4, CLT principles draw their foundation from among other things, linguistic competence and sociolinguistic competence. In other words, I suggest that lecturers at the NUR internalise and practise the following: learners need to be taught how to produce specific points of grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary, but they should first and foremost understand when, why, and how they produce language in this way or another.

Since the CLT claims learner-centredness as its primary tenet, it is advisable that lecturers strive to implement language teaching methodologies that move from transmitting knowledge (i.e. traditional approach) that favours accuracy to a more participatory approach that promotes fluency. Hence, authentic and meaningful language activities should gain more ground. These should in turn consider the learners' needs and teaching programmes and materials should build on their expectations.

This study is far from being exhaustive. Nevertheless, I hope it benefits not only students and lecturers in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, but also those in the EPLM, the Faculty of Education and other faculties as well where English is taught. Some further studies could be undertaken in relation to the use of TV in EFL/ESL context of Rwanda. For instance, other researchers could investigate the use of TV in learning ESP in evening classes for public service workers. In the field of materials design, another aspect could be studied: which TV programmes reflect the likelihood of intake and how this benefits EFL/ESL students in Rwanda. Case studies could range from secondary to tertiary educational levels. All in all, David Augsburger's statements can be food for thought:

What TV becomes depends on you, the user. If you accept it as a tool, use it sparingly,

wisely, and purposely, it can become a servant. If you accept it as a friend, watch and

listen continuously, it will become your master ( cited in the unpublished Proceedings

of a Seminar entitled Television and the language teacher,Durban,1987)

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APPENDIX A

Questionnaire for Students

A. Personal details

Names: (optional)

B. Questions

Background and experience in watching TV

1. Do you ever watch TV? Yes / No

2. If yes, how often do you watch TV? How long do you watch it?

3. Which TV channel/station do you like to watch? Which programmes do you like to watch?

4. In what language (s) are these TV programmes broadcast?

5. Do you ever watch any TV programme in English? Yes / No

6. If yes, which one do you like to watch? sports, films, news, music, documentaries, other. Rank your choices in order of interest.

Students' listening abilities in relation to TV English programmes

7. How well do you follow TV programmes in English?

a) Are you able to grasp main ideas b) Are you able to grasp main ideas only?

as well as details from the program? c) Do you catch some details only?

d) You do not catch anything at all

Choose one that you think reflects your current listening ability and provide

explanation for your option.

8. Which accent (s) do you find difficult? a) British accent b) American accent c) East African accent. c) Others. Rank your choice in order of difficulty.

Attitudes towards the role of TV in English teaching and learning.

9. Has your lecturer ever used TV while teaching you? Yes / No

If yes, how does your lecturer go about teaching English with the use of TV?

What do you gain from it or what does it teach you? If not, do you think TV

can be a learning tool ? Give your opinion.

10. Do you think that TV can improve your listening capacities? If yes, how?

If not, give your reasons.

11. Do you think TV can improve your speaking capacities? If yes, how?

If not, give your reasons.

12. How do you appreciate TV materials (i.e. live programmes) compared to

ready recorded teaching materials (i.e. video recordings) as far as

enhancing your English acquisition is concerned ?

APPENDIX B

Questionnaire for lecturers

A. Personal details

Names: (optional)

B. Questions

Background and experience in watching TV.

1. Do you ever watch TV? Yes/ No

2. a) How often? b) How long?

3. Which English programmes do you like to watch?

a) News b) Documentaries c) Films d) Sports show e) Music

f) Other. Rank your choice in order of interest and provide an explanation

for your option.

Attitudes towards the role of TV in English teaching and learning.

4. Do you ever use TV while teaching English? Yes /No

5. Do you think TV can be a valuable tool while teaching languages?

If yes, how will you go about teaching English using TV? Explain.

6. Do you think TV can help to improve your learners' listening skills?

If yes, in what ways? If not. give reasons for your position.

7. Do you think TV can help to improve their speaking skills?

If yes, in what ways? If no, give reasons for your position.

APPENDIX C

Semi- structured interview for lecturers

1. Do you ever watch TV?

2. What are your favourite programmes ?

3. Do you ever watch English programmes on TV?

4. Which English programmes do you like to watch?

5. What kind of interest do you have in these programmes?

6. Do you ever use TV while teaching English?

7. Do you think TV can be a valuable teaching tool while teaching languages?

8. How would you organise your English class as far as using TV materials is concerned?

9. Do you think TV materials can improve your learners' listening skills?

10. .Do you think TV materials can help learners improve their speaking skills?

11. Do you have anything to add on this topic?

APPENDIX D

Extracts from transcripts of interviews with lecturers

Interview with Lecturer No 1

P stands for Pravda

L stands for lecturer

P: Good morning! I am conducting research on the role of TV in Language teaching and I thought you can provide me with better information or valuable information on this topic. This is why you have been selected as one of the interviewees on this particular issue. Now I'd like to know, do you ever watch TV?

L1: Yes, I do watch TV, after work.

P: Ok. What are your favourite programmes ?

L1: Well, I like many programmes especially news and some magazines.

P: Good. Do you ever watch English programmes on TV ?

L1: Yeah, most often.

P: Fine. Do you ever use TV while teaching English?

L1: In the past, I used it but today it is not the case today because our audiovisual is equipment broken.

P: Do you think TV can be a valuable teaching tool while teaching languages?

L1: Yeah, a very valuable tool because the understanding is better when students listen and watch at the same time. It is universally known the understanding is better when you both listen and watch.

P: Ok, do you think TV materials can improve your learners listening skills?

L1: Very much, especially when programmes are interesting for students. Students are eager to follow and to understand the program.

P: Right. As a lecturer, how would you organise your English class as far as using TV materials is concerned?

L1: Yeah, normally you record the target programme and then you let your students watch. Prior to watching, may be you can make a kind of preview of the programme, then you set questions so that the students watch while trying to find answers to those questions.

P: Good. Do you think TV materials or TV programmes in general can help learners improve their speaking skills?

L1: Very much, because when they watch, they see people, they hear people speaking so when they get out of this watching session they will be trying to speak the way those in the programme were speaking. So they imitate, outside they try to imitate the accent of the one in the programme they were watching.

P: Ok. Do you have anything to add on this topic?

L1: Yeah, what I may add is that TV is a very interesting tool as far as English language teaching is concerned because TV being a kind of new tool in our society everyone is eager to watch and students especially and as I said before, the understanding is better when you watch and listen, because the body has a language, what we call body language, when the student does not get the meaning from words, he can get the meaning from the language of the body. So, there is an association between this body language and the verbal language. And when a student misses one language he gets the meaning from the other language.

P: Thank you for your cooperation.

L1: Thank you.

Interview with lecturer No 2

P: Good morning!

L2: Good morning, how are you?

P: I am fine. I' m conducting research on how TV materials can be integrated into the teaching and learning of English at the NUR and I supposed you are one of the potential informants on this topic. Now, I`d like to ask you some questions related to this issue. Before we embark upon the matter, I'd like to know, do you ever watch TV?

L2: Sure. I do.

P: For how often?

L2: Eh I would say I watch TV on a daily basis.

P: Ok. How long is your watching?

L2: Let's say, I may spend three to four hours watching TV depending on news in Kinyarwanda, French or English.

P: Right. Do you ever watch English programmes on TV?

L2: Sure, I do.

P: What kind of interest do you have in these programmes?

L2: Ok I am particularly interested in news, I've just told you, I also watch music, when I feel tired, just for entertainment not for any other purpose. I also sometimes watch live events that are transmitted live on TV like swearing in ceremonies, events like soccer, or other celebrations which are transmitted live. I also sometimes watch documentaries, it means something to do with history, with culture, with science and technology, and with research. Mainly that`s where my interests are.

P: Fine, did you ever use TV while teaching English?

L2: I'd say I've never used TV so far.

P: Do you think TV can be a valuable teaching tool, for instance while teaching English?

L2: Yeah. Sure, I think so.

P: What's your opinion about it?

L2: I think TV can be a valuable tool in teaching English especially for listening and speaking. As regards listening for instance, you can use TV if you have the programmes, video taped programmes that you use in the classroom. This can help students to improve or to get accustomed to various accents of English depending on the programmes developed by Americans or British speakers. Then it can also help learners to improve their speaking skills or their presentation skills if they refer to the models they watch on TV. This can also help learners to improve their speaking when for instance they are exposed to the kind of models, for instance they watch people who debate, who discuss, then they may also be asked to be involved in such activities as debates, discussions or role-plays or other situations. So, TV can also be a valuable teaching tool in the sense that it can help them to develop these performative skills: to speak, to use body language, to improve on their accents, expressions and so forth.

P: Great, do you have anything to add?

L2: I don't think I have anything special to say but what is important is to find out, to try to find out the material which is adapted to the level of the learners. I want also to say that we can use TV but everything depends on the material that you have in reach. Actually, what we do so far remains at the level of plans, we plan to use TV but as you know there is this problem of power cuts. So this is the thing that limits us to use TV as a teaching material. Otherwise, I am still convinced that it can be a valuable tool in teaching English.

P: Thank you for your answers.

L2: Thank you.

Interview with lecturer No 3

P: Good afternoon.

L3: Good afternoon.

P: I am conducting research on how TV materials can be integrated into the teaching and learning of English at NUR. And I `d like you to respond to some of my questions since I think you are one of the potential informants in a better position to answer to questions on the topic. Let me ask you some simple questions related to watching TV. Do you ever watch TV?

L3 Yes, I do. Sometimes.

P: For how long for instance?

L3: Any way it depends upon the programme, if the programme is interesting I follow it until the end but if it's not, if the topics are not relevant I just switch the TV off. If I don't understand the content I just leave the programme and I move to some other activities.

P: Fine. What English programmes do you like to watch?

L3: Most of the time I follow news because I am eager to know what happens around the world, what happens in the country, what happens locally, so most of the time I follow news.

P: Well. Do you ever use TV while teaching English?

L3: Yes I do. Sometimes.

P: Do you think TV can be a valuable teaching tool?

L3: Yes, I think so but of course for certain courses and not for others. Can I give examples?

P: Yes, you're welcome.

L3: Yes, I am going to give my case, let me give my experience of last two years. I had an English class in EPLM and I only used TV for listening English. Why did I choose to use TV? Because first of all TV gives out authentic material and different reporters have got different pronunciations. And of course we had to use, to follow news from different TV stations if I can say. So, in order to vary the accents because the main concern was to be able to follow each accent, so we could follow Deutch Welle, and we have someone from Germany, we could follow BBC then we had someone from UK, we could follow CNN, we had someone from America, so we had those different pronunciations. And all those different stations have got different reporters. So, it was a very good opportunity for my students and for me also to be exposed to different accents and to know how we should adjust to each situation.

P: Good, do you think TV materials can improve your learners' speaking skills?

L3: Yes it does and for that case of last years it did, because students had those TV presenters as models. So they could imitate them, imitate their pronunciation and get exposed to ways of pronouncing well known words.

P: Great, do you have anything to add?

L3: Well, I could just say that students like that way of teaching. Why do they like it? They like using TV while teaching because it's sort of recreation. They learn with out anxiety, they feel at ease. You see you are the lecturer, instead of standing at the front of students you are just part of the group and all of you follow the same programme. So, if you ask them questions they are eager to respond. If the programme ends you see that the students are not yet tired. It's not like in the classroom when it's time for break, it's time for break but when they are watching the TV materials they don't want to stop to go for break. But then for this I can also mention one constraint. You see these problems of electricity, so we might wish to follow one programme but for other reasons we don't manage to. So this is the problem but otherwise apart from all those problems I feel that and I believe that the use of TV as a resource for teaching , as a teaching material , I feel and I believe that it is one of the best ways of teaching and I am sure it can provide good material for English teaching. For teaching languages, remember that students learn best when they are free from anxiety; that way of teaching using TV provides relaxed atmosphere for the students and they learn better.

P: Thank you for your answers.

L3: Ok, thank you too.

APPENDIX E

Content of English Programmes at the NUR/Faculty of Arts

and Humanities, Department of English.

First year:

LENG 0401104: LISTENING COMPREHENSION I: 15H - 45H = 60H,

4 credits

Aims :

Listening comprehension I aims at familiarising students with listening for specific and general information, listening to casual and prepared speeches, listening to radio broadcasts (Radio Rwanda, BBC, VOA,), listening to speakers in various conditions, listening and watching English programs on TV and recorded documentaries; listening to English speakers in various conditions.

Content: Theory (15h)

Listening skills: gist listening, listening for specific details, listening

for thorough understanding, etc.

Practice (45h)

Listening exercises including various intermediate English language teaching materials, radio and TV broadcasts, various recorded speeches, video-films and documentaries.

CENG 0401104: CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH I: 15H-45H= 60H, 4 credits

Aims:

The course aims at helping the students to develop fluent English, with particular emphasis on phonemic accuracy, rhythm and intonation, and grammatical correctness. It also presents the main features of British and American accents of English.

Content: Theory (15h)

Detailed presentation and practice of the sounds of English; comparison between British and American varieties of English; word-stress: prediction and placement; weak forms: practice; rhythmic groups and intonation; some often mispronounced words

Practice (45h)

Five-ten minutes presentations; role-play and simulations; sketches, etc.

Second year:

LENG 0401203: LISTENING COMPREHENSION II, 15H-30H= 45h 3 credits.

Aims: By the end of the course, students will be able to listen for these purposes:

Listening and filling gaps

Listening and writing answers

Listening and completing notes

Listening and taking notes

Listening and summarising

Content:

Theory (15 h):

Review of the British and American English accents

Listening and gap filling

Listening and note taking

Listening and summarising

Practice (30H):

Practice will be based on various authentic English language teaching materials such as radio broadcasts, video-films, documentaries on TV, songs, speeches, etc.

CENG 0401204: CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH II, 15H- 45H= 60H

4 credits

Aims: By the end of the course, students will be able to:

- speak fluently, spontaneously and coherently

- participate into open debates and discussions.

Content: Theory (15h):

Presentation of the English Stress pattern, intonation, weak and strong forms, phonetic assimilations, liaisons (linking) and elisions in English.

Practice (45h)

This will concern exposés, debates and discussions on non-technical topics. There will also be role-plays, simulations and improvised sketches featuring various language functions such as polite requests, orders, apologising, etc.

* ¹ The pronoun is used for the sake of neutrality in the mini thesis to refer to people whose gender is unknown.

* ² The term is used throughout this mini thesis and it refers to something real, genuine. In this context, `authentic English' refers to the English students encounter in the real world or real life situations. According to Jack C. Richards (2001:252), authentic materials refer to the use in teaching of texts, photographs, video selections, and other teaching resources that were not specially prepared for pedagogical purposes.

* ³ The author is not provided on the website.

* ⁴ Ibid

* ⁵ Ibid

* ⁶ According to the Cambridge International Dictionary of English (1995: 1567) this term refers to musical notes or melody. It also refers to the degree to which the sound is high or low (pitch).

* ⁷ According to Peter Roach (2000:2), intonation refers to the use of pitch of the voice to convey meaning. As mentioned earlier, the pitch is the degree to which a sound is high or low.

* ⁸ The term refers to spoken language features such as word stress, vowel length, intonation, etc.