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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.
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