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.
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