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

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.

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