Mass Media and Socio-Cultural Understanding

*Behind the Looking Glass

*Stereotypes*All men like…..

*All African-American men are….

*All celebrities…

Objective: Use descriptive words to challenge our thinking about stereotypes.

Level: Intermediate (B2)

*Did someone say MASS media?

*Quick Write

*Write the words that come to your mind when you think of Michael Jackson.

*Group them with a partner and label the categories.

Celebrity Famous Singer

Died Disco

* Dig more deeply: Listen and Read the Lyrics

Lyrics Only: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW8UsJvC4rM

*What is the song about?1. Read the lyrics in your handout.

2. Add new words to your ‘Quick Write’3. Are there any new categories?4. Share your words with another pair of

participants.5. Are there words you hadn’t thought of

or are new to you?

How has your idea of Michael Jackson, the celebrity changed?

“Man In The Mirror” sold as a single in the spring of 1988,

Nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards.

Topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks.

Why?

*Be the change… you want to make in the world

http://www.contactmusic.com/video/michael-jackson-man-in-the-mirror

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMJ39RAvgA4

Natural Disaster

Violence

Hatred

Genocide

Stereotypes

Military

Relief

Rescue

Homecoming

Leadership

Peace

SolidarityChange

* What new ideas come to your mind now?

Re-read the lyricsWhat new understandings do you

hold now for the song?

Before

Disaster

Violence

Responses:1. Other celebrities have broken stereotypes and

have created positive change in the world. • Create a photo essay using a sentence frame:• Before I thought Angelina Jolie was…. but

then I learned that she….. this helps people because….

2. Survey http://surveymonkey.com your friends about small and big changes they have made to help others. Report on the results in Facebook or in a blog.

3. Create a children’s story: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/make-your-own/story-maker

4. Create your own video to the song ~Photostory: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11132

Be the change… you want to make in the world

* Contrast with a more traditional lesson

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0906/090627-michael_jackson.html

Michael Jackson has died aged 50 after having a heart __________ at his Los Angeles home. He was __________ to hospital, where doctors spent over an hour trying to __________ him. His brother Germaine told reporters: "The family request that the media please respect our privacy during this __________ time." Jackson was perhaps the greatest singer and dancer the world has ever seen. He transformed the music industry forever. The pop __________ greatly influenced generations of singers with his unrivalled professionalism. Michael was __________ as the king of pop and there is perhaps no one close to challenging his legendary __________. He will be remembered forever for his __________, his unforgettable songs, and his Moonwalk dance. 

   save

statusattacktalent

rushedtough

knownicon

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

Traditional Contrast

* Deficiencies in traditional EFL curricula

• Produce ‘thin and flat’ repertoire even with texts aimed at ‘communicative competence.’

• Memorized chunks, ‘phrasebook English’

• Decontextualized learning

*Deficiencies….

• Foster an intolerance for ambiguity

• Pompous sounding – artificial (awkward pairings)

• Textbooks ‘preachy’ not real world language

• Artificial dialogues

* Authentic Texts

Lead to more authentic language learning for language acquisition.

Krashen (1989) “Interesting, meaningful, relevant, one step beyond current level of competence.”

* Teens and adults acquire L2 differently from children

• Some direct grammar teaching done in tandem with real ‘languaging’.

• Pre-teach vocabulary and grammar structures.

• Lessons ~ 70% student centered activities: 30% direct teaching.

* Criteria for assessing pedagogical value:

ContentSchemata

Exogenous –prior knowledge – news castsEndogenous – create own context –

(sporting incident, natural disaster)

- Visuals speak for themselves

*Linguistic Difficulties

• Acous t i c• Speech ra te• Pauses , hes i ta t i on• St ress• Rhythmic

pa t te rn ing• Lex i s /Syn tax

• Need h igh degree o f redundancy

• Repet i t i on o f:• Cons t i tuen ts• Paraphras ing• Synonyms

Text Type

 

Genre - Clear text structure aids in recall and comprehension• Narrative ~ Chronological

• Non-Narrative• TV news cast ~ most

difficult to process • edited monologues• interactive dialogue

• American TV ‘infotainment’ with conversation, dramatic framing are more beneficial for acquisition.

* Coordination between audio and visual texts

Visual text: Inscriptions, captions, posters, diagrams, Music and background noise

*Study

Experiment by Bahrani (2011)• 60 adult participants over a year ( 3 hours

weekly)• pre/post-test design IELTS exam (listening

and speaking)• 300 hours of exposure half control group

and half experimental using news items. • Questionnaires every two weeks to assess

prior knowledge connected to content items

• Group using the news media scored much higher in fluency due to items such as the recycling features of news media.

*Res

ource

s

1. Magazines:Reader’s Digest, Time, Newsweek, National Geographic

2. Internet Sites1. http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/2. Video Streaming

1. This American Life: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/tv-archives/season-one/my-way

3. Blog discussion: 1. VOA blogs

http://www.voanews.com/info/podcast/1356.html

2. American Café3. Podcasts

1. http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php

2. Full text audio podcasts: http://www.npr.org/templates/search/index.php?searchinput=teen+talk&sort=match&tabId=text

3. Movie reviews with full text support: http://www.npr.org/sections/movies/

4. Audio/Video1. Voice of America

1. http://learningenglish.voanews.com/2. http://learningenglish.voanews.com/section/

the-classroom/2345.html

2. MSN Video (clips from NBC news)

*Learning Sequence

1. BEFORE:1. Anticipation guides, graphic organizers and

surveys to connect with prior knowledge2. DURING:

1. Viewing multiple times: new focus each time

2. Double Entry Journal3. Insert Method

3. AFTER1. Class discussion2. Blog discussion

1. Shared Talk 2. Facebook surveys with native English

speakers to confirm or adjust cultural interpretations.

3. Report back to class Pre/Post-understandings1. Graphic Organizers2. Exit Slips3. Quickwrites4. Photo Essays

http://www.adlit.org/strategy_library/

* References

Bahrani, T. (2011). The role of audiovisual mass media news in language learning. English language. teaching. Vol.4, No. 2; Retrieved July 14, 2012 from www.ccsenet.org/elt

Hwang, C. (2005). Effective EFL Education through popular Authentic Materials. Asian EFL Journal, Vol.7, Issue 1, Article 7.

Krashen, S. (1989). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. London & New York: Longman.

Rymes, B. (2008). The relationship between mass media and classroom discourse. University of Pennsylvania Scholarly Commons. GSE Publications; retrieved July 14, 2012 from repository.upenn.edu/cgi.