Teaching film or using film to learn language and culture? diverse approaches to teaching film in foreign language centres

Autores

  • María Mercedes Vásquez Vásquez Room 706, KK Leung Building, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

Resumo

Films in foreign language classrooms are commonly used for developing students’ linguistic and cultural competences. This approach, which suits certain educational contexts, particularly those of community or government organizations which cater for the general public, is not entirely suitable for learning at university. In China (and Hong Kong), Spanish is mainly taught at university as a foreign language degree. Students of Hispanic Film can learn how to analyze a fi lm both as a text and a cultural product in the target language. Therefore, when learning Spanish and Latin American Film as part of a Spanish undergraduate degree at university, the development of linguistic and cultural competences can be integrated with the development of creative and critical thinking skills as well as the capacity for film and cultural analysis. This paper offers a discussion of the motives for such inclusion from an interdisciplinary approach and a practical example.

Palavras-chave:

foreign language learning, film analysis, cultural studies, interdisciplinary approach, university language program