On the possibility of teaching communication strategies: Based on language development

Lee, Ji-Hyun

Article

Journal of English Teaching through Movies and Media 2015;16(3):87-108.
Published online August 30, 2015.

On the possibility of teaching communication strategies: Based on language development

Ji-Hyun Lee

대화전략 지도의 가능성에 대한 연구

이지현

Abstract

Teaching communication strategies (CS) to make communication effective is of crucial importance for language learning and should contribute to language development. This study examines the possibility of teaching CS for successful communication and the feasibility of incorporating them into language development. An experiment was conducted using the movie Love Actually and the sitcom Friends. The aim of the experimental group (n=100) was to become aware of the CS used to make communication effective, which results in noticing the language used in the CS. The group watched the scenes and found effective strategies, which they discussed. They also discussed the language which revealed the strategies were effective. The teacher guided them to focus on the CS. The control group (n=100) focused on expressions of high frequency. The experimental group showed an improvement in the test of CS and significantly outperformed the control group in the test for long-term memory retention in the language of a touching scene. Results suggest that CS are a teachable domain and especially the language of CS that moves the learners’ hearts can lead to long-term memory retention, which has an effect on language development.

Key Words: communication strategies;language development;memorization;long-term memory