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Animo Succesus
TEACHING ENGLISH from MASS MEDIA
Mass media is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envisioned and designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state. It was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines, although mass media (like books and manuscripts) were present centuries before the term became common.
The term public media has a similar meaning: it is the sum of the public mass distributors of news and entertainment across media such as newspapers, television, radio, broadcasting, which may require union membership in some large markets.
The concept of mass media is used also for internet media as now individuals have a means of potential exposure. Internet media can include:
television
blogs and
We can speak about a forming mass society with special characteristics, lack of social connections and the influence of modern mass-media techniques such as advertising and propaganda .
Purposes
Mass media can be used for various purposes:
Advocacy, both for business and social concerns. This can include advertising, marketing, propaganda, public relations, and political communication.
Entertainment, traditionally through performances of acting, music, and sports, along with light reading; since the late 20th century also through video and computer games.
Negative characteristics of mass media
an inability to transmit tacit knowledge (or perhaps it can only transfer bad news).
the manipulation of large groups of people through media outlets, for the benefit of a particular political party and/or group of people.
favoring a certain individual, outcome or resolution of an event.
Forms
Electronic media and print media include:
Broadcasting, in the narrow sense, for radio and television .
Various types of discs or tapes. In the 20th century, these were mainly used for music. Video and computer uses followed .
Film, most often used for entertainment, but also for documentaries .
Internet, which has many uses and presents both opportunities and challenges. Blogs and podcasts, such as news, music, pre-recorded speech and video .
Publishing, in the narrow sense, meaning on paper, mainly via books, magazines, and newspapers .
Video games, which have developed into a mass form of media since cutting-edge devices such as the PlayStation 3, X Box 360, and Wii broadened their use .
Mobile phones, often called the 7th Mass Media, used for rapid breaking news, short clips of entertainment like jokes, horoscopes, alerts, games, music, and advertising .
Radio or TV for foreign language learning?
Is it a better choice to support your language learning through radio or TV?
I prefer radio actually.
The reason is that on TV there is a lot going on to distract you. While with radio, you can turn out all other distractions and focus on the words to get a sense of what is going on.
Also with radio you can have the background passively; while TV has abrasively loud commercials and can be not as harmonious to do other work with. A room feels different when it has a TV compared to a radio.
With a radio the dialogue is focused on the spoken work and everything is explained. There is a higher concentration of words per minute on a radio than TV as on TV there is a lot to convey visually. That is why I feel listening to radio more productive than watching TV for foreign language learning.
Film is considered by many to be an important art form; films entertain, educate, enlighten and inspire audiences.
Any film can become a worldwide attraction, especially with the addition of dubbing or subtitles that translate the film message. Films are also artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them.
Many of our listeners like to watch English-language movies for enjoyment, but also to improve their English. What is important is that any movie (or TV show) you watch be comprehensible and easy to understand.
Many things can make movies more or less comprehensible. Stay away from movies with too much slang and period movies (a movie set in the past) that have old-fashioned (not modern) speech.
Browsing through the January 2005 on line issue of Modern English Teacher, I came across a great activity presented in an article entitled “Silent Movies” by Glenn Gainer.
The author discusses selecting a movie: choosing one which appeals to students is important but he’s found that as long as there is some reasonably clear situation or issue and the students have a well-defined task, they are interested. He also notes that the teacher should be careful not to make the clip too long; G. Gainer has decided to focus on an easy-to-follow action, a clear problem, and characters having interesting gestures and facial expressions.
Because it is so close to language reality - containing visual as well as audible cues - video is an excellent medium for use in the language classroom. It can be used in many different ways and for teaching or revising many different language points.
Author: prof. SÂNZIANA NESIU
Selected Bibliography:
Douglas DeLong – Taking off the Training Wheels, article found on towerofenglish.com
Guy Courchesne – Video in the EFL, using YOUTUBE
Josef Essberger – Notes on Using Video in the Language classroom
Lindsay Clandfield, Duncan Ford – Newspapers in the EFL/ESL Classroom
http://www.onlinemet.com/ for the Modern English Teacher, the journal for English Language Teaching
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mass media
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