Why Movies Matter To Grammar Teaching

Accuracy and fluency remains to be central to the controversy over grammar teaching today. To those students who have learned some grammar the course is mechanical and boring, especially when accustomed to the prescriptive rules for language use. And how to revive the learners'interest, enliven the classroom teaching, and how to enrich their perspectives on grammar, are on the list of current problems for grammar teaching at college.This study, based upon Mr. Yang's three years'incorporating movies into his classroom teaching, focuses upon three questions:(1) What changes have effected in the learners'knowledge of grammar?(2) How do movies facilitate the changes?(3) What are the implications for grammar teaching at college?Their answers are given as follows, after analyzing the homework of the subjects by means of SPSS and discourse analysis approach:(1)'Movies make it possible for them to confirm their original knowledge of grammar, and go beyond the basic meaning to seek speaker's meaning, for a better understanding of the characters in the movies;(2)'Movies contextualize the uses of grammar forms, which leads to discovery and inquiry-movies&grammar forms considered for a plausible interpretation;(3)'When new materials for grammar learning are available items for input are to be checked for the raising of awareness, facilitating the transformation of declarative knowledge into procedural knowledge.In spite of the merits mentioned there are some factors for future consideration:(a) This movie-grammar combination is to the advantage of with a solid knowledge of grammar;(b) Teacher's demo or examples could mold and restrict the thoughts of learners;(c) Students might impose their textbook knowledge of grammar upon the lines, leaving interpretations twisted.