Articles

ESL Students - Opportunities for Media Education

November 2005

by Barry Duncan


ESL Students - Opportunities for Media Education
by Barry Duncan, November 2005

With so many of our schools--especially in the Toronto GTA--overflowing with ESL students, media teachers have a great opportunity to make the case for media literacy. The media selected should both teach 'through' and 'about' the media; otherwise they are presented simply as unproblematic audio-visual aids. Teaching about the media includes addressing the key media concepts of audience, production, codes and conventions and values and ideology.

The annual TESL conference "Our Visions, Our Voices" was held in Toronto November 17-19 and I was honoured to be asked to deliver the opening keynote address. The following are a few of my observations on the topic.  This is only a beginning for the needed research on this important topic.

Why are the Mass Media and Popular Culture (MMPC) important learning and acculturation tools for ESL students?

Teachers and students are provided with a set of allusions/references, in short, a cultural tool kit for cultural dialogue. To take television, for example,  ESL students favourites might include The Simpsons, Degrassi Kids, CSI, MuchMusic, (maybe even Desperate Housewives), video games like  Grand Theft Auto; new TV commercials, and  new music videos.

Celebrity culture pervades the lives of most of our students. The ESL students I observed were curious and fascinated by celebrities; they were equally fascinated by advertising--for hair gel and Paris Hilton look alikes. 

I surveyed a class of 20 students who devoured  the 10 teen magazines I had brought with me, including Teen People, Seventeen, Teen Vogue.  I asked them for information on celebrities, teen trends and new consumer products. The enthusiasm was contagious.  I also asked them to fill out a questionnaire which covered a broad scope of topics. Below is the teacher version. It is easy to convert this to the student edition.

  1. How do ESL students make sense of MMPC (Mass Media and Popular Culture)? How do they learn the codes of soaps, dramas, documentaries? What about the influence of MMPC in their native country as distinct from North American MMPC?
  2. What elements in their traditional culture clash with North American MMPC?  Can we use MMPC to distinguish Canadian from American culture?
  3. How do ESL students acquire language through MMPC? How does MMPC influence their behaviour and notions of gender, race, age, class? How might their  concept and choice of heroes as well as favourite celebrities be grounded in MMPC? In this regard, how might the MMPC in their native country play an important role?
  4. Our identity is fluid and constantly evolving. ESL students are hybrid Canadians combining elements of their native country with elements of North American MMPC. How does our MMPC acculturate and influence the formation of their identity? What do they consider are the benefits/the liabilities?
  5. How does peer pressure--being cool-- depend on their knowledge and use of MMPC?  For example, watching television and listening to music in order to have the right allusions. What do they think of this notion?

Note to the ESL teachers

What are the opportunities for ESL teachers to use MMPC for language growth and for applying cultural studies? What are some effective pedagogical strategies? How do teachers use popular TV programs, pop music and feature films for acculturation purposes?

  • Cool hunters, the  culture of brands and  American realitity television  shows can overwhelm them. However, ESL students need to know and explore Canadian identity. ( My favourite text for discussion is the Labatt Canadian "rant "with  humble , little Joe  yelling out our Canadian virtues.) In typically Canadian schizoid manner, I recall a student ten years ago asserting: "Degrassi is who we are but  "90210" is what we would like to be."
  • The mass media introduce ESL students  to our consumer culture - sometimes with damaging consequences as we aspire to want more and more  goodies but many students come from war-torn, economically-crippled countries. Bear in mind that typical middle class homes shown in movies and TV are beyond the reach of many immigrants. Think of the size of a typical kitchen in an American sitcom. For many students, it is an enormous space--a place that showcases consumer wealth and family dynamics, since, in many sitcoms, it’s the place where discussions occur and arguments get settled.
Finally, it would be worthwhile to have TESL teachers  respond to these observations with their own perspective on media and ESL. What works for you? Share some anecdotes about acculturation and pop culture in your classroom.