Second language (L2) researchers have long recognized the potential benefits of incorporating pronunciation instruction in language curricula (among others), and have investigated a variety of training types both in and out of the classroom, meeting with mixed successes. Likewise, technological advances provide educators with new tools that foster collaboration among learners and encourage the crucial processes of input, interaction and output (Long, 1996; Pica, 1994; Swain, 1985) beyond the walls of the classroom. The present study examines the potential of one such tool -podcasting -to create a community of practice for language learners to improve their second language phonological production (following Lord, 2008; see also Ducate & Lomicka, 2009). Although the results offer inconsistent evidence in favor of specific acoustic and articulatory improvements, the benefits of podcasting for such purposes are discussed.
The 2007 MLA report “Foreign Language and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World,” with its call to institutions of higher education to reexamine their curricula and include more in-depth cultural content into all courses, reminded foreign language educators of the important goal of helping students gain translingual/transcultural competence. Finding appropriate teaching tools to attain this goal, however, is often challenging for instructors since textbooks tend to focus primarily on vocabulary and grammar instruction and often present cultural topics via “culture boxes” and superficial, pedagogically prepared readings. Directly addressing this challenge, the present article explores how learners’ cultural and linguistic competence can be developed by having them actively engage with the content in documentary films from the Spanish-speaking world. Documentaries, rich sources of authentic linguistic input, provide in-depth cultural content from a variety of perspectives on both historical and contemporary issues. Following a discussion of the rationale behind using documentary films as a learning tool in Spanish classrooms of varying levels, specific guidance is provided for instructors regarding how to find and choose films, how to create and use materials that scaffold learning, and how to critically examine the multiple perspectives that are present in documentaries.
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