The article describes the results of teachers using a critical language lens to analyze linguistic stereotypes in TV series, movies, cartoons, and social media posts. I share the key questions teachers asked about language use in texts as well as the results of their analysis. Based in a cultural modeling pedagogy (Lee, 2007), teachers examined…

Lately, theme parks have emphasized the learning and edutainment aspects of their business. This has created new opportunities for theme parks and schools to cooperate. Research has shown that learning at science centers, a similar form of learning arena, tends to be out of context and that the learning outcomes are meager. High Chaparral, in…

Historical novels, films, and other media can disrupt or reinforce dominant narratives about the past. Educators must be careful that when they attempt to select material from a range of seemingly diverse perspectives, they do not choose content that nevertheless maintains problematic depictions of people, places, and events. Time travel stories…

This paper computes estimates of the potential for Extensive Reading (ER) and Extensive Viewing (EV) to support the academic and discipline-specific vocabulary needs of students. While research into ER/EV for general vocabulary is well-established, only recently has academic vocabulary begun to be researched. Given curriculum time constraints,…

This article reports on an autoethnography by two authors who analysed the interrelationship of their experiences as foreign language learners, educators, and researchers. Both participant-researchers had taken advantage of the accessibility of online learning resources to learn new languages, had incorporated digital tools into their teaching…

Recurring expressions and idiolectal speech patterns are often used by the scriptwriters of sitcoms to portray the personality of some of the characters. These expressions, which in many cases end up becoming popular, are so significant that they need be kept in the translated versions of these series. A corpus-based script analysis method that…

The article gives a brief review on how to improve students' speaking skills via modeling dialogues in FL class. This study can be considered the continuation of the research undertaken by the authors in 2018, in which the authors put forward the hypothesis that students' speaking skills improve provided their ability to match speech patterns to…

This book brings together current thinking on informal language learning and the findings of over 30 years of research on captions (same language subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) to present a new model of language learning from captioned viewing and a future roadmap for research and practice in this field. Language learners may have…

Two popular media forms are examined--the documentary film "Waiting for 'Superman'" and the HBO television series, "The Wire"--that present distinct, and at times conflicting, depictions of how to address educational inequity. Qualitative media content analysis was used to analyze the two media documents and to situate them…

This article examines how undergraduate instructors of pre-service educators can address complex issues of sexuality and sexual orientation within the classroom. First, we explain our own backgrounds and positionalities to provide a context for our ensuing ideas and discussions. Second, by reviewing the literature on homophobic bullying, we…

This case study presents a description and outline of a dubbing activity in which students utilized their basic linguistic skills holistically. Authentic materials such as television dramas and feature films are "a rich repository of various speech acts, lexicon and linguistic emotivity" (Koyama, 2009) and as such have the potential to…

Tackling challenging topics in history can be difficult, and sometimes teachers struggle to find age-appropriate ways to help students confront painful stories from the past. About four years ago, this author spearheaded a focus group with the purpose of taking on such a challenge. In the initial meetings, members of the group (four educators from…

Israeli film and television have risen to international prominence, presenting compelling and complicating perspectives. Simultaneously, Web 2.0 technologies have accelerated the spread and immediacy of digital media. Following the work of Holtz (2003) and Levisohn (2010) in developing orientations for teaching Bible and Rabbinic Literature, this…

Films and TV series are widely used to support teaching in English language classrooms. They are seen largely as a source of authentic language, as a way of motivating students or as a means of conveying knowledge about another culture. There is less emphasis on their use as a focus for developing intercultural competence. This is particularly the…