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El-ihyaa journal ISSN: 1112-4350 EISSN: 2588-2406
Towards a New Consideration of the ESP Instruction:
Listening-Speaking Weaknesses and Films’ Introduction
Case Study: First Year PhD Students of the Faculty of Human
and Social Sciences
Aouar Dallel
Faculty of Human and Social Sciences. Batna1 University
Email : univda0523@gmail.com
Pr. Aboubou Hachemi
Department of English Language and Literature, University Batna2
Email: h.aboubou@univ-batna2.dz
Sending Date: // Date of acceptance: //2018
Date of publication: 10/06/2018
Abstract:
Away from what we may believe, mastering writing and
reading in English is far from being learners’ unique target in
ESP instruction (English for Specific Purposes). Students want
to understand what they hear in English and speak fluently in a
way closer to that of English native speakers. However, the
complexity which generally sketches the understanding and
production of authentic English spoken language, in addition to
teachers’ poor consideration of those aspects, lead learners to
experience anxiety, lack of self-confidence, lack of motivation
and, obviously, poor feedback. As a result, the English language
instruction becomes so weighty for both teachers and learners.
These concerns led us to a descriptive research design to shed
the light on the ESP instruction’s actuality in the Faculty of
Human and Social Sciences University of Batna1. A
questionnaire was introduced to portray our first year PhD
students' weaknesses in terms of English speaking and listening
abilities. Also, we aimed to depict their attitudes towards
introducing films in English as a support for their learning.
Aouar Dallel - Pr. Aboubou Hachemi
578 Issue: 21- june 2018
Students’ positive positions on the introduction of films in
English into the classroom leads us to strongly recommend them
as quite supportive and efficient pedagogical means in ESP
learning as well as teaching.
Keywords: ESP instruction - listening and speaking
weaknesses - Films in English (English spoken films).
ESP
ESP
ESP - ESP
1. Introduction
Teaching English as a foreign language has made a
considerable step in the Algerian universities during the last
decades. EFL instruction has been introduced in almost all the
specialties as a fundamental tool for the sake of the scientific
research development. This led to a specific attention towards
the importance of focusing on EFL reading and writing skills
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over listening and speaking. The aim was to allow learners a
wide access to a measureless range of documents in English.
However, this attention seems to be inappropriate and
insufficient for two reasons. The first is traced by Learners’
needs of a well-established ESP instruction to learn how to deal
with the English spoken input with the same degree they are
supposed to deal with the written one. In this respect, Katchen
(2003) referred to textbooks shortage in terms of communication
since they do not teach small talk and conversational interaction.
The second rather reflects students’ trends towards the different
audio-visual input which trace today’s technology; TV, mobile
phones, computers, tablets, etc., the ‘screen’ is everywhere in all
the areas so why not in studies and the scientific research?
Moreover, recent literature emphasized the idea that
becoming fluent communicators is a logical upshot from learning
any foreign language. Learners want to be able “to understand
what people are saying to them in English, either face-to-face, on
TV or on the radio, in theatres and cinemas, or on tape, CDs or
other recorded media” (Harmer, 2007, p. 133). They want to
speak similar English to native speakers’ one, and be satisfied
with their oral production. However, this is not surprising for
two main reasons: (1)the characteristics of today’s world as to be
quite invaded by American-English films thanks to ‘Hollywood’;
(2)the universal aspect of the English language which makes its
introduction in education as a foreign language an obligation.
Hence, on purely communicative and scientific bases, it becomes
approved that those who are unable to efficiently interpret and
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successfully produce English, (in addition, of course, to writing
and reading) are seen isolated and quasi-illiterate. In this respect
Boonkit wrote:
“As English is universally used as a means of
communication, especially in the internet world,
English speaking skills should be developed along
with the other skills so that these integrated skills
will enhance communication achievement both
with native speakers of English and other
members of the international community.”(2010,
p. 1305)
Despite all this, the English instruction for specific purposes
(ESP) remains slightly considered in our university system,
except for departments who are initially specialized in TEFL
(Teaching English as a Foreign Language). Even if its
importance as an essential pedagogical tool has been approved
by all and in all specialties, still few attempts have been made to
trace a framework of how to successfully teach ESP learners and
meet their needs. Frequency and Time limitations of the sessions
add to the absence of language laboratories make the task harder
for teachers to consider efficiently the English language listening
and speaking skills within their classrooms and bring whatever
efficient support for their learners.
On the light of the already stated reasons, came the present
study as an attempt to describe our learners’ major difficulties
over the acquisition of the listening and speaking skills in ESP
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classrooms. Also we aim to portray students’ attitudes towards
introducing Excerpts of English spoken films as a probable
solution which may alleviate the density of the meant
weaknesses.
2. Literature Review.
Over the last three decades, a revolutionary shift towards a
serious consideration of listening and speaking, traced the field
of EFL/ESL exploration. Researchers competed in reshaping
EFL education to underline the best strategies for teaching
listening and speaking, which were long been marginalized if
compared with the large amount of literature exhausted in EFL
reading and writing.
An important outcome of this shift is the assumption of the
‘intertwined’ relation between listening and speaking (Noon-ura,
2008). In other words, in EFL learning, developing listening is
seen in combination with developing speaking. Jeremy Harmer
emphasized listening frequency over the development of
learners’ perception and production of the target language on the
basis that “the more students listen, the better they get, not only
at understanding speech, but also at speaking themselves”
(Harmer, 2007, p. 133). To be a good listener is supposed to
involve collaboration with speakers and acting actively in asking
for clarification in situations of misunderstanding (White, 1998,
p. 13). Worth to notice here is the interchangeable nature of the
listener-speaker roles; in communication a listener becomes a
speaker in case of answering a question or asking for
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clarification. This fact deepens the interrelationship between
listening and speaking and suggests a parallel treatment of both
of them; an unsuccessful listener is probably an unsuccessful
speaker since s/he is unable to interpret the message correctly
and then answers inappropriately (in case of a conversation) or
find difficulty in adjusting his/her knowledge about how the
words are pronounced and how and when they are used by
natives.
2.1. The ESP Course
According to Collins Dictionary, ESP is an abbreviation of
English for Specific (or Special) Purposes. It is the teaching of
English to students whose first language is not English but who
need it for a particular job, activity, or purpose. This fits with the
kind of English instruction undergone in the Faculty of Human
and Social Sciences. Our PhD students are of different branches
(sociological, psychological, historical, philosophical,
information and communication, and library sciences),
accordingly, deserve a well-established teaching of the four
skills of English with no exception and without excess of
consideration of one at the expense of others.
The ESP instruction is supposed to enable students to (1)
extract information from the different print documents and be
able to understand and analyze the data; (2) be able to write
correctly in English according to the rules and principles of the
scientific written productions; (3) to interpret accurately the
information available in a wide range of audio-visual products
which are of a crucial importance for the specific nature and
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diverse demands of the human and social studies. Another aim is
the mastery of English speaking to foster their communicative
competences and enable them a comprehensive oral presentation
of their works as potential researchers in the different scientific
meetings.
2.2. Listening Overview
Listening is an active mental ability which helps us
understand the world around us (Rost, 2009). It has been defined
as a complex process of interpretation allowing listeners match
what they hear with what they already know (Rost, 2002). It
includes listening for thoughts, feelings and intentions which
requires active involvement, effort and practice (Gilakjani &
Ahmadi 2011). Listening to spoken texts can be beneficial to
pronunciation in terms of providing listeners with ‘good
pronunciation models’ which allow them absorb better pitch,
intonation, stress and the sounds of words whether considered in
isolation or connected speech (Harmer, 2007, p. 133).
However, the aim in the present work is to consider the
learners’ need for an instrumental instruction able to provide
help and assistance in what concerns EFL listening
comprehension. According to Pourhossein Gilakjani and
Ahmadi, listening comprehension “is regarded theoretically as an
active process in which individuals concentrate on selected
aspects of aural input, form meaning from passages, and
associate what they hear with existing knowledge (2011, p. 979).
The aim then is to guide learners to think about their listening
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and develop the autonomy and self-confidence needed for
mastering listening, also speaking as a result of the mastery of
the former.
2.3. Speaking Overview
Speaking is defined as ‘one of the four macro skills necessary
for effective communication in any language, particularly when
speakers are not using their mother tongue’ (Boonkit, 2010, p.
1306). Harmer brought the ‘speaking-as-skill’ concept to refer to
the kind of activities where students are practicing real speaking
events rather than just using speaking to practice specific
language points (2007, p. 283). He believed teachers to have
three main reasons for getting their learners to speak in the
classroom: (1) providing students with rehearsal opportunities
for the practice of real-life speaking in the safety of the
classroom; (2) Providing learners with useful feedback on how
much they know and how well they can use what they know
about EFL; (3) bringing students to become autonomous
speakers of the target language through helping them activate
their knowledge as frequently as possible, and so recalling data
become more automatic and less conscious (Harmer, 2007, p.
123).
2.4. Films as an Example of Authentic Video
Materials
As defined by Jeremy Harmer, authenticity refers to describe
texts or language written for native or competent speakers of a
language (2007: 269).The importance of authentic materials,
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especially audio visual, in TESOL (Teaching English for
Speakers of Other Languages) has been adverted by many
researchers. King (2002, p. 33) held that films can motivate
learners to “communicate in contemporary colloquial English”.
Add to its authenticity films have another strong point: the visual
aspect. An earlier study by Merringoff (1983) underlined the
importance of images for memorizing the different information,
since our brains remember better the visual data especially those
bearing an emotional component. Moreover, in what concerns
the language input, Ji emphasized the importance of (1)
familiarizing students with colloquial speech and the variety of
pace and accent, (2) developing their vocabulary and their
awareness of how referring expressions are used, and (3) helping
them develop prediction through the use of discourse markers
(2015, p. 138). Kellerman highlighted the nature of the speech
perception as to be a ‘bi-model process’ that relies on both
listening to, and watching the information (1990, p. 274).
Important to notice here, is the clear correspondence between the
nature of both speech perception and the English films. In this
respect, Wetzel (1994) highlighted the multiplicity of
information TV, as a general authentic material, may offer to
learners in terms of images, motion, sound and texts which
enable them to learn through both verbal and visual means.
Hence, introducing films as authentic video materials may be
benefic since they can provide learners with both acoustic and
visual data in a colloquial way necessary for the development of
their listening-speaking skills. They offer a wide range of
paralinguistic cues and cultural data able to foster learners’
communicative abilities.
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3. Research Methodology
3.1. Choice of the methodology
Since the aim of the present study is mainly concerned
with elucidating our PhD students’ speaking and listening
weaknesses in addition to their stances about the introduction
of films in English as helping pedagogical tools, we opted for
a descriptive methodology to draw a clear picture of the study
goals.
3.2. Subjects
In the present study we have adopted a purposive sampling,
by selecting 33 out of 42 first year PhD students of different
branches in the faculty of Human and Social Sciences of Batna1
University. All the elements are our students in ESP course, and
the majority has been our students during the License and Master
stages for at least 3 or 4 years. Consequently, we assume
knowing our learners’ capacities and limits as to master, more or
less, English writing and reading skills, but having considerable
difficulties in the two other skills (listening and speaking). At
the time of data collection, they had been learning EFL for at
least 9 years, except for some students who belong to the
classical system, but still we assume their good level in writing
and reading English. Hence, our use of the purposive sampling is
justified by: (1) accessibility, since the elements are already our
students; (2) they have acquired enough experience in the
writing and reading English; and (3) they express a serious desire
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to become fluent speakers of English and lessen their problems
especially when listening to authentic English of native speakers.
3.3. The Instrument
As mentioned before, the aim behind our choice of the
present study is to make an attempt to describe our students’
difficulties in what concern listening and speaking English. More
precisely, we try to shed the light on these two language skills
which, even if of great importance, remain slightly considered,
or not at all, in our ESP classrooms by teachers as well as by
learners. Also, we attempt to suggest alternatives to the old-
fashioned classical teaching based on students’ preferences as
heavy viewers of films and the accessibility of such means, in
terms of the low cost and availability in the market and the Net.
Hence, learners’ attitudes on the introduction of excerpts of films
in English, as an example of the wide range of audio-visual
pedagogical means, is to be described in the present work.
For the already presented goals, we adopted the questionnaire
as a means of data collection instrument. It was divided into four
sections and bears 16 between close and open questions. The
first section deals with general information about the elements in
terms of age and previous experience in English. The second
deals with students’ difficulties in ESP instruction especially in
terms of the English language listening and speaking. The third
section investigates learners’ attitudes on whether or not they
like to watch English spoken films. The two last sections are
about listening and speaking implications while watching films
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in English, according to learners’ previous experience. The
elements of the present study were invited to answer the
questions as clearly and honestly as possible and were given
enough time to fulfill this task.
4. Results and Discussion
4.1. Learners’ Difficulties in ESP Instruction
Students’ answers about their attitudes towards the ESP
course were unanimously positive. This, at least, proves their
enthusiasm and interest towards learning English and
eliminates any negative impact that may be generated from
hate of the English language or the lecture in general.
However, despite learners’ unanimous interest for the ESP
course, they declare encountering difficulties in acquiring
English speaking and listening skills. Among the participants,
a majority of about 88% (29) declared the development of
their listening and speaking abilities as the main intention
from attending ESP course, with a percentage of about 55%
(16) for speaking and 45% (13) for listening, largely
exceeding results for writing 6% (2) and reading 6% (2).
Out of the 29 students who showed interest in listening and
speaking a majority of 72% (21) of them assumed listening to
be the most difficult skill of EFL over 28% (08) for speaking.
We believe Learners’ assumptive confidence in their
speaking abilities to result from their erroneous estimation of
what is meant by a good speaker. They probably confuse the
ability to speak with mastering the characteristics of fluent
and accurate English speaking.
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In general results of this section seem quite evident, since
the Algerian educational system gives little interest to the
development of FL listening and speaking skills, allowing
EFL learners a mere support in the writing and reading
aspects of the English language, and leaving the two others to
learners’ personal efforts and desires. As a matter of fact,
learners feel quite satisfied with the level they reached in
writing and reading, but feel a greed for the two others. Add
to this, and assuming the reality of the universality of the
English language in the scientific research, the majority of
PhD students justified their choices in the desire to
participate in the different international conferences and
study days all over the world and, of course, be able to
understand and be understood.
Learners expect their teacher to be of great support to help
them reach their objectives from such instruction. In terms of
listening, students’ answers were analyzed and reformulated
in the following suggestions: (1) to be allowed a more
exposure to English with all its differences and dialects; (2)
introducing adequate tasks as to help them overcome certain
difficult aspects of English as segmentation and
pronunciation; (3) attending language laboratories, if
possible, to develop their listening. In terms of speaking,
students’ answers were organized as follows: (1) not rely on
the teachers English alone since s/he is not a native speaker
and then does not provide for the best source of learning; (2)
allowing more space for learners to speak in English and
lessening the teacher’s talk (3) use more dialogues and
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conversations in the classroom where everybody mast be
implemented; (3) providing students with a well-structured
instruction in quite equipped classrooms or laboratories; (4)
using authentic videos as a pedagogical tool to acquaint
learners with real examples of how do English and American
people speak. Students’ suggestions show a clear
consciousness of the problems they have and a considerable
enthusiasm to overcome their disabilities. Also, we consider
awareness on the part of our students of the need to enlarge
the scope of their English language knowledge and adopt a
holistic approach in learning English in order to satisfy the
nature of the human sciences research.
4.2. Learners’ Experience with English Spoken
Films and Listening Difficulties
The reality that, today, we become more and more prone to
the screen (TV, internet, tablets, iPods, mobile phones, cinema,
etc.) inspired us as to start thinking about the way to take profit
from such dependence. And since nobody can deny the over-
existence of TV in our daily lives, we thought it may be quite
worthy to attempt to introduce excerpts of films in English, for
two reasons: (1) even in quite formal situations as in the
classroom, films remain attractive and funny; (2) pretty rich
sources of the communicative and cultural sides of the English
language and its speakers.
In the present section, we aim to inspect our PhD students’
attitudes towards watching English spoken films. However, no
special attention is given to the nature of the English language,
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whether British or American; since the aim is mainly to verify
our students’ acceptance or rejection of those kinds of films, in
addition to their listening abilities and difficulties while
watching.
When asked about their attitudes about watching films in
English, about 2/3 of students 85% (28) showed a positive
reaction over those 15 % (5) who rather answered ‘No’ to the
meant question. However, after comparing students’ answers and
their ages, we noticed a potential relation between them; all the
five students who expressed negative attitudes towards films in
English are relatively old aged (see table 1). It is worthy to
remind here that our PhD students are from different ages and
some belong to an age range of more than 50 years old. Those
latter showed no significant interest towards watching English
films, and with a very low frequency. They mainly justified this
attitude in being far more interested by reading books and novels
than ‘wasting time in front of the screen’, as mentioned in one of
the answers. This difference in tendencies between youngsters
and old students makes us suppose that films in English, or on a
larger scale, the English talking ‘screen’ may have greater
influence on the new generations than on their counterpart
elders.
Like/dislike
watching
films in
English
Students’ ages
25-35
36-45
46-55
Total
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Table1. The relation between students’ age and their
attitudes towards watching films in English.
Moreover, students expressed the difficulty they generally
encounter with the language of films in English. They reported
that even when knowing the story (in case they saw the film in
another language or previously read the story in a book) still the
language presents a big deal of difficulty, despite the large
vocabulary they may have. This may be explained in the special
feature of English which makes it difficult to anticipate the
pronunciation of words out of their written forms; add to
learners’ speaking weaknesses that lead them to create some
erroneous pronunciation and take them for granted while reading
whether silently or out loud. This creates a sort of new personal
vocabulary quite different from real English which generally
misleads learners when they try to relate what they hear in the
film with the registered factious articulation they have created.
Moreover, speed, pronunciation and lexical segmentation of
the words in the discourse were the most claimed factors by
those students. This is quite obvious; regarding the difficult
aspect of oral English generally claimed by speakers of other
Yes
100%
100%
0%
85%
No
0
0
100%
15 %
Total (%)
100%
100%
100%
100%
Total (F)
(20)
(8)
(5)
(33)
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languages. Also, those claims reflect students’ luck of experience
with the listening instruction, which is, according to many
researchers, of a considerable importance and a great difficulty
(Harmer, 2007; Lynch, 2009; Nation & Newton, 2009;
Vandergrift and Goh, 2012).
On the other hand, all the learners who approved watching
films in English showed a considerable degree of frequency;
since 27 out of 28 answered ‘often’ and only one student
answered ‘sometimes’. Besides, 25 students (89%) justified their
love for English-talking films in the kind of fun and pleasure that
characterize their watching; this confirms, at least, their
comfortable position with the possibility of introducing English
films as a pedagogical means in our ESP classrooms. Three
students (11%) referred to their conscious will to support their
linguistic knowledge, but no special and clear attention has been
given to the listening and speaking abilities. This is not
surprising, regarding the complexity and the hidden aspect of
listening and speaking.
Not surprisingly, all the 33 elements asserted their reliance
on cinematographic subtitles to understand the content of films
in English, even for the minority who rarely watch such films.
Regarding their original language and the nowadays large variety
of Arabian TV channels, which generally display American and
British films with subtitles, students probably refer to Arabic-
language subtitling. And when asked about the frequency, a
great majority of 30 students (91%) reported their frequent
reliance against only 3 (9%) selected the ‘from time to time’
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option and nobody selected ‘rarely’. This again, reflects
learners’ great weaknesses in terms of listening to the spoken
English language. Despite the special nature of films which
normally provide helpful pictures bearing enough cultural and
situational information, body movements (kinesis), movement of
the lips, etc. learners still rely heavily on subtitles which
probably does not serve their needs to improve the listening and
speaking intricacies. So, before any attempt to introduce excerpts
of films as a pedagogical tool into the ESP classroom, we first
must be sure they are free from subtitles.
Further, when asked to depict the kind of difficulties they
generally encounter when watching films, students’ answers
differed in the style but were similar in meaning which helped us
over the reformulation and reorganization of those answers into
the following eight categories (see table 2).
Categories
Examples of
Students’
Listening
Weaknesses
Percentag
e %
Frequenc
y (F)
a. In terms
of the
spoken
input
source
- I rely on
subtitles,
only when
the sound
is not clear
enough.
3%
(1)
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b. In terms
of
pronuncia
tion
- Even if I
know the
word I
can’t
recognize
it when
pronounce
d by a
native
speaker
27.2%
(9)
c. In terms
of
grammar
and
discourse
- I
sometimes
confuse
the verb
and the
noun, the
‘s’ of the
plural form
and the ‘s’
of the verb
conjugated
in the
present
simple….
9%
(3)
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d. In terms
of speech’
speed
- When I
stop to
think about
what I
have
already
heard, I
miss the
rest of the
speech.
- Speed is
my biggest
problem!
12.1%
(4)
e. In terms
of
segmentat
ion
- I don’t
know
where a
word ends
and when
the next
starts…
- I hear a
whole
sentence as
to be one
word.
18.1%
(6)
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f. In terms
of
vocabular
y
- Sometimes
I feel
actors as
talking
Chinese!
Words are
very
different…
- I don’t
understand
every day
English.
- Generally,
I recognize
Scientific
English
words, or
English
words
which are
close to
French
words, …
18.1%
(6)
g. In terms
of culture
- Even if I
recognize
all the
6%
(2)
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words with
their
meanings,
I still fail
in making
a logical
connection
between
them! ...
‘hot dog’
...
- Native
speakers
use the
language
in a bizarre
way! …
like when
they use
proverbs
and so...
h. Lack of
self-
con
fidence
- Sometimes
I
understand
the
message
but I do
not know
6%
(2)
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why I keep
seeking for
the
translation
in Arabic.
- Even if I
understand
I feel the
need to
check my
understand
ing to be
reassured.
Total
100 %
(33)
Table2. Students’ answers about their listening difficulties while
watching films in English.
Students’ answers, shown in table 2, reflect a great deal of
problems regarding listening to the English oral input; with
pronunciation 27.2 %, segmentation 18.1% and vocabulary
18.1% to having the biggest shares. Additionally, speed of the
spoken English language figures among the cited problems with
a percentage of 12.1%, in addition to the FL cultural aspect and
lack of self-confidence with equal proportions of 6% and finally
with only 3% for the quality of the sound. However, the
percentage and frequency of those categories may not reflect the
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real array of learners’ difficulties with EFL listening; and so
needs a more established investigation on a larger group to reach
evidence. The aim, here, is not to provide a certain classification
of the previous categories, rather it is (1) to highlight those
limitations,(2) describe students’ consciousness of their listening
deficiencies and (3) show whatever real intention to defeat them.
In fact, students’ responses are quite logical regarding their
prior limited experiences to the writing and reading
performances. The reference, here, is to the poor instruction over
the conscious analysis of the spoken text which cannot be
reached without a well-structured teaching and special support
on the part of EFL teachers to develop learners’ listening
abilities and gain self-confidence. However, what we mean by
‘structured teaching’ the kind of instruction in which teachers
consider deeply their students’ listening problems to bring
adequate help and support. Limitations over the ESP sessions’
time and lack of specialized language laboratories are neither in
teachers’, nor learners’, favors. Yet, this is not a valid excuse to
ignore listening and limit learners to the mere acquisition of
writing and reading!
4.3. Listening is the Precursor of Speaking
As mentioned earlier, the last three decades’ research has
adverted the existence of a tight relation between listening and
speaking performances. For instance, Nation and Newton (2009,
pp. 37-8) believe listening to be the ‘precursor’ of speaking, not
only in the foreign language but even in one’s first language.
This means that we cannot expect a development in the English
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speaking ability without seriously considering and enhancing
English listening.
This fact has been investigated within the last section of the
questionnaire. Learners’ answers showed a slender
consciousness about fostering their English speaking
performances. Only 12 (26.3%) among the 33 learners assumed
to rarely concentrate on how do native speakers of English
converse; mainly in terms of new vocabulary and paralinguistic
cues (gestures, manners, lips’ movements). However, this does
not exclude the fact that learners’ can develop their speaking
skill in an unconscious way regarding the complex cognitive
operations of the mind.
However, students showed a better impression towards
introducing English films as a pedagogical tool to support their
speaking and listening competencies. Twenty-nine students
(88%) answered yes to the relevant question. Even those who
were reluctant about watching English films at the beginning
seemed more enthusiastic for introducing them into the
classroom.
Students’ high cooperation with this section is largely due to
their belief that watching films in the classroom is different
from outside; they seek for the teacher’s support and well framed
watching based on scientific findings. Some referred to the
positive ambiance those pedagogical means may bring into the
classroom to reduce anxiety and hide the difficult aspect of the
listening activity. In this respect, Eken (2003) assumed that the
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value of films lays in their richness of daily conversations and
their being a medium of enjoyment. In what concerns the four
remaining unenthusiastic elements, they did not provide
explanations for their positions. Probably, this is due to their
inability to anticipate any relation between watching films and
developing the meant skills. Also, this position may be the very
result of an old negative experience with the difficulty which
characterizes the authentic language likely to be found in the
meant English films.
5. Recommendations
In the light of the present work results, we emphasize
teachers’ and learners’ serious consideration of the listening and
speaking aspects of the English language as follows:
Regarding the complex nature of the acquisition and
the mastery of the speaking and listening skills,
learners need a heavy support on the part of their
teachers.
Learners need a rich and diversified learning to cover
all the linguistic, communicative and cultural aspects
of the language.
The teaching method and pedagogical tools must be
accommodated with learners’ level of proficiency and
their needs.
For a well established instruction, teachers must
accompany films with adequate well planned
meaningful and useful tasks (King 2002).
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Learners must be allowed enough time to speak in
English in order to practice their knowledge,
memorization better, gain confidence and become
self-reliant learners.
Learners should watch films in English as extra
activities outside the classroom, (without relying on
subtitles) so that they become more accustomed with
the authentic English language they will later
accentuate in the classroom through a more structured
practice.
The teacher must be sure that the films selected for use
within the classroom are free from subtitles.
Teachers must attract the attention of learners to the
different cultural aspects of the English and American
speakers to help them accept the existence of the
‘Other’ different; enlarge the scope of their knowledge
about the foreign culture; and deepen their awareness
and comprehension of their own culture through
comparisons and analyses.
Whenever possible, learners’ enthusiasm must be
enhanced as to involve them in taking decisions about
their learning according to their preferences (e.g.,
participate in selecting the films in English).
6. Conclusion
All in all, the ESP course deserves more consideration and
equivalent value as all the other disciplines designed for the
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different human sciences curricula. Fostering English writing
and reading skills alone appears to be no longer sufficient to
satisfy our PhD students’ greed for learning English. However,
supporting them to develop their speaking and listening skills, in
addition to writing and reading, allow them become proficient
potential researchers able to take profit from a wide range of
audiovisual information and English broadcast programs.
Moreover, the tight relationship which has been proved in,
the last two decades, between listening and speaking
performances brought the evidence that the acquisition of the
latter cannot happen without the mastery of the former. Hence, a
serious consideration of listening in our ESP classrooms is
required to support learners in, not only, understanding the
spoken English but also coping positively with their limitations
as efficient and confident EFL speakers.
Furthermore, the accessibility and rich nature of the English
spoken films in terms of linguistic, communicative and cultural
data attracts our attention to the hopeful benefices those means
may bring to the ESP course. Students’ positive attitudes towards
those films confirmed, at least, our assumptions in what concerns
their power to bring life into the classroom and minimize anxiety
which generally characterize the English language learning.
Also, results of the present work makes us enthusiastic vis-à-vis
the introduction of those films as valuable pedagogical means for
the development of ESP learning and the provision of whatever
needed facilities and knowledge for the sake of the scientific
research goals. However, the way films must be used within the
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classroom and the associated tasks have not been investigated in
the present work and, hence, necessitate further accurate
investigations.
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