Approaching an expansion of teaching American Studies through popular culture texts

  1. Marini, Anna Marta
  2. Cañero, Julio 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Alcalá
    info

    Universidad de Alcalá

    Alcalá de Henares, España

    ROR https://ror.org/04pmn0e78

Journal:
Porta Linguarum: revista internacional de didáctica de las lenguas extranjeras

ISSN: 1697-7467

Year of publication: 2022

Issue: 37

Pages: 9-26

Type: Article

DOI: 10.30827/PORTALIN.VI37.21692 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openDialnet editor

More publications in: Porta Linguarum: revista internacional de didáctica de las lenguas extranjeras

Abstract

The present study aims to consider an expanded approach to teaching American Studies at the Universidad de Alcalá, achieved by using popular culture texts to assist the comprehension and analysis of foreign sociocultural contexts. Given the pervasiveness of American products framed by an increased access provided by digital globalization, it reveals particularly useful to approach such texts from a critical academic perspective. Stemming from the answers a diverse range of students gave—and considering their limitations—the study delves into how popular culture informs and shapes the students’ disposition toward learning, consequently allowing to outline how a course in American Studies could be developed in order to exploit such texts and effectively stimulate a more diverse understanding of the American context(s).

Bibliographic References

  • Alvermann, D.E., Moon, J.S., Hagwood, M.C. & Hagood, M.C. (Eds.) (2018). Popular culture in the classroom: Teaching and researching critical media literacy. Routledge.
  • Bertonneau, T.F. (2010). A counter-curriculum for the pop culture classroom. Academic Questions, 23(4), 420-434. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12129-010-9196-5
  • Bird, S.A., & Williams, J.N. (2002). The effect of bimodal input on implicit and explicit memory: an investigation into the benefits of within-language subtitling. Applied Psycholinguistics, 23(4), 5509-5533. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716402004022
  • Bonsignori, V. (2018). Using films and TV series for ESP teaching: A multimodal perspective. System, 77, 58-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.01.005
  • Browne, R.B. (2005). American Studies and popular culture. In R. Browne (Ed.), Popular culture studies across the curriculum (pp. 17-23). McFarland.
  • Buckingham, D. (1998). Introduction: fantasies of empowerment? Radical pedagogy and popular culture. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Teaching popular culture: beyond radical pedagogy (pp. 1-17). Psychology Press.
  • Callahan, M., & Low, B.E. (2004). At the crossroads of expertise: The risky business of teaching popular culture. The English Journal, 93(3), 52-57. https://doi.org/10.2307/4128809
  • Canning-Wilson, C. (2000). Practical aspects of using video in the foreign language classroom. The Internet TESL Journal, 6(11). Retrievable at http://iteslj.org/Articles/Canning-Video.html
  • Dema, O., & Moeller, A.K. (2012). Teaching culture in the 21st century language classroom. In T. Sildus (Ed.), Touch the World: Selected Papers from the 2012 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (pp. 75-91). Crown Prints.
  • Grubba, L.S. (2020). Cinema, human rights and development: The cinema as a pedagogical practice. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 8(1), 88-123. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2020.238
  • Harmer, J. (2001). The practice of English language teaching (3rd ed.). Pearson Longman.
  • Hofmann, J. (2018). Pixar films, popular culture, and language teaching: The potential of animated films for teaching English as a foreign language. Global Studies of Childhood, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/2043610618798929
  • Kaiser, M., & Shibahara, C. (2014). Film as source material in advanced foreign language classes. L2 Journal, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.5070/L26119239
  • Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2019). The Critical Media Literacy Guide: Engaging Media and Transforming Education. Brill.
  • Luke, C. (1993). Media and popular culture in education and society: An introduction to education studies. Teaching Education, 5(2), 41-56. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047621930050204
  • Luke, C. (1997). Media literacy and cultural studies. In S. Muspratt, A. Luke, & P. Freebody (Eds.), Constructing critical literacies: Teaching and learning textual practice (pp, 19-49). Hampton Press.
  • Montero Perez, M., Peters, E., & Desmet, P. (2014). Is less more? Effectiveness and perceived usefulness of keyword and full captioned video for L2 listening comprehension. Re-CALL: The Journal of EUROCALL, 26(1), 21-43. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344013000256
  • Pachler, N. (2000). Re-examining communicative language teaching. In Field, K. (Ed.), Issues in modern foreign language teaching, pp. 22-37. Routledge.
  • Peacock, J., Covino, R., Auchter, J., Boyd, J., Klug, H., Laing, C., & Irvin, L. (2016). University faculty perceptions and utilization of popular culture in the classroom. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1180673
  • Pegrum, M., Hartley, L. & Wechtler, V. (2005). Contemporary cinema in language learning: from linguistic input to intercultural insight. The Language Learning Journal, 32(1), 55-62. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571730585200191
  • Pierson-Smith, A., Chik, A. & Miller, L. (2014). Teaching popular culture in a second language university context. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 9(3), 250-267. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2014.921173
  • Trier, J. (2007). Teaching theory through popular culture texts. Teaching Education, 18(2), 151-165. https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210701325242
  • Vyushkina, E. (2016). Legal English through movies: development of professional communicative competence. Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric, 45(58), 253-263. https://doi.org/10.1515/slgr-2016-0027
  • Weinstock, J.A. (2021a). Opening keynote (interview with Anna Marta Marini). 50+ Shades of Gothic: The Gothic Across Genre and Media in US Popular Culture international virtual conference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xJEof2L9Cc
  • Weinstock, J.A. (2021b). Pop culture for beginners. Broadview.
  • White, C., & Walker, T. (2007). Tooning in: Essays on popular culture and education. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.