Teaching oral skills through feature film in English language teaching: A study of how the feature film Love, Simon can be used to teach English pronunciation and sociolinguistic skills

Abstract

Abstract This Master thesis is a didactic thesis in the English subject which explores the possibilities of using the American film Love, Simon to teach English sociolinguistic skills and the pronunciation features which may be challenging for Norwegian learners and which may affect speech intelligibility. The thesis presents an analysis of linguistic and sociolinguistic features in the film Love, Simon and includes an analysis of the film in its entirety and of shorter sequences. This thesis builds upon data of scholarly work on the topic of film in English language teaching as well as literature on English pronunciation and sociolinguistic skills. An overview of the features of pronunciation which may be challenging for Norwegian learners and which may affect speech intelligibility is also presented and used in the analyses of the linguistic features in the film.

The results from the analyses reveal that the film contains a realistic and varied use of language and shows various social situations which 15-16-year-olds can likely relate with. Furthermore, the results show that the dialogue in the film Love, Simon contains several examples of pronunciation features which may be challenging for Norwegian speakers of English and can cause trouble in intelligibility. The thesis discusses the use of drama activities and listening-and discussion-based activities and suggests that using film as a base for these activities can be a good way of teaching English pronunciation and sociolinguistic skills.