A Tale of Two Texts: Verbal and Video

Abstract

As English teachers wrestle with videotape equipment, projectors, and schedules, they may begin to wonder if their efforts are worthwhile. Why should teachers of literature concern themselves with the alternative text of the audiovisual presentation? Many teachers don't, and they tend to look down on what they view as the cheap thrills of video entertainment. A number of English departments will not acknowledge the literary potential of film or videotape. Film courses creep into the curriculum only if they are escorted by respectable literary works and comparative analysis. Showing students videotapes or films of works they are reading is still considered cheating by many teachers, since students don't seem to have to work at absorbing or enjoying the narrative. Other teachers think that visual and written texts may occupy important places in the English teacher's classroom. These places are different, and in order to understand what each medium has to offer, it is necessary to examine these contrasts, even to face up to the fact that one medium may do something better than the other. Researchers in the audiovisual field have expended a great deal of energy to prove that films or videotapes, used in conjunction with traditional methods, do help students learn more effectively. John Moldstad's Selective Review of Research Studies Showing Media Effectiveness points to the fact that the use of audiovisual aids, particularly films, results in increased learning in most cases.' Such studies are valuable, but they neglect the problem of the differences between the amount and kind of learning that takes place when students read and when they view and hear the material. A look at these contrasts may help explain why the two work well in conjunction. Do students gain more knowledge or experience stronger reactions when they read a play, for example, or when they view the play on videotape? Will having students view the videotape accomplish anything that simply having them read for the same period of time will not?