Using TV series as input source of refusals in the classroom

Abstract

Refusing is a face-threatening act in which speakers have to say no. This can be a difficult task for FL learners, since applying inappropriate refusal strategies may make them sound impolite. Recent studies have shown the importance of teaching speech acts in the FL classroom and a possible resource could be using TV series. Other scholars, however, argue that these do not reflect authentic interactions, since they contain previously and planned conversations. This chapter compares the use of refusals in TV series and in discourse, to determine whether TV series really resemble real-life situations and can, therefore, be a useful input source in the classroom.1 Introduction: using TV series as input source of refusals in the classroomThe use of video material in the classroom has become more and more popular in the foreign language (FL) classroom, since it enables educators and teachers to supplement what textbooks offer to their students and can help them accomplish various instructional objectives, such as motivating language learners, practicing listening, showing culture, etc. It is certainly effective source of input to expose learners to authentic and genuine discourse in the FL classroom. Video materials (including films, TV programs, shows, documentaries, news, etc.) are commonly regarded by scholars as extremely useful and pedagogically appropriate authentic materials (Canning-Wilson, 2000; Femandez-Guerra, 2008; FemandezGuerra and Martinez-Flor, 2003; Fujioka, 2003; Grant and Starks, 2001; Ryan, 1998; Sherman, 2003; Yamanaka, 2003, etc.). As Rose (2001: 310) states, however, an obvious issue that arises in considering the use of film for research and teaching is the validity of film language. That is, closely does the language in film correspond to face-to-face interaction?. In fact, the dialogues we hear in some films and TV series are not genuine conversations, but ersatz and planned language previously composed by screenplay writers and then adjusted when recording the scenes.In this chapter we will first review the speech act of refusing, as well as some of the literature dealing with the use of films and TV programs in language teaching. We will then attempt to determine whether TV series really resemble natural and genuine discourse, by comparing the differences and similarities of all the realization strategies used to perform refusals in prepared TV speech and in naturally occurring ethnographic data. In order to do so, we will analyze the type and frequency of refusals found in TV series and in some real conversations extracted from two well-known corpora of spoken English. Finally, we will try to ascertain whether film language has a close correspondence to discourse, at least as regards the speech act of refusing, and can thus be considered as authentic representation of actual language use.2 Refusals in the FL classroomInterlanguage research has shown that inappropriate use of speech acts can lead to pragmatic failure, due to the fact that different cultures use different strategies to realize speech acts. In fact, pragmatic failure may produce more serious communicative misunderstandings than grammatical mistakes (Linde, 2009: 134).In the case of refusals, the speaker has to say no to someone's request, invitation, offer or suggestion. Given the fact that refusals are facethreatening speech acts that involve a certain level of offensiveness, applying inappropriate refusal strategies may make FL learners sound rude and impolite in some situations. Not only that, as Al-Kahtani states, how one says no is more important in many societies than the answer itself [...]. The interlocutor must know when to use the appropriate form and its function, the speech act and its social elements (2005: 37).A wide number of studies in interlanguage pragmatics and contrastive analysis have dealt with speech acts and their realization strategies as a unit of analysis, due to their importance on learners' acquisition of FL pragmatic ability. …