English language teaching methodology based on feature films

Today, learning foreign languages, especially English, has become a necessary component of intellectual and practical activity of most people and professional training of specialists of various profiles. The primary goal of learning is the development of communication skills, including the ability to communicate orally and in writing in English, as well as the ability to engage in intercultural dialogue - knowledge of your own culture and the culture of the countries you are learning about. Strategic, educational, training and development objectives also exist.

Success in learning English depends largely on the teacher's working methods, his ability to use various modern technologies in the context of solving educational tasks.

The rapidly growing flow of scientific information, the volume of which is constantly increasing, makes it necessary to search for new, more effective methods, means of teaching, which allow more information to be conveyed in the same amount of time, as well as to present it in a more lively, accessible and emotional way, so that it is more easily perceived and remembered by the students [1].

The most favorable conditions for the realization of all the learning goals are provided by the organization of the lessons in a language environment. A partial solution to this problem is the use of feature films in the learning process.

Nowadays, the most important goal of English language teaching is the achievement of communicative competence for later communication with native speakers of this language. In this regard, it is also important to provide students with a visual representation of the life, culture and linguistic realities of English-speaking countries.

The formation of communicative competence outside the language environment is a rather difficult task. To this end, the use of authentic materials, and in particular the use of feature films in the classroom, is of great importance.

Authentic materials are generally understood to be materials that are created by native speakers for their fellow citizens and are then used without any processing or adaptation in the learning process, which is focused on the communicative approach to the teaching of a foreign language outside the language environment.

Video footage is any television footage (news, talking-heads, interviewing), fiction, documentary, animated film that is captured on film or digital media for educational purposes [2].

Means of creation, storage, processing and reproduction of digitized information of vari- ous types are included in multimedia educational tools. Significant amount and variety of data, complexity of their presentation and possibility of direct access to them are the main features of multimedia.

Using these tools during the lesson ensures speed in obtaining the information needed, which makes them stand out among other sources of information: reference books, books, audio recordings.

The main methodological principle - the principle of visualization - is based on the use of video materials in foreign language teaching. Perceiving and processing information while watching films is realized in the form of auditory-visual synthesis, on the basis of which audiolingual and audiovisual methods of teaching foreign languages were created and developed [3]. Videos and film fragments reproduce the language situation through sound and visual means, creating learning conditions as close as possible to the language environment. These characteristics of films make it possible to use them in order to intensify the learning process and to make it as communicative as possible.

Unlike audio recordings or print materials, which are highly informative, pedagogical, and developmental, video materials also contain visual information about the location, appearance, and nonverbal communication (body language, facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice) of people in a particular setting, depending on the age, sex, and individual characteristics of those speaking. Visual clarity aids in the understanding and retention of both factual information and purely linguistic features of speech in a given context.

In contrast to the linear presentation of information in literary sources, verbal and acoustic cues (sounds, silence, music), nonverbal language, and the portrayal of characters and settings in films help students to perceive information synchronously.

Moreover, the film shows many objects and phenomena of the outside world, unobtrusively familiarizing students with country information. The visualization of the reality in the film puts it in the first place among other means of communication in terms of its similarity to the reality [4].

Another advantage of feature films compared to literary works is their strong emotional impact on humans, allowing films to convey information more vividly and comprehensively, and to motivate students. A film encourages students to communicate, learn, research and create in a foreign language. When working with films, you can use a variety of classroom activities, including pair and group work, discussion and dramatization, to help students speak and act with greater freedom.

If the selected materials provide the necessary basis for such comparison, feature films offer great opportunities for analysis based on comparison of cultural realities and peculiarities of people's behavior in different situations of intercultural communication.

The benefits of using video in training, according to Dave Willis, include [5]:

• 1.    For the teacher's contact with the students to be continuous, the room does not need to be darkened;

• 2.    When watching a movie, you can do different exercises, for example, based on freezing or watching an episode without listening to the sound;

• 3.    Video materials can be easily used in different ways of working: individual, paired, grouped, collective.

English linguist Margaret Allan points out another positive feature: the ability to use video equipment to split a film into as many parts as necessary, depending on the goals, individual needs and characteristics of the students, and then to work with each fragment individually.

In the opinion of pedagogue I.V. Terekhov [6], authentic films used in the educational process have a remarkable potential for the realization of the basic principles of learning:

• 1.    The principle of the communicative and intercultural orientation of the course;

• 2.    Principles of visibility and access;

• 3.    Principle of considering the age-related characteristics of students;

• 4.    Principle of stimulating and developing students to think;

• 5.    The principle of the conscious activity of the students;

• 6.    Principles of combining different methods and forms of teaching according to the tasks and content of training, and matching methods and techniques to training objectives;

• 7.    The principle of the connection between theory and practice.

These principles are implemented as follows:

• 1.    Using films in teaching creates a language environment in learning conditions, watching them represents natural communication, whose sign is linguistic behavior in a certain social situation.

• 2.    Movies show the speech behavior of native speakers of the language and its accompanying extra-linguistic factors through the visual series. This makes it more visual and accessible for understanding. Modern media formats that optimize the movie experience also ensure the accessibility of the material.

• 3.    There is a wide variety of video materials that are geared toward young people. Many recent English-language films are aimed at young people and cover a wide range of topics.

• 4.    The selection of a variety of tasks for the films stimulates and develops thinking [7].

A film selected with the students' needs in mind will arouse their personal interest in the viewing of the film and in the performance of the subsequent tasks. From the dominant role of the instructor in introducing students to samples of native speech, analysis, and the performance of recognition and recall tasks, to students working independently to find, analyze, and use samples in creative tasks.

Summarizing all of the above, we can conclude that the use of authentic feature films in

English language classes allows:

• -    to make the lesson more interesting. To diversify classroom activities;

• -    to immerse the student in the atmosphere of the culture of the countries of the target language. To present the facts and phenomena of the country in an integrated way;

• -    to relate the culture and the way of thinking of the citizens of their own country to the country of the target language;

• -    to make the content of the educational process creative, problematic and exploring;

• -    to show the subject from various angles, especially to convey the tone of voice, the expressions, the gestures of the conversation partners, which are virtually impossible to show by other means;

• -    to activate the learner's emotions. To motivate the learner to communicate and to learn the language in general;

• -    quickly acquire quality knowledge and skills.