Playing the Part: Media Re-enactments as Tools for Learning Second Languages

Résumé 0

Despite the fact that language is a manifestation of the moving body, the body is traditionally overlooked as an educational tool. How, then, can we introduce movement and rhythm into a field where students are (often actively) discouraged from linking body and mind? French anthropologist Marcel Jousse considered cinema to be a compelling pedagogical medium, because it demonstrates the constant interaction between speech and gestures. Taking inspiration from Jousse, I present a research study conducted with a group of French university students. After screening a clip from an English-language film, participants were asked to re-enact and re-interpret it. The objective is to study the links between gestural action and language learning in order to measure the efficiency of re-enactment and task-based mimicry as academic tools.