https://doi.org/10.53656/ped2023-5s.10

Резюме. This article explores effective techniques for teaching Maritime English using movies on marine topics. Several choices relate to the multimodality, authenticity of the material, and construction of language units. The challenges that might influence the benefits of using film as a teaching tool are, for instance, how to create tasks that make viewing movies more than just entertainment for language learning and knowledge development. To investigate these issues, we have decided to prepare teaching materials with an emphasis on the safety aspect of the mariner’s life. We consider safety to be one of the most important parts of maritime English. That is why the guidelines LET’S WATCH AND STUDY were developed at the Department of Languages at Kyiv State University of Infrastructure and Technologies. The objective of the guidelines was to develop communicative skills at Maritime English. LET’S WATCH AND STUDY was designed by a group of our teachers for the first, second, and third-year students of the Navigation department. It includes six feature films and three educational ones. The guidelines can be used during the classes of Maritime English in group work. Each lesson is organized so as to develop speaking skills and offers exercises and activities to increase students’ abilities to understand the video material, enlarge the vocabulary, express the points of view, distinguish the movie’s main idea and key points, as well as develop professional and communicative skills. The lessons which include educational movies are organized in such a way as to be interesting and cognitive for students of different years of study. The vocabulary used in the films coincides with the lexical material taught during the classes of English. Every lesson which includes feature films starts with the Plot to help students understand the content easily. It should be underlined that all movies contain extreme situations such as Man overboard, Fire onboard, Abandoning the vessel, Piracy attack, and SAR (search and rescue operation). The findings revealed that training professionals in the maritime industry using films is effective. The lecturers of our department also reported that they warmly welcomed the techniques which led students to enhance their motivation for learning English vocabulary. Finally, the researchers recommend preparing teaching materials that fit the needs and interests of future mariners.

Ключови думи: extreme situations; Maritime English; feature films; educational films; motivation

Introduction

Nowadays, Ukraine is modernizing its educational activities in the context of global demands. Training a highly qualified specialist for the maritime industry who can think creatively, work in a team for the sake of a joint result and act accordingly in non-standard situations is an urgent task of the higher education system. The transition from conventional forms of learning to creative ones is a necessary methodological issue. Worldwide, we need highly skilled specialists in various fields that would speak the language of international communication. Consequently, the status of a foreign language is rapidly rising, and it is increasingly gaining the role of intercultural communication. This demand determines the need to improve the methodological basis for training professionals capable of working internationally.

With the increasing demand for foreign language professionals, the requirements for the effectiveness and quality of their training have increased. The research of new teaching methods, their improvement, development, and introduction of new innovative means in the educational process are intensively underway (Korieshkova 2011, p.12).

Theoretical Background

Audio-visual, or, as it is otherwise called, a high-speed or structural-global method arose in France in the 1950s (Chion 1976, p. 112). Its creation is associated with the names of such prominent linguists and psychologists as P. Guberina (Yugoslavia), P. Rivan, R. Misha, J. Gugenheim, and A. Sovažo (France). It has become widespread both in France itself and in Yugoslavia, England, Canada, Turkey, Poland, and some other countries.

Regardless of the ultimate goal, the initial degree, according to supporters of this method, should be devoted to the development of speaking skills. Learning at first is a letter, and then reading is done at the end of an initial degree and is aimed at developing the ability to write and read things that have been well understood verbally. The task of spoken language is to provide students with the opportunity to use a foreign language in everyday communication.

The very name of the method reflects the principles laid down in its foundations. It is called audio-visual, since all the new material is perceived by the student for a long time only by hearing (“audio”), and its value is revealed through visual nonverbal visualization -slides, films (“visual”). This method is also called structuralglobal since language learning takes place based on specially selected structures that are perceived holistically.

The selection of linguistic material for the audiovisual course is of particular interest to the teachers of English. The course was developed by prominent French linguists M. Bruno and J. Gugeneym. The dictionary and grammar structures were selected based on a thorough analysis of the accessible and vivid French language. For this purpose, the film included a large number of dialogues, “overheard” in different situations of everyday communication of the French. Their statistical processing allowed them to identify the most commonly used words and phrases. In addition, they conducted surveys among native speakers about conventional words, for example, to describe a room, house, etc. As a result, the dictionary was published and contained approximately 1500 words, mainly verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs and the necessary number of specific words. This became the only step in summarizing the survey's findings and defining vocabulary and grammatical minimum since by this time the material selection was based on written literary texts.

Representatives of the audio-visual method attach exclusive importance to topics that cover the most common cases of everyday communication. And although these themes largely coincide with the tourism theme, popular indirect methods, their disclosure is clear - through films. Themes are complete sketches; they reproduce the individual situations in which the characters conduct a specific thematic conversation. Films are not only a means of visual semantic replica but also introduce students to the terms of communication in which these replicas are used. All educational material is organized into dialogues, which are performed by native speakers. Different types of dialogic replicas are considered structures of models of sentences that are perceived as one and constitute the backbone of the training work (Di Cesare et al. 2012, p. 105).

The audio-visual method preserves all the basic principles of direct methods, while the authors emphasize the special importance of global perception of linguistic material for hearing and the creation of direct associations between sound and meaning in the complete elimination of the native language from the learning process. The main methods of assimilation are imitation, learning by heart, and the formation of phrases by analogy. During the first 15-16 lessons work is conducted without a textbook, to develop the habit of students associating sound with content (listening), and content (meaning) with sound (speech).

According to the authors of this method, printed text inhibits the development of oral speech. The development of certain automatisms of the letter, and then the reading, which is taught by the method of whole words, will help memorize the educational material.

The cycle of work on the dialogue topic consists of four stages:

1. Presentation of the material. Students double-watch a new film: for the first time without sound (to create a matching mind), the second time – accompanied by a recording of dialogue on a magnetic film.

2. Explanation. The film is scanned again, frame by frame, and the teacher checks the correct understanding of the corresponding replica. In the case of difficulties, he explains the incomprehensible with the help of paraphrasing, gestures, reference to details in frames, etc.

3. Repetition. Students learn to simulate replicas of dialogue perceived by hearing. The film is viewed and audited as many times as necessary so that each student can correctly repeat each sentence by the speaker. Particular attention is paid to their intonation and rhythmic design.

A similar work takes place in the laboratory, where various substitution exercises are performed with the use of a tape recorder.

4. Activation. At this stage, the film is shown without sound, and the dialogue is repeated in roles. Then in the laboratory, students learn the appropriate structures, especially their sound, on the material of short dialogue films, the situations of which are variants of situations of the main film.

Many Ukrainian teachers incorporate feature films into their English language teaching to make the learning experience more engaging and effective. The use of authentic video fragments (excerpts from television programs, news programs, artistic, documentaries, cartoon films, advertisements, and video clips) is discussed in studies of such teachers as O. Klymova, L. Konoplianyk, O. Nozhovnyk, T. Podufalova, etc. T. Podufalova emphasizes that the value of authentic documentaries as an audiovisual aid lies in the visual presentation of various cultural realia and corresponding thematic vocabulary: (new/unfamiliar) words, specific terms in particular, are easier to understand and remember when they are represented by visual images (Podufalova 2016, p. 80). According to O. Nozhovnyk, introduction and systematic use of new forms of educational activity, new types of tasks and activities based on the dynamic presentation of modern audio visuals from the YouTube resource – slide presentations, telecommunications discussions and debates with the participation of experts, etc., allows to significantly optimize the educational process (Nozhovnyk 2012, p. 231).

The terms “cinematology” and “vocational and pedagogical cinematology” are quite actively used in modern textbooks and scientific articles. We consider it necessary to explain these terms. Cinematology is the verbalization of semiotic dialogue between the viewer and his imaginary reality, bringing the person to an internal crisis to lay the foundation for his future developmental directions (Meneghetti 2003, p. 128).

Professional-pedagogical cinematology is the theory and practice of using an artistic film for the professional and personal development of students in high school.

The term “cinematology” was borrowed from the famous Italian scientistpsychiatrist A. Meneghetti. The purpose of cinematology, in the sense invoked by A. Meneghetti, is not in the study or critical analysis of directorial work, but in the use of the film for the analysis of people, the disclosure of their subconscious and the formation of the ability to effectively interact with reality. As A. Meneghetti points out, he uses cinema to push a person to an internal crisis; he aims at perceiving certain value enhancements to lay the foundation for future human development. Pedagogical cinematology in the meaning that we invest in this term is the theory and practice of using the art of cinematography for pedagogical influence on the personality in the educational process. Concerning the field of higher professional education, pedagogical cinematics acquires a professional component. Professionalpedagogical cinematology is defined as the theory and practice of using an artistic film for the professional and personal development of a student at a high school.

Proceeding from the socio-psychological features of the student as a subject of professional education, professional and personally relevant criteria for the selection of feature films are identified which, in aspects of the cinematological approach, will promote the professional and personal development of students: aesthetic, professional - ethical, emotional and terminological.

An analysis of the practice of training high school students in our country and abroad has shown that feature films are used to solve rather narrow pedagogical tasks or without certain goals for “general development”.

Methods

The article aims to prove and rationalize the effectiveness of using movies in teaching English. During this research, theoretical (analysis of scientific resources) and practical (focus groups, scientific observation, analysis and summarizing pedagogical experience) research methods were used.

Discussion

There is no doubt that English is the language of the sea. Without Maritime English, it’s impossible to get a good position on board a vessel.

There are some reasons for this simple truth, such as:

1. English has been adopted by IMO (International Maritime Organization), officially as a language of the sea. STCW (Standards for Training Certification and Watchkeeping) 1995 requires that every mariner must have adequate knowledge of it.

2. Mariners join their ships by air, and English is also the language of that transport system.

3. Maritime students from all over the world want to learn English because they understand that it is the key to the best jobs in their own countries and overseas.

Good planning, good facilities, and excellent teaching are required to train seafarers of high quality. Thus, the Maritime English teachers are faced with the feeling of responsibility because they know that, in situations of life and death, it will be the language skills that they have taught that will succeed or not. The ability to communicate adequately in dangerous situations determines whether the mariner and the people around survive or not.

This article deals with the support of a teacher of Maritime English, who has the objective of guaranteeing that the students can cope with complicated tasks which are part of everyday life at sea. The skills in English required by a deck officer fall under the normal four headings of spoken English, reading, comprehension, and writing. It is the maritime terminology that differs so much from everyday English, with a vocabulary that enables one mariner to identify another within a few minutes of starting a conversation.

It should be admitted that we could subdivide Maritime English into two main groups: English concerning safety and routine English. The rest will include all necessary issues to conduct the business of the ship, i.e., on-board communication, non-safety conversations with port authorities, shore personnel dealing with cargo handling, mooring, and discussing the duties of owners’ agents and charterers ’agents.

The safety of life at sea is a duty placed upon every seafarer by the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS). The saving of life rarely takes part without some sort of communication between the rescuer and the rescued. Voice communication is a subject as important as any other on the syllabus of the deck officer and it should be given the same status as a subject. This means that as much care should be given to developing teaching methods for this subject as, for example, navigation.

Teaching material

We consider safety to be one of the most important sections of maritime English. For this reason, the guidelines LET’S WATCH AND STUDY were developed at the Department of Foreign Languages for Specific Purposes at Kyiv State University of Infrastructure and Technologies. The objective of the guidelines was to develop communicative skills at Maritime English. LET’S WATCH AND STUDY was designed by a group of our teachers for the first, second, and third-year students of the Navigation department (Korieshkova, Didenko, Kaminska, 2019, p. 44). It includes six feature films: Captain Phillips, Poseidon, Deepwater Horizon, Titanic, The Finest Hours, Lord of War, and three educational ones: 10 Biggest Ships on Earth, Emma Maersk, and Extreme Survival. The guidelines can be used during the classes of Maritime English in group work. Each lesson is organized to develop speaking skills and offers exercises and activities to increase students’ abilities to understand the watching material, enlarge the vocabulary, express the points of view, distinguish the movie’s main idea and key points, as well as develop professional and communicational skills.

The lessons which include educational movies are organized in such a way as to be interesting and cognitive for students of different years of study. The vocabulary used in the films coincides with the lexical material taught during the classes of English. Every lesson which includes feature films starts with the Plot, History, and Cast of the movie to help students understand the content easily. It should be underlined that all movies contain extreme situations such as Man overboard, Fire onboard, Abandoning the vessel, Piracy attack, and SAR (search and rescue operation).

Studying English with the help of movies increases motivation and stimulates active communication activities of students based on situations from the film with the use of processed language material. To prove this statement, we conducted a survey among students of the Navigational Department.

Two groups of first-year students took part in a survey: a control group and an experimental group. At the beginning of our research, we compared the results of the National Multi-subject Test and identified that both groups had approximately equal levels of English – the average grade of the control group was 150 (out of 200) and one of the experimental groups was 151 (out of 200). The control group was taught in a traditional way according to the educational program and Module 3.17. The experimental group in addition had lessons that included feature and educational films. Let’s consider some examples of the tasks.

After watching the movie Captain Phillips, the students are offered the task of practicing vocabulary – to fill in the table with words that mean parts of the ship and are mentioned in the movie.

In a dangerous situation on board the vessel radio communication is extremely important. Having heard the main phrases from the navigation bridge in the movie students consolidate their knowledge of radiocommunication phrases in the next exercise.

Students like comparatively easy tasks such as tests where they just choose the appropriate variant. To be successful in doing the task students have to be attentive to details during watching the film.

Task 3. Choose option a, b, or c that best suits the sentence

1. There were _________ skiff boats that attacked the ship for the first time. a. one b. two c. four

2. ___________ pirates hijacked the ship.

a. four b. eight c. ten

3. Pirates wanted ____________.

a. power b. money c. liberty

4. There were ____________ dollars in the safe.

a. 50,000 b. 10,000 c. 30,000

5. The Maersk Alabama had a crew of __________ persons.

a. 20 b. 50 c. 30

6. The ship was transporting the cargo of _____________.

a. coal b. oil c. provision

7. The pirates escaped from the ship by ___________.

a. helicopter b. free fall lifeboat c. life raft

As the film is based on real-life events, we encourage students to compare some situations from reality and those mentioned in the film. Such a comparison also fosters students to search for relevant information on the Internet. To develop communication skills, future mariners are invited to analyze various aspects of the behaviour of actors (Captain Richard Phillips, pirates, crewmembers) in extreme work situations at sea.

After watching the movie these fragments are discussed. Dramatization and role play contribute to the effective development of students’ communication skills. Dramatization involves the creative play of video content, and role play motivates students to express themselves in a similar situation.

Task 5. Share the most memorable scenes with your study partner

It is also advisable to use tasks that help develop writing skills. Students, for example, are asked to write the main idea of the film, to describe the most interesting situations or behaviour of the main character, which influence the course of events.

Task 6. Search the Internet to answer the questions

1. Did Tom Hanks meet with the real Richard Phillips to prepare for the role?

2. Was the real Maersk Alabama container ship used for the Captain Phillips movie?

Task 7. Express the main idea of the film

The use of movies based on real events can become a reliable and necessary teacher’s tool, and at least four reasons can be identified for using it in the educational process.

1. Engagement and Motivation. A well-chosen movie will help to bring fresh challenges to daily learning. Films are engaging and motivating. They can captivate students’ attention, making the learning experience more enjoyable and motivating. They provide an opportunity for students to connect emotionally with characters and storylines, which enhances their overall language-learning experience. It will be more appealing for students, and easier for progressive teachers. Watching how the Master of the vessel makes a decision in an emergency and how the crew quickly acts in dangerous situations catch the attention of future mariners.

Psychologists assign a central place in perception to the visual analyzer. It has been scientifically proven that human senses have different sensitivities to external stimuli. Mostly the organs of vision have the greatest sensitivity, which transmits almost 3-5 times more information to the brain than the organs of hearing, and almost 13 times more than the tactile organs. Accordingly, of all types of memory, most people have the best-developed visual memory. Visibility, especially when audio and visual perceptions are combined, increases attention, helps activate the thinking process, and promotes the development of memory, which is the process of consolidating, preserving, and, further reproducing what was in the experience of the person in the form of images, thoughts, actions, feelings. Memory is a prerequisite for the process of learning, thinking, and work, accumulation of life experience.

2. Contextualized Vocabulary and Grammar. Films present vocabulary and grammar structures in meaningful contexts, allowing students to understand how they are used in real-life situations. This helps learners expand their vocabulary, improve sentence structure, and develop a more natural flow in their language production. Students can implement the vocabulary from the film when completing homework. To sum up the Captain Phillips movie content, it would be effective to ask students to make up a story using the pictures from the film.

3. Cultural Awareness and Understanding. Feature films often reflect cultural values, customs, and societal issues. By exploring films from different cultures, students can gain a deeper understanding of cultural diversity and develop intercultural competence. Captain Phillips, for example, provides glimpses into Somali culture and the socio-economic conditions that drive some individuals to resort to piracy. It depicts the poverty and desperation faced by many Somalis, which serves as a backdrop to the actions of the pirates. The pirates’ motivation to hijack the ship is partially rooted in their desire to secure financial stability and escape their challenging circumstances.

4. New Meanings and Functions. They can be used not only for entertainment or recreation, not only for education and gaining new knowledge. Watching a wellchosen movie can inspire new and non-standard solutions in extreme conditions, help completely change the learning style, add zest to usual lessons or simply help relax when studying difficult topics. Maritime films are exactly what university teachers need to add interactivity to lessons, making them modern and original. Using non-standard forms of work, and therefore the idea of working with YouTube will also appeal to them. For example, offer students to complete a small quest: give a link to a certain video with educational content concerning the movie you are working on, e.g., types of anti-piracy devices. After watching the video, the students have to answer several questions in the format of a test. It should be noted that the experience of the teachers of our department proves that the test work with students on the Google Classroom platform is effective.

Conclusions and summary

The results revealed a significant improvement in the experimental group’s English language proficiency after implementing a movie-based learning approach. The summative assessment showed a more significant difference between the two groups compared to the beginning of the study. The control group had an exam average score of 75 points (out of 100) and the experimental group – 82 (out of 100).

Summarizing, we note:

1. The use of feature films in teaching maritime English is an effective means of professional-personal development for students in high school. The result of this process is the emotionally - valued student's focus on creative self-realization in professional activity, an indicator of the formation of which is a set of aesthetic, intellectual, communicative, and cultural abilities; cognitive and aesthetic needs and motives of the student; the presence of his subjective relation to reality, developed emotional intelligence and objective professional picture of the world in consciousness.

2. An art film has a linguistic and pedagogical potential since it can be used as an interpretive space for the student's consciousness to form his thoughts, to strengthen the need to have this idea. A feature film is a context from which one can extract professional and personal meanings, and formulate and exploit them in language.

3. The criteria for the selection of feature films possessing professional and personal forming linguistic and pedagogical potential are:

– Professional-ethical (the educational potential of films is determined by the ability to use them to form students with strong professional and personally relevant qualities);

– Emotional (takes into account the interests and genre preferences of Navigation department students);

– Professional-instrumental (highlights films demonstrating the order of action and methods of professional activity);

– Terminological (estimated terminological saturation of films);

– The criterion of continuity (the selection of films is based on the availability of students with an adequate base of general, professional, and linguistic knowledge, skills, and abilities).

4. The professional and personality shaping linguistic and pedagogical potential of feature films as a means of professional and personal development of students in the study of a foreign language at a higher school is realized through a system of tasks aimed at stimulating their activity to analyze, interpret the semantic content of the film and its artistic images to promote aesthetic, ethical, social and professional reflection of students.

For the application of the method of using feature films, the level of emotional intelligence of the student is important. Let’s consider the essence of the theory of emotional intelligence, introduced into scientific use by American psychologist D. Goleman (Goleman 2002, p. 562). Emotional intelligence is characterized by a complex of human abilities to analyze emotional experience, and accurately express their experiences while distinguishing real emotions from destructive emotional assessments. American scientists argue that regardless of the chosen profession, people with a high level of emotional thinking are successful, and lead a more effective way of life. It should be noted that the development of emotional intelligence contributes to the development of integrative intelligence. American psychologists have identified empathy as one of the most important indicators of the development of emotional intelligence. Such a value orientation to the adoption of another person, respect for their personality, and a tolerant attitude to their views and life position are recognized as the most significant characteristic of the moral sphere of the individual.

It is proved that when using a feature film in a foreign language as a means of professional and personal development of a student in a high school, mental processes such as memory, attention, thinking, language, imagination, their related abilities develop, intellect develops, eventually consciousness develops as the highest form of reflection of reality.

We can conclude that with the purposeful “opening” of a feature film for development, stimulating and directing spiritual and intellectual activity in the analysis, and interpretation of the content of the film, we can contribute to the formation of such person-semantic relations, in the presence of which the motive, the purpose of one subject (the main character) may acquire a personal meaning for another subject. Thus, the moral and spiritual beliefs of the characters of the films acquire a personal meaning for the viewers, which forms the basis of their value system. The most characteristic features of cinema contribute to "imprinting the movie" in our consciousness and have a strong influence on the formation of a professional picture of the student world, its expansion, and its objective character.

It should be noted that feature films provide us with material for practice in managing emotions. Emotional experience, acquired under such conditions, is especially valuable since it contributes to the formation of emotional intelligence.

We can assert that English films are a means of forming a linguistic expert because it can be used to teach the understanding of a foreign language by hearing; for the development of speaking skills, spontaneous oral and written, monologue and dialogical speech.

The findings of our research show that using films based on real-life extreme events to train specialists in the maritime sector is beneficial and engaging. The lecturers of our department also expressed their appreciation for the methods used to increase students' interest in studying vocabulary in English.

Finally, the researchers suggest creating instructional materials that cater to the wants and preferences of aspiring seafarers. Remember to choose films that are appropriate for the students’ language proficiency level, age, and cultural sensitivities. It's also important to provide support and guidance throughout the process to ensure students fully benefit from this engaging learning experience.

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GOLEMAN, D., 2002. Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Dell. ISBN 978-0-553-90320-1.

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