The Importance of Moving Image in Education - Assignment Example

The importance of moving image in education: An educator’s perspective: Educators all over the world have recognized the importance of moving image in the literature and it can thus be considered as a global language. Its use in education has been realized and greatly promoted in the 21st century in the course of exploring new ways to achieve sound delivery of concepts. Need to acquire a skill of making critical analysis of the moving image has become fundamental to meet the new standards of literacy. (Goodwyn, 2004) identified that moving image is largely in use in the classrooms by teachers of nearly all subjects and the practice is recognized as natural because of its significance both in the teachers’ and the students’ daily life. Exposure to the media and technology has increased manifolds in the present age as compared to the past. A major portion of the daily routine is dedicated to an individual’s interaction with the moving image in the form of the theatre, drama or movie. This practice serves to enhance the comprehension of the viewer and his perception is modified accordingly. The viewer analyzes what is projected in the media and in the context of his personal knowledge and experience in the subject matter and therefore starts to interact with the moving image. The greater exposure to moving image and the natural liking humans have for the same has materialized a need for using the moving image as a means of taking an individual’s perception of the literature to the next level. Moving image has a lot of potential to modify an individual’s attitude toward literature in the way in which it facilitates him to grasp the fundamental concepts of literature. Hence, use of the moving image in schools as a tool for developing the students’ interest and involvement in literature is indeed, a realization of the changing demands of education in the today’s media age. Moving image in the curriculum: Owing to the strong relation of moving image with the cognitive learning, the need for its inclusion in the curriculum is largely felt. It is widely recognized as a new dimension of literacy, often referred to as cineliteracy and is defined as, “The ability to analyze moving images, to talk about how they work, and to imagine their creative potential, drawing upon a wide film and television viewing experience as well as on practical skills”. (British Film Institute, 2000). In order to gain full advantage of the moving image for educational purposes, it is imperative that the language of moving image is recognized as a separate field that needs to be explored not only by the students but also by the teachers. Use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the classroom is no more a new concept and the practice speaks in favor of the reliability on moving image as a next step in the way of promoting education and learning. Besides, the students’ knowledge of the moving image of characters greatly boosts their self esteem as potential writers and readers. Moving image facilitates the students’ acknowledgement and identification of the characters realizing which is essential to grasp the story and read and write it in the right manner. The following text demonstrates how moving image can be used to enhance the students’ understanding of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and their reading and writing skills for the play. Macbeth: A comparison between written and videographed version of the story: Although both versions of the story i.2. the book and the movie project a unique theme, yet there are a lot of ways in which the videographed version is indeed better than the written text as long as the purpose is education. This is because of the additional effects in the movie that capture viewers’ attention and develop their interest in the story. Also, the original book version of Macbeth makes use of quite complex words and outdated style of sentence construction, that people of modern age do not feel comfortable with. “However, movie version establishes greater understanding of the role of supernatural in “Macbeth” with the help of emotions and sound effects.” (www.bookrags.com, 2004). The structure of narrative: As mentioned above, the moving image focuses upon explaining the role of a character through the way in which it interacts with other characters in the play in order to play its part in the story. The way one speaks speaks of one’s personality and one’s vision. The way characters are portrayed in the moving image is quite similar to the way we observe people in our daily life. Therefore, developing the right opinion about a character is quite simple in the moving image as compared to a written text. Text presented in the books takes longer to explain the role of a character in the story. Also, since the reader has to rely solely on the way the character is portrayed in the text, he/she might develop a false understanding of the character. The reader may realize later in the story that he/she has perceived the character in a wrong way. A child needs the story to be interesting and self explanatory. To a child, the most appropriate source of information is the one which has more expression. Therefore, moving image can greatly enhance a child’s perception of the story because it expresses the characters without having to make use of secondary words that are not related to the story but are necessary to explain the relation of one sentence with another as in the text. Ways in which the use of moving image can support the reading and response to classic texts: Techniques of the moving image: There are eight non-age-specific techniques fundamental to the development of a capability in the viewer to interpret and comprehend the meaning of moving image text. Choice of a technique is based on various factors which include the topic under discussion, the type of moving image and the level of dependency on the technique. The techniques as identified by (Jones, 2006) are mentioned below: 1. Freeze Frame. 2. Sound and Image. 3. Spot the Shots. 4. Top and Tail. 5. Attracting Audiences. 6. Generic Translations. 7. Crossmedia Comparisons. 8. Simulation. Top three of the eight techniques above are known to inculcate an understanding in the user for the language used by the moving image to convey the idea. Typically, the Freeze Frame, Sound and Image and the Spot and Shots techniques convey the language, importance of sound effects and editing of the moving image respectively. These three techniques basically serve to develop an awareness in the user about how to interpret the moving image. Top and Tail and Attracting Audiences reveal the source of the moving image and the class they are designed for. The last three techniques are typically suitable for understanding the moving image with specific purpose of facilitating the process of learning in the class. If Macbeth is explored in the light of the last three techniques, students can be made to improve their reading and writing skills. The activities involved in some of the classroom-learning techniques are briefly discussed below: Generic Translations: Let us take the scene in which the Witches meet upon the heath. The students should be shown the scene actually performed on the projector. Then the students should be asked to write summary of the scene, the impact of the witches predictions on Macbeth. In addition to that, students can be made to draw both discourse and rhetoric analysis of the scene. This practice can greatly enhance their writing skills and the students may find an opportunity to interpret what they perceived from the video in their own words. Also, students can be asked to perform the witches as they appear in the play after reading their dialogues in the book. “Acting helps build confidence, because apart from the aspect of performance and the rapturous applause that usually accompanies it, it is totally collaborative and mutually supportive”. (Almond, 2005, p. 10). This practice is the reverse of the previous one and will greatly reflect the level of understanding students managed to attain by reading text in the book. In this way, students reading and writing skills can not only be measured but also enhanced by practice and rehearsal. “Moving image audiences, and media audiences in general, have been positioned largely as “readers” and consumers through the twentieth century, so that the notion of “media literacy” in many countries has meant learning how to critically read the media”. (Andrews, 2004, p. 157). Examples: 1. “The British Film Institute’s model of “cineliteracy”, first proposed in the Report Making Movies Matter (Film Education Working Group, 1999) is one recent example.” (Buckingham, 2003, p. 40). Although many aspects of this model are equally applicable to various forms of media other than moving images, yet its applicability in a vast majority of cases is experienced in the moving images. The model serves to influence students’ learning through explaining the language of the moving images. 2. Simulation: Students should be asked to perform the scenes of movie using the words they read in the book. Concept of simulation is to reproduce already existing scenes in new text. Having their interest developed after watching the movie, students will find it easy to read from the book. (www.rif.org, 2010) mentioned that children are tempted toward reading interesting text. The teaching approach: Character plot is a teaching approach which demands the involvement and active participation of all pupils involved in the process. It is a mutually interactive process in which students sit forming a circle. For example, if the lesson is based on Macbeth, one student in the circle may move to another in the circle and say, “You really think a lot of yourself, don’t you?”. The second student may move to a third and say, “I expect meeting the hags was a bit of the trauma. Do you think the experience unbalanced your mind in any way?”. (Chandra, 1993). The practice can greatly contribute to the development of concepts if the dialogues are rehearsed or spoken from the perspectives of different characters in mind that were formerly identified in the film. “Drama provides opportunities for pupils to use a variety of language registers, in a variety of situations and for a variety of purposes.” (Evans, 1982, p. 173). Moving image helps support the reading and response to classic texts: Having mentioned different approaches toward teaching Macbeth to students with the help of moving image, it can be argued that moving image helps develop an ability in the children to read and respond to classic texts more efficiently. Moving image helps to explain the idea with an exaggerated expression, which the text in the book lacks in. Young readers are motivated to read the text once they have attained its fundamental idea with the help of moving image. The moving image basically serves to influence the cognitive learning. Once that is achieved, reading skills are polished. In addition to that, once the readers are made to perform the characters of the story to learn it better, they are actually made to respond to the text. The students are only able to perform the characters, or in other words, respond to the text, once they have understood the role of a character in the story through the moving image. Conclusions: The concept of moving image is gaining more and more room in the design of educational system and is being widely considered as a necessary part of curriculum in the schools. The ideology is to enhance the learning process of students through incorporation of various forms of media for educational purposes, which is a necessary component of everyday life of an individual in the modern age. The concept has already been applied successfully to a number of schools especially in UK, and the results have been dramatically appreciable. If used appropriately, this effort can prove to be a big step forward in spreading literature and its sense among students all over the world. References: Almond, M., 2005. “Teaching English with drama”. UK: Modern English Publishing Ltd. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=miSaxzvtDsgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=drama+and+english+teaching&ei=MOkITIf1AaaIkASD54GgAQ&cd=2#v=onepage&q&f=false. [Accessed 3 June 2010]. Andrews, R., 2004. “The impact of ICT on literacy education”. USA: RoutledgeFalmer. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=jDVjh6FNkUcC&pg=PA157&dq=moving+image+education&ei=7dwITIrVIZ76kwTgkt2YDQ&cd=6#v=onepage&q=moving%20image%20education&f=false. [Accessed 3 June 2010]. British Film Institute, 2000. “Moving Images in the Classroom”. [pdf]. Available at: http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/teaching/miic/pdf/bfi_edu_miic_teachers-guide.pdf. [Accessed 3 June 2010]. Buckingham, D., 2003. “Media education: literacy, learning, and contemporary culture”. UK: Polity Press. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=mGOxvIdkTscC&pg=PA40&dq=moving+image+education&ei=7dwITIrVIZ76kwTgkt2YDQ&cd=7#v=onepage&q=moving%20image%20education&f=false. [Accessed 3 June 2010]. Evans, T., 1982. “Teaching English”. Beckenham. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=2gIOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA173&dq=drama+and+english+teaching&ei=MOkITIf1AaaIkASD54GgAQ&cd=5#v=onepage&q=drama%20and%20english%20teaching&f=false. [Accessed 3 June 2010]. Goodwyn, A., 2004. “English teaching and the moving image”. USA: Routledge. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=zxcOX8BsKS4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=moving+image+education&ei=7dwITIrVIZ76kwTgkt2YDQ&cd=1#v=onepage&q=moving%20image%20education&f=false. [Accessed 3 June 2010]. Haggarty, D., 2003. “Macbeth on Film”. Available at: http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/macbeth.htm. [Accessed 3 June 2010]. Jones, S., 2006. “Basic Teaching Techniques for Moving Images”. Available at: http://www.medienabc.org/page1/page66/page66.html. [Accessed 3 June 2010]. www.bookrags.com, 2004. “Macbeth: Comparing the Play & Movie”. Available at: http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2004/12/11/205629/64. [Accessed 3 June 2010]. www.rif.org, 2010. “Children who can read, but don’t…”. Available at: http://www.rif.org/parents/articles/ChidrenWhoDontRead.mspx. [Accessed 3 June 2010]. Read More