Chapter 9. Bringing Sarcasm and the Speech Act of Requests Into the Tertiary EFL Classroom With Short Movie Clips
Christopher R. Cooper
Christopher R. Cooper
Abstract
This chapter provides a practical introduction for instructors who are interested in teaching pragmatic awareness with the aid of short movie clips. Pragmatic and intercultural competence should arguably be a central focus in the language classroom. However, it can often be difficult to recreate genuine pragmatic situations in the classroom. Furthermore, commercial textbooks are often text-based, and unable to represent non-verbal features such as tone of voice, gestures, and laughter. The chapter specifically focuses on (a) the speech act of requests; and (b) the comprehension of sarcasm. At the intermediate level, L2 users are expected to be able to accomplish social actions in a range of situations. Requests are a highly useful social action and serve as an example of how speech acts can be taught in the classroom using video. Comprehending sarcasm is a notoriously difficult skill to acquire in a second language. Possible functions of sarcasm are described, along with activities that promote reflection and L1 usage comparison. The chapter provides concrete examples of movie clips and activities that have been used in the Japanese EFL classroom, but would also likely be useful in other contexts. The process of identifying suitable video clips is clearly explained, and a simple corpus-based tool is introduced (bit.ly/movieclipfinder) to aid interested instructors who wish to source their own movie clips.
About the Contributor
Christopher R. Cooper is a Specially Appointed Associate Professor at the Center for Foreign Language Education and Research at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Japan. He obtained his MA in TESOL from Sheffield Hallam University in the U.K. and his PhD in Humanities from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. His doctoral research focused on identifying YouTube videos with corpus-based methods for teaching conversational English. Chris has been teaching English as a foreign language in Japan since 2010, and his current research interests include corpus linguistics, using YouTube videos for language learning, CEFR text classification, and informal spoken language.
Citation
Cooper, C. R. (2025). Bringing sarcasm and the speech act of requests into the tertiary EFL classroom with short movie clips. In A. Leis & M. Wilson (Eds.), Screen media in foreign language education (pp. 208-233). Candlin & Mynard. https://doi.org/10.47908/37/9
This chapter provides a practical introduction for instructors who are interested in teaching pragmatic awareness with the aid of short movie clips. Pragmatic and intercultural competence should arguably be a central focus in the language classroom. However, it can often be difficult to recreate genuine pragmatic situations in the classroom. Furthermore, commercial textbooks are often text-based, and unable to represent non-verbal features such as tone of voice, gestures, and laughter. The chapter specifically focuses on (a) the speech act of requests; and (b) the comprehension of sarcasm. At the intermediate level, L2 users are expected to be able to accomplish social actions in a range of situations. Requests are a highly useful social action and serve as an example of how speech acts can be taught in the classroom using video. Comprehending sarcasm is a notoriously difficult skill to acquire in a second language. Possible functions of sarcasm are described, along with activities that promote reflection and L1 usage comparison. The chapter provides concrete examples of movie clips and activities that have been used in the Japanese EFL classroom, but would also likely be useful in other contexts. The process of identifying suitable video clips is clearly explained, and a simple corpus-based tool is introduced (bit.ly/movieclipfinder) to aid interested instructors who wish to source their own movie clips.
About the Contributor
Christopher R. Cooper is a Specially Appointed Associate Professor at the Center for Foreign Language Education and Research at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Japan. He obtained his MA in TESOL from Sheffield Hallam University in the U.K. and his PhD in Humanities from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. His doctoral research focused on identifying YouTube videos with corpus-based methods for teaching conversational English. Chris has been teaching English as a foreign language in Japan since 2010, and his current research interests include corpus linguistics, using YouTube videos for language learning, CEFR text classification, and informal spoken language.
Citation
Cooper, C. R. (2025). Bringing sarcasm and the speech act of requests into the tertiary EFL classroom with short movie clips. In A. Leis & M. Wilson (Eds.), Screen media in foreign language education (pp. 208-233). Candlin & Mynard. https://doi.org/10.47908/37/9
Chapter supplements
Chapter 9 (Cooper) [Download figures - PDF] [Download tables - PDF]
- Figure 9.2 Possible Functions of Sarcasm Adapted From Kim (2014) (p. 214)
- Figure 9.3 Basic Functions of the Movie Clip Finder (p. 217)
- Figure 9.4 Wider Context of Concordance Lines in the Movie Clip Finder (p.218)
- Table 9.2 Video Clips Containing Requests (p.221)
- Table 9.4 Video Clips Containing Sarcasm (p. 224)
Information About the Book
Title: Screen Media in Foreign Language Education
Editors: Adrian Leis and Matthew Wilson
Read more...
Title: Screen Media in Foreign Language Education
Editors: Adrian Leis and Matthew Wilson
Read more...