Dossier

Universidad Alberto Hurtado
Education Faculty
English Pedagogy
Integrated English III
Unit 1:Critical Thinking

Stage 1. Desired results
Established goals:
To become aware of what the concept of critical thinking means.

To recognize the key nature of critical thinking and the expected attitude of critical
thinkers.
To value the contribution of critical thinkers in a community.
To demonstrate attitudes which clearly convey the idea of critical thinking.
Understandings
Students will understand that
critical thinking involves three

stages:
observe/problematize/propose.
critical thinking is an everlasting
journey.
self-awareness is crucial to
become a critical thinker.
Knowledge
Students will manage the following
concepts
Critical thinking: knowledge, skills
and attitudes;
facts and opinions;
beliefs, assumptions and facts;
discussion and arguments;
assessment and proofs;
accurate judgments;
reasoning;
critical thinking skills and
strategies.
Essential questions
What is the importance of understanding
what critical thinking means?
What is the contribution of critical
thinkers to a given community?
How could I become a critical thinker?
Why is the application of critical thinking
relevant to the learning process?
Can critical thinking be taught?
Skills
Students are expected to develop the
following skills:
a.- Differentiate between complaining,
criticizing and thinking critically.
b. Identify ideas and concepts involved in a
critical thinking attitude.
c. Compile and organize information to
successfully reach to conclusions on how to
solve problems.
d. Transform and apply knowledge to meet
the requirements of analysis, and or
reaching a conclusion.
e. Differentiate facts from opinions.
f. Take a critical stand to problems and
difficulties.
g. Provide accurate judgements.
h. Appreciate the contribution of critical
thinkers.
i. Spot the difference between a critical
thinking and a cynical attitude towards the

Education Faculty
English Pedagogy
information provided in written and oral

texts.
j. Compare and contrast the different
authors points of views on the topic of
critical thinking.
k. Paraphrase the main ideas and points of
view in written texts and talks orally and in
writing.
l. Make an interpretation and give your
opinion about a given topic presented in
the journals read and talks listened orally.
ll. Write a critical report.
Stage 2 Assessment evidence
Performance task
Other evidence
Write a report on a critical analysis
Writings and homework uploaded to
of Chilean TV programs.
wordpress.
Participation in class: listening and
speaking disposition.
Fulfillment with class preparation
tasks: readings, video viewing and others.
Wordpress journal
Blog tasks if requested
Stage 3- Learning Plan
Learning Experiences
Extensive and intensive reading at home,
intensive and guided reading in class,
watch short videos at home and in class,
listen (without viewing) in class),
watch different programs on National TV Channels at home and keep a
record of the observations.
Individual and collaborative writing (essays, paragraphs, reports) at home
and in class,
class discussion and sharing, pair and small group sharing, interviewing
people in the streets.
word maps and concept maps
awareness and drilling language structures and phonetic strands in context.
Language structuring :
Tense notions: unfinished,
future and progression;
modals
1. 1. Direct and indirect questions.

2. Present perfect: just, up to now, already, yet and
always, for and since
3.Present perfect progressive.
Phonological/Phonetical
components:
Weak forms, statements, connected
speech features.
Awareness of features
1. Falling intonation for Wh-questions.

2. Rising intonation in yes no questions.

Education Faculty
English Pedagogy
4.Past perfect simple and progressive.

5.Will / Going to.
6.Present progressive: future arrangements.
7.Future progressive and future perfect.
8.Requests, orders, offers, permissions: can, could,
will, would.
9Ability: can, cant, could, couldnt, be able to.
11.Obligation and compulsion: must, have to,
should, ought to.
12.Possibility and certainty: may, might, could,
must, must have, cant have.
13.Collocations based on unit topic.
14.Linking 3 (Adding - Comparison)
Syntactic analysis: The Phrase (VP) (Biber, D.
2002, chapter 5).
3. Weak forms for modals, auxiliaries.

4. Statements. (Chapter 2.5)
5. /D, d, T/
6. /b, v/
7. Connected speech: assimilation, elision.
8. Transcription reading phonetics symbols
Unit bibliography
March 12-13 Weissberg, R. (2013) Critically Thinking about Critical Thinking. New York,
USA: Springer Science + Business Media.
March 16 - 20 Moon, J. (N.D) (2005)What is the elusive activity of Critical Thinking - We
seek it here. England: ESCalate.
McCaffre, K; Saide, A. (2014) Why is critical thinking so hard to teach? New York, USA:
Sceptic Magazine, V.19 N 2.
Cuypers, S.; Haji, I. (2006) Education for critical thinking: Can it be non-indoctrinative?
Calgary, Canada: Educational Philosophy and Theory, Vol. 6, N38.
Silva, L. and Rodrgues, H. (2011) Critical Thinking: its relevance in education in a shifting
society. Minho, Portugal: Revista de Psicologa, Vol. 29 (1).
March 23 - 27 Toy, B. and Ok, A. (2012) Incorporating Critical thinking in a pedagogical
content. Ankara, Turkey: European Journal of Teacher Education; Vol 35, N 1.
Atkinson, S. and Urban, J. (2013) Reflective Practice: a non-negotiable requirement for an
effective educator. London, UK: BPP University College.
Wang, Q., woo, H. and Zhao, J. (2009) Investigating Critical thinking and knowledge
construction in an interactive learning environment. Guangzhou, China: Routledge Taylor
and Francis Group, Vol 17, N1.
Rezaee, M. , Farahian, M. and Morad, A. (2012) Critical Thinking in Higher education.
Teheran, Iran: Broad Research in Artificial intelligence, Vol 3, N 2.
Nicholas, M., Comer, J. and Recker, D and Hathcode, D. (2013)Developing and
Implementing a Multidisciplinary approach to assess CT. Sydney, Australia: Wiley
Periodicals Inc., Vol 25, N 4
March 30 - Apr 2 Pinkney, J. and Shaughnessy, M. (2013) Teaching Critical thinking: a
modern mandate. New Mexico, Mexico. International Journal of Academic Research, Vol 5,
N3.
Masduqi, H. (2011) Critical thinking skills and meaning in language teaching. New South
Wales, Australia:TEFLN Journal, Vol 22, N 2.
Mihaila-Lica, G. (2012) Consideration on developing critical thinking skills in students of
English. Sibiu, Romania: Revista Academiei Tereste, N 2 (66)
Hsiao, W. , Chen, M. and Hu, H. (2013) Assessing online discussions: Adoption of critical
thinking as a grading criterion. Alaska, USA: The International Journal of Technology,
Knowledge and society, Vol. 9

Education Faculty
English Pedagogy
Integrated English
III
TASK 1
UNIT 1: Critical Thinking

In this unit you will have to:
Write a critical Analysis on Chilean TV programs.
1. General outline
In groups of 4 students you will decide on a National Channel and TV Program.
Choose among the following Programs: News Report, Talk Show, Soap Opera.
Each group will have to choose a different channel or program. Each member of
the group will have to watch the program for at least 3 weeks and collect objective
data (eg: The News Report Channel X at Y is called Z. It starts at .. and finishes at.
The presenters names are The types of news and the sequence of them is )
Then in your group you will share the data and make an interpretation of
the beliefs, values and/or assumptions implicit in the program. Be sure to provide
accurate judgement (concrete evidence /facts) to support your opinion.
Finally will have to make a proposal on how to improve the given program backing
your proposal with solid arguments
Then you will write a report including the following sections:
Objective description (3 - 5 pages)
Analysis and Interpretation (2 - 4 pages)
Proposal ( 1 - 1,5 pages)
Include at least two literary sources (from the ones read in class or others) in the
Analysis and Interpretation Section and two others in the Proposal Section.
Use Times New Roman 12 and 1,5 space
a) task objectives
1. Organize information.
2. Differentiate between facts and opinions: Find and judge components of
subjectivity based on beliefs or ideologies, and oppose them to concrete
facts.
3. Take a critical stand on an observed reality and provide arguments to
support opinions.
4. Propose documented and concrete actions, alternatives to improve a

reality.
b) Dates
Submit a hard copy on Thursday, April 2nd at the beginning of the class (no
later
than 10 minutes after the time of the class)
Upload a copy to your Wordpress the latest
midnight on the same date.
e) Assessment
This task is a 10% of your Final grade.

Find the rubric attached at the end of the document: Note that two extra
categories have been added to the Official Writing Rubric.
c) Considerations
If for any reason your have problems conforming a group with the number
of students required (4), you should approach your homeroom teacher to
request an exception. The teacher will discuss it with the rest of the team
and get back to you. Wait for the answer of your teacher before starting
your work.
You will receive a grade for your work, so the grade will be the same for
every member in the group.
If you fail to submit your work on the date and time assigned, you will
receive the minimum grade.
Do not forget that Plagiarism is a serious offence which will be severely
sanctioned. The first time work will be given a 1.0. If a second time occurs,
course suspension and program expulsion may take place (Reglamento
acadmico Ttulo VI, Art.21)
IEL Writing Rubric Second Year

Students Name: __________________________________________Section:___________________ Mark:_________ Date: __/____/___
Total score:
Categories
COHERENCE and TASK
ACHIEVEMENT: Concepts and
relationships expressed should
be relevant to each other and in
relation to the purpose, thus
enabling plausible inferences
about underlying meaning.
10
Some sentences are

coherent but the
overall idea is not
always clear to the
reader.
Most simple sentences are

coherent so the overall idea is
clear to the reader. Format and
register seldom comply with the
purpose.
Can express simple ideas with

sentences organised logically when
dealing with familiar topics. Format
and register usually comply with the
purpose.
Can express ideas clearly most of the

time, with sentences organised
logically when dealing with familiar
topics. Format and register comply
with the purpose.
Can write simple

isolated phrases and
sentences.
Can write simple isolated phrases

and sentences linked with one or
two connectors like and and
but.
Can write a series of simple phrases

and sentences linked with some
simple connectors like and", but and
so and one or two random complex
connecting element.
Can often use a variety of frequent

discourse markers effectively.
VOCABULARY and
SPELLING: The correct spelling
and choice of lexicon and
register (formal-informal) and its
collocations according to the
context.
Uses one or two

connectors but is
repetitive.
Elementary and
repetitive content
words used. Spelling
mistakes are regularly
made.
Use of appropriate content words

is inconsistent even when dealing
with familiar topics. Common
words are spelled correctly most
of the time.
Can usually use appropriate content

words when dealing with familiar
topics. Common words are spelled
correctly.
Can use appropriate content words

thoroughly when dealing with familiar
topics. Spelling is frequently correct.
LANGUAGE STRUCTURING:
The use of structures of the
language in context.
Basic language
structures and
functional words are
seldom used correctly:
phrase word order,
sentence structure,
and simple tenses.
Basic language structures and

functional words are sometimes
used correctly: phrase word order,
sentence structure, and simple
tenses.

functional words are used fluently
most of the time; phrase word order,
sentence structure, and simple tenses
are frequently used correctly.

functional words are used fluently;
phrase word order, sentence structure,
and simple tenses are always used
correctly.
COHESION: The linkage

between elements of a
discourse.
PUNCTUATION and
CAPITALIZATION
INFLUENCE OF CONTEXT
AND ASSUMPTIONS
CRITICAL STAND
Basic punctuation and

capitalization are
seldom used correctly
Shows some
awareness of present
beliefs/ideologies
behind context but
there is no judgement
or position.
Sometimes labels
assertions as
assumptions.
Correct use of basic punctuation

and
capitalization is inconsistent.
Shows awareness of present
beliefs/Ideologies behind context
and take a clear position.
Able to see the difference among
assertions, assumptions and
facts.
Specific position
(perspective,
thesis/hypothesis) is
stated, but is
simplistic and
obvious.
Specific position (perspective,

thesis/hypothesis) acknowledges
different sides of an issue
Correct use of basic punctuation and

capitalization is frequent.
Shows awareness of several
beliefs/ideologies behind context and
question them when presenting a
position. Able to analyze and
evaluate others' assumptions and
assertions opposing them to facts.
Basic punctuation and capitalization

are always used correctly.
Shows awareness of significant
beliefs/ideologies behind context and
evidences a systematical analysis
present in his/her Discourse.
Thoroughly and carefully analyzes
and evaluate own and others'
assumptions and assertions getting
significant conclusions when
comparing to facts.
Specific position (perspective, thesis,

hypothesis) takes into account the
complexities of an issue. Others'
points of view are acknowledged
within own position.
Specific position (perspective,

thesis/hypothesis) is imaginative,
taking into account the complexities of
an issue. Limits of position are
acknowledged. Others point of view
are synthesized within position
(perspective, thesis, hypothesis)
Extra categories adapted from: file:///C:/Users/UAH/Desktop/CriticalThinking.pdf (last accessed March, 2015)
Acad. Quest. (2013) 26:317328

DOI 10.1007/s12129-013-9375-2
A RT I C L E
Critically Thinking about Critical Thinking

Robert Weissberg
Published online: 30 July 2013

# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Critical thinking has mesmerized academics across the political spectrum;

even high school students are now being called upon to think critically.
Richard Arum and Josipa Roksas widely praised Academically Adrift favorably
cites the term some eighty-seven times while excoriating contemporary higher
education.1 In The Evidence of Things Unnoticed: An Interpretive Preface to
the National Association of Scholars Report What Does Bowdoin Teach? How
a Contemporary Liberal Arts College Shapes Students, Peter Wood criticizes
Bowdoin for replacing critical thinking with a grab bag of trendy notions such as
social justice and sustainability.2 It is no exaggeration to say that critical
thinking has quickly evolved into a scholarly industry.3 As of April 11, 2013,
Amazon.com lists some 48,559 titles on critical thinking. To be sure, scholars
can battle over whether the Left or Right owns critical thinking,4 but everyone
Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2011).
2
Peter Wood, The Evidence of Things Unnoticed: An Interpretive Preface to the National Association of
Scholars Report What Does Bowdoin Teach? How a Contemporary Liberal Arts College Shapes
Students (New York: National Association of Scholars, 2013), http://www.nas.org/images/documents/
What_Does_Bowdoin_Teach.pdf.
3
See, for example, Albert Keith Whitaker, Critical Thinking in the Ivory Tower, Academic Questions
16, no. 1 (Winter 200203): 5058. Also see, Critical Thinking, Wikipedia, accessed April 11, 2013,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking.
4
For a sampling of these battles, see Peter Wood, The Curriculum of Forgetting, Chronicle of Higher Education,
Innovations (blog), November 21, 2011, http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/the-curriculum-of-forgetting/
30914; AILACT Responds to Peter Wood, Rail (blog), May 3, 2012, http://railct.com/2012/05/03/ailactresponds-to-peter-wood/; and Peter Wood, Leaf-Taking, Chronicle of Higher Education, Innovations (blog),
December 4, 2011, http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/leaf-taking/31017.
Robert Weissberg is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana
Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820; rweissbe@illinois.edu. He is the author of many books, most recently
The Limits of Civic Activism: Cautionary Tales on the Use of Politics (2004), Pernicious Tolerance: How
Teaching to Accept Differences Undermines Civil Society (2008), and Bad Students, Not Bad Schools
(2010), all published by Transaction.
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Weissberg
agrees that like apple pie and motherhood, critical thinking is an unquestionable
good and universitieseven high schoolsneed to do more to foster this
skill.
Unfortunately, calls for students to think critically almost always
sidestep the prodigious problem of transforming a high-sounding idea into
something that can be usefully interjected into lessons, let alone calibrated to
show progress (or failure). Yes, we all agree that critical thinking is an
honored element of Western thought, even traceable to Socrates, but it hardly
follows that most people, including a majority of college students, can master
this skill. Indeed, acquiring it may be impossible or largely cost-ineffective.
Worse, given all the documented deficiencies of todays college students, the
critical thinking crusade may entail unrecognized opportunity costs to the
neglect of more valuable lessons.
Skepticism acknowledged, let me offer a brief tour of the obstacles
awaiting those who want to do more than admonish fellow professors to
teach critical thinking.
Defining and Measuring
Definitions of critical thinking abound, but all share certain traits, notably
an ability to use reason to move beyond the acquisition of facts to uncover
deep meaning. For illustrative purposes, heres a detailed (but quite typical)
definition offered by a website devoted to explicating the term:
It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought
implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue;
assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to
conclusions; implications and consequences; objections from alternative
viewpoints; and frame of reference. Critical thinkingin being
responsive to variable subject matter, issues, and purposesis
incorporated in a family of interwoven modes of thinking, among
them: scientific thinking, mathematical thinking, historical thinking,
anthropological thinking, economic thinking, moral thinking, and
philosophical thinking.
Critical thinking can be seen as having two components: 1) a set of
information and belief generating and processing skills, and 2) the habit,
based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behavior.
It is thus to be contrasted with: 1) the mere acquisition and retention of
319
information alone, because it involves a particular way in which

information is sought and treated; 2) the mere possession of a set of
skills, because it involves the continual use of them; and 3) the mere use of
those skills (as an exercise) without acceptance of their results.5
Quite a mouthful of verbiage, but to put some meat on these abstract
bones, let me recall my own effort to impart these skills when I taught
graduate seminars on American electoral politics. One weekly topic was the
perennial effort to limit money in elections. I began by highlighting past
failed campaign finance reforms, stressing the obstacles of enforcing laws
that made it a crime for those who wrote the laws (Congress) to receive
certain donations. Then I discussed First Amendment guarantees of free
speech where monetary contributions were defined as speech. I pointed out
how money was only one of multiple campaign-related resources (including,
for example, celebrity status, possessing an eminent name, or access to
ample volunteer labor), so limiting cash donations hardly leveled the playing
field. Lectures further explained how the complexity of campaign finance
laws might prove troublesome (including criminal penalties) for cash-poor
candidates unable to hire skilled staff to ensure compliance. Then on to how
restricting contributions meant that candidates must now target many more
(small) donors than in the past and this, in turn, makes fund-raising far more
time-consuming while requiring professional assistance. The impetus for
endless pandering was also mentioned, along with how contribution limits
helped incumbents and therefore perpetuated the status quo. I continued with
how exemptions for spending ones own fortune would encourage rich
people to seek office, since they would be immune to laws restricting
donations. This hardly ended it and I went on for at least two hours
connecting dozens of nonobvious but politically important dots.
This snippet illustrates my personal effort to teach by example. And I
followed the same connect-the-nonobvious-dots approach in an additional
thirteen lectures, all the while encouraging students to attempt what I was
demonstrating.
5
Michael Scriven and Richard Paul, Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for
Excellence in Critical Thinking, statement presented at the Eighth Annual International Conference
on Critical Thinking and Education Reform, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA, August
1988, available under the title, Defining Critical Thinking, at The Critical Thinking Community,
http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766.
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Weissberg
My experience was not a happy one. Boredom and confusion seemed

common. I invited students to figure out the implications of a particular law
or policy, but with little success. Students were also encouraged to discuss
possible trade-offs between, say, free speech and limiting donations, while I
put critical thinking questions on the take-home essay examinations. Despite
my efforts, when all was said and done, I conceded defeatonly a handful
apparently benefited. Yes, most probably enjoyed the exercise and learned
something new, but when prodded to perform similar analyses on topics not
yet covered in class, the results, including exams, were dismal.
Now, I confess that my pedagogical techniques may have been deficient,
but my sad experience raises the issue of assessing success in thousands of
very different schools and varied majors. And what about instructors who
themselves lack this skill or just disdain it?
How, then, are educators to teach critical thinking? Can we boil down
these long, often kitchen sink-style definitions into tests that can be
administered to students of different abilities and interests? That definitions
are generally similar but differ in key details only exacerbates this
measurement quandary.
Not surprisingly, admonitions to teach critical thinking far exceed
well-crafted, demonstrably valid tests calibrating it. Perhaps it is assumed that
critical thinking is so obvious that it hardly requires scientific measurement. But
there is some good news. Arum and Roksa describe such an instrument that they
and others usethe Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA)and for better or
worse, this one instrument must suffice for our analysis.6 According to its
proponents, the CLA is designed to tap general skills, not specific knowledge.
That is, unlike other SAT-like tests the CLA does not consist of multiple
clear-cut questions that can be scored objectively that are independent of
one another. Instead, what is assessed is a students ability to integrate
complex material holistically to reach a reasoned conclusion.
Specifically, students are given three complicated case studies, fictitious
but realistic. Factual background material is included in the test. Students are
given ninety minutes to write these essays. The data reported by Arum and
Roksa derive from a sample of 2,322 students from similar backgrounds at
four-year institutions on twenty-four campuses. The test is given to freshmen
and repeated when those same students become sophomores. Considerable
6
Arum and Roksa, Academically Adrift, chap. 1 and 2, and the Methodological Appendix explicated the
measurement strategy in detail.
321
effort is made to sort out possible confounding factors like race/ethnicity,

SAT scores, familiarity with English, and high school curriculum. The
student sample was drawn from highly selective, selective, and less selective
schools.
In one required essay students are asked to advise a firm named DynaTech
about purchasing a new airplane, although one of them had recently crashed.
The various pros and cons are offered and students must sort out the
conflicting evidence and arguments. Another case study asks students to
compose a memo regarding reducing crime, and again, various pieces of
conflicting information are provided.
All three student essays are evaluated according to a detailed scoring
manual: how facts are applied, quality and clarity of arguments, reliability of
supplied evidence, ability to synthesize complex information, and soundness
of the recommendations. All and all, Arum and Roksa stress, these tasks are
real-world related and differ from conventional course examinations, for
which students learn specific material to be regurgitated during testing. Arum
and Roksa also provide statistical evidence that the CLA is reliable and valid.
To simplify matters, well take their word that the CLA satisfies the technical
requirement of a good measure, though compared to other standardized
tests the CLA is still in its infancy.
Does the University Really Need Instruction in Critical Thinking?
What might motivate a professor to add critical thinking to a syllabus,

especially since professors are already pressured to embrace lots of other
good ideas such as multiculturalism and diversity in course offerings?
Going one step further, while covering, say, the contribution of women to the
American Revolution is relatively straightforward, how are the habits of
critical thinking to be taught? Translating any typically complicated
definition into something tangible is no simple matter. Should enlightened
administrators hire self-designated experts on critical thinking to coach
befuddled professors? Might schools implore college textbook publishers to
include critical thinking exercises in introductory texts? What about
resistance from teachers who already feel overburdened by administrative
dictates regarding the insertion of multiculturalism, sustainability, social
justice, and similar ideologically infused material that may have little to do
with substantive course content?
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Weissberg
Underlying these practical issues are more serious academic freedom

issues. College professors are not K12 teachers whose lesson plans are
determined by administrators or state legislators with scarcely any room for
deviation. A huge gap exists between acknowledging the importance of
critical thinking versus requiring it across the board regardless of discipline
or the professors teaching agenda. Speaking personally and as a critical
thinking fan, I would resist any administrator dictating my lectures, just as I
would refuse to follow gratuitous orders to insert the alleged benefits of
diversity into coursework. And I suspect many academics share my view
regarding professional independence.
Compounding the situation is the fuzzy, often vacuous nature of critical
thinking. A professor might insist, Yes I teach it, while an outside
observer unfamiliar with the subject matter might disagree. And how much
class time should professors devote to critical thinking? Twenty minutes on
day one and thats that? Might critical thinking, like multiculturalism,
infuse everything? Moreover, with so many varying definitions of critical
thinking out there, who will impose one out of dozens as the gold
standard? And how do we deal with the ideologically driven teacher who
twists teaching critical thinking into a weapon to attack pet hates? After all,
critical thinking requires being critical. Clearly, this is a bureaucratic
mess that may require endless acrimonious meetings before anything of
practical use emerges.
All of this brings us to one easily avoided, overriding question: Why? It is
not cynical to argue that fans of teaching critical thinking see it as something
akin to how the cultural Left views diversitya virtue so imperative to a
healthy society that it is a compelling state interest to impose it on hapless
students regardless of their perspectives? Now for the bad news: justifications are moral in characteran ought lacking scientific basis. To
appreciate this nonempirical justification, heres what Arum and Roksa offer:
In a rapidly changing economy and society, there is widespread
agreement that these individual capacities are the foundation for
effective democratic citizenship and economic productivity. With all
the controversy over the college curriculum, Derek Bok has
commented, it is impressive to find faculty members agreeing almost
unanimously that teaching students to think critically is the principal aim
of undergraduate education. Institutional mission statements also echo
this widespread commitment to developing students critical thinking.
323
They typically include a pledge, for example, that schools will work to
challenge students to think critically and intuitively, and to ensure that
graduates will become adept at critical, analytical, and logical
thinking. These mission statements align with the idea that educational
institutions serve to enhance students human capitalknowledge,
skills, and capacities that will be rewarded in the labor market.7
This hardly ends their catalog of benefits, but this snippet should suffice.
Alas, the entire justification rests on appeal to authority, namely other
academics who, like Arum and Roksa, lack empirical evidenceor to be a
bit kinder, evidence that is not cited or remains to be discovered. When did
imparting a knack for critical thinking become the principal aim of
undergraduate education? I entered college in 1959 and only recently
encountered this imperative. Did Derek Bok survey a random sample of
professors about spending class time on teaching critical thinking? One
can only be reminded of all the diversity champions who insist that its
self-evident virtues make scientific documentation superfluous.
A little thought suggests that American democracy and our economy
hardly rests on critical thinking. First, and speaking as one who has written
about democracy for decades, I fail to see any connection between an ability
to think critically and the survival of American democratic institutions.
Reasonably honest elections, majority rule and minority rights, the rule of
law, due process, and all the rest that defines our democratic political order
hardly requires millions of citizens who think critically. Scholars have long
supplied compendiums of democratic citizenship, but I have never seen
critical thinking on the list. If it deserves inclusion, the justification for it
must be provided, not merely asserted.
Nor, for that matter, can I see a purely logical link between critical
thinking and democracy. If anything, the voting literature abounds with data
demonstrating that the majority of voters do not choose candidates by
thinking critically. Visceral voting choices or reliance on partisan affiliation
are far more common. If a widespread ability to think critically is vital to
democratic governance, we are doomed and democracys two-century
survival in the U.S. must be judged a mystery.
Ditto for any self-evident link between critical thinking and prosperity.
Yes, a plausible case can be made that some high-level jobs might
7
Ibid., 2.
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Weissberg
occasionally require critical thinking, but I can think of no reason why most
positions require this ability. Id guess that less than a quarter of jobs demand
critical thinking, and even then this trait may be far subordinated to reliability,
tenacity, a penchant for cooperative behavior, and solid communication skills,
among many other attributes with a clear vocational benefit. Again, this is truth
by assertion and not a very convincing one at that.
It is equally plausible that our economy requires only a small number of
critical thinkers who are surrounded by armies lacking this skill but more
adept at other tasks. Apple and Microsoft hardly need five thousand or more
critical thinkers to flourishand remember that Bill Gates dropped out of
Harvard, so where did he acquire his knack for critical thinking? A better
case can be made that American universities would help the economy more
by inculcating a knack for painful drudgery and persistence, the famous ratio
of 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration. Even Steve Jobs confessed
to being a grind.
Moreover, if, as is claimed, critical thinking is central to the American
economy, where are the critical thinking tests to screen thousands of job
applicants? Well, to be fair, firms are not exactly ignoring this ability. Rather,
organizations that demand critical thinking have better, far cheaper, and more
accessible proxies to assess this skill. Goldman Sachs and the like hardly need a
ninety-minute exam about whether to buy crash-prone airplanes. Instead they
interview graduates from elite schools knowing full well that these applicants
possess the intellectual skills necessary to pass tough courses.
In fact, if critical thinking is as valuable economically as is claimed, the
best test of this proposition would be a five-year follow-up on those who
have mastered that skill versus those who did not, while holding constant the
prestige of the degree, major, and similar factors relevant to career success.
Technically, this is predictive validity and essential to trying to convince
undergraduates to sharpen their thinking skills. Alas, we know nothing about
this outcome, but yet again, it is happily assumed.
All this adds up to a weak case for the CLA, since its value, whether for
promoting democracy or helping students land a job, is highly speculative.
This iffy usefulness is especially relevant as universities seek to trim budgets.
Imagine a school defending its plan to test two thousand students a year on
the CLA and paying to train dozens of newly hired employees to evaluate
and score the essays? I suspect that the only motivation might be if some
journalism school ranking service (e.g., U.S. News & World Report) suddenly
included CLA scores in their ratings. But even then, with so many other
325
off-the-shelf indicators available, why would a school spend a small fortune

for yet another, particularly since it is pointless unless hundreds of other
schools likewise provide CLA data to facilitate comparisons?
Can Critical Thinking Be Taught?
Lets for the moment assume that teaching critical thinking becomes the
latest educational trend. Would American education benefit?
Obviously, answers must be speculative, but Id guess that the benefits would
be minimal, while a Pandoras box of political consequences would be opened.
Lets start with the information necessary to think critically. Recall that the CLA
test provided copious information to help students devise policy recommendations.
Yes, everything provided was realistic, but what is not realistic is having ample and
freely supplied information at ones fingertips. More realistic would be to give
students a few days to collect their own data, a task that would undoubtedly
increase the range of test scores. Better students would find more information
while slackers would be satisfied with far less. This is, of course, exactly what
occurs with paper assignments.
Their lack of basic knowledge was apparent to me when I encouraged
students to think critically about U.S. elections. Judging by their puzzled
looks, it soon became apparent that many students lacked even the most
rudimentary political knowledge, things like how primary elections work.8
Many were even clueless about recent presidential elections. These facts
had to be inserted into class discussion, so what began as an exercise in
critical thinking quickly regressed into a time-consuming tutorial on
American politics.
Paucity of elementary factual information among students acknowledged,
what is a professor to do when attempting to teach critical thinking to the
poorly informed? Require students to take remedial classes in what should
have been learned in high school? Assign basic background readings at the
beginning of the semester? Unfortunately, these solutions optimistically
assume that students are motivated to catch up while simultaneously
8
The lack of factual information among college students is well-known to professors, though seldom
publicly acknowledged. Unfortunately, few academics have the stomach to delve into this embarrassing
issue. For an excellent analysis of this aversion to boring facts, see Michael J. Booker, A Roof without
Walls: Benjamin Blooms Taxonomy and the Misdirection of American Education, Academic Questions
20, no. 4 (Fall 2007): 34755. Booker makes the key point that when students do not know facts, they
survive the course by embracing the instructors opinions.
326
Weissberg
mastering the more advanced substantive material. The only solution that I
can imagine is to limit the teaching of critical thinking to more advanced
classes (akin to high school AP classes), but this elitist approach is hardly
what fans of critical thinking demand. Most enthusiasts see critical thinking
as a trait teachable to all students.
What this lack of knowledge suggests is that a capacity for critical
thinking may be closely related to cognitive ability in general. After all,
absorbing copious amounts of information quickly, organizing it, dealing
with abstractions, and then drawing out implications is the common element
in both IQ and critical thinking. Arum and Roksas own data suggest this link
between high intelligence and skill at thinking critically: nearly half of all
students did not add to their critical thinking capacity over the first two years
of college, students at elite schools out-performed those a few notches below,
and students from racial and ethnic groups that generally lag academically
also lagged in acquiring this skill.9
To be politically incorrect, if a capacity for critical thinking mirrors IQ
(and I think it does) then efforts to foster this skill will fail just as every past
intervention to increase IQ has come up short. Worse, from the perspective of
critical thinking fans, previous interventions to boost IQ had the advantage of
beginning very early (e.g., Head Start), while efforts to develop critical
thinking target college-age students, and even then, for at most a few hours
per week. Thus understood, teaching critical thinking is redundant for the
smart and pointless for the less talented, although, conceivably, a few
middling students might pick up a thing or two.
If the past is any guide to the future, the current infatuation with critical
thinking will follow a familiar though unwelcome trajectory. That is,
egalitarians who peruse critical thinking test scores will, guaranteed, discover
troubling gaps in this talent. Yet more task forces will be appointed,
expensive recommendations will emerge, critical thinking coaches will be hired
and thousands of hours and lots of money will be spent for zero progress. And
rest assured, campus egalitarians will pour over these CLA essays to expunge
hidden racial bias from the test and scoring method. I can already see ambitious
but underemployed bureaucrats waiting for their gaps-in-critical thinking ship to
arrive so as to organize a three-day conference.
Arum and Roksa, Academically Adrift, 122.
327
Conclusions
What does this pursuit tell us about the modern academy? Two lessons are
clear. First, it yet again exposes the academys vulnerability to questionable
fads, a willingness to spend lavishly despite shaky evidence of value (a
parallel is the infatuation with diversity et al.). This is not to say that critical
thinking champions are fashion-minded opportunistsalthough I suspect a
few are of the catch-the-fad and advance-ones-career variety.
Actually, getting in on the ground floor of a trend long before its demonstrated
failure is just about de rigueur in education. Todays bureaucratically infused
campus culture invites itwhy struggle with thorny research problems or spend
hours trying to teach writing when embracing fashionable nonsense is a far
superior career option? Imagine the consequences if the latest educational
panacea were a drug required to pass FDA-like scrutiny before being
implemented while advocates were liable for damages if the scheme turned
sour. The campus newspaper would overflow with ads like: Did you pay
thousands of dollars on a course that stressed critical thinking only to discover
that you learned nothing of intellectual or vocational value? Call Gonif and
Gonif and join our class action lawsuit and recover lost tuition plus punitive
damages. We have already won millions for students like you.
The second point is an irony: Champions of critical thinking have
failed to apply their own medicine. Didnt they stop to consider the net
value of this instruction given its easily foreseen tangible and intellectual
costs? How much time is to be wasted on this project that could have
been spent on substantive learning? What about yet more bureaucratic
expansion when administrative overhead increasingly devours the
universitys core mission? And what does a resource-eating critical
thinking test add when this talent can already be assessed from a verbal
SAT score that closely mirrors IQ? Might attempting to teach critical
thinking be pointless for mediocre students? How can one possibly
assert the link between critical ability and democracy when we have zero
data on this nexus? Worse, why do champions of critical thinking ignore
the absence of data on any alleged beneficial impact? Why the disdain
for science? And on and on. Obviously, we need critical thinking for
those who advocate critical thinking.
Let me end by reiterating my own commitment to critical thinking. I am
not opposed to it; rather I view it as appropriate to only the brightest, most
328
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motivated students, less a skill that can be successfully taught to millions of

mediocre students (including high school students who struggle with basic
literacy). Moreover, even with topnotch students Im not sure that critical
thinking is the highest priority. Speaking personally, I would subordinate it to
other skills, namely the ability to write and speak well and to apply the
scientific method, familiarity with history and literature, and a Calvinist work
ethic. Lets not assume that just because a particular skill is valuableand
critical thinking certainly isit should be pushed at the expense of other
intellectual skills. This, I might add, is a conclusion that comes with a little
critical thinking.
Copyright of Academic Questions is the property of Springer Science & Business Media B.V.
and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without
the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or
email articles for individual use.
We seek it here
a new perspective on the elusive
activity of critical thinking:
a theoretical and practical approach
Dr Jenny Moon
University of Bournemouth/
Independent Consultant
jenny@cemp.ac.uk
Tel: 01395 276569
DISCUSSIONS IN EDUCATION SERIES
Introduction to this publication

This paper is in two parts:
Part One questions what is meant by critical thinking, referring to the literature in
some detail to build towards a descriptive statement.
A particularly helpful aspect of Dr Moons writing is the link made between critical
thinking and the development of the conceptions of knowledge (epistemological
beliefs) which have not been explored fully elsewhere.
Part Two focuses on the practical side of the issue for staff and students in HE,
finishing with some photocopiable activity pages.
ESCalate and Dr Moon are both keen to receive comments and feedback on this
publication via heacademy-escalate@bristol.ac.uk
Dr Julie Anderson, ESCalate
Contents
4
What is the elusive

activity of critical thinking?
Part Two
14
The practical side of

critical thinking
General principles for support of
development in epistemological
beliefs and the improvement of
critical thinking
Critical thinking
the beginning of the search
A first look at the literature

of critical thinking
Bringing new ideas to critical thinking:

epistemological development
The development of epistemological

beliefs a conclusion for the purposes
of pedagogy and critical thinking
10
A final position on critical thinking
12
SHORTCUT TO ACTIVITIES
Widening the view:

critical thinking and its place
12
If you wish to go straight to the activity sheets

please turn to page 26.
Critical thinking and writing
13
Critical thinking and progression

of student learning
13
15
Techniques for encouraging

19
the progression in epistemological beliefs
and the improvement of critical thinking
Exercise on the stages of understanding
of knowledge
26
M
Part One
These are FREE photocopiable sheets as long as

you acknowledge the source as
Dr Jenny Moon, (2005) Critical Thinking.
Bristol: ESCalate ISBN 1-904190-85-5
References and Bibliography
30
Appendix 1 - Towards a final statement on the nature of critical thinking
32
Appendix 2 - Critical thinking and other academic activities reflection and argument
34
Appendix 3 - Learning, thinking and writing a first look
36
Appendix 4 - Progression in critical thinking and its representation in writing in

undergraduate education
38
Part One
What is the elusive activity of critical thinking?
Why the confusion about critical thinking?
Critical thinking is like a number of words in higher education that sound good
and sit comfortably in, for example, the vocabulary of the Institutional mission
statement. In mission statements vagueness may not matter, but when students
are told through the use of critical thinking they should analyse something, a
more precise definition does matter. How can they develop something if they do
not know what it is? (Meyers, 1986; Barnett, 1997) It is important, therefore, that
we can form a clear view of critical thinking that provides a fruitful basis for
pedagogical purposes(*) that can be understood by both teachers as well as
students.
This guide aims to help us create such a view and translate it to useful activities
to develop critical thinking.
*we use the term pedagogy as a generic term for teaching / learning processes - not those specifically associated with childhood learning
A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE ELUSIVE ACTIVITY OF CRITICAL THINKING
Critical thinking the

beginning of the search
A first look at the literature

There is not an agreed definition of critical thinking.

There are some different views of and approaches to
critical thinking. Ultimately we seek a common view.
This view will need to accord reasonably with ideas in
the literature, be coherent in itself and relate to
common conceptions of learning. In particular it will
need to have a practical basis that can be translated
into use in the classroom.
The lack of one clear definition of critical thinking is

reflected in the literature.
We start with a few simple ideas. Critical thinking is

clearly akin to processes of learning but the emphasis
in thinking is on the re-processing of material that
has been learnt. The way in which the term critical
thinking is used implies that the subject matter being
considered is complex and understanding is involved.
For this reason, critical thinking would seem to be
associated with the taking of a deep approach to
learning and not to the taking of a surface approach.
The idea of critical thinking about something
seems to imply that there is a rationale for the
process, and an outcome or a judgement. There is
also an idea that evidence is assessed or evaluated in
the process and that the process itself is subject to
evaluation.
The 'critical' element in the idea of critical thinking
causes most of the problems in definition because it
suggests that critical thinking is more than simply the
process of thinking. Many students who come across
the word 'critical' would reasonably associate it with
the everyday sense of making a negative comment
about something. It is usual to tell them that this is
not the meaning - but then to stall at telling them
clearly what it is!
Some approaches to critical thinking promote the

teaching of logic (see articles in Mitchell and
Andrews (2000), in particular, Sweet and Swanson).
This is an approach that takes a technical view of the
process of critical thinking as a cognitive ability that
can be increased by knowledge of the rules of logic,
and practice of them. There may be benefit from the
learning of logic as a process, but it seems that, logic
is a good way of teaching logic de Bono (1982), and
Meyers (1986) cites evidence to suggest that such
learning does not relate directly to critical thinking
abilities. However, the ideas of an approach like logic
are retained in the notion that critical thinking is a
sustained and systematic process of examination.
Other approaches to critical thinking are less rulebound than formal logic. A common approach is to
identify the component processes, skills and
abilities in critical thinking in order to make the idea
seem more comprehensible and to relate it more
directly to practice. For example, in a study skills book
for geography students, Kneale (2003) suggests that
critical thinking is working through for oneself, afresh,
a problem (p3). She identifies some processes that
might be involved as critically evaluating, making
judgements, awareness of bias, commenting in a
thoughtful way. As in much literature that is meant to
clarify, it is questionable as to whether student
readers would understand these components of
critical thinking any more than the concept of critical
thinking itself.
Footnote : By a deep approach, we imply that the learner actively relates new material of learning to current knowledge, endeavours to
understand it and will query and challenge ideas. (Marton, Hounsell and Entwistle, (1997).
Using a similar approach, Marshall and Rowland

(1998) talk of the fundamental elements of critical
thinking as the presentation of arguments to
persuade debate and negotiating
positionsreflectionit is a communicative
activity(it) has as its outcome making a decision
and acting on what you have come to think and
believe and it involves emotion as well as reason and
rationality (p34).
A much more comprehensive example of the
component processes approach to critical thinking is
described by Paul and Elder (2004) in a booklet for
staff and students called The Miniature Guide to
Critical Thinking. The definition of critical thinking in
this booklet is a process by which the thinker
improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully
taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking
and imposing intellectual standards upon them (p1).
This seems to be a promising definition - but the
booklet expands into a range of other conceptions
such as universal intellectual standards (p7), which
are - clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth,
breadth and logic, and structures. By the end of the
booklet it is difficult to see how all of these factors
are interrelated. The miniature booklet approach
seems attractive as a means of supporting students,
but might be too complex for its size. It certainly
stresses the use of a systematic approach, with
expectation of a judgement as an outcome, with
evaluation as an ongoing process, and with the sense
that there are standards to meet in making the
judgement.
Another approach to critical thinking that might seem
to simplify it is the sequence approach in which a
series of stages are given for the reader / writer to
follow in order to arrive at a conclusion of some sort.
Cottrell (1999) provides an example. She starts by
saying that critical thinking 'means weighing up the
arguments for and against' (p188). She then describes

a series of stages of critical thinking in reading, which
also may be new vocabulary to the student (see
above - eg critically evaluate etc). The stages - or
steps - are as follows: identify the line of reasoning,
critically evaluate the line of reasoning, question
surface appearances, identify evidence in the text
evaluate the evidence identify the writers
conclusions and evaluate whether the evidence
supports the conclusions. These are good thinking
activities, though the stages listed do not seem to
lead the reader towards what she might expect to
find from the initial definition - a weighed up
argument that is either for or against. It does not
seem unusual for the processes to add up to a
different end point than is initially implied such as
finding the correct solution to a specific problem
which we would not normally call critical thinking.
A group of important writers on critical thinking
describe critical thinking in relation to
pedagogical issues and in so doing, adopt a less
structured approach to its identity. Their work is
particularly helpful since their concern was not to
capture a tight definition but to facilitate the
development of critical thinking in the classroom.
One could say that their definitions emerge through
the ways in which critical thinking is facilitated (usually
by teachers). They mainly wrote at a time when
critical thinking was widely taught in American
College education, though an early proponent of this
view was Dewey (1933). Brookfields (1987) work
seems to typify the pedagogical approach to critical
thinking. He says that, phrases such as critical
thinking...are exhortatory, heady and conveniently
vague (p11) and that trying to force people to
analyze critically the assumptions under which they
have been thinking and living is likely to serve no
function other than intimidating them to the point
where resistance builds up against this process(p11).
He advocates processes of 'trying to awaken,

prompt, nurture and encourage this process' (p11).
Meyers (1986) also focuses on how to enable
learners to think critically, though his focus was young
college students (Brookfield was concerned with
adults). Like Brookfield, Meyers suggests that critical
thinking should be fostered through engagement of
students interest and motivation in a facilitatory
environment.
Another approach to critical thinking is evident in
Barnetts work (e.g. 1997). Barnett considers critical
thinking as an element of the taking of a critical stance
an acquired disposition towards all
knowledge and action. This is a approach that
includes emotional as well as cognitive and whole
person functioning. Barnett suggests that learners
progress in their process of critical thinking in specific
areas to the development of the critical being who
has a critical viewpoint on the world, and who is
willing to act on that view.
I There is some sense that there are standards for

critical thinking - that the thinker makes an
evaluation of the quality of her judgement that
may take into account the wider context of the
critical thinking event.
I Emotional factors may be relevant to the process
of making a judgement.
I There is an implication in some of the approaches
surveyed above that critical thinking is not just a
set of abilities, but a quality of a persons
relationship with the world that is nurtured and
encouraged rather than taught as a one off.
So far it seems that:
Critical thinking is a capacity to work with

complex ideas whereby a person can make
effective provision of evidence to justify a
reasonable judgement. The evidence, and
therefore the judgement, will pay appropriate
attention to context.
Summary
From the discussion so far:
I There is a sense that we think critically in order to
reach an outcome and that outcome is usually a
decision, or a judgement.
I Ideas that are the subject matter of critical
thinking are complex.
I The process of critical thinking involves relatively
systematic consideration of ideas that we might
call evidence. This might be called a process of
evaluation of the evidence.
I There are associated notions of clarity and
precision of the thinking process, and in the
manner in which the case is represented. This
does not exclude some aspects of broader
exploratory thinking as well.
These ideas suggest that critical thinking is about

making a judgement based on appropriate and well
considered evidence that takes account of the
context in which the judgement is made. There are
also a number of associated ideas that arise out of
this statement. These are:
- the meaning of a judgement
- the meaning of effective
- clarity and precision playing a part in
critical thinking
- the involvement of creativity
- the involvement of emotion
- the metacognitive process of monitoring the
making of a judgement.
These ideas are considered more fully in
Appendix 1.
Bringing new ideas to critical

thinking: epistemological
development
We now deviate from this line of reasoning in order
to take account of an issue that is neglected in most
of the approaches described above. Those
approaches apply the same ideas of critical thinking to
the higher education student at any stage of her
development and do not seem to consider
progression to be an issue either in a students ability
to think critically or in pedagogy. Barnett (1997) is an
exception to this in implying that we should think of
critical thinking as a process of development towards
critical being. We carry forward this exploration of
critical thinking by considering a body of work on
developmental epistemology, which describes the
developing manner in which students conceive of the
nature of knowledge. We will show that
epistemology and the work on critical thinking are
closely related and that epistemological issues need
to be integrated into a definition of critical thinking
and its pedagogy. In broadening our approach to
critical thinking in this way, we add two elements to
our thinking:
I The influence of the students conception of
knowledge in her ability to think critically and
I The implication from this that the capacity for
critical thinking should be seen as a
developmental process.
The term epistemology is used here to relate to the
learners view of the nature of knowledge we talk
of a learners conception of knowledge or stage of
epistemological belief synonymously.
Epistemological development has been the subject of
a number of studies over the last half century that
indicate that there is a developmental sequence in
learners conceptualisation of the nature of

knowledge and that this influences the manner in
which learners function - particularly affecting their
capacity for critical thinking. Four substantial studies
broadly concurred about the nature of the
continuum that they documented among relevant
experimental samples. They differed in the
terminology that they used, in the populations that
they studied, in their focus on gender and in the
number of stages in the continuum that they
identified. The studies were those of Perry (1970),
Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger and Tarule (1986), King
and Kitchener (1994) and Baxter Magolda (1992,
1994, 1996). With the exception of King and
Kitchener, a research method of semi-structured
interviewing was used. King and Kitchener asked
subjects to work with ill-structured problems and
then discussed with them their experience of the
process. These projects are explored in more detail
in Hettich, 1997; Moon, 2004.
Baxter Magolda
In order to illustrate the concept of epistemological
development, we focus here on the work of Baxter
Magolda (1992). Baxter Magolda worked with college
students of both genders, identifying four domains
(stages) in her scheme. Absolute knowing is the least
developed stage in her scheme. Here knowledge is
seen as certain or absolute and formal learning is a
matter of seeking and absorbing the knowledge of
those who know experts, who might be teachers
(Baxter Magolda, 2001). This state of thinking is
described as a dualist position with the notion of
knowledge being right or wrong (Perry, 1970).
Baxter Magolda describes a second stage as
transitional knowing, in which there are doubts
about the certainty of knowledge a sense that there
is both partial certainty and partial uncertainty as well
as absolute knowledge. The third domain is
independent knowing - when learners recognise the

uncertainty of knowledge, and cope with this by
taking the position that everyone has a right to her
own opinions or beliefs. This seems to be an
embryonic form of the most sophisticated domain,
that of contextual knowing, in which knowledge is
seen as constructed, and is understood in relation to
the effective deployment of evidence that best fits a
given context. Teachers are, at this stage, seen as
facilitators and partners in the process of the
development of knowledge. This is a relativist
position (Perry, 1970). The stages described by
Baxter Magolda are illustrated by quotations from her
subjects in Part Two.
It is important to note that very few of Baxter
Magoldas subjects were actually in the domain of
contextual knowing at the stage of first degree
graduation, so our interest in this paper primarily
concerns the shift from absolute thinking towards
contextual thinking. Baxter Magolda found that two
influences seemed to facilitate learners progression
into this latter stage after graduation either the
challenging experience of postgraduate education, or
confrontation with the need to make significant
independent decisions in work or other situations
(1994, 1996). Later (1999 and 2001), she confirmed
and expanded the latter findings and we return to
the practical implications of this for critical thinking
below.
Baxter Magolda Key conclusions

Baxter Magolda did not suggest that her subjects
progressed steadily from domain to domain. She
acknowledged that they shifted somewhat
haphazardly between the domains and sometimes
worked with different conceptions on different topics
at the same time. While there is remarkable similarity
in the four studies in the actual continuum from
dualistic to relativistic thinking, the identity of the
stages has lead to further discussion and some work

that could seem to complicate the picture. Briefly we
review some of this further work and then pull
together the material on epistemological beliefs in
order to relate it to critical thinking.
Further Studies
We start with another look at the significance of the
stages in the continuum. Kember (2001) studied the
learning of novice and expert part-time students in
Hong Kong. He simplified the model of development
of epistemological beliefs and conceived of two sets
of beliefs at two poles of a continuum, which
included factors of the students view of knowledge,
the nature of the teacher-learner relationship and
responsibility for learning. These descriptions relate
closely to the absolute and contextual knowing stages
of Baxter Magolda (1992). Kember did not consider
it necessary to identify as specific stages the
intermediate progression between these two
orientations, maintaining an open mind as to
whether there were distinct intermediate stages. He
observed that students could hold a range of beliefs
that related to both poles at the same time. His
conclusion, however, is significant
what comes through strongly from this study

is the importance (for students) of making the
transition from one broad orientation to the
other during their higher education.
Other studies queried whether there was one quality

represented in the continuum of development of
epistemological beliefs, or more than one (eg
Schommer 1990, 1993, 1994). It is useful that this
question has been raised, but the evidence seems
uncertain at present (Hofter and Pintrich, 1997).
Other investigations have looked at whether

epistemogical belief is affected by the nature of
disciplines studied. There seems to be evidence to
indicate that there are differences in the structures of
disciplines that affect the progression and that learners
are more and less challenged by different aspects of
disciplines and their conceptual structures Schommer and Walker, (1995); Lonka and LindblomYlanne, (1996); Palmer and Marra, (2004). An
alternative interpretation is that it is not the actual
structure of the discipline that varies in its challenge,
but the manner in which it is traditionally taught.
There is a tendency to regard early parts of the study
of medicine, for example, as primarily the inculcation
of facts.
Ryans work (1984) also contributes to the
understanding of epistemological beliefs. Ryan (1984),
based his work on Perrys findings and demonstrated
that the epistemological beliefs of students at a
number of stages of their college education related to
different standards in their comprehension of a text
and to different levels of academic performance. He
suggests that ..ones epistemological beliefs ..form
the psychological context within which (the learner)
develops standards for evaluating the knowledge that
has been extracted from a text. In other words, the
readers satisfaction with the quality of knowledge
gained from reading a text is related to the stage of
her epistemological beliefs. In the context of this
paper, we might assume that the same standard
relates also to the readers thinking and then reading
of her own writing. It is interesting to note that Ryan
also found that the individuals quality of
epistemological belief predicted course grades even
after the effects of academic aptitude or the amount
of college experience (had) been eliminated (Ryan,
1984).
10
Ryans statement about the relationship between

epistemological belief and course grade is echoed by,
and directly related to critical thinking by Meyers
(1986). He says that the real value of Perrys work
(on epistemological beliefs) is the insight it offers into
the reasons why most students do not think critically
(p97). Kember (2001) went one step further than
Meyers, saying that critical and creative thinking is only
possible if relativism is recognised. We return later to
this important point that students need to be able
to recognise relativism in order fully to
engage with critical thinking.
The development of
epistemological beliefs a
conclusion for the purposes
of pedagogy and critical
thinking
There seems to be evidence to indicate that higher
education is a process during which a students
conception of knowledge is expected to undergo a
considerable shift along a continuum that we can
broadly describe. If we work solely as researchers, we
can afford to wait for the detail of this continuum to
be elicited. However, if there is a concern for
pedagogy - for example, for a means of understanding
critical thinking, - we need to conceive of a framework
that can enable us to understand better the manner in
which students see knowledge.
From the review of the literature here and for the
pedagogical purposes of this paper, this writer
tentatively puts forward a simple model rather like
that of Kember or like the two extremes of the Baxter
Magolda scheme.
In this model students generally progress

from absolutist to contextual conceptions,
but they do this by shifting forwards and
sometimes backwards in different areas of
this progression as they encounter different
challenges to their learning.
There seems to be some suggestion that when
learners first encounter complex ideas, they may
regress and treat the ideas in a more factual absolutist manner at first (Baxter Magolda, 1999).
Furthermore, it seems most helpful for pedagogy to
consider that there is a central line of progression in
developing epistemological beliefs and further
implications of that progression. By implications, we
mean that, for example, as view of knowledge
changes there will be a need for the learner to
reinterpret her view of the world and her relationship
to the world. There are implications also for the
manner in which she sees her role as a learner who
becomes more autonomous and therefore more in
charge of her own development of knowledge and
her role in relation to her teachers. As a consequence
of this there will be a shift of her view of
teachers from expert holders of knowledge,
to partners in the construction of knowledge.
Baxter Magolda subsequently explored the later
development of part of the sample of students that
she followed through college and has been able to
indicate some of the factors that contribute to further
development. She found that the nature of
postgraduate education drew students towards
contextual conceptions of knowledge (Baxter
Magolda, 1996), as did situations in professional life

that confronted these young adults. The particular
kinds of situation were those that held participants
responsible for making their own decisions, required
direct experience in making decisions and involved
interactions with peers or co-workers to explore and
evaluate opinions (Baxter Magolda, 1994).
Baxter Magolda suggested that the
involvement of college work with real-life
situations such as work in student affairs
(student unions, etc.) and placements could
furnish these kinds of experience very
helpfully (see below), thereby enabling students to
progress in the development of their epistemological
beliefs. We might take from this the implication that
we ignore the potential for epistemological
development of activities that are outside formal
education at a cost.
Another aspect of the later work of Baxter Magolda,
still of relevance to critical thinking, broadened the
picture. She looked at how epistemological
development interacted with interpersonal and intra
personal development (self in relation to others and
the development of personal identity). She used the
conception of development towards self-authorship
(1999, 2001). This links back to Barnetts notion of
the critical being (1997), and usefully it acknowledges
the social nature of knowing and knowledge, and the
issues of risk-taking that are involved in critical
thinking. Again we return to these ideas in due
course.
11
A final position on
critical thinking
Widening the view: critical

thinking and its place
The following statements will be used to guide the

description of practical and pedagogical issues in the
second section of this booklet.
Opportunities for critical thinking occur all the time.

We go back to Barnetts idea that higher education
should be about the development of the critical being
the person who thinks critically as part of her way
of life, and who is willing to act on her
understandings. In their educational context, students
make judgements all the time in the process of
revision of a piece of writing; in a decision how to
tackle an experiment; in the organisation of time in
relation to tasks to be done; in decisions as to what
to revise; in the judgement as to what are the
important points in a text and so on. They take
evidence into account in making those judgements.
Critical thinking in higher education is not only to be
engaged when the essay title asks for it but needs
to become a matter of course alongside the
development of students conceptions of knowledge.
It is this writers view that the frequent allusion to
critical thinking in higher education is actually a
reference to epistemological development and not
just to the cognitive process. It is a means of
representing the need to shift learners from absolute
conceptions of knowledge towards contextual
knowing.
Critical thinking is a capacity to work with complex

ideas whereby a person can make effective provision
of evidence to justify a reasonable judgement. The
evidence, and therefore the judgement, will pay
appropriate attention to the context of the
judgement.
The fully developed capacity to think critically relies
on an understanding of knowledge as constructed
and related to its context (relativistic) and it is not
possible if knowledge is viewed only in an absolute
manner (ie knowledge as a series of facts).
The meaning of a judgement may relate to a
judgement of one thing against another/others (like a
decision) or the judgement of the merit of one thing
(sometimes in relation to a purpose or set of criteria).
The idea of effective judgement implies effectiveness
in the thinking and in the quality of the representation
of the thinking in writing, speech, etc.
Correspondingly, both the thinking and its
representation need to display clarity and precision.
Emotion is recognised to play a part in critical thinking
as it does in all cognitive processing. The thinker
should monitor the various influences of emotion,
articulating this where possible and appropriate.
The critical thinker will be able to take a critical stance
towards her actual process of critical thinking
(metacognition).
12
For a discussion of critical thinking and other

academic activities see Appendix 2.
Critical thinking and writing

The most obvious link between critical thinking and
writing is in the use of writing to represent the process of
thinking. Some people can better express what is in their
minds than others because, for example, they have
better capacity with language. The capacity to write
clearly and precisely is particularly associated with critical
thinking, both in the sequencing and layout of evidence,
but also in the broader summing up of the case.
The links between critical thinking and writing go
beyond the process of getting the content of the
critical mind onto paper. The production of a paper
version of our thoughts provides a chance for review.
It is a chance to engage in metacognition about our
own critical thinking as we judge whether the material
on paper says what we need it to say and we duly
revise it or not. Once thinking is represented on
paper, it can also be seen by others, who can also
comment and make judgements about it as in the
process of peer review of academic papers or the
assessment of student work.
An aspect of peer review is the consideration of the
reference list. Initially we can see referencing as an
acknowledgement of sources, but it has also much to
do with the breadth of consideration and the quality of
the evidence consulted in other words, the critical
thinking processes. Referencing also supplies
information that helps a reader further to evaluate
sources if she so wishes. In the assessment tasks that
are set in order to evaluate student knowledge and
ability to think critically, the listing of references has
other purposes. Firstly it demonstrates to the assessor
the breadth and quality of sources of evidence to
which the student has referred in making judgements
and secondly the discipline of writing references is a
form of training for the student in the proper
communication of academic knowledge.
Critical thinking in its written form also relates to
writing in a further way that is not often overtly
considered. This is when writing most clearly interacts
with thinking and learning when ideas are explored,

toyed-with, tried out as notes in a note-book. The
scribble of the idea on the back of the envelope,
concept maps and other graphic depictions, layouts of
ideas, lists and plans all come into this group. This is an
under-exploited form of writing that has much to do
with critical thinking in the processes of higher
education. See Appendix 3 for some further details on
this topic
Critical thinking and

progression of student
learning
The discussion so far indicates that the ability to think
critically needs to be considered in relation to the
progression of learning and thinking of learners. We
have said that it is logically not possible to get an
absolutely absolute thinker to engage in proper critical
thinking and that learners capacity to think critically will
grow in relation to their epistemological development.
A consequence of this is that we cannot expect first
year students properly to understand what to do if we
ask for critical thinking, though there are activities that
can help them to shift towards this ability. As they
progress, so the fostering activities can progress, always
just moving beyond what is easy for the majority, and
recognising that some will need more support. On this
basis, the activity that supports critical thinking will
differ as the student progresses. The progression needs
to be considered carefully and may be aided by the use
of a questionnaire (eg Baxter Magolda, 2001) as a
means of obtaining a picture of how the students
conceive of knowledge. The information can then be
used as a guide for the development of curriculum
activities. In appendix 4 we make some suggestions as
to what we can expect from students at different
stages of their undergraduate studies and
correspondingly for the ways of working with the
students on the development of critical thinking.
The writer invites comment and suggestions for
amendment.
13
Part Two
The practical side of critical thinking
Critical thinking, writing and pedagogy the development
of a strategy
We now have a descriptive statement about critical thinking that can guide us in
planning educational experiences for students in higher education.
We consider the practical implementation:
I
As a set of principles to govern the pedagogy of critical thinking and

epistemological development;
As practical exercises and activities;
Through the manner in which we view writing in higher education

we propose a new form of writing that can particularly support the
development of critical thinking.
14
General principles for

support of development in
epistemological beliefs and
the improvement of critical
thinking
One person cannot make another think
critically: The nature of thinking of an individual is
totally under the control of that individual. As Meyers
(1986) clearly indicates, we facilitate or foster critical
thinking through the tasks set, the habits formed by
learners, the careful provision of feedback and
explanation and the understanding of the teacher and
the classroom atmosphere.
It is worth recognising that there are several
major strategies for encouraging critical
thinking in programmes. Lipman (1991)
advocates facilitation of critical thinking through the
teaching of philosophy to all students. Brookfield
(1987) suggests that critical thinking can be
introduced as a topic apart from the disciplines
studied by the learners, and Meyers (1986) suggests
that critical thinking needs to be integrated into
disciplinary teaching.
Lipmans view is exemplified in the pattern of the
International Baccalaureate (IB) in which there is
study of Theory of Knowledge alongside other
disciplines. Theory of knowledge seems to be an
important support to the learning of IB students, and
appears to be very helpful in confronting higher
education learning. We would therefore argue that
there should be provision of this kind for all students
in higher education.
Along the lines of Brookfields ideas, non-discipline

related work with critical thinking is probably justified
in another way. Carey and Smith (1999) talking about
younger students, suggest that there may often be a
discrepancy between the stage of common-sense
epistemology and the stage that drives thinking on
scientific work at school or college. If this is the case,
then it may be possible to work at more
sophisticated levels of thinking when the topic is
related to every-day life.
Clearly, however, Meyers must be right in suggesting
that discipline staff need to work with overt and wellunderstood concepts of critical thinking in their
subject classes.
Our view is that none of the three approaches is
wrong. The support of critical thinking development
in a student needs to be the responsibility of all staff
who work with students because all need to have the
same expectations of the student. A general principle
that emerges from the epistemological literature is
that the functioning of learners is drawn
towards contextual knowing by just
challenging them beyond their comfort
zone of knowing throughout their studies, (King
and Kitchener, 1994). This accords with Vygotskys
conception of teaching in the zone of proximal
development (1978). The draft descriptors in
Appendix 6 that attempt to describe pedagogical
elements in the progression can help to guide this
process.
Staff knowledge and development has a crucial role in
fostering critical thinking. If critical thinking is closely
associated with the students progression along the
continuum of development of conceptions of
knowledge, then staff, who facilitate the learning of
students, should be well aware of the continuum and
use it to guide their teaching of and interactions with
students, including assessment.
15
Meyers demonstrates in his book (1986) that a

fruitful manner in which to enhance critical thinking, is
to work with teachers, helping them to clarify the
idea in their own disciplines and contexts. Through a
dialogue method in a series of seminars, Meyers
suggests how such developments can be initiated. In
one of the sessions, teachers are asked to visualise
their disciplinary framework for critical thinking (1986
p19). It is the view of this writer that working with
staff and developing their own conceptions of critical
thinking in relation to their disciplines is the one of
the most effective strategies for the development of
critical thinking among students.
It is useful here to note the results of some Australian
research. Brownlee (2001) looked at the
epistemological stages of student teachers and found,
not surprisingly, that they were not always fully
developed in their understanding of knowledge, ie to
contextual knowing. We have to recognise that it is
common for UK students to be taught by
postgraduate students who are at much the same
stage. We do need to ensure that teachers have a
sufficiently developed conception of knowledge
before they are in contact with students.
Another important factor in the fostering of critical
thinking is the need to recognise the significance of
the atmosphere of a class. Learning to think
critically and express that thinking is often risky for a
student. Students can feel daunted by academia and
the cult of the expert and challenged by the notion
that absolutist conceptions are no longer appropriate.
Kember puts this graphically in relation to the
students in his study: students who commence higher
education with (absolutist) beliefs can find the
process difficult and even traumatic and that
change does not take place over-night (Kember,
2001).
16
Recognition of the potentially difficult situation,

Meyers says, is key to much of the success of
facilitating critical thinking. He says that:
Students must be led gently into the

active roles of discussing, dialoguing and
problem solving. They will watch carefully
to see how respectfully teachers field
comments and will quickly pick up nonverbal cues that show how open teachers
really are to student questions and
contributions (p67)
Where Brookfield (1991) talks about the nurturing
of student interest and curiosity, about the use of
metaphor and analogy, Meyers talks of the
presentation of paradoxes to set students minds
to pondering(so that) disequilibriumwill
challenge their old ways of thinking and prepare
them for change (Meyers p44).
So we are suggesting that the classroom should feel
as if it is a place where risk-taking is tolerated. It is a
place for the exploration of ideas, rather than the
simple transmission of knowledge, it is a place in
which there is time in which to tease out problems
rather than jump to a solution in an absolutist
manner. It is worth noting that there are often
difficulties in implementing this philosophy in higher
education at the current time. Higher student
numbers, the priorities of research, the tick-boxing of
modern administration and quality assurance, and
sometimes the nave introduction of some
technologies, can work against the provision of an
atmosphere in the classroom in which good critical
thinking is fostered.
Crucial to the generation of a nurturing atmosphere

in a classroom is to ensure that teachers model
critical thinking in the manner in which they teach
(Meyers, 1986), (Topping, Crowell and Kobayashi,
1989). There is interactive teaching and there is
presentation. Most lectures are presentation. Even
the vocabulary gives it away - the material is
delivered to the students. The tendency to use preprepared material overhead projector slides and
PowerPoint encourages the presentation of fullyformed ideas and takes us further from the chalk and
talk methods in which teaching was seen clearly as a
thinking process instead of the thought out product
(Moon, 2001).
The teacher needs to recognise and to work with the
different capacities of students to think critically
which may well be related to their current
conceptions of knowledge. At any one time, some
able students will require to be challenged to enable
them to maintain their interest and some will need
help because they cannot cope and both of these
activities have to be ongoing in a teaching situation. It
is difficult!
Another aspect of classroom work that can help the
development of critical thinking is the deliberate
encouragement of interaction between
students. Critical thinking is a social activity because
the agreement that knowledge is acceptable is a
social process. An agreement holds within a social
and cultural context or community of practice at that
particular time. A more practical reason why
interaction is important in the process of critical
thinking relates to the need to understand that there
can be different perspectives, different views of the
same idea. The exposure to the different
perspectives that occur even within a class of
students can facilitate the shift from absolutist
thinking. Some of the techniques in the next section
are based on this principle.
A further principle is that we should overtly

encourage students to engage in thinking. The
increasing use and acceptance of reflective learning, of
learning journals and self-appraisal in the form of
personal development planning (PDP) could seem to
be leading in this direction. However, sometimes in
these tasks we seem really to be valuing a box that has
been filled, a task that has been done without paying
attention to any real depth of the thinking.
Although critical thinking is very much in the language
of education, it remains a word that has multiple and
unclear meanings. Once definitions have been agreed,
thinking activity words such as think critically on
reflect, ponder on, judge, needs to be given space
and time, talked about, brought into the lecture and
the tutorial in practical ways. This idea is expanded in
the section of activities below.
We could see the recommendation for provision
of examples of critical thinking as a technique
but it is upgraded to a principle because it seems so
important across so much teaching in higher
education. Many students, in particular those from
non-traditional backgrounds, do not know what is
expected of them in their studies (Moon, 2005).
They ask for examples but it is common for higher
education teachers to resist the use of examples
because students might copy them or think that there
is only one way of doing a task. Providing students
with examples of the quality or standard of work that
they should be doing in the present, and of work that
they will be doing at the next level, provides them
with a picture of what is expected. The process of
using examples is aided more if students are shown
poor work as well, in which critical thinking has failed
to occur. The examples need to be accompanied by
a commentary or annotated with respect, in this case,
to the critical thinking (and not the content).
17
Assessment and critical thinking: we have said

that in many current situations in higher education it
can be difficult to facilitate critical thinking through
supportive classrooms. Student numbers are too
great and teachers tend to be anonymous or at a
distance. We have to consider ways of encouraging
critical thinking that do not rely on the immediate
presence of a helpful teacher. An important or the
most important driver to learning is assessment. We
need to show students the importance of critical
thinking overtly in the manner in which we assess
their work - because what we assess is seen by
students as a marker of what it is that is important for
them to achieve. We can show the role of critical
thinking in assessment by talking about it and by
making it very evident in the criteria for assessment
tasks.
The fostering of epistemological
development of a group of students requires
careful management. If we are to take the
epistemological development of students into greater
account, there are implications for the management
of student learning and their autonomy. One of
Perrys books beautifully illustrates this point in its title
(1970). It is called Different Worlds in the Same
Classroom: some students shift rapidly towards
18
contextual knowing, while others are stalled at the

absolute stage of knowing in the same group. There is
rightly opposition to the notion that students should
be spoonfed and not challenged (Furedi, 2005). We
have said that to challenge students learning is the
manner in which to help them to progress, on the
other hand, we need to recognise that some students
will still be needing greater support in order to shift
from their absolute position (Moon, 2005). Both
support or spoonfeeding and challenge may be
correct strategies for a mixed group of students and
methods of managing this situation will need to be
found preferably without sending the nonprogressing absolutists to anything remotely like a
remedial service.
In order to facilitate critical thinking we need to take
writing more seriously: as we have already said,
writing is central to the development and use of
critical thinking in higher education.
Techniques for encouraging

the progression in
epistemological beliefs and
the improvement of critical
thinking
We consider some techniques under the following
headings:
I Teaching of philosophy or theory of
knowledge
I Talking about epistemology and the process
I Critical thinking about real life issues
I Placements and out-of-class activities
I Use of reflection to enhance critical thinking
I The deliberate provision of thinking time
I Encouraging critical thinking through the
processes of assessment
I Oral critical thinking
I Writing and critical thinking
We have stressed that the teaching of critical thinking

is not one off, but a matter of constant revisiting, all
the time taking note of the students developing
conceptions of knowledge.
N.B. Many of the exercises shown can be used at any
stage with appropriate adaptation of the material, but
some are more suitable for the initial stages of
development of critical thinking, and some are
designed for later use. Notes are made to this effect
on the exercises.
Teaching of philosophy or
theory of knowledge
I Philosophy used to be a usual first year subject in
higher education. It has been edged out, but it is
surprising how many academics would still wish it to
be in place. International Baccalaureate (equivalent to
A level) students study Theory of Knowledge
(TOK) in order to help them to understand the
structure of disciplines, and the differences between
them. Although they may find it hard to start with,
they are better equipped for any further study and
appreciate that. It seems reasonable to assume that
well taught TOK helps them along the continuum
from absolutist conceptions of knowledge towards
contextual conceptions. Such study would seem
particularly to support students who are covering
several disciplines, where no one teacher has the
experience to help them across their range of study.
It also provides an excellent basis for the
development of the lifelong learner. TOK may be
best used twice in the course of an undergraduate
programme once early on and then later in a more
reflective and metacognitive mode as a review of
the nature of learning.
Talking about epistemology and the

process of critical thinking
I We need to talk with students about what critical
thinking involves and what we mean by evidence and
judgement. It has been noted above that sometimes
critical thinking relates to the evaluative judgement of
a single concept and sometimes it relates to a
judgement that compares several concepts.
The process of describing critical thinking needs to be
well illustrated by considered examples. The subject
matter may be from the students discipline or it may
be an every-day example probably preferably both.
19
The teaching and explanation need very much to

relate to the stage of conception of knowledge of the
students and because of this, the subject matter
needs to be revisited several times during a students
progress through higher education and considered in
an appropriate manner.
I It would be useful to show learners at entry to
university how their conceptions of knowledge are
likely to change in the period of their education.
There could be a logical contradiction in this in the
sense that if they can understand the kind of thinking
that they will be doing, they could be argued to be
able to do it now. However, as we have said, there is
evidence that learners are not totally based at one
stage, but, for different areas of knowledge, may be at
different stages. On this basis, it is worth doing some
work with them on the conceptions of knowledge.
An exercise that the writer has used extensively with
teaching staff has been adapted for use with learners.
The process involves the preparation of some
quotations from subjects (students) who were
interviewed in Baxter Magoldas (1992) study. There
are quotations from students at each of the four
stages. Participants in the exercise are given a
description of the stages that were identified by
Baxter Magolda, and asked to group the quotations
appropriately. They are asked to think about what
their own students say to them. The student version
consists of fictitious quotations that are more clearly
and overtly related to the four stages (Moon, 2005a).
This exercise is a way of opening up a discussion
about critical thinking. Although presented here for
students, it is important that their teachers have the
same understanding maybe also having done the
exercise.
20
Critical thinking about real life issues

I There are several justifications for talking about
critical thinking in terms of real life. Firstly, it is
important for students to realise that critical thinking
is an every-day activity, not confined to the academy.
Secondly, however, students conceptions of
knowledge may be more advanced in relation to real
life issues than in academic issues. Real life issues
arise out of the everyday situations of students lives,
personal experiences in which judgement has been
made / has to be made and real life issues in the
discipline as in research dilemmas or ethical issues.
From the arguments in the first section of this paper,
it would seem useful to ensure that critical thinking in
the everyday life is brought into the academic
situation early on as a means of support for critical
thinking.
Placements and out-of-class activities

I Baxter Magolda identified the qualities of
experience that supported development towards
self-authorship, and identified situations in which
these might occur for students at college or in their
early post-college years. These ideas have been linked
with the observation that students who go out on
work placements within a higher education
programme tend to achieve higher classes of degree
(Lucas, 2005). Clearly this cannot be generalised for
all work placements some are dreary, routine and
the student has little responsibility. However, it is
possible in a placement to enable the student to have
more opportunities to make real judgements and
decisions, to meet conflicting views, and to lead
others, and these situations seem to enhance these
aspects of development.
I It would seem useful to employ some of the

ideas in the section above as criteria for the design of
good quality work placements or out-of-class
activities. However, there are ways of providing these
experiences within the higher education curriculum.
Many institutions provide students with the
opportunity to gain credit for work experience
sometimes basing this on the work that students are
doing to support themselves financially (Watton,
Collings and Moon, 2002). There are other examples
in which, for example, local employers provide
students with real projects that are incorporated in
their programmes of study and which demand the
making of professional judgements. This is probably
an activity suitable for more advanced students.
I The value of work placements and of the
experiences that we have mentioned above, are
enhanced when students are asked to engage in
reflection, sometimes in a learning journal for
example (see below).
The use of reflection to enhance

critical thinking
I We said above that deep reflection is similar to
critical thinking but tends to be more often associated
with thinking about the self and personal activities
and critical thinking tends to be more associated with
the need to arrive at a conclusion or judgement.
More superficial reflection is probably less closely
related to critical thinking. The introduction of
reflective activities into the curriculum will usually
support the development of critical thinking so long
as the reflection is sufficiently deep (Moon, 2004).
I In relation to the link between deep reflection
and critical thinking, there is a series of activities
designed to deepen reflection in Moon (2004 - eg
The Park). These are based on a generic framework
for reflective writing (Moon, ibid). These exercises
can be used to deepen critical thinking possibly at
more advanced stages in undergraduate work.
I Learning journals are containers for reflective

work (Moon, 1999). They take many different forms
and may be designed directly to underpin critical
thinking activities. They may, for example, be the
thinking place for research projects, or the place in
which there is critical thinking about (appraisal of) the
quality of personal (perhaps also professional)
activities. There is an issue of risk for the student
working on a learning journal where the journal is to
be seen by another or marked. A useful strategy to
avoid this situation can be to ask students who have
kept a journal to write an account of their learning,
with quotations from the journal a form of
secondary reflection. It is this that is marked.
I Personal Development Planning (PDP) is a
reflective process in which most UK students are
now engaged. PDP mainly involves self appraisal a
critical thinking process about personal experiences,
progress, decisions etc within a higher education
programme. There can be a danger of the appraisal
being a strategic tutor-pleasing account, or a boxfilling exercise neither of which have much to do
with real critical thinking. If there are questions, they
should be challenging to the student either in the
range or novelty of information to be taken into
account, or in the depth of consideration required. It
is worth explaining to students the link between
critical thinking and PDP, recognising that critical
thinking is a broader concept.
I Metacognition is a form of reflection in which a
process of cognitive work, itself, is reviewed. The
focus is not on the content of the work, but on the
cognitive processes and as such, this is an activity
that is a part of good quality critical thinking.
Metacognition is encouraged when students are
asked to discuss the manner in which they have
tackled a task. They might be asked to discuss their
processes of writing essays or conducting a project.
While the term does not imply evaluation or a notion
of what I would have done better or differently, it is
21
useful to incorporate this idea. It is probably an area

of activity that should be brought further to the fore
in later undergraduate education.
I The process of secondary reflection involves a
critical review of initial reflection in order to deepen
and perhaps broaden the outcome. Secondary
reflection may be used with any of the other
reflective activities that are described above. It tends
to improve the learning achieved in the initial
reflection.
The deliberate provision of thinking time

I It often seems that while higher education is
meant to be about the promotion of thinking, the
manner in which pedagogy is conducted provides
little time for thought. Lecturers start speaking and
continue to speak until the end of the lecture and
students need to move on to the next class. If we
believe in the encouragement of critical thinking, we
should build time for it into academic work. (The use
of reflective activities can be construed as one means
of providing thinking time).
I A helpful means of acknowledging thinking time is
to develop a terminology for it stop and think,
thinktime. These terms might imply the stopping of a
seminar or lecture in order that students can think
about a particular point, or write notes down on it or
make critical comments (see quickthink below).
I The idea of providing thinking time relates back to
the teacher also. She should take time to listen
reflectively to students. This means that she does not
just give a direct answer to a students question (as an
expert) but, where appropriate, engages in dialogue
with the student.
I Wait time is a concept developed by Tobin
(1987). Tobin found that where lecturers used a
speech style that involves brief pauses (eg asking
rhetorical questions, building in reflective pauses,
making pauses between topics etc) students learned
22
better. It seemed that their brains had time to

process information and to think. This seems to be
one of the most meaningful findings in educational
research and yet we so rarely deliberately take note
of it.
Encouraging critical thinking through

the processes of assessment
I There are many activities in higher education that
represent forms of critical thinking and judgement in
practice. The quality assurance processes, and peer
review of academic work are two, and so is the
process of assessment of student work. A general
principle is that we need to encourage students to
become more used to looking at each others work
and we need to ensure that they understand the
difference between being critical in a negative
manner, and constructive.
I Attitudes towards assessment in higher education
often reflect somewhat absolutist values
assessment is a mysterious judgement that is made by
an expert who somehow knows the mark to
attribute. If the assessment criteria are introduced,
and, even better presented as contestable, then
assessment can be better viewed as a judgement that
is subject to critical thinking. This is doubly true if
students are themselves involved in the development
of assessment criteria.
I If students are to be engaged in the development
of assessment criteria, a decision needs to be made
as to which kind of criteria are to be developed
threshold criteria, or those associated with marking grading criteria (Moon, 2002). Students are asked to
produce a sample of the material that will be
assessed, or are given a sample to read (if it is
written). In groups, they generate some assessment
criteria that they consider to be appropriate. One
method is take one criterion from each group in turn
until all of the criteria are used up. The list of criteria
is then reconsidered, and a suitable number are
selected for use (Moon, 2002 after Brown and Dove,

1991). In this activity, the element of critical thinking is
the selection of appropriate evidence for making the
judgement.
I Peer assessment, which may or may not involve
the learner-generated assessment criteria is related
to critical thinking because it provides practice in
making the judgement on the basis of evidence. It
involves students in marking the work of their peers
on the basis of the given criteria. Students learn much
about standards of work expected, ways of writing
(and otherwise representing their work) through this
process.
I In the process of self-assessment, students assess
their own work against a set of criteria. They thereby
learn metacognitive skills (see above), they learn to
make judgements, and usually they learn how to do
their work better the next time.
Oral critical thinking

I We have said that critical thinking has social
dimensions. It is valuable to encourage the oral
expression of ideas for several reasons. Firstly, self
expression is an important self development skill,
Baxter Magolda (2001) associates it with selfauthoring (see earlier). Secondly, from the point of
view of critical thinking, the exposure to the views of
others helps learners to recognise the need to take
multiple perspectives into account in the process of
thinking. Any form of group discussion can be helpful
in the process of critical thinking, but there can easily
be drift in the discussion of a group. The requirement
for a decision, or judgement to be made or conclusion
reached in a limited time, and the identification of
someone as a chair can keep the process moving.
Several groups set up in competition to reach a well
evidenced judgement in a certain time can raise the
tempo and maintain focus effectively as well.
I Debate is designed to enact critical thinking

with evidence given, evaluated and judged. Tutorial
groups can be good situations for debate. One
problem is that in traditional debate situations, not
everyone is involved. One way of ensuring some
involvement of everyone is to give learners the
subject matter of the debate and ask everyone to
prepare a case either for or against. The choice of
who is to be the actual proposer and seconder is
only made at the beginning of the session itself. In
that way, everyone is prepared, and can therefore
contribute.
I The writer uses the term quickthink for short
exercises wherein learners are asked to think about a
particular issue in groups of three, for three or four
minutes. The subject matter is likely to be the
definition of a contentious term or a difficult idea.
One of the learners in each group writes notes.
Responses from some or all of the groups may be
requested, though the outcome may be less
important than the process of discussion and sharing
of perspectives.
I Meyers (1986) suggests that a pattern is adopted
in which each class is introduced by the posing of a
controversial or difficult question. At the end of the
class there could be a five-minute discussion of the
issue.
I A system that involves the pairing of critical
friends can generate critical thinking and associated
metacognition. A critical friend is a person who
considers and is constructively critical of the work of
another. The roles would usually be reciprocal. A
critical friend system can be associated with a single
task or the work of a whole year or module. There
may be some learning associated with the role so
that the critique follows specific lines. It might be
linked, for example to work described in Talk about
epistemology.
23
Writing tasks and critical thinking

Because writing plays a particularly important part in
critical thinking, we have structured this section
slightly differently. The exercises address:
- the skills of writing that are associated with
critical thinking;
- critical thinking as represented in writing;
- epistemological development.
The subject matter for writing exercises of the types
described below could either be within or outside of
the discipline studied. It could be drawn from politics
or current affairs, a common philosophical debate or
it could be in an everyday application of the discipline
studied. Most of the subject matter for these
exercises will involve issues that might be called illstructured where there is no obvious right or
wrong response.
The first five exercises are particularly useful for students
in the early stages of critical thinking
I Summarising and the ability to write a
conclusion: a learner is presented with a piece of
writing that represents critical thinking about a
particular (given) topic. The purpose and or audience
may also be specified. The learner is asked briefly to
evaluate the evidence and write a conclusion. This
exercise is for the purpose of enhancing the
understanding of critical thinking, and students ability
to conclude a piece of writing.
I Summarising the evidence: a learner is
presented with a piece of writing that represents
critical thinking as before. Here the emphasis is put
on production of a good summary of the evidence.
I Taking different disciplinary perspectives:
a topic is given. Learners have to make notes of the
different views of the topic from different
perspectives. The topic may or may not be fictitious.
For example, it is proposed that a new road should
24
be built to by-pass a village some details about the

situation are given. Notes are made on the
viewpoints that might be associated with the various
parties affected.
I Making a judgement: learners are asked to
make a judgement about something unfamiliar for
example, a piece of art work, a piece of aesthetic
writing, sculpture, a film. When they have made the
judgement, they are asked to identify the criteria on
which they made the judgement, and to compare
them with those used by other students. The focus is
not on the content of what they have written, but on
the criteria used and how they contribute to making
a judgement.
I Making a judgement, starting from
another perspective: perhaps as a follow-on from
the previous exercise, learners are asked to make a
judgement about something (work of art, poem etc)
for a given purpose and the judgement is made from
the viewpoint of another / others eg much older,
much younger in age or with a different cultural
background, or educational background. The focus
of this exercise is on the ways in which other
perspectives need to be taken into account in a
judgement.
The next set of exercises can be useful for students in
the middle or towards the end of their undergraduate
studies.
I Share thought processes on a particular
(contentious) issue or matter for judgement
in the form of concept maps, and write about
the different views indicated, trying to resolve them.
I A fictitious debate: a group of students
construct notes towards a debate or write a piece that
has the structure of a debate on a given topic. They
will need to consider the nature of the characters who
propose and oppose the motion and note the points
that they make with evidence that they give. This
exercise could be done by an e-mail group.
I Practice of peer review skills: a simplified or

fictitious version of a research paper is given to
students to read in a mock peer review situation.
Learners are asked to make a judgement of the paper
(eg as suitable for publication). They are asked to
consider assumptions made, to consider the quality
of the evidence for the findings, to identify gaps in the
research evidence, etc. and to provide justifications
for their decisions.
I Mark an essay based on critical thinking:
learners are given a prepared essay (made up, or by
agreement with the writer) that has required critical
thinking. They are asked to mark it for the quality of
the critical thinking. They compare their marks and
identify the criteria on which they based their
marking. It is useful to use good and poor essays so
that there can be direct learning from the good ones
and the recognition of problems in reasoning in poor
essays.
summarise the subject matter of the talk / lecture,

focusing on the main points made in support of the
argument, and the nature of the supporting evidence.
This could be used in the first stages of
undergraduate education.
I Looking critically at ones own work drafting and redrafting: this is an exercise on
clear writing. It is also a means of showing learners
that their perspectives change over time and as they
learn more. A set of learners writing (eg essays) is
kept - or copies are made. A while (eg 3 months or
longer) after this first writing, the material is given
back and learners are asked to edit the material,
clarifying the points made and identifying what they
would change.
The next set of exercises can be helpful at any stage in

undergraduate education, though the complexity of the
subject matter will vary.
I Practice in metacognition: learners are

asked to go back over a piece of work that has
involved judgement and to write a reflective
commentary on their process of going about the task
the research and the writing. They are asked to
consider areas of the process that they would change
another time.
I Short answer tasks: learners are asked to

respond to critical thinking tasks eg to respond to
statements in 300 / 400 words, forcing them to be
precise and succinct in their writing and reasoning.
I Compare and contrast tasks: these could

be done in columns, notes or text depending on the
exact emphasis of the exercise. Learners can be
subject to a restriction on numbers of words.
I An exercise to demonstrate that people

understand things differently: a lecture / talk is
given on a topic that is reasonably complex and
probably on a topic within the discipline. Learners
take notes at the time and afterwards are asked to
compare their notes.
I Learners write a discussion between two

theorists (could be fictitious or real) about a
topic in their discipline. They are asked to think
about the position that each would take, and the kind
of evidence that they would bring into the discussion.
The aim of this exercise might be to demonstrate
how two experts can apparently disagree about the
same subject matter.
I An exercise in which there is emphasis on

the identification of the main points and
important evidence: as above, learners are asked
to listen to a lecture / talk in which evidence is given
for a particular stand. Learners are asked to
Finally, the following exercise is on the stages of

understanding of knowledge based on Baxter
Magolda (1992).
25
DISCUSSIONS IN EDUCATION SERIES - CRITICAL THINKING
Exercise on the stages of understanding of

knowledge based on Baxter Magolda (1992)
This is based on Baxter Magolda, M (1992) Knowing and Reasoning in College,
San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. The exercise that I use with staff utilises actual
quotations from the subjects involved in Baxter Magoldas study. For work with
staff or students (eg in the final year of undergraduate provision), I have written
fictitious statements that illustrate more clearly the stages of thinking that Baxter
Magolda described. Most undergraduate students will not have fully reached the
stage of contextual thinking, but it is probably still useful to give them the exercise
and then to describe the stages of thinking. It is best if participants work in groups
of around 6. The material required for the exercise is as follows:
A
description of all of the stages of understanding of knowledge (one

for each participant)
B and C Materials (B) and (C) are both based on the same text.
B
To make (B) material, photocopy the material below, enlarging it and cut up the quotations so each quotation is on a single strip of
paper (or better on card). Discard the headings and introduction.
You need one set of cards for each group.
C
the handout for (C) is as it is printed below (B and C) and one for
each participant is required. This is, in effect, the solution to be
given after the cards have been ordered.
Each participant is given the information (A) first. Each group is then given the
material in (B) in card form and the group is asked to classify it under the four
stages. They will need at least 10 or 15 minutes for this. When they have finished
(or time is up), the handout (C) is given, which shows the correct solution. They
will need around 10 or 15 minutes to compare their work with the solution,
then to relate the actual quotations to the stages in handout (A).
26
Dr Jenny Moon. Published by ESCalate September 2005
Material A
The stages of thinking described by Baxter Magolda (1992)
Stage of Absolute Knowing
Independent knowing
In this stage knowledge is seen as certain or absolute.

It is the least developed stage in Baxter Magoldas
scheme. Learners believe that absolute answers exist
in all areas of knowledge. When there is uncertainty
it is because there is not access to the right answers.
Such learners may recognise that opinions can differ
between experts but this is differences of detail,
opinion or misinformation. Formal learning is seen as
a matter of absorption of the knowledge of the
experts (eg teachers). Learning methods are seen as
concerning, absorbing and remembering.
Assessment is simply checking what the learner has
acquired.
Learning is uncertain everyone has her own beliefs.

Independent knowers recognise the uncertainty of
knowledge, and feel that everyone has her own
opinion or beliefs. This would seem to be an
embryonic form of the more sophisticated stage of
contextual knowing. The learning processes are
changed by this new view because now learners can
expect to have an opinion and can begin to think
through issues and to express themselves in a valid
manner. They also regard their peers as having useful
contributions to make. They will expect teachers to
support the development of independent views,
providing a context for exploration. However in the
excitement over independent thinking, the idea of
judging some perspectives as better or worse is
overlooked (Baxter Magolda, 1992 - p55).
Transitional stage
There is partial certainty and partial uncertainty.
Baxter Magolda describes the transitional knowing
stage as one in which there are doubts about the
certainty of knowledge learners accept that there is
some uncertainty. Authorities may differ in view
because there is uncertainty. Learners see
themselves as needing to understand rather than just
acquire knowledge so that they may make
judgements as to how best to apply it. Teachers are
seen as facilitating the understanding and the
application of knowledge and assessment concerns
these qualities, and not just acquisition.
Contextual knowing
Knowledge is constructed and any judgement must
be made on the basis of the evidence in that context.
This stage is one in which knowledge is understood
to be constructed, but the way in which knowledge is
constructed is understood in relation to the
consideration of the quality of knowledge claims in
the given context. Opinions must now be supported
by evidence. The view of the teacher is of a partner
in the development of appropriate knowledge.
27
Material B and C
Fictitious quotations from students at different stages of
understanding of knowledge
Absolute
Transitional
I Julia: I like clear lectures where the lecturer does

not mess around giving us lots of different theories for
everything but just tells us what we need to know
and we can get on and learn it.
I Janine: I have been a bit confused by the way

that the two lecturers I have had in this subject have
dealt with the battle of Samargo. They seem to have
different attitudes to it. One said that it came about
because of political reasons and the other said that it
resulted from an uprising of the poor. I dont know
how to handle these different attitudes when I have an
examination coming up and I feel Id better know the
right answer. Or is it that I have to understand it and
that is what matters?
I Emma: I am not sure why we have such a long

reading list for this subject. I mean why does
someone not just write a textbook on the subject and
then we could learn from the textbook. Lectures
sometimes confuse me, the way they wander around
the subject.
I Samuel: In our tutorial, it came out that there
are differences of opinion about how much different
mammals plan their actions ahead. I suppose it is just
that people have not done the research yet. There
does not seem much point in disagreeing about it
when the work has not yet been done.
I Charlie: Learning in sociology seems hard. I had

got good at writing clear lecture notes either from the
lecture or from the web. This teacher wont give us
notes. She wont even give us straight lectures. We
all thought it was a game at first but now we have had
a semester of it, I guess I have come to quite enjoy the
thinking that I am forced to do and I can discuss the
ideas better because I have had to think.
I Mohammed: I do not understand why we have

to do this referencing game. It all seems such a chore.
I mean it disturbs my writing and I cant flow.
Knowledge is knowledge isnt it. Facts are facts. Why
does anyone have to own a fact and have their name
put beside it?
I Isaac: I thought I came to college to stuff my

head with what is known. Now I feel confused
because there are lots of things that are not certain. I
have to think about what I do with those ideas.
I Christina: I like subjects where I know where I
am like Physics. In English there are different ways of
thinking about things. Physics theory is Physics theory
and that is what you learn. In English it is OK to have
different views. You have to understand how the
views work.
28
Material B and C
Fictitious quotations from students at different stages of
understanding of knowledge
Independent
Contextual
I Ella: I used to think that everything was so

certain like there was a right answer for everything
and what was not right was wrong. Now I have
become more aware of people arguing over issues,
debating. I suppose it is a matter of coming to your
own conclusions and sticking to those.
I Elke: I like having to work in groups now in

social work. It is amazing that we have all developed
such different perspectives since we have come back
from placement. We are much better at listening to
each other now. I know that I am all the time trying
to understand how each of us justifies our views and
listening to others helps me to put together my own
thoughts.
I Kay: I do statistics. It seems at first that statistics

is statistics a kind of truth - but now I see that you
can make statistics back up any argument. I suppose
it is a matter of deciding what line you are taking and
then making the statistics work for you.
I Dale: It is good in seminars now. I see that my
mates sometimes have made different senses of the
lectures on politics than me. Its not that one of us is
right and the rest not right but that we have to get
good at justifying the way we see it.
I Michael: I was asked to critically analyse some
theories about delinquency last semester. I wasnt
sure exactly what was meant by that. I thought it was
probably about discussing each of them and arguing
my case for the one I thought to be right.
I Krishna: The tutor I have got now would have

driven me mad last year. He just sits there and says
OK, what do you think about this theory of coastal
erosion?. He goes quiet and we talk. Then he will
make the odd remark that usually sets us off again. I
jot down some notes so that I take everything into
consideration when I have to write it all up.
I Franchesca: I understand better why we have
to put down references. The quality of the reference
and the way I have used it provides the evidence for
the viewpoint that I take and enables others to check
the evidence I have used. I used to think referencing
was just about showing that I was not plagiarising.
I Darren: When I was reading this chapter, I was
thinking how does this fit and why does the author
seem so sure about this? and I was relating it all to
my views and I think my views might have changed
now.
29
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31
Appendix 1
Towards a final statement on the nature of
critical thinking
We can now leave behind epistemological
development and return to a few loose ends in the
descriptive statement about critical thinking.
These were:
I the meaning of a judgement
I the meaning of effective
I clarity and precision
I the involvement of creativity
I the involvement of emotion
I the metacognitive process of monitoring the
making of a judgement.
We now look at these issues in greater detail and
begin to lay the basis for the practical pedagogical
section of this paper. We start by taking a closer look
at the notion of a judgement in the context of
critical thinking. There are at least two meanings of
judgement. Firstly a judgement can be like a decision
to be made. In this case it is of one thing against
another or several others in order to identify one for
a particular reason. Alternatively the judgement may
be about the quality of something for a purpose or
for its merit (eg an idea or a work of art etc). In this
case the critical thinking involves clarification,
exploration of ideas and evaluation. Judgement
against external criteria is likely to be involved in both
of the meanings of judgement. Different disciplines
are likely to use the notion of judgement in critical
thinking in different ways.
32
The effective provision of evidence has two

linked meanings. In the first place, it means the
gathering of evidence that is appropriate to the
context of the subject matter, the situation and
audience for the critical thinking, ie the effectiveness
of the evidence. The second meaning of effective
provision of evidence concerns the manner in which
the evidence is represented (eg in writing). It goes
back to the ideas of thinking and the representation
of thinking. Evidence can be described in more and
less effective ways in relation to the making of a
judgement in written representation there are
choices to be made about sequencing, weighting of
the argument and so on. In this case we talk of the
effectiveness of the provision of the evidence.
Clarity and precision are similarly qualities of
critical thinking that apply both to the quality of
thinking itself and separately, to the manner in which
the critical thinking is represented. Critical thinking is
often a process first of recognising jargon, woolly
reasoning and vagueness, and then of reconsidering it
to the point where issues are clearer and more
precise. In terms of the written representation of
critical thinking, clarity and precision are qualities of
the writing it needs to present ideas to the reader
as clearly as possible in order that the reader may
best comprehend the thinking of the writer.
Creativity is involved in critical thinking in the

gathering of appropriate evidence. The abilities to
gather unusual lines of evidence from far corners of
knowledge, and to see unusual links between ideas
can be extremely helpful in producing effective
evidence on which to base a judgement. Critical
thinking is therefore a creative process.
thinking process and in the process of its

representation, what is important is an awareness of
the subject of the role of emotion and how it
contributes to or affects the thinking or writing
processes. One of the difficulties of dealing with
emotion is that its function is not always easy to
express in language (Damasio, 2000).
The involvement of emotion in critical thinking is

not subject matter to be dealt with in one paragraph.
Damasio (2000) argues that emotion is involved in all
aspects of every cognitive function and is central to
consciousness. Taking this line, Moon (2004) analysed
the role of emotion in reflection and learning and
suggested that there are a number of different
relationships involved. Emotion can be the subject
matter of learning, can inhibit or facilitate learning, can
change the nature of a learning process and can arise
as a result of learning. It would seem that we could
replace the term learning by critical thinking or any
word for cognitive processing. In the quality of the
The consciousness of the role of emotion in the

thinking or representation of critical thinking is
encompassed by the notion of metacognition in
which the thinker / writer monitors the way in which
she is engaging in the thought or writing processes.
She might, for example, be aware that she is feeling
negative today and that this could bias her choice of
evidence in making a judgement. Metacognition is
important therefore, in the evaluation of a judgement.
33
Appendix 2
Critical thinking and other academic activities
reflection and argument
There is one more matter to consider and that is the
place of the new description of critical thinking
alongside other academic activities such as reflective
learning and argument. The writer has explored
reflection (reflective learning) and reflective writing in
detail elsewhere (Moon 1999, 2004). Reflective
learning is seen there as a form of cognitive
processing of complex issues when the material
under consideration is largely already known. The
relationship between reflective learning and writing is
similar to that between critical thinking and its written
form. It is of particular relevance to critical thinking
that the quality of reflective writing is seen as a
continuum from descriptive writing in which ideas are
displayed but not subjected to further processing,
through three more stages of deepening. In the
deepest level of reflective writing, there is conscious
taking of multiple perspectives, the engagement with
relevant prior experience, metacognition and the
taking of the broader context of the issues into
account. There is an awareness of relevant emotional
issues and the manner in which they can relate to and
influence thinking (Moon, 2004). Deep reflective
thinking / writing has qualities that are close to those
of proper critical thinking. We cannot therefore say
that critical thinking and reflective learning are
completely separate activities - however there are
shades of difference in connotation. There is a sense
34
of critical thinking being more purpose -driven

towards the reaching of a judgement, and more
focused on the identification and evaluation of
evidence. In this connection there is a connotation of
precision about critical thinking that is not generally
associated with reflection. While identification and
evaluation of evidence may be involved in reflective
learning, the latter may be more concerned with the
exploration of ideas, which may be about the seeking
of potential evidence. Also reflection is often (but
does not need to be) associated with the functioning
of the self. Metacognition is common to both
reflection and critical thinking. In particular, it seems
that the development of effective reflection and
effective critical thinking are both contingent on the
progression of the learner away from an absolutist
position and towards contextual knowing.
As with reflection, there is a broad literature on
argument in the higher education context. Like critical
thinking, the nature of argument is unclear or has
local meanings in different contexts (see Mitchell and
Andrew, 2000). In many ways it might exactly fit the
statements about critical thinking, being dependent
on a reasonably sophisticated set of epistemological
beliefs (Jackson, 1997; Sweet and Swanson, 2000),
the appropriate management of evidence, and the
qualities of representation (Andrews, 1997).
Sometimes, as with critical thinking, there are more

formal aspects of argument - eg use of the language
of logic (Mitchell, 1997). As with reflection, we are in
the position of looking at connotations. There is a
sense that one argues for a specific purpose in
order to reach a point. While the statement about
critical thinking above emphasises the good
processing of evidence rather than the final making of
a judgement, the connotation of argument might be
the effective reaching of the goal, the justification or
the judgement is made, there is an emphasis on the
winning of one point over another.
In terms of connotation, therefore, we would say that

effective reflection may entail critical thinking and that
both may be a part of the process of argument.
However, they are all cognitive processes that, in
reality, are not likely to be represented as separate
processes within our heads - in their neurology. We
should therefore take care in the presentation of
these terms to students who might well be
concerned about their lack of understanding of what
they reasonably take to be three distinct terms.
35
Appendix 3
Learning, thinking and writing a first look
In this section, we step aside from the direct

consideration of critical thinking to establish some
links between learning, thinking and writing as a basis
for our further considerations (Mitchell, 2002), and
introduce some new vocabulary about teaching and
learning. We use an example. A level one chemistry
student, Joanne, has to learn about a chemical
process used in industry. She might learn from a
book, lecture or from a website or elsewhere. The
material as presented in any of these situations is the
material of teaching - the product of the teacher's
teaching. What Joanne perceives of it is then her
material of learning and this is not the same as the
material of teaching (Moon, 2004). For example,
when Joanne is in the lecture, she drifts into thinking
about what she will be doing tonight. She misses
hearing detail of one stage of the chemical process.
What she perceives as her material of learning is now
a distortion of the material of teaching. In the process
of learning, we relate new external experience (ie
material of learning) to what we know already (our
internal experience - (Marton and Booth, 1997). In a
second example of the distortion between teaching
and learning for Joanne: Joannes teacher makes some
assumptions about the prior experiences of the class
- that the students are familiar with particular terms.
Joanne is not familiar with one term and guesses its
meaning incorrectly. As a result of her prior
experience being different from those assumed,
another distortion arises in her understanding of the
36
chemical process. Joannes misunderstanding remains

in her head; no-one can realise that she has
misunderstood the chemical process until she
represents her learning in some way. She might talk
about it or discuss it in a tutorial, or she might write
about it in an essay or examination. The principle
here is that what we have thought or learnt is only
evident once it is represented, and writing is a
particularly significant form of the representation of
learning in higher education (whether on screen or
on paper). At a basic level we would see thinking as a
process in which ideas that have been learnt are
manipulated, clarified or reprocessed for a purpose. It
is similar to reflection (see later). The outcomes of
thinking are represented in many different ways
including speech but writing is particularly significant
in the higher education process (Moon, 2004).
The relationship between writing and thinking does
not stop here. When we represent the outcome of
learning or thinking, we have a chance to review it,
evaluate it and recognise that it needs clarification.
Writing is probably the easiest method in current
higher education to represent learning because a
record is produced. Speech, unless recorded, is
transient. When we think about what we will write in
order to make the representation that best fits the
purpose for the writing, we organise what we have
learnt (Moon, 1999). When we revise or redraft
something because there are better ways of
representing the ideas, we reorganise it - in other

words, via writing, we reformulate our internal
experience, which, in turn, will be the basis for further
learning or thinking processes. Joanne might discover
the errors in her conception of the chemical
processes as she writes up her notes, or when she
reads back the material and feels that there is
something amiss.
To make the next point about the relationship
between writing and thinking, we return to general
principles. The nature of the new learning that we
can achieve from the process of representing our
thinking or learning differs according to the form of
the representation (Eisner, 1991) - we learn different
things from representing the same learning differently.
Writing about something is likely to yield different
learning than drawing it, talking about it and so on.
There are many different modes of writing (reflective,
concept map, formal essay, narrative, poetry etc) and
it seems reasonable to assume that we learn
differently about the same subject matter from the
different modes of writing. Joanne might discover her
misconceptions through a concept map of the
process about which she has written when she has
not recognised it from her lecture notes.
These paragraphs link with the basic idea of

assessment. When we assess student work, we do
not directly assess learning or thinking, but we assess
the respresentation of the learning or thinking. In
effect, we test the learner on both her
learning/thinking and the effectiveness of the
representation. One of the other reasons for giving
assessment tasks to students is to create a possibility
of a number of kinds of feedback on the pedagogical
situation. At last Joanne might find out that she has
misconceived the chemical process because in an
essay, she gets poor marks and appropriate feedback
from her teacher.
To summarise, links between thinking and writing are
evident in the following processes:
- thinking is involved when we see what we have
written and revise it to make better meaning;
- when we are stimulated to think in the process
of writing (meaningful writing, not copying);
- when we are stimulated to think differently
when we represent the same material in
different forms of writing;
- and in putting our thinking into written words,
we can give ourselves feedback and get
feedback on it from others.
37
Appendix 4
Progression in critical thinking and its
representation in writing in undergraduate
education a tentative guide for the purposes
of pedagogy
This represents a tentative set of descriptors for the
progressively increasing capacity of students for
critical thinking and its representation in writing. It is
based on the literature of this paper, and particularly
on work on the developing conceptions of
knowledge. In terms of that work, the progression
covers the transition from absolutist thinking towards,
but not as far as, contextual thinking (a stage that
38
would normally be fully reached after the first

degree). The progression is a continuum and it is not
assumed that students will shift along it in an even
manner. Their capacity for critical thinking and its
representation in writing will interact with the
complexity of the material with which they are
dealing.
Position in terms of conception

of knowledge / epistemological
beliefs
Pedagogical implications
Students at the beginning of

undergraduate education are
likely to be at the beginning of
the shift from absolutist
/dualistic thinking
Students are often somewhat daunted
by the expert culture of higher
education and this may knock back
their confidence in self- expression
(voice) and in their understanding of
knowledge. They are beginning to
understand that knowledge is not an
accumulation of facts but are bemused
by uncertainty and the idea of theory
unless these concepts are explained
regularly. They start by seeing teachers
as experts who will pass them the
knowledge that they need
The nature of teaching at this stage tends to be somewhat factdriven. It is helpful for future development of critical thinking if
students are set tasks to solve alone or in groups (in some form of
problem-based learning). The general principle is that students
should be just beyond their comfort zone in terms of thinking.
General tasks learners should:
- be given plenty of examples of what is expected of them in
critical thinking (in all of the situations below)
- should be helped to become aware that knowledge is not
made up of facts, that uncertainty exists and that judgements
need to be made
- be explosed to the idea of critical thinking as fundamental to
their progress in HE (Higher Education), the concepts of
evidence, evaluation, conclusions or judgements. This should
be illustrated in everyday material
- be given tasks in which they deal with making judgements in
everyday situations to illustrate critical thinking
39

beliefs
- be explosed to the idea that teachers / experts are also
learners, and can get it wrong
- see experts in their discipline in the process of disagreeing,
and there should be discussion of both content and the idea of
the disagreement of experts
- be involved in discussion about the idea of a theory, and the
idea that several theories can legitimately be held about the
same thing (illustration from own discipline but done simply)
- be exposed to uncertainty (eg as illustrated in everyday life and
in the research fields of their discipline
- be engaged in tasks in which they have to seek for evidence to
justify a claim in everyday life
- students need to be given some tasks in which they make their
own judgements and have a chance to express their own
voices about an issue probably an everyday example
- be introduced to the idea of developing conceptions of
knowledge in a manner well illustrated by everyday issues in
thinking
- exposed to general discussions about how knowledge is
produced publication, media distortion, expert agreement,
common usage, etc.
Writing tasks should be used in which there is practice:
- In being precise and clear
- In being able to draw a conclusion from the provision of
written evidence
- In being able to summarise the main points of an argument
such as introduction of the issue, the evidence, the reasoning
about evidence and the conclusion and/or judgement made
- In referencing. Students need to understand referencing as an
acknowledgement of other peoples work
General statement These ideas need to be brought together coherently in a discussion
of critical thinking and not introduced and then left as isolated ideas
40

beliefs
During the middle period of an

undergraduate programme,
learners need to be supported in
shifting towards a stage of
contextual / relativistic thinking
This is a time when there can be
considerable differences in a classroom
with some learners still at an absolutist
stage and others who have moved
beyond it
Teaching may still be fact-driven, and yet we need students to be
beginning to realise that teachers have a viewpoint on issues and may
not agree with each other. When alternative theories are introduced
there is a tendency to present them as something that you need to
know (ie as a super-fact) rather than as a real uncertainty. This is a
kind of absolutist teaching of contextual ideas
- be given examples within their discipline of good quality critical
thinking and attempted critical thinking where there is
inadequate reasoning, or assumptions are made, etc
- be shown how assumptions in research in their discipline have
led to distorted judgements / conclusions
- be explosed to situations in their discipline where experts
clearly disagree
- be shown how knowledge has been constructed within their
discipline (eg by following the history of one line of research
thinking)
- be given case studies / sample ideas from real issues in their
discipline where, with guidance, they assess evidence and make
a judgement
- be exposed to teaching /tutorial situations in which issues of
real uncertainty in their discipline are discussed
- be required to make judgements that have direct significance
for themselves or others (eg this could be in a work placement
or work experience)
41

beliefs
- experience responsibility for significant actions in or out of
class
- be introduced to the manner in which knowledge is produced
and agreed in their discipline
- be involved in well-illustrated discussion about how knowledge
has come to be produced in their discipline (including notion of
peer review) and sources of distortion
Writing tasks where learners:
- improve their clarity and precision in writing
- draw conclusions effectively
- demonstrate critical thinking in written form, using
straightforward material from their discipline (probably with
given or guided seeking of evidence)
- demonstrate critical thinking in writing about an everyday issue
in which they express their own voice, and are encouraged to
be creative in seeking their own evidence
- use referencing more as a matter of course
The discussion of the nature of critical thinking needs to be
continued in an explicit manner
The further shift: this is the final

stage of undergraduate
education
Few students will be consistently
recognising and working with a
contextual view of knowledge, but the
challenges in their learning should be of
this nature This is a time when learners
tend to think that knowledge is about
reaching and holding an opinion
without taking the context, fully into
account
42

beliefs
The teaching of final year undergraduate students can be much more
research-based, dealing with uncertain situations, and areas of
disagreement in the discipline. They should be working within the
main body of knowledge of their discipline, and exposed to the
cutting edge, but not expected to work at that level
- display competent critical thinking in the relatively familiar areas
of their discipline (ie not cutting edge)
- the opinions that they form in written or spoken work should
be subjected to challenge by peers or teachers
- they should be able to recognise and challenge assumptions
- their general attitude towards the discipline should be one of
questioning
- they should be expected to argue a case in their discipline
- be exposed to situations in which they make judgements for
which they have to take responsibility. This may be in a
placement or work experience situation
Writing tasks learners should:
- be able to judge the competence of their own writing and that
of others (peers)
- demonstrate critical thinking in a literature review, skills of
evaluation and the making of discipline-related judgements, the
writing of a conclusion to their own work
- understand referencing as a matter not only of properly
acknowledging sources, but also as a means of judging the quality
of a piece of work (how many and which references are used,
how have they been used, etc.)
General statement: The discussion of the nature of knowledge
should be revisited. By showing learners how their views of knowledge
have changed over their undergraduate education, it is possible to make
ideas around the notion of the contextual knowing stage explicit, and to
help learners to make sense of their learning journey
43
ARTICLE
Why is Critical
Thinking so Hard to
Teach?
BY KEVIN MCCAFFREE AND ANONDAH SAIDE
Critical thinking has long been recognized as
the vehicle by which individuals make informed de

cisions. Yet, shockingly little understanding exists
of how critical thinking strategies are best diffused
to the public. In the U.S. there are several regional
grassroots organizations such as the Center for Ap
plied Rationality1that exist to encourage the devel
opment of critical thinking skills. Strategies are
numerous and varied, ranging from straightforward
group discussions of cognitive biases to thought ex
periments designed to improve objectivity and to
develop the ability to see things from anothers per
spective. In addition to such organizations that tar
get individuals, groups and corporations, many
colleges and universities offer classes that teach
critical thinking strategies.
The Skeptics Societys own Skeptical Studies
Curriculum Resource Center, informally known as
Skepticism 101,2provides hundreds of resources
from professors across the country actively teaching
their own critical thinking courses. The skeptical
and secular community feel the high percentage of
the general public who believe pseudoscientific
claims is worrisome, and education is seen as the
means by which believers can be reasoned out of
their misconceptions. Indeed, with survey data
showing that between 67 and 73 percent of adults
in the U.S. subscribe to at least one paranormal be
lief,3'4this topic needs empirical clarification.
Education and Paranormal Belief
Unfortunately, the empirical relation between edu

cational attainment in general, and belief in the
paranormal (e.g., in ghosts, astrology, telepathy) is
a murky one. The results of research on whether
education (as measured by number of years of for
mal education received) decreases belief have been
mixed. Sociologist Erich Goode5 has shown that
educational attainment doesnt necessarily reduce
54
SKEPTIC MAGAZINE
volume 19 number 4 2014
belief in supra-empirical ideas, but rather it ap

pears to moderate it. Educated people tend to sim
ply believe different (demonstrably false) things
than less educated people. For example, in a study
by Tom Rice, college educated individuals were
more likely to believe in psychic healing and deja
vu, while those with only a high school education
were more likely to believe in traditional religion
and astrology.6 The Baylor Religion Survey found
that individuals with less than a high school
diploma were more likely to have consulted a psy
chic, while college graduates were more likely to
claim an out-of-body experience.3 This suggests
that rather than decreasing belief, education influ
ences the nature of the beliefs a person holds (e.g.,
belief in homeopathy v. astrology).
Critical Thinking and Paranormal Belief
Given that educational attainment in general is

not a prophylactic against holding supernatural or
paranormal ideas, researchers have zeroed in on
critical thinking training. However, research on
critical thinking indicates that current training
strategies in general do not necessarily decrease
belief in the supernatural. An Austrian study that
utilized both the Cornell Critical Thinking Test
and Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal
found no significant relation between these meas
ures and belief in the paranormal.7 On the other
hand, there is some evidence showing that individ
uals with an analytical cognitive style subscribe to
distinctly less conventional views of God (e.g.,
deistic, pantheistic).8 Other research has shown
that individuals usually endorse supernatural be
liefs simply because of a perceived consensus
among others that these beliefs are, in fact, justi
fied.9,10 Thus, individuals may not necessarilyor
at least consistentlyengage their critical faculties
in the assessment of supernatural beliefs; they may
evaluate only the probability of their truth given the

beliefs of others in their environment, and choose to
believe (or not) on that basis.
This paper provides some evidence in support of
the view that critical thinking may be as social as it is
psychological. For the most part teaching critical
thinking has focused on imparting specific cognitive
skills to an individual thinker. What many critical
thinking seminars and college courses overlook is the
role of fitting incritical thought may be as much
about avoiding judgment and punishment from others
as it is about the deployment of some toolbox of
thinking strategies.
Despite the commonly held view that being aware
of our cognitive biases is useful in combating faulty
thinking, we argue that critical thinking is not strictly
a cognitive issue. Too much focus on the psychological
aspects that influence critical thinking may obscure
the role played by a strong need to be social and to fit
in. We present a meta-analysis that combines the re
sults of multiple peer-reviewed studies published over
the last several decades that evaluate the success of
teaching critical thinking strategies in the classroom.
In addition, we discuss some reasons for their limited
impact.
Revised Paranormal Belief Scale12

Please put a number next to each item to indicate
how much you agree or disagree with that item. Use
the numbers as indicated below. There are no right
or wrong answers. This is a sample of your own
beliefs and attitudes. Thank you.
l=S trongly Disagree
2=Moderately Disagree
3=Slightly Disagree
4=Uncertain
5=Slightly Agree
6=Moderately Agree
7=Strongly Agree
1. The soul continues to exist though the body may die.
2. Some individuals are able to levitate (lift)
objects through mental forces.
3. Black magic really exists.
4. Black cats can bring bad luck.
5. Your mind or soul can leave your body and travel
(astral projection).
6. The abominable snowman of Tibet exists.
7. Astrology is a way to accurately predict the future.
Data and Methods
The purpose of this research is to consider the effec

tiveness of college courses in reducing belief in the
paranormal and supernatural. These courses all had
one or more of the following primary objectives: (1)
to teach what science is, (2) to teach how to distin
guish science from pseudoscience, and/or (3) how to
think critically about new information. Our search
criteria included peer-reviewed empirical studies
that: (x) measured belief in the paranormal pre- and
post-course content, (2) took place at a university or
college within the United States, and (3) in most
cases, also measured critical thinking pre- and post
course content. One caveat to this last criterion is
that although the critical thinking tests used were not
the same across studies (e.g., Cornell Critical Think
ing Test v. Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Ap
praisal) they were all administered for the same
purpose (i.e., to measure critical thinking) and have
been independently statistically validated by other
empirical work.
Each of the courses utilized in these studies took
a slightly different approach and placed a different
degree of emphasis on various paranormal phenomena.
For example, course titles included: Parapsychology,
Science & Pseudoscience, Paranormal Phenomena,
Paranormal Statistics, Research Methods in
8. There is a devil.
9. Psychokinesis, the movement o f objects through
psychic powers, does exist.
10. Witches do exist.
11. If you break a mirror, you will have bad luck.
12. During altered states, such as sleep or trances,
the spirit can leave the body.
13. The Loch Ness monster of Scotland exists.
14. The horoscope accurately tells a persons future.
15. I believe in God
16. A persons thoughts can influence the
movement of a physical object.
17. Through the use of form ulas and incantations,
it is possible to cast spells on persons.
18. The number 1 3 is unlucky.
19. Reincarnation does occur.
20. There is life on other planets.
21. Some psychics can accurately predict the future.
22. There is a heaven and a hell.
23. Mind reading is not possible
24. There are actual cases of witchcraft.
25. It is possible to communicate with the dead.
26. Some people have an unexplained ability to
predict the future.
Note: Item 23 is reversed for scoring.
volum e 1 9 num ber 4 2 0 1 4
W W W .SKEPTIC.COM
55
Psychology, and Psychology of Critical Thinking.

Researchers from each study gave students a survey
to measure their belief in the paranormal (e.g.,
using the Paranormal Belief Scale) before and after
exposure to the course content. Although research
exists on the relation between critical thinking and
religious belief,11we were more interested in how
successful college level courses specifically de
signed to increase critical thinking were in decreas
ing belief in the paranormal (though traditional
religious beliefs is one of seven subcategories
measured in the Paranormal Belief Scale [PBS]12
that many researchers use).
We were able to collect statistics for only eight
courses13that measured the magnitude and direc
tion of the change in paranormal belief. No other
studies matched the search criteria listed above. Of
the courses that did match, most had been taken by
psychology undergraduates, and the studies con
tained significance tests to determine if paranormal
belief scores changed in a statistically significant
way after students were exposed to the course con
tent. Basically they asked the question Did the stu
dents general belief in paranormal phenomena
decline? In five out of those eight studies, critical
thinking was also measured both pre- and post
course.14The significance tests in these studies an
swered the additional question: Did the students
critical thinking scores increase? We were most
interested to see if belief in the paranormal de
creased along with an increase in critical thinking
ability. With the few studies that met our criteria
we conducted meta-analytic procedures that con
verted the significance tests to correlations be
tween the pre- and post-scores. This allowed us to
combine and contrast the studies as well as ascer
tain the strength of the relation between the preand post-change in scores.
R e s u lts
The first set of analyses explored whether or not

these courses decreased students paranormal be
lief. The second set examined whether or not criti
cal thinking scores increased.
First, the average effect size associated with a
change in level of belief in paranormal phenomena
pre- and post-course content was r=.67 which is
very high, and statistically significant. The students
purported belief in the paranormal declined signifi
cantly and substantially from the time they started
the course to the time it ended. The reduction in
paranormal belief was so significant that over 200
studies showing no such relationship would need to
56
SKEPTIC MAGAZINE
volume 19 number 4 2014
exist in order for these results to be statistically

questionable.15Therefore, it appears that these
courses decrease purported belief, at least in the
short term.
On the other hand, the average effect size as
sociated with a change in critical thinking, as op
posed to paranormal belief pre- and post-course
content was r=.o8. This tiny correlation wasnt sta
tistically significantthat is, this effect may well
have shown up by mere chance. Taken together,
we find that although students paranormal beliefs
decline by the end of a course, their actual ability
to think critically exhibits no corresponding in
crease. This suggests that they did not abandon
paranormal beliefs because they became better
critical thinkers.
It also suggests there may be other variables
lurking here: tribal identity and social inclusion.
T h e S o c ia l D im e n s io n o f C ritic a l T h in k in g
There are several reasons why students may report

decreased levels of paranormal belief despite little
or no increase in critical thinking. First, a caveat. It
is possible that these students have actually em
ployed their new critical thinking toolkits in the
service of reducing paranormal beliefs, and that, for
whatever reason, this increase simply wasnt picked
up in post-testing. However, this is highly unlikely
to have occurred consistently across five studies.
What more likely occurred is what we suggested
abovea reduction in paranormal belief without
any parallel increase in critical thinking ability.
S o c ia l M e c h a n is m s
Why did paranormal beliefs decrease across these

studies without an increase in critical thinking?
We suggest three social mechanisms. First, the
content of these courses might have raised more
cognitive dissonance for some individuals than ty
pical course content in psychology and philosophy.
Calling upon students in an introductory course to
question their sacred views on karma, astrology,
spiritual healing and the like is probably more
emotionally complicated than learning about
Freud or Socrates. As a result, students may disen
gage from the course (consciously or not) and ex
perience something akin to apathy. They may
report a decrease in paranormal belief simply be
cause they know this is what the course was des
igned to do. And they want to avoid the discomfort
created by the introduction of conflicting new ma
terialthey just dont want to think about it.
While it seems desirable that they reported that
their belief in the paranormal has declined that

may be entirely motivated by apathy, due to a
mildly uncomfortable social environment (in this
case, the course and the classroom).
A second social mechanism might be fear of
group exclusion. A classroom (or critical thinking
workshop) is intrinsically hierarchical. In these
instances, a leader (e.g., professor or organizer)
disseminates knowledge about how to think to a
group of students, who are expected to unders
tand the information and internalize it as true. In
this kind of social environment, hierarchies are
rigidthere is a teacher and there are learners. In
such a setting, self-reported beliefs may not be re
liable if they simply reflect fear of reprisal or pu
nishment for disagreeing with the views of the
teacher and class. Fear of punishment or of ostra
cism may motivate students to report lower levels
of paranormal belief at the end of the class. They
may also be motivated by a powerful need for so
cial inclusion, acceptance, and rewardsto fit
in with a class that, it is assumed, tacitly endorses
the professors views as the correct ones. Unlike
the socially-induced apathy described above, fear
of social exclusion may actually be sufficient to
change the beliefs of students. Fear of reprisal or
punishment may be enough to motivate genuine
belief change. But such a belief change would be
emotionally motivated, without the need for deve
loping a critical thinking toolbox.
The third social mechanism is related to the
second. In social environments with a rigid hierar
chy (such as classrooms or workshops), students
might report reduced beliefs in the paranormal

simply due to an appeal to the authority of the hie
rarchy. That is, students might report lower levels
of paranormal belief because they believe authority
figures in general (i.g., professors) tend to be cor
rect, whether or not the student understands the
reasons for this (i.e., the professors supposed su
perior level of critical thinking). The appeal to au
thority is also a social environment mechanism
because the professor is almost always the sole au
thority in the environment. If classrooms had two
professors instead of one, and each had a different
opinion about the validity of paranormal beliefs
students might have responded differently. Again,
it isnt necessary that students learn to think criti
cally in order to jettison supernatural beliefs. They
could simply be responding to a generalized trust
of authority figures.
If any one of the above mechanisms is opera
ting in these classrooms or workshops, student be
lief in the paranormal will likely return to its
original level as soon as they are removed from: (1)
an environment that makes them apathetic, (2) an
environment that ties critical thinking to social in
clusion, or (3) an environment that contains an au
thority figure who promotes critical thinking about
paranormal beliefs. Thus observed decreases in pa
ranormal belief among students who take courses
aimed at increasing critical thinking may be real in
the short term, but not in the long term. Further
study is required to understand how best to teach
critical thinking that more permanently reduces
belief in the paranormal and supernatural. B
REFERENCES
1.
2.
h ttp ://ra tio n a lity .o rg /

h ttp ://s k e p tic .c o m /s k e p ticism -
3.
Bader, Christopher, F. Carson

Mencken, and Joseph 0. Baker,
2009. Paranormal America. New
York, NY: New York University Press.
Moore, David W. 2 0 05 . Three in
Four Americans Believe in Para
normal: Little Changes from
Sim ilar Results in 2 0 0 1 . Gallup
News Service.
Goode, Erich. 2 0 1 1 . The Para
101/
4.
5.
normal: Who Believes, Why They

Believe and Why it Matters. NY:
6.
Prometheus Books.
Rice, Tom W. 2 0 0 3 . Believe It
or Not: Religious and Other Para
normal Beliefs in the United
S tates. Journal for the Scien
tific Study of Religion, 42(1).
7.
http://hom epage.univie.ac.at
/andreas.hergovich/php/C ritical
_thinking.pdf
8. See, for example, Pennycook, Gor
don, James Allan Cheyne, Paul
Seli, Derek J. Koehler, and Jona
than A. Fugelsang. 2012. "Ana
lytic Cognitive Style Predicts Reli
gious and Paranormal Belief.
Cognition 123, no. 3: 335-346.
9. Shtulman, 2 0 1 3 . Epistemic
Sim ilarities Between Students
Scientific and Supernatural Be
lie fs. Journal o f Educational
Psychology 105(1).
10. Gilovich, Thomas. 1991. How
We Know What Isnt So: The Fal

libility o f Reason in Everyday
Life. New York: Free Press.
1 1 . For example, see work by Gor
don Pennycook.
v o lu m e 1 9
12. http://w ww.provingparanorm al

,com/A%20Revised%20Para
normal% 20Belief%20Scale.pdf
13. Based on the following studies
(for a full reference list email au
thors): (1) Benziger, 1984, (2)
Burke, Sears, Kraus, & RobertsCady, 2014, (3) Manza, Hilperts,
Hindley, Marco, Santana, & Hawk,
2010, (4) McLean, & Miller,
2010, (5) Morier, & Keeports,
1994, and (6) Stark, 2012.
14. Two o f the studies did not meas
ure critical thinking in addition to
paranormal beliefs and a third
study was an outlier.
15. A "fail-safe N was calculated to
determine how many subsequent
studies with a finding of no effect
m ust exist. Our fail-safe N
equaled approximately 242.
num ber 4
2014
W WW .SKEPTIC.COM
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Educational Philosophy and Theory, Vol. 38, No. 6, 2006
Education for Critical Thinking: Can it

be non-indoctrinative?
Stefaan
Educational
EPAT
0013-1857
O
4
87
Education
riginal
2006 E.
Philosophy
Article
for
Cuypers
Philosophy
Critical
&of
Thinking
Ishtiyaque
Education
and Theory
Haji
Society of Australasia
Blackwell
Oxford,
UK
Publishing
Ltd
S E. C & I H
Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium &
Department of Philosophy, University of Calgary, Canada
Abstract
An ideal of education is to ensure that our children develop into autonomous critical thinkers.
The indoctrination objection, however, calls into question whether education, aimed at
cultivating autonomous critical thinkers, is possible. The core of the concern is that since
the young child lacks even modest capacities for assessing reasons, the constituent components
of critical thinking have to be indoctrinated if there is to be any hope of the childs attaining
the ideal. Our primary objective is to defuse this objection. We argue, first, that even if
the indoctrination objection can be dealt with at the level of beliefs by an account that
distinguishes between beliefs instilled in the child at the non-rational stage that are
indoctrinative and those that are non-indoctrinative, there can be non-autonomous proto
critical thinkers who lack autonomy with respect to the requisite motivational components.
We then ask what must be added to the account to ensure that proto critical thinkers develop
into autonomous ones. We suggest that motivational elements, even if instilled at a stage at
which the child has insufficiently developed cognitive capacities, can be truly the childs
own only relationally: the autonomous motivational elements are ones with respect to which
the future child is self-governing.
Keywords: critical thinking, indoctrination, rationality, autonomy, authenticity,
responsibility, Harvey Siegel
1. Introduction
We agree with Harvey Siegel and others that an ideal of education is to ensure that
our children develop into critical thinkers: they should be able to assess beliefs,
desires, actions, and other connative and cognitive elements in their psychological
repertoire on the basis of appropriate evaluative standards, be disposed to such
evaluation, and be motivated by good reasons in belief-formation and action.1 We
concur, as well, with the ideal that our children blossom into autonomous critical
thinkers.2 Pertinent to this ideal, a salient dimension of being self-governing is that
the child mature into an agent who is autonomous with respect to the motivational
constituents, such as the desire to evaluate reasons, of being a critical thinker.
The so-dubbed indoctrination objection, however, calls into question whether
education, aimed at cultivating autonomous critical thinkers, is possible. The core of
2006 The Authors
Journal compilation 2006 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia
Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA
724 Stefaan E. Cuypers & Ishtiyaque Haji

the concern is that since the young child lacks even modest capacities for assessing
reasons, the constituent components of critical thinking have to be indoctrinated if
there is to be any hope of the childs attaining the ideal. Echoing Siegels words,
if education for critical thinking is necessarily indoctrinative, the ideal becomes
significantly tarnished.3
Our chief objective in this paper is to defuse this objection. We argue, first, for
the view that even if the indoctrination objection can be dealt with at the level of
beliefs by an account that distinguishes between beliefs instilled in the child at the
non-rational stage that are indoctrinative and those that are non-indoctrinative,
there may well be non-autonomous proto critical thinkers who lack autonomy
with respect to the requisite motivational components. We then ask what must be
added to the account to ensure that proto critical thinkers develop into autonomous ones. We suggest that motivational elements, even if instilled at a stage at which
the child has insufficiently developed cognitive capacities, can be truly the childs own
or autonomous only relationally: the autonomous motivational elements are ones
with respect to which the future child is self-governing.
2. The Basic Issues
Our point of departure is Harvey Siegels reasons conception of critical thinking
that views critical thinking as fully coextensive with rationality.4 Because both
critical thinking and rationality concentrate on the relevance of reasons in believing
(or judging) and in acting, critical thinking is rationalitys educational cognate.
The reasons conception comprises two related, but conceptually distinct, dimensions: the cognitive reason assessment dimension and the motivational critical spirit
dimension. Respectively, the two are characterized in this way:
(1) the ability to reason well, i.e. to construct and evaluate the various
reasons which have been or can be offered in support or criticism of
candidate beliefs, judgments, and actions; and (2) the disposition or
inclination to be guided by reasons so evaluated, i.e. actually to believe,
judge, and act in accordance with the results of such reasoned evaluations.5
Elaborating, Siegel proposes that a critical thinker has the ability to assess reasons
on the basis of epistemic (and logical) criteria. Reasons appropriately move a critical
thinker in thought and action. To be appropriately moved by reasons is, first, to
appreciate and accept the importance and evidential force of reasons for beliefs and
actions. To determine the relevance and warranting strength of reasons, a critical
thinker, moreover, needs to recognize and commit himself to epistemic principles
or standards conceived of as universal and objective. Such standards supposedly
guarantee the consistency, impartiality, and non-arbitrariness of reasons. Critical
thinking, then, involves the acknowledgment of the binding power of universal and
objective evaluative principles in light of which reasons are to be assessed.6
Siegel submits that an agent aspiring to be a critical thinker may have the ability
to evaluate reasons but may not systematically exercise this ability. Accordingly, to
be appropriately moved by reasons is, second, to be disposed to seek good reasons
2006 The Authors
Education for Critical Thinking 725

in support or criticism of candidate beliefs and to question the epistemic credentials
of these reasons. Third, to be duly moved by reasons, a person must habitually and
actually engage in reason assessment. Good reasons in belief-formation and action
must motivate and guide the critical thinker. So in addition to possessing skills of
reason assessment, a critical thinker must have a complex of dispositions, attitudes,
habits of mind, and character traits, what Siegel calls a critical spirit. On Siegels
view, possessing the reason assessment ability and having the critical spirit disposition are individually necessary and jointly sufficient for being a critical thinker.
Siegel emphasizes that critical thinking is an identity-constitutive ideal. The development of critical thinking not only involves inculcating certain reasoning abilities
but also inculcating a motivational complex that makes up a certain character. The
character traits to be fostered are those constitutive of the critical spirit component.
Since having these character traits comprises a model of being a certain kind of
person, the fostering of critical thinking is committed to nothing less than the
development of a human being with a particular identity. The fundamental aim of
education for critical thinking is, therefore, not only to tutor youngsters to think
critically but also, and more comprehensively, to be critical thinkers. To take critical
thinking as a constitutive ideal is to opt for a pervasive educational program of
character-formation and identity-constitution.
Autonomy, in roughly the sense of being self-governing, just like being a critically
thinking individual, is frequently thought of as an identity-constitutive ideal: educators should strive to ensure that our children develop into autonomous agents.
Indeed, Siegel, proposes that there is a sense in which critical thinking and autonomy
constitute complementary educational ideals. Critical thinking is, correspondingly,
not only closely associated with rationality but also with autonomy.7 Siegel writes:
The ideal [of cultivating reason] calls for the fostering of certain skills
and abilities, and for the fostering of a certain sort of character. It is thus
a general ideal of a certain sort of person whom it is the task of education
to help create. This aspect of the educational ideal of rationality aligns it
with the complementary ideal of autonomy, since a rational person will
also be an autonomous one, capable of judging for herself the justifiedness
of candidate beliefs and the legitimacy of candidate values.8
Elaborating, the rational conception of autonomy Robert Dearden and Richard
Peters endorse, sheds some light on the alleged complementarity of the ideal of
being a self-governing agent with the ideal of being a critical thinker. Dearden claims:
the development of autonomy as an educational aim is the development
of a kind of person whose thought and action in important areas of his
life are to be explained by reference to his own choices, decisions,
reflections, deliberationsin short, his own activity of mind.9
On this classical conception, an autonomous person makes his own choices and
subjects them to rational assessment and criticism. Peters ventures that this conception harbors three essential dimensions: choice, authenticity, and rationality.
Being a chooser in a situation of practical reason implies having open options and not
2006 The Authors

being restricted by physical or mental impediments. Although being a mentally
healthy chooser is a standard that might be expected of anyone, it is not an
educational ideal. In education, Peters highlights, we are usually concerned with
more than just preserving the capacity for choice; we are also concerned with the
ideal of personal autonomy, which is a development of some of the potentialities
inherent in the notion of man as a chooser.10 Stanley Benn remarks, To be a
chooser is not enough for autonomy, for a competent chooser may still be a slave
to convention, choosing by standards he has accepted quite uncritically from his
milieu.11 For this reason, autonomy requires fulfillment of two other conditions.
In addition to being a chooser, a person must adopt a code of conduct as his own
and also subject it to critical reflection in light of rational principles. Autonomous
choice has to be authentic as well as rationally informed. Because autonomy on
the Dearden-Peters view is so intimately connected with rational reflection, assessment, and criticism, this rationalist conception of autonomy seemingly dovetails
with Siegels reasons conception of critical thinking.
A full account of autonomy would explain what it is to be autonomous not only
in the execution of action, and thus with respect to an actions motivational
springs, but also in the formation of beliefs,12 in the causal history of feelings and
emotions,13 and in the acquisition, evaluation, and revision of values and deliberative
principles.14 For our concerns, we focus on autonomy with respect to the motivational constituents of critical thinkingthe critical spirit dimension.15 Concerning
this issue, Siegels response to the pressing question, how can a rational moral
code of conduct be acquired by non-rational means? or, analogously, how can
moral autonomy be created heteronomously? is instructive. Siegel appeals to Peters
notion of habit:
Does the development of proper habits allow us to escape the paradox,
and inculcate a commitment to rationality without indoctrinating
children into that commitment? It does, if it be granted that habits can
themselves become criticizable. If we develop in a child the habit of
searching for reasons which justify a potential belief before adopting the
belief, that habit not only enhances her rationality; it also admits of
rational evaluation itself, for the child can (and we hope will) question
the reasons which recommend that habit as a worthy one, and assess the
force of those reasons herself. The development of rational habits, then,
does not require either indoctrination or the forsaking of rationality.16
Siegel counsels that the properly educated child cultivate the habit of rational
evaluation and that, when the child has the ability to do so, she critically scrutinize
the reasons that recommend the habit as worthy. Nothing in principle, Siegel
submits, prevents the child from being autonomous with respect to such habits. To
be in the habit of rationally evaluating principles, beliefs, the reasons for these
things, and so forth is, among other things, to be motivated to evaluate these things.
So it appears that Siegel sees no real concern with the autonomy of the agent
relative to the motivational constituents of critical thinking. Further, the passage
suggests that Siegel would accept the following constraint.
2006 The Authors

The Critical Thinking Constraint: If an agent is not autonomous with
respect to the motivational elements constitutive of being a critical
thinker (such as the desire to acquire or assess beliefs on the basis of
evidence), the agent fails to live up to the ideal of being a critical thinker.
We argue that if this constraint is not accepted, then it is possible to be a proto
critical thinker who is a slave to reason. Such an agent may acquire and possess
beliefs, desires, evaluative principles, etc. on the basis of good reasons, may be
disposed to do so, and may act on these critically acquired elements of intentional
action but will not be autonomous with respect to the relevant cluster of motivational elements, such as the desire to subject beliefs to rational scrutiny. A proto
critically thinking agent fails to exemplify an ideal of education. It should be one
of educations primary aims to strive to ensure that our children develop not merely
into (non-autonomous) proto critical thinkers but into self-governing critical thinkers
or critical thinkers proper.
3. The Indoctrination Objection and a Reply
The indoctrination objection, and Siegels response to the objection, to which we
now turn, help to bring into sharp relief the distinction between proto critical
thinkers who are non-autonomous in the relevant way and critical thinkers who are
pertinently self-governing.
The literature contains different views on what must be going on with regard to
X, Y and p when X s getting Y to believe that p is rightly thought of as X s
indoctrinating Y into that belief.17 Siegel proposes that the common denominator
of the principal contenders is the fact that the belief is inculcated independently of
the evidence for the belief so that the believer (Y ) holds the belief in a non-evidential
style. Accordingly, if Y holds the belief that p without having evidence for it, and
if the belief that p is not responsive to evidence against it, then the belief that p is
indoctrinated, whatever might be the intention of X, the method of belief-inculcation
used by X, or the content of p. In accordance with his reasons conception of critical
thinking, Siegel offers a non-evidential-style-of-belief conception of indoctrination
or, what he calls, the upshot account of indoctrination.18 A believer who has an
evidential style of belief is, in this respect, just like a critical thinker who assesses
evidence or reasons for his beliefs. Conversely, if a belief is held non-evidentially,
it is not open to rational evaluation and critical assessment. In sum, Siegel proposes
that indoctrination is belief-inculcation that fosters a non-evidential or non-critical
style of belief.
Given this analysis of indoctrination, the indoctrination objection is straightforwardly grasped and seems prima facie incontrovertible. In early infancy, the child
lacks the cognitive capacities for rationally assessing beliefs, reasons, principles,
values, and so forth. In the process of turning the child into a critical thinker,
various beliefs, such as the belief that holding beliefs reasons corroborate is preferable
to holding beliefs not rationally sustainable, must be instilled in the child. But the
instilled beliefs cannot be supported by the childs critical evaluation of the reasons
2006 The Authors

for these beliefs because the child lacks the concept of reason and he lacks the
capacity for critically assessing reasons. The transition from the pre-critical thinking
stage of infancy to the stage at which the child has the relevant evaluative capacities
is, thus, unavoidably indoctrinative.
Siegels response to this objection distinguishes indoctrination from properly
educational belief-inculcation to show that indoctrination in child education is not,
after all, inevitable. Siegel admits that in the early stage of infancy, beliefs are
inculcated sans rational justification on the part of the child. However, at this stage
belief-inculcation can proceed along two importantly different pathways. Along the
first, beliefs are inculcated in such a way that the child is subsequently never
encouraged to seek supporting evidence for them and his reason assessment capacity is permanently suppressed. Along the second, beliefs are inculcated with the
view that this lack [of justifying reasons] is temporary, and with an eye to imparting
to [the child] at the earliest possible time a belief in the importance of grounding
beliefs with reasons and to develop in her the dispositions to challenge, question,
and demand reasons and justification for potential beliefs.19 In this second way,
because belief-inculcation aims at enhancing the childs rationality and aims for the
future redemption by reasons of beliefs held sans rational justification when
instilled, such inculcation qualifies as properly educational belief-inculcation. This
latter mode of belief-inculcation is directed toward development of an evidential
style of belief in the child. Since the implantation at an early stage of infancy of
pertinent beliefs, deliberative principles, and so on helps to develop in the infant
an evidential style of belief, such implantation qualifies as properly educational
despite the fact that the young childs capacity for rationally evaluating beliefs is
not operative at the time. By contrast, the former mode is the mode of indoctrinative belief-inculcation. Indoctrination is a process of belief-inculcation that permanently blocks the victims capacity to think for himself and enduringly prevents him
from critically assessing the evidence for the inculcated beliefs. This non-evidential
style of believing precludes redeemability by reasons of the indoctrinated beliefs.
Siegel concludes that [t]he indoctrination objection fails to challenge successfully
the educational ideal of critical thinking.20
4. Proto Critical Thinkers and Rationality
But now consider these cases. In each, the principal agent satisfies Siegels requirements
for being a critical thinker but is not autonomous with respect to various motivational
elements constitutive of the critical spirit dimension of critical thinking. In the first,
Ratio develops into a proto critical thinker, in part, by adoption of an evidential style
of belief. Morally questionable means, though, are used to instill the beliefs. For
example, the belief that reasons are important, and that acting on the basis of reasons
is to be preferred to acting impulsively or without considering the consequences of ones
actions, are beaten into young Ratio, or inculcated via shock therapy, or implanted
by exploiting the fear of Gods eternal damnation. Desires to acquire beliefs on the
basis of warranting evidence, desires not to act precipitously, and other pertinent
desires (refer to these as critical desires) are also instilled in these ways.
2006 The Authors

In one respect, the inculcation is highly successful: Ratio is transformed into a
proto critical thinker who possesses apposite rational habits. But one might balk at
the immoral techniques used to accomplish Ratios transformation. A strong concern is that, because these techniques are morally suspect, they intuitively seem to
compromise proper education into beliefs. Siegel, though, insists that the method
of belief (or desire) inculcation is irrelevant to the distinction between belief (and
desire) instilment at the infancy stage that is indoctrinative and belief (and desire)
instilment at this stage that is properly educational:
To focus on how the transformation is accomplished, however, is to focus
on the wrong concern. The important question is not How is the
transformation accomplished?admittedly, it is accomplished by nonrational means in that the child is not rationally persuaded to become
rationalbut rather Does the transformation, however accomplished,
enhance the childs rationality and foster an evidential style of belief?21
There is good reason to believe that Ratio is not autonomous with respect to the
acquisition of the critical desires. This compromises his autonomy and lends credibility
to the view that, at most, he is a proto critical thinker. For, appealing to John Christmans
insights on the autonomy of acquiring or developing motivational elements or attitudes,
Ratio would have resisted acquiring the critical desires in the fashion in which they
were acquired, had he attended to their process of acquisition under conditions
involving minimal rationality, no self-deception, and circumstances that do not
inhibit self-reflection, at a time when Ratio acquired the capacity to do these things.22
Further, actions that causally issue from the critical desires (typically, along with
other antecedents of action) are, presumably, actions for which Ratio will not be
morally responsible when Ratio is a morally responsible agent. This is because these
desires undermine responsibility for actions Ratio will later perform by preventing
satisfaction of necessary conditions of responsibility such as the condition of acting
freely. Given the mode of instilment of the critical desires, Ratio subsequently finds
that he cannot refrain from doing what he perceives to be rationally mandatory.
In the second case, Ratio does not acquire the critical desires via means that are
morally objectionable. In addition, he satisfies the historical constraints Christman
recommends on the acquisition of desires. Still, Ratio is not autonomous with
respect to the possession (i.e. maintenance) of many of the critical desires. Ratio
judges that his quest for evidentially supported beliefs excludes him from acceptance into his religious community. Further, he correctly judges that he would be
happierhis life would go better for himif the community were to accept him,
and that he would be welcomed only if he were to give up his persistent questioning
about the rational credentials of the pertinent religious values, principles, or dictates. Ratio concludes that he should shed his desire to search for evidence for
these things. If, despite his judging that he would be better off without this desire,
he is incapable, during a span of time, of shedding the desire, then he is not, during
that span of time, autonomous with respect to its possession.23 Since he lacks
autonomy regarding the continued possession of the critical desire, his autonomy
is, once again, compromised. Again, he is, at best, a proto critical thinker.
2006 The Authors

In the third case, relevantly just like the second, if Ratios desire to search for
evidence is uncontrollably powerful, then Ratio would not be autonomous relative
to the desires influence on his behavior as a critical thinker.24 Ratio would not, for
instance, be capable of exerting even indirect control to prevent the relevant desires
from moving him to action. It is in this sort of case that reason would enslave the
agent. In one respect, the agent would be an individual who is an exemplar of an
agent who has developed an evidential style of belief. He would have the requisite
beliefs, motivational states, and rational habits. But the agent would be deficient
in that he would be non-autonomous relative to the influence of core desires.
Agents such as Ratio in the second and third cases are not the sorts of agent into
which we would want our children to develop; we would not want them to become
prisoners of critical thinking. We should aim for a community of autonomous
critical thinkers and not mere proto critical thinkers. We submit that the second
and third cases provide substantial motivation for the Critical Thinking Constraint.
Siegels response to the worry that, his dissolution of the indoctrination objection
presupposes that rationality and critical thinking are the ultimate values of a worthwhile
life, suggests a challenge to the second and third cases.25 It may be rejoined that these
cases assume that one can have good reason to reject the ideal of reason; Ratio
judges that it is best for him to refrain from subjecting various religious values and
dictates to rational scrutiny. Similarly, we can imagine an agent who judges that it
is best for her to give up an evidential style of belief acquisition and possession
altogether. Siegel responds, though, that this assumption of renouncing reason is
false. This is because rationality is, in an important sense, self-justifying.26 Siegel writes:
The challenger is arguing, in effect, that there is good reason to reject the
ideal of reason. Any such argument against reason, if successful, will itself be
an instance of the successful application of reason. That is, the reasoned
rejection of the ideal is itself an instance of being guided by it. In this sense,
the ideal appears to be safe from successful challenge: any successful challenge
will have to rely upon it; any challenge which does not cannot succeed.27
One may, thus, conclude that the second and third cases rest on a presumption
that is false; hence, the cases cannot be used to motivate the ideal of autonomous
critical thinking.
However, we do not agree that the assumption of renouncing reason, on one
construal of this assumption, is false because reason is self-certifying. We should
distinguish between reason and the ideal of being a critical thinkerroughly, the
ideal of being a person with an evidential style of belief acquisition and possession.
The pertinent question that a Ratio-like agent ponders is the following. Which sort
of life should he strive for, a life in which beliefs are acquired and held evidentially
or a life in which they are not? Suppose the agent at issueRatio in our instance
reasons to the second option. (How else, after all, could this question be non-arbitrarily
settled?) This does not, in any way, sustain the view that the ideal of being a critical
thinker is self-justifying. Ratios choice, on the basis of reasons, shows only that
reason recommends abandoning the ideal of being a critical thinker. In the second
and third cases, it is this ideal that is in question.
2006 The Authors

It is perhaps worth noting that there is no incoherence in the idea that there is
a significant sense in which reason itself is not self-certifying. David Gauthier
distinguishes between two different conceptions of rationality, straightforward maximization and constrained maximization. The former is, roughly, the view that an
action is rational for an agent if none of its alternatives has a higher expected utility
for its agent than it has. Constrained maximization is not as easily formulated.
Significantly, though, it differs from straightforward maximization in that, in suitably specified Prisoners Dilemma contexts, it enjoins that agents opt for interestconstraining yet beneficial outcomes that are beyond the reach of straightforward
maximizers. Gauthier argues that it is coherent for a straightforward maximizer to
choose between conceptions of rationality, and that, if rational in the sense of being
a straightforward maximizer, such a maximizer would abandon this conception of
rationality in favor of constrained maximization.28 Whether Gauthiers intriguing
argument is, indeed, successful is not in question.29 What merits emphasis is the
intelligibility of the idea that one conception of reason may rationally be abandoned
for an alternative. This, in turn, lends plausibility to the view that an ideal of
critical thinking may be rationally abandoned for an alternative life-style, and that
such a rational choice does not, in any obvious fashion, sustain the contention that
reason is self-certifying.
To tie some ends together, we applaud Siegels insight that perhaps significant
headway can be made to meet the indoctrination objection, at least at the level of
beliefs, by noting that various non-rational ways of instilling beliefs in infants contribute toward development of an evidential style of belief acquisition and possession;
beliefs instilled in these ways serve to enhance later rationality. But even if the
child, with this training, later acquires the habit of rational evaluation, the resulting
adolescent, as the second and third cases involving Ratio confirm, may not be
autonomous with respect to the motivational constituents of being a critical thinker.
Developing and possessing the habit of rational evaluation, then, will not guarantee
autonomy of the requisite motivational components. Ensuring that the agent is
autonomous relative to these motivational elements requires treatment different
from that recommended by Siegels appeal to habit. We now outline this treatment.
5. Autonomy, Authentic Education, and Responsibility
We start with the suggestion that ones desires are autonomous simpliciter or sans
adjective only if these desires are truly ones own or authentic, as opposed to being
foreign or alien.
As the distinction between authentic and foreign pro-attitudes appeals to judgments of moral responsibility, we should say a few introductory words about such
judgments. Judgments of moral responsibility have (fundamentally) to do with the
moral praise- and blameworthiness of persons; they constitute one type of agentevaluation. Such judgments are, thus, not to be conflated with morally deontic
judgments (judgments about moral right, wrong, and obligation). Nor are they to
be mistaken for aretaic judgments (judgments primarily about moral virtue and
vice). There is disagreement over what judgments of responsibility are judgments
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of. We mention two prominent views. The first is that to be morally responsible just
is to be the appropriate object of what Peter Strawson has called the reactive
attitudes, such as gratitude, resentment, indignation, and the like. The reactive
attitudes are natural human reactions to the good or ill will or indifference of
others towards us as displayed in their attitudes and actions;30 and they express
the demand for the manifestation of a reasonable degree of good will or regard,
on the part of others, not simply towards oneself, but towards all those on whose
behalf moral indignation may be felt.31 On the second view, to be morally responsible is to be such that ones moral standing or record as a person is affected by
some episode in, or aspect of, ones life. On this second view, when a person is
praiseworthy, her moral standing has been enhanced in virtue of some episode in
her life; when blameworthy, her moral standing has been diminished.32 Nothing in
what follows hinges on adopting one or the other of these perspectives.
Varieties of manipulation that undermine agency or moral responsibility bring
out the pertinent contrast between pro-attitudes that are authentic and those that
are alien. We give two illustrations. The first concerns global manipulation. Globally manipulated agents are agents who, unaware of being finagled with, fall victim
to manipulation that results in significant alteration of their psychological make-up.
The implanted pro-attitudes are practically unsheddable. Alfred Mele explains the
relevant sense of unsheddable: a pro-attitude is practically unsheddable for a
person at a time if, given her psychological constitution at that time, ridding herself
of that attitude is not a psychologically genuine option under any but extraordinary circumstances.33 We submit that the subject of such manipulation is not
morally responsible for (at least) the first few actions that issue from the unsheddable, intuitively alien, engineered in springs of action. B. F. Skinners fictional
character, Frazier, the founder of Walden Two, advances a second, suggestive case of
responsibility-subversive manipulation when he says that in his community persons
can do whatever they want or choose, but they have been conditioned in a way
concealed from them since childhood to want and choose only what they can have
or do.34 Whatever sort of control the denizens of this utopian world exercise over
conduct, it appears that they are not morally responsible for their behavior, again,
because it is the causal output of desires, beliefs, values, and the like that are, in
some manner, foreign to them. This second case is somewhat controversial
(depending on how its details are construed). In one respect, the case may be
likened to the case of children: to see that children develop into autonomous moral
agents, we implant various pro-attitudes into them. If the case is understood along
these lines, then (as the ensuing development of our views implies) members of
Walden Two may well be responsible for some of their conduct. Understood in a
different fashion, though, their springs of action turn out to be foreign in, roughly,
the way in which the springs of action of globally manipulated agents are foreign.
Other well-known examples of responsibility-undermining mechanisms in the
manipulative induction of pro-attitudes include clandestine hypnosis, subliminal
advertising, and covert electronic brain stimulation.
Our view is that there is nothing like authenticity per se; motivational elements,
such as desires, are not authentic in their own right. Rather, we defend a relational
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view of authenticity according to which motivational springs of action are authentic
or inauthentic only relative to whether later behavior that issues from them is
behavior for which the agent exercises a variety of control.
At a stage in its development when the child has not yet acquired the capacity
to assess reasons, roughly, a child is autonomous with respect to the acquisition of
a desireeven an instilled one at thatif its acquisition does not subvert moral
responsibility for actions that causally issue from this desire (again, typically in
conjunction with other antecedents of action). We provide this gloss of the sense
of issues from. A causal theory of action (which we endorse) assumes that actions
causally arise from desires, or desire/belief pairs, or a cluster of psychological
elements. On this theory, when an action issues from a certain desire (as opposed
to another), this desire (as opposed to the other, typically together with other
actional elements) is causally implicated in the production of the action. We presuppose whatever account of issues from which causal theories of action presuppose. At a stage in its life when a child has grown into a competent reasoner, we
believe that developmental autonomy requires satisfaction of certain historical conditions of the sort Christman advances.35 Regarding autonomously possessing desires,
we propose that an agent is autonomous relative to the possession of a desire
throughout a period of time only if that agent is capable of shedding that desire
during that time as a result of exercising the sort of control responsibility requires.
As for autonomy concerning the influence of a desire, if an agent is autonomous
relative to the influence of a desire, it is, in some sense, within the agents power
not to act on that desire; the agent has control (of some kind) over the action (or
actions) that causally issues from the desire.36 Our yardstick of the type of control
the agent must exercise to be of the right sort in performing the pertinent action
is whether this control is the control moral responsibility requires.
We turn to the task of developing a relational account of the authenticity of
motivational springs of action. The account is best appreciated against the background of the problem of authenticity in the philosophy of education. As education
is a process of molding or influencing, it necessarily involves interferences; it requires
instilling in the child, among other things, salient action-producing elements such
as desires, deliberative principles, and values. But if such elements are implanted
their acquisition totally bypassing the childs capacities of reflective control because
these capacities are absent or latent at this early stagethen is the child not also
a victim of a kind of subversive manipulation much as globally manipulated agents
are? The deep concern to which several theorists in the philosophy of education
especially proponents of child-centered education37call attention is that, as the
requisite, pertinent educational interferences seem no different in kind than those
that undermine authenticity, these interferences are incompatible with authenticity.
Hence, the conclusion of this problem of authenticity is that an authentic education
is a will-o-the-wisp.
Appreciating the link between authenticity of actional springs and responsibility
paves the way to responding to this objection. However different in other respects,
diverse views concerning the aims of education rest on a presupposition that has
received insufficient attention: children must be raised to develop into free agents
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who are capable of shouldering moral responsibility for their behavior. Even communitarians, many of whom regard liberalistic education as inimical to a valued way
of life, do notindeed cannotdeny that a pivotal goal of education is to turn
children into morally responsible agents. A distinguishing mark of moral persons, as
opposed to mere members of the species homo sapiens, is that persons are responsible
agents. So, whatever the other goals of education, such as securing the well-being of
children, and ensuring that children develop into critical thinkers and autonomous
agents,38 fully-fledged personhood seems indisputable as a primary goal of education.
Elaborating, part of what it is to be a moral agent is to be a competent participant
in the array of practices constitutive of moral responsibility. Among other things,
to become a moral agent, the child must see herself as an appropriate candidate of
the morally reactive attitudes such as gratitude and resentment and must be such
a candidate.39 It is received wisdom that, whereas certain forms of training or upbringing
are conducive to attaining this goal, various forms of paternalism or manipulation
are detrimental to its realization. We suggest that paternalism or manipulation
threaten attainment of this goal, when they do, primarily in virtue of the fact that
they threaten achievement of the desideratum that the child will be an apposite
candidate of things like moral praise and blame. Manipulation or paternalism of
the relevant sort thwart the fundamental goal of education because the severely
afflicted child may not be a moral person as opposed to a mere human being;
objectionable manipulation or paternalism foils the complex, intentional process
what is fundamental to authentic educationof transforming a child from being
simply a member of homo sapiens into a moral agent. We may, indeed, regard such
manipulation or paternalism as mere training as opposed to authentic education.
Authentic education is a molding process that is conducive to the attainment of
a primary educational aim of transforming children into morally responsible agents.
If this aim is not realized owing to manipulation or paternalism, attainment of this
aim is frustrated as a result of the inauthenticity of the educational process. To be
sure, this goal cannot be attained unless various motivational and cognitive elements
salient action-producing factorsare implanted in the child. However, such necessary interferences in the educational process are acceptable precisely insofar as they
are required for the development of youngsters into morally responsible agents. The
implanted elements, required to ensure later responsibility for actions that issue
from them, are authentic in our relational conceptualization of authenticity. We shall
say that these elements are authentic relative to later responsibility (or responsibility-relative
authentic). Thus, our view on authentic education is forward-looking: although pertinent motivational elements instilled in the child during the educational process
are not authentic per se, they can be authentic-with-an-eye-toward-future-moral-responsibility,
not so much despite the necessary interferences on the part of the educators as
owing to such interferences. Before advancing a criterion to distinguish between
authenticity relative to later responsibility and inauthenticity in education, we
need, as a preliminary, to introduce a conceptual framework in which the concept
of moral responsibility is located.
If a key goal of education is to ensure that children develop into morally responsible agents, fundamental conceptual tasks theoreticians of education confront are
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to clarify the concept of moral responsibility and defend conditions under which
one is morally responsible. Concerning the latter, responsibility has epistemic,
freedom or control, autonomy or authenticity, and agency requirements.40 For purposes
of this paper, we concentrate on agency and authenticity requirements. Beginning
with the former, to be morally responsible, one must, in our preferred terminology,
be a normative agent. Normative agents have the capacity to perform intentional
deliberative actions. To perform such actions, the agent must possess some psychological basis for evaluative reasoning, an evaluative scheme, as we say. Such a
scheme has these constituents: (a) Normative standards the agent believes (though
not necessarily consciously) ought to be invoked in an assessment of reasons for
action or in an appraisal of beliefs about how the agent should go about making
choices. To be a fitting candidate for moral responsibility, the normative standards
must include a set of moral principles or norms; the agent must be minimally
morally competent. (b) The agents long-term ends or goals he deems worthwhile
or valuable. (c) Deliberative principles the agent utilizes to arrive at practical
judgments about what to do or how to act. (d) Lastly, motivation both to act on
the normative standards specified in (a) and to pursue ones goals of the sort
described in (b) at least partly on the basis of engaging the deliberative principles
outlined in (c). So an agents evaluative scheme comprises cognitive ((a) and (c))
as well as motivational ((b) and (d)) elements. In Siegels terminology, these cognitive elements belong to the reason assessment component of critical thinking,
while the motivational elements relate to the critical spirit component.
We propose that it is a sufficient condition of an individuals being a normative
agent at a certain time, if that individual has at that time (i) an evaluative scheme
with the requisite moral elementsthe agent is minimally morally competent; (ii)
deliberative skills and capacitiesthe agent has the capacity, for example, to apply
the normative standards that are elements of its evaluative scheme to assessing
reasons; and (iii) executive capacitiesthe agent is able to act on at least some of
its intentions, decisions, or choices.
Against this conceptual preliminary, we can now reformulate the problem of
authenticity and our forward-looking solution. To be responsible for ones actions
requires not only that the actions causally issue from ones evaluative scheme but
that they derive from ones authentic evaluative scheme. The motivational and other
elements of such a scheme must be authentic in the sense of being truly the agents
own and not alien or foreign to their bearer. An answer to the problem of authenticity involves distinguishing authentic evaluative schemes from inauthentic ones
differentiating between instilments of salient action-producing elements, such as
pro-attitudes and beliefs, that are authentic and instilments of such elements that
are inauthentic. To set up a criterion to differentiate between these two ways of
interfering in the educational process, it is important to distinguish, as we implicitly did when we addressed the indoctrination objection, between two stages in a
childs development: the stage prior to which the child has acquired an initial
evaluative schemethe pre-initial scheme stageand the stage after initial scheme
acquisitionthe post-initial scheme stage. For our concerns, the pre-initial scheme
stage is fundamental and discussion is confined to it. Is there a reasonable sense
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in which a childs motivational and cognitive elements, constitutive of the initial
scheme it will acquire, are authentic?
Regarding the childs initial evaluative scheme, we argue for the view that its
constituent elements can be relationally authentic in the manner previously specified: they can be authentic relative to ensuring moral responsibility. So the problem of
authenticity is solved, first, by invoking the view that authenticity per se of an initial
schemes constituents is a mythwe can succeed in turning children into normative
agents only if appropriate desires, beliefs, values, etc. are implanted precisely because
implanting such elements is critical for the childs development into a normative
agent; and, second, by proposing that things such as offensive manipulation and
extreme paternalism, unlike authentic ways of instilling salient action-producing
elements, make use of ways that undermine responsibility-relative authenticity. We
first examine motivational constituents and then cognitive ones. To facilitate the
discussion, it is profitable to distinguish between what action-producing motivational element is instilled and its mode of instilment, that is, between object and
method of educational interference.
Our inspiration is Joel Feinbergs remark that the extent of a childs role in the
shaping of his own self is a process of continuous growth begun at birth. He continues:
Always the self that contributes to the making of the newer self is the
product both of outside influences and an earlier self that was not quite
as fully formed. That earlier self, in turn, was the product both of outside
influences and a still earlier self that was still less fully formed and fixed,
and so on, all the way back to infancy. At every subsequent stage the
immature child plays a greater role in the creation of his own life, until at
the arbitrarily fixed point of full maturity, he is at last fully in charge of
himself. ... Perhaps we are all self-made in the way just described, except
those who have been severely manipulated, indoctrinated, or coerced
throughout childhood. But the self we have created in this way for ourselves
will not be an authentic self unless the habit of critical self-revision was
implanted in us early by parents, educators, or peers, and strengthened by our
own constant exercise of it.41
In this insightful passage, Feinberg suggests that authenticity requires both a certain sort of maturationone free of things like manipulation or coercionand
deliberate interferences in the processes that shape the child. He proposes, for
instance, that the habit of critical self-revision must be implanted in us early if we
are to acquire autonomy. On Feinbergs view, some deliberate interference in shaping the child is perfectly compatible with, and is indeed required for, authenticity.
Keeping in mind this view of Feinberg and our proposal that instilling proattitudinal (and cognitive) elements that subvert responsibility for subsequent
relevant behavior undermines authenticity of such elements, ponder these examples.
We said that to be morally responsible for an action, an agent must be minimally
morally competent. Such a requirement implies that she must have elementary
moral concepts, such as those of wrong or obligation, and she must be able to
appraise morally (even if imperfectly), decisions, actions, consequences of action,
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etc. in light of the moral norms that are partly constitutive of her evaluative
scheme. A minimally morally competent agent has a grasp of the notions of guilt,
resentment, praise-, and blameworthiness or related reactive attitudes or feelings and
has at least a rudimentary appreciation of when such attitudes or feelings are appropriate. Suppose a child, Youngster, is trained in such a fashion that he simply lacks
knowledge of the relevant moral concepts so that he is not even minimally morally
competent. Then failing to instill the appropriate moral concepts is responsibilitysubversive. Or consider instilling in Youngster a pro-attitude or disposition, the
influence of which on his behavior he simply cannot thwart. Instilling such a
pro-attitudefor example, an irresistible desirewould presumably undermine
responsibility for later conduct arising from that pro-attitude by undermining the
sort of control moral responsibility requires. Or suppose Youngster is instilled with
a powerful disposition always to act impulsively. Here, again, we would not want
to hold Youngster morally responsible for much of his later impulsive behavior. Or,
finally, consider an interference that prevents Youngster from engaging in critical
self-reflection. This may subvert moral responsibility for some of Youngsters later
behavior by significantly narrowing, on occasions of choice, the range of Youngsters
options, a range he could, in all likelihood, have considered had he acquired the
authentic habit to engage in critical self-reflection.
Some interferences, then, where interference is a general term for things like
suppression of innate propensities, or implantation of certain dispositions or habits,
or deliberate lack of instilment of various pro-attitudes, are incompatible with the
agents being morally responsible for his subsequent behavior which issues from
instilled elements; such interferences subvert later moral responsibility while others
do not. We propose that the subversive ones are responsibility-wise inauthentic.
Specifically, imagine that S is an agenta young childwho does not yet have an
initial scheme. Ss having pro-attitude p is responsibility-wise inauthentic if Ss
having p, as a result of instilment, subverts Ss being morally responsible for Ss
behavior that stems from p; the having of p precludes S from being morally responsible for behavior stemming from p. (The notion of stemming from requires further
explication other than the preliminary stab that this notion of stemming from is the
same as that causal theories of action presuppose. Needless to say, such further
analysis shall not be undertaken here).
We have, so far, limited discussion to responsibility-relevant authenticity of the
objects of instilment such as habits, dispositions, or pro-attitudes in general. What
about the methods of instilling such things; are some responsibility-wise authentic
and others not? We can approach this issue in the following manner. Assume that
to ensure prevention of subverting moral responsibility for later behavior, it is
necessary to instill in the child the disposition to be moral. Could different modes
of instilling this disposition affect responsibility-relevant authenticity of this very
disposition itself? Apparently, differing modes could do so. Suppose, for example,
that given the mode of instilling the moral disposition in Youngsterperhaps the
disposition was beaten into Youngster, or instilled via shock therapyYoungster
subsequently finds that he cannot refrain from doing what he perceives to be
morally right. On occasions of choice, he is stricken with inward terror even at the
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faintest thought of not doing what he deems moral. Intuitively, Youngster would
not be morally responsible for much of his later behavior because the mode of
instilling the moral disposition subverts responsibility-grounding control. (This
is also why we judge that, intuitively, Ratio, in the first case, is not morally responsible for later behavior that causally issues from critical desires instilled by
immoral techniques.) Modes of instilling pro-attitudes (habits, dispositions, etc.) are
responsibility-wise not truly ones own (they are responsibility-wise inauthentic)
if they subvert responsibility for later behavior.
In addition to pro-attitudes, a persons evaluative scheme comprises cognitive
constituentsbeliefs about (a) normative standards for evaluating reasons for action,
and beliefs about (c) deliberative principles regarded as appropriate for arriving at
practical judgments about what to do or how to act in particular circumstances.
Again, with the young child whose evaluative scheme is in embryo, it may well be the
case that certain beliefs will have to be willfully instilled to ensure responsibilityrelative authenticity; perhaps, as Feinberg suggests, one will have to instill in the
child the belief that critical self-evaluation is important; without this belief, moral
responsibility for later behavior may well be threatened in the manner previously
indicated. Further, the childs having of such a belief, it would seem, would be
morally permissible and perhaps even morally required. Instilling beliefs of this
sort, in consequence, via modes that do not subvert later responsibility, would not
threaten responsibility-relative authenticity. Various sorts of belief, though, would
undermine or seriously imperil moral responsibility for later conduct. The following
sorts, for example, seem to be responsibility-wise authenticity subversive: beliefs
formed as a result of deception (and self-deception), beliefs formed on the basis of
coercive persuasion, and deliberately implanted beliefs formed on the basis of
processes that bypass ordinary mechanisms of belief formationsuch as subtle
conditioning or subliminal influencingin cases in which the agent did not consent
to the implantation. The agent, presumably, would not be morally responsible for
actions performed in the light of such beliefs.
To help in formulating a general criterion about initial scheme responsibilityrelative authenticity, we introduce some terminology. We have suggested that the
having of some pro-attitudes (desires, dispositions, habits, values, etc.) and beliefs
is incompatible with moral responsibility for later behavior which issues from them;
the having of them precludes satisfaction of necessary conditions other than agency
ones, such as epistemic or control conditions, required for moral responsibility.
Such incompatible pro-attitudes and beliefs are authenticity destructive. We have also
suggested that, possibly, having some pro-attitudes and beliefs are required to
ensure responsibility for later behaviorthe having of them ensures that necessary
conditions other than agency ones of moral responsibility can (later) be satisfied
by the agent or her behavior that stems from them. Such required pro-attitudes
and beliefs are authenticity demanding. Lastly, we have suggested that some modes
or methods of instilling pro-attitudes and beliefs are irreconcilable with moral
responsibility for later behavior; again, such methods of instilment subvert later
responsibility by thwarting satisfaction of necessary conditions of responsibility
apart from agency ones. These irreconcilable methods are authenticity subversive.
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We now advance the following criterion for the responsibility-relative authenticity
of initial evaluative schemes.
Criterion of Authenticity: A childs initial evaluative scheme is responsibilitywise authentic if its pro-attitudinal and cognitive constituents (i) include
all those, if any, that are authenticity demanding; (ii) do not include any
that are authenticity destructive; and (iii) have been instilled by methods
that are not authenticity subversive.
The crux of this criterion is that the childs initial evaluative scheme is not the
childs own if it is not an authentic initial scheme: its pro-attitudinal or cognitive
elements subvert, to a substantial degree, moral responsibility for later behavior
that issues from these elements. We are confident that the condition of not being
instilled by modes that are authenticity subversive and the condition of not being
authenticity destructive are also necessary conditions of a childs having an authentic
evaluative scheme.
All the ingredients for a solution to the problem of authenticity are now in place.
To ensure that the child matures into a normative agent, certain pro-attitudes
(desires, dispositions, habits, values, etc.) and beliefs must be instilled in the child.
But neither these instilled elements nor their mode of instilment need subvert the
childs being morally responsible, at the age when it can be so responsible, for
behavior that causally issues from these instilled elements. Instilling pertinent
desires or beliefs is authentic if their acquisition does not subvert, in a characteristic
way, moral responsibility for later behavior that (at least partly) issues from these
elements. The characteristic way is this: The acquisition of these elements subverts
moral responsibility by compromising necessary requirements of responsibility,
such as epistemic or control ones, with the exception of agency requirements.
These elements are, then, in the terminology introduced, relationally authentic. But
some instilled elements or their modes of instilment undercut moral responsibility
for later behavior by undermining fulfillment of necessary conditions of responsibility
other than the agency condition. Offensive manipulation, extreme paternalism,
hideously depraving conditions, or experiences traumatic to the child may have this
effect. If they do (and empirical evidence is required to confirm whether they do),
then in these sorts of case, the instilled elements are (relationally) inauthentic
they are not truly the childs own.
6. Conclusion: Autonomous Critical Thinkers
Briefly, lets now revert to conditions pertaining to autonomously acquiring a desire,
autonomously possessing a desire during a period of time, and being autonomous
relative to the influence of a desire. Developmental autonomy can be dealt with in
a manner our account of authentic springs of action suggests. At the pre-initial
scheme stage, acquiring a desire is autonomous if its acquisition does not subvert
moral responsibility for later behavior that (at least partly) issues from it. At the
post-initial scheme stage, developmental autonomy requires the fulfillment of certain
history-sensitive conditions. Regarding autonomously possessing a desire, suppose
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a religious leader implants in Youngster (call Youngster at this age Infant Youngster)
an irresistible desire to act in conformity with his dictates. Suppose later, elder
Youngster (Elder Youngster) reflects on this desire but is unable to exercise the
sort of control responsibility requires to rid himself of this desire. We submit that
both Infant Youngster and Elder Youngster are not autonomous relative to the
possession of the desire during the pertinent spans of time. Concerning autonomy
with respect to the influence of this desire, as the desire is irresistible Infant
Youngster will not later be able to exercise responsibility-grounding control in
performing actions that issue from this desire. Infant Youngster (like Elder Youngster) is not autonomous relative to the influence of this desire.
We have proposed that a primary aim (the primary aim?) of education is to
safeguard the transition of our children into autonomous critical thinkers. Assume
that Youngsters upbringing has equipped him with an evidential style of belief
acquisition and possession and that he has acquired the motivational constituents
that Siegel recommends are essential for being a critical thinker. Even if Youngster
has cultivated rational habitshe has the habit to assess beliefs, values, judgments,
and the like on the basis of good reasonshe may not be autonomous relative to
these motivational constituents. Youngster may well be a proto critical thinker who
is reasons slave. Complying with the Critical Thinking Constraint, we have proposed
a forward-looking account of being autonomous in relation to the constituents of
the critical spirit dimension. Add to Youngsters psychological profile that he is
autonomous relative to the acquisition, possession, and influence of these motivational constituents. Youngster is then a critical thinker par excellence.
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to the Research Fund of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium for its grant
(F/02/072), which made possible our working together on this paper. We also thank two
anonymous EPAT referees for commenting on the penultimate version.
Notes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
See, for example, Bailin & Siegel, 2003; and Siegel, 1988, 1997, and 2003.
See, for instance, Dearden, 1972; Peters, 1963, 1973; and Cuypers, 2004.
Siegel, 1988, p. 78.
Siegel, 1988, pp. 32 42; 1997, pp. 2 4.
Siegel, 2003, p. 305.
Critical thinking theorists distinguish between two sorts of principle of reason
assessment: general or subject-neutral principles and context-bound or subject-specific
ones. There is an important debate between proponents of a generalist view and those
of a specifist view regarding whether reason assessment skills apply across a broad
range of contexts and circumstances: to what extent are assessment criteria generalizable?
(Bailin & Siegel, 2003, pp. 183186) Here, we simply note that Siegel adopts the
generalist view.
7. Siegel, 1988, p. 54. Siegel acknowledges, in Siegel, 2005, pp. 542 43, that his exact view
is that autonomy is a necessary but not sufficient condition of critical thinking. It is not a
sufficient condition of critical thinking because the reasoned appraisals of candidate
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8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
beliefs by autonomous persons might be of poor quality, and thus fail to satisfy the
epistemic quality demands of the reason assessment component. For our concerns, it
suffices that Siegel holds that autonomy is a necessary condition of critical thinking
both the reason assessment and critical spirit dimension require autonomy.
Siegel, 2003, p. 307.
Dearden, 1972, p. 70.
Peters, 1973, p. 17.
Benn, 1976, p. 123.
Mele, 1995, pp. 86101.
Mele, 1995, pp. 10211.
Mele, 1995, pp. 11227.
Some of the more important pro-attitudes and dispositions required for critical thinking
include respect for reasons and truth (commitment to having justified beliefs, values and
actions); ... an inquiring attitude (inclination to assess the support for judgements one is
asked to accept); open-mindedness ... fair-mindedness ... independent-mindedness (possession
of the intellectual honesty and courage necessary for seeking out relevant evidence and
basing ones beliefs and actions on it, despite pressures or temptations to do otherwise,
and the personal strength to stand up for ones firmly grounded beliefs); .... (Bailin
et al., 1999, pp. 294 295)
Siegel, 1988, pp. 86 87. For Peters articulation of the paradox of moral education
and his response to it, see Peters, 1963.
Snook, 1972; Spiecker & Straughan, 1991. Views of indoctrination appeal to either Xs
intention, or Xs method, or ps content, or a selection of these factors, as necessary
and/or sufficient conditions. Siegel (1991, p. 30) summarizes the three principal
analyses thus: One view of indoctrination has it that the case is one of indoctrination
if Xs aim or intention is of a certain sort: namely, that X intends to or aims at getting
Y to believe that p, independently of the epistemic status of or evidence for p. A second
view holds that indoctrination is a matter of method, so that our putative case of
indoctrination is a genuine one if Xs method of getting Y to believe that p is of a certain
sort: namely, one which tends to impart to Y a belief that p, independently of the
evidence for p, and without Ys questioning p; a method, that is, which suppresses or
discourages Ys critical consideration of the case for p. A third view regards
indoctrination as a matter of content, so that our case is a case of indoctrination if p is
false or unjustified, independently of Xs intentions and methods.
Siegel, 1988, p. 165, n. 8; 1991, p. 31.
Siegel, 1988, pp. 8283.
Siegel, 1988, p. 90.
Siegel, 1988, p. 87.
Christman, 1991.
This case is modelled after the one Mele advances in Mele, 1993, p. 275.
Development of the notions of being autonomous relative to the acquisition of a proattitude, relative to the possession of a pro-attitude, and relative to the influence of a
pro-attitude can be found in Mele, 1993, pp. 275277, and Mele, 1995, pp. 138 139.
Siegel, 1988, p. 167, n. 24.
Ever since Relativism Refuted (1987), this appeal to rationalitys self-justification is
central to Siegels work on the theory of rationality and the foundations of critical
thinking as an educational ideal; for instances of this basic transcendental argument, see
Siegel, 1988, pp. 74 76, 132; 1997, pp. 8187; 1998, pp. 30 31.
Siegel, 2003, p. 316.
Gauthier, 1986.
See, for example, Haji, 1989 and the various articles in Vallentyne, 1991.
Strawson, 1962, p. 67.
Strawson, 1962, p. 71.
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32. See, for example, Feinberg, 1970; Glover, 1970; Morris, 1976; and Zimmerman, 1988.
33. Mele, 1995, p. 172. On global manipulation, see, for instance, Fischer and Ravizza,
1998; Kane, 1996; Locke, 1975; Mele, 1995; and Cuypers & Haji, 2004.
34. Skinner, 1948.
35. For critical discussion of Christmans view, see Mele, 1993 and Haji, 1998, pp. 90 94.
36. We remain neutral on whether the causation in question is deterministic or nondeterministic.
37. See, for example, Darling, 1994.
38. See, for instance, the several essays in Marples, 1999.
39. See Strawson, 1962.
40. An agent S cannot be morally responsible for a particular action A unless (i) S believes
that S is doing wrong (or right) in performing A, (ii) A is under Ss volitional control,
(iii) A stems from authentic motivational springs, and (iv) S is an agent of a certain
sortan appropriate candidate of the morally reactive attitudes. For further details, see,
for example, Haji, 1998.
41. Feinberg, 1986, pp. 34 35; italics, in the last sentence, are added.
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2006 The Authors

Revista de Psicologa Vol. 29 (1), 2011 (ISSN 0254-9247)
Critical thinking: Its relevance for education in a

shiftingsociety
Leandro da Silva Almeida1 and Amanda Helena Rodrigues Franco2
University of Minho, Portugal
The amount of information and variety of situations tackled on a daily basis call for new
cognitive functions, namely combining knowledge, experience and intellectual abilities.
Critical thinking is valued as a higher-order type of reasoning and a skill transversal to
the educational organisms. We introduce some definitions suggested in the literature, and
describe the cognitive functions responsible for critical thinking used in learning and problem solving situations. We then present the most used assessment procedures, illustrating
with instruments as well as programs and curricular planning implemented in the classroom
to teach and develop critical thinking. Finally, we highlight the importance of further investigation, in order to reach a convergence of theoretical and practical elements needed to
define critical thinking.
Keywords: Critical thinking, intelligence, reasoning, transversal skills, adult cognition.
Pensamiento crtico: su relevancia para la educacin en una sociedad cambiante
El volumen de informacin y la multiplicidad de situaciones a enfrentar diariamente exigen nuevas funciones cognitivas, particularmente combinando conocimiento, experiencia y
habilidades intelectuales. El pensamiento crtico es valorado como una forma superior de
razonamiento y una competencia transversal a los sistemas educativos. Se presentan algunas
definiciones presentes en la literatura, describiendo las funciones cognitivas responsables
por el pensamiento crtico en las situaciones de aprendizaje y de resolucin de problemas. Se
exponen los procedimientos ms empleados en su evaluacin, ilustrando con algunas pruebas y con algunos programas y planificacin curricular implementados para la enseanza y
el desenvolvimiento en la clase. Finalmente, se seala la importancia de continuar haciendo
estudios que busquen la convergencia de elementos tericos y prcticos asociados a la definicin de pensamiento crtico.
Palabras clave: pensamiento crtico, inteligencia, razonamiento, competencias transversales,
cognicin en la edad adulta.
Understood by some as an innate aptitude, considered by others as a

learned set of problem solving skills, the topic intelligence does not enjoy
of the consensus of the researchers (Almeida, 1994; Almeida, Guisande &
Ferreira, 2009). In an attempt to define and operationalize this construct
in opposition to the psychometric tradition, Sternberg (2003) presents
the concept of developing expertise, suggesting that intelligence refers to a
developing potential, which results from the interaction between genetic
factors and life contexts. Such interaction provides individual differences
in cognitive abilities and in the performance of daily situations.
The psychometric approach has been pointed out as being excessively focused in the immutable and analytical aspects of intelligence,
regardless of its changeable nature or the impact of peoples experience.
This classic perspective has devoted little attention to the mechanisms
inherent to the improvement of each individuals cognitive and resolutive efficiency in face of learning, practice or mere experience (Sternberg,
1999, 2003). This criticism suggests that there are cognitive abilities or
even forms of intelligence that are of useful to individuals, both in their
daily lives and in their line of work, that dont seem to have been valued
by traditional instruments of intelligence assessment and that are also
undervalued by the education system (Almeida et al., 2009; Gardner,
1983; Sternberg, 1985). We believe that one of these cognitive abilities
claiming a deeper analysis is critical thinking.
1
PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Porto. Full teacher at University of
Minho, teaches classes of cognition and learning, methodology of investigation, and methodology of construction and validation of assessment instruments. Supervises Master and PhD
programs. President of the Institute of Education. Author of several research projects in the
field of intelligence. Contact: Institute of Education, University of Minho, Campus Gualtar,
4709 Braga, Portugal; leandro@ie.uminho.pt
Master in Educational Psychology from the University of Minho. Research grant holder
working at the Investigation Center of the Institute of Education of the same university. Does
research in the field of intelligence. Contact: Universidade do Minho, Instituto de Educao,
Campus Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal; amanda.hr.franco@gmail.com
Revista de Psicologa, Vol. 29 (1), 2011, pp. 175-195 (ISSN 0254-9247)
Critical thinking in todays information society

In a social era characterized by a large amount of information, easily accessible and with which people see themselves confronted by at
every moment, it is crucial to know how to apprehend the information
that is essential and submit it to an appropriate treatment, whether it
is to accept it as reliable and worthy of being processed, or whether
it is to classify it as fallacious and disposable (Halpern, 1999). In this
sense, and given the everlasting and swift social transformations, critical thinking stands out as a fundamental cognitive resource (Halpern,
1998; Ku, 2009; Phan, 2010). It might even constitute itself as the
decisive element to successfully accomplish, succeed or be successful
when performing the multiplicity of tasks and situations we tackle on a
daily basis (Bailin, Case, Coombs & Daniels, 1999a, 1999b; Halpern,
1998; Phan, 2010).
Critical thinking is perceived as a cognitive capacity that allows
one to convey meaning to disperse ideas, capacitating people to meaningful dialogue with others (Brady, 2008) and to experience satisfying
feelings, both in their personal and social lives (Saiz & Rivas, 2010).
This mechanism permits a better adjustment to the surrounding environment (Rivas & Saiz, 2010), becoming of great use in school and
work contexts, for in both cases there is required a capacity to give a
quick and efficient response to the more varied challenges (Carroll,
2005; Pithers & Soden, 2000). As a matter of fact, research in this
area associates a higher degree of critical thinking to superior levels of
control and proactivity in school education and daily life experience
(Carroll, 2005; Kuhn, 1999). Specifically in the school context, critical thinking skills allow students to organize their learning, and also
to supervise and evaluate their school tasks, which positively affects
their academic performance (Paul, 2005; Phan, 2010). All these aspects
illustrate the extreme relevance and the enduring topicality of critical
thinking, whether it is in the most diverse daily situations or as a line
of study that is important to deepen and better comprehend (Bailin et
al., 1999a).
178
Critical thinking: Its relevance for education in a shifting society / Almeida y Franco
Defining critical thinking

But what can really be understood as critical thinking? In reality, there are different definitions, although resulting from proximal
assumptions and maintaining some similarity amongst them (Allen,
Rubenfeld & Scheffer, 2004; Halpern, 1999, 2006; Yanchar, Slife &
Warne, 2008). The conceptual diversity comes from the fact that critical thinking is studied in different scientific subjects and applied in
multiple contexts (Philley, 2005). In this sense, this area has benefited
from the interest of researchers in the fields of Education, Psychology
or Philosophy (Phan, 2010; Yanchar et al., 2008).
Seeking some level of convergence from the different definitions
available in the literature, critical thinking can be defined as a more
complex and significantly demanding logic form of higher-order reasoning (Brady, 2008; Philley, 2005). In terms of its operationalization,
critical thinking presumes a repertoire of faculties: articulation of
ideas; meaning elicitation; consideration of divergent arguments and
search of evidence to evaluate the legitimacy of each one; formulation
of hypothesis; justification of personal arguments and beliefs; decision
making; problem solving; monitoring and evaluation of personal cognitions and actions (Facione, 2010; Halpern, 1998, 1999, 2006). To
sum it up, and accordingly to Halpern (1998), subjacent to critical
thinking seem to be elemental capacities of idea/argument decomposition and synthesis, but also the capacity to evaluate the performance
and products resulting from personal action, during and after the process. We can synthesize the dimensions that constitute critical thinking
or the aspects that are implied in its definition by suggesting that this
is a multifaceted cognitive construct, with an inductive, deductive and
creative nature, comprising an heterogeneous set of skills and necessarily implying the motivation to use them (Bailin et al., 1999a; Facione,
2010; Halpern, 2006; Philley, 2005).
Guided by a goal to be achieved (the cognitive finality or direction), critical thinking translates the employment of cognitive aptitudes
and the use of ones knowledge base to critically analyze facts or beliefs,
179
in order to produce rational knowledge that can direct behavior (Carroll, 2005) and sustain daily decision making and problem solving
(Saiz & Rivas, 2010). This way, it implies a flexible and reflexive attitude, including the analysis, evaluation and correction of ones activity
and progress towards the established goal, as well as the motivation to
pursue that desired goal (Halpern, 1998). Therefore, its relevance to
school learning situations is clear: on the one hand, critical thinking
is a resource that allows the student to adopt an analytical and evaluative attitude towards his/her performance, perfecting the quality of
the learning process; on the other hand, the learning process allows
the gradual improvement of the skills characteristic of critical thinking
(Paul, 2005; Phan, 2010).
The authors suggest that, more than the potential itself, the
decisive element here is truly a proactive and motivated attitude. If
the motivational componentwhich cultivates the application of
theoretical and practical componentsis absent, a strong knowledge
about critical thinking skills and the mastery in their use will prove
to be insufficient (Facione, 2010; Halpern, 1999). Critical thinking
entails the translation of cognitive skills into behavior (Saiz & Rivas,
2010; Sternberg, 1997), which will not happen if deprived of motivation (Facione, 2010). The motivational factoremphasized by some
authors as being the essential feature for the development of skill and
success in school (e. g. Halpern, 1999; Sternberg, 1999)might help
to understand the reason why some students execution quality isnt
compatible with their cognitive potential, assessed, for instance, with
intelligence assessment tests. This explains why some students, despite
having potential, do not perform particularly well, and also why others
less promising but more motivated perform better (Facione, 2010).
At last, critical thinking stands additionally on some level of creativity, which is accountable for the appetence to anticipate possible
results, and also to produce and implement particular alternatives of
action in each situation (Bailin et al., 1999b; Facione, 2010). The
deliberation of arguments that are divergent of ones own or the analysis of an argument accordingly to multiple perspectives are visible in
180
the person who reveals critical thinking (Carroll, 2005), as well as

the acceptance of new ideas, and an inquisitive and interested search
for accurate knowledge regarding the situation at hand (Bailin et al.,
1999a; Paul, 2005).
From the analysis of these three essential aspects of critical thinking emerges the possibility of it being the characterization of a fifth
stage of cognitive development. It is important to bear in mind that in
his theory of cognitive development, Piaget (2008) claimed the existence of four stages in which such development occurred, from birth to
late adolescence (sensorimotor, preoperatory, concrete operations and
formal operations). The literature gives evidence of a post-Piaget group
of theoreticians trying to update the authors approach; they suggest
the establishment of a subsequent stage of intelligence development,
which is very much associated to the individuals epistemic status and
to the knowledge role in the structuring of intelligence and its manifestation beyond adolescence and throughout adulthood (Feldman, 2004;
King & Kitchener, 1994; Marchand, 2002).
In such a stage, it is assumed that knowledge isnt factual, but
rather circumstantial and relative, strongly marked or dependent of
the individuals idiosyncrasies and the specificities of the surrounding
environment. This way, thought as the potential of being continually
developed, which derives from the possibility of integrating disconnected types of knowledge that are susceptible of being reformulated in
personal schemes of reality representation. Such openness to experience
and capacity to tolerate ambiguity is a consequence of a more flexible
and divergent form of thinking, capable of operating with contradiction and not edified on laws of pure logic (Bruine de Bruin, Fischhoff
& Parker, 2007; Marchand, 2002). In face of this, an equivalence of
this type of thinking with the one we have been referring to as critical
thinking is pondered, since both relate to a superior reasoning that presumes an inquisitive attitude fit for generating possible and adequate
solutions to the processing of rather complex information and problem
solving.
181
In conclusion, critical thinking appears to be a higher-order type

of reasoning employing cognitive skills and directed by a motivational
component in problem solving. Being a contextual type of thinking, it acts on a knowledge base (which also includes the individuals
knowledge concerning his/her own skills), recurrently accessed and
restructured, which implies supervision of the self in benefit of pursuing the goal previously defined (Bailin et al., 1999b; Halpern, 2006;
Pithers & Soden, 2000). Accordingly to Bruine de Bruin et al. (2007),
these critical thinking characteristics combine a group of critical skills,
namely inference and application of relations, pondering and evaluation of alternatives, or self-regulation and metacognition. This allows
us to anticipate a great variability amongst subjects, for each person
adopts, in each situation and for the obtaining of a desired result, a line
of action that is somehow distinctive. Recalling the old saying Rather
be smart than intelligent, it is possible to unravel the popular wisdom it
encloses: we can realize that being smart is another way of perceiving
intelligence. In other words, it describes the persons critical use of his/
her resources or cognitive skills in order to achieve a desired aim.
Assessing critical thinking
Alongside the definition of critical thinking it is necessary to contemplate the assessment as well (Ku, 2009; Rivas & Saiz, 2010). And
such as the definition of critical thinking is imbued with disagreement,
its assessment equally lacks convergence (Brookfield, 1997). On the
one hand, there is a myriad of instruments to assess this construct,
frequently indicted of lacking validity (Allen et al., 2004); on the other
hand, there seem to be few adequate instruments to assess critical
thinking in all its extent (Ennis, 1993), in particular in what refers to
its development (Ku, 2009). For instance, Colucciello (1999) identifies
the absence of assessment instruments that are capable of simultaneously comprising the cognitive and motivational components of critical
thinking.
182
Despite the difficulties inherent to its measurement, critical thinking assessment is feasible (Rivas & Saiz, 2010). Ku (2009) presents the
following critical thinking assessment instruments as the most wellknown: Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (Watson & Glaser,
1980); Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test (Ennis & Weir, 1985);
Cornell Critical Thinking Test (Ennis, Millman & Tomko, 1985);
California Critical Thinking Skills Test (Facione, 1990); and, Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment Using Everyday Situations (Halpern,
2007). Referring to the latter, it seems to fill a gap in the available critical thinking assessment instruments scenario (Ku, 2009; Rivas & Saiz,
2010). In fact, it grasps both cognitive and motivational components,
thus offering a comprehensive multidimensional view of the construct.
To do so, it makes use of open-answer and multiple-choice questions,
concerning daily problematic situations with which the subjects can
easily relate to (Ku, 2009).
If we take a step back to the definition of critical thinking and recall
its dimensions, authors generally presume that there are three main
aspects composing this construct: knowledge base, motivation and cognitive operations. Regarding the latter facet, usually referred to as critical
thinking skills, which are associated to the strategies applied in order to
attain a goal set a priori, some difficulties are produced when wanting
to try to identify which and how many are these skills. Nevertheless, we
find Halperns (1998) suggestion more adequate, as it includes verbal
reasoning, argument analysis, hypothesis testing, probability consideration, and decision making and problem solving. In the same way,
Facione (2010) resorts to cognitive functions in order to put critical
thinking skills into practice, considering such skills to be interpretation,
analysis and evaluation, inference production, explanation and selfregulation; this enables us to assume the need for particular assessment
exercises that are prone to capture the specificities of these functions.
One of the setbacks of assessing critical thinking appears to be the
outcome of the nature of the construct itself: being this a complex type
of reasoning characteristic of higher-order thinking, it becomes intricate
to carry out a precise measurement resorting to assessment instruments
183
composed of items or situations that are necessarily delimited (Brady,

2008). Likewise, it is noticeable that some authors neglect the effort of
contextualizing their research at a theoretical level, often resulting in
a quest for critical thinking assessment deprived of proper theoretical
framing, that doesnt enable the comprehension and explanation of the
construct under analysis (Yanchar et al., 2008). It is important that the
attempts to assess critical thinking derive from previous conceptualizations and their clarification (Brookfield, 1997; Yanchar et al., 2008).
A criticism that is usually pointed at conventional intelligence
assessment tests insinuates that these instruments disregard the role of
the context to the quality of the subjects performance (Almeida, 1994;
Sternberg, 1999). As a matter of fact, nowadays only a small number
of authors defend the possibility of assessing the essence of intelligence
without considering it, in part, as a product of the subjects learning
experiences and their cultural contexts of life (Almeida, 1994). Daily
life contexts have a meaningful impact on cognitive functioning, making it necessary to secure that the power of such circumstances is taken
into consideration when assessing intelligence. In fact, people dont
live in an aseptic environment, invulnerable to its stimuli. From here
derives the need to weigh the contextual variable when defining and
assessing critical thinking (Sternberg, 2003; Yanchar et al., 2008).
In regard to the critical thinking assessment instruments format,
open-answer questions are described as being prone to a more efficient
evaluation, when compared to the multiple-choice ones (Ennis, 1993).
The latter are useful to assess the cognitive dimension of the construct,
but do not properly regard the motivational dimension; additionally,
they restrain the expression of critical thinking, making it impossible
to foresee how the subject will react in face of daily life challenges (Ku,
2009). By using open-answer questions, it is possible to identify which
critical thinking skills are the most used, conferring better visibility to
the students reasoning (Rivas & Saiz, 2010). Nonetheless, there can
be anticipated one difficulty here: assessing answers that were obtained
with a more open format can be expected to be more time consuming
and ambiguous.
184
In conclusion, it can be inferred that a clear definition of what

really is the structure of critical thinking is vital, and that the elaboration
of valid and comprehensive assessment instruments is indispensable.
However, besides its definition and assessment, it is necessary to additionally consider intervention on critical thinking and its skills or basic
components. In fact, assessment gains particular social relevance if serving as a foundation or support to the efforts of intervention (Rivas &
Saiz, 2010). This way, it matters to think over school settings, more specifically the guidelines that dictate the education system and teachers
practice, in order to examine how they stand about this topic inherent
to cognition, learning processes and problem solving.
Developing critical thinking
The true mission of education is commonly described as being the
promotion of thinking skills, critical natured thinking skills to be more
precise (Almeida, 1996; Barnes, 2005; Noddings, 2008; van Gelder,
2005). This issue is particularly significant in higher education, considering that it is by means of a university education that students get
equipped to enter the labor market, acquiring and perfecting resources
with which they can face future challenges (Barnes, 2005). This process
occurs by using what they have learned along their university education
years and from the knowledge they have acquired and that is demanded
in their line of work (Halpern, 1998; Ku, 2009).
Despite the importance conveyed by the education system about
developing critical thinking skills, effective efforts to put such skills
into practice and to promote their training hasnt been noticeable so far
(Noddings, 2008). More complex thinking skills arent covered by conventional teaching and assessment formats, which are still too focused
on data transmission, memorization of factual information and subsequent evocation of knowledge in evaluation situations (Brady, 2008;
Paul, 2005; Pithers & Soden, 2000). To a certain extent, this may be
produced by some unawareness usually revealed by teachers about what
185
critical thinking is in fact and how it can be integrated in their teaching

and evaluating methods (Paul, 2005). Such a conventional approach,
in which teaching and learning processes are centered on analytical
skills and critical thinking is omitted, should be corrected (Barnes,
2005), for it doesnt provide true opportunities for the students cognitive development (van Gelder, 2005). According to a few authors, there
should be an intentional effort to go beyond the curriculum and to
implement changes in each teachers pedagogic method and in the education system itself, in aim to fully grasp critical thinking skills (Kuhn,
1999; Paul, 2005).
In dependence of the criticism made to traditional education methods and their excessive emphasis in data transmission, another one rises,
upon which students are perceived as a passive receptacle of the knowledge offered by teachers (Barnes, 2005; Brady, 2008). By tradition,
teachers are conceived as experts who must transmit their knowledge
to students, whereas students are rewarded for memorizing information
merely for testing situations, and not for elaborating their own ideas
and developing a reasoning that is both open-minded and critical. As a
consequence, students arent very active learners: they resort to a more
memory-based approach, rather than a comprehensive one, to acquire
curricular contents, they employ little effort to elaborate ideas on their
own, and they dont develop the skills needed to autonomously solve
their daily problems (Barnes, 2005; Brady, 2008; Facione, 2010).
Ideally, the education system should permit each students expansion in a number of curricular and cognitive areas, which is feasible by
means of teaching the various thinking skills. These are susceptible of
improvement, with the possibility of being learned, internalized and
independently applied by students in multiple circumstances, assisting
them to think more efficiently when dealing with distinct real-life situations (Halpern, 1998, 1999, 2006; Noddings, 2008). This is possible
because this type of reasoning supports the development of analytical,
critical and decision making skills, which are useful on a daily and
transversal basis, and increase learning and problem solving quality
(Bruine de Bruin et al., 2007).
186
In this context, the teachers role is to guide students, allowing them

an active and regulated part in their way to developing critical thinking (Barnes, 2005; Paul, 2005). Such a process encloses the theoretical,
practical and motivational components of critical thinking: the introduction to the implied concepts and understanding, which provide for
the enrichment of ones knowledge base; the familiarity, perfecting and
expansion of a set of skills needed to reflexive thinking; the strengthening of the disposition to put knowledge and skills into use (Bailin et
al., 1999a; Brady, 2008). This way, critical thinking must be valued by
education systems, in order to make propitious an environment in the
class-room that allows and stimulates the adoption of a reflexive attitude towards the quality of ones thinking (Colucciello, 1999).
In sum, we can accept that critically thinking isnt an innate and
intuitive ability, spontaneously sprouted (Saiz & Rivas, 2010). On the
contrary, it emerges from the learning-teaching process, being gradually and deliberately acquired, and assuming a previous and symbiotic
mastery of a set of basic skills, such as reading comprehension, argument analysis and production, or still, search for evidence to stand for a
particular point of view (Facione, 2010; van Gelder, 2005). In concern
to the binomial nature versus nurture, critical thinking definitely seems
to belong to the scope of the second (Brookfield, 1997), considering
that it relies on explicit, continued and persistent teaching (Bailin et
al., 1999b; Ennis, 1993; van Gelder, 2005). The perfecting of critical
thinking requires time, for it is dependent of cognitive development
(Kuhn, 1999) and takes place with the appropriation of resources that
allow the subject to give a more reflexive and efficient answer to circumstances (Phan, 2010). Furthermore, the relational interaction that takes
place in school settings seems to boost the quality of critical thinking;
in the relationship with teacher and peers, the student grasps by modeling and receives feedback about his/her activity (Brookfield, 1997).
In this sense, the teacher should be aware of the students beliefs
regarding their skills, analyze how their thinking takes form, and support them to unravel and correct their thinking inaccuracies (van
Gelder, 2005). As a matter of fact, in aim of a deeper understanding of
187
a particular dimension of psychological functioning, it is equally important to analyze both functional and deviant areas. In other words, while
trying to ascertain which skills are needed to become more efficient
in task accomplishment, it is additionally necessary to discover if any
cognitive errors are being made and preventing the fulfillment of ones
full potential. In reality, it seems plausible to conclude that the subject
might even be equipped with the cognitive aptitudes necessary for an
efficient performance but something is stopping him/her from appropriately directing his/her attitude and behavior in order to be successful
in the execution of personal and professional daily activity. Therefore,
by acquiring knowledge about this kind of obstacle, the subject is given
the chance to overcome it (Efklides & Sideridis, 2009).
In an initial phase, this type of thinking requires the subject to
learn the theory underlying critical thinking and its specific concepts,
which will endure the construction of a metacognitive knowledge base
to guide ones activity (Brady, 2008; Carroll, 2005). Data about what
and which are critical thinking skills is acquirednamely, comprehension, argument analysis, hypothesis testing, probability consideration,
decision making and problem solving, besides data about how and
where they should be used (Halpern, 1998; Kuhn, 1999). In fact, critical
thinking is, to some point, distinctive of the surrounding environment,
considering that knowledge and skill are employed with deliberation
and according to the specificities of contextual circumstances (Bailin et
al., 1999a; Brookfield, 1997).
Besides comprising a conceptual understanding in order to emerge,
critical thinking needs to be consolidated through training in the classroom and reinforced with examples of possible everyday situations in
which such skills can be applied (Ennis, 1993; van Gelder, 2005). The
real world must be given as a reference, as well as the decision making
that occurs in face of challenges raised on a daily basis (Allen et al.,
2004; Rivas & Saiz, 2010). Doing so, it is being made explicit how this
type of thinking and resources can become useful and how they should
be applied (Saiz & Rivas, 2010).
188
The possibility of multiple uses of the acquired critical thinking

skills is presented as relevant in the literature (Ennis, 1993; Kuhn, 1999;
Rivas & Saiz, 2010). If education is exclusively focused on memorization, the prospect of knowledge being transversal and the possibility
of transferring critical thinking skills from one area to others where
they can be found useful is reduced, particularly in everyday situations
where decision making and problem solving are in order (Noddings,
2008; Pithers & Soden, 2000; van Gelder, 2005). Underlying the
capacity of transference is the facility to distance oneself from a superficial apprehension of the task at hand, searching instead for its basic
structure and applying the previously developed skills (Halpern, 1998,
1999). In short, what seems to be in cause here is the reuse of knowledge. In a society where environmental issues are a hot topic and are
included in the speech of worldwide great leaders, cultivating a green
attitudecharacterized by idea recycling and knowledge reuseseems
to be the great goal to be achieved.
Regardless of the assumptions exposed earlier, there is no particular tested model that can be presented as being effective in teaching
critical thinking skills (Allen et al., 2004). There has been some debate
over whether critical thinking skills have a general nature, or instead,
are specific to a subject or field of knowledge (Brookfield, 1997; Kuhn,
1999). On the one hand is presented the hypothesis of curricular infusion, where education is multidisciplinary and focused on teaching
both contents of the program and critical thinking skills; on the other
hand is the alternative of developing critical thinking in a specific subject, degree course or intervention program, specially designed to its
promotion (Allen et al., 2004; Bailin et al., 1999b; Halpern, 1999).
Some authors consider the first as the (most) effective format, since the
use of critical thinking is sensible to contextual variables; this way, linking different information of the same content, or from distinct areas of
knowledge, is facilitated, making it easier to transfer such information
to multiple contexts (Bailin et al., 1999b; Kuhn, 1999; Pithers &
Soden, 2000).
189
In regard to teaching strategies, some seem to be more appropriate

than others to make critical thinking development viable: direct teaching; modeling; collaborative and/or tutorial learning; presentation of
challenges to stimulate the expression of critical thinking; emphasis
on a curious and inquisitive attitude towards the surrounding environment; feedback regarding the students performance along the entire
process (Bailin et al., 1999a; Brookfield, 1997; Colucciello, 1999;
Noddings, 2008).
Final considerations
The production of knowledge occurs inexorably and at a vertiginous pace, making the ability to discriminate from the available mass
of data the information that is relevant, reliable and reusable one of
the key-skills to possess (Halpern, 1998). Simultaneously, it is essential to instigate a conscious citizenship, with which each person reveals
values that benefit him/her at a personal level and, more important,
the community he/she belongs to (Barnes, 2005; Noddings, 2008).
The path that makes the development of such an attitude and ability
possible seems to be the one of critical thinking, understood as the
capacity to make good decisions, i.e., decisions that are grounded and
logical (Paul, 2005). In fact, to have and efficiently apply analytical
and decision making skills may have a positive impact in peoples quality of life (Bruine de Bruin et al., 2007). In this sense, the capacity to
think critically is an essential resource for a society one hopes to be a
democratic one, made of citizens capable of thinking for themselves
and unreceptive to hastily accepting any argument as valid (Brookfield,
1997; Facione, 2010).
The educational system of a number of countries, as well as the
scientific production in the area, theoretically characterize critical
thinking as a valuable resource and its teaching as one of the missions
of todays schooling. Nevertheless, the approaches to this topic are still
surrounded by too much abstraction, resulting in the maintenance of a
190
vague concept that is put into practice only partially and through significant limitations or difficulties. Likewise, there is a diversity of skills
that are suggested as characterizing critical thinking and the attached
cognitive behaviors, which often result from the divergence of points
of view (Bailin et al., 1999b). There is lacking an in-depth study of
this area: Transformations to the definition and operationalization of
this construct are in need (Phan, 2010; Yanchar et al., 2008), as well as
additional efforts to elaborate assessment instruments that are valid and
sufficiently comprehensive (Ennis, 1993). Moreover, it is vital to build
models that relate critical thinking and learning (styles) (Colucciello,
1999), not only the one occurring in school settings, but also the one
brought up in the labor market and other situations of everyday life
(Phan, 2010).
Other topics are also insufficiently explored. One of them concerns the ideal moment to start the teaching-learning process of critical
thinking skills. Although it is considered that such skills can be precociously widened (Bailin et al., 1999b), still remains to know which
developmental stage or school level is the most appropriate to do so,
where a reasonable degree of education would correspond to maximum
learning. For instance, Ennis (1993) states that critical thinking skills
should be taught since childhood; Halpern (1999), on the other hand,
asserts that these skills can be taught precociously, but more intentionally during higher education.
Another aspect that would benefit of research concerns the promotion of critical thinking skills in the family context, more specifically
the parents role. Accepting the premise that these skills can (and must)
be developed via direct education from the teacher and a proactive attitude towards learning by the student, we can deduct that the parents
must also have a role in this equation. Remains to ascertain if merely as
mediators who help with homework and hence support the skills that
are expected to be developed through the completion of such activities,
or as an active part in the process of developing such skills, stimulating
them deliberately and according to the attainment of specific goals.
191
Even if until now we have observed the impossibility of a conceptualization that is broadly accepted by those who focus on the concept
of critical thinking, it is essential to give continuity to research and to
make efforts towards the development of knowledge in this area. There
is lacking an attempt to build an approach both wider and grounded
in valid assessment efforts, which is able to contain the diversity of
perspectives and characteristics that the myriad of authors associate to
critical thinking, as to make dialogue amongst researchers and between
these and the education system possible. Such an articulation would
be prolific: for the areas advance, for a better quality of the teachinglearning process, for a better adaptation and dynamism in the labor
market, but most of all for a life in society characterized by critical
reflection and dialogue.
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Recibido: 2 de febrero de 2011
Aceptado: 15 de marzo de 2011
195
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European Journal of Teacher Education

Vol. 35, No. 1, February 2012, 3956
Incorporating critical thinking in the pedagogical content of a

teacher education programme: does it make a difference?
Banu Ycel Toya* and Ahmet Okb
a
Faculty of Commerce and Tourism Education, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey; bFaculty of
Education, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
Recent educational policies, national reports, and voluminous literature stress
that critical thinking (CT) is an essential skill in any stage of schooling for producing critical thinkers and ensuring better learning. The importance of teaching
CT has been raised in teacher education programmes because students are supposed to teach this skill in schools in the future. This study therefore assesses
the effects of a CT-based pedagogical course on student teachers content
knowledge and CT disposition. A pre-testpost-test experimental study was carried out in a vocational pre-service teacher education programme in Turkey.
Although the students who were exposed to CT-based instruction showed better
progress in both academic achievement and CT disposition than in traditional
instruction, this result was not statistically signicant according to the Mixed
Factorial ANOVA and ANCOVA results.
Keywords: critical thinking; critical thinking-based instruction; critical thinking
disposition; academic achievement; teacher education
Theoretical background
Critical thinking (CT)-based instruction, i.e. structuring a course by means of activities and strategies fostering CT, has been lauded for improving both CT skills and
effective learning. It is acknowledged that meaningful learning can be attained by
involving thinking skills in all school-level subjects (Zohar and Dori 2003) because
this approach allows students to use their skills in a meaningful context and helps
them to learn the subject matter in depth and to apply it in out-of-school settings
(Johnson 2000; Beyer 1988). Indeed, improving student thinking is important not
only for mastering given subject matter but also for coping with the challenging
demands of todays world issues (Burden 1998; Halpern 1999; McTighe and Schollenberger 1991). For this reason, teaching thinking skills has been the subject of
research, articles, and books for years (e.g. Beyer 1988; Costa 1991; Eggen and
Kauchak 2001; McGregor 2007; Moseley et al. 2005; Paul et al. 1989).
Although there are various thinking skills and strategies that can be used to structure the teaching and learning process of any subject matter, course, or programme,
CT is especially prominent because it is a comprehensive and sophisticated higherorder thinking skill. Unfortunately, on account of being complex and broad, CT is
*Corresponding author. Email: byucel@gazi.edu.tr
ISSN 0261-9768 print/ISSN 1469-5928 online
2012 Association for Teacher Education in Europe
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2011.634902
http://www.tandfonline.com
40
B. Ycel Toy and A. Ok
sometimes considered to be synonymous with thinking skills. In this sense, Beyer

(1988) species the differences of CT from major thinking strategies (problemsolving, decision-making, and conceptualising) and micro-thinking skills (e.g. recalling, translating, interpreting). CT is different from major thinking strategies because
it is less complex and does not consist of a sequence of operations and subordinate
procedures but CT can be used at various points in each of the above mentioned
major thinking strategies. Moreover, CT is more complex than micro-thinking skills.
Therefore, Beyer (1995) places CT somewhere between major thinking strategies
and micro-thinking skills. Another feature peculiar to CT is the necessity of a number of dispositions and attitudes that constitute alertness, willingness, and a desire
for CT. Beyond all these, CT is evaluative in nature. Thus, Beyer (1995) simply
denes CT as making reasoned judgements and sees CT as applying criteria to judge
the quality of something. Indeed, there is no clear consensus on the denition of CT
but it is widely accepted that the roots of the conception of CT are grounded in the
work of John Dewey (1933) on reective thinking. Dewey, who is generally seen as
the pioneer of the CT tradition, calls CT reective thinking (Fisher 2001) and
denes it as . . .active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed
form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends (Dewey 1933, 9). In other words, Dewey considers CT to be
an active, persistent, and careful thinking process in which one actively thinks about
things, raises questions, nds the relevant information, considers the grounds or
reasons for ones own belief and its logical consequences, scrutinises evidence,
works out the implications of various hypotheses, compares results with each other
and with known facts instead of accepting beliefs unhesitatingly and jumping to a
conclusion or taking a decision without thinking about it (Dewey 1933; Fisher
2001). Later, in 1990, a group of experts in the Delphi Research Project arrived at a
denition of CT which stated that it was . . . purposeful, self-regulatory judgment
which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as the
explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based (Facione 1990, 3). Recently,
Paul and Elder (2006, xxiv) have given a brief denition of CT, which the present
study is based upon, as thinking explicitly aimed at well-founded judgment, utilising the appropriate evaluative standards in an attempt to determine the true worth,
merit, or value of something. They consider CT to be self-directed, self-disciplined,
self-monitored, and self-corrective purposeful thinking in any subject area or topic
so that the thinker systematically displays intellectual habits such as intellectual
perseverance, intellectual humility, intellectual empathy, intellectual courage,
intellectual autonomy, intellectual integrity, faith in reason, and fair-mindedness, and
continually analyses, assesses, and reconstructs his or her thinking to improve its
quality. In light of the abovementioned conceptions of CT, the characteristics of a
strong critical thinker can be enumerated as asking clearly and precisely formulated
questions and problems, gathering and assessing relevant information, coming to
well-reasoned conclusions and solutions by testing them against relevant criteria and
standards, thinking open-mindedly of alternative perspectives by recognising and
assessing their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences, and communicating effectively in nding solutions to problems (Paul and Elder 2006).
As to why CT has been positioned in the teaching and learning process, in the
education system students are overwhelmed by information but this is useless for
effective learning as the given information cannot be absorbed fully. Although there
41
are education systems which assume that acquisition of knowledge consisting of

information, concepts, principles, and skills within a subject means recalling or
repeating what teachers or textbooks say, this knowledge is nothing more than a set
of words in students minds with no meaning, signicance, or use. To go beyond
this supercial memorisation to deep learning, Paul et al. (1989) explain that students have belief systems and in order to learn they need actively to reshape these
systems. In other words, to be able to understand new ideas, concepts, or principles,
they should make their present beliefs explicit, struggle through the problems a new
idea creates in their mind, and build a new mental structure or system of beliefs by
slowly reshaping the old system into a new and better body of thought. In this context, incorporating CT into instructional practice provides a learning environment in
which students are encouraged to apply CT skills in a given subject matter as a
means of restructuring their thoughts to integrate new facts, skills, and principles
within that subject matter by learning to think by thinking, learning to learn by
learning, learning to judge by judging and by assessing their thinking, learning, and
judging (Paul et al. 1989). CT-based instruction gives CT tasks to students to use
the power of their minds to clarify, judge, and reason. For instance, in a class, if
students are asked to assess the reliability of sources and biases in information
given in various textbooks, they make critical judgements, gain a deep critical perspective on the given information and their interest in the topic is enhanced, but if
they are directed to read only their textbook to get the facts, they do not use CT
skills and gain knowledge without deep understanding (Swartz, Fischer, and Parks
1998). Therefore, Semerci (2003) stresses that CT allows for better learning of subject matter, transferring it to new situations, and developing evaluation skills. As
stated by Hughes and Lavery (2004), a person should be able to use the information
in his/her head to recognise and assess its implications and consequences, and this
can be achieved via CT. Furthermore, in order to cope with the demands of life and
the expectations of a changing society, CT is seen as a major skill that should be
gained at any stage of schooling.
In integrating CT into course content, Paul et al. (1989) propose remodelling
lesson plans by incorporating questions and activities that encourage critical
thought. They give a list of CT strategies, each of which emphasises an aspect of
CT by taking the affective domain of mental processes into consideration (Appendix 1). They also explain ways to encourage the use of these strategies in a course.
Their list is composed of 35 strategies that a critical thinker possesses and has been
used widely in research (e.g. Aybek 2006; zdemir 2005; Reed and Kromrey 2001;
ahinel 2001). These strategies are divided into two groups of mental structures: (1)
affective strategies constituting traits of mind, and (2) cognitive strategies including
procient micro-skills and rened macro-skills. Both domains are important and
complementary to each other. Moreover, affective strategies are the basis of intellectual traits of mind that the best, strongest, and most fair-minded thinkers possess
because the unmotivated or those who have no inclination toward critical thinking
can neither learn how to think critically nor think critically; thus, peoples affective
domain should be emphasised as much as their cognitive one in CT-based instruction (Paul and Elder 2006).
In addition to these strategies, in CT-based instruction, teachers should maintain
a learning environment in which students are encouraged to explore their own
minds and to realise the power of their own minds and the efcacy of their own
thinking. To this end, teachers should:
42

help students to break big questions or tasks into smaller, more manageable parts; create meaningful contexts in which learning is valued by students; help students to clarify their thoughts by rephrasing or asking questions; pose thought-provoking
questions; help to keep discussion focused; encourage students to explain things to
each other; help students to nd what they need to know by suggesting and showing
students how to use resources; and ensure that students do justice to each view, that
no views are ignored, or unfairly dismissed. (Paul et al. 1989, 23)
All these discussions regarding the importance of teaching CT at any educational

level and teachers roles in this mission lead to the recognition that CT is much
more important in teacher education because student teachers are supposed to teach
or implement this skill in their classes in the future and it is not possible to do this
without learning what to teach and how to teach it. In other words, shaping the
thinking and teaching practices of future teachers and aiding them to discover the
potential of their own minds are important if they are to have good CT and problem-solving skills because only if they possess these skills will they be able to educate a generation of critical thinkers and problem-solvers (Paul, Elder and Bartell
1997). Therefore, CT should be integrated into all aspects of teacher education programmes so as to foster the CT skills of student teachers. However, teaching thinking skills or integrating thinking skills into subject matter have not been
encountered widely in teacher education and this deciency requires detailed study.
Actually, there have been a huge number of studies on CT-based instruction but
they are generally about the determination of students CT level (e.g. Lampert
2007; McBride, Xiang and Wittenburg 2002; White and Hargrove 1996) or its
impact on course achievement or the development of CT skills or dispositions (e.g.
Burbach, Matkin and Fritz 2004; Harrigan and Vincenti 2004; Reed and Kromrey
2001; Solon 2007; Tsui 2002; Williams, Oliver and Stockdale 2004). Research that
incorporates CT in the pedagogical content of teacher education would therefore
help to ll the gap in the literature.
To this end, in this study, the CT strategies of Paul et al. (1989) were integrated
into a compulsory undergraduate pedagogical course in order to improve the course.
The main purpose was to evaluate the effect of the courses enrichment with CTbased instruction on learning and disposition toward CT and to compare results with
those of traditional instruction that has been and continues to be applied in the
course. Therefore, the present study was guided by the following main research
questions:
Is there a signicant difference
instruction in terms of students
Is there a signicant difference
instruction in terms of students
between CT-based instruction and traditional

academic achievement?
between CT-based instruction and traditional
disposition toward CT?
Method
Study context
This study was carried out in a vocational pre-service teacher education programme
at a public university in Turkey. The duration of the vocational teacher education
programmes in Turkey is four years and students are required to pass teacher
education courses, vocational subject courses, and common courses (e.g. electives,
43
history) during the programme. In this study, the Development and Learning course,
also known as educational psychology or human development in teacher education
programmes around the world, was redesigned to accommodate CT-based instruction. This three-hour course taught in the second year aims at equipping student
teachers with skills, knowledge, and attitudes in the context of child development
and learning.
Before implementation of the redesigned course, all students registered for it in
the autumn semester of the 200607 academic year were divided into four groups:
two treatment and two control groups and a prepost quasi-experimental design test
was applied. The researcher was the instructor of the course for all groups.
Procedure
In the control groups, the existing instructional methods used by the instructor for
three years were applied and henceforth, this instruction in the control groups will
be expressed as traditional instruction. Although lecturing was the basic teaching
method, the questioning technique was also used from time to time. A follow-up
test was given at the end of each session. Moreover, in the last eight weeks, the students were asked to perform group drama about learning theories in order to demonstrate how learning theories appear in social and educational contexts.
In the experimental group, the course was designed and implemented according
to the CT-based instruction. Before designing the course, a needs assessment study
was carried out in the 200506 academic year with 321 sophomore, junior, and
senior students who had already taken this course, 28 graduates, the vice-chair of
the department, an instructor of teacher education courses, and a professor experienced in teacher education. The purpose of this need analysis was to ascertain needs
and preferences in relation to the course. A needs assessment questionnaire was
applied to students and graduates and interviews were conducted with the vice-chair
of the department, the instructor, and the professor. They were asked about students accomplishment in attaining course objectives, the importance and necessity
of course content, the effectiveness of teaching-learning activities/strategies for
learning and thinking skills and their frequency of usage in the course, the effectiveness of assessment techniques and their preferences about activities/strategies
and the assessment techniques that should be used in this course for effective learning. In brief, the results of individual interviews revealed the need for teaching
practice to put theory into practice and thought-provoking learning environments.
Data gathered from the questionnaires for undergraduates and graduates elicited that
they had problems in attaining the course objectives although they generally considered these objectives important to attain. The ndings also highlighted that this
problem might have been arisen from inadequacy and the ineffectiveness of the
teaching-learning process of the course because according to the responses, the
activities specied as effective for learning and improving thinking skills had been
never, rarely, or only occasionally implemented on the course. For effective instruction, the students and graduates preferred active learning activities (i.e., drama, discussion, case studies, group work), thinking skill based activities, more interaction
and participation in the classroom. Briey, the results addressed the instructional
problems and preferences. It was supposed that CT-based instruction would remedy
these problems because it is considered important for effective instruction, teacher
education and even for contemporary life. Thus, the course was redesigned in
44
accordance with CT-based instruction by taking the abovementioned needs assessment results and CT literature into consideration.
The Inductive Model of Eggen and Kauchak (2001) for teaching thinking skills
was applied. The 35 CT strategies dened by Paul et al. (1989) were integrated into
the course content (Appendix 1). For each course topic, objectives and CT strategies
were determined, as shown in Table 1. Each topic was taught through tasks, activities, and questions encouraging the determined CT skills that were a means leading
to the intended objectives. Before tasks and activities, the application of the determined CT skills was introduced briey by the instructor. The instruction model followed for 14 weeks had ve phases:
(1) Lesson introduction. Students were notied about the objectives and CT
strategies, which would be applied in the lesson, and a brief overview of the
topic was presented. Then, tasks that they were expected to master through
given examples such as case studies, role playing, and articles were given
and what they were supposed to do was explained. How the CT strategies
would be applied was demonstrated by the instructor.
(2) The open-ended phase. By taking the CT strategies of Paul et al. (1989) into
account and using Socratic questioning, students were asked to analyse and
evaluate cases, to solve the problems given in the examples, to clarify and
analyse the meanings of concepts, to compare and contrast situations, to note
similarities and differences, to identify students and teachers behaviours
related to development stages and related to learning approaches/theories,
etc.
(3) The convergent phase. Students were stimulated to nd denitions of the
concepts, principles or characteristics of development and learning theories,
and the differences, similarities, strengths and weaknesses of the theories,
without wandering from the topic.
Table 1. An example of the instructional objectives and the CT strategies for Kohlbergs
theory of moral development topic.
Instructional objectives
The students will be able to
know moral development processes according to Kohlbergs theory
understand Kohlbergs theory of moral development
follow students moral development process
understand individual differences among students in terms of moral development
help students moral development
prepare educational environment towards improving students moral development level
Critical thinking strategies
S-11 Comparing analogous situations: transferring insights to new contexts
S-12 Developing ones perspective: creating or exploring beliefs, arguments, or theories
S-20 Analysing or evaluating actions or policies
S.24 Practicing Socratic discussion: clarifying and questioning beliefs, theories, or
perspective
S-28 Comparing and contrasting ideals with actual practice
S-29 Noting signicant similarities and differences
S-32 Making plausible inferences, predictions, or interpretations
S-35 Exploring implications and consequences
45
(4) Closure. In this phase, denitions, principles, characteristics, differences,

similarities, strengths and weaknesses were stated briey, the relationships
among them were formed and their implications in the learning environment
were discussed by students in the light of the preceding phases.
(5) The application phase. Finally, in order to apply what was learned, several
assignments were given to students. Some were completed in the class
through group work, some were done at home.
Within this model, a variety of active learning strategies stimulating the involvement of students in the active use of CT skills were included, such as questioning,
case studies, thinking skill activities (e.g. comparing, decision-making, problemsolving), puzzles, poster presentation, role playing, graphic organisers, article critique, and projects (Andersen 2002; McDade 1995; Paul et al. 1989; Potts 1994).
Students were supposed to be actively involved in their own learning and to intellectually interact, with each other and the instructor, through thinking skills activities; they were required to research, read, analyse, and discuss cases, issues, or
events. In Table 2, an example lesson for the Kohlbergs theory of moral development topic is briey explained in order to clarify how a topic was taught both in
the control and treatment groups.
Participants
All students in the treatment and control groups (N=174) were involved in the
study. An achievement test was developed and administered to all students as a pretest at the beginning of the semester, as a post-test at the end of the semester, and
as a retention test six weeks after the end of the semester. The numbers of the students who participated in the pre-test, post-test, and retention test were 156, 174,
and 135, respectively. The number of participants changed according to their availability at the testing time. The CCTDI-T was also administered to the students as
pre-test and post-test. In total, 146 students participated in the pre-test and 166 students in the post-test.
Data collection instruments
Achievement test
The achievement test included 40 multiple-choice questions measuring knowledge
of the content of the course. The test was reviewed by four instructors from the
eld of educational sciences who were teaching/had taught the Development and
Learning course. Then, for piloting purposes, the test was administered to 171
junior students who had already taken the course. The test was revised based on the
item analyses carried out by means of Iteman software. The reliability of the nal
test, Kuder Richardson (KR)-20, was found to be 0.64, which is an acceptable interval according to Linn and Gronlund (2005).
California critical thinking disposition inventory (CCDTI)
The CCTDI was utilised in order to determine the impact of CT-based instruction
on the students disposition toward CT. This inventory was developed from the
results of the Delphi Report in which CT and disposition toward CT were
46
Table 2. A brief lesson example in the treatment and control groups for the Kohlbergs
theory of moral development topic.
A lesson example in treatment groups
Lesson introduction: The students were informed about the instructional objectives and
CT strategies regarding the topic. Information about what they would do in the lesson was
given. Then, the instructor gave brief information about Kohlberg and his study.
The open-ended phase. A case study, which was a story of a student in an exam, was
read. In the story, there was a student who had to work all night before exam day and
thus could not prepare properly for the exam. During the examination, the most
hardworking student in the class was seated in front of him and he could see her paper.
After reading this story, 5 volunteer students were asked to do improvisation of the story.
After their role play, the discussion question Should he cheat or not? Why? was asked to
the class and let them to think about this question. The instructor explained how to apply
the S-20, S-24, S-32 CT strategies while discussing this question and requested students
to use these strategies. Then another case was explained (Heinzs story by Kohlberg) and
the question Should he steal the medicine for the sake of his wifes life? Why or why
not? was asked. The responses were discussed (S-20, S-24, S-32). Regarding Kohlbergs
theory of moral development, the following questions were also asked to encourage
developing ones perspective: creating or exploring beliefs, arguments, or theories (S-12)
strategy: What are the differences among the responses; what are the moral beliefs and
values behind these responses; how can we classify these beliefs? etc.
The convergent phase. Students were stimulated to nd the characteristics and differences
of moral development in the stages of Kohlbergs theory through the discussions and
questions in the previous phase (S-12, S-29). Then, two cases and possible moral
responses were given and grouped according to moral development stages together with
students in the class (S-11).
Closure. In this phase, the characteristics, differences, strengths and weaknesses of
Kohlbergs theory were stated briey. The students were asked to criticise the theory in
terms of ideal and actual practice (S-28). Then, the students were asked to discuss the
educational implications of Kohlbergs theory of moral development to stimulate the
exploring implications and consequences (S-35) strategy.
The application phase. Finally, in order to apply what was learned, students were divided
into groups and two case studies (What should Dilara do? and What should Can do?)
were given to the groups. The groups were asked to select one of the cases and analyse it
in terms of moral development and ll out the graphic organiser for decision making that
was given by the instructor. In this graphic organiser, students were asked to make
possible decisions, to evaluate alternatives and implications, and to explain the reasons
lying behind their responses. The purpose was to encourage comparing analogous
situations: transferring insights to new contexts (S-11), analysing or evaluating actions or
policies (S-20) and exploring implications and consequences (S-35) strategies.
A lesson example in control groups
The students were informed about the instructional objectives regarding moral
development, and then Kohlberg and his study were explained. Heinzs case was
presented. The question what would you do if you were Heinz and why? was asked to
students. After that, the moral development stages were introduced by the instructor. The
instructor explained different cases and gave examples for each stage. By asking the
students for the characteristics of each stage, the instructor summarised the topic. At the
end of the lesson, a follow-up test was given. After they completed the test, the answers
were given and students were asked to check their own responses. The instructor
completed the lesson by explaining the points that were misunderstood or were not
understood at all.
Note. Each of the CT strategies that were implemented during the lesson was elucidated by the
instructor prior to the given tasks.
47
conceptualised by a group of CT experts (Facione et al. 1995). The original CCTDI

includes 75 items loaded on seven constructs: inquisitiveness, open-mindedness,
systematicity, analyticity, truth-seeking, CT self-condence, and maturity.
Kkdemir (2003) carried out an adaptation study to transform this inventory into
a Turkish version. In this version, 51 items were kept in the scale and open-mindedness and maturity were loaded on one construct. The reliability of the whole scale
was found to be 0.88. Reliability coefcients of each subscale ranged from 0.61 to
0.78. This adapted version of the inventory, called CCTDI-T, was used in this
study.
Data analysis
To determine the mean differences between and within the groups in terms of the
students progress from the achievement pre-test to the post-test, from the achievement post-test to the retention test, and from the CCTDI-T pre-test to the post-test,
mixed factorial ANOVA and mixed factorial ANCOVA were applied because these
analyses test mean differences between groups and within repeated measures concurrently (Field 2005). In the analysis of the achievement tests, the cumulative
grade point average (CGPA) variable was treated as a covariate in order to adjust
the score means with the aim of revealing what it would be if these groups had
been equal in terms of CGPA, so a mixed factorial ANCOVA was run. In these
analyses, type of instruction (CT-based vs traditional) was the independent variable
and the achievement test and CCTDI-T scores were dependent variables. For all
quantitative data analyses, SPSS 15.0 was used.
Results
Academic achievement of the students
In the study, a 2 (groups: treatment and control) X 3 (testing time: pre-test, posttest, and retention test) mixed factorial ANCOVA was used to test the effect of the
type of instruction on the students academic achievement when controlling CGPA.
Group status (treatment vs control) was a between-subjects factor and the time of
the repeated achievement tests (pre-test, pos-test and retention test) was a withinsubjects repeated factor. The descriptive statistics in relation to the test scores that
entered the analysis are presented in Table 3.
Table 3. Means and standard deviations of the achievement pre-test, post-test, and retention
test scores.
Time
Groups
Pre-test
Treatment
Control
Total
Treatment
Control
Total
Treatment
Control
Total
Post-test
Retention test
SD
13.04
13.86
13.48
21.49
22.28
21.92
17.64
17.52
17.57
3.29
2.83
3.07
4.39
4.79
4.61
3.85
4.41
4.14
55
65
120
55
65
120
55
65
120
48
Table 4. Mixed factorial ANCOVA results for the main and interaction effects of time,
groups and CGPA on the students achievement.
df
Partial g2
Within-subjects effects
Time
Time X CGPA
Time X groups
Error
1.85a
1.85a
1.85a
216.86 a
7.93
20.51
2.09
.00
.00
.13
.06
.15
.02
Between-subjects effects
CGPA
Groups
Error
1
1
117
75.61
.02
.00
.89
.39
.00
Source
Notes. a According to the test of sphericity, the assumption of sphericity was violated (Mauchlys W =
.92, df = 2, p = .01). Therefore, Greenhouse and Geisser corrections for F-ratio were used.
The results showed that the mean of all students test scores in the study signicantly differed according to the testing time, F(1.85, 216.86) = 7.93, p < 0.05
(Table 4). The effect size of 0.06 was at medium level. This result did not change
even when the students CGPA scores were controlled, F(1.85, 216.86) = 20.51, p <
0.05, partial g2= 0.15. The contrast test results showed, however, that there was only
a signicant difference between pre-test and post-test mean scores (F[1, 117] = 24.18,
p< 0.05, partial g2 = 0.17), but not between post-test and retention test mean scores
when CGPA was controlled. These results showed that whichever instruction the students were exposed to, their mean achievement level signicantly increased from pretest to post-test, but the loss of knowledge from post-test to retention test was not signicant when the effect of CGPA on the test scores was taken into account.
Concerning group differences, rstly it was tested whether there was a signicant
difference between traditional instruction and CT-based instruction in terms of the
students mean achievement score in all tests after controlling their CGPA. According
to the mixed factorial ANCOVA results, the average performance of the students in
the treatment group in all tests was not signicantly different from that of the students
in the control group, after controlling the effect of CGPA scores (Table 4). Next, in
order to ascertain the signicance of group differences at each test, the interaction
effect between time and groups was tested because the presence of this effect would
indicate the impact of CT-based instruction on the students scores in each test in
comparison with traditional instruction. The results showed that there was no signicant interaction effect. This result implied that the students in both groups performed
similarly in each test. In short, CT-based instruction did not cause signicant difference to the students achievement and retention compared with traditional instruction
even though the students in the treatment groups showed more progress from pre-test
to post-test and had higher mean score on retention test as shown in Figure 1.
Critical thinking dispositions of the students
In order to test whether the course instruction improved the CT dispositions of the
students, a 2 (groups: treatment and control) X 2 (testing time: pre-test and
post-test) mixed factorial ANOVA was used. The descriptive statistics regarding the
CCTDI-T scores that entered the analysis are presented in Table 5.
49
21,91
22
21,93
Estimated Marginal Means
20
18,06
Groups
18
treatment
control
17,17
16
14
13,8
13,11
12
Pretest
Posttest
Retention Test
Time (Testing time)
Figure 1. Estimated marginal mean scores in the achievement pre-test, post-test, and
retention test.
The results showed that for the students in both groups there was a signicant
difference from pre-test (Mestimated marginal = 227.12) to post-test (Mestimated marginal =
231.12), F(1, 137) = 6.53, p < 0.05 (Table 6). This signied that the tendency of
all students to use CT skills signicantly increased, on average, within a term but
with a small effect size (partial g2= 0.05). Notwithstanding this result, the pre-test
and post-test mean scores (lower than 240) in both groups showed that the CT disposition of the students was, on average, still low in accordance with the criteria
given by Kkdemir (2003): an adapted CCTDI-T score of less than 240 means low
disposition and a score higher than 300 means high disposition.
The results also revealed that the mean of the CCTDI-T pre-test and post-test
scores did not signicantly differ between groups (Table 6). In other words, there
was no signicant difference in the effect of CT-based instruction on the CT disposition of the students compared with traditional instruction. It can be inferred from
Table 5. Means and standard deviations of the CCTDI-T pre-test and post-test scores.
Pre-test
Post-test
Treatment
Control
Total
Treatment
Control
Total
SD
225.13
229.12
226.88
230.05
232.20
231.00
20.25
18.44
19.51
19.08
21.31
20.04
78
61
139
78
61
139
50
Table 6. Mixed factorial ANOVA results for the main and interaction effects of time and
groups on the CT disposition of the students.
Source
Within-subjects effects
Time
Time X groups
Error
Between-subjects effects
Groups
Error
df
Partial g2
1
1
137
6.53
.35
.01
.56
.05
.00
1
137
1.05
.31
.01
this result that the students in both groups, on average, showed a similar tendency
to use CT skills.
Finally, the signicance of progress from pre-test to post-test was compared
between groups. As can be seen from Figure 2, despite being smaller, progress from
pre-test to post-test was higher for the treatment groups when compared with that
for the control groups, but this did not cause any signicant difference between
groups. For this reason, it can be stated that CT-based instruction did not result in
any remarkable change in the students disposition from pre-test to post-test in comparison with traditional instruction.
234,00
232,20
Estimated Marginal Means
232,00
230,05
230,00
Groups
treatment
control
229,12
228,00
226,00
225,13
224,00
Pretest
Posttest
Time
Figure 2. Estimated marginal mean scores in the CCTDI-T pre-test and post-test.
51
Discussion
The main purpose of this study was to explore whether CT-based instruction would
not only stimulate CT but also provide effective learning better than traditional
instruction. It was anticipated that as a result of being involved in active learning
and activities provoking critical thinking, interacting with peers and the instructor at
an intellectual level, students would gain content knowledge in a more meaningful
way and their disposition to think critically would increase.
And yet, in relation to the students subject knowledge in terms of learning
and retention, tests revealed that CT-based instruction affected neither content
acquisition nor retention differently from traditional instruction. The underlying
reason for the similar performance of the groups might be the use of activities
enhancing learning in both groups, as observed in Reed and Kromreys (2001)
study in which explicit teaching of Pauls CT model in a US history course
resulted in no difference between treatment and control groups in terms of content knowledge. They considered that this result derived from the use of activities
facilitating learning in both groups. This view is worth taking into account in the
current study as well. Although a variety of active learning strategies cultivating
CT skills were used in the treatment groups, drama and follow-up tests that are
deemed as effective tools for learning and retention were used in the control
groups. It is claimed that drama is of value in understanding and retaining
knowledge, placing learning in meaningful contexts, engaging in realistic problems, and developing thinking skills and metacognition (Andersen 2002; Henry
2000). Regarding weekly follow-up tests, Myers and Myers (2007) found that the
academic achievement of undergraduate students taking bi-weekly exams was
higher than that of the students taking hour-long mid-term exams. Huba and
Freed (2000) allege that the use of frequent tests allows communication between
teacher and students so that students can gain feedback about their performance
and adjust their study habits accordingly. In short, the impact of drama and follow-up tests on the enhancement of learning might have overshadowed the
impact of CT-based instruction on content acquisition.
On the one hand, CT-based instruction is advocated for enhancing subject
learning in addition to promoting CT skills; on the other hand, whether or not
teaching CT skills in the course content limits the time required for gaining content knowledge has been argued and investigated (Adey 1991; Reed and Kromrey
2001; Solon 2007). It is stated that as tasks or activities regarding thinking skills
take time, less time is left for covering course content in treatment groups.
Therefore, performing similarly in the achievement test in spite of having less
time for content is interpreted as evidence showing that incorporating thinking
skills into subject matter does not hinder content learning. From this perspective
it can be concluded that CT-based instruction in the Development and Learning
course did not cause any sacrice in terms of content learning in comparison
with traditional instruction.
In a review study by Lohman (1986) about the negative or mathemathanic
effects of interventions for teaching thinking skills, he draws attention to the question of whether previously acquired cognitive strategies assist or interfere with
attempts to acquire new ways of thinking and learning. Concerning the current
study, although the students were actively involved in the given tasks, they may not
have adapted to CT-based instruction well and they may have continued to use their
52
previous learning styles. Thus, they could have performed similarly to those in the
control groups. Whereas, if the instruction had been executed for longer than a
semester, the students might have adapted to the instruction as a result of more
practice and its impact on learning might have been observed because it is stated
that with continuous practice for a longer period of time and with hard study,
students will show higher achievement and goals will be met (Kirkwood 2000;
Lohman 1986).
This study also aimed to stimulate the students CT disposition in the treatment
groups because if students are not inclined to use CT skills, teaching these skills
will be pointless (Halpern 1999). The CCTDI-T results showed that the students
disposition toward CT in both groups increased signicantly over a semester, but
the progress in the treatment groups was not different from the control groups as
regards the mean scores in the pre-test and post-test. Similarly, Reed and Kromrey
(2001) did not nd any difference in the CCTDI scores between treatment and control groups as a result of explicit teaching of CT. Nevertheless, they did not observe
signicant progress between the CCTDI pre- and post-test mean scores of the students in the treatment group, either. CT skill is a complex skill that cannot be
gained quickly so it entails time, effort, and practice (Van Gelder 2005). For this
reason, one academic semester would not have been adequate for the students to
attain CT skills and dispositions so as to create a signicant difference between the
two groups.
Despite the improvement of the students CT disposition in both groups from
pre-test to post-test, it should be noted that the CCTDI-T mean score of the students
was still low (less than 240) according to the criteria given by Kkdemir (2003).
Low disposition among the students might stem from the prole of students in the
faculty. From the situated-cognition perspective that denes thinking skills as social
practices exercised and shared within a community, a persons disposition is shaped
by his/her beliefs and the values of which he/she is convinced in a community; thus
the characteristics of culture and context, such as sensitivity toward thinking critically and the power of social practice on the development and application of CT,
have been stressed (Kuhn 1999; Pithers and Soden 2000). Accordingly, if CT has
not been encouraged in the communities where students live, expecting signicant
development in students thinking skills may not be reasonable. This perspective,
however, entails further research regarding students who enter universities with an
underdeveloped ability to think critically.
In conclusion, this study showed that the integration of CT skills into a pedagogical course did not render student teachers content knowledge and CT dispositions different from those acquired in traditional instruction. However, it may
offer several implications for practice and research. Firstly, it is accepted that
improvements in a CT-based learning environment require more time and practice. Therefore, CT-based instruction should not be specic to any one course,
but should be incorporated in other teacher education courses and subject courses
as a way of learning not opposed to, but as well as, other student-centred
instructional methods and as a way of promoting higher order cognitive processes
in classrooms. Opportunities for practising thinking skills should be given in a
variety of educational settings continuously, consistently, and for a longer period
of time. Additionally, if teaching CT can be extended in terms of time and
courses, and if thinking skills can be presented in a hierarchical way from basic
to higher-order skills, students may become more familiar with CT skills and
53
become used to applying these skills effectively in learning over the course of
time. In this way, the actual impact of endeavours to enhance the learning and
development of CT and CT disposition can be observed. Next, the low level of
CT disposition among the students in the study might derive from a previous
educational life that did not support thinking. This result shows that not only
educational policies but also actual practices should reect belief in the importance of developing learners CT at all levels of schooling, because only in this
way can the CT levels of students entering higher education institutions be
raised. Lastly, the results demonstrated that drama and weekly follow-up tests in
the traditional classroom were effective means for content acquisition and therefore their use as teaching and learning tools in any course can also be recommended. In terms of the implications for research, further research might focus
on the time or place effects of the CT-based instruction implemented over a
longer period of time and in different educational settings, disciplines, subjects or
courses on learning and CT skills, because in this study this instruction was
implemented only in a course in a vocational teacher education faculty. Moreover, whether previously acquired cognitive strategies assist or interfere with
using newly taught skills in learning might be investigated. Another issue that is
open to question for further research might be the impact of culture or previous
educational life on the development of CT skills and dispositions. In this study,
CGPA was used as a covariate in order to provide equivalence between groups
in terms of academic achievement. In future studies, demographic and cultural
characteristics and learning styles/strategies can be controlled as well. Finally, the
rst author was the instructor of the course in both treatment and control groups
in this study. The purpose was to eliminate the potential impact of instructors
different teaching styles. However, one might wonder whether being taught by
the same instructor was the cause of the lack of signicant differences between
the treatment and control groups in this study. For this reason, in a further study
CT-based instruction might be implemented in similar groups for the same course
by different instructors, and instructor effects might be compared.
Acknowledgements
This paper is a part of the rst authors dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of
Social Sciences of Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey, in partial fullment
of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of
Educational Sciences and carried out under the second authors supervisor. She wishes to
thank her advisor Associate Professor Dr Ahmet Ok and her committee members: Associate
Professor Dr Gary M. Grossman from Arizona State University, Professor Dr Ali Yldrm,
Professor Dr Soner Yldrm, and Assistant Professor Dr Yesim C
apa Aydn from METU for
their contributions.
Notes on contributors
Banu Ycel Toy is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Commerce and Tourism
Education in Gazi University, Turkey. Her research focuses on teacher education, curriculum
evaluation, and critical thinking. She is also interested in research methodology.
Ahmet Ok is an associate professor at the Department of Educational Sciences in Middle
East Technical University, Turkey. He is specialised in teacher education, teacher quality,
quality standards and accreditation, curriculum evaluation and environmental education. His
recent projects focus on environmental education and learning environment quality.
54
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56
Appendix 1
Strategy list: 35 dimensions of critical thought
S.1.
S.2.
S.3.
S.4.
S.5.
S.6.
S.7.
S.8.
S.9.
Affective Strategies
Thinking independently
Developing insight into egocentricity or sociocentricity
Exercising fair-mindedness
Exploring thoughts underlying feelings and feelings underlying thoughts
Developing intellectual humility and suspending judgment
Developing intellectual courage
Developing intellectual good faith or integrity
Developing intellectual perseverance
Developing condence in reason
Cognitive strategies-Macro Abilities

S.10. Rening generalizations and avoid oversimplications
S.11. Comparing analogous situations: transferring insights to new contexts
S.12. Developing ones perspective: creating or exploring beliefs, arguments, or theories
S.13.Clarifying issues, conclusions, or beliefs
S.14. Clarifying and analysing the meanings of words or phrases
S.15. Developing criteria for evaluation: clarifying values and standards
S.16. Evaluating the credibility of sources of information
S.17. Questioning deeply: raising and pursuing root or signicant questions
S.18. Analysing or evaluating arguments, interpretations, beliefs, or theories
S.19. Generating or assessing solutions
S.20. Analysing or evaluating actions or policies
S.21. Reading critically: clarifying or critiquing texts
S.22. Listening critically: the art of silent dialogue
S.23. Making interdisciplinary connections
S.24. Practicing Socratic discussion: clarifying and questioning beliefs, theories, or
perspectives
S.25. Reasoning dialogically: comparing perspectives, interpretations, or theories
S.26. Reasoning dialectically: evaluating perspectives, interpretations, or theories
S.27.
S.28.
S.29.
S.30.
S.31.
S.32.
S.33.
S.34.
S.35.
Cognitive strategies-Micro Abilities

Comparing and contrasting ideals with actual practice
Thinking precisely about thinking: use critical vocabulary
Noting signicant similarities and differences
Examining and evaluating assumptions
Distinguishing relevant from irrelevant facts
Making plausible inferences, predictions, or interpretations
Evaluating evidence and alleged facts
Recognising contradictions
Exploring implications and consequences
Source: Paul et al. (1989, 56)
Copyright of European Journal of Teacher Education is the property of Routledge and its content may not be
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ABPPLearningandTeachingWorkingPaper
PUBLISHERBPPUNIVERSITYCOLLEGE
PLACEOFPUBLICATIONLONDON
BPP2013
ISBN9781445354569
ReflectivePractice:anonnegotiablerequirementforan
effectiveeducator
SimonPaulAtkinson
BPPUniversityCollege
JohnIrving
BPPUniversityCollege
Thispaperidentifiestheverypersonalcharacteristicsofreflectivepracticeandthe
importanceofemotioninthatprocess.Itexploresthenatureofreflectionserved
bysolitarydeliberationandengagementincommunitiesofpracticeandidentifies
theindividualattributesofreflectionasdefinedbySchnandBrookfield
(Brookfield,1995;Schn,1986).Finally,thispaperprovidesareviewofseveral
reflectivemodelsandsuggeststhatpersonaltransformationandreflectivepractice
mustformthebasisforeffectiveteaching.
Itisimpossibletobecome,andcontinuetobe,aneffectiveteacherwithoutapersonalcommitment
toreflectivepractice.Theverynotionofreflectionisacontestedone;reflectionhasbecomea
desirablecommodityandanecessaryskill;forothersitisasymbolofprofundity.Butwhilst
reflectionhasbeengivenmanydifferentmeanings,usingthesemeaningshasspawnedmultiple
interpretations.Shouldwebecautiousinaddressingthequestionofreflectionandcognisantofthe
thingswedon'tknoworistheabilitytoreflectinnate?Canteacherssupportstudentstoreflector
doesitjustneedtime?Indeed,howdoweknowwhenreflectionoccurs?Howdoweguide
reflection,focusit,harnessitandreuseit?Dopeoplereflectaboutthingsinthesameway?Is
reflectionculturallydependent?
Inthispaperwewillnotattempttoanswerallofthesequestions,insteadseekingtoaddress
perhapsamoremodestgoalofofferingalimitedcontextualdefinitionofreflectioninthecontextof
professionalpracticeandsuggestinghowfacultycanbenefitfromengagementwithit.Wedosoin
thehopethatreaderswill,however,seektoanswertheveryrelevantandpressingquestionsabove
forthemselveswithinthesphereoftheirownpractice.
Intheclosingyearsofthenineteenthcentury,JohnDeweyadvocatedthatthelearnershouldbe
activelyinvolvedinidentifyingproblems,contemplatingsolutions,actinguponthemandanalysing
theprocess.ForDewey,thereflectiononthesolutionprocessmeantbeingactivelyinvolvedin
problemsolving,learningwasaboutsolvingtheproblemorreturningtothereflectiveprocesswitha
viewtosolvingtheproblem(Dewey,1896).Thisfoundationaldefinitionofreflectionisstilluseful
today;noviceandexperiencedfacultyalikeareengagedinaconstantprocessofproblemsolving,
withthatproblemsolvingrevolvingaroundtheirownpractice.Thisisnottosuggestthateach
individual'spracticeisaproblem,butratherthattheprocessofenhancementisinherentlyoneof
identifyinganaspectofpracticewarrantingimprovementandthearticulationofthataspectof
practiceasaproblemtobesolved.Thereflectivepractitionercanbeexpectedtoseetheirpractice
intermsofthisprocessandtodosoinatransparent,selfevidentandselfawareway.
Thereflectiveprocess,anactofselfdeliberationinordertomakesenseofpractice,involvestheuse
ofpreviousexperienceandcontextualawareness.Thismeansboththedevelopmentofthe
mechanismforrecordingorrememberingexperience,ofvaluingitasaccumulationofreflective
assetsanddevelopingtheaffectiveskillstomatchandmarrythisrepertoiretothecontemporary
situation.
Thisdeliberativestageofthereflectiveprocessneednotbesolitary.WhilstDonaldSchons
influentialworkhasfocusedprimarilyontheindividual,heindicatesalsothepotentialvalueofthe
expertview(Schon,1986).Reflectioncanbeseenasafoundationalskillenablingfacultyto
articulatepersonalphilosophyofteachingwhichcanbeusedasthebasisforone'sown
developmentandanunderstandingofothersbeliefsystems(colleaguesandstudents).Reflection
canalsoserveasabenchmarktomeasureandobserveothers'professionalpractices,asafixed
pointaroundwhichanindividualcanrelatetotheethicalunderstandingofteaching.Theintricacies
ofthesedeliberativestagesarealsoaddressedinBrookfield'sfourcriticallenses,describedbelow
(Brookfield,1995).
ItisperhapsbecausetheconceptofreflectionremainscontestedthattheUnitedKingdom
ProfessionalStandardsFramework(UKPSF)doesnotmakeovertreferencetoreflection.Insteadits
ProfessionalValuesespousetheuseofevidenceinformedapproachesanditdescribestheneedto
acknowledgethebroadcontextsinwhichprofessionalpracticeoccurs.Itsareasofactivitydescribe
theneedtodevelopandengageinmultifacetedcontinuingprofessionaldevelopment.Itscore
knowledgeincludesawarenessofappropriatemethods,andmethodsforevaluatingeffectiveness
aswellasthetermawareness.ThewordreflectiondoesnotappearanywhereintheUKPSF
(HigherEducationAcademy,2011).
Howevernuancedourconceptofreflectionis,thereisnodoubtthattheobjectiveofthereflective
practitioneristobeabletoobjectivelyview,toevaluateandtoactononesownpracticebasedon
previousexperienceanddeliberativeactions.Ourcontentionisthatinordertobeaneffective
practitioner,onemustbeareflectivepractitioner.
APERSONALLANDSCAPEFORREFLECTION:EMOTIONSANDCONTEXT
Muchoftheliteratureonreflectionsuggeststhattheindividualissomehowneutral,autonomous
andalreadyselfaware.Consequently,reflectionmightbeseenasagenericskillapplicabletomany
differentcontexts.However,individualsdonotoperateoutsideofadiscerniblecontextandthe
sociallymediatedandsociallysituatednatureofallhumanactivitysuggeststhatawarenessof
contextisessentialtoanawarenessofself.
Thedifferencebetweenbeingabletoperformareflectiveact,assimpleasrecallinganeventand
suggestinghowfutureactionmaydiffer,andengagingorenactinginreflectionasaprocess,is
worthyofattention.Emotionsplayavitalpartinthedevelopmentoffaculty,theirawarenessofself
andtheirabilitytotranslatethepurposeoflearningtothecontextoflearning.Facultybringinto
theirclassroomsnotonlytheemotionalstateofanygivendaybutalsoarepertoireofemotion
derivedfromboththeirownformaleducationalhistory,howeverdistant,andtheiremotional
relationshipstostudents,pastandpresent.Understandingtherelationshipbetweenpersonal
emotions,theirrelationshiptobeliefsystems,assumptionsandattitudes,andtheprofessionaland
culturalcontextinwhichteachingistakingplaceisoftentakenforgranted,wheninfactitisboth
complexandcritical.
Qualityassurancesystemsoftenpaylittleheedtotheaffectivedimensionsofteachingandyetmost
practitionersintheirpersonalreflectionsfinditdifficulttodisentangletheheadfromtheheart.
Simplybecausetheemotionalstateisnotmeasuredinanyevaluationofalearningexperienceby
studentsdoesnotmakeanunderstandingofitanylessimportant.Indeed,theemotionalstateis
notanuncommonfeatureinpeerobservationofteaching,althoughoftendescribedinrestrained
emotionaltermsasbefitsourculturallimitations,butnonethelessaddressingissuessuchas
confidence,empathy,engagementandusingtermssuchasfriendly,supportiveandcaring,allof
whicharedescriptionsofemotionalstates.
Whereasteachingmightbeperceivedbymanyeducationalmanagersasthedevelopmentand
deploymentofskills,mostfacultyregardteachingasapersonal,emotionalactandfrequentlycite
issuesofcare,relationships,andevenconceptsofsocialjustice.Ineducationfortheprofessions
thereisabroaderemotionalcontextinwhichfacultyperceivethemselvesasresponsiblefor
nurturingentiregenerationsoffutureprofessionals.Thereisfrequentlyatensionbetweena
managerialdefinitionofteachingqualityfocusedaroundstandardsandinstructionaltechniqueand
anemotionaldefinitionofteachingdominatedbyconceptsofnurturingandcare.
Aprofessionalisabletoovercomethisfalsedichotomyandtobringtogetherthepersonalaffective
conditionandthecontextuallimitationswhichmightbeimposed.Becomingareflectivepractitioner
isnotentirelyaboutanawarenessofone'spersonalemotionalstateintheclassroombutratheran
awarenessofreflection,deliberationandactionwithinaculturalandinstitutionalcontext.Carol
RodgersoutlinesDeweysnotionofreflectionasacomplex,rigorous,intellectualandemotional
enterpriseinwhichopenmindedness,personalresponsibilityandwholeheartednessshouldbe
present(Rodgers,2002,p.844).Schnalsoadvocatesanopennesstoemotionssuchassurprise,
puzzlement,orconfusion(Schn,1986,p.86).
Therelationshipsbetweenstudentsandteachersareclearlycriticalbothfortheprofessionalwell
beingoftheteacherandthelearningefficacyoftheclassroom.Positiverelationshipsbetween
studentsandteachersoftencentreonteachersnotionsoffeelingcomfortable,ofbeingafriend
andofbeingpersonallyavailable.Managingthoseemotionalrelationshipscanbecomedifficult
whenstudentsbringfacultyintopersonalsituationsinwhichtheybecomeemotionallyengagedbut
overwhichtheyhavenocontrol(Lev,Kolassa&Bakken,2010).
PeterKugelidentifiedtwodistinctphasesinanoviceteachersdevelopmentasaneffective
practitioner,fromanemphasisonteachingtoanemphasisonlearning(Kugel,1993).Theemphasis
onlearningitselfsubdividesintothreestages,fromafocusonself,toafocusonsubjectandfinally
afocusonthestudent.Onlyoncethepractitionerhasachievedthisfocusonthestudentscanthey
moveintothesecondphasewithanemphasisonlearning.Heretoo,Kugelsuggestsathreestep
progressionwiththestudentasreceptivetotheteacher,thestudentasanactiveparticipantintheir
learningandfinallythestudentsasanindependentlearner.
Movingbeyondoneself,beyondthefocusonteaching,canbeasignificantchallenge.Anaffective
concernformanyteachersistheirperceptionthattheteachingthattheyarerequiredtosupportis
lessthanmeaningful.Teachersbeliefaboutthemeaningfulnatureofteachinghasaprofound
effectontheirpractice;teacherswhofindnotetakingdullmaymakeeveryefforttoavoiditintheir
practicetothedetrimentofthosestudentswhofindthisausefulformoflearningsupport.
Conversely,ateachermayreplicatetheirownteachingexperiencetothedetrimentofthosewith
alternativelearningpreferences(Riding,2005).
Anotherimportantaffectivedimensionisthedesireonthepartofmanyteacherstomakea
personalimpact.Theindividualmayhavebothadmirableintentandprofoundconviction,butan
awarenessofthemotivationforwishingtomakeapersonalimpactisoftenabsent.Yetthedesireto
affectothers,toimpactonotherslivesinprofoundways,isnotonetobetakenlightly.Many
teacherssetveryhighexpectationsofthemselvesandareintolerantofcolleagueswhoappeartodo
lessthanthem.
Thereisalsoaninterestingrelationshipbetweenprofessionalselfawarenessandconfidence.The
practitionerabletodrawonarepertoireofexperienceandactaccordinglyhasaconfidencethat
manynovicesdonot,notbecausetheirtechnicalskillsarenecessarilygreaterbutbecausetheyhave
selfassuranceintheirabilitytorespondtotheunforeseen.
REFLECTIVEPRACTITIONERSANDCOMMUNITIESOFPRACTICE
ThereareanumberoftermsusedtodescribecollegialsupportinthecontextoftheUniversity,from
thetermcollegialitytothepopularconceptofcommunitiesofpracticeandthenotionof
intellectualneighbours.Developingprofessionalcontextsthatblendtheeducationalandthe
externalprofessionalvaluesandcultureisparticularlydifficult.
Situatedlearningemphasizestherelationshipbetweenthesocialcontextoflearningandthe
subjectivityoflearningitself(Lave&Wenger,1991).Situatednesshasbecomesynonymouswith
notionsofauthenticity,howeverwemaychoosetoquestionthisrelationship.Situatednesssuggests
thatanyactivity,suchasreflection,existswithinasocialcontextandmakesuseofsociallymediated
toolsandpracticesthatexistwithinthatcontext.Personalreflectionisnolesspersonalforbeing
situatedwithintheprofessionalcontext.Bydefinition,professionalreflectionisthatwhichtakes
placewithinadefinedprofessionalcontext.Itis,therefore,thenatureofthisprofessionalcontext
thatrequiressomeattention.Atitsmostbasicitmightbeseenasonesplaceofwork,ones
immediatecolleaguesandthisyearsassignedcohorts.
Itisalsouseful,webelieve,toconsiderotherdefinitionsofthebroadersocialcontextthatmight
informourownpersonalappreciationofthebreadthanddepthoftheprofessionalcontextinwhich
wereflect.EtienneWengerdescribesthecommunitiesofpracticeinwhichtheprofessionalself
develops(Wenger,1999),BrunoLatourexplorestheconceptoftheactornetwork,inwhichthe
individualpractitionerisanintegratedbutnotwhollyautonomousactor(Latour,2005)andYrj
Engestrmproposescomplexinterrelatedactivitysystemsinwhichthereisaconstantdialogue
betweenmyriadparties(Engestrom,Miettinen,&Punamaki,1999).Morerecently,andwith
referenceincreasinglytothedigitalenvironment,JamesPaulGeediscussessituatedlearning
evolvingwithinnewcomplexdigitallandscapesinthecontextofaffinitygroups(Gee,2008).
Whicheverinterpretationofthecollectivesocialstructureonechoosesasmostsuitabletoones
ownunderstanding,acommonthemeemergesofindividualscomingtogetherinsomeshared,
consciousorunconscious,coconstructionofcontext.
Inthecontextofprofessionaleducation,inwhichaseducatorsweretainacloseaffiliation,
sometimesaparallelidentity,toourprofessionalcommunities,perhapsthemostusefuldefinitionof
thiscollectivesocialcultureistheconceptofthediscoursecommunity.Asaconcept,thisallowsfor
adiscoursetocrosstheboundariesbetweenaprofessioninitseducationalformandaprofessionin
itspractice(Ovens&Tinning,2009).Adiscoursecommunitydoesnotonlydefinetherelativeroles
andrelationshipsofindividualsbutalsotheideasandtheoriesthatprovidesharedmeaningto
actions.Discoursecommunityinthissensemightbridgedifferentcommunitiesofpractice.A
lawyerwhoalsoidentifiesthemselvesasaneducatoreffectivelyspeakstwocommunitylanguages,
andtheabilitytotransitionbetweenthesedifferentlanguagesisaskillnottobeunderestimated.
Thenatureoftheindividualandtheirreflection,anddiscoursecommunityanditscollective
reflections,aredistinctandcomplementary.Theindividualmightbestunderstandhisorherown
processwithreferencetoasharedcommunityperspective.Whilstthisrisksaperpetuationof
existinginequalitiesandprejudiceswithinanygivendiscoursecommunity,italsoprovidesthe
individualwiththemostevidentofsituatedexperience.Discoursecommunitythatisopento
challengeandreflectionmightalsobenefitfromthedissensioninherentincounterreflections.The
issueofconformityisalsopertinentforthosenewtoreflection,andthoseseekingtoenterintoa
discoursecommunity,asthereisalwaystheriskthatindividualsenactreflectioninordertosuitthe
socialcontextinwhichtheyaresituated,todistorttheirreflectioninordertobelong.
Itispossiblethattheaffectivedimensiondefinestheboundarybetweentrainingandteaching.
Communicatingemotionallydecontextualizedinformationcouldbesaidtocharacterisemany
aspectsoftraining.Teachingisrecognisablydifferent,combiningnotonlythedevelopmentof
knowledgebutalsothecultivationoftheindividual.Wheretrainingmaybeseentoimpart,teaching
seekstotransform.
BROOKFIELDSFOURCRITICALLENSESANDTHEREFLECTIVEPRACTITIONER
StephenBrookfieldarguesthatexcellentteachersarethosewhocontinuetorefineaverypersonal
authenticvoice,suggestingthatthisinstilsbothvalueanddignityinteachingpractice.A
continuousprocessofselfcriticalreflectionproducesaconfidencethatisthefoundationto
inspirationalteachingandthebasisforsustainedachievementofteachinggoals.Asaconsequence,
Brookfieldbelieves,studentsthemselvesbecomecriticallyreflective(Brookfield,1990).
Brookfieldsfourcriticallensesprovidemultiple,distinctlydifferent,vantagepointsfromwhichto
reviewpractice.Theautobiographical,studentview,collegial(peer)perspective,andthescholarship
ofteachingandlearning,presentfourdistinctbutcomplementaryperspectives.The
autobiographicallens,typifiedbythecreationofthepersonalteachingphilosophyandmaintenance
oftheteachinglog,providesthebasisformuchofthereflectiveprocessadvocatedbyBrookfield.
Exploringpreviousexperiencesasalearnerandrelatingthattotheexperienceofbeingateacher
ensuresthatfacultybecomeawareoftheparadigmaticassumptionsandinstinctivereasoningsthat
framehowwework(Brookfield,1995,p.30).
Itisimportanttogobeyondselfreflectionandtodrawondifferentperspectivesthatinform,
strengthenandprovidevalidityforamoreholisticreflectionontheteachingprocess.Student
evaluationsoftheirlearningexperience,particularlythosegarneredduringthecourseofthemodule
ratherthanasendofmodulereviews,provideaninvaluableinsightintotheeffectivenessofthe
learningbeingoffered.Studentevaluationalsooccursthrougheveryencounterintheformof
naturalfeedbackandresponsivenesstolearningopportunitiesandtheattentiveteacherdrawson
thisunconsciousevaluationtoinformtheirpractice.ForBrookfield,itisthisstudentperspective
thatrevealsthoseactionsandassumptionsthateitherconfirmorchallengeexistingpower
relationshipsintheclassroom(1995,p.30).Inaprofessionaleducationcontext,thenegotiationof
thesepowerrelationshipsisoftencriticaltotheeffectivenessoflearningandstudentscomfortand
senseofsafetyinthelearningenvironmentisanimportantcharacteristic.
Manyteacherswillengagewiththesetwolenses,theautobiographicalandthestudent,aspartof
selfawarepractice.Theymayalsoengagewiththethird,thecollegiallens,intheformof
formalisedpeerreviewofteaching.However,theformalityofsuchprocessesrisksundermining
theirtruevalue,asitisthroughdialoguewithpeersthatoneisabletohighlighthiddenassumptions
aboutonesownpractice.Identifyingsharedassumptions,andmisassumptions,isanimportantpart
ofthispeerperspective,asBrookfieldsuggestsitisthroughobservingothersthatteachersmight
realiseidiosyncrasyfailingsaresharedbymanyotherswhoworkinsituationslikeours(1995,p.
36).Inadditiontopeerobservation,theroutineprocessesofcoursereview,teammarking,
programmeevaluationandotheropportunitiesfortraininganddevelopment,alloffervaluable
insightsintoonesownpractice.
Formanypractitioners,itisthefourthlensthatappearstheleastaccessible.Scholarlyliteratureon
highereducationcanseemalientothedisciplineandinstitutionalcontextofmanypractitioners.
Thisisparticularlytruetothoseinprofessionaleducationwherethestressmaybeonprofessional
identitiesoutsideeducation,theirfirstlanguagecommunity.However,Brookfieldsuggeststhat
teacherswhoundertakescholarlyresearch,presentationandpublicationdevelopanadvanced
vocabularythatdescribes,andcomestosupport,theirteachingpracticeinsuchawaythatit
providesanimportantcontextforthiscriticalfourthperspective.
DONALDSCHONANDTHEREFLECTIVEPRACTITIONER
DonaldSchnhasmadeasignificantimpactonthedebateaboutboththeprocessofreflective
practiceanditsimpactonorganisationsandlearningcultures.Muchofhisearlywork,fromthe
1970sonwards,wasconcernedwithorganisationallearningandfocusedaroundcollectivenotions
ofpracticeandresponse.Hislaterworkintroducedconceptssuchasdoublelooplearningandthe
notionofdifferentiationbetweenreflectiononaction,takenretrospectively,andreflectionin
actionassomethingreflectingmasteryofselfawarepractice.
DonaldSchnhasprovidedsignificantinsightsintothedevelopmentofnotionsofthelearning
society.Associetyhaschangedtoallowforincreasingproportionsoffreetimeandtherehavebeen
rapidchangesinhowoccupationswerefulfilled,itisperhapsunsurprisingthatsocietyperceives
specialistsandgeneralists,andthelearningevolutionofboth,innewways.
The loss of the stable state means that our society and all of its institutions are in
continuous processes of transformation. We cannot expect new stable states that will
endure for our own lifetimes.
We must learn to understand, guide, influence and manage these transformations. We
must make the capacity for undertaking them integral to ourselves and to our institutions.
We must, in other words, become adept at learning. We must become able not only to
transform our institutions, in response to changing situations and requirements; we must
invent and develop institutions which are learning systems, that is to say, systems
capable of bringing about their own continuing transformation.
The task which the loss of the stable state makes imperative, for the person, for our
institutions, for our society as a whole, is to learn about learning.
What is the nature of the process by which organizations, institutions and societies
transform themselves?
What are the characteristics of effective learning systems?
What are the forms and limits of knowledge that can operate within processes of social
learning?
What demands are made on a person who engages in this kind of learning?
(Schn,1973,pp.2829)
Schnsrelevanceis,therefore,notonlytotheindividualprocessofreflectionbutalsothattaking
placetocounterthedynamicconservatismofinstitutions,includingtheprofessions.Thereisa
delicatebalancebetweenthepreservationofidentityandvalues,sharedbythemembersofthe
profession,andtheneedforconstantrenewal.Thewayinwhichorganisationsandinstitutions
learninpartdefinestheirabilitytotransformandevolve,toremaincontemporary.Schn
identifiesinnovationasoneexampleofhowalearningorganisationdiffersfromtheclassicalmodel,
citingthechangefromtheclassicalconceptofinnovationasaproductortechniquetoitsperception
asafunctionalsystem.Heidentifieshowfixedpatternsofleadershipmoveinlearningorganisations
towardsshiftingcentresofleadership.Thetransformationisoneinwhichinstitutionspreviously
definedbythescopeoftheresourceandenergyattheircentreevolveresourcesandenergylimited
onlybythetechnologythatsupportsinfrastructure(Schn,1973,p.168).
ThisevolvingstressonnetworksandinfrastructureforeshadowsthenetworktheoryworkofManuel
Castellsin1980ssociology(Castells,1996)andtwentyyearslatertheConnectivismlearning
theoriesofGeorgeSiemen(Siemens&Conole,2011).Thisstressonnetworkshasimpactedonthe
wayinwhichindividualsseethemselves,ontheinterrelationshipsbetweenteacherandstudent.
Learningisredefinedasbeingnotsolelyanindividualpursuitorevenanindividualwithinasocial
collective,butaverypublicandsocialexperience.Itisthesocialsystemitselfthatiscapableof
learningthroughaprocessofconstantidentityrenewal.
IncollaborationwithChrisArgyris,Schnexploredtheindividualsroleinorganisationallearningby
redefiningtheprocessofprofessionaleffectiveness.Theysuggestedthatindividualspossessed
mentalmapsofhowtorespond,plan,implementandreviewtheiractionsinanygivensituation.
Ratherthanactuponespousedtheory,individualsinfactreactedaccordingtopredetermined
notionsofeffectivebehaviour.Theseframesofreference,asMezirowwouldlaterdescribethem
(Mezirow,2000,p.16),aredifficulttochangeandArgyrisandSchnsoughttoillustratejusthow
difficultbydissectingthesedurableespousedtheories.
Theirnotionofthedifferencebetweensinglelooplearning,wheregoalsandstrategiesaretakenfor
granted,wheretheemphasisismerelyontheincrementalenhancementofestablishedtechnique,
anddoublelooplearningwheretheframeofreferenceandthelearningsystemsthatunderliethose
techniquesarequestioned,isasimplebutpowerfulidea.Ratherthanhavingtogothroughafull
cycleofplanning,actingandreflectingasdescribedinthereflectiveprocessesofDeweyandKolb
(Dewey,1997;Kolb,1984),thenotionofdoublelooplearningsuggestedthatreflectingcriticallyat
anytimeontheoryinaction,orpreexistingframesofmind,wouldbringenhancements.
DonaldSchnextendedthisideaofabstractreflectionbydifferentiatingbetweenreflectionon
actionandreflectioninaction.Reflectioninaction,referredtointhevernacularasthinkingon
yourfeet,mayseemselfevidentandyetforSchnthewayinwhichnewunderstandingsare
createdinthemomentissignificant.
Thepractitionerallowshimselftoexperiencesurprise,puzzlement,orconfusioninasituationwhich
hefindsuncertainorunique.Hereflectsonthephenomenonbeforehim,andontheprior
understandingswhichhavebeenimplicitinhisbehaviour.Hecarriesoutanexperimentwhich
servestogeneratebothanewunderstandingofthephenomenonandachangeinthesituation.
(Schn,2009,p.68)
Onemustbeawareofonesownespousedtheoriesinordertobeabletoengagewiththeminthe
moment,todrawonourrepertoireofpreviousexperienceincomparablemoments,inordertoact,
toreflect,inthatverysamemoment.Criticismsofthisdifferentiationbetweenreflectiononaction
andreflectioninactioncentreonthenotionoftime,whetherinfactthereistimeinthemomentto
trulyreflect.Practitioners,however,areabletodescribetheprocessofthinkingontheirfeetand
oftenareabletoarticulatethereasonswhytheymadeparticulardecisionsinresponsetoan
unanticipatedevent.Thenotionofreflectioninactioncanbecriticisedforunderestimatingthe
adaptabilityofarepertoireofexperience.Theabilitytodeployavariationonapreviousexperience
certainlyinvolvesintellectualprocessesbutthismaynotconstitutewhatSchncallsreflectionin
action.
DespitetheinadequaciesoftheresearchbasetoSchnsmodelofreflection,thereisclearlya
differencebetweenthewayindividualsrelatetoaneventafterithasoccurredandhowthey
respondduringtheeventitself.Thisdifferencebetweentheonactionandinactionissurelyworthy
ofdeeperconsideration.Professionalpracticerequiresnotsimplythatindividualshavetheabilityto
beabletoperforminthemomentinaversatileandappropriateway,butalsothattheyareableto
articulateforothersthatprocess.
MODELSOFREFLECTION
RecentworkbyDelCarloandcolleagueshasexploredtherelationshipbetweenqualitativeresearch
methodsineducationandteachersreflectivepractices(Carlo,Hinkhouse,&Isbell,2010).Thiswork
providesausefulsummaryofseveralofthedifferentmodelsofreflectionthatexistintheliterature
andwhichmightbeusedtoguidethereflectivepractitioner.
Technicalreflectionislargelybehavioural,focusedonskillsacquisitionmeasuredagainst
predeterminednotionsofbestpractice.Reflectionsonobservationcarriedoutsuperficiallytendto
focusonthistechnicalperformanceand,whilstitiscertainlyusefultobeawareofexternal
definitionsofbestpracticeagainstwhichonemightpositiononeself,technicalreflectionrisksbeing
limitedtoothersperceptionofqualityratherthanonesown.
Reflectioninactionandreflectiononactionare,aswehaveseen,termsintroducedbyDonald
Schnandseektomovethepractitionerbeyondareflectionontechnicalperformanceandopenup
bothissuesofcontextandconsequence.Reflectiononaction,bestcarriedoutimmediately
followingateachingengagement,mostfrequentlyinvolvesadiaryorjournalreflectiononaspecific
lessonorclasswithaviewtoidentifyingkeypointsagainstapersonalsetofreflectivecriteria.
Reflectioninactionfollowsthesamereflectiveprocessbutoccursduringratherthanafterthe
teachingepisode.Whilsttheformerallowsforfutureactionstobemodified,thelatterensuresthat
modificationsaremadeinthemoment.Whilstthereisstillanacknowledgementofexternally
validatednotionsoftechnicalexcellence,theemphasisisonpersonalvalues,personalexperience,
andcontextualisedknowledge.Everyindividualsexperienceasateacherdiffersandsothe
measureofreflectionisinternalratherthanexternal.
Drawinginpartonthetraditionofactivitytheoryandactornetworktheory,personalisticreflection
isconcernedwiththedirectrelationshipbetweenteachersactionsandstudentresponse,and
studentsactionsandteacherresponse.Thisrequiresteacherstohaveasignificantunderstanding
oftheirownepistemologicalbeliefs,wheretheybelieveknowledgeismade,resides,andunder
whatcircumstancesithasauthority,aswellasanappreciationofthealternativeperspectivesthat
maybeheldbytheirstudents.Suchreflectionrequiresanexaminationofselfidentityandan
appreciation,andempathy,fortherealitiesofstudentsidentities,whichisoftenproblematicin
masseducation.Anincreasingappreciationofthediversityofthestudentbodyatatimeof
increasingstudentmobilityandglobalisationofhighereducationcertainlyprovidesteacherswithan
opportunitytoreflectontheirownbeliefsinthelightofdifferent,alternative,conceptionsof
learningandselfawareness.
Educationalliteraturealsopositsthenotionofcriticalreflectionasbeingrelevanttothepractitioner.
Muchofthefocusforcriticalreflectionisonthepoliticalandsocialdimensionalderivingmuchofits
substancefrompoliticalphilosophy.Itextendspersonalisticreflectionbyreachingbeyondthe
personalandimmediatesocialmilieu,andencompassingbroaderconceptssuchassocialclass,
genderandethnicitywiththereviewtoestablishingsociallyjusteducationalpractices.
Inbothpersonalisticreflectionandcriticalreflection,thereisastressonreachingbeyondselfandto
leverageempathyasapowerfulreflectiveinstrument.However,whilstusefulandeffectivein
educationalresearch,thisprocesshaslessimmediateimpactonindividualpractitioners.Amore
usefulandbroaderconceptofreflectionperhapstypifiedbyBrookfield,isthenotionofdeliberative
reflectioninwhichnumeroussourcesofinformation,fromdifferentexpertviewpoints,areusedby
theteachertoenhancetheirpractice.Aswellastheteachersownvaluesandbeliefs,thestudent
voice,thecollegialvoiceandscholarshipareallheard.Whilsttheimmediatesolutionmaybeless
easilydiscernibleamongstthesemultiplevoices,therichnessofthereflectiondevelopsa
sustainableandadaptablerepositoryofexperience(SeeTable1).
Table1Modelsofreflection
Type
Contentofreflection
Criteriaforqualityreflection
Technical
Generalteachingbehavioursbasedon
researchonteachinggoodpractice
Matchingonesownperformanceto
externalnotionsofgoodpractice
Inandon
action
Onesownpersonalteachingperformance Decisionsbasedononesownunique
immediatesituation
Deliberative Rangeofteachingconcernsincludingself, Considerationofcompetingviewpoints

andresearchfindings
syllabus,teachingsstrategies,students
evaluationandresponseandpeers,and
organizationoftheclassroom
Personalistic Onesownpersonalgrowthand
relationshipswithstudents
Listeningtoandtrustingonesowninner
voiceandthevoicesofothers
Critical
Judgingthegoalsandpurposesof
Learninginlightofethicalcriteriasuchas
socialjusticeandequalityofopportunity
Social,moralandpoliticaldimensionsof
LearningContexts
(Valli,1997,p.75)
CONCLUSION
BPPUniversityCollegehasdesigneditsPostgraduateCertificateinProfessionalEducationaround
four15creditmodulesalignedtothismodelofprofessionalreflection;eachmoduleinturnstressing
oneofBrookfieldsfourcriticallenses.Whilstseveraldevelopmentalinstrumentsreturnthroughout
themodules,mostnotablypeerobservationofteachingasobserverandobservee,thereisa
developmentfromafoundationalmodulefocusedheavilyonselfreflectionandcontext
(autobiographicallens),toamodulefocusedonassessmentandfeedbackwithreferencetothe
broaderpoliticalandinstitutionalcontext(peerlens),amoduleemphasisingthestudentlearning
experiencefromthestudentsperspective(studentlens)andafinalmodulefocusedonpracticeand
evidencebasedscholarship(scholarshiplens).Thisembodimentoftheoryincoursedesignis
intendedtoprovideatransparentandintellectuallycoherentapproachtowhichfuturecourse
modificationscanrefer.
Itisalsointendedtosupportpractitionersfromoneprofessionaldiscourse(thosefamiliarwithone
professionallanguage)toaccessanother.Itisourinstitutionsstatedgoaltochallengeanddisrupt
thestatusquoineducationandtheprinciplesofcriticalreflectionare,therefore,relevanttoour
reflectiveprocesses.Weshouldbethinkingaboutsocialjustice,equalityofopportunityandourrole
indifferentpowerdynamics.Tohaveanyhopeofdoingsowemustmovebeyondthetechnical
reflectiontypifiedbyendofmodulesatisfactionsurveys,becomeeffectivereflectorsonactionand
inactionandbecomedeliberativereflectors.Tobeaneffectiveeducatorinacomplexofdifferent
professionalcontexts,inthemultidiscourseofaninternationalhighereducationsector,wemust
beeffectivereflectivepractitioners.
Wewouldgofurtherandsay,inourconsideredview,thatreflectivepracticeisanonnegotiable
requirementforanyeffectiveeducator.

REFERENCES
Brookfield,S.(1990).Theskillfulteacher:ontechnique,trust,andresponsivenessintheclassroom
(1sted.).SanFrancisco:JosseyBassPublishers.
Brookfield,S.(1995).Becomingacriticallyreflectiveteacher.SanFrancisco:JosseyBass.
Carlo,D.D.,Hinkhouse,H.,&Isbell,L.(2010).DevelopingaReflectivePractitionerThroughthe
ConnectionBetweenEducationalResearchandReflectivePractices.JournalofScienceEducation
andTechnology,19(1),5868.
Castells,M.(1996).TheRiseoftheNetworkSociety.Oxford:BlackwellPublishers.
Dewey,J.(1896).TheReflexArcConceptinPsychology.PsychologicalReview,3,357370.
Dewey,J.(1997).Howwethink.Mineola,N.Y.:DoverPublications.
Engestrom,Y.,Miettinen,R.,&Punamaki,R.L.(1999).PerspectivesonActivityTheory.Cambridge:
CambridgeUniversityPress.
Gee,J.P.(2008).Sociallinguisticsandliteracies:ideologyindiscourses.Routledge.
HigherEducationAcademy.(2011).TheUKProfessionalStandardsFrameworkforteachingand
supportinglearninginhighereducation.York.
Kolb,D.A.(1984).Experientiallearning:experienceasthesourceoflearninganddevelopment.
PrenticeHall.
Kugel,P.(1993).HowProfessorsDevelopasTeachers.StudiesinHigherEducation,18(3),315328.
Latour,B.(2005).ReassemblingtheSocial:AnIntroductiontoActorNetworkTheory.Oxford
UniversityPress,USA.
Lave,J.,&Wenger,E.(1991).Situatedlearning:legitimateperipheralparticipation.Cambridge
UniversityPress.
Lev,E.L.,Kolassa,J.,&Bakken,L.L.(2010).Facultymentorsandstudentsperceptionsofstudents
researchselfefficacy.NurseEducationToday,30(2),169174.
Mezirow,J.(2000).Learningastransformation:criticalperspectivesonatheoryinprogress.San
Francisco:JosseyBass.
Ovens,A.,&Tinning,R.(2009).Reflectionassituatedpractice:Amemoryworkstudyoflived
experienceinteachereducation.TeachingandTeacherEducation,25(8),11251131.
Riding,R.(2005).IndividualDifferencesandEducationalPerformance.EducationalPsychology,
25(6),659672.
Rodgers,C.(2002).DefiningReflection:AnotherLookatJohnDeweyandReflectiveThinking.
TeachersCollegeRecord,104(4),842866.
Schn,D.A.(1973).BeyondtheStableState:PublicandPrivateLearninginaChangingSociety.W.
W.Norton&Co.
Schn,D.A.(1986).EducatingtheReflectivePractitioner:TowardaNewDesignforTeachingand
LearningintheProfessions(1sted.).JosseyBass.
Schn,D.A.(2009).Thereflectivepractitioner:howprofessionalsthinkinaction.Aldershot:
Ashgate.
Siemens,G.,&Conole,G.(2011).Connectivism:DesignandDeliveryofSocialNetworkedLearning.
TheInternationalReviewofResearchinOpenandDistanceLearning,12(3),iiv.
Wenger,E.(1999).Communitiesofpractice:learning,meaning,andidentity.Cambridge,U.K.;New
York:CambridgeUniversityPress.
AUTHORS
SimonPaulAtkinson
SimonistheAssociateDeanofLearning&TeachingatBPPUniversityCollege.Simonhasover18
yearsexperienceinUnitedKingdomandNewZealandeducationaldevelopmentandeducational
technologyrolesattheLondonSchoolofEconomics,MasseyUniversityNewZealand,theUniversity
ofHull,theInstituteforEducationalTechnology(OpenUniversity)andVictoriaUniversityof
WellingtonNewZealand.Simonhasdeliveredinternationalkeynotesandinvitedworkshopson
learningdesign,includinghisownSOLEmodelandtoolkit,ontheuseofvideointeachingthrough
theDialeProjectandontheuseofeducationaltaxonomies.Heisontheinternationaleditorial
boardoftheOpenUniversitysJournalofInteractiveMediainEducation(JIME).
JohnIrving
JohnhasworkedforBPPfor14yearsafterspending15yearspractisingasasolicitoratassociate
andpartnerlevel.JohniscurrentlyworkingfortheLearningandDevelopmentTeam.Hehastaught
acrossawiderangeofdisciplinesandsubjectsintheUniversityandwasHeadofTrainingand
DevelopmentfortheLegalPracticeCourse(LPC)from20022011.Hedesignedanddelivereda
comprehensivetraininganddevelopmentprogrammeforallLPCtutorsduringthisperiodincluding
aninnovativeinternalinductiontrainingprogrammefortutors.Thisprogrammehasalsobeen
successfullyadaptedanddeliveredannuallybyJohnsince2010totraintutorsattheLawSchoolof
Tanzania.Johnisaqualifiedcoachandmentorwithextensivecoachingexperienceinbusiness,
educationandsportinBritain,EuropeandAfrica.Hehascoachedandmentoredmanagers,
students,tutorsandteams.JohnisalsoamemberoftheAssociationforCoaching,theEuropean
MentoringandCoachingCouncilandtheInstituteofLeadershipandManagement.
Interactive Learning Environments

Vol. 17, No. 1, March 2009, 95104
Investigating critical thinking and knowledge construction in an

interactive learning environment
Qiyun Wanga*, Huay Lit Wooa and Jianhua Zhaob
a
Learning Sciences and Technologies Academic Group, National Institute of Education,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; bSchool of Information Technology in Education,
South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
(Received 22 August 2007; nal version received 5 September 2007)

Critical thinking and knowledge construction have become essential competencies
for people in the new information age. In this study, we designed an interactive
learning environment involving three forms of interaction: individual reections,
group collaboration and, class discussions. The purpose of this study was to
investigate the extent to which the three forms of interaction promoted students
critical thinking and knowledge construction. Seventeen students at National
Institute of Education of Singapore participated in this study. Their reections
and discussions were analyzed by following a content analysis approach. Results
showed that writing reections had potential to promote critical thinking but, not
all students thought critically. Knowledge construction in groups and in class
discussions happened at lower levels. This paper presents the conceptual
framework, design specications and evaluation results of the ILE. Implications
of the results are discussed.
Keywords: constructivist; critical thinking; interactivity; knowledge construction;
weblog
Introduction
Critical thinking and collaborative knowledge construction have become essential
competencies for people in the new information age and the global economy society
(Mason, 2007). The rapid growth of information and communication technology
(ICT) has made an increasing amount of information available. People must have
critical thinking skills so that they can analyze and compare information, construct
arguments, respect diverse perspectives and, view phenomena from dierent points
(cf. MacKnight, 2000). Also, solving highly complex real life problems requires a
variety of knowledge. It is, hence, hardly possible for a single person to solve a
complicated problem. People must learn how to work together so that they can solve
the problems and construct meaningful knowledge.
ICT has the potential to engage students in a range of activities that contribute to
critical thinking development and collaborative knowledge construction. The
Ministry of Education (MOE), in Singapore, initiated the Masterplan as a blueprint
*Corresponding author. Email: Qiyun.wang@nie.edu.sg

ISSN 1049-4820 print/ISSN 1744-5191 online
2009 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/10494820701706320
http://www.informaworld.com
96
Q. Wang et al.
for ICT integration in education. One of its key objectives has been to help students
develop critical thinking skills and meaningful knowledge with the use of ICT
(Ministry of Education, 1997). In this study, a web-based interactive learning
environment (ILE) was designed to help students in the National Institute of
Education (NIE) to achieve this objective. This paper describes the conceptual
framework, design specications and, evaluation results of the ILE. Implications of
the results and issues involved in the study are discussed.
Conceptual framework
The ILE was designed based on interactivity and constructivist learning theories,
aimed at promoting students critical thinking and knowledge construction. This
section will elaborate on the conceptual framework on which this study was based.
Interactivity and constructivism
Interactivity is a major construct and striking characteristic of web-based learning
environments (Chou, 2003; Vrasidas, 2000). It is often dened as sustained, two-way
communication between students and students or, between students and the
instructor, with the purpose of task completion or social relationship building
(Gilbert & Moore, 1998; Liaw & Huang, 2000). An interactive web-based learning
environment often involves four types of interaction: learner-content, learnerlearner, learner-instructor and, learner-interface (Chou, 2003; Hillman, Willis, &
Gunawardena, 1994). Learner-content interaction is a process in which learners
make sense of course materials. It is a basic type of interaction as content is crucial in
all forms (such as web-based or face-to-face) of education (Wang, 2007). Learnerlearner interaction and learner-instructor interaction are the communication
between learners and peers and between learners and the instructor for information
sharing, negotiation and knowledge construction. Although learner-learner interaction and learner-instructor interaction may happen in dierent ways due to the
imbalanced power and knowledge level between students and teachers, they are often
called social or interpersonal interaction (Liaw & Huang, 2000; Moallem, 2003).
Learner-interface interaction refers to how learners use the computer program
interface to communicate with the course content or people (Lohr, 2000).
These types of interaction are important for an eective learning environment.
Learner-content interaction, learner-learner interaction, and learner-instructor
interaction are more related to pedagogical design, whereas learner-interface
interaction focuses more on human-computer interface design. Pedagogical design
is undoubtedly critical for an eective learning environment. Interface design,
however, provides fundamental support for a usable computer-based learning
environment as all other types of interaction are implemented through the
interaction with the interface.
Learner-content, learner-learner, and learner-instructor interaction match well
the beliefs of cognitive and social constructivists. The basic belief of constructivism is
that knowledge is actively constructed by learners, who are active knowledge
constructors rather than passive information receivers (Jonassen, 1991). Nevertheless, cognitive constructivism and social constructivism hold minor distinctions
(cf. Hirumi, 2002; Liaw, 2004). Cognitive constructivists believe students construct
knowledge individually based on their prior experience and newly acquired
97
information. Learner-content interaction (for instance, in a way of individual

reections), therefore, plays a vital role in a cognitive constructivist learning
environment. Socio-constructivists argue knowledge is collaboratively constructed in
a social context mediated by discourse. Learning is fostered through interactive
processes of discussion, negotiation and sharing with others (cf. Cobb, 1994).
Learner-learner interaction and learner-instructor interaction are, hence, essential
for a social constructivist learning environment. To obtain an optimal learning
condition, an ILE preferably involves both individual interaction with content and
social interaction with people.
Critical thinking and knowledge construction
As a pervasive academic term, critical thinking is seldom clearly or comprehensively
dened (Petress, 2004, p. 461). Many denitions of critical thinking can be found in
literature. For example, Ennis (1987) dened critical thinking as reasonable and
reective thinking skills that focused on deciding what to believe or do. He further
claimed that the skills associated with critical thinking could be learned independently
of specic subjects and, could be transferred from one domain to another. More
recently, Scriven and Paul (2003) claimed that critical thinking was an intellectually
disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing,
synthesizing and evaluating information. These denitions imply that critical
thinking basically involves: (i) a set of skills, such as analyzing, arguing, synthesizing,
evaluating and applying; and (ii) the use of these skills to guide behaviors.
Knowledge construction, based on cognitive constructivism, is a personal process
of accommodating information into the existing cognitive structure. On the other
hand, it is also a social process of information sharing, negotiating, revising and
agreement achieving based on social constructivism. In this paper, the latter is
sometimes called knowledge co-construction.
Critical thinking and knowledge construction are closely related to each other.
Critical thinking plays an important role in the process of knowledge construction
and, knowledge construction mostly occurs as a result of critical thinking (Dirks,
1998).
The use of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) tools such as discussion
forums or weblogs provides a convenient means for learners to interact with others.
Much research indicates web-based learning has the potential to promote students
critical thinking and knowledge co-construction, as the delayed feature of
asynchronous online discussions allows more time for them to reect on various
perspectives and, make more critical and constructive contributions. In a study of
content analysis of online messages, Newman, Webb, and Cochrane (1995) found
that online students were more likely to make important statements and link ideas
together. Marra, Moore, and Klimczak (2004) also found evidence of student critical
thinking in generating new ideas, clarifying information, linking ideas and
justication in another similar study.
Design of the ILE
Course description
The ILE was designed to support the students who were taking the elective course of
Instructional multimedia design in NIE. It was a two-credit module for the second
98
Q. Wang et al.
year students, who were pursuing Diplomas in Education. The course ran once a
week and lasted for 12 weeks. It consisted of nine face-to-face and three, purely
online sessions. All face-to-face sessions were conducted in a computer lab. During
each lesson, the tutor explained key concepts and demonstrated on certain features
of the multimedia authoring tool: Multimedia Builder. Next, the students had handson activities on the authoring tool. After each lesson, the students wrote online
reections as a follow-up activity. For the online sessions, the students did not come
to the computer lab for tutorials. Instead, they studied the lesson materials
independently and participated compulsorily in the online discussions.
Seventeen students who enrolled in this elective course participated in this study.
Their average age was about 22. All the students had either GCE (General
Certicate of Education), A level or polytechnic qualication. They would be
teaching at primary schools after graduation.
Interaction design
E-blogger (http://www.blogger.com) was chosen as a platform for hosting the ILE.
Three forms of interaction were integrated into the ILE as shown in Figure 1. The
rst form of interaction was at the individual level. The students interacted with the
course content and wrote weekly reections on what they learned. Figure 2 displays
a screenshot of a students online reection. All reections were graded and
accounted for 10% of their nal marks.
The second form of interaction was at the group level, on which the students
interacted with peers. Students shared, negotiated and discussed their nal projects
in groups of two. This small group collaboration was graded and carried 5% of their
marks.
The third form of interaction occurred at the class level, targeted at fostering
whole class interaction. The ILE involved three online discussions. The rst
discussion was to debate whether media could inuence learning. The second was to
criticize the nal project proposals. Every group was required to post the nal
project proposal to the discussion forum. Each student ought to criticize at least two
proposals of other groups. The third discussion was designed to collect feedback on
Figure 1.
The interactive design model for the ILE.
Figure 2.
99
A students weekly reection.
the course design and delivery. Each online discussion contained 10% of their nal
marks.
Evaluation of the ILE
This study aimed to answer the following questions:
To what extent were the individual reections conducive to students critical thinking?
To what extent were the small group collaboration and the whole class online
discussions helpful for students knowledge co-construction?
The students reections were coded by following the critical thinking model
proposed by Newman et al. (1995). This model lists a number of positive and
negative indicators of critical thinking in categories of relevance (R), importance (I),
novelty of information (N), use of outside of knowledge (O), ambiguities (A), linking
of ideas (L), justication (J), assessment (A) and practical utility (P).
All weekly reections of a student were complied into a Word document. The
unit of analysis was a single sentence. An applicable code was inserted at the end of
each meaningful sentence. For example, the following passage shows coding results
of an excerpt from a students reection. A L code was applied to the rst
sentence because it was a decision made based on the course materials; a J code
was applied to the second sentence since it was to further justify why the idea was
great; a P code was associated to the last sentence as it referred to practical utility
of the idea in the nal project.
100
Q. Wang et al.
Todays lesson we have learnt how to insert a ash le to a program, which is great (L). Now
I can include a ash le in the project that my partner and I have planned for (J). I was
thinking of putting an advertisement for dental care or the Colgate advertisement that I can
nd on the website to my project, or maybe a movie le on bacteria and cavity. This is
denitely good (P).
The coding procedure was as follows. We (two of the authors) coded, individually,
the reections of student S1. After completing the coding, we met and discussed the
rationale for each code applied and, reached a consensus on all codes used and their
rationales applied. We continued to code the reections of the remaining students
and conducted an inter-rater reliability check at the end. For each sentence, we
compared whether the same code was used. If not, we further exchanged rationales
for using the codes and made an agreement on which or what codes were more
appropriate by reviewing the code denitions. We managed to make an agreement
on most codes in question after discussions. In few cases where we could not
convince each other, the original codes were remained.
The same procedure was applied to the knowledge co-construction coding
process as well, by following the Interaction Analysis Model (IAM) model
(Gunawardena, Lowe, & Abderson, 1997). This model describes ve successive
phases of knowledge construction: (i) sharing, comparing, contributing of
information; (ii) discovery and explanation of dissonance or inconsistency among
participants; (iii) negotiation of meaning or knowledge co-construction; (iv) testing
and modication; and (v) phrasing of agreement and allocations of newly
constructed knowledge. The unit of analysis was a complete message, as originally
used by Gunawardena et al. (1997).
Results
Table 1 shows the numbers of positive and negative critical thinking indicators found
in the students individual reections.
The result shows that about one-third of the students (for example S1, S3, S6, S7
and S8) did think critically in the process of reection writing. A considerably high
number of positive codes were found and, the ratio of positive to negative indicators
was as high as 6:1. However, the results also revealed that approximately half of the
students (for example S2, S4, S10, S11, S12, S15, S16 and S17) did not think critically
at all. Few positive indicators were involved in their reections and, the ratio of
positive to negative indicators was about 2:3 only. In particular, some students such
as S2 and S4 did not involve any positive indictors at all. In all reections, they just
simply listed down the points learned from the lessons in a bullet format without
further elaboration. The rest (for example S5, S9, S13 and S14) had moderate
numbers of positive and negative critical thinking indicators, which indicated that
these students applied certain critical thinking skills but, did not keep thinking
critically. The ratio of positive to negative indicators was about 3:1.
Figure 3 shows the nal rating results of the online discussions and group
collaboration. In the rst online discussion, the students commonly believed that
media inuenced learning. For this they held coherent opinions, interaction and
meaning negotiation were largely scarce. In total, 17 original messages and seven
responses were posted. All original messages were at Phase I of the IAM model, for
these messages just explained why media inuenced learning. Six responses were
101

Table 1.
Critical thinking indicators found in individual reections.

Rater1
Rater2
Final
Student
S1
S3
S6
S7
S8
13
24
14
23
17
1
2
7
5
2
13
19
14
13
20
0
0
0
0
0
16
15
14
21
20
86
1
2
6
4
1
14 (6:1)
S5
S9
S13
S14
11
7
9
12
1
6
1
8
9
7
9
12
1
6
1
2
8
6
9
9
32
2
3
1
4
10 (3:1)
S2
S4
S10
S11
S12
S15
S16
S17
0
0
2
4
1
3
2
6
11
8
1
1
0
2
3
7
2
0
2
4
1
3
3
3
7
5
0
1
0
2
3
5
0
0
3
4
2
3
3
3
18
10
8
0
0
0
2
3
5
28 (2:3)
148
66
134
33
136
Total
Figure 3.
52
Number of posts in the online discussions and group collaboration.
Phase II. They showed disagreement with some ideas in the original messages. One
response was Phase III for the student negotiated the comment to her original
message.
In the second online discussion, all groups posted their proposals and 30
responses in total were given to the proposals. Further analysis showed that 27
responses were Phase II, as these responses were to clarify certain issues in the
proposals. The remaining three responses were Phase III, which were replies posted
by the proposal authors to the received comments. In the third discussion, the tutor
posted three open-ended questions and received 37 replies. All the replies were Phase
I and no further responses were given to the comments.
102
Q. Wang et al.
In addition, 23 meaningful messages were posted to the small group

collaboration spaces, of which the majority (n 20) was at Phase I and few
(n 3) messages belonged to Phase II or above. Nevertheless, further analysis of the
messages brought some additional ndings. One was that the students used the
group collaboration spaces in dierent ways. Some groups used it to discuss and
negotiate ideas on the nal projects and, the posts were similar to email messages.
For instance, a member in a group wrote: Hey Joyce . . . What do you think if we
add a nest metaphor or a chicken coop? We could make the interface more
interactive . . .. Her partner replied in the following post: Hi Zu, I think that is a
good idea. We can explore it further in the coming face-to-face session . . .. Some of
the other groups used the group collaboration spaces as a bulletin board to report
their project progress. They published information together. For instance, one group
wrote Both Sze Hua and I are starting to work on the project, though we seem to be
behind time . . . Anyway, Sze Hua has started to work on the worksheets, the control
and functions . . ..
Discussion
The results of this study conrmed that writing online reections had the potential to
promote students critical thinking. However, the way of writing reections online
seemed to be a challenge. Many students have the habit of writing diaries, where they
can express freely their ideas or secrets. Usually, nobody is allowed to access it
without permission. When the students in this course were asked to write public
reections online as an assignment, however, they did not know how to proceed.
They knew the tutor would give marks based on the reections and other people
might read the reections as well. This external intervention prevented them from
putting real thoughts into reections (cf. Rowen, 2005).
This study revealed that knowledge co-construction only happened at the lower
phases of the IAM model. This result implied that the nature of discussion topics
greatly inuenced the depth of online discussions and knowledge construction. A
discussion topic suitable for a group of people may not be suitable for another
because of the dierences in their background, interest or knowledge. For example,
media inuence learning is a quite controversial topic for academics. However,
the students enrolled in this course took it for granted and, hence, no in-depth
discussions happened. This study supports the notion that topics selected for online
discussions should be meaningful and relevant to participants, rather than to
others like the instructor. Also, the topics should be challenging and controversial
enough to trigger dierent opinions (Hung, Tan, & Chen, 2005).
The results of this study also showed that online collaboration was redundant for
small groups of students who often met. Little meaningful information was posted to
the small group collaboration spaces. Two reasons might contribute to this result.
First, the group size (of two students) was small. Online collaboration would hardly
continue if a member was inactive. Involving a larger number of participants, such as
three to ve, might be better for group collaboration (cf. Moallem, 2003). Second,
the group members met each other constantly in other classes during the course
period. To a certain extent, getting them to share and negotiate information online
again became unnecessary.
In addition, we experienced some diculties when we were applying the critical
thinking model in this study. Although the codes in this model are explicitly dened
103
and there is little ambiguity between codes (Marra et al., 2004, p. 35), it was
often hard to judge which code should be applied to a sentence during the coding
process (cf. Chi, 1997). We had to refer back to the code denitions so as to make
a nal decision. This coding process was tedious and time consuming. This
experience supports the notion that more computer support tools should be
developed to help people conveniently analyze discourse (Dringus & Ellis, 2005).
Also, picking out indicators of uncritical thinking was generally harder (cf. Newman
et al., 1995). In conclusion, this study revealed that the three forms of interaction
(individual reections, group collaboration and whole class discussions) had the
potential to promote students critical thinking. However, not all students kept
thinking critically when they were writing individual reections. Group collaboration and class discussions contributed to students social knowledge construction.
Nevertheless, the majority of postings in this study were at the lower levels only of
the IAM model. How to promote their online discussions to upper levels needs to be
further studied.
Notes on contributors
Qiyun Wang is an assistant professor in the Academic Group of Learning Science and
Technologies (LST) at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore. His research interests include online learning, interactive learning
environments, constructivist learning and web 2.0 for teaching and learning.
Huay Lit Woo is a lecturer with the same group. His research focuses on online learning,
pedagogical agent, and multimedia design.
Jianhua Zhao is a professor at School of Information Technology in Education, South China
Normal University in Guangzhou, China. He is the director of the Centre for the Studies of
Learning Science and Technology. His research interests include CSCL, e-learning for
professional development, research methods, and cross-cultural communication.
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Critical Thinking in Higher Education: Unfulfilled Expectations

Mehrdad Rezaee
Department of English Language, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
mehr351@yahoo.com
Majid Farahian
Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran
majid_fa53@yahoo.com
Ali Morad Ahmadi

Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran
a.ahmadi1351@yahoo.com
Abstract
Success in adult life and effective functioning in education depends among other things on
critical thinking. The present study consisted of two parts. First, critical thinking (CT) skill of a
group of 68 students majoring in education in Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah Branch was
evaluated. The participants, divided into two experimental and control groups, received California
Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) which is a 34 item Multiple-Choice test. The students in the
control group were freshmen and the experimental group, junior students. To the researchers
dismay, junior education students did not perform significantly better than did the freshman
students. Using a qualitative method of research, another study was conducted to see whether the
university instructors in the education department who had the responsibility of teaching different
courses to the same students were aware of the principles of CT. A semi-structured interview was
conducted and eight volunteering faculty members in the department of education took part in the
interview. Result revealed that, although these instructors highly valued CT and were aware of its
tenets, there were some constraints which did provide a situation to let the students practice CT in
their classrooms, and much had to be done to help instructors implement CT in their classrooms.
Key words: critical thinking, instructors belief, top down educational system, inductive
reasoning
1. Introduction
With everyday advancement and progress in different areas of technology in the world
today, especially in the area of communication and information technology, one may assume that
students must be merely trained to be able to cope with this progress in technology; however,
success in adult life depends on, among other things, the capacity for (CT); purposeful and goaldirected cognitive skills or strategies that increase the likelihood of a desired outcome (Halpern,
2002). Put another way, human beings, especially students must be trained CT skills to be able to
think critically for their future career (Badri and Fathi Azar, 2006). As Hongladarom (2002) holds,
It is widely recognized nowadays that CT has become a necessary ingredient in all levels of
education. Educators and educational policy makers agree that one of the desirable goals of
education is that students are able to think critically (P. 1). There are some other scholars (e.g.,
Yeh, 2002) who put more emphasis on CT skills and suggest that success in school greatly depends
on CT skills. Accordingly, extensive bodies of literature focus on CT (e.g., Browne & Keeley,
2001; Ennis, 1987; Resnick, 1987) and applications of CT in education (e.g., Henderson, 2001;
OTuel & Bullard, 1993; Pogrow, 1990, 1994; Raths, Wasserman, Jonas, & Rothstein, 1986; and
Torff, 2003). Last but not least, Paul and Nosich (1991) believe that developing CT skills in
educational settings engenders intellectual empowerment. Students use their minds as thinking
instruments. In fact, they change into more effective readers, writers, speakers, and listeners. These
skills and abilities are also highly transferable to work place.
As to what CT is and what its role can be in education, Bauerlein (2011) notes,
64
M. Rezaee, M. Farahian, A. M. Ahmadi - Critical Thinking in Higher Education: Unfulfilled Expectations
Instruction in CT is to be designed to achieve an understanding of the relationship of

language to logic, which should lead to the ability to analyze, criticize, and advocate ideas,
to reason inductively and deductively, and to reach factual or judgmental conclusions based
on sound inferences drawn from unambiguous statements of knowledge or belief. . .
including an understanding of the formal and informal fallacies of language and thought (p.
2).
However, if CT is not practiced at schools, students may not have the opportunity to learn
the skills from any other source. This means that they will lose the chance to get the necessary skills
for their future life and career. In that case, they will not be well-prepared or even prepared enough
for what is waiting for them in the future. Weil (2009) believes, It is dangerous to neglect CT. An
inability to assess information critically, especially in an Internet age of massive information and
misinformation, leads to an inability to participate honestly and realistically in a democracy. (p. 2).
Too, in another part of her paper, she very briefly states, an absence of CT in educational
settings will lead to a lack of academic rigor. (Weil, 2009, p. 3).
Duron, et al., (2006) argued that despite the fact that thinking as a natural process is taken
for granted, but when left to itself, it can often be biased, distorted, partial, uninformed and
potentially prejudiced; excellence in thought must be cultivated (p. 160). In the same vein, Black
(2005) states that students thinking skills can be improved if they are instructed to do so. However,
it seems that instructors assumptions regarding the importance and practicality of CT are critical in
this regard.
For the past fifteen years, the concept of instructors belief has come into favor in education.
Based on Yin (2006), there are a number of sources which influence instructors traits and greatly
affect the development of their personalities. The first source comes from instructors personal
experience and understandings as an individual. Every individual develops his own understanding
and interpretation of the world after birth. A second source of instructors beliefs is the experience
each one has obtained from his own experience when he was a student. Instructors, as human
beings, seldom forget the school days and the kind of education they had in schools. Sometimes
these are so vivid that can be a model for an instructors instruction. A third origin of instructors
beliefs is their formal knowledge acquired through training whether in in-service sessions or in
instructor education centers. The fourth source of beliefs is instructors contexts of work. The
context in which instructors practice, has a great influence on their philosophy of teaching and
instructional approaches. There is a great pressure in schools on nave instructors to conform to the
practice of more experienced ones.
Lauer (2005) notes that instructors who conceive their roles as disseminators of knowledge
may have different ideas about CT and the way it should be incorporated into classroom activities
than those who play the role of mediators and perceive teaching as enabling students to think for
themselves and identify their own duties as imparting necessary skills and strategies to students.
Whenever an instructor has the role of the mediator, based on Williams and Burden (1997),
interaction happens between the learner and him/her and the learner becomes an active participant
of the learning process. On the contrary, when an instructor perceives his/her role as disseminator of
information, there is less attention to students input and feedback. In such a situation the instructor
is solely in control of the teaching situation.
What is CT
In traditional teaching classes, instructors often use didactic instruction in their teaching
process. In this kind of instruction, information and facts are transmitted to students, the whole class
is teacher-centered, and students are assumed to be passive participants (Qing, et al., 2010). As the
sole authority, the instructor is entrusted with the responsibility of taking care of everything. With
the minimum amount of interaction, students passively receive the lectures copy down. In this kind
of instruction, students know nothing. Instructors think, while students are taught. Instructors talk,
while students listen. Students have to comply with whatever instructors choose. As Duron, et al.,
(2006) notes, Passive thinkers suffer from a limited and ego-centric view of the world; they answer
65
BRAIN. Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience

Volume 3, Issue 2, May 2012, ISSN 2067-3957 (online), ISSN 2068 - 0473 (print)
questions with yes or no and view their perspective as the only sensible one and their facts as the
only ones relevant (p. 160).
Such a view of education is regarded detrimental to students learning since the role of
learner is regarded to be passive. What has assumed to liberate students from the passive state, in
the current views of education (Erkilic, 2008) is thought to be CT (Lang, n.d.).
There is no consensus regarding the exact definition of the term CT. It is often linked with
creative thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making as well as inductive and deductive
reasoning. However, Howe (2004) believes that terms such as creative thinking, problem-solving
and decision-making refer to the circumstances in which CT may occur. Conversely, some
educational philosophers argue that CT is inductive, encompassing, divergent, and creative thinking
skill. Others recognize it as primarily deductive, convergent, and logical in nature. Halpern (2002)
defines CT as:
Cognitive skills and strategies that increase the likelihood of a desired
outcomethinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and goal-directed; the kind of thinking
involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making
decisions. (p. 4).
Duron, et al., (2006) identify CT as a scientific endeavor:

CT is, very simply stated, the ability to analyze and evaluate information. Critical
thinkers raise vital questions and problems, formulate them clearly, gather and assess relevant
information, use abstract ideas, think open-mindedly, and communicate effectively with others.
(p. 160).
Based on the literature, a person who thinks critically, asks appropriate questions. In order to
answer the question, he gathers relevant information, reasons logically from this information, and
comes to conclusions which are reliable. Such a discipline of thinking not only enables students to
be successful at school but also improves their thinking skills and thus better prepares them for
after-school life.
Birjandi & Bagherkazemi (2010) hold that a critical thinker has the following features:
has a strong intention to recognize the importance of good thinking;
identifies problems and focuses on relevant topics and issues;
distinguishes between valid and invalid inferences;
suspends judgments and decisions in the absence of sufficient evidence;
understands the difference between logical reasoning and rationalizing;
is aware of the fact that ones understanding is limited and that there are degrees of
belief;
differentiates between facts, opinions and assumptions;
watches out for authoritarian influences and specious arguments;
anticipates the consequences of alternative actions. (p. 137).
CT cannot be learned by direct teaching (Howe, 2004). However, as Howe (2004) notes, it
can be incorporated into all different subject areas. Since as he maintains, CT often requires
imagining possible consequences, generating original approaches, or identifying alternative
perspectives (p. 508). Any form of human activity may involve CT. Moreover, in different
cultures, people may have different conceptions of CT, though there may exist commonalities
among them regarding what CT is. It seems that while there are different definitions for CT in the
world, one of the purposes of education in all modern systems of education is preparing students for
after-school life.
Instructors perception of learning has a great influence on their behaviors in the classrooms
(Choy & Cheah, 2009). Instructors who are not aware of the effectiveness of CT, as well as those
who cannot implement it in their classrooms may have to comply with the traditional perspectives
of education and have passive students who are not active participants in the classrooms. Browne
66
and Freeman (2000) hold that CT comes in different forms; however, those classrooms which
encourage CT have some distinguishing features as follows:
a) Frequent questions: One of the students activities which most likely develops CT is a
classroom in which frequent questions are asked and answered. Of course by questions Browne
and Freeman (2000) do not surely mean the questions which are solely related to fact questions
and therefore are part of low critical activity (Torff, 2005). According to Browne and Freeman
(2000) CT can be usefully conceptualized as knowing how to seek answers to questions and
enjoying the process of asking them at appropriate times (p. 303).
b) Developmental tension:
Sometimes a little uneasiness and tension may foster learning. Thinking sometimes is
accompanied with uncertainties and doubt. Such an uncertainty may encourage students to seek
solutions and find appropriate ways out of the dilemma. The authors emphasize that the
process of value change depends on learners awareness of contradictions, tension and
confusion in their current belief system (Browne and Freeman, 2000, p. 305).
c) Fascination with the contingency of conclusions
Students have to learn to be open to different opinions and critically appraise the possible truth
in them. Classrooms which develop CT encourage commitment, but also give the insight to
students to frequently re-examine those commitments to their own ideas as they encounter new
logic, evidence, and different accounts.
d) Active learning:
Most lecturers, especially those at universities, tend to be transmitters of body of facts or
knowledge to the audience who passively are supposed to acquire those facts. However, those
who favor CT have different approach and try to develop active learning in students by letting
them have active participation. Too, they provide a situation in which students are affectively
involved in the discussions.
CT is an important life skill for people today (Mimbs, 2005). Instructors need to model CT
skills to their students and explicitly teach them to think critically. Instructors can be transformed in
their teaching and students can be transformed in their learning through continued and consistent
use and application of CT skills.
Since instructors are decision-makers in classrooms, and they are mainly responsible for
students learning, exploring certain issues regarding their beliefs about CT seems to be necessary.
Instructors in different contexts in Iran have valued didactic system of education and have been
expected to do so. Research regarding instructors beliefs, especially university instructors, about
CT is scarce. The impetus for this study was that one of the present researchers had a long contact
with some of the PhD students of this study who in numerous informal contacts with the researcher
showed to be knowledgeable in their field of study; however, based on the informal interview of the
researcher with the head of department, these two instructors teaching was lecture-based and they
gave little opportunity to students to participate in classroom discussion, seek answer to the
question and even worse, they were given no chance to critically appraise what they study. A
cursory look at the final exams, given by these two instructors revealed the fact that nearly all items
were directed toward assessing students shallow learning.
1. Is there any significant difference between CT skills of Freshman and Junior education students?
2. What are university instructors perceptions of CT?
3. What constrains, if any, impedes instructors from implementing CT in their classrooms?
2. Method
The design of the research was both qualitative and quantitative since both a test and an
interview were employed.
2.1. Participants
67

To do the present study, 8 completely and well-educated university instructors (5 PhD

holders and 3 PhD students) with a high command of CT skills were selected. All of the instructors
were either holding PhD or they were studying for their PhD in Education. They were, to the
researchers knowledge, very studious and knowledgeable in their related fields and in informal
meetings held in the department (the researchers department and those of the instructors were in
the same place) they showed to know enough about the philosophy of education and current views
on education. From among these 8 instructors classes which had been taught for three consecutive
semesters, some 36 subjects were randomly selected. Then 32 students in the department
(freshmen) who were new to the university were selected randomly to form a control group.
2.2 Instruments
In this study, the authors used a 34 item multiple-choice test together with a an interview.
The first one was California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) Facione & Facione
(1992). The test contains 34 multi-choice questions with a correct answer in the five CT cognitive
skills domain. The reliability and validity of the test were reported to be reasonable. In fact, the test
coefficient for reliability was .62. Factor Analysis indicated that CCTST has been formed from 5
factors (elements), namely: Analysis, Evaluation, Inference, Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
(Khallli & Hossein Zadeh, 2003).
The second instrument was a semi structured interview based on Choy and Cheahs (2009)
questionnaire. The modified questions were as follows:
1. From your perspective, what is CT?
2. Do you think that CT happens in your classroom when you are teaching your students? If
so, how do you know?
3. How do you think you could bring about CT among students? Specifically, what are some
things you do or could do to get your students to think critically?
4. What are the problems faced by students when you are trying to teach them CT? If so
identify them.
5. Do you think you need to give all the information to your students in order for them to
learn your subject? Why and why not?
6. Do you think you would be able to implement CT into your lessons if you were required to
do so? Why and why not?
2.3. Procedures
The 34 item Multiple-Choice test was given to all of the subjects (both control group
subjects who were new to the university and the experimental group subjects who have had at least
three consecutive classes with the same instructor).
An interview was also held in which eight participants were required to answer a total of 6
questions. All the instructors who voluntarily took part in the study had taught some courses in the
Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah branch. They accepted to answer the questions at the
university and felt free to add any comments and express their ideas freely.
3. Results
To see if there was any difference between the experimental and control groups regarding
their responses to the 34 item multiple-choice test (CCTST), the authors used an independent
samples t-test. The results show that there was no specific difference between the mean and
standard deviation of the experimental and control groups. (See Table 1).
68
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of Exp. & Control Groups for Multiple-Choice Test
MCTest
MCTestGroup
Mean
Std. Deviation
Std. Error
Mean
Experimental
36
8.39
2.309
.385
Control
32
8.00
2.794
.494
As Table 1 shows, the mean and standard deviation of the experimental groups are 8.39 and
2.309, while the mean and standard deviation of the control group are 8.00 and 2.794. It can be seen
that there is no specific difference between the two groups regarding their mean and standard
deviation. Too, the researchers used an independent samples t-test to see if the difference between
the two groups was meaningful. (See Table 2)
Table 2. Independent Samples t-test for Experimental & Control Groups in Multiple-Choice Test
Leveness Test
for Equality of
Variances
t-test for Equality of Means

95% Confidence
Interval of Difference
Equal Variances
assumed
Equal Variances
Not Assumed
Sig.
df
Sig (2tailed)
Mean
Difference
Std. Error
Difference
Lower
upper
.413
.523
.628
66
.532
.389
.619
-.847
1.625
.621
60.356
.537
.389
.626
-.863
1.641
According to Table 2, the amount of observed t with 66 degree of freedom and 95%
confidence interval of difference is .628, which is not meaningful at all. This means that there is no
meaningful difference between the experimental and control groups regarding their answers to the
Multiple-Choice test of CT. In other words, those students who were in the aforementioned classes
for three consecutive semesters were not better than the freshmen who were new to the university in
answering the MC test of CT. But, what can be the reason for this. To answer this question, we
went to our second instrument, i.e., the interview. In fact, the interview was a modified form of
Choy and Cheahs (2009) questionnaire. As mentioned above, the interview consisted of six
questions. Below are the responses given by the instructors to the six questions.
Instructors perception of CT
All instructors gave comprehensive definitions of CT. Six out of eight participants wrote
that CT is the ability to ask appropriate questions about different phenomena and find answer to the
questions. They noted that to find answers to the questions one has to look for relevant information
and interpret the information in light of inductive and deductive reasoning. The others, who had
nearly the same opinion, held that in order to be a critical thinker one has to distinguish facts from
opinions. What was the distinguishing characteristic of a critical thinker to his opinion was the
power of ration as they believed. One of the participants remarked that CT has to do with higher
order thinking and problem solving activities.
Does CT happen in the instructors classroom when they are teaching their students? If so,
how do they know?
Seven respondents explicitly and implicitly indicated that they did not have CT in real sense
in their own classrooms. However, as they explained whenever they ask students to look at facts
from a new perspective, a sort of CT happens in the classroom. Six of the instructors were more
critical of their own teaching and explained that since their teaching was predominantly lecturebased and they did not give students enough opportunity to freely express themselves and above all,
since there was little democracy in the classroom, no CT occurred in the course they taught.
69

How do instructors think they could bring about CT among students? Specifically what are
some of the things they did or could do to get their students to think critically?
All the participants answered that asking students to do research or project works is the best
activity to encourage learners think critically and go through the stages of CT. They also
emphasized posing questions to the students and asking them to find answers to the questions.
Three of the participants wrote that providing a suitable environment improves the situation to have
CT in the classrooms; however, they did not mention how such an environment should be
established. One of the instructors answered this question by saying that establishing democracy in
the classroom is very crucial for having critical thinkers. He wrote that whenever the instructor is
the sole speaker who does not allow students to express themselves, have their voice in the course,
and takes the floor for the time he is in class, there is no likelihood of developing CT. Another
participant believed that students should be problem solvers, asked to seek the solution via books,
internet and different sources available.
What are the problems faced by students when an instructor is trying to teach CT?
Five participants expressed that they felt a pressure to cover the content in a short time;
therefore, they had to lecture in order to cover more content in a shorter time.
Two of the instructors wrote that most of their students lacked the skills of judgment and
enquiry and that they had accustomed to being given the most straightforward answers by the
authorities. One of these two added that if they were left to themselves, they had no ability to decide
how to study on their own.
One of the respondents answered that from the first days of schooling, his students were
not taught how to think, and they had been only asked to cram materials in their heads for the
exam. Therefore, as he believed they resist higher order thinking.
Do the instructors think they need to give all the information to their students in order to
learn the subject? Why and why not?
All the participants unanimously agreed that there is no need to provide their students with
all the facts and information. All identified the CT as a process of enquiry in which students have to
seek the answers to the questions posed by themselves or others.
Do the instructors think they would be able to implement CT in their lessons if they were
required to do so? Why and why not?
Six out of eight participants argued that with the current state of affairs they were not able to
implement CT in their classrooms. They believed that unless from the first days of schooling
students are taught to think critically and solve problems, they would not to think critically.
Moreover, they knew the system of education responsible for such a problem. They asserted that the
curriculum is top down, assessment is based on memorization of materials, and pre-service
instructor education universities do not seriously involve instructors in such a process.
Two other respondents agreed that it would be possible to incorporate CT in different
degrees in their courses. As they believed such a shift toward CT may be slow and difficult but
possible. They argued that such a shift could begin with instructor education centers and teaching
materials. They insisted that workshops, seminars, pre-service and in-service courses for instructors
can make instructors aware of the importance and process of CT.
4. Discussion and conclusion
CT is of great importance in education, and it should be taught to students in all educational
settings (Black, 2005; Yeh, 2002); however, the findings of this study showed that while junior
students of education were expected to be familiar with the skills of CT, it was not so at all. Thus, to
find the reason, the study intended to investigate instructors familiarity and view regarding the
70
issue. To this aim, an interview with six questions was held with the eight instructors with the
following results.
As to the first question of the interview which asked the definition of CT, it seemed that all
the participants were familiar with the term. However, what is not clear is whether they were
familiar with the components of CT as well as its characteristics. Furthermore, further research is
needed to see if the instructors are aware of how to implement practically CT in their usual courses.
Despite lack of such information for the researcher, from the answers provided by the instructors
and use of terms such as low CT activities, appraisal, and scientific inquiry by the instructors, it
could be understood that they were aware of the related literature.
It is evident from the answers that nearly none of the instructors believed that CT happens in
their classrooms. It is not surprising that though all the participants in the study were familiar with
the concept in the field, they themselves may have been subjected to the same top down educational
system in which students were well informed about the theories; however, had no power to
implement what they had learned in the new contexts. Based on the responses, it was clear that the
instructors were compelled to cover the content. To do so, they felt that they did not have enough
time to teach what they taught to be the features of CT. Although in Iranian universities instructors
are somehow free to choose the books and specify the content based on the guidelines prescribed by
Ministry of Science and Technology, they have to cover some pre-specified goals and objectives of
the courses especially for courses which are prerequisite for other university courses.
As the instructors reported, one of the barriers which was hard to tackle was that from the
first days of schooling students in Iran have learned to be passive listeners whose freedom to have
voice in the classrooms is very limited. Therefore, they lacked eagerness and were reluctant to
spend extra mental effort required by high level thinking. Such a way of thinking in a class as a
mini-society may be due to the cultural norms in the country. Davidson (1998) points out that that
CT must be clearly defined and adapted culture-wise. If CT is not valued in the society, it may be
likely to meet with opposition in schools and universities. Such an attitude even has molded
instructors expectations who would like to have everything under their control and not to overload
students who prefer to be given the most straightforward information. Moreover, students in all
years of schooling may already have experienced a pedagogy that rewards note taking and good
recall of facts (Peirce, 1998). The consequence of such an education, as Peirce (1998) notes, is
having students be more interested in the right answer than the way the answer is obtained.
It seems that instructors view CT as an activity which needs more time than the
conventional methods of teaching. Perhaps, students need enough time to think about and explore
the answers to the questions, raise their own questions, discover information, and construct their
own models since CT as other approaches to constructivism, as Marlowe and Page (1998) note, is
about thinking and the thinking process rather than about the quantity of information a student can
memorize and recite (p. 11).
Wang (2009) notes that CT is an ability that allows students to freely express their own
ideas. As one of the instructors mentioned, students rarely have freedom to express themselves. Of
course creating a condition in which students are able to have their say and participate in the
process of decision-making may help them get more involved in deep learning.
To change such a situation and implement CT, as the instructors mentioned, are not easy. As
van Gelder (2004) points out, while it can seem quite basic, it [CT] is actually a complicated
process, and most people are just not very good at it (p. 2). It needs unanimous endeavor from the
side of those responsible for developing curriculum, instructor education centers to give enough
practical insights to the instructors, and workshops to maintain such an attempt.
CT effectively helps students to perform well both at educational settings and in after school
life. It contributes to better decision making in the social and interpersonal contexts; therefore,
attempts should be made to resolve the problems and constraints encountered by instructors to teach
critically.
Further research with a sample of more instructors is needed to see if the instructors beliefs
are compatible with that of students. Instructors who took part in the study may not have
71

implemented CT only because they may have had wrong assumptions about their students beliefs.
They even my not have been aware of the techniques to implement CT.
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its influence on higher education. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher
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Sternberg (Eds.), Teaching thinking skills: Theory and practice (pp. 9-26). New York:
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level test of critical thinking skills. Insight assessment, Millbrae, CA: California Academic
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[13] Halpern, D. (2002). Thought and knowledge (4th ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
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Persian version of the California critical thinking skills test; form B (CCTST). Journal of
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Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
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Teachers College Press.
[29] Resnick, L. (1987). Education and learning to think. Washington, DC: National Academy
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[30] Torff, B. (2003). Developmental changes in teachers use of higher-order thinking and content
knowledge. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 563-569.
[31] Torff, B. (2005). Developmental changes in teachers beliefs about critical-thinking activities.
Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(1), 13-22.
[32] van Gelder, T. (2004). Cultivatin expertise in informal reasoning. Canadian Journal of
Experimental Psychology, 58(2), 142-152.
[33] Wang, Y. H. (2009). Incorporating critical thinking skills into an English conversation
program. European Journal of Social Sciences, 11(1), 51-60.
[34] Weil, Z. (2009). Believing untruths: The dangerous lack of critical thinking. Retrieved January
5, 2012, from http://zoeweil.com/2009/08/31/believing-untruths-the-dangerous-lack-ofcritical-thinking/
[35] Williams, M., & Burden, R. L. (1997). Psychology for language teachers. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
[36] Yeh, S. (2002). Tests worth teaching to: Constructing state-mandated tests that emphasize
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73
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Developing and Implementing a

Multidisciplinary Approach to Assess
CT in General Education
Mark C. Nicholas, Jonathan C. Comer, Doren Recker, John D. Hathcoat
Introduction
Institutions of higher education have
widely embraced critical thinking (CT) as
essential to student success. CT is a core
concept of the general education (GE)
program within undergraduate education.
A fundamental assumption that underlies
the implementation of CT in GE is that it
is discipline-general. As discipline-general, CT is comprised of a battery of skills
that can be applied to all disciplines and
subject-matter indiscriminately (Davies
2006, 1). Consequently, Davies (2006)
has argued, general skills of CT can help
us assess reasoning independent of the
vagaries of the linguistic discourse we
express arguments in (1).
The pervasiveness of this model in
assessment is evident when considering
that the instruments recommended by
the Voluntary System of Accountability
(VSA), the VALUE CT rubric, and commercial instruments all conceptualize CT
as discipline-general. Questions about
the generality of CT arise from evidence
indicating that the distribution of testtakers majors influences value-added
scores when using discipline-general instruments such as the Collegiate Learning
Assessment (Banta and Pike 2007).
An increasing body of research implies that disciplinary epistemology
(Jones 2007; Moore 2011) and campus
culture (Tsui 2000) inform faculty views
of CT. Further, Nicholas and RaiderRoth (2011) found that faculty favored
a discipline-specific approach when assessing CT in the classroom. While it is

good practice to make assessment a faculty-owned and -driven campus activity,
it is also a challenge to cultivate faculty
buy-in for assessment. This problem occurs in part because institutional forms
of assessment may not have the validity
that faculty seek. Hawthorne and Kelsch
(2012) found that faculty were attracted
university has adopted the Proficiency

Profile test and reports outcomes using
College Portrait.
As part of an annual assessment of the
GE program, samples of student work
are collected from various undergraduate
courses across the campus. Over the summer, a multidisciplinary panel of faculty
become paid raters who score each paper
in small groups of two to three members.
Sampled student work serves as the basis for constructing institutional

portfolios aimed at assessing intended outcomes of the GE program
(e.g., CT, written communication, diversity).
to assessment activities that were scholarly, authentic, contextualized, and pertinent to their needs. This article outlines
the approach used by Oklahoma State
University (OSU) in developing and implementing a model for assessing CT in
GE that is faculty-driven and reflective of
approaches used in the classroom.
Current Assessment Practices

in the GE Program
The General Education program at
OSU is governed by two committees:
the General Education Advisory Council
(GEAC) and the Committee for the Assessment of General Education (CAGE).
GEAC oversees the curriculum, and
CAGE leads the assessment of GE outcomes. As a participant in the VSA, the
Sampled student work serves as the basis

for constructing institutional portfolios
aimed at assessing intended outcomes of
the GE program (e.g., CT, written communication, diversity).
At OSU, CT has generally been scored
using a discipline-general rubric (http://
tinyurl.com/osu-ctrubric). With this rubric,
scores are provided for specific aspects of
CT, such as problem identification and use
of supporting evidence, as well a holistic
score reflecting an overall judgment about
the level of critical thinking demonstrated
in the student paper. Though the scoring
process has changed through the years,
panel members typically rate each paper
individually and are then asked to reach
consensus about discrepant scores within
their assigned group.
Assessment Update JulyAugust 2013 Volume 25, Number 4 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. doi:10.1002/au
Self-Examination of Current
Assessment Approach
An examination of recent evidence has
led to specific concerns about the current
approach for assessing CT as an outcome
of the GE program. Nicholas and RaiderRoth (2011), who conducted interviews
and focus-group sessions with 17 faculty
in the humanities and natural and social
sciences, found that these faculty implicitly assessed CT within disciplinary contexts. Faculty took a faceted approach to
teaching and assessing CT in an academic
course, focusing on components of CT
applicable to specific disciplinary content
and contexts. Further, the facets of CT on
which faculty focused differed according
to discipline-specific epistemic criteria.
For instance, faculty in the natural sciences
focused on rationalistic elements of CT,
while those in the humanities focused more
CT assessment is confounded with assessment of written communication,

but this did not figure in our analysis.
Raters need a better understanding of
assignment prompts when assessing
student work.
Disciplinary expertise of faculty-raters
may influence assigned scores.
Given such issues, a mismatch between
faculty and institutional approaches to
CT assessment seemed apparent. It was
therefore important to address these concerns to better align assessment practices
with classroom activities and disciplinespecific expectations.
A Multipronged Response
CAGE developed a multipronged approach to address the above challenges.
This approach entailed a focus on faculty
development and revisiting the CT rubric.
CT lacks a consistent focus within the GE curriculum. As a result, CT has

proven difficult to define, assess, and/or improve.
on aporetic, dispositional elements of CT.

Faculty reported a wide variety of strategies to assess CT, but unanimously rejected
standardized tests as a valid method.
The findings of this study were presented at a faculty workshop, which
generated a discussion about the compatibility of our existing institutional assessment practices and those used by faculty
in the classroom. CAGE reviewed the
above findings and identified the following challenges with our current approach:
While the university assesses CT, there
are no courses designated as specifically focusing on CT in GE. There is
an implicit assumption that faculty focus on the development of CT through
pedagogy and curriculum.
A discipline-general rubric is used to
uniformly assess CT in disciplinary assignments.
We principally assign holistic scores,
whereas faculty take a more faceted approach by focusing on specific assignment characteristics.
8
A Focus on Faculty Development

In 2008, the (then) university provost,
in conjunction with the assessment director, initiated a series of workshops to
address three critical outcomes regarding
GE at OSU: writing, critical thinking,
and diversity. A series of three workshops
over the course of an academic year, held
in parallel for each outcome, brought
faculty of all experience levels together
to discuss, strategize, teach, assess, and
develop peer networks in their efforts to
improve student learning in the respective
outcomes.
In keeping with our disciplinary approach to CT, workshop participants
were placed in three groups: humanities,
social sciences, and natural sciences.
Through various pedagogical and structural approaches, the workshop leaders
coached attendees in the nuances and
intricacies of making CT an explicit outcome in their courses. Participants in the
workshop were encouraged to submit
student work that emerged from assign-
ments developed as part of the workshop

for GE assessment.
As previously indicated, CT lacks a
consistent focus within the GE curriculum. As a result, CT has proven difficult
to define, assess, and/or improve. Thus,
the provosts workshop series has been
useful in raising broader awareness about
such issues and acts to promote specific
approaches to both teaching and assessing CT. This undertaking also reinforces
the importance of CT assessment across
the campus.
Revisiting the CT Rubric
An outcome of such an explicit focus
on CT stemming from the workshop series was growing concern and confusion
about how to apply the existing CT rubric
in a meaningful way. In response, CAGE
set up a multidisciplinary faculty subcommittee to evaluate our CT rubric using disciplinary lenses. The subcommittee concluded that the rubric did not need
to be changed, but instead the criteria on
the rubric needed to be interpreted using
disciplinary perspectives. This outcome
was aligned with previous findings suggesting that discipline-specific epistemic
considerations should inform scoring
practices.
Members on the multidisciplinary
rubric evaluation committee developed
short scenarios containing examples of
possible assignments from their disciplinary areas. Discussion focused on
how such assignments might be viewed
through dimensions of the current CT
rubric. From this discussion it became
evident that the use of CT in the humanities, for instance, may be quite different
from uses in other disciplines. An assignment asking a student to critically assess whether the major characters acted
freely in Homers The Iliad, for example, does not expect the student to do
any statistical analyses or experiments,
or even necessarily to search the relevant
literature. Instead, the student may be
asked to reflect on the literary work and
to evaluate actions portrayed within the
framework of his or her own subjective
understanding of what it means to act

freely. Performances on this task may
still vary in terms of CT, but such a task
recognizes the influence of individual
values, which is generally avoided in the
physical sciences. Scores may therefore
be equivalent across disciplines, though
indications of various levels of CT diverge across disciplinary standards. Similar disciplinary differences were raised as
the 2012 CT institutional portfolio was
developed.
Assessing CT Using
the Revised Approach
In summer 2012, OSU faculty undertook exercises to assess CT as a GE
outcome. This provided a good opportunity to implement our revised assessment
approach. Faculty across the university
submitted student work, which was then
sorted into disciplinary categories reflecting the humanities, natural sciences, and
social sciences. Instead of asking faculty
members to score student papers outside
their discipline, they worked in groups
with student papers that reflected their
disciplinary expertise.
Prior to scoring student artifacts, raters participated in a norming session.
During these sessions, faculty members
across disciplines were provided with
opportunities to discuss differences in interpreting the rubric. Experienced raters
from the humanities reported that in previous years they frequently had to recalibrate specific dimensions of the scoring
rubric. For example, the dimension Student Provides Evidence and Supporting
Information was interpreted as having a
distinct meaning within each discipline.
Some initially took this to mean with or
without any additional support, while
others took it as involving some sort of
additional evidence. As soon as this came
out in discussion, there was quick agreement that unsupported opinion is useless
for the purposes of CT.
Further, the nature and content of
discussions among faculty in related
disciplines was markedly contextual.
Disciplinary facilitators reported that
this year was rather different from past

years. For instance, a noted effect of
having faculty members score papers
sampled from their respective disciplines was that raters could more readily
interpret the rubric dimensions through a
discipline-specific lens. Such processes
GE. Some preliminary results suggest

that critical thinking and written communication are empirically distinguishable,
though they are intricately connected. For
example, we have estimated that about 25
percent of the variance in CT consensus
scores is attributed writing. The extent
If a goal of GE is to provide students the widest spectrum of disciplinary

exposure, the value of CT in GE may lie not in its generality but instead
within the multidisciplinarity of CT.
provided greater assurance that raters

were not scoring papers that were outside their expertise (e.g., having a philosopher score an engineering paper for
CT). Faculty raters also indicated that
when scoring papers across disciplines,
as was done in previous years, they often had to switch gears throughout the
scoring process. Nesting faculty raters
within cognate disciplinary groupings
minimized such problems. Finally, faculty members indicated that these practices eased the process of reaching consensus about discrepant scores.
Evaluating Our Approach

Our approach is aligned with Moores
(2011, 273) reflection that this kind of
wisdom from the disciplines leads one
to think that the future of CT in our institutions lies not in any efforts to skate
around difference but, instead, to embrace it. We believe that the multidisciplinary approach we adopted has several
advantages:
Aligns faculty approaches and institutional approaches.
Incorporates methods and epistemic
considerations unique to different disciplines.
Broadens the scope of CT as assessed
through general education.
Provides a viable, nonstandardized indicator of the critical thinking capabilities beyond value-added institutional
measures reported in the VSA.
Over the past few months, we have
analyzed the results of students CT in
to which one should be concerned about

this estimate, however, may depend on
the kind of interpretation one wishes to
make. If we wish to assess the extent to
which students are able to illustrate CT
through writing, then this evidence may
be trivial. However, the extent to which
such scores refer to aspects of CT beyond
writing is questionable. Consequently, it
is essential to continue to explore methods for diversifying the type of assignments used to assess CT. Such evidence
also implies that we may need additional
observations to represent the breadth of
CT learning approaches taught across the
GE curriculum.
Summary
The approach we outline is relevant
in establishing a faculty-driven, alternative assessment practice for CT assessment at an institutional level while
remaining cognizant of disciplinary distinctions in both the conceptualization
and indicators of CT. If a goal of GE is
to provide students the widest spectrum
of disciplinary exposure, the value of
CT in GE may lie not in its generality
but instead within the multidisciplinarity of CT. Hence, expanding the scope
of CT assessment to reflect disciplinary
idiosyncrasies as opposed to generalities
has proven more valuable in our own assessment experiences than value-added
approaches using discipline-general
measures.
(continued on page 12)
Developing and Implementing a Multidisciplinary

Approach to Assess CT in General Education
(continued from page 9)
References
Banta, T. W., and Pike, G. R. 2007.
Revisiting the Blind Alley of Value
Added. Assessment Update 19(1): 12,
1415.
Davies, W. M. 2006. In Defence of
Generalisation: Moore on the Critical
Thinking Debate. Higher Education Research & Development 25: 179193.
Hawthorne, J., and Kelsch, A. 2012.
Closing the Loop: How an Assessment
Project Paved the Way for GE Reform.
Assessment Update 24(4): 12.
Jones, A. 2007. Multiplicities of

Manna from Heaven? Critical Thinking
and the Disciplinary Context. Australian Journal of Education 51: 1.
Moore, T. J. 2011. Critical Thinking
and Disciplinary Thinking: A Continuing Debate. Higher Education Research
& Development 30(3): 261274.
Nicholas, M. C., and Raider-Roth,
M. 2011. Faculty Approaches to Assessing Critical ThinkingImplications
for General Education. Paper presented
at the annual meeting of the Association
Applying Qualitative Techniques to Assessment

in Student Affairs
(continued from page 6)
qualitative assessment projects would not
require the same amount of detail as this
one, the strategies outlined in this article
easily could be applied, either individually or in combination, to qualitative assessments of programs, services, and
activities in other areas. While not an
exhaustive list of options, the following
serve as recommendations for future assessment endeavors in student affairs:
Develop a standard set of questions and
instructions to explore individual stakeholder experiences (interview protocol).
Prepare facilitators to consistently ask
and examine participant responses
(training).
Use multiple data sources and data collection techniques to corroborate evidence (triangulation).
Share codes, themes, and findings with
participants to elicit their feedback
(member checking).
Design a mechanism for recording
rich, descriptive information, such as
quotes, key phrases, and personal reflections (rich description).
12
Implement a system for chronicling

and communicating decisions to ensure
that the process is consistent and transparent (audit trail).
Summary
The intent of this article was to describe the techniques used in one qualitative assessment initiative and to demonstrate the ways in which qualitative
assessment can bring life and depth to
assessment projects in student affairs. As
the demands for greater accountability increase, student affairs divisions will need
to demonstrate both a capacity and willingness to implement rigorous methods
to collect, analyze, and interpret qualitative assessment data.
References
Bolman, L. G., and Deal, T. E. 2001.
Leading with Soul: An Uncommon Journey of Spirit. San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass.
Cooperrider, D. L., and Whitney, D.
2005. Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive
for the Study of Higher Education, Charlotte, NC.

Tsui, L. 2000. Effects of Campus
Culture on Students Critical Thinking. Review of Higher Education 23:
421441.
Mark C. Nicholas is assistant director

in University Assessment and Testing, Jonathan C. Comer is professor and graduate coordinator in the
Department of Geography, and Doren
Recker is head of the Philosophy Department at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. John D. Hathcoat is
assistant professor and assistant assessment specialist at James Madison
University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Revolution in Change. San Francisco,

CA: Berrett-Koehler.
Creswell, J. W., and Miller, D. L.
2000. Determining Validity in Qualitative Inquiry. Theory into Practice 39(3):
124130.
Fifolt, M., and Stowe, A. M. 2011.
Playing to Your Strengths: Appreciative
Inquiry in the Visioning Process. College
& University 87(1): 3740.
Keller, C. M., and Hammang, J. G.
2008, Fall. The Voluntary System of Accountability for Accountability and Institutional Assessment. New Directions for
Institutional Research S1: 3948.
Lehner, R., and Hight, D. L. 2006. Appreciative Inquiry and Student Affairs: A
Positive Approach to Change. College
Student Affairs Journal 25(2): 141151.
NASPA. n.d. Considering a Career
in Student Affairs? NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.
Retrieved from http://www.naspa.org/
career/.
Patton, M. Q. 1980. Qualitative Evaluation Methods. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Patton, M. Q. 2002. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. (3rd
ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Vision Team. 2009. Telling the Student Affairs Story: Celebrating Our past
Copyright of Assessment Update is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and its content
may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright
holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for
individual use.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Vol. 5. No. 3. May, 2013
J. Pinkney, Michael F. Shaughnessy. Teaching critical thinking skills: a modern mandate. International
Journal of Academic Research Part B; 2013; 5(3), 346-352. DOI: 10.7813/2075-4124.2013/5-3/B.52
TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS:

A MODERN MANDATE
Jeanine Pinkney, Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University (USA)
Michael.Shaughnessy@enmu.edu
DOI: 10.7813/2075-4124.2013/5-3/B.52
ABSTRACT
Modern mandates in education require that schools teach critical thinking. Although thinking comes naturally
to most humans, people generally need training to think reliably, deeply, critically and well. Moreover, a populace
which is generally capable of critical thinking is necessary for the proper functioning of a democracy and a free
market economic system and society.
Critical thinking is traditionally taught through high school mathematics and science, particularly algebra,
which requires Stage Four Piagetian skills. Demands that critical thinking should receive more emphasis in
education are often addressed by adding more mathematics to the school curricula. However, research suggests
that, while nearly all adults and adolescents of western cultures can reason at the Concrete Operational stage, only
about one third of US high school graduates are capable of Formal Operational thought.
Thus, critical thinking should be taught within the Concrete Operational skills. This may be accomplished as
a separate curricular offering, or integrated into the curriculum. Such instruction may provide the disequilibration
necessary for Stage Four transition; even if not, students can learn to think critically using the Stage Three skills,
provided these skills are properly addressed with fidelity and integrity.
There is no guarantee that universal proficiency in critical thinking is possible, but improvement may be
attained if educators teach critical thinking in curricula which builds on the skills of the Concrete Operational stage
where the majority of learners reside.
Key words: teaching critical thinking skills, a modern mandate
1. INTRODUCTION: DEMANDS FOR TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING
No Child Left Behind mandates emphasis on higher order thinking as a necessary and attainable skill for all
children. This law requires levels of proficiency in all children, regardless of ability and socioeconomic status, and it
penalizes school districts which are unable to show sufficient improvement. This law has brought greater urgency
to trends that have been developing at least since the early 1980s. In its 1983 publication, Academic preparation
for college, the College Board noted that competency in reasoning is necessary. At about the same time, the
Rockefeller Commission on the Humanities (1980) and the American Philosophical Association (1985) issued
similar statements (Ennis & Sternberg, 1987, p. 9). In 2000, the National Council of Teachers (NCTM) issued the
Principles and Standards, placing emphasis on developing higher order thinking skills in all learners, at all levels
(NCTM, 2000).
The quest for critical thinking is nothing new. In ancient legend, Eve craved the fruit of the Tree of
Knowledge, and Socrates goaded the young men of Athens to question assumptions and discern subtleties.
However, such earlier efforts were not accompanied by legal or social mandate that all children must develop
proficiency. Indeed, Eve and Socrates were punished for their quests.
More recently, in response to the Space Race of the 1960s, the "new math" movement introduced
elementary school students to some sophisticated mathematical notions normally encountered by math majors in
college.
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) laws and other mandates around the world have added urgency. Policy
makers noted the achievement gap of minority and low socioeconomic status students (SES), and declared this
unacceptable. NCLB mandates under penalty to the teachers and the school districts that all children attain the
proficiency that NCLB architects observed in more fortunate young people. It is interesting to note that there was,
and is no proof, that such universal proficiency is possible (Derthick & Dunn, 2009). Yet, standards demand that
the United States education systems strive for and attain, if not universal proficiency, at least visible progress
toward this goal.
2. WHY TEACH CRITICAL THINKING?
Educators must teach critical thinking because the law requires it, but beyond this, why? One may argue,
people think all the time, naturally. There is no need to teach thinking.
346 | PART B. SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
Vol. 5. No. 3. May, 2013
All of us compare, classify, order, extrapolate, interpret, form hypotheses, weigh evidence, draw
conclusions, and engage in various activities that are typically classified as thinking. This is not to say that
we always do these things perfectly, or even that we typically do them all very well, but we do them with or
without prodding or the benefit of formal training(However,) the fact that we think spontaneously does not
prevent us from succumbing to the stratagems of hucksters and demagogues, nor does it ensure the
consistent rationality of our behavior. Indeed, the list of documented ways in which our reasoning commonly
goes astray is a long one (Nickerson, 1987).
Some policymakers justify the mandate to teach critical thinking through the assertion that critical thinking is
necessary to get a job, or to keep the US economy competitive on the worldwide market. But is this true? Goodlad
(Nickerson, cited in Sternberg, 1987, p. 31) argued that few employers pay their workers to contemplate, question,
and inquire; in fact, many discourage this. Some jobs at the professional and technical level require troubleshooting
and problem solving within their domain, but Brown and Saks (Nickerson, p. 31) speaking from a strictly economic
point of view, stated that "there is no obvious economic argument for maximizing the reasoning skills of the
population."
On the other hand, Adam Smith (1776) argued that the combined action of rational choices by all members
of an unconstrained economic system constitute the effect of an "invisible hand," which maximizes benefits for all.
John Nash, in his Nobel Prize winning theory of Nash Equilibrium, refined this idea (Nasser, 2007). He showed that
benefit is maximized not when all act according to individual self-interest, but instead when a rational actor,
assuming that others in a transaction will continue their course of action, considers what actions would maximize
benefits for all.
It is noteworthy that, in both models, the assumption is that actions are rationally considered and chosen.
Unfortunately, this assumption is not always accurate. Thus, a case may be made for teaching critical thinking,
even if there is no immediately visible economic benefit.
Likewise, the U.S. political system depends on citizens and leaders who can think rationally. We value
democracy; however, the ancient Greeks, who enjoyed a prototypical democracy, observed that an educated
populace is necessary to keep democracy from degenerating into mob rule. Indeed, this is echoed in Thomas
Jefferson's forceful support of public education: "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization,
it expects what never was and never will be." (Bergstett, n.d.). Echoing this, Postman wrote, "There can be no
liberty for a community which lacks the critical skills to distinguish lies from truth" (Nickerson, cited in Sternberg,
1987, p. 31). This is true even though society does not always reward or appreciate critical thinking; Eve remains
vilified in mainstream Christian tradition, and Socrates was executed. Moreover, critical thinking does not always
th
lead to immediate peace or tranquility; instead, it may lead to periods of social upheaval such as the 18 century
Enlightenment-inspired revolutions of France, the United States, and Haiti, or the civil rights and anti-war
movements of the 1960s. Even though critical thinking may be troublesome at times, it is still highly valued as a
skill of civilization.
3. CHARACTERISTICS OF CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
What do researchers mean by critical thinking? Two constructs come most readily to mind: Bloom's
Taxonomy and Piaget's theory on Formal Operations. There are other constructs as well. For example, Robert
Ennis of the Illinois Critical Thinking Project discussed thirteen dispositions, which he regarded as "essential for the
critical thinker" and a fourteenth, sensitivity to others, as also important. Ennis summarized these thirteen under the
four headings of clarity, basis, inference, and interaction, and created a curriculum for teaching critical thinking
(Ennis, 1985, p. 10). This curriculum may be found in the cited reference.
4. BLOOM'S TAXONOMY
Bloom's Taxonomy is a hierarchical structure of thinking skills, which may be summarized as follows:
Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evalutaion. Bloom regarded Evaluation,
Synthesis, and Analysis as higher order skills. Further, Bloom believed all children to be capable of all of these
skills if given appropriate expectations and guidance.
Many educators believe that the hierarchy of these skills is essential, that is, that the skills build on each
other and that students cannot attain higher level skills until the lower level skills are firmly in place. For example, in
grade school, children learn addition and multiplication tables to automaticity, and perform calculations with
fractions, decimals, percentages, basic geometric figures, and the division algorithm. Educators believe these rote
skills serve a person well in developing number sense as well as form a foundation for understanding the field
properties of the real number system. This foundation prepares students to abstract this number sense to algebra,
an area generally regarded as a gateway to a rigorous study of science and mathematics (US Government,
National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008)
Others object that such "drill and kill" is unnecessary, demeaning, and counterproductive (Devin, 2010).
They note that very young children spontaneously show higher order thinking skills in areas that interest them, and
the availability of calculators and computers makes it possible for children to carry out sophisticated endeavors in
literature and mathematics even if they lack the underlying basic skills. Educators hope that the increased
availability of technology may lessen the achievement gap seen in minority and low SES students even though the
availability of technology in low SES communities may always lag behind such availability in affluent communities.
Baku, Azerbaijan| 347
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5. PIAGETS THEORY ON STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Unlike Bloom's Taxonomy, which applies to children of all ages, Piaget's theory on stages of cognitive
development is dependent on the learners' ages. In particular, Stage 4, the ability to think in a systematic abstract
manner, applies to adolescent and adult learners. Piaget believed that these stages are universal; modern
educational policies echo this belief. However, Formal Operations is not universal, (Huitt & Hummel 2003), and
therein lies the problem.
Piaget developed his theories on cognitive development while employed at the Binet Institute in the 1920s
(Herbert & Opper, 1979). His task was to develop a French version of the Binet IQ test for the purpose of placing
French children in appropriate classes in their schools. In pouring over the results of these tests, Piaget noted that
correct as well as incorrect answers showed qualitatively different thought patterns typical of varying age groups.
He became interested in the childrens thought processes, which led to the patterns of erroneous responses which
seemed to typify children of various age groups.
Piaget identified skills which generally appear in mid-childhood and enable children to think in a consistent
and logical manner. These skills continue to serve most people in western societies throughout their lives. Since
most learners (Huitt & Hummel 2003) are in Stage 3, it is worthwhile to summarize these skills as follows
(Ginnsberg & Opper, 1979), and to consider how they may serve as a basis for a practical course in critical
thinking:
Seriation: the ability to sort objects in order according to any given characteristic.
Transitivity: the ability to recognize relationships among various things in a serial order.
Classification: the ability to name and identify sets of objects according to any given characteristic,
including the idea that one set of objects can include another.
Decentering: the ability to take into account multiple aspects of a problem to solve it.
Reversibility: the understanding that objects can be changed then returned to their original state.
Conservation: the understanding that quantity, length or number of items is unrelated to the
arrangement or appearance of the object or items. (This is related to decentering.)
Elimination of Egocentrismthe ability to view things from another's perspective (even if they do so
incorrectly).
Piaget observed that, in their early teen years, many young people began to make certain types of mistakes
which may be generally described as "over-thinking." Also, he noted that some teenagers seemed to undergo a
qualitative shift in their thinking, readily answering questions and completing tasks that stymied students a few
years younger. Thus, Piaget hypothesized that the mind develops in discrete stages over time, associated roughly
with the child's age in years, and that the highest stage occurs in early adolescence.
Observing his own children when they were very young, Piaget completed his description of the stages of
cognitive development from birth to the threshold of adulthood, as follows:
Stage 1 Sensorimotor (infancy and very early childhood),

Stage 2 Preoperational (up to around age 5-7),
Stage 3 Concrete Operational (up to around age 11-12)
Stage 4 Formal Operational (adolescence to adulthood).
Piaget further hypothesized that these stages progress naturally as a child accommodates and assimilates
new information. When a child encounters information that does not fit into current schema, an uncomfortable state
of disequilibration can occur. Under optimal circumstances, new schema development resolves this disequilibration
and stimulates progress into the next stage of cognitive development (Commons & Richards, 2002).
Piaget developed a set of tasks to see if children had achieved concrete operational abilities, and found that
most middle class French children did achieve them at about the same age range, 5 to 7 years old. Other studies
have found that these abilities develop at about the same age range in children in many parts of the world,
especially in Westernized or literate cultures. However, the exact age, as well as the order at which the skills
develop, may vary depending on which skills the given culture values (Suizzo, 2000). Other studies in non-reading
cultures have failed to produce consistent results. These studies, however, may have suffered flaws in
methodology and applicability to cultures very different from that of the researchers (Dasen, 1972). For present
purposes, it is safe to say that concrete operational skills are generally established and functioning in noncognitively impaired in adults and adolescents of Western cultures (Huitt & Hummel, 2003).
Vol. 5. No. 3. May, 2013
Picture credit: Huitt W. & Hummel J. (2003). Piaget's theory of cognitive development.
Educational Psychology Interactive, used with permission.
It is important to note that learners in the concrete operational stage are quite capable of rational inquiry and
problem solving. But they can reliably solve only problems that apply to actual (concrete) objects or events;
abstract concepts and hypothetical tasks may leave them frustrated, exasperated, and overwhelmed. Because
their reasoning is based on concrete events, they thrive on hands-on learning. They readily perform inductive
reasoning, recognizing a pattern in examples and applying this pattern to understand and interpret subsequent
experiences. But deductive reasoning, from abstract principles to concrete applications, is sporadic to non-existent.
Stage 3 thinkers can devise and carry out experiments, and often enjoy doing so. However, left to their own
devices, their experiments are haphazard, based on isolated rounds of trial and error rather than formulation and
systematic testing of hypotheses.
Thus, the middle school science or math teacher can devise meaningful and engaging learning experiences
subject to these conditions as long as the teacher is mindful of the strengths and limitations of concrete operational
thought. Since many adults remain at the concrete operational stage (Huitt & Hummel, 1998), teachers at the high
school and undergraduate college level would also do well to remember these characteristics of the concrete
operational learner. Sometime around early teen years, and into adulthood, some learners successfully manage
disequilibration, so that they develop the ability to mentally manipulate abstract concepts and solve problems by
deduction from general principles, to specific circumstances. Piaget developed a set of tasks, such as the
pendulum task, the flexible rods task, and the shadow task, in which researchers ask adolescents to devise an
experiment, systematically testing variables in order to solve a problem or achieve a goal. Unlike the concrete
operational tasks, the ability to complete these tasks was not universal, even in the middle class French children
Piaget, studied and even less so in young people of other nations, cultures, and social classes.
Concrete thinkers use and manipulate symbols for concrete objects; in addition, formal thinkers use symbols
to manipulate abstract concepts. Concrete thinkers reason about things; formal thinkers reason about ideas. A
formal operational thinker can systematically consider the interaction of multiple variables, isolating them singly or
in orderly patterns, in order to solve a problem or find a new relation. Stage 4 thinkers can mentally manipulate
abstract relationships and concepts without a need for concrete models or even real-world examples, and do so
reliably (Wood, Smith, & Grossniklaus, 2001). These are the skills required in mathematics from high school
algebra on. Unfortunately, these skills are not universal.
Picture credit: Huitt W. & Hummel J. (2003), ibid, used with permission.
Vol. 5. No. 3. May, 2013
Genovese (2003) argues that this is because concrete thinking skills are "biologically primary, based on
the characteristics of matter and energy that humans encounter in their daily interactions with the physical world. A
person who could not make sense of the environment in these or equivalent terms would be at a survival
disadvantage. However, stage four thinking skills are "biologically secondary." Not necessary to survival, they
pertain to abstractions that are not part of most peoples everyday experiences, so they do not occur as standard.
According to Huitt and Hummel (1998), only 35% of high school graduates in industrialized countries obtain formal
operations; many people do not think formally during adulthood". This raises serious difficulties in mathematics and
science education. As Genovese (2003) said:
The failure of adolescents and adults to reason in the ways predicted by Piaget is a serious problem
for both the theory and practice of education, for it is precisely the formal reasoning skills that are necessary
for mastering academic subjects such as math and science beyond the elementary level.
The problem is clear: if a person is unable to operate on operations, algebra makes little sense to them, and
the pathway to a higher science education is closed. Yet the federal government and states require algebra for high
school graduation, and, without a high school diploma, a person faces a life of marginalization. Moreover, there is a
trend to introduce algebra in middle school, even in elementary school, and to require more years of math for high
school graduation. Unlike the "new math" of the 1960's, the mandate to achieve accompanies this introduction.
So, the question is: how do educators foster these thinking skills in adult and adolescent learners? This
question may be broken down further: what can educators do for those who remain at the concrete operational
stage? How can educators create situations of disequilibration to nudge adult and adolescent learners over into
formal operational thinking, without driving them to give up in frustration? Or, if this is not feasible, how can
educators help learners to make optimal use of the concrete operational skills which they do have, so that they can
function as rational beings at that level?
Critics have noted that Piaget's stages are not as context and culture free as they seem (Genovese, 2003)
and that culture itself, helps to define intelligence (Suizzo,2000). Other critics have noted that the Piaget's stages
may be artifacts of his testing process and that human cognition develops in a sequential and continuous manner
(Dasen, 1972). Yet, there does seem to be qualitative differences in the thought patterns of those who are
proficient in reasoning from abstract principles, and those who seem to be able only to reason from what they can
touch, see, and manipulate, and this qualitative difference seems to be related to the opportunities that education
stakeholders make available to students. These educational opportunities, in turn, can influence the socioeconomic
status of students long after their formal education has ended. Thus, social justice demands that all interested
parties investigate critical thinking and how it may be made accessible to more, if not to all.
6. ENNIS: CRITICAL THINKING DISPOSITIONS
Robert H. Ennis (1985) of the Illinois Critical Thinking Project defined critical thinking as "a practical
reflective activity that has reasonable belief or action as its goal," that is, "the process of reflectively and reasonably
deciding what to believe in do." He added:
Critical thinking is not equivalent to the higher order thinking skills, in part because that idea is so
vague. However, critical thinking, a practical activity, includes most or all of the directly practical higher order
thinking skills. Furthermore, critical thinking includes dispositions which would not be included in a listing of
skills.
Ennis defined the basic areas of critical thinking as clarity, basis, inference, and action. These may be
broken down further as follows: clarity includes focusing, analyzing arguments and asking appropriate questions.
Basis involves support for one's inferences and includes judging the credibility of statements and sources as well
as observation. Inference is the process of developing frames of reference. Inference includes inductive reasoning
(generalizing to create and test hypotheses), deductive reasoning (applying a principle or abstract idea to concrete
situations, determining whether a conclusion necessarily follows from premises), and inference to value judgments,
that is, making statements in terms of what people actually do or should reasonably do. Ennis added a fourth area,
interaction with others, because the ability to see issues from others' points of view is necessary to refine one's
thinking as well as to make it appropriate and applicable to functioning as a rational member of human society. It is
interesting to note that most of these dispositions, through application to real world examples and hands-on
experiences, can be made accessible to learners who possess concrete operational skills.
7. INSTRUCTION FOR CRITICAL THINKING
Ennis developed a curriculum for teaching critical reasoning, described in the references. In this curriculum,
students learn to seek clarity, formulate questions, analyze arguments, judge the credibility of statements and
sources, recognize valid logical processes as well as fallacies, make value judgments, and interact with others as
rational beings. This curriculum was developed for use at the undergraduate college level. It would also be
appropriate for high schools, if it were not for curriculum constraints imposed by federal and state law. That is, one
may object: with all the required courses for high school graduation, how could schools afford to add a class like
this? In view of the points raised under the topic "why teach critical thinking?," one could just as well ask, how can
educators afford not to teach a class like this at the high school level, where, thanks to compulsory education laws,
Vol. 5. No. 3. May, 2013
more young people would be exposed to this material. Perhaps a course like this could be offered in lieu of some
mathematics requirements.
Traditionally, one reason given for teaching algebra and geometry is "to teach the (human) race to reason
even though, "It does not, heaven knows, always succeed, but it is the best method that we have. It is not the only
road to the goal, but there is none better." (Dudley, 2010) Unfortunately, those who are not capable of the type of
thought described as Piagetian Formal Operations often balk at the effort, underperforming in mathematics and
avoiding college major choices which require mathematics (Commons, Miller, & Kuhn, 1982, Salman, 2002). To
address this, instructors may integrate critical thinking into courses on writing, philosophy, and social studies. The
curriculum cited earlier by Ennis explicitly teaches critical thinking skills, as do courses in quantitative literacy,
intended for liberal arts and social science majors.
At one southwestern university, the Mathematics department has developed a new math course, Math 106,
to suit the needs of social science majors who need the basic math and critical thinking skills that are prerequisite
to the statistics classes required by their major. This, in turn, raises the question among social science majors,
Why do we need statistics? Such students argue that they are not going to be statisticians; they contend that they
are going to be working directly with people. However, when they ask this, math faculty must point out to them that
statistics is necessary to the scientific method, which in turn is necessary to social sciences in order to be truly
scientific endeavors. At this juncture, it is helpful to show them how, as social science professionals, they will be in
positions to create and administer social policy. Such professionals should base such policy on science and
reason.
Educators can also integrate critical thinking into mainstream instruction at the secondary and elementary
levels. Educators may teach children as young as age seven to analyze, compare, judge, and infer across the
subject domains of reading, mathematics, and writing (Quellmalz, 1987). In social studies classes, teachers may
challenge students to visualize and comment on historical events from points of view other than the usual
mainstream, or argue an issue from a "devil's advocate" position (Swartz, 1987). Such exercises can nudge
students out of their comfort zones and into a state of disequilibration that will, it is hoped, resolve itself into higher
order thinking patterns.
8. CONCLUSION
Educators must teach critical thinking because critical thinking is a skill which makes people fully human.
Although thinking comes naturally to humans, people generally need training in order to think reliably and well.
Modern mandates in education require that schools teach higher level thinking, without really specifying what this
means.
Paradigms provided by Piaget, Bruno, Ennis, and others, define higher level thinking and suggest ways that
educators can foster these skills in learners. In particular, since most people are Concrete Operational thinkers,
critical thinking should be taught in ways that rely primarily on the skills of Concrete Operational thinking. Such
curricula may introduce enough disequilibration to stimulate transition to Stage 4, while, with a bit of care,
educators can avoid overwhelming and frustrating learners with demands that they perform tasks that may seem
pointless and impossible to Stage 3 thinkers.
There is no guarantee that universal proficiency is possible, but educators still need to aim for this, and can
best do so by building on the skills which learners currently possess. Thus, we can achieve a populace capable of
critical thought. Modern ideals of democracy and freedom demand no less.
REFERENCES
1. Bergstedt J. (N.D.). Thomas Jefferson's bill for universal education at the public expense. Retrieved
from http://jschell.myweb.uga.edu/history/legis/jeffersonuniversal.htm
2. Commons M.L., Miller P.M. & Kuhn D. (1982). The relation between formal operational reasoning and
academic course selection and performance among college freshmen and sophomores. Journal of
Applied Developmental Psychology, 3, 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0193-3973(82)90028-4.
3. Commons M.L. & F.A. Richards (2002). Organizing components into combinations: How
stage
transition works. Journal of Adult Development, 9(3), 159-177. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1016047
925527.
4. Dasen P.R. Cross-cultural Piagetian research: a summary. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology. 3,
23-39, 1972. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002202217200300102.
5. Devlin K. In math you have to remember, in other subjects you can think about it (2010). Mathematical
Association of America. Retrieved from http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_06_10.html
6. Derthick M. & Dunn J.M. (2009, June 22). False premises: The accountability fetish in education The
Free Library. Retrieved from
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/False-a0204614056
7. Dudley U. (2010). What is mathematics for? Notices of the AMS. Retrieved from http://www.ams.org/
notices/201005/rtx100500608p.pdf.
8. Ennis R.H. (1987). A taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions and abilities. In J.B. Baron & R. J.
Sternberg (Eds.) Teaching Thinking Skills: Theory and Practice (9-26). New York: W.H. Freeman and
Company.
9. Genovese J.E.C. Piaget, pedagogy, and evolutionary psychology (2003) Evolutionary Psychology
human-nature.com/ep 2003. 1: 127-137 Retrieved from www.epjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/
ep01127137.pdf
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10. Herbert G. & Opper S. (1979). Piaget's theory of intellectual development. Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall.
11. Huitt W. & Hummel J. (1998). Cognitive development. Retrieved from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/
col/cogsys/piaget.html
12. Huitt W. & Hummel J. (2003). Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Educational Psychology
Interactive. Retrieved from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cogsys/piaget.html
13. Nasser G. A. Nash Equilibrium International encyclopedia of the social sciences, 2nd edition, p. 540542 Connecticut: Macmillan Reference USA (2007) retrieved from www.columbia.edu/~rs328/
NashEquilibrium.pdf
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standards/content.aspx?id=16909
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operational junior secondary school students in mathematics students. Journal for
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Mathematics Education, 13 (1), 16-30. Retrieved from unilorin.edu.ng/journals/education/ije/dec2002/
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OPERATIONAL JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MATHEMATICS STUDENTS.pdf
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(Ed), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from
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CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS AND MEANING IN

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
Harits Masduqi
(haritsm@yahoo.com)
The University of Sydney
New South Wales 2006, Australia
Universitas Negeri Malang
Jl. Semarang 05 Malang 65145, Indonesia
Abstract: Many ELT experts believe that the inclusion of critical thinking
skills in English classes is necessary to improve students English competence. Students critical thinking skills will be optimally increased if meaning is prioritized in English lessons. Those two inter-related elements can be
implemented when teachers do collaborative activities stimulating students
thinking process and meaning negotiation. Yet, the realization might be
counter-productive if they are applied without careful consideration of task
purposes and of students roles. Based on the consideration, this paper is focused on presenting how critical thinking skills and meaning should be
properly incorporated in an English lesson.
Key words: critical thinking, critical thinking skills, meaning, collaborative
activities
Critical thinking has been a well-established subject and a debatable research

field across disciplines for a very long time. It was first introduced by Greek
philosophers and has been used since the Greek Empire era up to now, obtaining a significant, influential status during its extensive travel all over history.
Many historians believe that the roots of critical thinking can be traced from
Socrates teaching practice and vision 2,500 years ago. He brilliantly revealed a
probing questioning method that individuals could not logically justify their assertive claims to knowledge. Socrates view of critical thinking, supported by
185
186 TEFLIN Journal, Volume 22, Number 2, July 2011
Plato, was then applied by Descartes and was a theme in essays written by
Montesquieu and John Locke (Rfaner, 2006).
Critical thinking is the intelligently self-controlled process of actively and
skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating
information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection,
reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. It is based on
universal intellectual values that excel subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth,
breadth, and fairness (Scriven & Richard, 1987). In short, critical thinking is
that mode of thinking - about any subject, content, or problem - in which the
thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of
the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon
them (The Critical Thinking Community, 2002).
At university level, critical thinking skills are essential abilities in using
intellectual tools by which one appropriately assesses thinking. In this case, by
utilizing critical thinking skills, students can use the intellectual tools that critical thinking offers concepts and principles that enable them to analyze, assess, and improve thinking. They will be able to work diligently to develop the
intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility, intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and confidence in reason. To put it briefly, critical thinking skills are self-improvement in thinking
through intellectual tools that assess thinking (The Critical Thinking Community, 2009).
Critical thinking skills play significant roles not only in learners academic
achievements but also in their dynamic life of workforce after graduation. Hirose (1992) claims that numerous large corporations all over the globe deal
with the lack of basic thinking skills performed by recent college graduates in
their companies. He says that, Many of today's youth lack the basic skills to
function effectively when they enter the workforce. A common complaint is
that entry-level employees lack the reasoning and critical thinking abilities
needed to process and refine information (Hirose, 1992:1).
In the context of higher education in Indonesia, especially in English Department, the limited use of critical thinking skills and the lack of meaningful
activities are assumed to be the reasons why students in Indonesian universities
are often ineffective in exchanging ideas and writing in English critically. They
tend to accept opinions, especially on the current news of politics, corruption,
and education, without evaluating them appropriately. This is probably because
Masduqi, Critical Thinking Skills and Meaning in English Language Teaching 187
most of them previously studied at primary and secondary schools which typically applied too teacher-centered approach. Therefore, expressing ideas in
English both communicatively and critically is not always easy for English Department students.
Based on what have been stated above, this paper will focus on presenting
how critical thinking skills and meaning should be implemented in English
Language Teaching. To begin with, the writer will first discuss English Language Teaching in Indonesia in general perspectives and then clarify the reasons why critical thinking skills and meaning should be prioritized in English
classes. From this point on, the writer will suggest practical teaching stages incorporating critical thinking skills and meaning in an English lesson.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN INDONESIA
English has been taught at secondary schools in Indonesia since the era of
Dutch colonialism. The persistent, similar fact is that English has never been
positioned as an official language, as in Singapore, Malaysia, India, or other
nations where English has an important, influential status as a second language.
A possible reason is that the effect of British colonialism in Indonesia is practically invisible and United States had not been diplomatically close with the Indonesian government at that time (Dardjowidjojo, 1996).
Dardjowidjojo further states that the effort to establish English as a second
language in 1950s was also unsuccessful for at least two reasons. First, although Bahasa Indonesia is the national language, it is the second language for
most people since most Indonesians speak a vernacular before they learn the
national language. Second, triggered by the spirit of nationalism, Indonesian
leaders and people were not willing to consider English as a second language.
For these fundamental reasons, English remains as a foreign language in Indonesia.
The English language status gives significant impacts in all education levels. Even though English is a compulsory subject for students from Year 3 to
the first year in tertiary level, the time allotment for English subject is not sufficient considering basic communicative competence should be achieved by the
learners. At secondary schools, for instance, students only learn English for
twice a week, 45 minutes each time. English is not prioritized and treated in the
same way as other general subjects.
The condition is not even better at Indonesian universities. English in nonEnglish departments is only taught once or twice a week, each meeting is 100
minutes during the first two semesters. In few cases, English is even not taught
at all because it is not a part of core courses. This academic fact is disadvantageous for the students since a number of compulsory textbooks used by their
lecturers are in English.
In English Departments, students usually endure a number of adjustments
when they speak in English. Attending their first English class, most of them
face a perplexing fact that they have to be able to communicate in English. This
adjustment could be full of twists and turns because English is not a language
used by Indonesian people in daily life. The majority of the students have limited use of English in their societies and consequently, communicating in English is often challenging for them.
In the most recent development, however, some Indonesian universities
have started making a progressive step by giving more priority in English, such
as using English as a medium of instruction in international classes, asking students to regularly translate English materials in Indonesian, supporting the establishment of English clubs, having students speak in English for presenting
their theses, and so forth. Nevertheless, such a constructive effort has not been
widely received and conducted by other universities. This determination tends
to be successful only in state and elite private institutions in which the enrolled students bring quite good language proficiency from their previous education levels (Sukono, 2004). It is, therefore, an appropriate approach should be
immensely applied in English Language Teaching in Indonesia.
Communicative Approach was then expected to alter the English Language Teaching in Indonesia as it was chosen as an instructional approach in
the 1994 English curriculum. With Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
in the curriculum, there seemed to be a crucial change in English teaching,
lessening grammatical and vocabulary emphases and moving to the new era in
which students ability to converse in English communicatively will receive
priority. Yet, due to the misinterpretation with oral-based language instructions
and controversies among educators, the same approach was redefined and
changed into Meaningfulness Approach in the 1999 Curriculum (Huda,
1999). Furthermore, Musthafa (2001, pp. 3-4) summarizes the coverage of the
approach as follows:
Development of communicative competencethe ability to use English

for communicative purposeswhich covers all four macro skills: reading,
listening, speaking, and writing; efforts should be made to strike a good
balance among the four-macro skills.
Mastery of linguistic aspects is to be used to support communicative abilities in both oral and written forms.
The English syllabus represents an amalgam of various forms of syllabi:
functional, situational, skill-based, and structural; given the nature of the
syllabus, the basis for the organization of the materials is not linguistic aspects but topical themes and functional skills.
Assessment is integrated (covering more than one language components)
and communicative (not exclusively on linguistic elements).
Not all instructional objectives are measurable using a paper-and-pencil
test (e.g., reading for enjoyment).
The fundamental points of communicative approach above are then elaborated

in the four basic qualities should be achieved by the students when learning
English. More specifically, students who are communicatively competent are
those whose qualities as described below.
When speaking, the students are able to find what is appropriate to say,
how it should be said, and when, in different social situation in which they
find themselves.
When listening, the students can use all contextual clues to get the meaning
of what is being said and how the message is being conveyed.
When reading, the students are able to construct the meaning based on the
messages provided by the text and in transaction with genres and their own
reading purposes.
When writing, the students are able to formulate their ideas into acceptable
written English language in accordance with the writing situation and their
own writing purposes.
(Musthafa, 2001, pp. 3-4).
Following the current trend of English language teaching in the world, the
curriculum designers in Indonesia decided to adopt the Contextual Teaching
Learning Approach in the 2004 Competency-Based Curriculum. The similar
communicative approach was then modified in the updated 2006 School-Based
Curriculum. It has been implemented in primary and secondary school levels

up to now. Furthermore, Renandya (2004) argues that the purpose of English
Language Teaching in Indonesian education system is actually to provide
learners with advanced reading skills that enable them to read and comprehend
science-related texts in English. Although other language skills are not ignored,
reading ability has always been the primary objective of English Language
Teaching in Indonesia.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AT INDONESIAN UNIVERSITIES
In tertiary level, the English curriculum coverage above is still relevant
and in fact, is still implied in the latest Competency-Based Curriculum. It
should be noted that the competency-based learning of English at Indonesian
universities actually has similar characteristics with communicative language
teaching. The current approach demands flexible and independent learning.
The ability to state ones preference or intention, for instance, in competencybased learning is closely similar to that in communicative language teaching.
Furthermore, in both approaches, learning results are clearly determined,
formed, and evaluated as discrete elements of measurement within specific
contexts and situations (Marcellino, 2008).
The problems of English language teaching in tertiary level are abundant
in Indonesia. One of the main problems is the absence of visible social uses of
English outside the classroom. It is often challenging to get students motivated
when they do not experience direct necessity of English outside the class.
Learning how to communicate in English fluently is an elusive concept for
most students because they factually do not use the language in their daily interactions.
Another problem is that Indonesian lecturers do not have enough opportunities to conduct research or even catch up with regularly updated information
of English language teaching. As a result, their instructional skills are not optimal and might misinterpret the practice of communicative language teaching
or competency-based learning. To make it worse, Indonesian lecturers often
have to teach productive skills, i.e., speaking and writing, in large classes full
of students with different language competence.
The next is cultural problem. One of the main features of communicative
approach in competency-based learning is learner centeredness. In this case,
there should be a determination covering learning objectives, contents and progress, methods and techniques and evaluation which supports learners autonomy (Dardjowidjojo, 1997). Similar to the perspective, Richards and Rodgers
(2002) state that language teaching in a communicative approachbased class
should be learner-centered and responsive to the students needs and interests.
This method is potentially fruitful in western countries in which people highly
regard egalitarianism and democracy. Yet, the idea is almost impracticable in
Indonesia, particularly because teacher-student relations are much influenced
by local wisdom and cultural values.
Indonesian students, especially those from rural areas, are not accustomed
to the idea that learning activities are student-centered. The features of communicative competence discussed above seem to challenge the values and beliefs
in the dominant culture of this nation, which is heavily influenced by the Javanese tradition. For example, two famous Javanese philosophies such as manut
lan piturut (to obey and to follow) and ewuh-pakewuh (feeling uncomfortable
and uneasy) still dominantly exist in Indonesian peoples way of thinking. The
impact of these cultural principles in English classes is that good students are
generally those who follow their teacher's ideas without necessarily analyzing
or evaluating them. Even, if they oppose the teachers opinions, they tend to be
silent and seem to accept what the teacher says. Consequently, it is not easy to
expect the students to communicate and interact openly and critically with their
teachers. They might feel uncomfortable and uneasy to say something directly
to their teachers, to talk about controversial matters, and to disagree with them
(Setiono, 2004).
At last, generally English lecturers in Indonesia are not well-paid. Due the
low salary, many of them do side jobs to get extra income. This condition creates serious implications. With more and more energy being used for side jobs,
the lecturers are less motivated to do their main teaching job. They are not interested in conducting classroom research or pursue professional development
because there is no direct financial income from those kinds of academic endeavors.
To sum up, the emphases that are put in the latest curriculum clearly indicate the understanding of the current approach of English Language Teaching
and how the approach views the language teaching in foreign language contexts. Nevertheless, such a good theoretical notion is not well translated into
practice, particularly in the classrooms. This is because certain supportive conditions such as, the existence or good language models, a great deal of expo-
sure to the language in real-life situations, and the involvement of critical

thinking in meaningful tasks are not clearly visible in English Language
Teaching in Indonesia (Dardjowidjojo, 1997; Marcellino, 2008; Musthafa,
2001; Sukono, 2004). Instead of changing the teaching approach or method,
Indonesian government and educators should find creative ways to solve the
problems or to create conducive atmospheres for the more ideal practice of
communicative approach in English language teaching.
WHY CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS AND MEANING
In todays higher education in Indonesia, many lecturers complain that Indonesian university students do not use their critical thinking skills sufficiently
when they are doing both oral and written assignments. Based on his teaching
experiences at English Department, the writer often finds students unenthusiastic to exchange ideas critically and tend to accept experts ideas without analyzing them properly. Again, this is probably because some of them previously
studied at secondary schools which typically did not apply learner-centered approach and did not develop students critical thinking skills optimally. Concerning on a similar problem, Cromwell (1992) argues that the main purpose of
advanced education is the enhancement of student thinking. This is in line with
todays concern that most graduates at all education levels do not perform
higher level of thinking abilities.
In the national scope, the Indonesian government has nationally implemented the Competency-Based Curriculum in university level throughout Indonesia. This curriculum has been welcomed enthusiastically, in particular by
English teachers, as it is claimed that this new curriculum will be more effective in improving students academic, life, and thinking skills. Although the
curriculum has been changed, English teachers ways of teaching have not
changed significantly. English teaching is still teacher-centered and deals mainly with complex grammar, long reading passages, and other activities that are
far from the real purpose of the latest curriculum. Consequently, students are
not given adequate opportunities to do meaningful collaborative tasks in which
they should discuss, share, and challenge ideas communicatively and critically
(Sukono, 2004; Masduqi, 2008).
The facts above show that there is an inconsistency between the principles
of the curriculum and the actual implementation in classrooms which is still
dominated by teacher-centeredness. No wonder Indonesian university students
still have difficulties in revealing ideas in English communicatively and critically. Students critical thinking skills will be optimally enhanced if meaning is
treated as the first priority in English classes. Those two inter-related elements
can be more optimally implemented when teachers do collaborative activities
(pair work and group work) which stimulate students thinking process and
meaning negotiation in their classroom discussions.
THE REALIZATION OF CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS AND MEANING
In order to activate students critical thinking skills, English teachers need
to present alternatives, different ways of interpreting texts and different conceptions of the world. The importance of thinking in todays education requires
the main concept of critical thinking in which there is always more than one
way to see things and that it is always up to the individual to judge just where
the truth lies on any given issue (Mason and Washington, 1992).
Regarding the flexible nature of critical thinking, the writer proposes a
teaching practice that can be modified in different ways. This is because the
implementation of critical thinking skills and meaning in language teaching is
not new and an absolute format has not been recommended so far. The underlying principle is that language learning is improved through increased motivation and naturally seen in meaningful contexts. When learners are interested in
a topic and are given chances to negotiate meaning, they will be motivated to
discuss things critically and at the same time, acquire language to communicate
(Darn, 2006; Rfaner, 2006).
As stated in the introduction, both critical thinking skills and meaning can
be incorporated when teachers do collaborative activities, i.e., pair work and
group work. Therefore, the writer would illustrate teaching stages of an English
lesson that essentially integrate critical thinking skills and meaning. For practical reasons, the writer would apply a series of teaching stages in a reading lesson (adapted from CELTT 1 Handbook, 2008). The teaching of Reading is
chosen as an example since it provides ample opportunities to exploit students
skills in English learning arise through reading texts. In this case, the proposed
reading lesson draws on the lexical approach, encouraging learners to notice
language while reading followed by activities involving meaning discovery and
critical thinking skills. Accordingly, teachers can flexibly diversify methods
and forms of classroom teaching and learning, improve learners overall and
specific language competence, introduce learners to the wider cultural context,

and increase learners motivation (Darn, 2006; Lewis, 1997; Thornbury, 2006).
More specifically, the teaching stages of the reading lesson are in the following:
(1) Eliciting ideas
Give students one or two pictures which can be interpreted in various ways
(see some alternative pictures and activities in Doff, 1998).
Ask students what the pictures are about (Let the students speak freely in
this stage).
Dictate key words from the reading text.
The objective of this stage is to introduce the topic of the story to students and
to give them an opportunity to express their ideas openly. This is expected to
be an initial chance for the students to activate their thinking process and encourage them to exchange ideas critically. In doing so, the teacher needs be tolerant with any ideas or interpretations proposed by them as an adage says, "A
picture is worth a thousand words". Then, by dictating the key words, the
teacher is indirectly fostering the learners to relate more easily to the characters
and actions in the text later.
(2) Highlighting lexis and their meanings/vocabulary
Check the words dictated (ask them to exchange their work with their partners first).
Check meaning of any words that may cause difficulty.
The purpose of this stage is to focus attention on meaning of key words in order to prepare students for the next prediction task. In this stage, the teacher
should use guided discovery and contextual guesswork to discover meaning of
the dictated words. Guided discovery involves asking questions or offering examples that guide students to guess meanings correctly. In this way, the learners are engaged in a semantic process that helps vocabulary learning and retention. Then, contextual guesswork means using the context in which the word
appears to derive an idea of its meaning, or in some cases, guess from the word
itself, as in words originated from Latin or Greek (Moras, 2001; Thornbury,
2006).
(3) Giving the title of the story

Give students the title of the story they are going to read
(Prompt them to the title).
This is an extra stage which is also aimed at assisting the students to do the following prediction task. The teacher can simply write the title on the white
board without giving any information about the text. It is expected that the students will be curious and triggered to predict the text topic by relating the title
and the dictated key words. In this way, the teacher prepares the students mind
gradually before dealing with the whole text. Metaphorically, it is like a motor
cyclist warming up his motor cycle before riding it on streets.
(4) Predicting text
Put students into small groups and ask them to predict the story based on
the title and key words given.
Ask few students representing their groups to tell the class their predictions.
Encourage other groups to ask questions, share ideas and even criticize
each other if necessary.
The goal of this stage is to prepare students mentally to read the text by creating a version of the text first in their minds and give the second chance to exchange ideas critically. In this stage, it is important that the teacher should not
judge whether they are right or wrong as the judgment might hinder the students to speak up and reveal their opinions openly. Let them freely predict what
the text is about and discuss it in groups. Furthermore, discussing their predictions in class is also a good chance for them to communicate and challenge
other peoples ideas. This collective interaction is necessary to stimulate their
critical thinking skills for the more challenging tasks later.
(5) Ordering jumbled paragraphs/Skimming
Hand out cut up version of the text (the students are still in groups)
Ask students to skim the story and order the paragraphs
Ask them what they looked for to help them decide on the order of the paragraphs.
The objectives of this stage are to apply group work in order to negotiate meaning and to do skimming. Working in groups help fostering learning independence, and especially in ordering jumbled paragraphs, the students can exchange
information and negotiate meaning when discussing new vocabulary items and
ambiguous sentences. It is also expected that group work will be a motivating
element, as students skim the text together, share ideas, and argue with each
other constructively. This is a crucial stage of polishing up students critical
thinking skills in which the teacher should only monitor and not interfere much
in their classroom discussions.
(6) Listening for the right order
Play a cassette telling the right order of the story.
Ask students whether or not their prediction is correct.
This stage is aimed to provide the correct order and a reason for gist reading.
While students are listening to the cassette and matching their paragraphs order, they are indirectly reading the whole text and paying attention on pronunciation and grammatical forms in the text. This introduces the pupils to correct
pronunciation and grammatical constructions without making them a conscious
focus. This kind of inductive learning is more interesting, meaningful, and
natural than deductive learning, in which learners are presented with rules with
which they then go on to apply. It pays dividend in terms of the long-term
memory of these rules (Thornbury, 2006:102).
(7) Reading comprehension
Ask some short questions based on the story
The purpose of this stage is to focus on overall meaning and main ideas in the
text. This is a usual teaching stage in which the teacher commonly uses Whquestions to check whether or not the students are able to find out and understand main ideas and specific information in the text. In other words, Whquestions are utilized to make sure that the students grasp the overall meaning
of the text. It is advisable for the teacher to ask short questions that make students find the answers in and beyond the text. The teacher should not spend
much time on this task since the final task is also aimed at measuring students
comprehension.
(8) Acting out the story/Speaking
Put students into groups of 3, one person for each character in the story.
Ask them to act out the story or do a mini drama.
The objective of this stage is to measure students comprehension in a fun,
non-verbal way. In this final productive stage, the teacher can ask the learners
to discuss the most practical scenario before acting out the story. This extra
oral practice potentially strengthens the previous collaborative activities in a relaxed, enjoyable way. This is in line with Lightbown and Spadas ideas (2003)
that the more the students are provided with extra oral practice in a target language, the more they will be able to speak it communicatively.
By applying the eight teaching stages above, the writer expects English
teachers to consider that the realization of critical thinking skills and meaning
is feasible when teachers apply pair work and group work in which students
think actively and negotiate meaning. The stages of pair-work and group work
are also useful the students communicative competence. In the productive
stages, the students have more opportunities to get more language exposure and
practice (Moon, 2005). It would engage the learners talking to one another to
exchange information communicatively and critically. They talk in order to
communicate, activate thinking process, and exchange arguments, not just to
practice the language (Spratt et al., 2005).
CONCLUSION
The realization of critical thinking skills and meaning in English Language
Teaching is worth doing to improve students English competence. Those two
important elements can be incorporated in English lessons as long as teachers
do collaborative activities providing students sufficient exposure to thinking
process and meaning negotiation. The variety of classroom activities does not
only cater students communicative competence, but also create lively learning
atmosphere. Indeed, this is not an easy task because the teachers have to make
sure that the English lesson, involving both critical thinking skills and meaning,
is reasonably inter-related and suitable to the level and needs of their students.
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138SocialBehaviouralSciences
CONSIDERATIONS ON DEVELOPING CRITICAL

THINKING SKILLS IN STUDENTS OF ENGLISH
Gabriela MIHIL-LIC
Nicolae Blcescu Land Forces Academy, Sibiu
ABSTRACT
As teachers, we are all aware that the students we teach
are individuals with unique learning needs who progress in
their own characteristic ways. Nevertheless, a good command
of English, irrespective of the students intelligence or type of
learning, implies a thorough understanding of how the human
mind operates. The teacher of English, as well as the colleagues
who teach other subjects, tries to develop in his or her learners
skills that will help them think in a critical manner:
interpretation, observation, explanation, analysis, etc. Critical
thinking is the process of thinking that questions assumptions
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking, retrieved on
23.02.2012]. This is a process of vital importance for education,
especially for the higher education, and for the profession of
officer. In the present paper we try to present some modalities
of developing the critical thinking skills of the students of
English, paying special attention to the specificity of the cadets
of the Nicolae Blcescu Land Forces Academy of Sibiu.
Keywords: critical thinking, skills, education reform

Stages of critical thinking
Critical thinking should be the main
objective of most teachers regardless of the
subject they teach. However, we have to
become aware of the fact that those we
teach need to be taught this process, a
process that has several stages. Linda Elder
and Richard Paul in their paper entitled
Critical Thinking Development: A Stage
Theory with Implications for Instruction
warn that most teachers are unaware of
the levels of intellectual development that
people go through as they improve as
thinkers. We believe that significant gains
in the intellectual quality of student work
will not be achieved except to the degree
that teachers recognize that skilled critical
thinking develops only when properly
Introduction
The concept of critical thinking is a
very old one and defining it represents a
challenge to the specialists in the field. The
term critical thinking originates in the 20th
century. The National Council for Excellence
in Critical Thinking, 1987 defined this notion
in a statement by Michael Scriven & Richard
Paul at the 8th Annual International
Conference on Critical Thinking and
Education Reform, Summer 1987 as the
intellectually disciplined process of actively
and skillfully conceptualizing, applying,
analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating
information gathered from, or generated
by, observation, experience, reflection,
reasoning, or communication, as a guide to
belief and action [1].

REVISTA ACADEMIEI FORELOR TERESTRE NR. 2 (66)/2012

SocialBehaviouralSciences139
cultivated and only through predictable

stages [2]. The same two authors are of the
opinion that the passing from one stage to
the next is not an automatic process,
success in instruction is deeply connected
to the intellectual quality of student
learning, and that regression is possible in
development [3]. The stages of critical
thinking development the two authors come
up with are the following:
Stage One: The Unreflective Thinker
Stage Two: The Challenged Thinker
Stage Three: The Beginning Thinker
Stage Four: The Practicing Thinker
Stage Five: The Advanced Thinker
Stage Six: The Accomplished Thinker [4]
From our experience as English
teachers, we assume that most of the students
we teach are in the process of reaching
stage five, that of The Advanced Thinker,
some of them having already achieved it
and there are also some who belong to the
category of accomplished thinkers.
Linda Elder and Richard Paul state
that the advanced thinkers have already
established good habits of thought [5].
They are capable of analyzing
actively their thinking and have significant
insight into problems at deeper levels of
thought, but they are not yet able to think
at a consistently high level across all the
dimensions of their lives [6].
example, of egocentric and sociocentric

thought in ones thinking, ability to identify
areas of significant ignorance and prejudice,
and ability to actually develop new fundamental
habits of thought based on deep values to
which one has committed oneself [8].
The military students, more often than
their civilian counterparts, choose their
specialization driven by a desire to help and
protect the country they belong to, often
putting aside their own personal desires and
emotions. Their esprit de corps and team
skills are formed and tested throughout the
three years of study at the Academy in
various circumstances, they improve their
cultural competence during the courses on
foreign cultures and civilizations, thus
being confronted and given an opportunity
to get rid of their prejudices, and they also
have the opportunity to strengthen their
commitment to the values of patriotism,
integrity, respect, justice, open mindedness.
Specialists
inform
us
that
Advanced thinkers are also knowledgeable
of what it takes to regularly assess their
thinking for clarity, accuracy, precision,
relevance, logicalness, etc. [9]. In this
respect we have to specify that numerous
English lessons we teach at the Nicolae
Blcescu Land Forces Academy of Sibiu
are dedicated to the structuring of speeches
and essays into logical, coherent discourses,
the teachers also insisting upon the
accuracy and precision of these. The
students not only receive information, but
they also learn and are encouraged to ask
questions on various topics and the fact that
they do this in a foreign language gives
them more confidence and helps them to
understand better the relationship between
thoughts and feelings.
The role play situations, especially
the situations with a complication that we
systematically employ for developing the
oral skills of our students, provide them
with numerous opportunities to see the
importance of thinking and the way it can
increase the quality of their lives.
Critical thinking skills

In A Field Guide to Critical Thinking,
James Lett presents six simple rules that he
developed in order to help students to
evaluate evidence. The acronym that he
came up with in order to facilitate their
memorization is FiLCHeRS and it stands
for the rules of Falsifiability, Logic,
Comprehensiveness, Honesty, Replicability,
and Sufficiency [7]. The major challenge
these thinkers have to face is To begin to
develop depth of understanding not only of
the need for systematic practice in thinking,
but also insight into deep levels of problems
in thought: consistent recognition, for


present them with the rules they have to

respect during the discussions. Some of the
most significant are the avoidance of
exaggerations, of overgeneralizations, of
quarrelling and bickering, they have to
respect their opponents, the time limits, to
watch their tone of voice, their body
language, to keep their perspective and to
keep in mind that it is better not to win
debate and lose a friend [10].
The debates that we have found to be
the most discussion generating are the ones
referring to the women being allowed to
serve in the army in all the branches and
specializations or the one referring to the
legalization of use of guns by ordinary
citizens.
We hope that our students, at the end
of the academy, or by means of the courses
they will undertake and of self-education
will all enter the class of the accomplished
thinkers. Probably, some of them will fail,
but at least they will get an idea of what
accomplished thinking is and they will
make it their objective, they will learn to
reflect about thinking and develop
appropriate habits of thought.
An important skill that we try to teach

our students is that of evaluating
themselves and their thinking for the sake
of improvement, a vital quality of every
advanced thinker. We often ask and
encourage our learners to re-read and edit
their essays; they have to find the outlines
of different types of essays and to write
drafts that help them organize their ideas
better; they check for things that are unclear
or insufficiently explained. In this way, we
hope to make the cadets realize what the
strengths and weaknesses of their thinking
are and how they can use them to their
advantage. By advising them to try to
eliminate the personal examples from the
formal discourses, we actually insist on their
becoming aware of their native egocentrism.
As far as the significant intellectual
traits specific to the advanced thinkers are
regarded and which the cadets at the Land
Forces Academy try to develop by means of
the subject we teach, we can say that one of
the most important is empathy. Various
language exercises require the learners to
imagine they are certain real or fictitious
characters and say what they would do, or
think, or feel as those particular characters.
E.g.: If you were an officer and had to
accomplish a mission in a desert area, what
measures would you take to increase your
and your mens chances of success? What
would you do if you were the minister of
Defense for a day?
In the classes focusing on debates,
students are often made to realize that
things are not only black and white and that
contradictions are also present in their own
lives. During these classes they are often
challenged to address viewpoints that are
different from their own or to respond to
beliefs and ideas about which they have
negative feelings. We try to persuade our
students to approach all the ideas that are
advanced without prejudice and in a fair
manner. Before the actual debate takes
place, we make sure that they can
differentiate between facts and opinions and
Implications for teaching

From our activities in class, we have
noticed that the students need to be required
to analyze and determine the difficulties
that may arise in respect to their thinking.
In order to achieve this goal, the teachers
should use a wide range of vocabulary
related to the workings of the human mind
and conduct discussions on how the mind
operates, on how it can be improved. For
those learning English or another foreign
language, we believe it is of the utmost
importance that they should be able to make
a difference between the way the Romanians
think and the manner of thinking of other
peoples.
A good command of English implies a
certain level of command over ones thinking,
which, in turn, implies understanding of the
minds processes. Nevertheless, teachers


SocialBehaviouralSciences141
The questions represent a valuable

pedagogical tool especially due to the fact
that they help to maximize the students
participation.
must pay attention to and respect the

learners phases of intellectual progress.
They also need to take special care to
present the academic information that has to
be conveyed to the learners in an
intellectual way, provoking the students to
act, react and think as speakers, readers,
writers and listeners of a foreign language.
The benefits of critical thinking for

students
The most discussed benefits of
critical thinking for students are the
numerous. They:
1) learn content at a deeper and
more permanent level;
2) are better able to explain and
apply what they learn;
3) are better able to connect what
they are learning in one class with what
they are learning in other classes;
4) ask more and better questions in class;
5) understand the textbook better;
6) follow directions better;
7) understand more of what you
present in class;
8) write better;
9) apply more of what they are
learning to their everyday life;
10) become more motivated learners
in general;
11) become progressively easier to
teach [13].
To the advantages enumerated by the
two authors we would add the fact that
critical thinking promotes creativity, it will
transform the future officers into better
team players, it will simplify problems.
On the other hand, if critical thinking
is not accompanied by sound moral
principles,
it
can
transform
into
manipulation, it can become unethical and
subjective.
The role of questions for developing

critical thinking
When teaching students to think in a
critical way, one should keep in mind the
questions they have to answer and the
purpose behind them. These questions have
to be understood correctly, they and the
information the answer is based on have to
be interpreted, inferences, different points
of view and various connections have to be
discovered and analyzed. During the
English classes special emphasis is laid on
how the cadets ask and answer questions.
The power the questions have to generate
communication and their pedagogical role
are widely recognized: Asking questions is
a natural feature of communication, but
also one of the most important tools which
teachers have at their disposal. Questioning
is crucial to the way teachers manage the
class, engage students with content,
encourage participation and increase
understanding. Typically, teachers ask
between 300-400 questions per day,
however the quality and value of questions
varies. While questioning can be an
effective tool, there is both an art and
science to asking questions [11].
There are also dangers to asking
questions that must be avoided. Thus,
teachers should not try to elicit from
students more information than they posses,
the questions they ask should be relevant
and students should never be asked the
question Do you understand? or questions
which may cause embarrassment or which
may offend through sarcasm (Are you
awake?) [12].
Conclusion
The variety of methods used for
fostering critical thinking is infinite.
Nevertheless, we should keep in view the
mind from an intellectual perspective and
take into account the students stages of
thought development.


0In order to achieve success, both

teachers and cadets have to work hard and
commit themselves to honing their critical
thinking skills because it is human nature to
seek the satisfaction of ones interests, to
immediately choose what is easy and
comfortable, to avoid effort and
complications.
Critical thinking becomes a useful
instrument that can be used to improve
every aspect of the academic life: By means
of it, we begin to see important implications
for every part of the college redesigning
policies, providing administrative support

for critical thinking, rethinking the college
mission, coordinating and providing faculty
workshops in critical thinking, redefining
faculty as learners as well as teachers,
assessing students, faculty, and the college
as a whole in terms of critical thinking
abilities and traits [14].
It is our duty as pedagogues to
understand first the way we reason and then
to encourage and facilitate high thinking in
our learners as the very quality of our lives
will depend on it.
REFERENCES
1. http://www.sla.org/PDFs/SLA2009/ 2009_critical-thinking.pdf, retrieved on
22.03.2012.
2. http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/ critical-thinking-development-a-stage-theory/ 483,
retrieved on 23.01.2012.
3. Ibidem.
4. Ibidem.
5. Linda Elder and Richard Paul, Critical Thinking Development: A Stage Theory With
Implications for Instruction, http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-thinking-developmenta-stage-theory/483, retrieved on 20.02.2012.
6. Ibidem.
7. http://www.csicop.org/si/show/field_guide_to_critical_thinking/, retrieved on 23.02.2012.
8. Linda Elder and Richard Paul, cited works.
9. Ibidem.
10. http://www.paulnoll.com/Books/Clear-English/debate-advice.html, retrieved on
23.02.2012.
11. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/asking-questions, retrieved on 22.02.2012.
12. Ibidem.
13. Linda Elder and Richard Paul, cited works.
14. http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Critical-Thinking/399802, retrieved on 22.03.2012.


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Assessing Online Discussions: Adoption of Critical

Thinking as a Grading Criterion
Wei-Ying Hsiao, University of Alaska-Anchorage, U.S.A.
Manfen Chen, University of Southern Indiana, U.S.A.
Hsing-Wen Hu, University of Alaska-Anchorage, U.S.A.
Abstract: Critical thinking has been a major part of 21st Century Skills. Jerald (2009) indicates that applied skills such
as critical thinking and problem solving can be integrated into the academic curriculum. Given the prevalence of online
course offerings, online discussions can be used effectively in promoting and encouraging critical thinking (Arend, 2009).
However, according to Hsiaos (2012) study, critical thinking is not highly promoted in online discussions. Thus, how
to enhance critical thinking skills in online discussions becomes an important issue in higher education. The purpose
of this study is twofold: to identify the elements/criteria of grading rubrics commonly used to assess online
discussions and to investigate whether critical thinking can be promoted as a grading criterion for assessing online
discussions. The results show that only 35% of 69 grading rubrics include critical thinking as one of grading
criteria; however, after a presentation emphasizing the importance of critical thinking, 94% of participants
recognized the importance of adopting critical thinking as a grading criterion and rated critical thinking as the
number one grading criterion. This confirms Hurds (2013) suggestion that faculty members actually lack the
concept of critical thinking. The implications of the results indicate that the importance of critical thinking can be
promoted among faculty members and once faculty members recognize the concept of critical thinking, it is highly
possible that faculty members will adopt the skill of critical thinking as a grading criterion.
Keywords: Online Discussion Assessment, Online Discussions Grading Rubric, Critical Thinking in Online Discussions
Introduction
n order to increase interactions among students and faculty for online courses, online
discussions have been widely used to serve a critical role in online courses (Liang &
Alderman, 2007). Online discussions allow students to practice active thinking and provide
opportunities to interact with others (Salmon, 2005). Online discussions have been used not only
to promote learner-to-learner and/or learner-to-instructor interactions in online courses, but also
to evaluate students learning outcomes. Students may benefit from online discussions by being
able to construct their own knowledge, reflect the knowledge to the real world, and learn from
others by exchanging thoughts or ideas through online discussions (Hewitt, 2005).
Many instructors use online discussions as a measure of participation and count them toward
students grades. However, posting discussion threads and responding threads even with a few
sentences is time consuming. According to Coxs study (2011), many students indicate online
discussions are busy work and meaningless assignments. When assessing online discussions,
simply counting the frequency of postings does not lead to a good quality learning assessment
(Meyer, 2004). More importantly, not only does counting the frequency of postings defeat the
purpose of creating online interactions, but also provides no value for assessing students
learning outcomes. Thus, there are two important issues that online instructors face. The first
issue is how to promote meaningful online discussions. Counting the number of posting will
definitely demote meaningful online discussions. The second issue is how to assess the quality of
online discussions. The content of online discussions should exhibit a certain level of thinking
such as being able to recognize the problem, gather relevant information, explore possible
explanations or contradictions, synthesize ideas and create possible solutions, and finally being
able to apply or test solutions (Garrison et al., 2001).
However, according to Hsiaos (2012) study, critical thinking is not highly promoted in
online discussions. Thus, how to enhance critical thinking skill in online discussions becomes an
The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge, and Society
Volume 9, 2013, www.techandsoc.com, ISSN: 1832-3669
Common Ground, Wei-Ying Hsaio, Manfen Chen, and Hsing-Wen Hu,
All Rights Reserved. Permissions: cg-support@commongroundpublishing.com
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY, KNOWLEDGE, AND SOCIETY
important issue in higher education. The purpose of this study is twofold: to identify the
elements/criteria of grading rubrics used to assess online discussions and to investigate whether
critical thinking can be promoted as a grading criterion for assessing online discussions. The
following questions are studied in this paper:
1.
What are grading criteria for assessing online discussions in higher education?
2.
Based on these grading criteria from question 1, what are five most important
grading criteria in higher education?
3.
Based on these grading criteria from question 1, which grading criteria

emphasize higher order thinking or so-called critical thinking?
4.
Can these higher order thinking criteria be promoted?
Literature Review
Online learning has over 15 years of history. More and more colleges join the online universe by
offering online courses. Emory University, Duke University, and Northwestern University
among other seven elite universities have created a consortium to offer online courses, starting
the fall semester of 2013, to students around the world (Diamond, 2012). Furthermore, according
to the 2012 report released by the Sloan Consortium, there are more than 6.7 million students
taking at least one online course in higher education. More and more courses are offered online.
Without the face-to-face interaction a traditional classroom setting provides, online discussions
play a critical role in assessing students learning and participation. Levenburg and Major (2000)
discuss the importance of assessing online discussions in order to evaluate students time
commitment and to encourage students efforts. Assessment criteria should guide students in
learning and should be used to evaluate students learning outcomes (Celentin, 2007). Gilbert and
Dabbagh (2005) indicate that grading criteria do play important roles as guidance to bring in
more meaningful discussions to benefit all participants. Arend (2009) also indicates that online
discussions can be used effectively in promoting and encouraging critical thinking.
The Critical Thinking Community defines critical thinking as the intellectually disciplined
process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or
evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection,
reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on
universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision,
consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness. (Scriven &
Paul, 2007, p. 1). John Dewey (1910) calls critical thinking reflective thinking. He defines
critical thinking as:
Active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of
knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to
which it tends. (Dewey, 1910, p.6)
Ennis (1987) defines critical thinking as reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on
deciding what to believe or what to do (p.10).
The goal of applying the skill of critical thinking is to promote students to have deeper,
meaningful discussions, which, in turn, requires students to use higher order thinking skills to
apply, analyze, and synthesize new knowledge to reflect on the real world. Paul and Elder (2003)
indicate that the skill of critical thinking encourages students to learn how to analyze and assess
information. Williams (2005) recommends Halperns (1999) critical thinking model to address
the importance of questioning skills for both instructors and students. Critical thinking can also
16
HSAIO ET AL.: ASSESSING ONLINE DISCUSSION: ADOPTION OF CRITICAL THINKING
enhance collaboration (Gokhale, 1995). Bissell and Lemons (2006) argue that the difficulty of
obtaining an appropriate measurement to assess critical thinking has hindered the inclusion of
critical thinking as one of criteria for assessing online discussions. Garrison et al. (2001) has
developed a model for assessing the critical thinking skill. The model includes four categories:
triggering, exploration, integration, and solution. (See Table 1)
Table 1: Critical Thinking Categories, Indicators, and Sociocognitive Processes
Category
Indicators
Sociocognitive Processes
Triggering
Recognizing the problem
Sense of puzzlement
Divergence within online

community
Exploration
Integration
Divergence within single

message
Information exchange
Suggestions for consideration
Brainstorming Leaps to
conclusions
Convergence among group
members
Convergence within a single

message
Connecting ideas, synthesis

Creating solutions
Solution
Presenting background information that

culminates in a question
Asking questions
Messages that take discussion in a different
direction
Unsubstantiated contradiction of previous
ideas
Many different ideas/themes presented in
one message
Personal narratives/descriptions/facts (not
used as evidence)
Author explicitly characterizes message as
exploration-e.g. Does that seem right?
Adds to established points, but does not
systematically defend/justify/develop
Offers unsupported opinions
Reference to previous message followed by
substantiated agreement, e.g. I agree
because
Building on, adding to others ideas
Justified, developed, defensive, yet
tentative hypotheses
Integrating information from various
sources: textbook, articles, personal
experience
Explicit characterization of message as a
solution
Vicarious application to real

world
Testing solutions
Defending solutions
Source: Adapted from Garrison et al. (2001, p. 15-16).
Williams (2005) indicates that the lack of critical thinking in education may have a negative
effect on the development of the skill of problem solving. To improve online students skills of
critical thinking and problem solving, higher order thinking skills should be promoted in online
discussions. Higher order thinking skills include critical, logical, reflective, metacognitive, and
17
creative thinking (King, Goodson, & Rohani, 2013, p1). Bloom (1956) develops the initial
foundations of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. He provides the definition of each
category: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (See Table
2). These categories are arranged from the simplest to most complex; in other words, they are in
order of requiring lower order thinking skills to higher order thinking skills (Krathwohl, 2002).
The revised Blooms Taxonomy is proposed to support designing assessments (Anderson &
Krathwohl, 2001). Meyer (2004) conducted a study to analyze 278 postings from 17 different
online discussions posted by 20 doctoral students in educational leadership classes using
Garrisons (2001) critical thinking categories and revised Bloom Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives categories (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). The results of this study show that the
majority of 278 postings (59.4%) focus on exploring and integrating ideas based on Garrison et
el (2001)s model and 54% of the postings focus on analysis, syntheses, and evaluation based on
revised Blooms model (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). Meyer (2004) suggests that both
Garrison at el. (2001)s and revised Blooms (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001) models are
frameworks to assess the level of analysis.
Table 2: The Six Categories of the Cognitive Process Dimensions and Related Cognitive
Processes
1.0 Remember: Retrieve relevant knowledge from long-term memory

1.1 Recognizing
1.2 Recalling
2.0 Understand: Construct meaning from instructional messages, including oral, written, and
graphic communication
2.1 Interpreting
2.2 Exemplifying
2.3 Classifying
2.4 Summarizing
2.5 Inferring
2.6 Comparing
2.7 Explaining
3. 0Apply: Carry out or use a procedure in a given situation
3.1 Executing
3.2 Implementing
4.0 Analyze: Break material into its constituent parts and determine how the parts relate to one
another and to an overall structure or purpose
4.1 Differentiating
4.2 Organizing
4.3 Attributing
5.0 Evaluate: Make judgments based on criteria and standards
5.1 Checking
5.2 Critiquing
6.0 Create: Put elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganize elements
into a new pattern or structure
6.1 Generating
6.2 Planning
6.3 Producing
Source: (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001, pp. 67-68)
18
Methodology and Data Collection

The purpose of this study is twofold: to identify the elements/criteria of grading rubrics used to
assess online discussions and to investigate whether critical thinking can be promoted as a
grading criterion for assessing online discussions. There are two phases of this study. Phase one
is to examine grading rubrics used to assess online discussions and then to identify grading
criteria commonly used to assess online discussions. The main source of the data comes from
Internet. Several criteria are used when selecting grading rubrics. First, grading rubrics are
adopted by online courses to assess online discussions. Second, in order to have a wellrepresented pool of samples, we select grading rubrics from as many disciplines as possible
which include Education, Health Education, Engineering, Science, Psychology, and so on. Third,
we include both graduate and undergraduate courses. As a result, a total of 69 grading rubrics
across different discipline areas are selected and examined in the study. Sixty-seven rubrics are
from the USA and two are from UK. The grading rubrics are selected from both asynchronous
and synchronous online courses in both graduate and undergraduate programs. Sixty-five percent
of our samples are from graduate courses and thirty-five percent of them are from undergraduate
courses. Given a wide selection of grading rubrics, it is easier to identify common
elements/criteria used in grading rubrics for assessing online discussions
Once the commonly used grading criteria are identified, phase two of this study is to
investigate whether critical thinking can be promoted as a grading criterion for assessing online
discussions. The data collection in phase two was conducted after a presentation of the results
from the phase one study at Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
(AACE), Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) held in March,
2012. The presentation, entitled An Analysis of Online Discussions Assessment, mainly focuses
on the 21st Century Skills, higher order thinking skills, and Blooms Taxonomy. The presentation
was then followed by a discussion related to whether critical thinking should be addressed in
online discussions. There were 20 faculty members, 14 female and 6 male from different states,
in higher education who participated in the discussion. All participants either had taught or had
taken online courses prior to answering the questionnaire. A questionnaire was given to each
participant after the discussion. Each participant was asked to select top five grading criteria on
the checklist which listed 16 grading criteria identified from the phase one study.
The instrument of this study is used in phase two. The instrument of this study contains two
sections: demographic information and a checklist of rubric criteria for assessing online
discussions. The demographic section includes three questions regarding gender, online course
experiences, and position. The checklist of rubric criteria for assessing online discussions is
based on the results of phase one of this study. A total of 16 elements are listed alphabetically in
the checklist. See Table 3 for a list of these 16 criteria of grading rubrics for online discussions.
Data Analysis
Microsoft Excel 2010 is used to analyze the data for phase one, examining grading rubrics of
online discussions, and for phase two, analyzing the top five grading elements among 16
elements. Descriptive statistics is used to analyze the frequency usage of grading elements for
phase one and to analyze the frequency of the top five elements used to assess online discussions
for phase two.
Results
In phase one of this study, all 69 grading rubric are examined. A total of sixteen grading elements
(criteria) are identified from these grading rubrics for assessing online discussions. These grading
elements include content/focus on topic (68%), reflection/connections (64%), critical thinking
19
(35%), length (15%), new ideas/uniqueness (36%), timelines (46%), stylistics/writing (67%),
resources (46%), interaction/response (38%), organization (9%), frequency (61%), initial posting
(42%), clarity (28%), tone/positive words (23%), quality (16%), and integrity (1%). See Table 3
for all 16 elements, summary of indicators, and the percentage frequency for each indicator.
Of the 69 grading rubrics, 4 elements are identified as most frequently used criteria in
assessing online discussions (See Table 4). Three elements are often used in assessing online
discussions (See Table 5). Nine elements/criteria including the critical thinking skill are less
frequently used (< 40%) (See Table 6).
The results from the phase one study show that among these sixteen grading criteria, only
three of them are identified as categories of higher order thinking and critical thinking skills.
These include reflection/connections (64% reflective statement, reflect to professional
experiences), critical thinking (35% consistently analytical, thoughtful, perceptive, & provide
new ideas related to topic addressed, refutes bias), and new ideas/uniqueness (36% a new way of
thinking about the topic, depth and detail). Presumably, faculty members in higher education
should put a lot of emphasis on critical thinking. However, the results of our study suggest that
the skill of critical thinking is not frequently used to evaluate the quality of online discussions.
Table 3: Sixteen Elements of the Grading Rubrics and Indicators
Elements/Criteria
Clarity
%
28%
Content/Focus on Topic
68%
Critical Thinking
35%
Frequency/Follow up Posting
61%
Interaction/Response
38%
Initial Posting
42%
Integrity
1%
Posts well developed; fully address all aspects of

the task
Learners own idea, posting by learners
Length of Posting
15%
At least one paragraph, at least 250 words
New Ideas/Uniqueness
36%
Organization
9%
A new way of thinking about the topic, depth and

detail
Information is organized,
Quality
16%
Reflection/Connections
64%
Resources
46%
Stylistics/Writing
67%
20
Indicators
Clear, concise comments formatted, easy to read
clear logic beliefs & thoughts
Understanding of the course materials and the
underlying concept being discussed.
Consistently analytical, thoughtful, perceptive, &
provide new insides related to topic addressed,
refutes bias
5-6 postings/week; 4-5 times/week, Analysis of
others posts & extending meaningful discussion
Interacting with a variety of participants,
Excellent understanding of the questions through

well
Reasoned and thoughtful reflections
Reflective statements, reflect to professional
experiences
Connections to other resources, site research
papers
using references to support comments,
Free of grammatical, spelling, & punctuation
errors
Timelines
46%
Tone/Positive Words
23%
facilitate communication, well written

Meet deadlines, before due date, complete all
required postings
Following online protocols, positive attitude,
encouraging, appropriate in nature,
Table 4: Most Frequently Used Criteria of the 69 Grading Rubrics

Elements/Criteria
1. Content/focus on topic
2. Stylistics/Writing
3. Reflection/connections
4. Frequency
%
68%
67%
64%
61%
Table 5: Often Used Grading Criteria of the 69 Grading Rubrics

Elements/Criteria
1. Timeliness
2. References or Resources citations
3. Initial Posting
%
46%
46%
42%
Table 6: Less Often Used Criteria of the 69 Grading Rubrics

Elements/Criteria
1. Interaction/response
2. Ideas/Uniqueness
3. Critical Thinking
4. Clarity
5. Tone/Positive/Encouragement
6. Quality
7. Length
8. Organization
9. Integrity
%
38%
36%
35%
28%
23%
16%
15%
9%
1%
Phase two of this study is to identify the five most important grading criteria among these
sixteen criteria. Participants are requested to select five criteria that they believe to be the most
important criteria to assess online discussions. Surprisingly, the most important grading criteria
ranked by these participants is critical thinking (94%) followed by reflection/connections (83%),
content/focus on topic (61%), quality (61%), and new ideas/uniqueness (56%). See Figure 2 for
details. The results indicate that faculty members recognize the importance of critical thinking
but, in practice, critical thinking has not been used widely in assessing the quality of online
discussions.
21
100%
80%
60%
40%
Description of role/analysis
others-apply to real life
tone/positive words
timelines
stylistics/writing
resources
reflection/connections
quality
organization
New ideas/uniqueness
length
integrity
initial posting
Interaction/response
Frequency
Critical thinking
Content/Focus on topic
0%
Clarity
20%
Figure 2: Percentage of Grading Criteria for Assessing Online Discussions
Discussion
From the phase one of the study, only three out of sixteen grading criteria focus on skills of
higher order thinking and critical thinking (reflection/connections 64%, critical thinking 35%,
and new ideas/uniqueness 36%) based on revised Blooms (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
model. From the rest of sixteen grading criteria, two grading criteria, knowledge (content/focus
on topic 68%) and comprehensive (resources 46%), are classified as lower level thinking skills;
five of them focus on writing (stylistics/writing 67%, clarity 28%, quality 16%, length of posting
15%, and organization); two focus on time management and frequency (timeliness 46%,
frequency/follow up postings 61%, and initial posting 42%); and two focus on manners
(tone/positive/manners 23%, integrity 1%).
The results show that higher order thinking or critical thinking are not highly emphasized
(only 3 out of 18, 18.75%) in evaluating online discussions. Hurd (2013, p.1) suggests three
factors that result in the lack of implementation of critical thinking in higher education. First,
faculty members lack the concept of critical thinking. Second, faculty members assume naively
that the skill of critical thinking is embeded in their course teaching. Third, faculty members still
focus on the traditional teaching methods of spoon feeding knowledge and expect students to
memorize them.
22
The results of this study from phase one also show that writing style and organization are
heavily emphasized on the online grading criteria (5 out of 16, 31.25%). This brings up a major
issue of the purpose of online discussions. Is it for assessing writing skills or for assessing
learning outcomes? If the course is an English writing course, then one would think that online
discussions would emphasize writing. However, the grading rubrics gathered for this study are
across different disciplines and different subjects. Obviously, online discussions involve more
than just writing. The contents of the discussions may be evaluated too. For instance, online
discussions may include some of the followings: identify problems, make auguments based on
findings or research, express opinions, and create solutions and so on. Thus, higher order
thinking should be encouraged and evaluated in online discussions.
The results of this study from phase two suggest that it is highly possible to promote the
adoption of critical thinking as a grading criterion in higher education. The results show that only
35% of 69 grading rubrics include critical thinking as one of grading criteria; however, after a
presentation emphasizing the importance of critical thinking, 94% of faculty members who
participated in the discussion, recognize the necessity and importance of adopting critical
thinking as a grading criterion and rate critical thinking as the number one grading criterion. This
confirms Hurd (2013)s suggestions that faculty members lack the concept of critical thinking. A
wake-up call is necessary to draw facultys attention to integrating the skill of critical thinking
into the curriculum and use it as a measure of assurance learning. The implications of our results
indicate the importance of critical thinking can be promoted among faculty members and once
faculty members recognize the concept of critical thinking, it is highly possible that faculty
members will adopt the skill of critical thinking as a grading criterion.
Conclusions
The results of the paper indicate that: (1) critical thinking has not been the major grading
criterion for assessing online discussions in higher education, (2) critical thinking or higher order
thinking can be promoted as a grading criterion for assessing the quality of online discussions as
long as instructors are aware of the importance of critical thinking in online discussions.
23
REFERENCES
Anderson, L. W, & Krathwohl, D. R. (eds.) (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and
Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York:
Longman
Arend, B. (2009). Encouraging Critical Thinking in Online Threaded Discussions. The journal of
Educators Online, 6 (1), 1-23
Bissell, A & Lemons, P. (2006). A New Method for Assessing Critical Thinking in the
Classroom. BioScience, 56(1), 66-72.
Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook 1: Cognitive
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Celentin (2007). Online education: Analysis of interaction and knowledge building patterns
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. Wei-Ying Hsaio: Dr. Wei-Ying Hsiao is an associate professor in the Department of
Teaching and Learning at University of Alaska Anchorage. Before moved to Alaska, she was an
associate professor in Graduate Studies in Education at Southern Utah University, USA. She has
taught Educational Psychology and Curriculum in undergraduate; in addition, she has been
teaching Assessment, Classroom Management, Multicultural Education, Become a Master
Teacher, Proposal Writing, and Educational Research both in online and face-to-face courses in
graduate studies. Her recently research projects include diversity and multicultural education in
the curriculum, e-books in school settings, integrated technology into curriculum, pre- and inservice teachers beliefs on technology teaching projects, learnercentered approach and learning
environment, STEM curriculum, and online learning environment.
Manfen W. Chen: Manfen W. Chen received her DBA in Finance from Louisiana Tech
University in 2003 and is currently an Associate Professor of Finance at University of Southern
Indiana. Her research interests are information theory, regulatory policies, and asset pricing. Dr.
Chen has published at the Journal of Regulatory Economics, the Review of Quantitative Finance
and Accounting, and other refereed journals and proceedings articles.
Dr. Hsing-Wen Hu: Assistant Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the
College of Education, University of Alaska-Anchorage.
25
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Education Faculty
English Pedagogy
Integrated English IIII
Unit 2:Cinema and Beliefs
Stage 1. Desired results

Established goals:
To become aware of the impact of the movie makers beliefs in his/her creation.
To become aware of the power of movies in shaping cultural identity and vision.
To identify the preconceptions, the values, the vision implicit in a movie.
To value the contribution of a critical thinking as movie watchers
To adjust the Theme of a given movie to match their own beliefs.
To experience and evaluate the use of movies in TEFL/TESOL?
Understandings
Students will understand that
movies convey cultural
meaning
movies are subject to
interpretation.
beliefs permeate the vision
of the world portrayed in a
movie.
Knowledge
Students will manage the
following concepts
art, cinema, beliefs, society,
culture, ideology, criticism,
learning, identity, pedagogical
options, motivation
Essential questions
1. Whats the impact of movies in shaping
cultural memory and vision?
2. How are movies and culture related?
3. Whats the relevance of becoming a
critical movie watcher?
4. How could the perspective of a Universal
Topic be affected by beliefs?
5. Whats the value of using movies in
TEFL/TESL? What are some
considerations to be taken into account at
the moment of using them?
Skills
Students are expected to develop the following
skills:
a. Understand details of the conversations in
movies.
b. Explain the plot and theme in a movie orally
and in writing.
c. Understand movies as a possible
interpretation of reality.
d. Analyze movies critically and express
supported opinions orally and in writing.
e. Compare different perspectives on a given
Universal Topic seen in movies.
f. Distinguish between facts and opinions.
g. Judge the value of using movies in
TEFL/TESOL.
h. Explain and describe the use of movies in the
teaching of English.
h. Propose an interpretation on a Universal
Topic.
i. Act out in a movi remake.

Stage 2 Assessment evidence
Performance task
Other evidence
Choose a movie adjust
Writings and homework uploaded to wordpress.
the theme to fit own
Participation in class: listening and speaking
beliefs and record the
disposition.
new version of the
Fulfillment with class preparation
movie.
tasks: readings, video viewing and others.
Wordpress journal
Journal entry 1: (video and writing):
Deadline: May 4th, 2015
Stage 3 Learning plan
Learning Experiences
Extensive and intensive reading at home
intensive and guided reading in class,
watch short videos at home and in class
listen (without viewing) in class)
watch movies at home; watch, choose and analyze a movie.
Individual and collaborative writing (essays, paragraphs, reports) at home
and in class
class discussion and sharing
pair and small group sharing; interviewing people in the streets
write movie script and brochure (program)
enact and record a movie remake.
word maps and concept maps
awareness and drilling language structures and phonetic strands in context.
Stage 4. Integration of language components
Language structuring
Phonological/Phonetical components
Tense notions:
Weak forms, statements, connected
unfinished, future and
speech features.
progression; modals
Awareness of features
1. 1. Direct and indirect questions.

2. Present perfect: just, up to now, already,
yet and always, for and since
3.Present perfect progressive.
4.Past perfect simple and progressive.
5.Will / Going to.
6.Present progressive: future
arrangements.
7.Future progressive and future perfect.
8.Requests, orders, offers, permissions: can,
could, will, would.
9Ability: can, cant, could, couldnt, be able
to.
11.Obligation and compulsion: must, have
to, should, ought to.
12.Possibility and certainty: may, might,
could, must, must have, cant have.
13.Collocations based on unit topic.
14.Linking 3 (Adding - Comparison)
1. Falling intonation for Wh-questions.

2. Rising intonation in yes no questions.
3. Weak forms for modals, auxiliaries.
4. Statements. (Chapter 2.5)
5. /D, d, T/
6. /b, v/
7. Connected speech: assimilation, elision.
8. Transcription reading phonetics symbols
Syntactic analysis: The Phrase (VP) (Biber,

D. 2002, chapter 5).
Unit bibliography
April 6 -10 Comolli, J. and Narboni, J. (ND) Cinema, Ideology and Criticism
Movement! Action! Belief?
Pence, J, Cinema of the Sublime, Theorizing the Ineffable. : Part I and Part 2
Neale, S. (2014) Art Cinema as Institution.Harvard: England. Harvard university Press.
April 13 -17 Yoon, S. (2009) Neoliberal World Order. Seoul, Korea: Visual
Anthropology.
Shoham, H. (2011) Urban Zionism. Tel Aviv, Israel: Israel Studies Review, Vol 26, N
2
Denninson, S. and Lim, S. (2006) Remapping World Cinema: Identity, Culture and Politics in
Film. London and New York: Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, Vol 5, N 1.
Gesamthoshschule, K. (2007) Film, authenticity and Language Teaching.London, England:
Kings College London.
April 20 - 24 Etemadi, A. (2012) Effects of Bimodal Subtitling of English Movies on Content
Comprehension and Vocabulary Recognition. Azad, Iran: International journal of English
Linguistics, Vol 2, N 1.
King, J. (2012) Using DVD Feature Films in the EFL Classroom. Azad, Iran: International
journal of English Linguistics, Vol 5, N 15.
King, J. (2010) Using Film Video and TV in the classroom Azad, Iran: International journal
of English Linguistics, Vol 15, N 5.
Casanave, C. and Simons, J. (1995) Pedagogical Perspectives of Using Films in Foreign
Language Classes Part 1 (pages 1-17) and Part 2: Pages 45-52). Fujisama, Japan:
Pedagogical Perspectives.

Education Faculty
English Pedagogy
Integrated English
III
TASK 2
UNIT 2: Cinema and Beliefs

In this unit you will have to:
Record a movie remake of 25 - 30 minutes length.
1. General outline
Form groups of 5 to 6.
Choose a movie that you like.
Watch it individually or as a group.
In your group discuss what the beliefs behind the theme (the point of view of a
given author on a Universal Topic) of the movie are.
Film the new version of the movie considering the following: Keep the plot and
make the movie visible, but adjust the theme to fit your own beliefs and film the
new version of the movie. You can use the scripts from the original movie and make
some interventions on it and/or change some scenes or add others.
The movie has to last 25 - 30 minutes, without including credits or extra features
that you may like to include. Please note these will not be assessed (bloopers,
credits, others).
Make sure everybody has a speaking part and appears physically in the movie for 5
full minutes EACH. Please distribute the times each member equally.
a) task objectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
Become aware of the beliefs behind a movie.

Analyze a movie critically.
Take a stand on a given Universal Topic.
Make a creative proposal.
b) Dates
The movie has to be presented in class submitted in a CD/DVD/ flash drive in
.avi
or .mpg. on Monday, April 27th at the beginning of the class (no later than 10
minutes after the time of the class) and all the members of the group have to be
present at this same time.
Also uploaded to YouTube, and share the link through Wordpress the latest
midnight on the same date.
e) Assessment
This task is a 10% of your Final grade.

Find the rubric attached at the end of the document: Note that two extra
categories have been added to the Official Speaking Rubric.
c) Considerations
If for any reason your have problems conforming a group with the number
of students required (5-6), you should approach your homeroom teacher to
request for an exception. The teacher will will discuss it with the rest of the
team and get back to you. Wait for the answer of your teacher before
starting your work.
You will receive an individual grade for your speaking performance in the
movie.
Videos with audio problems are not going to be evaluated
If you film in an open area, please take special care of the background noise.
Your voice has to be loud and clear. Make sure music is not louder than
voices. The evaluation will be focused on oral production.
If you fail to be present or you are late at the time of the presentation of the
movie and submission of your work, you will receive the minimum grade.
Do not forget that Plagiarism is a serious offence which will be severely
sanctioned. The first time work will be given a 1.0. If a second time occurs,
course suspension and program expulsion may take place (Reglamento
acadmico Ttulo VI, Art.21)
ANGEL AK I
journal of the theoretical humanities
volume 17 number 4 december 2012
I introduction
he founding gesture of Gilles Deleuzes
philosophy of cinema is that movies are the
first art to fully capture, celebrate, and be
constituted by a version of the very same movement of images that composes both physical
reality in the external world and psychic reality in
consciousness.1 The idea of movement-images as
the stuff of the world that are neither irreducibly
material (movement) nor irreducibly mental
(image) but an ontological joining of being and
appearance is the great idea Deleuze takes over
from Henri Bergson. Movies are pinned to this
idea. Movies are an art of immanence, bound to the
contingency of movements within what is finally a
cosmologically open system. What distinguishes
movies from other moving arts, say dance or
theatre, is that the camera, which is the stand-in
for consciousness, is itself mobile, like a general
equivalent of all the means of locomotion that it
shows or that it makes use of (C1 22); hence, the
condition for recording movement is itself in
movement, allowing us to experience the world as,
so to speak, movement all the way down. Our sense
that movies capture an intrinsically living, moving
world comes to eloquent fruition early on in the
history of cinema in Dziga Vertovs Man with a
Movie Camera in the remarkable freeze frame of
the white horse cantering down a Moscow street.
The accumulation of energetic movement leading
to this moment makes it unavoidable that we
experience the horses movement as abruptly
halted or stilled, where the stillness that results is
and is felt to be made possible only through
movement (the repeating again and again of the
same image): duration not the instant is primitive.2
The second gesture of Deleuzes philosophy of
cinema is that the distinction between classical
j.m. bernstein
MOVEMENT! ACTION!
BELIEF ?
notes for a critique of
deleuzes cinema
philosophy
Hollywood cinema and the modern cinema
represented
by
Orson
Welles,
Italian
Neorealism, and the French New Wave can
itself be captured in the ontological terms of
reference guiding the theory as a whole: in
classical cinema, time is subordinated to movement, to the ideals, needs and urgencies of action,
while in modern cinema, as significant action
becomes frustrated or increasingly impossible,
time is no longer subordinated to movement, to
the governance of action-orientations; it increasingly appears for itself and creates paradoxical
movements (C2 xi). Classifying the shift from
classical cinema to modern cinema as a shift from
the movement-image to the time-image is the
empirical realization of the original depiction of
ISSN 0969-725X print/ISSN1469-2899 online/12/040077^17 2012 Taylor & Francis

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0969725X.2012.747331
77
movement! action! belief?

movement-images as simultaneously the stuff of
movies and the stuff of the world.
There is something probing and challenging in
this account, both in its offering movies a
metaphysical privilege over the other arts and in
its refusal to chart the development of film as one
in which, post-World War II, film would withdraw
from the task of more fully representing the world
for the sake of taking on the burdens of its
medium specificity in familiar modernist terms.
Whatever is most distinctive about modern
cinema, I am persuaded that it does twist free of
the standard modernist narrative of a shift from
representational art to medium-bound reflexivity,
endlessly declaring the demands of the medium
rather than those of the world (even if that
narrative does easily fit some modern filmmakers,
Godard most obviously). Movies never fundamentally stop being representations of the world,
never stop tracking the fates of their protagonists,
never stop interrogating the fit between embodied
subjects and the material world they inhabit.
Something of this thought is acknowledged by
Deleuze, even demanded, and it is what draws the
agnostic reader to his texts: he makes a powerful
case for there being a radical transformation in
modern cinema that is deeply rooted in the
political realities of our time without yielding to a
standard modernist reading of that moment. All
that seems right and compelling; it is what makes
the metaphysical terms of his theory considerable.
Yet, in ways we shall come to, something
fundamental in the bent of modern cinema is
refused; the refusal, I argue, derives from an
illegitimate subordination of film to philosophy
reducing film to its metaphysical lineaments
which squanders what is best in the theory.
My attempt here is to demonstrate that the
categories Deleuze offers for the analysis of cinema
are insufficient to their object, getting wrong how
movies function and, thereby, utterly failing to
explain why movies matter to us (which I take to
be the sine qua non of any philosophical accounting of movies). My critique of Deleuze will rely
throughout on Andre Bazins realism. Of course,
Deleuzes history of cinema tracks Bazins precisely, situating the break between classical and
modern cinema exactly where Bazin does, agreeing
that the transition must be regarded as a cinematic
advance in which the presuppositions of the

previous regime of movie-making are laid bare,
but contesting the idea that some notion of realism
that depends on cinema having a photographic
basis is the correct analysis of what has occurred.
Three distinct lines of criticism of Deleuze will
converge: (i) the ontological advance, as it
were, from movement-image to time-image
arrives, as Deleuze knows, because of a terrible
human regress, a destruction of the possibilities
of human living that is a consequence of the
destruction of the conditions for what has passed
for significant human action; but Deleuze cannot
adequately account for this fact because his
speculative, ontological practice itself invariably
and necessarily deposes the primacy of action (the
movement-image) in favour of the primacy of
belief (the response proper to the expansive
validity of the time-image). (ii) This failure is
connected to the fact that a cinema of the virtual
depends on the very Bazinian realism it means to
displace; realism is the cinematic condition and
truth of virtuality. (iii) Bazinian realism is the
cinematic form of philosophical modernism, of
the agent-based, subject-based anti-metaphysical,
anti-cosmological mode of philosophy that the
whole of Deleuzes philosophy from its inception
rails against. From the perspective of Bazinian
realism, Deleuzes philosophy often looks like the
pre-modern, scholastic, speculative metaphysics
it always was; clinging to Bergsons shirttails does
not save Deleuzes thought from being, give or
take a decade or two, four hundred years too late.
I begin with the transition from the regime of
the movement-image to that of the time-image; I
continue this interrogation by analysing Deleuzes
theory of the time-image as given by his central
idea of movies as offering us experience of
sheets of past, asking if the theory provides
materials sufficient to understand the dominant
features of Hiroshima mon amour a movie, I
argue, that prima facie looks as if it was made to
fulfil the terms of Deleuzes theory; it is, on any
account, an exemplary instance of the uprising of
the virtual, of the sedimented past in the present,
in response to the very historical impasses that
have forced the suspension of the action-image.
In fact, I shall argue, the terms of Hiroshima mon
amour are, finally, an object lesson in realism.
78
bernstein
II from movement-image to
time-image: the problem of action
Although the time-image is more ontologically
perspicuous than the movement-image, its emergence comes at the cost of portraying a world in
which significant action is possible. So the kind of
cinema that makes ontological insight available in
some sense not only does but must occlude action
and with it the kind of sense-making attendant to
the lives of beings who are, essentially, agents,
the lives of humans as the life of action.3
Although it is not obvious from the cinema
books, there must be a primacy of the movementimage over the time-image in its capacity to
capture agential life, while for Deleuzes cinema
philosophy proper there is a philosophical primacy of the time-image over the movementimage. The philosophical primacy of the timeimage is the distortion that ruins Deleuzes
philosophy.
We can begin getting at this problem with the
thought that the original greatness of cinema for
Deleuze is that it captures the fact that the world
is composed of movement-images: the material
universe is, Deleuze says, the machine assemblage
of movement-images; hence the universe can be
interpreted as metacinema (C1 59). After making
this claim, Deleuze goes on to provide a grammatical deduction of the ordinary categories of
experience as emerging from a core conception
of the world as composed of images in motion (of
things in motion whose being (movement) and
appearing (image) to one another are ontologically joined). Movement is understood as a
quality when we treat a state as persisting while
awaiting the arrival of another state; grammatically qualities are adjectival. When movement is
understood in terms of what carries it out or
submits to it or bears it, we have the category of
body to which there corresponds the grammatical
form of nouns. Finally, when movement is
understood in terms of the provisional place it

is directed toward or the result to be secured,
then the movement is categorically an action to
which there corresponds the grammatical form of
the verb (C1 59). Without action the universe
would be static, hence not an assemblage of
movement-images at all. In this respect, the
very idea of a non-organic living universe is
equivalent to one in which there are actions.
Action is the categorical pivot of the movement
universe.
Deleuze immediately translates the categorical
scheme of quality, body, and action into the
articulation of the movement-image in the terms
of perception-image, affection-image, and actionimage. Now the movement from perception (as
the master of space) to affection as the charged
and dynamic interval between perception and
action, to action as the master of time is one
version of the metacinema of the world as such
because each such translation of perception into
affection and affection into action constitutes a
movement-image as such, as movement it
projects the very idea of movement uberhaupt:
there is no moving body distinct from executed
movement, and there is no moved body separate
from received movement; between being moved
and moving is the interval of affective response
cinematically fulfilled in the close-up in which
is found the unique complex that gives a body its
perspectival orientation toward every other body.
The ordinary categories of the movement-image
as a whole directly correspond to the basic
categories of cinema itself: the perception-image
corresponds to the frame (which determines
everything that will be in a shot as well as what
will count as out-of-field); the affection-image
bequeaths the shot; and action-images correspond
to montage (as the coordination of perception-,
affection-, and action-images). Diagrammatically,
the coordination looks like this:4
Perception-image
Framing
Shot
Montage
Action-image

Perception-image
Affection-image
Affection-image
79
Action-image

It is the tight coordination of the perceptionimage, affection-image, and action-image (under
the governance of a certain idea of montage as a
work of totalization, an oriented idea of a work as
a whole) that constitutes the sensory-motor
schema. Now the sensory-motor schema for
Deleuze is both a cinematic idea and a practical
idea: it is the image of there being a match
between actions and the world where, all things
being equal, actions of a certain distinct kind can,
finally or at least ideally, secure their ends in a
corresponding world configured as intrinsically
hospitable to actions of those kinds; showing that
hospitality is what a cinematically realized
organic or dialectical philosophy of history
accomplishes. So the achievement of marriage
in the Hollywood comedies of the 1930s not only
says something about sexual difference, celebrating it, but understands the satisfactions of
marriage as the satisfactions of the American
dream-idea of equality and the pursuit of happiness.5 One might say, then, that the action-image
assumes a moral view of the world in which the
true ends of human action can, at least in
principle, be satisfied in this world.6 (At a lower
level, Deleuze sometimes speaks of this world in
terms of hodological space, or, as might be said
now, a space of affordances. But while the idea of
space constituted as the habitat of action generally is phenomenologically important, indeed
constitutive for a conception of selves as agents,
it under-prescribes how stringent and complex
the fit must be between the normative or ideal
ends of human action and the causal structures of
the world housing them in classical cinema.)
What generates what I take to be the aporetic
relation between the movement-image and the
time-image, between classical and modern
cinema, is that the emergence of the time-image
occurs as a consequence of our no longer believing
that an ideal-preserving fit between action and
world is available. We no longer believe
that a global situation might give rise to an
action which is capable of modifying it no
more than we believe that an action can force a
situation to disclose itself, even partially.
The most healthy illusions fall. The first
things to be compromised everywhere are the
linkages of situationaction, actionreaction,
excitationresponse, in short, the sensorymotor links which produced the action-image.

(C1 206)
And the upshot of this fact is that cinema is now

(at the moment of Neorealism and the French
New Wave) composed not of agents modifying the
world but seers taking in the scope of its horror
and injustice, which seem, prima facie, impervious to transformation. Irene in Europe 51 and
Travis in Taxi Driver are compelling versions of
these seers; whether it is correct to think of either
figure as just a seer rather than agent, or even
whether it makes sense to think of these movies as
despairing of making a narrative contract with
their audience, can be set aside for the moment. It
is sufficient that Irenes transformation is above
all perceptual, a coming to see the world as
suffering and needy and demanding aid and
comfort, where the cost of so perceiving the world
is her incarceration and hence prohibition from
acting on the horror she sees; and that Traviss
maddened action emerges from his blistering
Manichean perceptual experience of the streets of
New York as hell on earth in need of redemption.
But this is to say that the shift whereby each actual
image becomes shadowed by some version of its
virtuality, the temporal series that simultaneously
brings it about and is sedimented in it, cinematically and practically systematically occurs at
the cost of significant action of the kind in which
human ends are satisfied or disappointed in
explainable and transformable ways. This is why
Deleuze so emphatically does not provide a
hierarchical ranking of the movement-image and
the time-image: even if the time-image is more
philosophically perspicuous than the movementimage to such an extent that Resnaiss cinematic
practice can itself be regarded as philosophical
(C2 199) nonetheless the movement-image is a
version of cosmological movement, namely that
version tailored to the needs of human action, and
the cost of its demise is the cost of human action
within a viable collective life (each I a part of an
ethically substantive We), where action is the soul
of movement.
For Deleuze, modern cinema succeeds when it
provides reasons to believe in the world: Cinema
must film, not the world, but belief in this world,
80
bernstein
our only link. The nature of cinematographic
illusion has often been considered. Restoring
belief in the world this is the power of modern
cinema (when it stops being bad) (C2 172;
emphasis added).7 There are moments in which
Deleuze lays out this thought as a version of
Kierkegaards leap of faith in which belief in the
world replaces belief in God.
To believe, not in a different world, but in a
link between man and the world, in love or
life, to believe in this as in the impossible, the
unthinkable, which none the less cannot but
be thought: something possible, otherwise I
will suffocate. [Irene (Ingrid Bergman) in
Europa 51.] It is this belief that makes the
unthought the specific power of thought,
through the absurd, by virtue of the absurd.
(C2 170)
The final sentence strikes me as revoking any

reason one might have for caring about cinema,
or art generally, since one might suppose that the
absurd, the impossible, is as readily available
without aesthetic mediation as with it. There are
strains of the cinema books that lean heavily
toward a this-worldly version of what Paul
Schrader has termed the transcendental style
in film, making particular reference to Bresson
(a minor hero for Deleuze), Ozu, and Dreyer.8
Deleuze goes so far as to say that there is a
Catholic quality to cinema (C2 171), a quality he
attempts to provide with an inner-worldly,
Protestant twist. Beginning in Cinema 1 with
the account of the idea of any-space-whatever and
the emergence of lyrical abstraction, Deleuze
joins modern cinema (right back to Dreyer) to the
questions of faith and infinite choosing as
originally deployed by Pascal and Kierkegaard.
As he notes, belief was used by these philosophers as a displacement of the primacy of
knowledge as grounding our relation to the
world. But that cannot be the relevant alternative
given his action-based account of the meaning of
classical cinema. Since Deleuzes analysis of the
cinematographic virtual necessarily puts action
and narration out of play, then from the outset he
must mean the notion of belief to be opening the
depths of cinema to an emphatic notion of
experience detached from the parameters of
81
agential life, and that he opts for the notion of

belief in a world beyond this one as providing the
right kind of compensatory attachment for a
world bereft of action. Belief, I am suggesting, is
not an idle choice of term by Deleuze; his account
of the time-image demands that movies take on
the lineaments of religious faith, belief in its most
regressive sense being all that is left to agents for
whom no actions or possibilities of action remain.
The philosophy of the virtual, rather than being
immanent and materialist, when put into practice
in relation to the history of cinema becomes
redolent with abstract religiosity. (Or, one might
argue that Deleuzes Spinozism is emerging here,
making the displacement of action final: assume
that belief in the world in the cinema books is
a version of Spinozas intellectual love of God;
the movies would thus be credited with accomplishing the demonstration and acknowledgement
that was the task of the third kind of knowing in
Spinozas Ethics.9)
That Deleuze means belief to have its religionbased connotations becomes even more obvious
once we recognize that the notion of belief in the
world is the religious version of the idea of
aesthetic experience providing conviction in and
connection to the world; that is, aesthetic experience is one in which our judgmental appreciation of a work simultaneously yields or involves
an affective response.10 Put differently, one
version of works of art succeeding is that they
return to our ordinary beliefs about the world the
feelings and emotions appropriate to those
beliefs.11 One might suppose that Deleuze was
thinking something of this order since he begins
his account of our need for reasons to believe in
the world with the claim that the modern fact is
that we no longer believe in this world. We do not
even believe in the events which happen to us,
love, death . . . (C2 171). Under the auspices of
this interpretation, one version of the unthought
or the unthinkable becomes believing in the
body: It is giving discourse to the body, and for
this purpose, reaching the body before discourses, before words, before things are
named . . . (C2 17273). The extreme version
of belief in the body is the now familiar cinema of
spiritual masochism: fighters, wrestlers, dancers,
and would-be gods punishing the flesh for the

sake of a moment in which pain is transfigured
into something else beauty or meaning or
redemption (where these are all equivalents for
art-making itself, transfiguring matter into meaning; and for some notion of immanent transcendence, some notion of believing in the world,
entailing art-making itself in such an achievement). A less extreme version would be Bazins
realist construction of love of the world. In
considering a version of the world before it is
named, it is difficult to avoid these sentences
from Bazin:
Only the impassive lens, stripping its object of
all those ways of seeing it, those piled-up preconceptions, that spiritual dust and grime with
which my eyes have covered it, is able to
present it in all its virginal purity to my
attention and consequently to my love.12
Neither the exorbitance of spiritual masochism

nor the plaints of Bazins realist love song match
the exigencies of the time-image; Deleuze seems
to have chosen the notion of belief as a critical
alternative to notions like catharsis, aesthetic
experience, and love of the world. I shall return
to Bazins love and realism below. For now,
however, the question appropriate to Deleuzes
theory is: does his account of the cinema of the
time-image show how these works succeed in
connecting affect and world? And can there be
such a connection that does not track back to the
possibilities of human action?
III a cinema of memory?

Near the beginning of Cinema 2 Deleuze affirms
Jean-Louis Schefers assertion that the cinematographic image releases time from the linkages
established through action sequences, entailing
that cinema is the sole experience where time is
given to me as a perception (C2 37). In both
classical cinema and ordinary life, situations are
represented in relation to the possible series of
actions they solicit and prohibit. One consequence of the evaporation of the action orientations of classical cinema is that a perceived space
takes on an obdurate appearance, pure optical
situations (C2 2) in which the connection
between one image and the next or one action
and its successor is unmotivated, untethered from

larger purposes and ends, errant and dispersive.
Movements now appear aberrant (C2 36). Of
the seers who are represented as experiencing this
shattering of the world, Deleuze says:
They are rather given over to something
intolerable which is simply their everydayness
itself. It is here that the reversal is produced:
movement is no longer simply aberrant,
aberration is now valid in itself and designates
time as its direct cause. Time is out of joint:
it is off the hinges assigned to it by behaviours
in the world, but also by the movements of
the world. It is no longer time that depends on
movement; it is aberrant movement
that depends on time. (C2 41; translation
modified)
Deleuze is contending that in modern cinema

time becomes detached from action to the point
at which it becomes manifest in itself: passing
emptily, frozen, the plague of ennui, the endlessness of a present that will not pass. I take the oftremarked slowness of much modern cinema to
be exactly this: the experience of a situation
suspended from the urgencies of action and the
demands of narrative resolution. However things
unfold, they will not accumulate under the
retrospective governance of an idea that binds
the meaning of past actions to some available or
hoped for end. Such a retrospective control of
action is how classical Hollywood montage, which
succeeds by hiding its own workings, subordinated time to action. In the traumatized world of
modern cinema actions lose their meaning
because they are detached from ends, purposes,
and satisfactions internal to them. The sense of
actions depending on time means simply that
without deep structures of narrative motivation
all that bears actions into the world is the worlds
continual passing.
Yet if Deleuzes theory stopped here, all that
modern cinema would accomplish would be a
mimesis of the something intolerable and
unbearable . . . something too powerful, or too
unjust, but sometimes also too beautiful, and
which henceforth outstrips our sensory-motor
capacities (C2 18). What is more necessary
under these conditions is to combine the
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opticalsound image with the enormous forces
that are not those of a simply intellectual
consciousness, nor of the social one, but of a
profound, vital intuition (C2 22), hence an
image now which would be anterior to the
controlled flow of every action, yielding some
experience of a birth of the world that is not
completely restricted to the experience of our
motivity (C2 37; the last clause again following
Jean-Louis Schefers LHomme ordinaire du
cinema). This idea of a birth of the world in
images configured as independent from action
and its motivations is the idea of the time-image;
the time-image thus provides Deleuzes conception of how what is new becomes conceivable.
Arguably, the idea of sheets of past is the
conceptual core of the time-image: the present
exists only as an infinitely contracted past the
past contracted into the duree of this living
present; hence,
between the past as pre-existence in general
and the present as infinitely contracted past
there are, therefore, all the circles of the past
constituting so many stretched or shrunk
regions, strata, and sheets: each region
with its own characteristics, its tones, its
aspects, its singularities, its shining
points, and its dominant themes. (C2 99)
It is because the present is nothing but a

contracted past a past simultaneously congealed
in and arriving at the present, looking backward
and forward at once that Deleuze insists that
memory is not in us; it is we who move in a
Being-memory, a world-memory (C2 98). If
memory were simply in us, we would be in
control of it, its master; we would be present
beings who have a past that was separate from our
present being, and all of the past that mattered or
could matter would be the past we could
remember. Because we are formed by our past,
then that formation is active and effective
whether psychologically remembered or not.
Psychological memory records one putative relation between fleeting present and regions and
strata of an individuals past. But my past may be
utterly outside my existing psychological memory
since the fibres of my being have been woven by
events not directly experienced by me, and what
83
experience I have of some events may be the most

eviscerated version of them.
Alain Resnais is the great cartographer of the
sheets of past. In his cinema, writes Deleuze,
[M]emory is clearly no longer the faculty of
having recollections: it is the membrane
which, in the most varied ways . . . makes
sheets of past and layers of reality correspond,
the first emanating from an inside which is
always already there, the second arriving from
an outside always to come, the two gnawing at
the present which is now only their encounter.
(C2 207)
Hiroshima mon amour directly addresses a

conundrum between present and past that is a
token of the historical rupture that has made
classical cinema no longer possible and modern
cinema necessary. Although there will be competing descriptions of this rupture, by placing the
emphasis on the events of Hiroshima and World
War II, Resnais, like Deleuze, appears to be
invoking the notion of a traumatic history. For
the purposes at hand, I understand trauma to
refer to an experience that happens but cannot be
digested, absorbed, narrated it is altogether too
much, an excess beyond the terms through which
we understand historical experience. What happens is variable between two ways in which the
past and the present can fail to be integrated with
one another: the past can remain emphatically
present (nightmare, memory images, dissociation
from the present) and therefore never past; or,
the past can be utterly repressed, a hole or a
vacancy that yields a present without its attending
past, hence emptying the present of substance.
Both of these ways of expressing the temporal
curvature of traumatic history turn on there
being an experience that cannot be experienced,
that cannot be or has not been lived through.
I understand the Japanese man and the French
woman in Hiroshima to be suffering their
traumatized histories in the latter way, that is,
by having the most significant moment of their
lives utterly absent from the present construction
of those lives; and I further assume that Resnais
chose to figure their traumas thus in order that
they would match that of the cinematic audience:
we are living out this traumatic history almost

completely in the mode of presents emptied of
their traumatic origins. Although I will
re-describe it later, the most patent symptom or
marker of this emptiness for both the man and
the woman is that they describe themselves as
happily married, but are nonetheless both
sexually restless, their marriages neither fully
binding nor fully affectively satisfying (they only
half believe in their own present loves); and
further, that they experience their brief affair
with one another as utterly unlike previous sexual
liaisons. What occurs between them each regards
as the shattering of being in love, where that
shattering is both the French woman coming to
re-live her traumatic history, to share it with the
man, so in loving her he exposes himself to her
history; just as, in loving the man, she exposes
herself to both her history and his. We are further
meant to assume, all this still at a very high level
of abstraction, that what enables the shattering
and release of love and memory here is that for
each the other is utterly Other, one whose history
is not their history, one whose contracted present,
at least in the first instance, does not experientially touch the others experiential present. This
gap between the histories that have made their
different presents possible is the source of the
debate between them in the strange and extended
opening scene in which she insists she has seen
and understood what happened in Hiroshima,
and he flatly denies her claims.13
He: You saw nothing in Hiroshima. Nothing.
She: I saw everything. Everything. (HMA 15)
These are the opening words of the movie,

occurring directly after the hallucinatory opening
in which we see entwining limbs that are at first
unrecognizable, but seemingly those of victims of
some horrendous event (a nuclear event, say),
only to discover they are the glistening, sweating
limbs of the lovers death and love entangled
from the beginning. One should not take the
words that open the film casually. Hiroshima,
finally, will turn on overcoming the ruptural
scission that leaves in its wake the impossible
duality between nothing and everything, the
traumatized hyperbole of absolute loss in opposition to the overwhelming rapture of bodily life.
Being and nothing are not only the terms of a

philosophical logic, they are also, and first,
begotten, the result of a centurys horror.
Learning how to curtail the authority of those
categories learning how becoming becomes
possible is what is at stake in learning how to
live through that history. Or, what turns out to be
the same thought, to overcome the impossible
oscillation between everything or nothing
involves moving from melancholic destitution to
mournful life.
In simple terms, the exchange between the man
and the woman raises the issue of the difference
between knowledge and experience: she has done
everything she can to understand what has
happened, returning again and again to the
museum, reading, contemplating. She is involved
in making a movie about Hiroshima that is a call
for peace, and an end to the nuclear threat of
annihilation. At some level she has seen everything, everything she could reasonably see, everything that any concerned citizen of the world
might reasonably be expected to see and take
responsibility for. And yet she has seen nothing.
Now the great gamble of Hiroshima is that we
will come to engage the meaning of the gap
between historical knowing and traumatic experience through the way in which the man and the
woman work out the meaning of the shattering of
their finding themselves in love with one another
in a way that is conditioned by their separation
from one another: only the touch of the alien,
bodily other can awaken them. To find one
another, love and acknowledge one another, they
must simultaneously take on one anothers past,
Hiroshima and Nevers (her childhood home,
where she lived throughout the war); absorbing
those pasts is their love, its burden and its joy.
Hiroshima is, in Deleuzes terms, a crystal-image
through which we are enabled to experience the
virtual past in both its absence, as contracted, and
in its insistent, haunting presence; for example, in
the early scene of the womans waking from their
night together, as she returns from the terrace,
the sleeping body of the man suddenly becomes
for her the body of another young man lying in
the same position, but in a posture of death. We
will learn that this is the body of her German
soldier lover.
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Duras and Resnaiss idea, which fully corresponds to the Deleuzian thought of each persons
present being a contracted past, is that the woman
and the man can come into contact with their own
traumatic history only by fully encountering the
sheets of the others past, which, understood
aright, also belongs to their past. And cinematically this is just what occurs: as the woman
comes to more fully acknowledge her love of the
man, she simultaneously feels drawn to communicating with him her wartime experience, and as
she does so he obliquely but emphatically
becomes the German soldier for her, making
present the confusion between past and present
that had occurred as a flashback in the bedroom
scene. So the experience of acknowledging their
love for one another really is the becoming of the
indeterminacy between actual and virtual, present
(the Japanese man here in the bar facing her) and
past (the Japanese man merging with the German
soldier):
He: do you scream?
[The room at Nevers.]
She: Not in the beginning; no, I dont scream:
I call you softly.
He: But Im dead. (HMA 57)
Deleuze endorses the view of Resnaiss cinema as

Lazarean, his heroes returning from the land of
the dead (C2 208). Because Resnais and Duras
force us to surrender our easy ideas separating the
living from the dead, we are equally forced to
acknowledge a terrain of indeterminacy between
fact and fiction, real and imaginary, present vs.
past, self and other. As these constructive
categories that ground everyday ideas of actuality
dissolve in the scene of her narration of her
history, we come to recognize how this dissolution is only making explicit an indeterminacy and
difficulty in the nature of experience that is
always there. Resnais and Duras not only make
the virtual dimensions of experience perceptible,
they demonstrate their abiding character. I can
think of no fuller or more complete attempt to
think the claim of the virtual for the present as a
response to the dilemma of believing in the
present than the argument of Hiroshima. At one
level, this looks like the paradigm case of
Deleuzian cinema.14
85
The movie concludes with new life, with the

nameless French woman and the nameless
Japanese man finally being named, as if for the
first time, as if in a baptism into life: Ne-vers
and Hi-ro-shi-ma. the broken, syllabic saying
of the names standing for their need to be
learned, for their being acts of original namegiving; the hesitancy of the gesture corresponding
to, through naming, the birth of the world from
out of the ashes of the dead past. The urgent
question that naturally arises at this juncture in
the analysis is: is the description of the sources
and stakes of the traumatic history composing the
lives of the nameless French woman and the
nameless Japanese man conveyed accurately by
the idea of there being a separation between
present and past understood as through the idea
of sheets of past, through the making palpable the
virtual past of this present? Are Deleuzes
organizing concepts those necessary for understanding how present and past, love and history
are here entwined? I want to argue, against
Deleuze, that Duras and Resnais ask the question
about the meaning of traumatic history through
the question of love which Duras always
insisted is the crux of the project because the
question of memory is finally about the dialectic
of memory and forgetting, melancholy and
mourning, and hence about the unavoidability
of betrayal. Betrayal, a category that I take to
belong firmly within the logic of action with its
narrative embedding, is the pivot of Hiroshima,
not the relation between actual and virtual; the
necessity or the inevitability of betrayal is
synonymous with the necessity or inevitability
of narrative, even if, as must be acknowledged,
modern cinema narrates otherwise than classical
cinema. Betrayal in this setting becomes one of
the terms necessary for an acknowledgement of
finitude; as a consequence that acknowledgement
must belong to moral psychology, to an ethics of
the past rather than to speculative ontology.
IV mourning as betrayal: on the works

of love
Hiroshima is a story about the fragile, indeterminate border between life and death, about
death in life, about surviving and being a

survivor, about the precariousness of identity as
the woman keeps becoming or never stops being
the teenage girl holding on to her forever dying/
forever dead love, and the Japanese man who,
briefly, becomes the German soldier. Here is the
moment of the soldiers dying, and her love
continuing to hold him in her:
Little by little he grew cold beneath me. Oh!
How long it took him to die! When? Im not
quite sure. I was lying on top of
him . . . yes . . . the moment of his death actually escaped me, because . . . because even at
that very moment, and even afterward, yes,
even afterward, I can say that I couldnt feel
the slightest difference between this dead body
and mine. All I could find between this body
and mine were obvious similarities, do you
understand? [Shouting.] He was my first
love . . . (HMA 65)
I take the pivot here to be that the moment of his

death escaped her, that she could feel only the
similarities hand to hand, cheek to cheek, and
hence their being joined as lovers are. He was
my first love . . . concludes this description of
the event; first love here articulates the exposure
to love itself, the exposure to human connectedness as what makes an adult life worth having.
Our connection to the other is our connection to
life, its worth. So Resnais and Durass consideration of love is tracking a terrain directly
adjacent to Deleuzian belief in the world; this, in
effect, is the stake of this analysis. The woman
could not imagine losing her German lover, for to
lose him would be to lose her connection to the
world, and if she had no connection to the world
she could not survive. If great love, first love is
what we think it is, we cannot survive its loss
this is the belief of every lover. Love is the
experience and illusion of its unsurvivability;
melancholic destitution and traumatic suffering
are a consequence of that illusion. Hence,
conversely, we must come to perceive traumatic
suffering as melancholic destitution, and hence,
whatever the cause of the trauma may be, a
pathology of love. This is the precise gesture that
permits Resnais and Duras to construct the
question of life after Hiroshima, life after the
Holocaust, as a love story.
Rather than dying, as the woman guiltily

believes she should have (giving the notion of
survivors guilt its appropriate passionate origin),
she survives by taking her lover into herself, by
not letting him die, by keeping their love pure
and untouched by the world. The time in the
cellar is meant to image the living crypt, death in
life. This is what melancholic grief is, what all
grief is to some extent. Eventually, she tells the
man, she learned to become reasonable, to live;
but that is fac ade: she kept her first love private,
pure, locked in herself, hence alive; the dead man
in her is her absorption by death. And it is this
that makes her restless, drawn to love affairs and
casual sex, seeking in erotic attachment the erotic
attachment to life that her melancholy has
foreclosed. So she is drawn too to Hiroshima,
the living place whose name means death. The
woman carries death in her, carries this stranger
in herself, and finally finds release only with
another strange love another absolute other
(foreign, strange, not me, the man whose name
will mean absolute loss) who can be both himself
and that original other; his separation from her
will stand for and enable the separation from the
German lover. The mans alien existence prior to
her forging it, being able to name it and make it
her own, calls her to an acknowledgement of
separateness. The others separateness from me is
their finitude, their mortality, that they might die
and leave me behind; this devastating separateness is what the woman discovers in the shattering of her love for the Japanese man.
Resnais and Duras are using the womans story
as both an embodiment and an allegory of the
question of memory and ethics that connects to
both Hiroshima and the Holocaust. Toward the
end of the strange opening documentary and
argument about knowing or not knowing
Hiroshima, seeing or not seeing it, we find the
following:
He: No, you dont know what it is to forget.
She: Like you, I have a memory. I know what
it is to forget.
He: No, you dont have a memory.
She: Like you, I too have tried with all my
might not to forget. Like you, I forgot. Like
you, I wanted to have an inconsolable
memory, a memory of shadows and
86
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stone . . . Why deny the obvious necessity for
memory? (HMA 23)
She feels connected to Hiroshima. She feels that

her bodily connection to the man vindicates her
sense of knowing; her sexual knowledge of him
and her knowing of Hiroshima are entwined. This
is why the argument, with its insistently represented (imagined? dreamed? recalled?) documentary images of what she had seen, follows and
completes their lovemaking for her. Put all this
aside for the moment. I take the line I wanted to
have an inconsolable memory to refer to her
feeling of the memory she should have toward
her German lover, and hence the kind of memory
she thinks she must or can have through visiting,
acknowledging, seeing Hiroshima. Hiroshima
initially operates for her as a metaphor for
devastation of a kind for which only inconsolable
memory could be appropriate. Why does she
want an inconsolable memory? Why does she seek
melancholic destitution? Because to imagine
consolation is to imagine forgetfulness; to imagine consolation is to imagine that some release
from that memory would be possible and worthwhile, that one would feel somehow relieved,
unburdened, purified; but in feeling thus consoled one has accepted the present and turned
ones back on the past; hence to feel consoled is
to displace the past with the present, which is to
forget the past, betray it, let it pass.
This yields the dilemma that forms the motive
and meaning of Duras and Resnaiss project: if we
are inconsolable, if we cannot let go of the past, if
there really is something intolerable and unbearable in experience without release, then trauma
triumphs, melancholy triumphs, then the past
envelops the present so there is no present, no
living, the dead absorb the living, the living bear
the dead with them. That we should become the
living dead in this way is morally repulsive, yet
that is what the erotically and ethically charged
ideal of inconsolable memory means: nothing can
counter it, nothing ought to weigh in the scales in
relation to it. How could anything ethically
matter in comparison to that devastation? Yet,
if we are to live, then we must forget, forgetfulness is necessary for living and action. But if we
live and forget, we betray the past, we betray first
87
loves, we betray the dead. The past becomes past,

without a living present, almost nothing. If the
past becomes nothing, then we are nothing. The
dynamics and difficulty of this dilemma either
the dead absorbing the living, or the living simply
using the dead, forgetting them (or remembering
solely for the sake of their own future, which is
what forgetting comes to) are obvious in the
case of first love (love of parents, first romantic
love, love as the paradigm of our connection to
world), but they are equally obvious in the case of
the Holocaust and Hiroshima: either traumatic
attachment without consolation, or the consolations of living as forgetfulness and absolute
betrayal. Not just for survivors but for us too:
after all, if we narrate the Holocaust or
Hiroshima, place them in a narrative, then we
use them for ends outside themselves, we use
them for our purposes. Everything turns on
seeing how the claims of first love and those of
absolute atrocity connect in their demands on
survivors, on the life that comes after.
The accusation of forgetfully using history is a
core of the Japanese mans critique of the
womans claim to know Hiroshima. He asks
her: What did Hiroshima mean for you, in
France?
She: The end of the war, I mean, really the
end. Amazement . . . at the idea they had
dared . . . amazement at the idea they had
succeeded. And then too, for us, the beginning
of an unknown fear. And then indifference.
And also the fear of indifference . . . (HMA 33)
The point here is that Hiroshima for her has

always belonged to her history, the history of her
war, her or French thinking about the new fear of
atomic warfare, and fear of not thinking about
this and being indifferent to it, and indifferent to
Hiroshima. Hiroshima as what occurred to
them is no part of this self-consciousness.
Now funnel this worry into Resnaiss own. He
was asked and planned to make a documentary
about Hiroshima. After collecting archive footage
and thinking through the project, he hit a wall: he
could not fathom how a movie, at least by him,
about Hiroshima would be truly different from
his movie about the Holocaust, Night and Fog
(1955). The singularity of Hiroshima would

be lost. In order not to betray Hiroshima, in
order to acknowledge its singularity, he makes a
movie in which the meaning of Hiroshima for us
is not given but placed in question, becomes the
movies question, through embedding that question in a fictional love story between a French
woman and a Japanese man in which the mystery
of their relationship will turn on her love story
with the German soldier and her death-driven
love for Hiroshima. (Love is many things in this
movie: it is first love, connectedness to the world;
it is illusion; it is art; it is the connecting of
persons and events. Love binds what is forever
separate.)
As she narrates her captivity in the cellar,
addressing the Japanese man as if he is her
German lover, she says: Oh! Its horrible. Im
beginning to remember you less clearly . . . Im
beginning to forget you. I tremble at the thought
of having forgotten so much love . . . (HMA
64).15 For the purposes of the argument of this
movie the forgetting of love and the forgetting of
overwhelming suffering and loss are the same
issue: to forget either is a wild betrayal. Yet as we
hear her tell her story to her Japanese lover, we
know at least two things: first, her story can be
narrated; for the sake of her passion or jouissance
with the Japanese man, for the sake of human
connectedness without withdrawal, she could and
had to tell her tale. So impossible pasts and
difficult presents can be joined in a manner
demonstrating that narrative retrospection, even
here, is both possible and necessary. And that
narrating in this way is a kind of forgetting and a
kind of remembering at once: I was unfaithful to
you tonight with this stranger. I told our
story . . . (HMA 73) she says to her German
lover as she stares at herself in the mirror. The
narrative of the movie concerns the becoming of
her narration of her first love out of an original
pure optical situation. There is a necessary
betrayal because the telling is a communication
to another, hence, and this is the complication
Resnais and Duras have been pondering, the
uniqueness of the story can only be sustained as it
is taken up, communicated, shared, formed,
dissolved in its stony singularity. So the saving
gesture of narrative remembering is simultaneously a betrayal and forgetfulness.
I take the notion of betrayal and infidelity as

all we have in order to sustain truth and memory
to be Duras and Resnaiss most urgent thesis.
After all, what are we to make of what is
essentially a fifteen-minute documentary on
Hiroshima that is told by a woman in a mood
of confession and insistence as she lies naked in
her lovers arms after, we presume, a long night
of passion? Part of this I take to be the thought
that there is no witnessing, no remembering, no
narrating without pleasure, that pleasure can be
infringed upon, turned into a painful pleasure, a
jouissance, but as long as there is a communication and a satisfaction there is pleasure. That
there is or could be this pleasure is intolerable to
the Japanese man, which is the other explanation
for his insistent denials of the womans claim to
know at the beginning.
So, and here is the second thing we learn, we
come into proximity to the event of Hiroshima,
both its devastation and the difficulty of encountering that devastation, through her narrating and
remembering, and not through either history or
great politics. So whether it is Night and Fog or
Hiroshima mon amour, there is to the necessary
narrative communication of these traumatic
events something private, personal, involved,
not a politics but forms of communication outside
the political sphere: we narrate in order to live, in
order to live on, in order to live after. Cinematic
narratives, as forms of communication, contain
something metaphorical and general, a substitution of one thing for another, and thus a betrayal
of uniqueness. History, love, and mourning are
alike in this: betrayal is intrinsic to what of them
requires our acknowledgement.
Much of what the woman remembers is film
clips, newsreel footage, and even (this is a guess
about the hospital sequence) a scene from the
movie she is making. Our attachment to history
and one another will be technologically mediated,
formed, it will be a communication; it will bring
unwanted pleasure, solace, catharsis such is
form. Mediation and betrayal are necessary.
Hence, however indexical the photographic
image, however transparent in its relation to its
object, the object is nonetheless absent. The
technical medium and the human memory may
both fantasize a pure attachment to the object, an
88
bernstein
ethical or passionate faithfulness, but if that
fidelity is fantasized as a perfect return, as a
perfect melancholic absorption, then only death
in life can result.
V inevitable actions, minor narratives

Our hearts can be broken by modern movies; to
call the heroine of Europa 51 a mummy
radiating tenderness (C2 171) is both fair and
misleading: Irene is both seer and agent, witness
to the worlds misery and comforter. And while
comforting is not transforming the world or by
itself sufficient to show that the world is available
to radical transformation, it is what action can
come to in that place, and it is sufficient in its
threat to make it worth being condemned by the
authorities. Analogously, the man and the woman
in Hiroshima mon amour lift themselves beyond
the confines of affective paralysis by letting the
surprise of erotic attachment become an occasion
for confession, forgiveness, communication, the
actions necessary for mutual recognition that
allow each through acknowledging love of the
other to find a space for love of the world amidst
its ruins. Of course, the essence here is love of the
world, as the form of affirmation appropriate to
modern lives. For Deleuze, the difference
between classical and modern cinema is that the
former is a narrative art while the latter is an art
of belief. Yet love of the world had a place in
classical cinema, and action and narrative do not
disappear from modern cinema the lives
interrogated are still, finally, the lives of agents.
The Deleuzian notion of belief idles in these
contexts.
The difference between classical and modern is
more precise than Deleuze allows: classical
cinema anchors successful agency within a
world that it makes manifest and/or helps bring
into being; modern cinema shows that agents
must improvise a life that lacks metaphysical
comfort or support, that they have only themselves, their capacity for response to one another,
in order to make this life possible, at least here, at
least now. Classical movies promise a world;
modern cinema, like modernist art, promises
not the re-assembly of community, but personal relationship unsponsored by that
89
community; not the overcoming of our isolation, but the sharing of that isolation not to
save the world out of love, but to save love for
the world, until it is responsive again.16
If labels help, one can call the narratives of

classical cinema mythological and those of
modern cinema minor. While something in late
modernity is desperately broken, in identifying
the assumptions of the previous regime of
thought as mythological we are denying that
agency might ever have truly depended on them.
My hypothesis here is that the forms of action
exemplified by modernist arts capacity to carry
on art-making in the absence of tradition and the
absence of the authority of the objects represented, modernist arts manner of improvising
ways of going on and authorizing itself, becomes
in modern cinema the forms of action of its
protagonists. Modern cinema is not narrowly
modernist but the representation of a world
whose practical life has become, in disturbing and
difficult ways, modernist in itself: forms of action
that discover that we now must base our lives on
contingency, and that such contingent lives, in
their particularity and fragility, are nonetheless
exemplary of how life remains inscrutably possible or when not possible nonetheless a terrain in
which agents not mummies or machines or
zombies can take responsibility for their lives,
which is what the man and the woman finally are
doing at the end of Hiroshima, where it remains
systematically unresolved whether that requires
acknowledgement of lifes losses and compromises, demanding a return to their old lives (her
inclination), or the betrayal of even that in the
name of love (his inclination). There is no
determinate answer to what taking responsibility
now comes too.
In making the operative distinction between
classical and modern cinema between mythological and minor narratives, I do mean to deny that
the simple either/or given by the distinction
between movement-image and time-image
either time subordinated to action or action
subordinated to time usefully captures the
transition from classical to modern cinema.
That account of the transition assumes that the
sensory-motor schema is shattered from the

inside (C2 40). Because narration results from
the sensory-motor schema and not the other way
round (C2 272; emphasis added), narration
being not an imposition on the sensory-motor
schema but its reflective elaboration, then the
shattering of the sensory-motor schema must
entail the abandonment of narrative tout court.
Yet Deleuzes own account of the upsurge of
modern cinema places this claim in question:
even if the particular illusions of classical cinema
that suture the demands of particular actions with
the disposition of the world as a whole fail, what
fails is a mythological outside, an idea regulating
the unfolding of action from a distance. More
urgently, we learn that the illusions of classical
cinema illusions that seem to close off even the
idea of a vital future not dependent on historical
closure are not necessary for meaningful action,
which is the difficulty and wonder of the best of
modern cinema. The sensory-motor schema is
indelible; without it nothing approximating
human life is possible. The question that its
indelibility forces upon us is solely how its
demand for narrative is to be satisfied: mythologically or through minor narrative forms? That
minor narratives are a progress in the acknowledgement of the demands for a disillusioned or
disenchanted humanism is the calling card of
Bazins realism.
Let me, however briefly, attempt to plant this
connection between realism and narrative responsiveness in Bazins thought. The notion of the
Gesamtkunstwerk, as that of a work of art
synthesizing all the different arts, presumes that
what is needed in order to provide a complete and
satisfactory representation of the world, to artistically surmount alienation and nihilism, is an
overcoming of the separation of the arts from one
another. The sheer absurdity of this thought
should serve as a reminder that the meaning of the
arts depends on and necessarily devolves into the
separation of the arts from one another, each art a
form of excess beyond the ordinary representation
of the world that gives a fragmented mode of
experience a weight and salience repressed in the
ordinary flow of events. The surprise of art is that
modally fragmented or dispersed reconstructions
of experience should provide a profound enlivenment. My claiming that forms of art are forms of
excess is meant to provide an explanation of this

occurrence. So classical tragedy invokes the excess
of action over the individual whose action it is,
while modern tragedy invokes the excess of
character over action; sculpture provides for the
excess of the material habitation of space over the
thing in space; painting conjures the excess of the
presentation of the image over the image presented; poetry depends on the excess of the word
over the sentence of which it is a part; and music
the excess of temporalized sound over semantic
meaning. It is as if each art were a dimension,
stratum, or mode of experience that has been
permitted an autonomous elaboration. On this
construal, the arts have always known that they
lived off their separation from one another;
modernism is not the discovery of this, but simply
that art which means to live off nothing else.
What, then, is the excess that provides for the
specificity of photography and cinema? Bazin
begins from the obvious assumption that our
involvement with these arts depends on their
mechanical nature, on their being based on the
absence of subjectivity. His terms for this
mechanical reproduction decal or transfer or
fingerprint or Veil of Veronica all point to some
way in which the reality of the object causally
marks or imprints itself in the image of it such
that if the object had been different then its
image would have been different, where the
counterfactual difference in object and image will
occur irrespective of whether or not it is initially
noticed by the subject responsible for recording
the image: No matter how fuzzy, distorted, or
discolored, no matter how lacking in documentary value the image may be, it shares, by virtue
of the very process of its becoming, the being of
the model of which it is the reproduction; it is the
model.17 Whatever else Bazin might have meant
by his claim that cinemas integral realism offers
the recreation of the world in its own image,18
he did not mean an accurate, veridical, comprehensive, or subjectively satisfying recreation. On
the contrary, if these natural translations of that
formula must fail, then realism is going to have a
sense closer to an image having the force of
evidence that imposes and carries away something more than a truth: an existence.19 The
contrast here between truth and existence is
90
bernstein
exactly right for Bazin: it is the moment prior to
the construction of truth that his realism intends,
hence that moment in which we are positioned
with respect to an object as such and in general
that he is seeking. Compressing this claim into a
formula corresponding to those I gave for the
other arts: cinema provides an excess of the
existence of a thing imaged over the image of the
thing. And like the other arts, this formula
requires some unpacking in order to see how this
fragmented partiality yields an aesthetic enlivenment, remembering all the while that nothing
ensures the movies will yield in practice to their
constitutive excess.
The join between Bazins ontology of cinema
and his aesthetic commitments comes most
quickly into view in An Aesthetic of Reality:
Neorealism.20 In the opening pages we get the
usual piling up of realisms existential claiming:
Italian cinema is wondrous in the significance it
gives to the portrayal of actuality (ARN 20);
Italian Neorealist films never forget that the
world is, quite simply, before it is something to
be condemned (ARN 21); reduced to their plots,
these movies can be moralizing melodramas, but
on the screen everybody in the film is overwhelmingly real (ARN 21). Bazin begins to give
these assertions aesthetic meaning with his
remarks on Orson Welles discovery of deep
focus:
It is no longer the editing that selects what we
see, thus giving it an a priori significance, it is
the mind of the spectator which is forced to
discern, as in a sort of parallelepiped of reality
with the screen as its cross-section, the
dramatic spectrum proper to the scene.
(ARN 28)
What Welles accomplishes through his use of

deep focus is a mechanism for unframing what is
inevitably framed, hence the disaggregation of
the elements of a scene from one another in a
manner analogous to photographys automatic
abstraction of its objects from spatial and
temporal conditions of meaning. Deep focus
enables the real to appear excessive to its
determinations in a manner that can only be
resolved through the spectators effort; hence
viewing the screened reality is less like decoding
91
an overdetermined work of art and more like

acknowledging an indeterminate piece of reality.
This thesis comes to fruition in Bazins
discussion of Rossellinis Paisa`. Here, finally,
the organizing power of the cinematic shot is
displaced by what Bazin calls image facts:
These are in a sense the centrifugal properties
of the images those which make the narrative
possible. Each image being on its own just a
fragment of reality existing before any meanings, the entire surface of the scene should
manifest an equally concrete density.
(ARN 37)
When the force of mechanical reproduction is

adequately acknowledged by cinematic practice,
when cinematic practice allows itself to benefit
from the absence of subjectivity in the recording
of the image, then what will be screened is the
force of existence of each thing, each body, each
conjunction of thing and body, each conjoining of
bodies together before and as a condition for their
becoming intelligible. The achievement of cinematic realism is its capacity to make possible the
perception of a things existence as what demands
a response, as in need of a response as the
fulfilment of its naked reality. This surely is what
Bazins idea of love of the world comes to: the
world, things and bodies, rising up and coming
into view as a condition for our shared habitation,
destitute things and bodies calling for a response
that might do justice to their sheer being there, as
if each image recorded a certain birth of reality
out of its past in which it should be named anew
Ne-vers,
Hi-ro-shi-ma;
Resnais making explicit what
the burdens of acknowledgement
are here, for the man and
woman, and us.
notes
1 All references in the text to C1or C2 followed by
a page number are to: Gilles Deleuze,Cinema1:The
Movement-Image, trans. Hugh Tomlinson and
Barbara Habberjam (Minneapolis: U of Minnesota
P, 2006); and idem,Cinema 2:TheTime-Image, trans.
Hugh Tomlinson and Robert Galeta (Minneapolis:
U of Minnesota P, 2006).

2 See Laura Mulveys Preface to her Death 24x a
Second: Stillness and the Moving Image (London:
Reaktion, 2006) 13^15.
11 Jonathan Lear,Katharsis in Essays on Aristotles

Poetics, ed. Amelie Oksenberg Rorty (Princeton:
Princeton UP,1992) 332.
3 In the Preface to the English-language edition of

her Gilles Deleuze: Cinema and Philosophy, trans.
Alisa Hartz (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2008)
xii ^xv, Paola Marrati forcefully raises just this
conundrum about the relation between action
and the time-image. My debt to Marratis writing
on Deleuze should be patent.
12 Andre Bazin, The Ontology of the

Photographic Image in his What is Cinema?, vol. I,
trans. Hugh Gray (Berkeley: U of California P,
1967) 15. That Bazins account of love of the world
is attached to his theory of cinemas photographic
basis is, I presume, the reason for Deleuze to want
to distance himself from it. Belief is an alternative
to Bazinian love. This becomes even more evident
when we recall the penultimate sentence (16) of
Bazins essay in which he offers his view as an explicit alternative to Pascals condemnation of
representational art: Henceforth Pascals condemnation of painting is itself rendered vain since
the photograph allows us on the one hand to
admire in reproduction something that our eyes
alone could not have taught us to love . . .
4 I am borrowing this diagram from James

Chandler, The Affection-Image and the
Movement-Image in After Images of Gilles Deleuzes
Film Philosophy, ed. D.N. Rodowick (Minneapolis: U
of Minnesota P, 2010) 243.
5 This reading of those romantic comedies
derives, of course, from Stanley Cavells Pursuits of
Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1981). Deleuze
nowhere objects to the utopian caste of these
movies, nor their life-promoting illusions ^ all perfectly sound Nietzschean coordinates for action.
Only the fact that those illusions become hollow,
vapid and useless for the advantages of life
demands another cinema.
6 See Dieter Henrich, Aesthetic Judgment and the
Moral Image of the World: Studies in Kant (Stanford:
Stanford UP, 1992) for an argument that it is one
of the functions of aesthetic judgment, and
hence art, to demonstrate what it would take
to make the world morally intelligible in a
manner sufficient to ward off the threats of
nihilism.
7 For two recent examples of an acknowledgement of the centrality of the notion of belief in
the world for Deleuze but that fail, as far as I can
see, to show that he succeeds in wedding this
thought to his general account of modern cinema,
see D.N. Rodowick,The World,Time, and Ronald
Bogue,To Choose to Choose ^ to Believe in the
World, both in D.N. Rodowick, ed., After Images of
Gilles Deleuzes Film Philosophy, chapters 6 and 7
respectively.
8 Paul Schrader, Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu,
Bresson, Dreyer (Berkeley: U of California P,1972).
9 I owe this suggestion in full to Matt Congdon.
10 Stanley Cavell, The World Viewed: Reflections on
the Ontology of Film (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP,
1979) 117.
13 All references in the text to HMA are to

Hiroshima mon amour, text by Marguerite Duras
for the film by Alain Resnais, trans. Richard
Seaver (New York: Grove,1961).
14 See Siobhan S. Craig,Tu nas rien vu a' Hiroshima:
Desire, Spectatorship and the Vaporized Subject
in Hiroshima mon Amour, Quarterly Review of Film
and Video 22.1 (2005): 25 ^35.
15 In order to underline how forgetting is constitutive of love, in a late scene, at the Casablanca
Cafe, the Japanese man will be displaced, so that
he and we come to see both their love and its displacement at the same time, their being joined and
loves forgetfulness (HMA 68).
16 Stanley Cavell,A Matter of Meaning It in Must
We MeanWhat We Say? (NewYork: Cambridge UP,
1976) 229.
17 Andre Bazin, The
Photographic Image 14.
Ontology
of
the
18 Idem, The Myth of Total Cinema in What is

Cinema? I: 21.
19 Jean-Luc Nancy, The Evidence of Film: Abbas
Kiarostami, trans. C. Irizarry and V. Andermatt
Conley (Brussels: Gevert, 2001) 44. For a fine
exposition of Nancys photographic existentialism
that has influenced my thinking here see Fiona
Jenkins, Souls at the Limits of the Human:
Beyond Cosmopolitan Vision, Angelaki 16.4 (2011):
159^72. I should note here that all the dominant
themes of my analysis of Hiroshima ^ its
92
bernstein
fragmentary structure, the relation to other modernisms, and, above all its existentialism ^ are
already clearly grasped in the remarkable roundtable discussion with Eric Rohmer, Jean-Luc
Godard, Jacques Doniol-Valcrose, Jean Domarchi,
Pierre Kast, and Jacques Rivette that appears in
Cahiers du cinema 97 ( July 1959). An extract from
the round-table, translated by Liz Heron, appears
in the pamphlet accompanying the Criterion
Collection DVD of Hiroshima mon amour.
20 Collected in What is Cinema?, vol. II, trans.
Hugh Gray (Berkeley: U of California P, 1971).
References to this essay in the text are abbreviated ARN.
J.M. Bernstein
Department of Philosophy
New School for Social Research
6 East 16th Street
New York, NY 10003
USA
E-mail: bernstej@newschool.edu
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Cinema of the Sublime: Theorizing the Ineable

Jerey Pence
English and Cinema Studies, Oberlin
Abstract Cinemas power to represent animate life, and produce a profound impression of reality, warrants and supports its other fascinating capacity, namely, to fabricate frank yet appealing illusions. In certain instances, audiences may respond to
the fantastic creations as if to a new reality. Cinematic realism thus raises questions
about the nature of belief and reality that are of perennial, yet acutely contemporary, interest in lm history. A genre of the spiritual lmdistinct from religious
lms that rely on traditional sources of religious authorityexplores these questions of being and the limits of the knowable. Recent lm criticism has inadequately
responded to this genre. Film studies has aligned itself in various ways behind Walter
Benjamins call for an iconoclasm that would sever arts connections with cultic traditions and contribute to social progress. The consequent suppression, or translation
to secular terms, of lms spiritual aspirations comes at great cost. Complex works
that address spiritual topics in form and content, such as Lars von Triers Breaking
the Waves (1996), are treated as evidence by a self-arming and secularizing critical
method. In neglecting the central concerns of such lms, critics are complicit with
the worst features of modernity. A criticism that evades an open engagement with the
limits of the knowable becomes instrumental; a criticism geared exclusively toward
demystication ultimately produces reication. A more proper analytic response is to
attend to the ways in which such lms produce experiences, and call for responses, at
the edge of the knowable. Such an approach begins with abandoning methodological certainty; the spiritual lm demands an alignment of perception that cannot be
An earlier version of this essay was delivered at the Third International Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference, June 2125, 2000, in Birmingham, United Kingdom. I would like
to thank Ann Hardy for her generous reading of an earlier draft and James A. Knapp for his
collaboration throughout this project.
Poetics Today 25:1 (Spring 2004). Copyright 2004 by the Porter Institute for Poetics and
Semiotics.
30
Poetics Today 25:1
contained by a predetermined goal. This aesthetic response may contribute to an

open-ended ethical self-fashioning and may protect critical discourse from itself by
preventing the standardization of cultural experience.
1. Cinemas Shadow: Realism and Criticism
This mute, grey life nally begins to disturb and depress you. It
seems as though it carries a warning, fraught with a vague but sinister meaning that makes your heart grow faint. You are forgetting
where you are. Strange imaginings invade your mind and your consciousness begins to wane and grow dim.
Maxim Gorky, 1972 [1896]
Upon witnessing the rst screening of the Lumire brothers actualities

including LArriv dun train en gareat the Nizhny Nogorod Fair, Maxim
Gorky (1972 [1896]: 3) declared that he had just visited, or had visited upon
him, the kingdom of shadows. Considering the eventual socialist-realist
leanings of its source, this densely suggestive phrase can most obviously be
decoded along predictable political lines. While cinema may never have
seemed more an instance of modern progress than at its debut, Gorky links
it to the premodern by associating lm with a kingdom. Particularly in a
Russian context, autocracy implies stasis, terror, and inequity. The linkage
of a kingdom of shadows and lm works because of the ambivalence of
the term representation. In place of representative governance, and in compensation for the arbitrariness of its own privilege, autocracy oers powerful aesthetic representations of its own legitimacy. Regalia, ritual, and tradition coordinate to produce at least the illusion of popular consent to
the autocrats identication with the state. Gorky suggests that cinemas
mimetic prowess similarly substitutes bewitching representational eects
for an engagement with, for him, the most important dimension of representationnamely, progressive political change. He grudgingly acknowledges the lms powers of display, the ways in which animate life visually
recorded and represented may produce overwhelming aective experiences
in novice viewers. The choice of the second person you in his text seems
both to base his analysis on personal experience and to generalize it as
typical. The intimacy of his language and the deliberate precision of his
pacing suggest someone struggling to wake from a nightmare so powerful
that it must by necessity be universal. But rather than interpreting these
new technical and textual capacities as markers of progressof mimetic
accomplishment or aesthetic immediacyhe sees them as so much royal
plumage.
According to Tom Gunning (1999 [1989]: 818), accounts of initial encoun-
Pence
31
ters with cinema have traditionally been derived form George Sadoul (1975
[1948]), whose own research and conclusions are dubious. These accounts
tend to repeat a standardized myth of the primitives traumatic introduction to modernity. As the Lumires train pulls into the station, the story
goes, the audience panics, screams, and rushes for the exits. However much
this scene of upheaval captures, metaphorically, the early viewers surprise,
what it describes never literally occurred. As Gunning (1999 [1989]: 819)
demonstrates, even Christian Metzs (1982) sophisticated theorizing of spectatorship depended on this easily debunked myth. Notably, Gorkys own
contemporary account downplays trauma or panic in favor of a rapidly
acquired skepticism, as shadows suggest something baseless, second-order,
illusionistic, and ultimately political about the royal display of power just
witnessed.1 Such an interpretation of Gorkys remark resonates with a dominant, and currently predominant, strain in the history of cinema studies.
Since Walter Benjamins The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction (1979 [1936]), cinema has been linked to the demise of cultish
understandings of art and the progress of critical reason, thanks to its capacity to represent and reveal reality in heretofore impossible ways. The
theory of cinemas nature as essentially realist, and uniquely qualied to
disclose the essentially real, was initially developed by Bla Balsz, Andr
Bazin, and Siegfried Kracauer.2 These critics emphasized and valued certain visual, aural, and editing conventionssuch as the close-up, location
sound, and long takes linked by elliptical transitions rather than continuity
editing. In these techniques, they found in cinema a unique correlation to
reality, the way things appear in everyday perception enhanced by suggestions of a meaningful depth, which habit, necessity, or even sensory limitation elide in actual life. Subsequent theoretical developments, not to mention lm history itself, abandoned the insistence of these theorists that only
certain techniques and forms are true to cinemas essence. Nevertheless,
more recent theories have explicitly retained an idea of realism that legiti1. Rachel O. Moore (2000) extends Gunnings work, and to some extent undermines his reliance on historicist procedures, by looking at cinema as a prime medium for negotiating the
relationship between the modern and the primitive more generally, as it combines technological progress with features understandable as magic.
2. For example, if, according to Kracauer (1965 [1960]: 3, 31), each medium has a specic
nature, then it is evident that the cinematic approach materializes in all lms which follow
the realist tendency. Balsz (1999 [1945]: 304) identied cinemas power with its capacity to
represent dimensions of reality either hitherto unknown or presumed to have been known:
We skim over the teeming substance of life.The camera has uncovered that cell-life. Finally,
Bazin (1999 [1945]: 196) famously declared the history of the plastic arts, which photography and cinema both complete and escape, to be essentially the story of resemblance, or, if
you will, of realism.
32
Poetics Today 25:1
mates their own project, as a realist endeavor now oriented toward a social
or psychological reality barely discernible beneath ideology and illusion.
Kracauer is something of a hinge gure, albeit in reverse, in this change.
His major works relevant to this discussion, From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film (1947) and Theory of Film: The Redemption
of Physical Reality (1960), respectively take up cinemas expression of sociopsychological turmoil and its fundamental capability to establish physical
existence. That his work moves from an emphasis on historical and political interpretations to a more strictly formalist analysis, just prior to a more
general turn in the opposite direction in the study of lm, suggests that the
history of lm theory and criticism is not a narrative of progress. Instead,
this history is dened by an oscillation between interests and methods that
rest on dierent understandings of the relationship between lm and reality.
In one view, lm is part of a reality of social context, experience, and
conict, whether or not a particular lm evidences this fact deliberately or
symptomatically. Criticism here highlights the connections between lm
and historical reality in the interest of social understanding or progress.
In another view, the specicity of the lm medium may produce aesthetic experiences that impress audiences with a sense of reality, despite
the manifest dierence between the lm experience and normal experience. Criticism here considers what positive knowledge these encounters
may deliverwhether in regard to lm technique, to the pleasures and
desires of viewers impressionable in these ways, or even to the potential
signicance of these seemingly solid aspects of reality which are otherwise
invisible. The former approach is inherently modern, carrying on a tradition of critique established in the Enlightenment. It is skeptical of illusion
and the superstitious power of lm to fascinate, and therefore manipulate,
audiences.While one of the verities of postmodernism is that the emancipatory discourses subtending modern thought (Marxism and psychoanalysis
primarily) are neither objectively true nor superior perspectives on cultural
life, the tradition of critique remains the most important in contemporary
lm studies. As such, it also extends the anity of criticism with an Enlightenment notion of reason as a privileged, scientic process that will lead us
to truth. The latter approach, that of focusing on real-seeming cinematic
experiences, can be understood as carrying on an alternative tradition of
seeking and valuing dimensions of thought and perception that continue
to attract us, despite being irreconcilable with a strict denition of reason.
This approach extends the anity of art and criticism with features of religion that have been gradually marginalized in modernity. The oscillation
between alternative methods and interests that has dened cinema studies,
then, replays in miniature the oscillation in the modern West between sci-
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ence and religion, reecting the inadequacy of either orientation to satisfy

by itself all of our concerns.
The current dominance of an orientation toward social and historical
reality is obvious in cinema studies. Whether in the tradition of German
Kulturkritik from which Benjamin emerges (as with Anton Kaes [1989] or
Miriam Hansen [1991]), or in the movements of Althusserian Marxism and
Lacanian psychoanalysis that accompanied lm studies institutionalization in the 1970s and 1980s (for example, Christian Metz [1982] or Mary
Ann Doane [1987]), or in what might be understood as cinema studies dispersal into the more freewheeling explorations of power and identity in contemporary cultural studies (a diverse array including such gures as Anne
Friedberg [1993] and Bell Hooks [2000 (1992)]), a critical perspective skeptical of the social relations and mentalities implied by cinematic conventions aligns itself with those aspects of cinema that appear most modern
and radical. A pivotal institution of technological modernity, cinema may
uniquely bridge the divides between subjective and collective experience:
the theater provides opportunities to restage and revise primal fantasies of
identity while simultaneously oering a metaphoric crucible for producing a secular public built upon industrial modes of production and bound
together by mass media. Therefore, at least potentially, through a reexive
complication of its own conventions, lm can supposedly reveal truths that
everyday convention prevents our perceiving. Once revealed, these truths
are imagined to be the basis for some form of social action.
This iconoclastic approach to lm study, which Richard Dyer (1998:
6) calls sociological-ideological, shares many key features with its object
of skeptical study. That is, the lm industry and sociological-ideological
criticism share an emphasis on lms ability to reveal and remake a thoroughly human-centered world. When lm and lm viewing fail at these
projects, critics have found the cause in the mediums putative anity,
whether historically contingent or inherent to the medium, with structures
of fantasy and mystication. This identication of cinema with phantasmic social or psychic regressions was carried to its rigorous conclusion by
gures like Jean-Louis Comolli and Jean Narboni (1976 [1969]) and JeanLouis Baudry (1985 [1970]). While the array of critics mentioned earlier
rarely goes so far as Baudry in claiming that the cinematic apparatus, by
denition, is regressively ideological, the assumption remains that cinemas
transformative potential is more than matched by a countervailing conservatism. Although theorists like Anthony Giddens (1979) have demonstrated
the problems with critical pretensions to scientic certainty, something like
ideology critique remains the best descriptor of the sort of work that dominates cinema conferences and journals. In the current critical paradigm,
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then, cinema is either a force for historical change or a symptom of its containment. In this regard, the task of the critic has been to work against the
counter-utopian tendencies of lm institutions and conventions in order
to resurrect the critical and liberatory potential of original cinema, the
potential for representational world-shattering that critics have so often (if,
according to Gunning, erroneously) projected onto the mythic moment of
the initial encounter with lm as the embodiment of modernity.
Writing of the initial encounter with which I began, Gorky moves quickly
from meditating on the moving images unsettling of consciousness to a
radical restabilization of self-awareness on the grounds of material history
and politics. As the replication of a mute, grey life begins to unravel
the viewers perspective, Gorky (1972 [1896]: 7) displaces the concomitant
anxiety by imagining an alternative, shockingly literal, and more edifying lm depicting a poleaxed social villain. This abrupt translation of his
experience to the realm of everyday politics is, on the one hand, cognate
with interpretive tendencies that still govern much of critical practice today.
Whatever its motivational virtues, or even its (likely unmeasurable) ecacy
in the world of lived experience, the rapid default to everyday politics in
much cultural analysis reveals an anxiety about the value of engagement
with artworks if practical benet cannot at least be imagined. On the other
hand, in certain respects, Gorkys rush to construct a fantasy of social retribution inadequately recuperates the cognitive and aective densities of the
cinematic encounter he has just elaborated. In fact, one may read the grisly
scene he imagines as an inverted mirror of the feelings of disorientation he
registered when lost in a world of shadows, as if only a violent commitment
to the known world could counter the temptations of illusion.
This tendency also persists in our present scene. In a recent survey of
cinema studies, Dudley Andrew (2000) argues that forces of the academic
market have put wind to the sails of socially and historically oriented criticism, as, among other reasons, these modes oer more ecient ways to
produce and distribute a scholars work. I agree with him entirely while
wishing to insist that the resistance to the most challenging dimensions of
lm aestheticsthat impression of reality that simultaneously seduces and
provokes strange imaginings in spectatorsderives also from their resistance to interpretation, or at least to interpretations that arm the project
of criticism itself. The disjuncture between cinematic realisms potential
opening to a kingdom of shadows and a critical apparatus mainly devoted
to a model of problem solving invites a quick retreat to more familiar interpretive grounds. A kingdom of shadows suggests a realm of being other
than our own, yet one to which we seem magically connected.The disorientation Gorky describes only begins to register the impact of a lm world that
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is uncannily familiar and dierent, reecting and exceeding the perspective

for which it is seemingly organized.
Gorkys default to imaginary political violence is not entirely convincing. That political violence was anything but imaginary for Gorkywhose
own death was likely a political assassinationdoes not mitigate his overhasty ight from an aesthetic engagement that seemed to call for a mode
of interpretation other than, or additional to, social allegory. (In much the
same way, one might argue, Gorkys perspicuous political analyses cannot
justify the excessive prescriptivism of socialist-realist doctrine.) His underlying anxiety about the relationship between realism and representation,
a spiraling questioning that doubts not only the latter but also the former,
has remained a concern throughout cinemas history. Indeed, one might
argue that a signicant factor in cinemas persistence as a unique medium,
with concerns of form and content sucient to animate innovation, are the
particular ways it permits this dialectic of realism and representation to
be manifestly explored. Cinema has not, then, solely delivered on critical
rationalitys desire for a greater and transformative purchase on historical
reality. Pace Benjamin, cinema has also ourished precisely because it provides a locus for exploring questions of meaning beyond the limits of empiricism and rationality. In the words of Darrol Bryant (1982: 105), cinema
occupies a privileged position in modern technological culture [that] has
inherited the alchemical dreams of the past. Like the hermetic tradition to
which Bryant refers, lm mediates between technique and magic, between
science and religion. Far, then, from withering in the face of lm, the auratic
dimension of artworks found shelter in lm.
2. The Aura Is Dead. Long Live the Aura!
Suggestive of a supraordinary quality, of a nebulous emanation of grandeur

that surrounds the unique artwork with exceptional, cultic power, the aura
was famously consigned to oblivion by Benjamin. Technological reproducibility, he argued (1979 [1936]: 852), depletes the authority of the object,
which is vested both in its singularity and its identication with tradition.
According to Benjamin, lm appears to confound the categories by which
audiences have come to accept the conventions of theatrical performance
as plausibly mimetic. In theater, a clear distinction exists between perceptions of dramatic representations as primarily realistic or illusionary, since
the production is physically oriented toward the audiences perspective in
such a way that the play cannot immediately be detected as illusionary
(ibid.: 862). Likewise, the labor and mechanisms that produce theatrical
illusion are well known but hidden behind curtains, beneath traps, and so
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forth. In contrast, actual lm productions (i.e., shooting sets) oer no perspective from which any witness could reasonably ignore such extraneous
accessories (ibid.) as photographic, lighting, and audio equipment as well
as the proliferating presence of crew, cast, and others. The conventions that
produce the illusion of realism in lm are the result of postproduction techniques. In the popular cinema, with which Benjamin is here concerned,
continuity editing illustrates such postproduction work. In this process, the
lm illusion that was impossible to perceive in isolation at the time and
place of production becomes manifestly visible to the precise extent that
every other trace of that scene of production is erased. Such techniques as
match on action editing, shot-reverse-shot sequencing, and extra-diegetic
music support codied structures of narrative causality and coherence in
order to convert the work of production into a naturalized product on the
screen. As a result, the equipment free aspect of reality represented in
lm has become the height of artice (ibid.). Cinemas seductive presentation of the real, then, seems profoundly unreal: the sight of immediate
reality has become the [unattainable] blue ower in the land of technology
(ibid.; interpolation in the original).
The blaue Blume here connects with Novalissthe quintessential symbol of romantic yearning for the unattainable (Sagarra and Skrine 1999:
96). Also implied in the longing that imbues this poignant image is desire
for more than unmediated reality, as if such an encounter would deliver
us to another dimension of being altogether. Novaliss Heinrich von Ofterdingen (1802) concerns both the sensory distractions of experience and intimations of something beyond; in the end, the novel shuns completion
as a negation of continuity and eternity (Sagarra and Skrine 1999: 96).
Whether or not Benjamin acknowledges the persistence of a desire for
something more than an unmediated glimpse of reality, or the theological
weight such a desire carries within it in the tradition he deliberately cites, is
far from clear. This stubborn desire for something connected to continuity
and eternity, for something auratic, must be addressed.
Benjamin attempts to make good on lms lack, its patently false impression of reality, by dialectically presenting this fact as progressive. The
analogy he employs here develops further the contrasts established between
theater and lm, two notoriously collaborative enterprises, by drawing
another comparison between painting and lm. On one side, representative of an earlier, cultic dispensation, is the art of painting, the painter as
singular creator and the magician as his or her role model. On the other
side, expressive of a modern moment, is the art of lm, the camera operator
as technician and the surgeon as his or her role model. Where contrasting
theater and lm also establishes a similarity between them as two collabora-
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tive enterprises, the comparison of painting and cinematography plays on

a connection between two practices (generally) of individuals. The focus on
subjective agency, in turn, evokes the analogies between the causal power
or creativity of humans and an originary causal power or creativity attributable to a transcendent entity. As a technician, the cinematographer depends
on no such analogy.
According to Benjamin (1979 [1936]: 862), the magician heals by a laying on of hands, an extraordinary activity that maintains authoritative distance from reality even in direct human contact. Likewise, the painters art
is a direct and human handiwork that also preserves a proper, perspectival
distance from reality.The painter can thus produce a total picture, a view of
an organically unied image eld, invested with a unique aura. In contrast,
the surgeon heals by incision, radically diminishing the distance between
healer and patient, as the healer penetrates the patients bodily boundaries
via standardized technique rather than the channeling of healing power
exterior to the magician and the patients body. Likewise diminished is the
human dimension of the interaction, no longer characterized by the reciprocal touch of hand and body but imaginable, per Luc Durtain, as virtually a debate of steel with nearly uid tissue (ibid.: n. 14). As the surgeon
penetrates reality to refashion it, so does the camera operator, whose instruments produce multiple, fragmentary images to be reassembled under a
new law (ibid.: 863). Benjamin suggests that this blurring of the distinction
between reality and technology, far from extending or further exciting any
desire for an auratic blue ower of unmediated reality, actually becomes an
end in itself. More problematically, he presents this combination of reality
and technology as an end to dialectical thinking.
For contemporary subjects, Benjamin (ibid.: 862) notes, the representation of reality by lm far outstrips painting in importance: since it oers,
precisely because of the thoroughgoing permeation of reality with mechanical equipment, an aspect of reality which is free of all equipment. Framing a dimension of reality as free of technology would provide a unique,
even anachronistic, experience for modern subjects, living as they do in a
world increasingly saturated by equipment. Accomplishing this framing by
the most technological of means, on the other hand, would truly reect the
experiences of such subjects, making the experience, in Benjamins idiom,
progressive. The movement of his argument is dialectical, establishing a
problematic premise and discovering within it an opposite possibility that
incorporates the rst premise into a potentially positive reconciliation of
the two. However, it is not clear how or why this process eectively ceases
once Benjamin nds an outcome tting for his purposes. One might wonder precisely how the deep longing implied in the desire for the blue ower
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of unmediated reality would be satised by this paradoxical, equipmentdriven presentation of an equipment-free reality. However, Benjamin (ibid.:
863) declares an end to such questioning because the paradox he has presented is what one is entitled to ask from a work of art. The authority
supporting this prescription is obscure. In any case, however, entitlement
need not animate all of the desires we bring to cinema. It seems equally
possible that a longing for an auratic blue ower could coexist, peacefully
or not, with this decisive secularism. On the one hand, the blue ower,
painting, and magic represent the ongoing traces of religious consciousness
and practice that continue after the Enlightenment, regardless of their loss
of unquestioned supremacy in organizing cultural life. On the other hand,
technology, cinema, and surgery represent the continuing power and prestige of rationality in governing cultural life. Neither of these alternatives
singly seems to satisfy all the investments we may bring to aesthetic experiences. Rather than arbitrarily arresting their dynamic relationship at one
or the other of these poles, as Benjamin does, we may imagine them as
inseparably connected, if only because each requires the other to provide
what it cannot. If an orientation toward artworks based on magic may not
be able to oer procedures of thought and interpretation that apply across
dierent aesthetic experiences, the methodical advantages of deliberative
reason in generating such protocols also comes at the expense of being able
to appreciate the singular, and potentially nonrational, dimensions of aesthetic desire and experience in certain situations.
3. Beyond Authority: Cinema and Spirituality
In its Hollywood and other commercial versions, and despite its technical
sundering of the auratics identication with singularity, twentieth-century
lm has evidenced a committed pursuit of the auratican investment in
representations of reality that seem phenomenologically if not materially
singular, redolent of ontological associations directly linked to traditions
of spiritual aspiration that Benjamin sought to marginalize as cultic. It
remains for lm critics, specically, and cultural analysts, generally, to
come to terms with cinemas own persistent interest in the auratic. Otherwise, such an interest may only be understood, in Benjamins terms, as
ultrareactionary (ibid.: 857). In fact, we barely have a language to begin
such a discussion.
As Dennis Taylor (1998: 3) writes of literature in a related context,
We live in an age of critical discourses that are expert in discussing the dimensions of class, gender, textuality, and historical context. Yet an important part
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of the literature we read goes untouched by our discourses, or is deconstructed,

historicized, sexualized, or made symptomatic of covert power relationships.
The negative hermeneutic of such reductive discourse has been thorough and
successful.
Yet, in the encounter with the auratic in certain cultural texts, this otherwise
potent hermeneutic is cut athwart by another dimension:
What interrupts is not another system but something that challenges all systems,
something as questioning and unsettling as the best deconstructive scalpels of our
critics, but suggesting something unconditioned, all-demanding, and ultimately
unevadable. (Ibid.: 5)
Taylor notes the signicant challenges facing any eort to establish an ecacious discourse about such ineable disruptions of systematic thought.
Such disruptive events render referentiality problematic: another way of
phrasing the unconditioned, all-demanding, and ultimately unevadable
is as the unnameable. The nature of the disruption cannot t into predetermined cognitive or rhetorical categories; if it did, it would represent either
another system of meaning as yet unlearned or an internal variant in systems currently in eect.Taylor is clear that what we encounter is a challenge
to all systemswhich is to say something external to organized meaning as we understand it. Rather than give this encounter a name, which
tends to stabilize and organize identity, we may think of it as being with
a vector or trace, an indeterminate movement that slashes athwart the
more stable frameworks we operate through and within. Its energy derives,
to some extent, from this fact of being unknown and dynamic. This openendedness, in turn, makes any discourse oriented to the ineable susceptible to universal parody (ibid.: 17).
Taylor proceeds to imagine a tough critical language (ibid.) attuned to
the demanding uncertainty of experiences of the ineable but nonetheless
cognizable and consequential in the more familiar registers of critical and
reective consciousness. Although he does not supply this language (prolegomenon seems to be the primary genre of contemporary writing on these
topics), Taylor (ibid.: 14) identies its purpose as untangling the relation
of the religious and the spiritual; or, better perhaps, the religious and the
ethical, with the spiritual some kind of linking category. This untangling
that Taylor hints at requires some explanation.
The distinction between the spiritual and the religious positions the latter
as a determinant, and the former as a more indeterminant, understanding
of the nature of transcendent or ontological truth. Mieke Bal (2001: 242)
makes a similar distinction, and more straightforwardly reveals the stakes,
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when she identies two desires that I wish to disentangle: the desire for
spirituality and the desire for authority. In both formulations, the spiritual is seen as potentially, but not necessarily, confused with the interpretive
and institutional authority of religion. Instead, it seems, for Taylor, to oer
possibly unexpected connections between religious belief and ethical orientation; for Bal, spirituality ultimately becomes a generally exploratory
resistance to authority. In neither case is spirituality identical with the utilitarian and pragmatic calculations of a secular understanding of a social
contract. Instead, the spiritual, as the discourse for exploring experiences of
the ineable and orienting them toward consequence in the world of agency
and action, mediates between these otherwise opposed realms of transcendence and everydayness. It is a questioning of the possible meanings and
implications of encounters otherwise beyond our customary cognitive and
rhetorical categories of understanding; it speaks not strictly to the faculties
of reason but to that admixture of thought and aect more characteristic
of aesthetic experience and ethical inquiry.
Certain aesthetic and ethical encounters present subjects with strikingly
similar situations, with objects or experiences of vexing indeterminacy. The
open question of how to respond to the uncertain beauty before one, or
to the complex demand of responsibility, has a powerful aective dimension. On the one hand, beauty quickens . . . adrenalizes . . . makes the
heart beat faster (Scarry 1999: 24). On the other hand, facing ethical
alterity, the sense of responsibility toward an unknown other, even toward
the unknowable per se, elates the soul that, according to formal logic, it
should harm (Levinas 1999: 75). In both aesthetics and ethics, then, indeterminacy may generate interest, aective involvement, and new possibilities for thought. Our interpretive responses in these instances can be seen to
replenish more everyday experience by renovating the individuals capacities for thought and action. I am concerned here principally with dilemmas
of choice making at the edge of our understanding of what beauty and justice might be. Potentially, these situations may provide opportunities for
energizing and transforming the deliberative agents sense of what is possible both in the world and in judgment. It is equally true that such situations
may exceed our abilities to comprehend and respond to their challenges.
In neither case am I suggesting a wholesale conation of aesthetics and
ethics, which would, as Jane Bennett (2001: 132) warns, license the unruly
and selsh or, at best, morally indierent forces of appetite and will. The
inverse is also possiblethe aesthetic could then become a didactic extension of a moral certitude rather than a source of innovative experimentation. Instead, I insist here only on the parallels between the two realms, their
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family resemblance, as regards their presentations of novel and demanding

opportunities for thought and feeling.
4. Seeing without Knowing
In Towards a Religious Visuality of Film, S. Brent Plate (1998) echoes

Taylors location of the spiritual as a mediating term, one plausibly connecting a cognizable ethical realm to a suprarational realm of the ineable.
He also elaborates further on the analogy between spiritual and aesthetic
experience. Rather than focusing on the content of a lm or the inner life
of a believing character or viewer, a religious visuality of lm would oscillate in the between space, between language and image, between lm and
audience, between lm and world (ibid.: 30). The goal of this essay is to
analyze spirituality in cinema as such a mediating dynamic in something
like the hard language without dogma that Taylor calls for.
This special issues larger commitment to exploring the critical space
between thing and theory has features specic to my analysis of the ineable
in lm. Critical response to cinematic treatments of the spiritual tend to dismiss these eorts, albeit in two seemingly opposed ways. As James Knapp
and I have argued (2003), historicist approaches express criticisms gravitation toward materialist and positivist (thing-centered) modes of thinking.
In this context, historicist critics will allegorize spiritual concerns as symptoms of more tangible issues of power and politics.When criticism oscillates
away from the thing, and toward the metacritical concerns that Knapp and
I have abbreviated as theory, spiritual lms fare little better but for reasons specic to the history of cinema studies. This discipline emerged as
a legitimate academic specialization in tandem with a complex discourse
about the nature of lmic representation and spectatorial involvement.The
search for general principles of the mediumfor instance, in the work of
Christian Metz (1982) and Laura Mulvey (1986 [1975])emerged as the
most privileged practice within the eld. This concentration was accompanied by a tendency to prescribe the boundaries within which lm events
could sensibly occur; conventions of form and reception could be eectively
treated as more or less inexible laws. The ambition of exceeding customary parameters of perception and thought, which characterize some lms
interested in spirituality, clashes directly with this tendency toward prescription. As historicist approaches reprocess the spiritual as the secular in
disguise, theoretical approaches reprocess the spiritual as an attempt to disguise the mediums own inherent limitationsits inability to lead beyond
itself. Neither approach promotes an openness to the dierences from con-
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vention that may be encountered in certain lms that engage with the ineffable. As such, both orientations are more properly self-arming methods
than dispositions enabling self-reection and refashioning in the face of difcult and indeterminate aesthetic works.
The realm of subjective experience is nite and bounded; any continuity
and coherence of subjective identity depends on the assumption of limits
dening who one is, what one knows, and what life one has lived. It is
no great diculty to extend this model from an individual to a collective
register, since the scale alone would change but not the principle. In contrast, we may conceive of the ineable as innite and unbounded. It represents alterity per se, that which one is not, what one does not know, the
experiences one has not had. And we can again easily conceive of ineffability regarding collective mentalities. However great the sample, the
group, there is always implied a greater exterior and dierentiated realm
against which the collectives identity is known. The structural binarism
operative here may become more perceptibly dynamic if we consider, following Plate, the spirituals role as a mediating term, as a way in which the
specic relationship between identity and experience, on the one hand, and
the ineable, on the other hand, changes in specic ways. The spiritual,
in this regard, introduces temporality, change, and possibility into a model
that may otherwise appear to bind our aspirations within its analytic terms.
This is precisely what thingor theoryoriented methods tend not
to oer, as they conrm their own procedures against the desires evident in
both aesthetic works and consumers for the possibility of something as yet
unknown to happen in spiritual lms.
How might we understand the spiritual as the mediating interval between the nite and the innite so dened? A strongly religious or mythic
perspective might view the spiritual as, to a greater or lesser extent, a transparency, granting visitations between the religious and experiential realms
with a corresponding diminishment of their distinction. A strong Enlightenment or rationalist perspective, in contrast, might see the spiritual as either
a mirror for the projection of values and taboos or an opaque lens through
which nothing is discernible. The one depends upon the miraculous, the
other upon its reduction. Both explanations disparage spiritualitys mediating roleas hardly necessary, on the one hand, and hardly possible, on
the other hand. As a realm in which experience is reected upon in order to
transform the subject in the interests of ethical self-management, the spiritual may instead be conceived in utilitarian fashion as a theater of counterfactual ideals, in which alternative modes of living are imagined.This pragmatic alternative can, however, easily be understood as a weaker version of
the Enlightenment or of the mythic perspective. It can be seen to follow the
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former in ultimately relocating the signicance of the spiritual to secular

experience. Soft functionalism is still functionalism.That alternative model
equally risks promoting the spiritual as the quasi- or not-yet-known, since
the uncertainty encountered there is presumed to edify and communicate
by its nature. This presumption domesticates the spiritual even before it is
encountered.
Rather than abandoning this notion of the spiritual as the critical interval between the ethical and the ineable, however, I prefer to strengthen it.3
The benets and attractions of seeing the spiritual as a potential resource for
ethical corrigibility, to borrow Alan Singers term, may be maintained if we
simultaneously insist upon a contrary notion: namely, that the spiritual may
strip away the categories we presume native to the ethical, even to understanding itself. In this sense, while being neither a mystical transparency nor
a worldly projection, the spiritual may hold out the promise of enrichment
or the danger of disorientation without any discernible purpose. The aesthetic generally, but the sublime more particularly, I shall argue, provides
the intermediate aective experiences that Plate outlines above as well as a
language for speculating about the consequences of the auratic dimensions
of cinema.
The unfashionable language of the argument so far may appear scandalous. The real, spirituality, the ineable: what value can such terms
have in contemporary critical discourse, except as objects of scorn? My
task would be easier if I knew, or believed I knew, what these terms meant
exactly. But in that case, this essay, and the desire to reformulate our critical discourse so that it might remain open to the possibility that these terms
may have vital force in accounting for crucial aspects of aesthetic experience, would have no purpose, and its audience would be restricted to sharers
of the same creed. In any case, the awkwardness of the language of the ineffable comes not from any belatedness, a turning of the discourse back to the
vestiges of a mythic, pre-Enlightenment moment. Instead, the embarrassment of this language resides in its continual reminder to critical thought
that its most fundamental questions have less been answered by universal
secularism and the triumph of reason than they have been evaded. Perhaps it is our task to learn to abide with these ineluctable questions, to work
through embarrassingly portentous terms in order to understand how the
challenge to critical convention they provoke may ultimately strengthen
critical discourse, if only by protecting it from its own tendency to idolize
its own methods.
3. I owe the phrase critical interval, with its connotations of a structural relationship and
a temporal dynamic, to Merrick Burrow (2001).
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5. Already a Kind of Miracle: Spirituality and Criticism
The easiest case to make for cinemas relationship to spirituality is circumstantial. According to Judith Wilts (1998: 331) survey of the uneven literature on the topic,
writers interested in lm and popular culture seem to feel, mixing approval with
disapproval, that lm itself, as the chief vessel of twentieth-century mass popular
culture, is religion in the sense that it does for the mass audience the cultural work
that religions have done, that is, supply models for ethical action and provide
grounding images for ideals and desires.
Such a vaguely anthropological approach, which Wilt herself eschews, has

only a limited appeal. We could easily replace cinema in this formulation
with sports, politics, popular music, the culture of celebrity, or a number
of other practices and receive an equally satisfactory account of the persistence of mythic forces in contemporary life. What is needed is an account
of the particular features of cinema that distinguish its purchase on these
questions.
In Andr Bazins elegant phrasing, the spirituality of cinema inheres in
the medium: The cinema has always been interested in God, because
the cinema is in itself already a kind of miracle (Bazin 1992 [1951]: 393).
Bazin aims to highlight cinemas distinctive form of mimesis. For him, the
impression of light upon the chemical surface of lm made cinema the most
literally realistic of media, as it physically indexed the material world with
an automatic accuracy. As much an extension of reality as its representation, then, cinema allows us to see reality anew. Most importantly, certain
techniques (the long take, deep focus, elliptical editing) may, in the right
narrative context, permit us to discern a general depth of beingindicated
above as a distinctive interest in Godthat normal conventions of perception and thought fail to indicate. In a similar vein, David Jasper (1997: 240)
suggests that the medium itself is the locus of lms potential for spiritual
exploration: cinema comes closest to stimulating theological reection . . .
not by its themes or specic motifs, but by its very form and nature. Film
has a physical basis in chemical sensitivity to light and various techniques
for recording sound. What is gathered by instruments designed to exploit
these physical potentials is remediated by a variety of visual, aural, and narrative conventions in the process of scripting and editing a lm. The nal
product of this process is itself remediated by the apparatus and conventions of exhibition, whether at a public screening or in alternative formats
at home. Despite these multiple forms of mediation, cinema is nevertheless
often responded to as if it uniquely captures or expresses reality in some
immediate fashion.
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An illusory projection of shadows and light accompanied by disembodied sound, cinema receives the audiences investments of attention, desire,
and faith. The audiences pleasurable experience of individual fascination
and collective absorption can suggest transcendence of normal experiences
of subjective and collective identity. That this transcendence is never fully
realized does not disqualify it from consideration. Indeed, the process of
provoking, frustrating, and reanimating spectatorial desire for an elusive
connectionwhether with the auratic, with an existentially deep aspect of
reality, or with some form of transcendencemay be understood as characteristic of lms capacity to mediate between material and immaterial
dimensions of reality. Thomas Carlson (1999: 40) argues that such a process also characterizes consumer capitalism, in which subjects desires are
by their very nature attenuated, their satisfaction innitely pursued and
postponed. Here, the deferral of any nal coincidence of material representation and spiritual aspiration actually links the material and immaterial
more closely:
a theological shadow . . . haunts the interplay of image and desire within consumer culturea play whose very movement and meaning feed on deferral and
on the radical expectation that deferral alone can sustain . . . signal[ing] both
a theological dimension of consuming culture and a consuming dimension of
theological desire.
Carlsons argument parallels and extends my earlier claim about the constitutive conceptual relationship between categories of the nite and innite
and between categories of experience and the ineable. Here, the interplay
of the material world of objects and experience and a range of desires that
exceed any such material satisfaction is seen to characterize contemporary
lifes most supercial and deep aspectsthat is, shopping and theology.
The material and the immaterial, or even the secular and the spiritual,
seem inseparable in this formulation. Treating this inseparable relationship
presents a challenge to a critical discourse that tends to rely on much rmer
distinctions between what is and is not knowable.
Contemporary analysts of lm and culture tend to reproduce in their
own work a methodological realism that functions along instrumental lines
that, consciously or not, mirror Heideggers notion of techne. For Heidegger, instrumentalist rationality, as a mode of revealing being within techne,
treats the entirety of nature and experience as a usable resource. Whether
an extractable mineral or data mined for a purpose, all elements within
the world have value only insofar as they can be organized into what Heidegger (1977 [1953]: 322) terms, in The Question concerning Technology,
a standing reserve of such resources. Such an ordering is aggressive, a
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setting upon nature that, to the extent it does reveal some aspect of being
by such force, is equally blind to other aspects of being that are not reducible to predetermined notions of use. Techne is inherently imperialistic,
crowding out other modes of revealing being, and ultimately subsumes even
humans who conceive of themselves as masters of instruments within its
logic. Under this sort of rationality, we ourselves become useful resources.
In suggesting that much cultural analysis operates under a logic of instrumentalism, I mean specically the tendency to develop and promulgate
methods that either ignore other possible modes of thought, expression, and
feeling or convert them violently into the methods own terms. I will address
examples of such criticism at length below; as the introductory essay to this
volume attests, however, such examples are far from atypical.
The spiritually oriented lm that serves as my example, Lars von Triers
Breaking the Waves, resists instrumental appropriation by such critical methods. The initial question of how to relate to a lm that confounds expectations becomes something larger, as our responses go to the very heart of
what cultural studies is or might be. The lm exaggerates conventions of
realistic representation to potent eect. However realistic the surface of the
lm, any critical attempt to tether this representational style to an actual
historical reality fails to account for the lms drive to exceed the particularities of its concrete setting. Michael Quinns (1999) attempt to situate the
lm in contemporary European politics, discussed further below, represents
such an interpretive move. Moreover, such attempts reveal the constrictive
hold of a certain cognitive and critical realismthe technology of representationon cultural studies. Such a mode of analysis easily moves from
demystication to reication, particularly when critique is directed solely at
the object of scrutiny and not turned on the analysts practice as well. A lm
that plays to, and then attempts to exceed, our customary sense of a lms
mimetic relationship to reality ought to provoke self-awareness about the
role of such a category of mimetic realism within critical practice. Otherwise, criticism risks hardening into predictable method. I am not calling
for a revival of an ahistorical formalism, much less for a willful gullibility
in the face of lms more grandiose features and claimssuch as Bazins
claim for the miraculous chemical nature of the medium itself. Rather, I
seek to highlight the ways in which the conventions of mimetic realism in
cinema may lead not strictly to secular concerns but to consideration of
equally profound, and potentially far more dicult, questions about aesthetic experiences relationship to the ineable.
Following Kracauer (1965 [1960]: 232, 233), cinema shares with the novel
a capacity for the rendering of life in its fullness, which in turn produces
a drive to transcend the boundedness of any particular representation by
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virtue of a tendency toward endlessness. The point here is that realisms

initial drive toward the particular heightens awareness of particularity in
general.4 In turn, this awareness raises the stakes and ambitions of the realist
project, which is now haunted by the knowledge that the really real it perpetually pursues exceeds, even as it animates, the representationally real.
As Wilt, borrowing from Paul Giles (1987), phrases this relationship, the
boundary of comprehension is marked by the trace of the Other beyond
the known, which is equally that element of indecipherability, of incorrigibility, of alterity . . . at the heart of the sacred (Giles quoted in Wilt
1998: 352). In analyzing how cinematic realism may frame the teleology
that religion and lm share, Wilt (ibid.) notes the paradox that, despite
the abundance of cinema . . . [its] glamorous profusion of image and
the momentum of narrative, in fact it is interestingly dicult to properly
produce the eect of the extraordinary, the uncanny, the exalted, the transcendent, the holy. Putting the moviemakers full arsenal of visual, aural,
and narrative techniques into the service of evoking the miraculous may
paradoxically undermine the eort to represent suprarealistic entitiesin
the way that Cecil B. DeMillestyle spectacles draw attention to themselves
rather than direct it beyond them in some fashion. Wilt nds an alternative mode of representation in the work of Paul Schrader (1972) and Robert
Ray (1985). Both emphasize the potential of stylistic austerity in exploring
spirituality. Limited camera movement and montage, narrative simplicity,
elliptical editing, and natural sound, for them, deepens our attentiveness
to a suggested depth of experience rather than distracting us by abundant
techniques.
In stripping away cinemas more spectacular special eects, Wilt (1998:
351) discovers a baseline aesthetic form capable of simultaneously achieving
textual closure and prolonging an open-ended experience for viewers:
The chief special eect of narrative, of course, is that it ends. The special eect
of lm narrative is that it wraps itself all together, concludes with a satisfying
and inherently religious teleology a split second before the world of the lm,
coherence of color and sound, meaning and feeling, shatters, and the world of
the seats and the screen and the crowds and the streets and the meaning still to
be made returns.
Aristotelian patterns of resolution produce pleasure for audiences, regardless of the specic desirability of any particular nal state of aairs revealed
4. In another register, this paradox runs through Helen Freshwaters contribution to this
volume; in particular, Freshwater points out that the archive seems to oer a record of the
quotidian totality of existence while necessarily containing only a tiny portion of the reality
toward which it gestures.
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in a representation. The reversal of fortune that precedes closure and catharsis is accompanied by an increase in knowledge that more than compensates for any anxieties viewers may have about the nature of the outcome
itself. Wilt emphasizes the audiences cognitive, aective, and aspirational
investment in the providential ordering of experience revealed in this form
of ending. Whether this investment is acknowledged or not, it clearly expresses religious, and specically teleological, desires.
In Crimes and Misdemeanors (directed by Woody Allen, 1989), Wilt nds
this teleological component of lm narrative accompanied by its opposite
namely, a failure to end:
The lm . . . produce[s] an eect both teleological (religious in the standard
sense) and unsettlingly ongoing, religious in the postmodern sense that gures
the sacred as the trace of the other, always elusive, always a challenge to
faith. (Ibid.: 352)
Rather than a resolution that would advance closure or the indeterminate

openness that Wilt discerns, she locates an attenuated juxtaposition of these
opposite eects and aects in the audience. We may desire, and to some
extent experience, the providential temporality implied by a well-shaped
ending. At the same time, we may experience, and to some extent desire, a
more unsettled type of ending that points beyond itself as a sort of searching and an unresolved obligation. Wilts employment of the other as the
mobilized source of the sacred makes an equation easily associated with the
work of Emmanuel Levinas (1999). For Levinas, the experience of alterity as
ethical obligation and practice is inseparable from, if not identical to, transcendence. This dual, contradictory experienceseeming to encounter the
telos we want and desiring its ultimate deferraldescribes precisely the
state to which Von Trier seeks to bring his audience.
6. Screening Spirituality: Breaking the Waves
In a remote Scottish community of extremely observant Calvinists, Bess

is distinguished by the passionate style of her religious practice. Although
women may not speak during services, nor attend ghastly funerals in which
the menfolk consign sinners souls to hell, Besss devotion to her faith exceeds the normal limits of her place and time. She cleans the church during
the weeka sign not only of an entrenched local patriarchy but also of an
extraordinary capacity for seless service. More obviously, she talks directly
to God; in fact, she holds regular conversations, answering herself in the
pitched-down voice of a judgmental God-the-Father. While it is clear that
she has had psychological problems in the past, these discussions with the
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divine are coded as a profoundly serious ethical self-searching, as Bess represents and challenges her own desires and duties. The lm establishes our
discovery of Bess as a central purpose. While the camera relentlessly scrutinizes every aspect of her face and body, the narrative frames her actions
and emotions with sensitive appreciation. Physically, sexually, emotionally,
and spiritually, Bess appears to couple an extraordinarily intense capacity
for feeling with exceptional fragility. As our perspective aligns with those of
the camera and narrative, either lovingly devoted to Bess, the lms mode
of address is fundamentally geared toward soliciting and deepening our
sympathy with her, even as her experiences become increasingly dicult
to appreciate. In this way, the lm pushes us not to view Bess as a victim of
a psychological disorder or social manipulation, as a depleted subject with
a weakened degree of agency and suspect powers of self-representation.
I would like to suggest we do the same with the lmnamely, take seriously its gambit for the sacred no matter how irrational this eort initially
appears.
As the lm begins, Bess weds a stranger to the communitys xenophobic theocracy, Jan, a Norwegian oil rigger. After Besss joyous emotional
and sexual awakening, Jan must return to work on a North Sea oil platform; this necessity devastates Bess. Material circumstances, tradition, and
her mothers threatening her with another psychiatric hospital stay enjoin
her to accept the restricted pleasures of a long-distance marriage; so, too,
does her own representation of Gods impatience with her selsh desire for
her husband. Nevertheless, Bess cannot accept Jans absence. Just after she
pleads with God for her husbands immediate return at any cost, an accident paralyzes Jan, who is rushed ashore in critical condition. For reasons
that remain unclear (at one point he warns that he is evil in his head and
should be left to die), Jan eventually asks Bess to pursue sexual encounters
with other men and tell him, as he lies paralyzed, the story of these experiences. Bess comes to believe that these actsself-destructive humiliations
in her conscience and communitywill save Jan. When Jans condition
worsens, she presses herself into more dangerous liaisons, ultimately being
assaulted horrically by men on a ship so notorious that the local prostitutes refuse to visit it. She dies in the same hospital in which Jan likewise
seems doomed, but he appears, wounded but mobile and healing, at the
subsequent inquest into her death. After claiming her body and taking it
oshore for burial at sea (and to save it from the local ministers curse),
Jan and his workmates hear bellsforbidden by the churchringing in
the sky, making good on Besss desire to combine religious devotion and
self-sacrice with joy and pleasure.
Director Lars von Trier is a signer of the manifesto of Dogme 95, a
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mock-serious group of Danish lmmakers devoted to correcting the decadence of contemporary lm via a vow of chastity (Dogme 95 Collective
1995). Forbidden indulgences include most articial lighting, tripods, nonsynchronous sound and music, noncontemporary settings and studio shooting, the importation of props onto locations, and the naming of the director in the credits. Breaking the Waves clearly does not qualify for the Dogme
certicate of authenticity ( jokingly oered for sale on the Internet). For
instance, the lm is set over twenty years in the past and features highly stylized panoramic scenes that introduce each chapter of the plot: they are
characterized by their tripod-dependent stability and evolving, computerenhanced visual richness, quite dierent from the relentless searching and
earthy palette of the handheld camera work elsewhere. These panoramas
are accompanied by extended samples of period pop music, which stands
against the lms normal reliance on diegetic sound.
As Stephen Heath (1998: 104) writes, The panorama scenes are a rest,
a tranquil third-person, lm-theology view of God. Heath (ibid.) rightly
indicates that these little moments of escape actually relieve us of the
rest of the lms frenzied groping for the incomprehensible, unlocalisable
[sic] range of God. Yet they also serve to foreground the introduction of
spirituality as the most apparent contradiction of Dogme 95s avowed naturalism. This unchaste lm nevertheless powerfully enacts the conventions
of cinma-vrit and centers on the physical expression of emotions by the
cast, both core production values of Dogme 95.The spiritual initially seems
opposed to conventional standards of realistic representation; ultimately,
however, they become inseparable in their denition of each other and the
audiences reactions. Stylistically, this symbiosis is apparent in the two elements that dominate our experience of the lm: Robby Mllers handheld
camera work and extraordinary palette of textures and colors suggests a
grounding in mimetic accuracy, while Emily Watsons stunningly persuasive performance of Bess (modeled on Renee Falconettis Jeanne dArc, frequently called the nest screen acting ever) suggests a reaching for dimensions of reality beyond or beneath normal apprehension. The lm operates
in two registers that support each other. A jerking camera, wild sound, and
undecorated faces and places bolster the overall plausibility of the screened
world. This plausibility extends its inuence to the exploration of spiritual questions, an extension ultimately warranted by the apparently literal
answering of Besss prayers. At that point, this formulation can also be
understood in a reverse fashion: the reality of the lms spiritual aspirations extends its authority to warrant the surface realism, now revealed as,
potentially, more than a set of conventionalized gestures.
The primary challenge that Breaking the Waves presents to audiences and
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critics is obvious. What are we to make of this stylized yet straightforward

treatment of the ineable? Secular, cosmopolitan viewers are predisposed
to de-emphasize the lms religious content and are encouraged to do so
throughout.5 At one level, the lm suggests that Bess is mentally and emotionally fragile. Are we to understand that her discussions with a transcendent being are madness? At another level, Bess seems to express the distress
produced by a social context so constrictive and life-denying. Are we to
understand Bess in terms of a social allegory of the need to liberate desire
and transgress conventions of gender and religious atavism? At still another
level, the lms attitude toward religion is deeply ambivalent. Besss religiosity is bizarrely anachronistic (too primal for her conformist community;
too late for the world of pop music and outsiders which attracts her and to
which most of us belong). In fact, her excessive, childish indulgence of spiritual impulse is apparently the awkward cause of Jans trauma and her own
degradation and death. Are we, then, to follow this tendency in the lm to
view religion skeptically? We might, in this sense, see religion from the vantage point of that most secular and cosmopolitan of perspectives, Critical
Theory, for which, according to Russell Berman (1999), religion has always
been an embarrassment.
5. Von Trier seems to have intentionally tested the limits of his viewers credulity. In light
of the lms melodramatic emphasis on the physical expression of emotionhe notes that
Besss love tread[s] on the verge of kitsch (Maslin 1996: 1)he hoped that for more intellectual audiences the story will excuse the tears (ibid.). Nevertheless, he locates the power
of his work precisely in this conjunction of the credible and incredible: the strength of my
lms is that they are easy to mock (Travers 1996: 1). Their vulnerability to mockery makes
acceptance of the work a sort of leap of faith (Maslin 1996: 2); a leap accompanied perhaps by an elevated sense of pleasure in the lm. At the same time, such a leap is not only
impossible for some critics, the suggestion that it be taken at all may be perceived as unacceptable. In this light, Kenneth Turan (1996: 1) declares that the lm oers a imsy illusion
of profundity, which is more likely a fools errand. Typical of many such responses, Turan
(ibid.: 2) focuses on the narrative vector of Besss sexual sacrices as expressive of a tarted up
and even misogynistic perspective on Von Triers part that is puerile and renders the lm
trite and even juvenile . . . more embarrassing than convincing. If Turan nds Von Trier
pathetically exposing his own immature notions of sexual sacrice and saintliness, Jonathan
Rosenbaum pursues another line common among dissatised reviewers. For him, the lm
is best understood as a pastiche-like reworking of earlier lms by related directors, such as
Dreyer, or lms, like La Strada; it participates in what Rosenbaum (1996: 2) takes to be a common calculated and postmodernist sense of lm reference. Against this backdrop of European art cinema, the cynicism and shameless crudity of Von Triers plot and dramaturgy
make it impossible to take him seriously (ibid.). Rosenbaums main charge seems to be that
the indeterminacy of truth in the lm, combined with its insistence on the possibility of the
impossible, makes it a very clever con game, a faux-naif masterpiece, in which the director heaps on so many layers of postmodernist irony about truth and faith that isolating any
form of belief or disbelief from the resulting tangle seems impossible (ibid.: 3, 5). He ultimately locates Von Triers failure to produce clear meaning in his misfortune at being part
of a post-1950 generation for whom the world has never oered optimism.
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The problem with the three readings I have given is, on the one hand,
their overreliance on a critical method that privileges that which is already
knownand hence the cognitive templates in which the already known is
framedover openness to the possibility of encountering the unexpected.
Broadly speaking, this critical method is a kind of conventional realism
expressing standards of recognition and protocols of reasonableness similar to those of a realistic aesthetic style. On the other hand, the problem
with these interpretations is their not being quite realistic enough.The rst,
psychological, reading arbitrarily selects one of the interpretive possibilities of the lm while suppressing others. After all, the bells are visible and
do ring out, as diegetic sound in the middle of the ocean upon Besss burial;
if her avowed perceptions reveal her as mad, then so do ours cast doubt
upon our own rationality. If such an interpretation depends upon importing an extraneous sense of what is authentic to clarify this lm, the second sort of reading, which explains identity, belief, and action historically,
does so even more obviously. Michael Quinn (1999), for instance, has discussed the lm as an expression of nationalist anxiety at the coming of the
European Union, with Jan and his international assortment of oil workers
representing the multifaceted miscegenation perceived to menace traditional European cultures dened by the borders of the nation-state. While
this reading is dexterously suggestive in its linking of global transformations and local struggles, it nevertheless comes at the enormous expense of
ignoring the real elephant in the room: the European Union has extraordinary powers but has yet to pull a single Norwegian back from the dead.
So unexpected as to qualify for consideration as a miracle, Jans recovery is
coded as a resurrection linked to Besss sacrice. The possibility of a power
greater than life and death outreaches any reading that seeks to localize
the lms meaning in well-understood social structures. Unless, that is, one
wishes to project on the new political organization of Europe the sort of
incredible power the lm suggests to be at work. The nal reading, which
acknowledges and then disavows or dismisses the lms spiritual aspect,
comes from Stephen Heaths God, Faith and Film (1998) and deserves
more attention.
Initially, Heath (1998: 94) accurately identies the lms attempt to yoke
together representation and the embodiment of the unrepresentable: it
seeks to depict and urge something about love at the same time that it wants
to stand forindeed beit. Hence the tension between love represented,
the romantic fuel of narrative cinema, and love embodied, an ideal that
no representation could satisfactorily capture. Approaching cinema as a
symbolic system, a language understood along Lacanian lines, Heath sees
the lms attempt to escape the limits of representation via stylistic exag-
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geration and aective implosion as a failure. If the love Von Trier seeks to
embody is an ideal, that ideal connects to a tradition of imagining God as
love: the lm aims impossibly at enjoyment of God (103). Responding to
the lms undecidability, Heath, one of the most important theoreticians
of lm form, aesthetics, and spectatorship, oddly resorts to journalism. In
interviews, Von Trier indicates no denite religious beliefs beyond an interest in Catholicism.6 On this basis, Heath (ibid.: 105) decides that Von Trier
treats the spiritual like a fetishist who pretends that something exists even
when he knows otherwise: Not believing but hoping is like the fetishists
knowing but refusing all the same to know. Heath thus nds that the lms
ending delivers something like a false miracle and a negative rearmation
of the ineables absolute remoteness. Von Trier
makes up with his lm a security of meaning against the knowledge that there
is no miracle, nothing to save reality. The lm overcomes its obstacle of religion . . . and produces its miracle; at the same time, what it knows against its
end (both close and purpose, the former given as the conrmation of the latter),
is the impossibility of completion, the limits against which it breaks throughout. . . . Possession of God would be exactly the loss of any sense . . . would be
the terrifying enjoyment of what cannot be integrated into symbolic order and
representation. (Ibid.)
Although the terms could not be more dierent, Heaths analysis shares
with Quinns an air of the orthodox. An established theory and method
meet a lm whose aesthetic, even spiritual, ambitions dier markedly from
their normal parameters; in the encounter, the established theory unsurprisingly tailors the thing to its own demands, ignoring or deriding the
irrecuperable features of the work.
Heath goes on to focus on Besss exclusion from her own miracle, seeing
in the lm a continuation of the gender politics of the represented world
itself. In his analysis, by contrast, Bess nds her rightful place in a Lacanian
allegory: The woman touches on this, the God-face, which is to say that
woman and God both gure and conceal the impossibility of this jouissance:
they edge on to, that is, but cover over the void of the non-existence of the
Otherthere is no answer, no ultimate signier, no nal guarantee to be
had (ibid.).
In its own terms, this reading has a persuasive force. The trouble is that
it is dicult to decide whether this force comes from its particular accuracy in this instance or from the internal coherence and rhetorical authority
6. I imagine Von Trier consciously imitating his great forbear, Carl Dreyer, here. Both Danes,
at either end of the century, produced extraordinary lms about nations and religions not
their own.
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of its method. Its conclusions seem applicable to virtually all cinema (for
what is lm, without sex and God?). After all, if the foundation of gender
disparities is immanent in language, then language itself is the ineluctable
foundation of the terms of human subject identity (ibid.). In this light,
Heath seems ultimately to accuse the lm of not being worldly enough, not
owning up to the manifest vacuity of all claims to experience or represent
the ineable. By this move, however, he becomes the mirror image of the
town patriarchs who condemn Bess to the everlasting lake of re, precisely
for being too worldly. Neither judging party has done justice to Besss gambit against orthodoxy. Doing justice to Bess and the lm requires a dierent
approach.
7. Reverse Fetishism: Knowledge against Belief
These various readings all fail because viewers must face an ending that is
comprehensible only in terms of the extraordinary, the transcendent, the
sublime: a sudden, shocking encounter with an order or magnitude of being
(such as the innite) that nearly outstrips our abilities to perceive and process it. According to Michael Bird in Film as Hierophany (1982), such
an experience is aective, deeply emotional, and potentially truthful in a
manner that need not be strictly rational. The nonrational need not equal
nonsense, since the binarism of instrumental reason does not necessarily
hold sway everywhere:
In spite of the triumph of determinant judgment in the contemporary world (in
the values of programming, forcasting [sic], eciency, security, computing, and
the like), other games or genres of discourse are available in which formulating a rule or pretending to give an explanation is irrelevant, even forbidden. In
particular this is the case with esthetic judgment. (Lyotard 1988: 21)
What appears from a conventionally rational or realistic perspective to be

incoherent in the lms ending may, instead, be apprehensible by means of
a positive form of nonrational knowledge. By arming Besss self-sacrice
through sensory evidencenot only Jans recovery but also the pealing
bells over the oceanthe lms ending redeems and embodies our aective investment in her spiritual desire. In an inversion of fetishism, we get
what we want but believe to be impossible. We are arrested in a Derridean
quandary: what we see cannot be true, while equally it must.
Hierophany connotes a disclosure of the transcendent or sacred precisely through the material of reality (Bird 1982: 3). Against Heaths depiction of an inescapable and circumscribed symbolic order, and of the impossible remoteness of a miraculous exterior perspective, Bird follows Paul
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Tillich (1956) in erasing the distinction between these realms. If the material
world, governable by or at least cognizable by reason, presents us with
the limits of nitude and the awareness of nonbeing, it is this very emptiness that places us in a condition of openness to the Unconditioned (Bird
1982: 5). Far from excluding the miraculous as irrational, then, reason asks
for revelation, seeking an ultimate unity of its conicting and unresolved
polarities (ibid.: 4). Bird (ibid.: 6) emphasizes Tillichs notion of beliefful realism, located midway between a technological realism (which
recognizes only the immediately visible world) [and] a mystical realism
(which eliminates the material world as an obstacle to the ascending mind).
Instead of bifurcating the abstract and the actual, belief-ful realism captures a sense of nuance and paradox by which discernment of the transcendent is made possible by turning in the direction of the real (ibid.).
Belief-ful realism turns us away from a bipolar opposition of the particular and apprehensible, on the one hand, and the general and abstract,
on the other hand. Rather than set against each other, we can imagine
these alternative foci of thought and representation as commingled in a
process of mutual imbrication. In turn, this relationship illuminates, by
homology, the general concern of this essay and volume. Both argue against
the assumption that a fundamental conict between critical approaches
that privilege an orientation to either thing or theory demands our choosing
between them. Rather, a conceptual error of simplication produces and
exaggerates the opposition between these orientations. Furthermore, this
false dichotomy may be seen as the root cause of the sweeping oscillation in
recent criticism between these alternatives, since neither orientation alone
can account for aesthetic experience in any complete fashion. Throughout
its history, cinema has been understood and explored in a bipolar fashion, as a medium whose technological and textual features lend themselves
either to a transparent representation of reality or to the creation of illusions
that border on the magical. This binary conception of lm derives directly
from the nineteenth-century opposition of science and religion, reecting
the formers increasing public authority and the latters decline into private desire and behavior. Art was then conceived of as mediating between
the poles of science and religion, as a practice that could accurately reect
and transform reality while addressing the aspirations for greater or deeper
understanding of our existence that were at one time more reliably met by
religious institutions. Nevertheless, lm history and criticism reveals a tendency to downplay this mediating role in favor of focusing more strongly
on mimetic or fantastic concerns. The spiritual lm, in contrast, has always
foregrounded this mediating role.The remainder of this essay explores what
it would mean in practice to reectively abide in between the particular and
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abstract, between thing and theory, in a way which we might recognize as

productive, even if unexpectedly so.
8. The Subject of the Sublime
According to Bird, appreciating this alternative form of realism in art requires resisting the impulse to treat a work either as a self-sucient material
or a symbolic entity; I would add that we must also resist treating a work
as an allegorical unit metonymically linked to a larger realm. In the wake
of Mikel Dufrennes (1973 [1957]) phenomenology of aesthetic experience,
Bird (1982: 8) argues that this resistance entails attending to the sensuous
aspects of the artwork, not only or primarily its physical qualities but the
way in which it is feeling that enables an encounter with depth, rather than
merely the surface of reality. In this sense, he posits that the artwork must
be understood as more a subject than an object, one that elicits sensuous
reactions that are actually responses to demands.
Bird insists that the artwork functions as a subject in order to reorient our
treatment of it away from instrumentality and toward some more indeterminate receptivity. What sort of subject the artwork would be is less clear.
We might conceive of it as an extension of the agency of its creator. Perhaps a corollary conception of the artists creative agency as expressive of a
fundamental creative force in the universe could lead us through a particular artwork toward discernment of the transcendent. It is equally likely,
however, that, for good or ill, such a formula would redirect our attention
to the subjectivity of the artist as an end in itself. In that case, we would only
have (re)discovered a way to treat the artwork as evidence of something that
seems far from ineable. It is more productive, I think, to consider the artwork as having the form and function of a subject in a basic sense of its needing us, asking us for something, making demands that, however minimal
or dicult to discern, are greater than what we may impute to objects. If
the artwork needs something from us, then we need its solicitation; neither
the work, on the one hand, nor the consumers own paradigms of understanding, on the other hand, suciently dene the aesthetic engagement.
Their particular engagement may, in the instance of the spiritual lm, lead
toward something irreducible to either alone.
The artwork here can in no way be treated as mere evidence upon which
method can conrm its presuppositions. At the same time, the audiences
task is less a narrowly dened epistemic understanding or decoding than
it is an ethical alignment of their own aective and cognitive disposition
with the demands of the workindicated by the audiences own sensuous
responsesunderstood itself as a subject in form and function:
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I must make myself conform to what feeling reveals to me and thus match its
depth with my own. For it is not a question of extending my having but rather
of listening in on a message. That is why, through feeling, I myself am put into
question. . . . To feel in a sense is to transcend. (Dufrenne 1973 [1957] quoted
in Bird 1982: 8)
Birds example of such a transmogried realism comes directly from Kant

and Burkes earlier depictions of the sublime as a feature of indomitable
nature:
It is as in a thunderstorm at night, when the lightning throws a blinding clarity
over all things, leaving them in complete darkness the next moment. When
reality is seen in this way with the eye of self-transcending realism, it has become
something new. (Tillich 1956 quoted in Bird 1982: 6)
Translating these extraordinary dimensions of nature into lmic terms, Bird

(ibid.: 14, 1516) privileges a cinematic realism . . . that . . . explores the real
by means of the real, because a realism which is poetic (sensitive to beauty)
is simultaneously a realism which is spiritual (sensitive to meaning). Carl
Dreyers Jeanne dArc is a chief example for Bird as well as one of Von Triers
inspirations. It illustrates how a stylistic realism which is neither supercial
nor mystical can reveal cinema as a diaphragm which is sensitive to the
speech of the cosmos waiting to be heard (ibid.: 20).
Given Taylors appreciation of the triumph of a negative hermeneutic
noted earlier, it is probably a greater challenge to critical thought to read
Birds claims sympathetically than it is to note similar aspirations in Breaking
the Waves. There are unmistakable traces of an almost positivistic religion
of art in Bird, derived in equal parts from Tillich and Dufrenne. However,
this formulation of poetic spiritualism, or spiritual poeticism, may still hold
if we recast it in acceptable skeptical and relativistic terms. Arthur Danto
(1986) argues that, after Andy Warhol, if not Marcel Duchamp, artworks
may be better understood by the questions of their statuses they provoke
than by any registering of their objective qualities. We may, then, rephrase
Bird in this fashion: a realism which is poetic (sensitive to the question of
what beauty might be) is simultaneously a realism which is spiritual (sensitive to the question of what being might be). We thus retain the sense of the
aesthetic as exploration, but as exploration of the not-even-yet-established.
Crucially, we must appreciate Birds refusal, via Dufrenne, of the positivistic implications of extending my havingas if the ineable were a content we could grasp like any other. Emphasized instead is the attainment
of a receptive disposition, an openness to the possibility of the unexpected,
which is the critical dierence from Heaths certitude.
Jean-Franois Lyotard (1988: 1819) describes this openness as a disposi-
58
Poetics Today 25:1
tion of perceptivity achieved only by the disciplining of normative cognitive

processes:
The secret of such ascesis lies in the power to be able to endure occurrences as
directly as possible without the mediation or protection of a pre-text. Thus,
to encounter an event is like bordering on nothingness. . . . There is a close connection between this idea of an event and the question of matter or existence. . . .
We have to make our condition that of a suspicious, exacting receiver, with reception focused on the unmistakable, uncanny fact that there is something here
and now, regardless of what it is.
The stakes of this recurrent language of listening to a call that we do not,

cannot, fully master become clear when Lyotard (ibid.: 19) suggests that the
source of that to which we respond may ultimately be Being, or that entity
Kant calls the X in general. This conclusion brings us suggestively near
to Lyotards revisionary view of the sublime.
For Lyotard (ibid.: 40), the sublime results from an experience in which
there is a failure in the synthesizing function of either the imagination or
the will. Confronted with an object or condition whose magnitude or force
exceeds the minds ability to organize percepts into form, a mixture of pain
and pleasure results. Pain arises as the mind experiences its own limitations (ibid.). Pleasure results from the necessary mediation of an Idea of
reason at the threshold of imaginative or cognitive failure, at which point
the mind discovers that it can conceive of something like the innite
(ibid.). In Kantian epistemology, delity to the Idea of reason is developed
within speculative or moral cognition, with their progressive registers of
achievement. Speculative reason may produce greater knowledge; moral
reason may produce greater justice. For Kant, aesthetic judgment is exempt
from any similar measurable progress, and this permits it to function as
a free space for cognition without instrumental goals. From the perspective of the late twentieth century, Lyotard, in contrast, is skeptical of any
record of speculative or moral achievement, both of which he understands
as susceptible to subsumption within an inhuman process of technocentric
development. He inverts Kants formula and locates human advancement
in the experience of the sublime, where
a kind of progress in human history is possible which would not be only the
progress of technology . . . not a progress of the beautiful . . . but of the responsibility to the Ideas of reason as they are negatively presented in the formlessness
of such and such a situation which could occur. (Ibid.: 41)
In this situation, the openness of the subject in the face of the sublime permits an anity with the innite to emerge. Against Heath, it is possible
to imagine representation and aesthetic reception as less strictly bounded
Pence
59
by the linguistic rules of competence and comprehensibility. Instead, these

practices may be conceived of as continually approaching and altering,
without erasing, the boundary between the knowable and the unknown. For
Lyotard, this highly abstract notion of progress indirectly replenishes and
refreshes our capacities for thinking with nuance and responsibility in the
putatively more transparent realm of the ethical. The implication is that a
politics driven by pretext pales beside a subtle ethics sensitive to the apprehension of the necessity of actions we do not fully understand. (To return
to an earlier point, this is why I am hesitant to suggest that the spiritual
lm oers a theater of counter-factual ideals in which alternative modes of
living are imagined. Such a formulation already predetermines experience
by assuming that what we will encounter in spiritual lm will not only be
recognizable but almost immediately useful.) In turn, this notion of hearkening to a call brings us very close to the most generous view of Bess
as an ethical subject, answering the call of a duty she cannot claim to fully
master.
9. Cinema and the Reality of Redemption
The errors in the interpretations detailed earlier, as well as in the myriad

reviews which tediously point out that northern Scotland in the 1970s was
not exactly as represented in the lm, have their equivalents in currently
dominant forms of lm studies and cultural studies in general. There,
a supercial diversity of interpretive approaches masks a deeper homogeneity, or what we might call the hegemony of the antihegemonic. Most
of these approaches share an emphasis on reason as the chief form of cognition in their own practice; a primary facility with realistic texts that mirror
their anity with this representational mode; and an understanding that
their fundamental goal is the decoding and debunking of sociological and
political power. Quinn and Heaths analyses can stand as exemplars here,
and these sorts of interpretation can alert us to the pressures that social and
political contexts bring to bear on cultural production and consumption.
Besss social and historical context does inuence her fate and our interpretations, even if these inuences do not amount to the ultimate meaning of
either. A strict understanding of culture as a sphere of political struggle risks
reducing complex works to the object (and abject) status of evidence, even
when such works literally demand we focus on unanswerable, even ineffable questions. What is more, when critique is applied instrumentally to
objects, without a corresponding self-questioning of the motives and procedures of the critic, it can become as moralistic as the judgments of the town
patriarchs. Cultural studies tradition holds that critique equals demysti-
60
Poetics Today 25:1
cation equals liberation. Yet when critiques ironic force is unconstrained,

it may become indistinguishable from reication, as the world is progressively emptied of any signicance that is not adaptable to the predetermined values of the critical method in play.
The balance of short-term gains (i.e., ecacious, even liberating, acts of
demystication) and long-term risks (i.e., reication) has been a question
since early in the Enlightenment. Drawing on Friedrich Schleiermachers
critique of contemporary Enlightenment antireligiosity, Russell Berman
(1999: 42) argues that the suppression of religion . . . impoverishes human
life. Culture without religion is not emancipated; it is only insipid. Berman (ibid.: 43, 44) privileges explicitly the axial world religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, since it is within their relation of
experiences of the divine . . . as pertaining not merely to a tribe, but to the
full cosmos that the life of humanity is largely played out. While based
upon a questionable and indiscriminate privileging of major traditions, this
move enables Bermans valuable schema of the dialectic between the local
and the universal within these religious cultures (ibid.). The key features
of this dialectic include:
1. a dramatic capacity for anti-traditionalism, as each of these religions emerges by a strong break with dominant practices;
2. a countervailing force of an orientation toward tradition within religion, which stabilizes antitraditionalist tendencies while providing
the grounds for their reemergence. This force provides, that is, a rich
idiom for shaping innovative religious practices while guaranteeing
some degree of legibility for them, and with it the exible constraints
against which antitraditionalism may operate;
3. a shared emphasis on the centrality of beginnings, which derive[s]
from the religious imagination of the human freedom to create in imitation of the divine creator;
4. a related, chronological analogue to the tension between localism and universalism [found] along a temporal axis between past
and future, tradition and creativity, memory and aspiration. (Ibid.:
4445)
Taken together, these elements amount to a project of redemption, for
which fallenness . . . is a constant fact of human life; its critical-theoretical
designation is reication, and the crux of axial religions, and of Critical
Theory, involves the project of calling reication into question (ibid.: 45).
If, for Bird, reason seeks revelation, Berman has captured a similar sense
in which reason seeks redemption. This dialectical schema helps us understand the ways in which a particular spiritual struggle, like that depicted in
Breaking the Waves, warrants its claim to universal or cosmic signicance.
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61
Breaking the Waves paradigmatically, and the cinema of the sublime more
generally, oers the opportunity to imagine and take seriously alternate
forms of cultural practice which are not methodologically harmonious with
the tendency toward reication that typies both modernity and cultural
studies. Rather than centered around reason and transparent realism, this
lm and any analysis that would do it justice (by which I mean would
treat it as more than a system of von Triers madness) must foreground
other modes of apprehension and knowledge. The lm works because of
the way in which it utilizes and undermines our most familiar mode of cognition, representation, and critical interpretationwhich I gather under
the rubric of realism. The lm extends realism beyond the point at which
its short-term gains of exposing and disabling power relations have begun
to produce the negative eect of disenchanting the world by blinding us
to those features of experience that are unrecognizable in its terms. Breaking the Waves insists on the power of realistic technique to present a situation for the viewer that embodies, if only asymptotically, an encounter with
the ineable. Whether such an encounter is deferred indenitely or constitutively, following Carlson, or is only negatively cognizable, and thus by
either route fails to satisfy the demands of reason, seems to me to miss the
point altogether. We may learn here from Stanley Cavells explorations of
the ontology of cinema.
Like Benjamin, Cavell insists that to appreciate lms potency requires
acknowledging its technical capacity to frame an aspect of reality for our
scrutiny. Unlike Benjamin, Cavell argues that this scientic or rational element of cinema does not necessarily dene the medium in opposition to illusion, fantasy, or even magic. Rather, he writes, movies arise out of magic:
from below the world (Cavell 1979 [1971]: 39). The world here is inseparable from the templates of consciousness that frame this entity for comprehensible perception. As a medium generally, and within the genre of
the spiritual lm explicitly, movies reenact for our reection the process of
framing by which the innite possibilities of sensory perception and interpretation come together in a pragmatically coherent entity (the world). By
this reenactment, movies alert us to the prior and foundational existence of
that which is not yet framed as a world. Furthermore, they remind us of the
persistence of the as yet unknown, here gured as the ground of magic without which reason and representation would have no context or materials to
work with. In this light, we may read Breaking the Waves, and its miraculous
conclusion in particular, in an aectively intelligible manner dierent from
Heaths mere recognition of its impossibility.
For Cavell (ibid.: 102), modern sensibilities and conditions have produced
a situation in which our natural mode of perception is to view, feeling
unseen. We do not so much look at the world as look out at it, from behind
62
Poetics Today 25:1
the self. Cinemas power lies in its automatic framing of the world for
us. In screening the world for us, lm also screens the world from us. Unlike
theater, lms unreel like events without witnesses. In accounting for why
this exclusion from the labor of framing the world would appeal to audiences, Cavell suggests that the lifting of our responsibility for such framing results in a draining of anxiety, and the possible emergence of a perceptive state similar to Lyotards notion of ascesis. Lyotard also links this
responsive openness to the Stoics disciplined pursuit of apatheia, or cultivated indierence. This latter disposition suggests a mode not simply of
resisting the potentially overwhelming stimulation of perception, but also
of transcending the grip of individuated perspective itself.7 Paradoxically,
this makes movies seem more natural than reality, as they permit the self
to be wakened, so that we may stop withdrawing our longing further inside
ourselves (ibid.).
The key to cinemas relation to the ineable, therefore, does not lie in its
subjecting the world to new standards of scrutiny. Rather, cinemas spirituality inheres in the eects produced in viewers freed to reect on powers
of perception and forms of desire which have been either diminished by, or
excluded from, conventions of thought and action, including those of criticism. Unlike Heath, Cavell imagines a certain alienation of the subject as a
given that may be assuaged; when this happens, the subject is not so much
delivered over to another realm than to the world that is normally ltered
and occluded by and for an alienated identity. There is a parallel here to
the situation of the camera as well as a broad dierence from Heaths representation of cinema and consciousness as more or less satisfying prison
houses of language. If the camera is outside its subject as I am outside my
language (ibid.: 127), then we can understand the disjunctive nal shot of
the bells pealing over the North Sea neither as a proxy point of view of God
nor as an ination of our own perspective. Instead, we peer from behind
this perspective, above the scene of Besss burial at sea. This vantage point
ought not be evaluated by a criterion of answering or failing to answer our
desire for times answer to the ineable . . . the wish for total intelligibility
(ibid.: 148).
If the nal, yaway shot of the lmoil platform and funeral below,
swinging bells abovebelongs to anyone, it is to Bess, who is no longer
either there or here. At best, we may peer from behind this ghostly perspective, imagining its implications for Bess, who imagined her implications for
7. If even our best students, or even ourselves, continue to be attracted by the thoughtless
bliss of cinema as against the cognitive pleasures of other pastimes, Cavell may here have
explained why this attraction is anything but a lapse of moral or working habits. Instead, it
goes to the very heart of what we desire from cinema.
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63
another, as if in a mythical chain of contiguity and obligation. The close of

Cavells The World Viewed captures something of the complex dialectic of
this ending:
A world complete without me which is present to me is the world of my immortality. This is an importance of lmand a danger. It takes my life as my haunting of the world. . . . So there is reason for me to want the camera to deny the
coherence of the world, its coherence as past: to deny that the world is complete without me. But there is equal reason to want it armed that the world is
coherent without me. That is essential to what I want of immortality: natures
survival of me. It will mean that the present judgment upon me is not yet the
last. (Ibid.: 160)
To linger receptively on Besss vision of her own exclusion, in a form that

defers judgment of her indenitely, does not produce [God] as lmic absolute (Heath 1998: 103). Rather, it evokes a profound sense of the extent of
our aspiration. As hierophany, the ending reveals the persistence of hope,
which is to say, the persistence of cinema itself. It preserves the possibility,
against all expectation, that the absence of rational certainty about fundamental concerns amounts less to their negation than to their increase.
Crucially, it delivers more than the armation of any particular material
or transcendent desire; it reawakens a more diuse and oceanic sense of
the continuity and uncontainable potential of openness toward the subjects of our reective judgment to transgure our own subjectivity. In so
doing, Breaking the Waves oers a sublime challenge to criticism, one that
can be resisted (as irrational), or translated into secular terms (like power),
or treated in terms of a reality we do not pretend to fully know or master but
to which we owe the greatest obligation. Shouldnt the same obligation to
act without pretense to certainty, to listen for the unsettling call beyond and
within the real, animate the heart of cultural studies? And if this is the case,
nally, might not cultural studies realize a mode of real resistance: Breaking the leveling waves of reication, which threaten to atten everyone and
everything into computable commodities and exchangeable determinant
judgments, we can begin to imagine the reenchantment of reality and the
redemption of hope.
64
Poetics Today 25:1
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STEVE NEALE
ART CINEMA AS INSTITUTION

Downloaded from http://screen.oxfordjournals.org/ at Harvard University on March 28, 2014
THE A i M O F this article is to outline throughxontemporary and

historical examples the role played by what has come to be called
'Art Cinema' in the attempts made by a number of European
countries both to counter American domination of their indigenous
markets in film and also to foster a film industry and a film culture
of their own. The context for this lies firmly in the current debates
around independent cinema in Britain. These debates centre in
particular on the role of the state in financing and in legislating
the conditions for the production, distribution and exhibition of
films and on the relationship between this role and various
potential strategies either for renewing or, more radically, for
transforming British cinema and British film culture, particularly as
each of these strategies can be said to centre on independent
cinema as it currently exists. A number of factors and events have
contributed towards sharpening the urgency and importance of
these debates. They include the continuing catastrophic decline
of the indigenous mainstream film industry, the proposals for and
debates around the nature of the fourth television channel, the
appearance, as a response to proposals for the establishment of a
British Film Authority, of statements both by the Association of
Independent Producers (AIP) and the Independent Filmmakers'
Association (IFA) which draw (very differently) upon notions of the
role and function of Art Cinema in Europe, and, last but by no
means least, the appearance of Radio OH (1979), and with it a
strategy within the BFI Production Division of a high level of funding in production and promotion around films which it is felt are
capable of penetrating a sector of the commercial industry at the
12
1 John Ellis, 'Art,
Culture and
Quality
Terms for a
Cinema in the
Forties and
Seventies',
Screen, vol 19
no 3, Autumn
1978.
3 Ibid, p 36.
During the 1960s and early 1970s in particular, at a time when

the polemics surrounding 'popular culture" and Hollywood were
at their height. Art Cinema was often defined as the 'enemy': as a
bastion of 'high art' ideologies, as the kind of cinema supported by
Sight and Sound and the critical establishment, therefore, as the
kind of cinema to be fought. To parody the debate somewhat, it
was a question of Siegel, Fuller, Hitchcock, Hawks and Corman
versus Antonioni, Bergman and Fellini, of genre versus personal
expression, of (in some extreme instances) trash versus taste,
hysteria versus restraint, energy versus decorum and quality,
Undenvorld USA (1960) and Bringing up Baby (1938) versus
Persona (1966), La Dolce Vita (1960), 8J (1963) and The Red
Desert (1964).
This is a parody, a simplification. The debates were crossed by
all kinds of complexities, not the least of which was the careful
analysis and detailed attention given by both Movie and The
Brighton Film Review (and Monogram, its successor) to Antonioni
and Bergman and the New Wave in France, the attention given by
Cinema to certain strands of the avant-garde (Cocteau, Anger,
Warhol and so on), and the wish on the part of many to analyse
Hollywood in terms of its artists and auteurs.
What it is true to say is firstly that the debates and polemics
were heavily dependent upon the terms provided by literary ideologies and secondly that Art Cinema itself was rarely defined. The
2 Geoffrey
Nowell-Smith,
'Radio On',
Screen, vol 20 no
3/4, Winter
1979/80.
level of exhibition and, perhaps, of opening a space within that

sector for the development of a kind of British Art Cinema, a
cinema which, in turn, will allow for the exhibition and discussion
of forms of independent cinema on a scale entirely different from
that which exists at the moment. The basis for such a strategy has
to some extent been outlined by John Ellis in his article on Art
Cinema in Screen1 and the case of Radio On and the ambiguities
and problems involved in the strategy in this particular instance
have been outlined by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith,2 so I don't wish to
go into these arguments and debates directly here. What I do
want to do, through the examination of instances in other countries at other times, is to bring out and to re-state some of the
ambiguities and problems involved, some of the dangers and some
of the issues as they affect independent cinema understood not
simply as 'films made outside mainstream commercial cinema and
mainstream television* but rather as a practice which, in NowellSmith's terms, 'is in every sense on the frontiers of cinema in
the language it speaks, in the conditions under which it is produced and circulated'.3
All these elements are crucial to Art Cinema. Art Cinema is by

no means simply a question of films with particular textual characteristics, though there are a number of such characteristics,
recurring across its history. Art films tend to be marked by a stress
on visual style (an engagement of the look in terms of a marked
individual point of view rather than in terms of institutionalised
spectacle), by a suppression of action in the Hollywood sense, by
a consequent stress on character rather than plot and by an
interiorisation of dramatic conflict. A different textual weight is
accorded the proairetic code,1 whose units are inscribed and articulated in a manner that tends to be distinct from that marking
Hollywood films. A different hierarchy is established between action
and actant. Different orders of motivation sustain the relations
between the two. If cinema has tended massively to exist hitherto
as an institution for the perpetuation of the novelistic, then it has
historically been the case that it is within the institutional space
of Art Cinema that film has most closely approximated that version
of the novelistic that we associate with writers like Eliot, Mann,
James and Tolstoy, shading at times into the hesitations of the
modernist novel (Faulkner, Dostoievski, the nouveau roman), while
Hollywood has tended to produce and reproduce the version of the
novelistic we associate with the genres of popular fiction. It is also
true that Art films are marked at a textual level by the inscription
13
importance of Leavisism in general and 'left' Leavisism in partiallar has often been mentioned in the context of the popular culture
debates, its contradictions leading on the one hand to a validation
of popular cinema and to a detailed attention to its styles, meanings and structures and on the other to fairly traditional notions
of authorship, traditions which, in turn, proved fruitful in producing a knowledge of Hollywood and its auteurs. This particular
ideology, however, was more interested in validating Hollywood's
artists than in examining its institutions and conditions. As such,
it was part of a wider project of engaging with the cinema's art
and artists, including its European variants: Robin Wood could
write books on Bergman and Antonioni as well as on Hitchcock,
Penn and Hawks. It is hence not surprising that there was never
any systematic attention given Art Cinema as an institution. There
was never any systematic analysis of its texts, its sources of
finance, its modes and circuits of production, distribution and
exhibition, its relationship to the state, the nature of the discourses used to support and promote it, the institutional basis
of these discourses, the relations within and across each of these
elements and the structure of the international film industry.
^^^^^^^^^^^
Barthes S/Z
Hill and Wang,
v YorK>
^HH^^^HH
14
The function of differentiation is crucial. If Art films have tended

to display the kinds of features noted above, then this has in part
been because they are features that contrast with those of Hollywood. Simultaneously, and partly for this reason, they are features
which circulate as the signs of art in established cultural institutions. The importance of this is that Art Cinema is bound to the
definitions and value judgements these institutions produce. Their
discourses are nearly always involved one way or another in articulating the criteria used to promote Art Cinema in countries seeking
to counter American domination of their domestic market in film.
Art is thus the space in which an indigenous cinema can develop
and make its critical and economic mark.
Equally, to turn the equation around, in competing with Hollywood for a share in the market, or in seeking a space of its own
within it, the films produced by a specific national film industry
of features that function as marks of enunciation and, hence,

as signifiers of an authorial voice (and look). The precise nature of
these features has varied historically and geographically, as it
were, since it derives in part from another, simultaneous function
that these features perform: that of differentiating the text or
texts in question from the texts produced by Hollywood. Hence
they change in accordance with which features of Hollywood films
are perceived or conceived as dominant or as basically characteristic at any one point in time. In Neo-Realist films, the features
in question are those of location shooting, the absence of stars,
a non-systematic laxity in the inscription of the codes involved in
articulating spatial and temporal continuities. These features overall connote realism and function as the positive marks of Art
both insofar as certain definitions and discourses of Art involve
an ideology of realism and insofar as they simply contrast with
features marking Hollywood films at this time. In an Antonioni
film, on the other hand, the specific features that perform these
functions are different. In this case they generally include an
extreme de-dramatisation coupled, as a corollary, with a lack of
spatio-temporal 'intensity', a problematisation of character motivation and a re-balancing of the weight of attention accorded the
human figure on the one hand and landscape and decor on the
other. These features are similar to those of Neo-Realism, however, in that they differ equally, so to speak, from the textual
features of Hollywood films. They engage the other primary
ideology of Art, the Romantic view that Art is subjective expression. They function both as the signs of such expression and,
hence, as the marks of Art itself.
In order to concretise the discussion of Art Cinema, and in

order both to disentangle'and to interrelate some of the factors
and elements involved within it, I want to look in a little more
detail at some of the instances and moments in its construction
and perpetuation in three different countries: France, Germany
and Italy. In each case I want to concentrate as a point of historical
and theoretical departure upon the fact of Hollywood's increasing
domination of the mass market in these countries after the First
15
will have in any case to differentiate themselves from those produced by Hollywood. One way of doing so is to turn to high art
and to the cultural traditions specific to the country involved.
Either way, the films will be shown in different cinemas and be
distributed by different distribution networks. And they will be
marked by different textual characteristics. In constructing and
sustaining such differences, the films will almost certainly tend to
coincide with and to become supported by discourses functioning
to define and perpetuate art and culture. The only reasons why
they may not do so is if they transgress the social, sexual, political
and aesthetic boundaries that these discourses construct. In which
cas they will find themselves in different institutional spheres of
circulation: the avant-garde, agit-prop, pornography, and so on.
The discourses of Art and Culture are hostile to Hollywood on
a variety of grounds and for a variety of reasons. Hence the
variety of Art films themselves: from Neo-Realism to Felliniesque
fantasy, from the austerity of Dreyer and Bergman to the plush
visual spectacles of Bertolucci and Chabrol, from the relatively
radical narrative experimentation of Antonioni, Godard and
Resnais to the conventional story-telling of Visconti, De Sica and
Truffaut, from the marxism of Bertolucci to the romantic humanism
of Truffaut, and so on. Equally, however, that variety is contained
both by the economic infrastructure of Art Cinema, its basis in
commodity-dominated modes of production, distribution and exhibition, and by the repetitions that tend to mark cultural discourses in general and the discourses of high art and culture in
particular. Hence the relative constancy of those features and
elements noted above. Even where the marks of enunciation themselves are heterogeneous, they tend to be unified and stabilised
within the space of an institution which reads and locates them
in a homogeneus way (each mark serving equally as the sign
of the author) and which mobilises that meaning in accordance
with commodity-based practices of production, distribution and
exhibition (the mark of the author is used as a kind of brand
name, to mark and to sell the filmic product).
16
World War. From here it will be possible both to pull out a set
of recurrent themes, issues and characteristics and to mark a set
of differences and specificities, adding one or two important
points not detailed in the sketches which follow, before relating
them finally to the current situation here in Britain as it affects
in particular the work and concerns of British independent cinema.
If the industry in France collapsed during the war, it was the

war period that saw the first sustained intellectual interest in
cinema, with De Mille's The Cheat (1915) acting as a specific
catalyst for many French intellectuals. Interest was sustained by
5 Quoted in Eric
Abel
Gance's La Roue (1921), and, in common with many other
Rhode, A History
of the Cinema,
countries at this time, books and magazines devoted to the 'art'
Allen Lane, 1976, of the cinema began to appear, alongside the establishment of
pp 117-8.
non-commercial cinemas and cinema circuits and alongside the
development of a cinematic avant-garde. The Club des Amis du
Septieme Art was started by the Italian-born art critic Riccioto
6 Quoted Ibid,
p 118.
Canudo in 1920. Canudo had been a supporter of the Italian
futurists and cubists and was able to attract a considerable circle
France
Although something in the nature of an Art Cinema existed in
France before the war in the form of Le Film d'Art, a company producing stage classics designed specifically to appeal to a middleclass audience, it was after the war and the consolidation and
spread of Hollywood's influence that, as in so many other European
countries, a diversification in national production began in conjunction both with a sustained intellectual interest in film (an interest
nearly always manifested as a theoretical concern with defining the
nature of film as a specific art form) and with the beginnings of
production of experimental forms.
Before the war, Pathe Freres had been one of the largest film
companies in the world. During the course of the war, however,
the German invasion diminished the home market and opened it
up to German films, while America seized the opportunity to pour
its films into France. The journalist Henri Diamant-Berger wrote
in the weekly magazine Le Film that 'British production is insignificant. Great Britain is no more than a colony to the American film
industry. If we don't take warning at this example, we shall undergo
the same fate.'5 Ten years or so later Leon Moussinac was simply
to write as follows: 'In 1914, 90 per cent of the films shown
throughout the world were French; by 1928, 85 per cent of them
were American.'8
Overlapping, historically with the 'first French avant-garde'

Dadaist and Surrealist work in the cinema was similarly supported
by the exhibition infrastructure of cine'-clubs (which was augmented later in the twenties by Leon Moussinac's Les Amis de
Spartacus). Films by Man Ray, Bufiuel and Dali. however, depended
exclusively upon private financing and patronage, with the Comte
de Noailles being particularly important in this respect: as well
as financing L'Age d'Or in 1930, he also financed Cocteau's Le
Sang d'un Poete (1930).
Although a number of these films produced in the 1920s fed into
the notion of a national cinema of quality (especially and obviously
those produced within the industry itself), it is important to
stress both the influence and popularity of elements of Holly-
17
of artists and intellectuals to his Club. Louis Delluc, who edited a

a magazine called Le Film, which included Colette, Coceau, Aragon,
Germaine Dulac and Marcel L'Herbier among its contributors,
founded the Cine Clubs de France (which merged with the Club
des Amis du Septieme Art on Canudo's death in 1923). Germaine
Dulac founded the Federation franchise de Cine-Clubs in 1925.
Two specialised cinemas opened in Paris in 1924, the Vieux Colombier and the Studio des Ursulines.
All these cinemas were committed to the'emerging French avantgardes and all were also to show films from abroad, notably work
from the Soviet Union, which was to have such an impact on
Europe in the twenties. It is important that a number of the figures
mentioned above not only promoted experimental films through
their participation in exhibition, but also wrote about them and
made them themselves. Between 1919 and 1923, Delluc wrote and
directed six films and provided scripts for many others. Germaine
Dulac directed La Souriante Madame Beudet in 1922 and The Seashell and the Clergyman in 1928. Jean Epstein made La Daphnie
(1925). Coeur Fidele (1923), La Glace a Trois Faces (1927) and Finis
Terrae (1929). Marcel l'Herbier made L'lnhumaine (with sets
designed by Leger, Mallet-Stevens, Autant-Lara and Cavalcanti) in 1924 and Feu Mathias Pascal, based on a novel by Pirandello, in 1925. Much of this work was privately financed. Germaine
Dulac had her own production company and L'Herbier's work after
1924 was financed by himself. Renoir's first films were also privately financed. A number of these people also worked within the
industry, however, and it is perhaps significant that L'Herbier, for
example, started by making films for Gaumont. It was only at the
point at which Gaumont was absorbed by Metro-Goldwyn in 1925,
that he branched out on his own.
wood cinema among the intellectuals, writers and film-makers of

the time (especially the Surrealists) and the extent to which all
avant-garde activity was marked by an ideology of internationalism. As an example of this Jean Tedesco, founder of the Vieux
Colombier, called in 1928 for the creation of an international
organisation for the ting-clubs that had sprung up not only in
France, but also, notably, in Holland and Britain:
18
7 Quoted in
Georges Sadoul,
Histoire Giniral
du Cinima, vol 6,
Denoel, Paris,
1946, p 525.
8 Roy Armes,
"Images of
France", The
Movie, no 16,
P 301.
The arrival of sound both markedly changed the structure of the

French film industry and ensured the disappearance of the avantgarde. The extra cost of sound films eliminated many of the
smaller film companies and made private sponsorship and patronage almost impossible. The early 1930s also saw the establishment
of large-scale multi-language production in Paris by Paramount
and the German company, Tobis. Co-productions continued
throughout the decade with UFA, but a number of German
emigre's worked in the French industry during the same period.
Although small companies established in the 1920s disappeared
with the coming of sound, others continued to proliferate, though
they were generally under-capitalised and short-lived, and it was
these which tended to provide the base for the films and the
film-makers that became synonymous with 'Art Cinema' in the
1930s: Renoir, Pr6vert and Carne\ Jacques Feyder and Julien
Duvivier; Toni (1934), La Bete Humaine (1938), Le Kermesse
Herolque (1935), Le )our se Live (1939), P<?p<; le Moko (1936) and
so on. The French market was dominated by foreign films. According' to Roy Armes the native film industry never supplied any
more than 25 per cent of the films distributed annually in France.8
With the withdrawal of the two combines formed out of PathS
and Gaumont in the mid-1930s, film production became very unstable: out of this situation arose both the films mentioned above
and the precariously-based production companies that made them.
In 1940, the industry fell under German control and in 1942
OUR AIM is to re-unite all those elements among the cinema's

elite public who have become convinced by the arguments 1 have
just elaborated. The complete ruination of our art must be stopped.
French law can no longer be allowed to isolate French thought
from international thought and we declare that as from today the
cinema is a form of international thought.
OUR DUTY is to lend a helping hand to all those who, in Europe
and America, are struggling to elevate the art of the moving
image above that created by businessmen.7
19
9 Quoted in Paul
Leglise, 'La
Politique Fran?ais<
du Cine'ma*,
Cinima Aujourd'
Despite all this, it should be noted that the late 1950s (the
hui, nos 12/13
period of the emergence of the New Wave), was a period of crisis,
Autumn/Winter
with a sharp decline in cinema attendance from 1957 on. The
1977 p 21.
New Wave was partly a product of this crisis. What is interesting
and important to note about it is, first, that it grew directly out
of a school of critical writing, second, that it related itself to the 10 Quoted Ibid p 22.
re-construction of a national film-making tradition (with Vigo,
Cocteau and Renoir especially prominent), third, that it consisted in large part of a re-inscription of elements of Hollywood 11 Quoted Ibid p 22.
cinema across the terms of the art film, and finally that its emer-
a new system of finance and control was set up with the Comite
d'Organisation de lTndustrie Cinematographique. This was replaced
after liberation by the Comit6 de Liberation du Cinma Frangais,
itself dissolved and replaced in 1946 by the Centre National du
Cine'ma Frangais. The CNCF incorporated all the various production organisations involved in the French industry, and one of its
immediate aims was to protect it against an influx of foreign
especially Hollywood films by reinforcing its quota system. In
1949, the Loi d'Aide a l'lndustrie Cinematographique was passed,
giving aid on a non-selective basis to French producers through a
tax of 25 per cent on recipts from foreign films. This law expired
in 1953 and was replaced by the Loi de Developpement de l'lndustrie Cinematographique.
The importance of this law was that enormous stress was
placed on art, culture and education both in drafting the law and
in arguing and reporting it to the various state bodies involved.
Hence Jacques Debu-Bridel speaking to the Conseil 'de la
Republique: 'We affirm that in our eyes educative values have
more weight and more importance than exchange values';9 and Guy
Desson, speaking to the Assemblee Nationale: 'it must not be forgotten that while the cinema is undoubtedly an industry, it is
also, being a means of expression, an art.'10 Hence, too, the fact
that the jury involved in the allocation of funds comprised representatives from the fileds of art and education, as well as from
the industry itself. The feature films benefiting from this system
in a sense the product of its ideology included Marcel Camus'
Mort en Fraude (1956), Chabrol's Le Beau Serge (1958) and Louis
Malle's Ascenseur pour VEchafaud (1957). Short films, particularly
important for directors like Franju (who made nine before moving
into features) and Resnais (who made eleven), were also covered by
the law. Again, the emphasis in distributing funds was on quality
and culture ('quality', said Guy Desson, "must be fundamental to
films of this kind').11
20
This basic system continued through the 1960s and into the
1970s, though it was modified after the events and criticism of
May '68 specifically to encourage 16mm production and the work
of new film-makers. It continues to exist today after the essence
of its modes of financing was re-adopted in 1976. If, however, these
structures and practices continue to exist, so too does the problem
of the domination of Hollywood and American distributors. As a
final confirmation of this, it is worth noting that in 1977. the percentage of aid to distributors worked out so that the six companies distributing Hollywood films received 40%, the eleven commercial French distributors 44%, the 35 distributors of films d'art
et d'essai only 4% and the 63 independents 12%. Even within the
terms of the Art cinema problematic it can be seen there are considerable drawbacks, while the problematic itself, of course,
remains open to criticism that it erects a false distinction between
commerce and culture and that it tends to ghettoise the work of
film-makers whose films circulate only in the Art house nexus:
The whole economic and aesthetic evolution of French cinema
since 1958, in other words for the last twenty years, has served
gence was, to a considerable extent, due to the cheapness of the

films and to the existence of 'enlightened' producers like De
Beauregard and Braunberger.
Largely as a response to the crisis, there was a further reorientation of state intervention in 1958 and 1959. In 1958, the
Assemblee Nationale increased the number of prizes for quality
shorts from 80 to 120. The same year, tax concessions were granted
to the cini-clubs and the cin&mas d'art et d'essai, contributing
towards the development of a numerically powerful Art house circuit (that year over five million spectators attended the cini-clubs
alone). In 1959, with Malraux as Minister of Cultural Affairs,
and as part of his policies for the encouragement of art and culture, the Centre National de la Cinematographie came under his
ministerial aegis. And in June, following the expiry of the 1953
legislation, a whole series of measures was introduced to encourage
the production, distribution and exhibition of 'quality* films, the
most significant being the introduction of interest-free advances on
box-office receipts, distributed in accordance with criteria laid down
by a specially constituted committee. These measures led, directly
and indirectly, to the funding of films like Jules et Jim and La
Femme Infidele. A further development under Malraux was the
establishment of Maisons de Culture, centres of art, sport, education and recreation, whose film programming integrally included
critical introductions and discussions led by paid animateurs.
only to accentuate the gap between commercial and 'cultural' production . . . This conception [ie Malraux's] which in effect counterposes culture and education, is based on an overvaluation of the
former and on the complete absence of consideration of the cultural needs of the public in its broadest sense.12
At the end of the war, the government was forced to relinquish

its stake in UFA, but its initial position of strength enabled it to
weather the economic crisis of the early 1920s and to establish
itself in the face of intense American competition. It was responsible for the first significant international economic and intellectual successes after the war (Lubitsch's Madame Dubarry (1919)
and Anna Boleyn (1920) and Sumurun (1920) and played a significant part in the 'expressionist' films of the period 1919 to 1926.
Germany passed the first quota legislation in film history on
29th May 1920 with the Reich Film Act, restricting the number of
foreign imports to 15% of its overall annual total (a figure
amended the following year). The act also imposed a municipal
Aujoud'hui, 12/13
Autumn/Winter
1977 p 53.
Germany
As in so many other countries during the period of the early
1910s, Germany participated in the movement towards an early
form of Art Cinema based largely in 'classical' literature and
drama, both historical and contemporary. Following the Kineform
manifesto of 1910 (signed, among others, by Gerhart Hauptmann, Hermann Sudermann, Arthur Schnitzler and Paul Lindau),
Oskar Messter founded a subsidiary to Messter Film GmbH called
Autoren Film specifically to produce art films and Paul Davidson's
Projektion-AG Union began to involve established artists and
intellectuals (including, significantly. Max Reinhardt) in the planning and production of its films.
Foreign domination of the national market occurred very early
in Germany, with the number of German-produced films in distribution heavily outweighed by films imported from America and
(especially) Denmark and France. The 1914-18 war aided and
strengthened the domestic industry considerably, with the home
market closed to many foreign countries and the French industry
suffering from German occupation and war. It was towards the end
of the war, in 1917, that UFA was founded, funded in part by the
state and in part by large banking and industrial interests. UFA
was essentially an umbrella organisation, covering all three
spheres of production, distribution and exhibition, though for a
long time its primary concren was with distribution (it was only
officially registered as a production company in 1924).
21
12 Michel Marie,
'L'Art du Film en
France Depuis La
"Nouvelle
Vague"', Cinema
22
As Siegfried Kracauer has noted, it was a policy pursued in particular by Erich Pommer, producer of Caligari for Decla Bioscope
in 1919 and subsequent head of production at UFA.13 Indeed, apart
from features and its activities in distribution and exhibition,
UFA produced a whole series of documentaries whose generic title
was, precisely, the Kulturfilm, promoted by the slogan 'The
world is beautiful; its mirror is the Kulturfilm.'1*
UFA was by no means the only important film company in Germany at this time. The development of German Art Cinema
owed its existence also to a multitude of small independent commercial production companies: Phoebus, Gloria, Helios, Luna,
Terra, Nero, Rex, Neptune and so on. Because of its size and
because of its presence in the sphere of distribution, however,
UFA remained important, though it was forced in 1925 to sign away
much of its autonomy in an agreement with Paramount and
Metro-Goldwyn, following the Dawes plan and the stabilisation
13 See Siegfried
Kracauer, From
of the mark. With the introduction of a new monetary system,
Caligari to Hitler,
the previous currency could no longer be used to finance foreign
Princeton UP,
1971 p 65.
trade. UFA was then cut off from its export market. The Parufamet Agreement, as it was called, gave Paramount and MetroGoldwyn effective control of UFA's quota certificates and its
14 Ibid p 142.
movie theatres in exchange for loans. UFA, however, regained
some of its former autonomy when Hugenberg stepped in in
entertainment tax on cinema seats, but, crucially, concessions were

granted to those exhibitors showing films recognised as having
artistic and cultural value by a special committee of cultural
'experts'.
Partly as a consequence of these legislative measures, partly as
a consequence of UFA's strategies and strengths both domestically and abroad (when UFA took over Nordisk, it obtained access
to an important and significant foreign exhibition circuit), and
partly as a consequence of the effects of domestic inflation on
production, investment and export, there was a post-war boom
in German film production. The films produced included a series
of titles serving them, as subsequently, as the very indices of Art
Cinema, from the 'expressionist' cycle (Caligari (1919), Waxworks
(1924), Warning Shadows (1922) et al) through the Kammerspiele
(from Backstairs (1921) to The Last Laugh (1924)) to a series of
period spectacles (Tartufie (1925), Faust (1926) and Manon Lescaut
(1928)). What is important to note .about this phenomenon is not
only that it was encouraged by the 1920 legislation, but also that
it was pursued as a conscious policy by producers as a means
of gaining international prestige and access to foreign markets.
1927 (UFA went on to produce one of the most important talkies,

Sternberg's The Blue Angel (1930)). The way the agreement
functioned with respect to the quota laws was symptomatic, however. There was an increasing number of quota quickies produced
by American subsidiaries located in Germany during this period.
What is important about them, though, was that they provided
a space for a small sector of the avant garde. Both Berlin, Symphony
of a Great City (1927), directed by Ruttmann, and The Adventures of a Ten-Mark Note (1928), produced by Freund from a
script by Bela BaMsz, were made as quota quickies for Fox.
Richter's Inflation (1927), meanwhile, was made as a kind of
prelude to a conventional commercial feature film.
23
Richter, Balasz and Ruttmann were all influential and important

figures within the German cinematic avant-garde in the 1920s.
What distinguished the German avant-garde at this time was that
although, like elements within the French avant-garde, its activities had social and political dimensions, they were dimensions
which were often institutionalised and formalised: through connections with the Bauhaus, through links with Piscator's theatre
in Berlin, through the production of films by political parties,
through organisations like the Popular Association for Film Art
and the German League for Independent Film (which arranged
screenings and discussions of avant-garde and Soviet films) and
through the existence of links with the Soviet Union through
Willi Muenzernberg's organisation, International Workers' Aid. IAH
(its German abbreviation) set up its headquarters in Berlin, took
over a production firm in Berlin called Prometheus and began to
distribute Soviet films, and, later, to make films as well. Alongside
the use of private capital for avant-garde production, there also
existed, then, some opportunities within the mainstream industry
and a socially-radical infrastructure for the production, distribution, exhibition and (importantly) criticism and discussion of films,
The coming of sound radically curtailed the possibility of
producing films outside of the industry proper if only for reasons
of cost. With the coming to power of the Nazis, many film-makers
fled the country. The issue of Hollywood's domination of the
national market came to. be re-articulated within the terms provided by a specifically nationalist iedology. Relations between the
state and industry were reorganised both by means of the establishment of a set of interlocking cultural apparatuses and by
means of the establishment of the Filmkreditbank, the FKB.15 The
industry was finally nationalised in 1942, and it should be noted
that throughout the period of Nazi rule, the cinema, like the
15 For details see

Julian Petley,
Capital and
Culture, German
Cinema 19331945, BFI,
London 1979,
pp 51-55.
24
17 See Sheila
Johnston "The
Author as Public
Institution*,
Screen Education,
nos 32/33
Autumn/Winter
1979/80.
18 Elsaesser, op cit,
pp 13-14.
16 Thomas
Elsaesser, 'The
Postwar German
Cinema', in
Tony Rayns (ed)
Fassbinder, BFI,
London 1976.
other arts, was conceived of as having a specific role to play in

the construction and re-construction of a German cultural heritage, encouraged by the existence of a system of prizes and
awards based on criteria of artistic and cultural merit.
After the war, the German industry was heavily restructured
in line with American foreign policy. Production was dispersed and
American domination ensured, while the problems of the German
industry were exacerbated by a determination to make it independent of imports and to regain for German production the whole
of the home market. The result was a stream of insular and
provincial commercial genres.
Various systems of state aid began to be introduced in the
1950s in the form of government-guaranteed credits and, later,
subsidies through tax-relief. The latter involved quality ratings
to films of "artistic merit', and were administered by the FBW
(Filmbewertungsstelle Wiesbaden). However, as Thomas Elsaesser
has pointed out, the systems worked either in favour of those
already occuping a dominant position within the market and/
or functioned as a means of censorship within the climate of
the Cold War.18
The facts and details of state intervention following the Oberhausen Manifesto of 1962 are fairly well known: the setting up
of the Kuratorium junger deutsche film in 1965. the Film Subsidy
Bill of 1967, and the various interlocking systems of grants, subsidies and prizes since then, each feeding into the establishment
of the 'New German Cinema'. What needs re-stating in this context is, firstly, that there was a very limited home market for
these films. They achieved international acclaim (and international
distribution) but lacked distribution and exhibition opportunities
within Germany itself. Secondly, the cultural criteria involved in
the distribution of the funds available were heavily linked to a
romantic conception of authorship through the concept of the
AutorenfUm,11 with the result that the New German Cinema was
a series of star films by star names, the films themselves almost
obliged to contain marks of personal eccentricity (Herzog's perhaps are both the most extreme and the most typical, taking the
logic to its limits).18 Thirdly, and despite the role of television in
providing a space both for production and exhibition, the contradictions and the political problems produced by the vicious circle
of a continually declining commercial sector, a culturally privileged
production divorced from a strong exhibition network, and a
plurality of funding sources each geared within a narrowly defined
-set of cultural criteria have caused severe problems for film- '
makers lacking the adroit opportunism of someone like Fassbinder.
The producers of these films, primarily Ambrosio, Cines and

Itala, established a domestic position of great strength in the
face of French and American productions thanks both to their
SMe d'Or and to the advantages they enjoyed by virtue of Italy's
late entry into the First World War. The Italian futurists, meanwhile, were polemicising for an explicitly Italian avant-garde, and
wrote extensively about the cinema. 1916 saw the publication of
a manifesto entitled The Futurist Cinema published by Marinetti,
Corra, Emilio Settimelli, Arnaldo Ginna, Giacomo Balla and Remo
Chiti, as well as the production of Arnaldo Ginna's Vita futuristica
and three films by Anton Bragaglia ll mio Cadavere, 11 perfido
Incanto and Thais, each (presumably) privately financed.
Neither the futurists nor the international prestige and success
of the Italian cinema much outlasted the war. A holding company,
l'Unione Cinematografica Italiana (UCI) was formed with capital
provided by the Banca Commerziale Italiana, Banca Italiano di
Sconto and Credito Commerziale di Venezia under Giuseppe
Barattolo in a move to strengthen the Italian industry, but foreign
markets became gradually closed to Italian films following the
invasion of Hollywood producers and distributors. UCI was dissolved in 1923 after making its last film (another version of Quo
Italy
In reply to the vogue for French Films d'Art (inaugurated by The
Assassination of the Duke de Guise), the Italian industry towards
the end of the first decade of the 1900s produced its own Sirie
d'Or, beginning with Luigi Maggi's The Last Days of Pompeii in
1908. The Last Days of Pompeii, a classical epic spectacle, was to
inaugurate a specially important and successful cycle which
included Quo Vadis? (in its numerous versions), Spartacus (1914),
and above all, in 1914, Cabiria. As well as epics, Italy drew upon
Shakespeare, Dante, Dumas and others in film versions of The
Three Musketeers, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Inferno and Joan of Arc.
PathS, the producers of Film d'Art, were so worried that they
established a subsidiary in Rome entitled the Film d'Arte Italiano
(FAI), while one of the epics, The Fall of Troy (1911) became so
well known internationally that it broke the American Motion
Picture Patents company's blockade on European independent
production.
25
19 Quoted in Jean
Mitry, Histoire du
Cinema vol 2,
Editions
Universitaires,"
Paris 1967, p 369.
The end of the war saw both the emergence of the Neo-Realist
movement and the swamping of the Italian market by American
movies. Neo-realism became the very paradigm of Art Cinema in
the period immediately following the war, from the late 1940s
through to the early 1950s. It embodied nearly all the elements and
qualities which John Ellis lists in his analysis of attempts to
establish a commercial Art Cinema in Britain during the same
period: realism, humanism, lack of spectacle, lack of excesses in
Vadis?) with the help of German capital.

These events fed into a series of measures, statements and discussions concerned with the Italian industry and Italian film culture
that occurred during the period of fascist rule under Mussolini.
On the 2nd April 1926 a royal decree instituted a commission of
enquiry into the industry which led to establishment of L'Unione
per la Cinematografia Educativa (LUCE) and the passing of a quota
law in October decreeing that at least 10% of the films shown
in Italian cinemas should be Italian. Meanwhile a group of young
critics centred around the magazines Cinematografo and Lo
Schermo (Umberto Barbaro, Francesco Pasinetti, Luigi Chianni and
Alessandro Blasetti) began to articulate a demand for a new
cinema 'inspired by genuine facts and social realities'.19 They
formed a production company, Augustus Film, and produced Blasetti's first film Sole in 1929.
With the coming of sound, the Italian state began to restructure
the film industry even further, with the aim of stimulating Italian
production. The Direzione Generale per la Cinematografica was
founded in 1935, a year which also saw the opening of the
Sezione Cinematografica of the Banca del Lavoro, the state bank.
The Sezione Cinematografica was opened specifically as a means
by which to encourage the production of culturally approved films
on the basis of advances on box-office receipts. Meanwhile, Cinecitta studios, opened by Carlo Roncoroni, were taken over by the
state on his death in 1937. The following year a system of rebates
to producers was established which were paid in proportion to
box-office takings. The result of all these measures was a steady
increase in domestic production, which accelerated appreciably
during the war, from 30 films in 1933 to 119 in 1942. As in the
case of Germany during the fascist period, state intervention overall was clearly linked to a wish to produce a national (indeed
nationalist) cinema marked by specific ideological and artistic
features. Not an Art Cinema as such, but, rather, something like
a nationalist popular cinema; not a cinema that was necessarily
exportable, nor one that appealed to the values of 'art' and 'culture'
as established in the capitalist democracies.
The Andreotti Law was introduced in response to the flood of

imported films and the concomitant crisis within the Italian film
industry after the war. According to Thomas Guback, 600 American
films were exported to Italy in 1946.22 Over 800 films a year were
imported into Italy over the next three years. Under Andreotti's
proposals, a system of support for the industry was devised, consisting essentially of a tax on imported films to support domestic
production. For each film imported, the distributor had to deposit
2,500,000 lire with the Banca del Lavoro. The money was channelled into a fund from which producers could draw at very low
interest rates. There was thus no technical restriction on imported films (and exemptions were granted in return for import
licences from foreign countries for more Italian films), but the
number of American imports was reduced and Italian production
was increased, aided still further by the signing of a co-production
agreement with France. The agreement was signed in 1949, following calls from Italian producers themselves:
The only way we can stand up to the Americans is to extend still
further the system of co-production, either with France, or even
with England. At this moment 500 American films are on the
27
20 John Ellis, op cit.
21 Geoffrey
Nowell-Smith,
'Voyage to Italy:
Rossellini in
Context", Eye to
Eye, September/
October 1979.
22 Thomas Guback,
The International
Film Industry,
Indiana University
Press 1969, p 24.
style and technique and so on.20 It is important to note firstly

that its unity as a movement was conjunctural insofar as it was
dependent upon a particular political situation: 'the euphoria of
liberation and the alliance of all political forces Liberal, Catholic, Socialist and Communist involved in the struggle against
Fascism and German occupation'.21 Secondly, many of the directors
and critics involved in neo-realism had at some point been connected either with the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia,
founded by the state in 1932, and, or with one of the two major
film journals. Bianco e Nero and Cinema. Thirdly, as regards production, distribution and exhibition, neo-realism was a hybrid
phenomenon, in part commercial, in part receiving state support
(Bicycle Thieves (1949) was financed by the state distribution service, Italneggio, and exhibited in the state exhibition circuit), and
in part linked to political organisations like the ANPI (Associazone
Nazionale Partigiani Italiani). Fourthly, despite its international
prestige, Neo-Realism came under strong attack from the government in 1949, partly because it was considered to lack commercial
potential and partly because of its political overtones. Under the
'Andreotti Law' of December 1949, the Direzione Generale dello
Spettacolo, a body empowered to subsidise films, was established,
and it used its powers to stop, in effect, both the production and
international distribution of neo-realist films.
23 The Italian
producer
Scalera speaking
in 1947, quoted in
Pierre Leprohon,
The Italian
Cinema, Seeker
and Warburg,
London 1972, p 97
25 Quoted in
Goffredo Fofi, II
Cinema Italiano:
Servi e Padroni,
Feltrinelli, Milan
1973 p 48.
26 Ibid p 48.
27 These figures are

quoted in the
Report of the
Committee on
Culture and
Education,
Council of
Europe,
Strasbourg, 1979.
Like the Andreotti Law, the agreement with France was designed
specifically to aid the production of 'quality' films, and thus to
gain a niche within the world market:
Article 1 stated that the aim was to facilitate by all possible
means the coproduction of Quality Films, films which generally
require a high budget and whose costs are then distributed between
different producers; over and above this, it was specified that the
basic idea was to make films of such quality that they would
enable the expansion of French cinema and Italian cinema throughout the world.21
During the period that followed, up until the next major Aid
Law in 1965, the Italian Art Cinema flourished, with films by
Antonioni, Fellini, Pasolini and Bertolucci, among others, making
their critical and financial mark both nationally and internationally.
The Aid Law of 1965 largely strengthened both the systems of
state aid and the cultural ideology lying behind it. The law, indeed,
stated the importance of the social function of cinema as 'a means
of artistic expression, cultural information and social communication'.23 The production fund of the Banca del Lavoro was augmented by state funds, and producers were empowered to draw up
to 30% of their production costs at an interest rate of 3 % , the
fund being specifically designated as support for films 'inspired
by artistic and cultural aims'.28 There was also a system of prizes
offered for films of cultural merit.
The situation remains much the same today, with state funding channelled through the Banca del Lavoro (2 million lire in
1978 going to 'films of artistic and cultural merit'27 and with a
system of awards and prizes acting in conjunction with import
restrictions and co-productions to sustain the Italian industry as
a whole and its Art Film sector in particular.
There are one or two other points worth noting. One is the
powerful and influential role played by producers like Dino de
Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti. Another is the way in which a considerable portion of funding is reserved for promotional and cultural activities: festivals, conferences and the like. This is especially true of funding at a municipal level and is a result of interparty rivalry; the Christian Democrats and the PCI compete with
one another for cultural prestige. The third and final point to note
24 Claude Degand,
Le Cinema . . .
Cette Industrie.
Editions
Techniques et
Economiques,
1972 p 31.
market in Italy a great danger for the Italian film and even the
French film.2%
j
!
is the crucial role played nowadays by Italian television (there are

similarities with the role of television in France and Germany).
RAI 2 has produced and shown films by Rossellini, Bertolucci, Olmi,
Petri, Cavani and Pasolini, as well as films by Straub-Huillet and
Jancso. Importantly, it pays high fees for showing Italian films
and has engaged in a significant number of culturally prestigious
co-productions. Once again, inter-party rivalry (articulated in the
control of RAI 1 and RAI 2) has played an important part.
The mode and terrain of Art Cinema thus shifted during the
1920s, emerging as a strategy through which to counter Hollywood's dominance in line with the first acts of legislation (quota
laws and the like) designed to restrict the flood of Hollywood product. The 1920s in fact saw a considerable fragmentation and differentiation in production, distribution and exhibition with the
beginnings of the emergence of those distinct spaces of cinematic
activity we are used to today: entertainment, Art Cinema, the
avant-garde, agit-prop and political cinema, and so on. Where
previously figures like Chaplin and Griffith were able to embody
the virtues and features of entertainment, experimentation and art
together, the configuration of forces inside and outside the
cinematic institution began to fracture that unity into a set of
distinct spheres of practice, circulation, discussion and activity.
The coming of sound consolidated these distinctions (in effect
The rough pattern of the history of Art Cinema in these countries is thus as follows: following an early period in which the
cinema appealed to and addressed what would seem to have been
a largely proletarian audience, a number of countries, including
Germany, France, Italy and the United States (through Zukor's
distribution company Famous Plays by Famous Players) began
developing a cinema which sought an address to the bourgeoisie.
A process of change and differentiation was at work, but the shift
was less towards a bourgeois audience and away from the proletariat than a shift towards an address to the two together. The
war provided Hollywood with an opportunity to extend its share
of the world market and to challenge the prominence hitherto
enjoyed by France and Scandinavia in particular. Concomitantly,
through the work of Griffith especially, Hollywood films themselves succeeded in allying proletarian and bourgeois genres with
novelistic conventions of cinematic narration, thus producing a
unified and unifying mode of textual address, a genuinely popular
form of entertainment with a mass rather than a class-based
audience.
29
30
The second point concerns the extent to which, historically,

censorship and sexuality have figured as crucial elements in the
emergence and consolidation of Art Cinema. The development of
film clubs and cini-clubs in the 1920s the exhibition basis for
eclipsing avant-garde production until after the Second World

War) and ensured the hegemony of Hollywood and novelistic
entertainment. State support for indigenous European industries
increased, especially in the fascist countries, but it was not until
after the Second World War that state support became firmly
linked to the promotion and development of national Art Cinemas
under the aegis of liberal-democratic and social democratic governments and under the pressure of the presence of America and
Hollywood in Europe. The result was an efflorescence of Art
Cinema, the production of the films and the figures and the movements with which Art Cinema tends massively to be associated
today. Before pulling some general and theoretical points from the
historical sketches given above, it is worth, firstly, stressing the
extent to which the development of Art Cinema policies in these
countries, allied in particular with systems of state support, provides a strong point of contrast with what has happened in
Britain. Britain's course has nearly; always been to try and compete with Hollywood on its own terms, in part because it shares
the same language. Where, after the Second World War in particular, that language (in alliance with other manifestations of
America's cultural, economic, and political presence) could appear
quite simply as a sign of foreign presence in most continental
countries, its threat in Britain (accents notwithstanding) was much
less marked. Moreover, sharing a language with the United States
was one reason why British producers could entertain so seriously
the idea of competing with Hollywood for the American market.
At any rate, there has been no investment in a 'British cinema of
quality' comparable with what has occurred elsewhere in Europe.
This is one reason why independent cinema in Britain has taken
the course that it has, emerging as a conjunction of avant-garde
and agitational practices across currents in film criticism and
theory: there was simply no space, even on the margins of the
industry, for the emergence of aesthetically or ideologically independent work. In other European countries, thanks to the existence
of an Art Cinema sector and to the financial support that that sector
receives (and thanks also to the role of television in these countries), progressive and innovative work by Godard, Rivette, StraubHuillet, Duras and others has emerged in the interstices of the
Art Cinema institution.
the subsequent emergence of Art Cinema as a distinct sector within

the cinematic institution was due in large part to censorship
restrictions on the showing of films from the Soviet Union. The
Soviet films themselves became the models for notions of film as
art and the fact that they were subject to political censorship
meant that they could only be shown in private members' clubs.
The conjunction of censorship with an intellectual interest in the
aesthetics of the Soviet films and with the construction of a
specific exhibition space not only for Soviet films but also for
other films considered to have particular 'artistic' qualities set the
seal on the construction of Art Cinema as a cinematic space distinct from that of the mainstream cinema of entertainment. Censorship continued to be an important factor from the 1930s on,
though less in the area of politics than in the area of the representation of sexuality.
Part and parcel of this process of differentiation has been, since

the mid-1950s at least, a difference in the 'explicit' representation
28 See Jean-Louis
Comolli, *A
Body Too Much',
Screen, vol 19 no
2, Summer 1978.
Comolli refers
only to La
Marseillaise but
similar remarks
apply also, in
certain respects, to
Naria, La Rigle
du Jeu, La
Grande Illusion,
The Golden Coach
and The Vanishing
Corporal.
It could be argued that the cinematic tradition constructed and

reconstructed over the years as the tradition of Art Cinema has
always been concerned with the inscription of representations of
the body that differ from those predominating in Hollywood. With
the emergence of the star system at the point of the elaboration
and stabilisation of novelistic modes of cinematic narration, the
body, in Hollywood, became simultaneously the incarnation of the
coherence of fictional characterisation and the nodal site of a
fetishistic regime of eroticisation and sexual representation. Together with a reticence of gesture and (later) vocal delivery, these
features came definitively to mark the representation of the body
in Hollywood films. European Art Films from the 1920s on were
marked by (major and minor) differences. German expressionism
stresses the rhetoric of bodily movement and gesture: Soviet films
were often marked by a refusal of the star system, the use of nonprofessional actors, and, in Eisenstein's case at least, the development of a system of 'typage'; Renoir's films stressed the artifice of
acting, pushing the oscillation between body and role as far as it
would go within the limits imposed by the novelistic28; neorealism was marked by its refusal to use stars; Antonioni's films
often stressed the plastic qualities of the body as a component part
of an overall decor by refusing certain elements of character and
narrative motivation; Fellini's films, from La Dolce Vita (1960)
onwards, constructed an 'over-inscription* of the fetishised body of
the star (especially the female star) through a rhetoric of systematic
hyperbole; and so on.
31
32
The Code prohibited representations of sexuality, the naked male

and female body, and sexual relations and activities. On the continent, censorship systems and the debates around them drew
heavily upon discourses around the 'adult' nature of art and around
'realism', linking in with debates around the representation of
sexuality in the other arts. The consequence was that continental
films differed or were able to differ from those of Hollywood
with respect to representations of sexuality and the cultural status
that those representations were able to draw upon. Hence films
like Une Partie de Campagne (1936), La Bete Humaine (1938), and
Le Jour Se Lbve (1939). (The fact that these examples from the
1930s are French rather than German or Italian is a reflection of the
fact that the latter at this time were fascist countries). However,
since the Hays Code was in effect the instrument of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA later the
MPPA, Motion Picture Association of America), and since the MPPDA
controlled the entire industry in America, films from outside the
United States which were considered to infringe the Code were
denied distribution and exhibition. After the war though, as the
anti-trust legislation began to divorce exhibition from production
and distribution and thus to weaken the grip of the MPPA (as it
of sexuality and sexual activity in general and the female body in

particular. It is a difference whose existence and significance for
Art Cinema was importantly determined by the adoption of the
Hays Code in Hollywood in 1934. Before the Hays Code, sexuality
and censorship were issues and features common to both European
and Hollywood cinema. From time to time the product of certain
specific countries acquired a special notoriety (the Danish white
slave trade cycle and the 'health and hygiene' films produced in
Germany towards the end of the First World War are two examples), but, by and large, each country produced films which were
equally 'explicit', equally notorious and equally subject to demands
for censorship and propriety. Indeed, it seems there was a very
specific regime of sexual representation tied to the epic and the
historical spectacle that was common to the United States, Italy
and France in particular, and included films by De Mille, Griffith,
Gance and Von Stroheim. The adoption of the Hays Code arose
partly as a consequence of vociferous demands for the censorship
of films in the United States. It was a way in which Hollywood was
able to ward off these threats (as much economic as ideological
censorship legislation in individual states would have made many
films unmarketable on a national scale) and to standardise its own
product as 'family entertainment'.
was then) and the Hays Code as it applied to imported films, alternative distribution and exhibition circuits began to be formed
to show films from Europe including those which would previously
have been denied access to American screens.
With the opening of a market in America, European films were
able to trade more stably and commercially both upon their status
as 'adult' art and upon their reputation for 'explicit' representations
of sexuality. Hence the steady accumulation of these films through
the 1950s and into the 1960s: La Ronde (1950), Summer with
Monika (1952), And God Created Woman (1956), La Notte (1960),
L'Eclisse (1962), La Dolce Vita (1960), Les Amants (1958).
Viridiana (1961), The Silence (1963), S | (1963), Une Femme
Mariie (1964) and so on. Indeed, it could be maintained that from
the mid-1960s onward Art Cinema has stabilised itself around a
new genre: the soft-core art film. Hence Last Tango in Paris (1972),
Belle de ]our (1967), Pasolini's trilogy of The Arabian Nights
(1974), The Decameron (1970) and The Canterbury Tales (1971),
as well as Theorem (1969) and Salo (1975), VAmour Fou (1968),
La Bete (1975), Immoral Tales (1974), Casanova (1977) The Night
Porter (1973), Private Vices, Public Virtues (1976) and so on.
Where previously the history of Art Cinema had been, apart from its
authors, one of a series of unstable and short-lived movements
(expressionism, Poetic Realism, Neo-Realism, the New Wave), the
names of its authors, indeed, serving as the only conceptual means
by which to categorise its output consistently, it now appears that
there is a relatively permanent genre towards which Art Cinema
internationally has begun to gravitate, assured as it is of an international market, notoriety and (generally) a degree of cultural and
artistic prestige.29
29 It is in this
context that
Paul Willemen's
remarks on the
fourth look and
voyeurism with
respect to the art
film and
pornography
acquire a
particular
significance. See
'Letter to John',
Screen, vol 21 no
2, Summer 1980,
esp pp 57-8.
It is at this point that I want to pull together some elements

from the historical sketches of Art Cinema in France, Italy and
Germany, pointing to a number of general characteristics
and drawing some general conclusions, before moving on to some
remarks on independent cinema at the moment. I shall be concentrating largely on the limitations and problems of Art Cinema
and of Art Cinema policies.-But it is important to state firstly that
Art Cinema has, historically, provided real if limited spaces
for genuinely radical work, though the impact of that work has
often been blocked and nullified by the overall institutional contexts in which it has found itself. Moreover, despite the generalisations I shall make, it is, certainly for those working towards a
radical practice of cinema in the countries I have instanced, the
33
34
differences, distinctions, specificities and opportunities that are

important.
The first important general point to note about Art Cinema is
that it always tends to involve balance between a national aspect
on the one hand and an international aspect on the other: at the
level of the market, at the level of the discourses of film theory
and film criticism, at the level of the discourses involved in the
articulation of policies (either within the industry or within the
state) at the level of legislation, and at the level of the films
themselves.
The production, distribution and exhibition of films always takes
place within the context of pre-defined national boundaries, cultures, governments and economies. Because of the determinations
exercised by this context, Hollywood's international dominance is
nearly always conceived by the countries whose markets it dominates as a specifically national problem. Because of this, policies
articulated as a solution to the problem nearly always involve the
construction and reconstruction, firstly of a national industry to
whose experiences they can refer and to whose structures, practices
and problems their statements can be addressed, and secondly of
national cultural and cinematic traditions which the measures
embodied in such policies are expected to foster, through protection, encouragement and incentive. Stretching back through
Malraux's policies as French Minister of Culture, through Swedish
Art Cinema after the Second World War (where Bergman, for
example, emerged as an artist working within a specific Swedish
cultural movement the 'writers of the forties'), through Blasetti's polemics in Cinematografico to Erich Pommer's policies as
head of production of UFA, concern with national culture, the
national economy, the national industry and with national cinematic traditions has remained a constant in Art Cinema and the
discourses it has involved. Legislation in the form of quotas,
subventions, prizes or awards can only apply across a national
territory organised through a national state apparatus (though this
may be modified with the development of EEC legislation) and
almost always involves definitions of what constitutes an Italian (or
French or German) film. It is only on the basis of such definitions
that aid laws can function. Hence while the films made within any
one country will tend inevitably, because of the overdetermined
situation in which they are produced, to derive their intertextual
affiliations from national cultures and traditions, the adoption of
Art Cinema policies tends to re-mark such affiliation, encouraging
Art Cinema is always, then, a matter of balance between these

two aspects. The nature of this balance can perhaps best be exemplified by the fact that during the course of their international
circulation. Art films tend nearly always to retain a mark which
serves simultaneously as a sign of their cultural status and a sign
of their national origin. This mark is that of the national language.
When they are shown outside of their country of origin, where
their national status and their place within specific national
traditions will be evident, Art films tend to be subtitled rather than
^^^^"^^^B
35
30 Nowell-Smith,
P cit> PP 17-18.
m^^^^^^^^^^m
their systematic inscription into the films produced under the aegis
of such policies. The films themselves thus participate actively and
systematically in the construction and reconstruction of particular
national identities while the marks of nationality with which they
are inscribed serve further to differentiate them from the films
produced "in Hollywood. (It is no accident, in this context, that
Geoffrey Nowell-Smith's review of Radio On touches on the particular issue of the way in which the film situates itself at an
iconographical level within the traditions of British realism, precisely the tradition appealed to so often as its-major artistic
heritage and hence, the potential basis upon which a native Art
Cinema could be built).30
There is also an important international dimension to Art
Cinema. Art films are produced for international distribution and
exhibition as well as for local consumption. Art Cinema is a niche
within the international film market, a sector that is not yet completely dominated by Hollywood (though it is one that Hollywood
has begun to take seriously, as its European co-productions and as
films by Altman, Coppola and others perhaps start to illustrate).
Art Cinema also, in its cultural and aesthetic aspirations, relies
heavily upon an appeal to the 'universal' values of culture and art.
And this is very much reflected in the existence of international
film festivals, where international distribution is sought for these
films, and where their status as 'Art' is confirmed and re-stated
through the existence of prizes and awards, themselves neatly
balancing the criteria of artistic merit and commercial potential.
This international aspect of Art Cinema is one reason why the
policies pursued by the fascist governments in Italy and Germany
during the 1930s and 1940s cannot simply and easily be seen
merely as extreme initial tendencies in what was to become a
general trend. In these instances the international dimension was
missing and the policies were elaborated within the context of
very specific nationalist ideologies.
36
There are a number of reasons for this. Concepts of art as individual expression are predominant within most cultural institutions
and discourses. And they are readily mobilised in marking and
conceptualising what is held up as a basic difference between
Hollywood and Art Cinema: that the former is the realm of impersonal profit-seeking and entertainment where the latter is the
realm of creativity, freedom and meaning. Authorship, moreover,
can perform other functions. It can exist as a means of accounting
for and unifying conceptually the multiplicity of differences that
can exist between Art films and Hollywood films, reducing that
plurality to a single homogeneous principle. The name of the
author can function as a 'brand name', a means of labelling and
selling a film and of orienting expectation and channelling meaning
and pleasure in the absence of generic boundaries and categories.
dubbed. The international circulation of 'entertainment' films, by

contrast, tends to involve the erasure of this mark. The balance
between the two elements is, thus, a different one.
National Art Cinema policies involve, of necessity, mechanisms
of selection, differentiation and evaluation in the allocation of
funds through loans, guarantees, prizes and awards. To that extent,
they also require the elaboration of a set of criteria as to what,
in any one instance, constitutes 'art', 'culture' and 'quality' and, as
a corollary, a set of marks is inscribed into the films, projects,
scripts and scenarios to which these criteria are applied, differentiating them from conventional commercial projects and signifying
their status as Art. There exists, then, a space for the intervention
of a number of competing definitions of art, culture and quality and
for the consequent funding of a range of practices differing from
those of the mainstream commercial industry. Historically, however, that space has been foreclosed. What has tended to fill it has
been an ideology of art as individual expression, manifest both in
policies to support and to fund new film-makers (conceived as
individuals who otherwise would be denied the means to express
themselves) and in the prevalence of auteurism within the discourses circulating centrally across the institutions involved in Art
Cinema as a whole. Hence the German Autorenfihn. Hence the
dominance of auteurist ideologies in funding committees, awards
panels and juries. And hence at a broader cultural level, the overwhelming association of Art Cinema as a whole with a set of
individual names: Antonioni, Bergman, Bertolucci, Bresson, Bufiuel,
Chabrol, Dreyer, Fassbinder, Fellini, Herzog, Truffaut, Visconti,
Wenders, etc.
37
It is a conjunction of avant-garde and politically propagandist

practices which, together with specific currents in cultural, political
and cinematic theory, characterises British independent cinema, or,
rather, its IFA wing. And it is precisely commodity-based structures,
relations and practices that independent cinema has sought to
challenge under the rubric of a social practice of cinema.31 Re-
And as a means of categorisation itself the concept of the author

is essential to aid policies geared to the funding of individual films
rather than to funding specific practices. In giving a coherent
rationale both to the policies and to the films they produce (they
are all instances of 'self-expresion' hence their eclectic heterogeneity), authorship serves partly as a means by which to avoid
coming to terms with the concept of film as social practice.
Overdetermining all these reasons and, indeed, most of the
other features that mark Art Cinema and its films, is the fact that
to varying degrees Art Cinema functions and has always functioned
in terms of a conception of film as commodity. Art Cinema, fundamentally, is a mechanism of discrimination. It is a means of
producing and sustaining a division within the field of cinema
overall, a division that functions economically, ideologically and
aesthetically. The terms of that division are constructed through a
discrimination between art and industry, culture and entertainment,
meaning and profit. However, the division and its discriminations
do not, in general, function so as to challenge the economic,
ideological and aesthetic bases of the cinematic institution as it
currently exists. They function, instead, so as to carve out a space,
a sector, within it, one which can be inhabited, so to speak, by
national industries and national film-makers whose existence would
otherwise be threatened by the domination of Hollywood. In the
division of labour it sustains (with the ideology of authorship
reinforcing a distinction between intellectual and manual labour);
in the practices of production, distribution and exhibition it entails
(with the relations between distribution and exhibition on the one
hand and production on the other taking the form of commodity
circulation); and in the forms and relations of representation with
which it is associated, Art Cinema has rarely disturbed or altered
fundamentally the commodity-based structures, relations and
practices of what it likes nevertheless to label the 'commercial'
film industry. It has merely modified them slightly. Certainly,
radically avant-garde and insistently political practices have been
persistently relegated either to its margins or else to a different
social and cinematic space altogether.
31 See Sue Clayton
and Jonathan
Curling, 'On
Authorship',
Screen, vol 20
no 1, Spring
1979, esp pp
35-37.
38
cognising that a socially progressive cinema is not simply a matter

either of films or of new relations between form and content, but
that it is also a matter of production practices, modes of distribution and exhibition, and new relations between films and their
audiences (indeed, a new conception of 'audience' altogether),
independent cinema in this country has begun decisively to struggle
against commodity-based conceptions of cinema and the boundaries
political, aesthetic, ideological, economic that such conceptions can constitute.
With the mainstream commercial film industry in this country
at the point of collapse and disappearance, it could be and has
been argued that a space exists for investment in a national Art
Cinema (with a scale of funding similar to that available in other
European countries) and that this Art Cinema may in turn open a
space for the consolidation and expansion of genuinely independent
work. It is undoubtedly the case that arguments couched in terms
of the discourse of Art Cinema are more likely to win funds at
governmental level than those couched exclusively in terms of a
discourse of social practice. It is also the case that independent
films tend by and large to circulate as Art films in any case, by
virtue of the fact that they are multiply marked as distinct from
the films of Hollywood (through their textual characteristics, subject matter, and spheres of circulation). Both facts indicate the
necessity and the urgency of a serious engagement with Art
Cinema and its practices on the part of organisations like the IFA.
Clearly also, however, any strategy of engagement would be useless if it amounted in practice simply to the production of films
designed smoothly to fit the structures, discourses, relations and
practices that have marked Art Cinema hitherto. A strategy of this
kind would then simply amount to the renewal of Art Cinema
rather than to its transformation. What would need to mark a more
progressive and productive strategy would be a recognition, firstly,
of a distinction between films themselves and their mode of
circulation and, secondly, of the different modes in which films are
viewed and audiences constructed across the sectors comprising
the cinematic institution as a whole. Finally, in articulating arguinents for the construction of an indigenous Art Cinema that
would allow the beginnings of a transformation of each of its
spheres of practice (production, distribution, exhibition, critical
discussion) two conceptions central to the institution of Art
Cinema as it exists internationally at the moment need to be displaced: those of authorship, on the one hand, and of the individual,
39
I would like to thank

Ben Brewster, Mark
Nash. Rod Stoneman
and Paul Willemen
for their comments
on an earlier draft
of this article, which
is based upon a
shorter article
written for the BFI's
new Production
Division catalogue.
'We really feel the lack of a magazine of this kind in Great Britain.
If only there was a way of producing a monthly so packed with
information within a solid ideological perspective! Our monthlies
are really an embarassment in comparison, as so much to do with
'British' culture... The design is very distinctive ittlblends in
exceptionally well with the dynamic and gutsy cc^yage it
consistently affords.' (Framework 12, p. 48)
SKRIEN, postbus 318. Amsterdam
self-contained work on the other. It may well be that the debates

around television and the Fourth Channel will begin to provide
the terms and the opportunity for mounting arguments that do not
centrally depend on these conceptions, since television as a whole
is much less dependent upon either of them than film. Whether
this proves to be the case or not, Art Cinema policies in Europe,
both contemporary and historical, are, it seems to me, more
useful as a strategic precedent than as a model, since, with few
exceptions, they are and have been constantly marked by a combination of commodity-based structures, relations and practices on
the one hand and the culturally reactionary discourses of high art
on the other.
....IF Mty
\mrtreR
TO
Subscription, (three issues) Individual 2.50/$6, Library 5/$ 10. Outside

Europe copies will be sent by accelerated surface post.
News from Neasden, 12 Fleet Road, London NW3 2QS, UK
Richard Nixon was educated at Whittier College.
A Catalogue of new radical publications, News from Neasden lists books,

pamphlets and periodicals with a short description and full bibliographic
details. Each issue also includes twenty pages of articles and reviews. 'Mailed
free to bookshops and financed by radical publishers, the service is noncritical.' Bill Katz, Library Journal.
Visual Anthropology, 22: 200210, 2009

Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0894-9468 print=1545-5920 online
DOI: 10.1080/08949460802625247
The Neoliberal World Order and Patriarchal

Power: A Discursive Study of Korean Cinema
and International Co-production
Sunny Yoon
This research is an attempt to examine the ideological aspects of Korean cinema in
the context of politico-economic changes. Korean cinema is in the process of economic restructuring, driven by neoliberal forces on a global scale. These economic
forces also influence film texts on a concrete level, creating hybrid characters and
narratives in blockbusters and co-produced films. These new genre films have
tended to reinforce patriarchal ideology, making it increasingly pronounced, as
Korean films become more technologically advanced and the production system
globalized. To illustrate these effects, this article offers a textual analysis of Never
Forever [Kim Jina 2007], which was the first U.S.Korean co-production.
The Korean film industry has been undergoing a structural transformation in

recent years. The entire film industry, including production, distribution and
exhibition, has been transformed in response to international and domestic
market forces. The new system has produced alternative genres and styles of
film. Under neoliberal pressure, this film industry has come to produce blockbuster genre films and to form a monopolistic film market. The diversity of
Korean cinema, in terms of both content and production, has been weakened
as big-budget blockbuster films and multiplex theaters have come to dominate
the market. The Korean economy, on account of its dependence on exports,
has been open to neoliberal market forces since the 1980s, especially to those of
the American and European economies. While the neoliberal world economy
has affected the Korean economy directly as a whole, the Korean film industry
managed to maintain its public support and diversity against global competition
until the beginning of this century. The battle over keeping a Screen Quota, a
protection measure to ensure that a certain amount of screen time is dedicated
to Korean cinema, has been at the forefront of the struggle to protect the domestic
film industry. Until 2006 the Screen Quota had mandated that Korean films be
shown for more than 146 days a year. In effect, that figure was actually 106
SUNNY YOON is a communication scholar specializing in visual culture and global media flows,
particularly in East Asia. She has conducted research focusing on cultural studies in connection
with political economy. She has published various books and articles on Korean cinema and
television shows in the context of global market forces and cultural resistance in the region. She
is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication at Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea.
E-mail: syoon@hanyang.ac.kr
200
Neoliberal World Order and Patriarchy
201
because screenings during the high season earned greater points towards meeting the Screen Quota requirements. In other words Korean films, prior to 2006,
were required to occupy about one-third of the total screen time.
Ironically, the film industry faced its greatest challenge from neoliberalism
when military authority was demolished and a Korean civilian government
finally came to power in 1998. This initiated a period in which the Screen Quota
was threatened and big conglomerates and financial capital entered into the
Korean film market. Despite a very public resistance launched by the film industry, the government bowed to U.S. pressure, and the KoreaU.S. Free Trade
Agreement (FTA) signed in 2006 cut the number of days Korean films must be
shown by half, bringing the Screen Quota for Korean films down to 73 days a year.
At the same time, the Korean film business started to seek other ways besides
political resistance to enhance the domestic industry. The big-budget blockbuster
film was one such response. Internationalization in order to raise the budgets
required for such films was another. Presently Korean filmmakers consider international co-productions, particularly with Hollywood, to be a means to surmount
the crisis in the Korean cinema. This industrial=economic response also has ideological consequences. In my view, these neoliberal mechanisms have strengthened conservatism, particularly in the representation of women. As a case
study, this paper will analyze Never Forever [Kim Jina 2007], the only co-produced
film between Korea and the United States that has been released so far.
THE KOREAN FILM INDUSTRY IN THE NEOLIBERAL WORLD

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Since 1998 when the United States, working on behalf of Hollywood, sought to
eliminate protective measures such as the Screen Quota, people in the industry
have been in the midst of a political battle against Hollywood. According to the
U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), diminution of the Screen Quota was one of
the conditions for opening the FTA negotiations. In turn, the Korean film industry
started to organize international cooperation against Hollywoods dominance. In
this effort, they found the French Coalition for Cultural Diversity (FCCD) to be
most supportive, and Korean delegates also addressed the French parliament in
2000 [Society for Screen Cultural Ties 2000, www.screenquota.com]. Since
Hollywoods dominance in EU countries had gone up by 70 percent in 2000, the
Korean policy was viewed as an exemplar for supporting domestic films.
Additionally, Korean filmmakers participated in convening the Convention on
the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression of UNESCO
in Oct. 2005, and demanded that the Korean parliament legalize the rule officially
[KOFIC 2006]. They argued that U.S. pressure on cutting off the Screen Quota
was a violation of the UNESCO international convention. The convention was
almost unanimously passed by support of 148 countries, with only two votes
in opposition cast by the United States and Israel at UNESCO in 2005. The convention claimed cultural exception to the free trade principles of the WTO and
approved sovereignty of each nations cultural policies. Koreans in the film
industry in March 2006 filed, along with Canadas coalition for Cultural Diversity
202
S. Yoon
(CCD), an appeal to the U.S.Korea FTA hearing at the House in the United
States arguing that USTRs requirement for reducing the Screen Quota was a
violation of the UNESCO convention.
These global struggles gained further visibility through international film
festivals, in particular, those instances where Korean films won awards, as at
Cannes, Venice and Berlin.1 Here film directors and actors turned their award
speeches into political commentary. Also the Pusan International Film Festival
(PIFF), which has within a decade emerged as the most important film festival
in Asia and the tenth largest in the world, has become a stage for garnering
international resistance against U.S. dominance. PIFF has consistently organized
seminars and protests against the undercutting of cultural diversity and the
Screen Quota.
However, the political struggle to protect the Screen Quota has had only a
half-way success as indicated by the cut of the Screen Quota to half in 2006.
The other side of the battle with Hollywood is a strategy of compromise, an
assimilation of its aesthetic and industry practices as a means to enter the global
and domestic U.S. market. The first aspect of this compromise is industrial: the
Korean blockbuster, which, as in Hollywood, has led to an enlargement in
the size of the movie at the cost of diminishing the number of productions [King
2000; Hozic 2001]. The budget of Korean films has been doubling each year since
the first Korean blockbuster Shwiri hit box office success 10 years ago. These
blockbusters have recovered 50 percent of the domestic market for the Korean
cinema and also led the Korean Wave=Hallyu in Asian countries.2 Nevertheless
the success of these big-budget films has reduced the likelihood of small-scale,
independent movies being produced these days.
The distribution system is also veering towards a monopolistic structure,
eroding the earlier decentralized system of ownership. Until the 1990s numerous
theater owners were involved in film distribution so that no central control had
worked effectively. However, since neoliberal restructuring two big companies
presently take up 80 percent of total film distribution [KOFIC 2007]. Since big
conglomerates have entered the film distribution market, they have established
vertical concentration, combining control over distribution, exhibition, and
production to drive out the independents. At the end of 2006, UIP, the international distributor of Paramount and Universal,3 left Korea after a decade since
first having come to do business in 1988, when Korean filmmakers and distributors brutally battled against them, even putting snakes in movie theaters. As a
result of monopolizing distribution, small-budget, independent films had only
6.0 percent of the total viewership although they accounted for 45.7 percent of
the total Korean film production [Korean Society for Filmmakers 2007]. While
Korean filmmakers have fought for diversity in the international market, they
are ironically losing that very battle at home. The director Kim Ki-duk, who
has won several awards in prestigious international film festivals, recently challenged the limits placed on independent cinema at home. He declared that he
would no longer show his films on domestic screens, accusing blockbuster
movies like The Host, which drew the highest number of Korean viewers
(13 million) in history and occupied 62 percent of the total screening [Cine 21,
2006], of benefiting from an unfair distribution system.
203
Moreover, Korean films have begun to imitate the forms and genres of
Hollywoods blockbuster cinema. Narratives have become simpler, and action
heroes emphasized. This is not to say that blockbusters in the two countries
are exactly the same, because Koreans are trying to defend their film culture
against Hollywood by developing domestic issues and stories. For instance, it
was popularly held that the huge success of Shwiri was based on the fact that
it was grounded in the Korean social context (i.e., conflict between North and
South Korea). Yet the style of the film was similar to Hollywoods. One can easily
find, quite literally in films of this genre, direct lift-offs from Hollywood. For the
purposes of marketing as well, Korean movies frequently emphasize that they
use the same technology, items and staff as certain Hollywood productions.
In these films, one can also observe a conservatism regarding female characters, who are trivialized and portrayed as passive in comparison to the male
action figures. Since Shwiri (6 million viewers), the biggest blockbuster hits have
had male action heroes. For instance, in Friends (8 million), Silmido (10 million),
Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War (12 million), The Host (13 million)all box office
record setterswomen are mostly reduced to auxiliary or dependent roles.
At first glance, the woman protagonist of Shwiri [Kang Jaekyu, 1998], a North
Korean spy, is a unique female character in Korean cinema. The film, a love story,
revolves around the relationship she develops with an intelligence officer of the
KCIA whom she had initially approached in order to destabilize him. Instead she
falls in love with him and is killed in the end. The film traces the collapse of this
woman, who in spite of her training and talents as an assassin is shown to be an
alcoholic femme fatale who is so confused and neurotic that she ends up sacrificing
herself (and her nation and faith). The hero, her lover, on the other hand emerges
as the center of the films moralityhe shoots and kills her in a face-to-face
encounter in which she had actually turned her gun upon others in a bid to save
him. In the end, her character is summarized as Hydra, citing the Greek myth
whose protagonist is a monstrous femme fatale destined to be punished.
Since this film, the representation of women in Korean blockbusters has
become progressively problematic. In the movie Friends [Kwak Kyungtaek
2001], female characters were trivialized and represented as targets of sexual
conquest amongst gangsters. Overall, women remained peripheral to a plot
fully taken up with friendship and betrayal amongst men.
Silmido [Kang Useuk 2003] took this masculinist logic to an extreme. Its setting
in spy-training ruled out having any main female characters. Based on a true
story, the film is set in the military government practice of training felons to serve
as spies in North Korea. The film is full of male bodies undergoing dreadful
training and torture. Two men escape from the island to the town where they
brutally rape a civilian woman. The scene, played out in graphic detail, is the
only instance when a woman appears on the screen. Silmido offers no humanizing sketch of this victim to counter its lingering examination of the torn-up
female body left by the two men. Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War [Kang Jaekyu,
2003] also minimized female characters while emphasizing realistic descriptions
of the battlefields of the Korean War and brotherhood amongst men. The movie
is a tragic tale of two brothers who are separated by the Korean War. The elder
brother goes to fight the war in order to protect his younger brother. He becomes
204
S. Yoon
a war hero and a killing machine, leaving the younger brother to reconcile with
the memory of his tragic death. The women in the film are weak and vulnerable,
merely there to further the plot. The main female character is the lover of the
elder brother. She is accused of being a prostitute and sacrificed to a death
despite her innocence and self-sacrifice. The Host [Bong Junho 2006] presented
greater complexity in its portrayal of women, as it also combined diverse genres.
This film is about a monster born due to pollution of the Han River and a family
that tries to save their teenage daughter who has been kidnapped by this monster. There are two main female characters: one is the kidnapped teenage girl
and the other is her aunt, who eventually shoots down the monster with an
arrow. Yet the girl is portrayed stereotypically as the ultimate bait of the monster
and the aunts defensive attack is shown to be humorously weak and outdated.
In contrast to the male characters in the film who act, discuss and even cause
trouble, these women remain largely silent props. Moreover, the other images
of women in the film are as victims of the monsters brutal attacks with no means
to act in their self-defense. Men are also attacked, but womens fatalities are
rendered in far greater dramatic detail. In sum, the patriarchal submission of
women is not an invention of the blockbuster film nor is it new to Korean cinema.
However, Korean blockbusters have aggravated the problem with the magnified
scale of visual effect and presentation.
INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTIONS AND NEOLIBERAL POWER

ON THE WOMANS BODY
These expensive blockbusters cannot rely on domestic distribution alone to break
even: consequently international co-production is considered necessary to enter
the international market. Although, the popularity of Korean cinema in Asia
has made a dent, the film industry remains interested in the North American
market for its size and influence. In an interview the film director Hyunseung
Lee, who was also then the chairman of KOFIC (Korean Film Commission), stated that international co-production would be the only way to explore the U.S.
film market.4 He had himself directed A Love Story [Siwolae, Lee Hyunseung
2000], the first Korean film to be remade by Hollywood under the name of Lake
House [Alejandro Agresti 2006]. Allaying the fears of Koreans regarding Hollywood, Hyunseung recounted that once he had met people in Hollywood he
found them to be open-minded about the cinemas of other nations and willing
to buy their films as long as they were good.
KOFIC has recently set up a policy of supporting global market exploration;
called the Filmmakers Development Lab (FDL): the policy declared that
2007 will be the first year that Korea explores North American film markets.
At the FDL, five selected projects have been developed into scenarios, assisted
by five mentors who were in Hollywood-related businesses including William
Morris and Columbia, but nothing has been funded or made so far. Additionally,
there has been enormous news coverage of famous Korean actors and directors
going to Hollywood to make films. Although Korean society is mobilized by
the discourse of Hollywood co-production, few projects have actually been
205
executed. The film Never Forever [Kim Jina 2007] is the first example made as a
KoreanAmerican co-production. It was not made by a major Hollywood studio
but by an American independent film company, Vol. 3. It has been released both
in Korea and some European countries, and got fairly good reviews.5 Yet it has
not been distributed in the United States yet.
The basic story line of Never Forever is a melodrama featuring an illegal
KoreanAmerican immigrant (Jiha) and an upper middle-class American woman
(Sophie) whose husband (Andrew) is a successful lawyer and a secondgeneration Korean. The film opens on Sophies cultural maladjustment and
psychological instability, framing her alienation from the Korean community in
a funeral service where she sits isolated from the others. Sophies alienation is
compounded by her husbands deep depression and repeated suicide attempts.
She blames herself for this and believes that Andrew would be cured of it if only
she could have a baby.
Subsequently, she hires a Korean-American illegal immigrant, Jiha, a laborer in
the Chinatown of New York City who had tried to sell his sperm but had been
rejected on account of his illegal status. What starts off as a contractual sexual
relationship between the two ends up as true love. Although the movie shows
a contrast between two classes, its main focus, according to the film director, is
their love story.6 The love story is, in my view, distinctly patriarchal as the
womans body becomes the site of violation and intimidation and is separate
from the individuality of the character, Sophie.
Sophie voluntarily commodifies her body, treating it as a childbearing entity in
the service of so-called Confucian values and the happiness of her husband and
his family. Pure and passionless, she considers her sexuality too as belonging to
others; a point the film drives home by showing Andrews mothers coldness
towards her until her pregnancy. Andrew too shares a similar disregard for
her person. He makes sexual demands on her without consideration of her
desires. It is within this cultural context that the film explains the extreme lengths
to which Sophie is willing to go in order to please her husband, including seeking
another man to free her from the guilt of childlessness.
The movie shows that the immigrants male body is commercialized as well.
Jiha has no choice but to sell his body in order to survive as an illegal immigrant
in the United States. The first part of the movie shows Jihas toil and labor in Chinatown as Sophie chases him and spies on him without his knowledge. Jiha is in
search of the American dream, to free himself from poverty and bring over his
girlfriend from Korea. Well integrated into the neoliberal world trade in human
labor, Jiha is in deadlock, trapped in a cosmopolitan society with no other means
of production at his disposal but his body. His American dream appears realizable when he meets Sophie, a blonde American with blue eyes.
Some critics have appreciated this film for its discovery of the eroticism of the
Asian male, which has been so far quite understated in Western society.7 However, Sophie does not desire Jihas body. She is merely paying for it as the source
of semen. She is repulsed by the commercial nature of the relationship even as
she starts to get sexually involved. For instance, she puts the clothes she brings
with her to Jihas apartment in plastic bags, symbolizing the disgust she feels
towards her sexual involvement. Once during sex, Jiha looks down on Sophie
206
S. Yoon
and says Shit, why your eyes are so blue? He sarcastically tells Sophie that
you are the American dream that everyone dreams of. Additionally he asks
out of jealousy, after seeing her husband, Is this your first time to pay for
sex? The womans body is described here both as the target of desire and
conquest. At the same time, it is also denigrated and put down as filthy and
responsible for male humiliation. It reflects patriarchy and male narcissism.
The plot takes a new turn after Sophie experiences sexual ecstasy. At this
moment, she breaks into tears and falls in love with Jiha, desiring him as a willful
human being. In turn she herself becomes a subjective being able to express and
pursue sexual desire. She breaks her contract and keeps on the relationship with
Jiha after becoming pregnant. The dirty house in Chinatown now becomes a
paradise for her. In this new stage in the relationship they start to talk to each
other. The first dialogue between the two is What do you wish? Sophie replies
My wish? I hope for happiness of everybody around me. Jiha urges her to have
a wish for her own. He helps her to discover her dreams. According to the
tradition of melodrama, she finds her wish fulfilled in sexual desire. Obsessed
by Jiha, she takes every opportunity to meet him until she is found out and brutally punished by her husband who hits her and also reports Jihas illegal status to
the police. Sophie refuses to comply with her husbands demands or social norms
and leaves home. It is certainly possible to see this narrative as a feminist tale of a
womans self-realization but one must ask, why does she need a man to complete
her bid at self-realization? The film can in fact be seen as just another variant of
the Cinderella myth; except that in this case the prince offers sexual ecstasy
rather than riches as a means for the woman to come into her own. The film
is structured along the typical Korean melodramatic portrayals of women as
passive victims.
In an interview, the films director, Kim Jina, a Korean-American woman,
explained that she was fascinated by the 1970s Korean melodramas, which in
her view showed beauty even in mundane love stories.8 In my view, the comparison this sets up between Never Forever and the 1970s films is not quite inaccurate,
or better stated, the former lacks the political subtext which informed the latter.
The popular melodramas from the 1970s typically featured stories of pure
women from the countryside who would fall in love with a man and end up
as prostitutes after being betrayed by him. However, this genre had appeared
in the midst of an otherwise extremely repressive militaristic and bureaucratic
regime in the 1970s. It was therefore both a product of and a protest against
the military government. On the one hand, the military government encouraged
greater sexual depiction by deregulating censorship, leading to the birth of a new
genre, hostess (meaning prostitute) movies in Korean film history. On the
other, filmmakers used the prostitute figure as a metaphor for social resistance
against an economic order, which turned working-class men and womens
bodies into commodities. The prostitute also symbolized the utter helplessness
against a military dictatorship.
While Sophie is like the heroines of these earlier melodramas cast as passive
and sacrificial she is in fact a rather odd choice for such a casting. She is the only
white woman among Korean immigrants. She belongs to the upper middle class
and is a well educated woman who lives in New York City. In contrast to the
207
metaphorical representation of military authority in the 70s prostitute films.

Never Forever does not comment on the neo-imperialist relationship between
Korea and the United States. The woman victim in this case is an American
woman who chooses between two men of Korean descent, choosing the immigrant worker over the wealthy one. While she may thus be validating the Korean
underdog figure rather than the one who has made it in the United States she
herself, as a white American woman, remains the object of desire. At the end, Jiha
does get his American dream. The curious casting of a white woman in a role
which is more passive and traditional than any female character in contemporary
Korean cinema is indicative of a nationalist and patriarchal ideology that has
accompanied Koreas embrace of neoliberalism. The film dramatizes patriarchal
power by emphasizing the vulnerability of the white woman. In an interview,
director Kim stressed that the film was not mainly about race but that it was a
love story. The characters were based on her personal experiences of living in
Boston, where she explains she rarely came across interracial marriages between
white American women and Asian men: I thought it would be interesting to
have a white woman with two Asian men . . . I was interested in her blue eyes
and innocent face when I met Vera Farmiga, the main actress [Jang 2007].
Her explanation, apolitical as it is, erases the history of imperialism which has
dominated the U.S.Korean relationship up to the present moment.
Feminist scholars have pointed out that imperialism has gone hand in hand
with patriarchalism [Spivak 1988]. Imperialism has been reshaped and exercised
by alternative mechanisms in the postcolonial world. As neoliberal ideology
turns out to be predominant in the contemporary world, new politico-economic
power is exercised at a more concrete level by being submerged into the private
life of people. Cultural production is a central means of perpetuating neoliberal
world order in everyday life in the postcolonial era. Foucaults [1977] notion of
micro power is relevant to understanding how the oppressed are managed
into offering their voluntary consent such that the boundaries between repression
and resistance are collapsed. Neoliberalism, based on the ideology of the free
market, manages its subjects through the voluntary consent of both parties.
Nationalist ideology, which has accompanied the neoliberal opening of the
nations economic and cultural boundaries, is one such mechanism for
internalizing neoliberal power.
CONCLUSION
In its bid to fight the objective pressures of the U.S.-initiated Free Trade Agreement, Korean cinema is ironically imitating the Hollywood system more than
ever before [Miller 2001; Maltby and Stokes 2004]. The production, distribution
and exhibition of Korean films have become increasingly monopolistic. As
Korean blockbusters dominate the domestic film market and big conglomerates proceed with centralizing film distribution, diversity has dwindled and film
production homogenized, both in terms of content as well as in industrial structure. Moreover, Korean blockbusters tend to reproduce patriarchal ideology, presenting it as a nationalist resistance to neoliberal globalization. Last year was no
208
S. Yoon
exception: in the 130 minutes of that years biggest hit, The Good, the Bad and the
Weird [Kim Jiun 2008], no womens role of any substance could be found.
This analysis discloses diverse dimensions of power in contemporary cultural
products. The recent co-produced film, Never Forever, shares certain conventions
with 1970s Korean melodramas. But it has pulled those conventions out of their
social context and constructed an asocial image of femininity. The film substitutes the social critique of the former with a language of personal choice, i.e.,
neoliberal ideology. Furthermore, patriarchal representations of women as
objects and targets of sexual desire or social violence have returned in the new
blockbuster films. In other words, conservative and patriarchal ideology have
found a vehicle in the culture of the free market.
NOTES
1. Korean films have been feted in prestigious film festivals since 2002. Starting with Best
Director award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 for Chiwhasun (director Im
Kwontaek), Oasis (Lee Changdong) was awarded the Best Director in Venice. Samaria
(Kim Ki-duk) got the Best Director award in Berlin in 2004. Old Bo (Park Chanuk)
got the jurors award in Cannes. 3iron (Kim Ki-duk) in Venice in the same year, and
Cybor 2006 (Park Chanuk) was awarded the Alfred Bauer in Berlin 2007.
2. Korean Wave refers to the popularity of Korean cultural products in Asia which started
the onset of the 21st century. It began with television shows and music in East Asian
countries. Now it tends to expand all over the world. Particularly, Korean films draw
attention in the famous film festivals.
3. In 2006, Columbia and Disney distributors were merged and established Korean Sony
Pictures, releasing Buena Vista in order to build up competitiveness against local distributors. CJ, a local distributor, took up Paramount in Korea [Hanguerae Daily, Jan. 11,
2007].
4. Interview with the director Lee, March 17, 2007.
5. Cahiers du cinema, Oct 15, 2007, Telerama, Oct 17, 2007.
6. Chungmooro attacks the U.S., Interview with the director Kim Jina, Cine 21, Oct 20,
2006. Chungmooro refers to the center of the Korean film industry.
7. Andrian Gonbo, a journalist at Positive, wrote that Never Forever discovered the Asian
male body for the first time since Alain Resnaiss Hiroshima Mon Amour. Cine, 21,
Dec l3, 2007. Director Kim agreed to this point in an interview; Cine 21, June, 20, 2007.
8. Moon: Chungmooro attacks the U.S. Cine 21, Oct. 20, 2006. In another interview, she
appreciated Douglas Sirk as the role model of her melodrama: Jang, Cine 2l, June 20, 2007.
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2007 Erotism [sic] of Asian Men. Cine 21, www.cine21.co.kr
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Screen Quota Cultural Ties. www.screenquota.com
ARTICLES
Of Other Cinematic Spaces

Urban Zionism in Early Hebrew Cinema
Hizky Shoham
Abstract: The Zionist ethos is commonly described as pro-rural and

anti-urban, with the imagined Zionist space perceived as being rural and
the Zionist drama as a reflection of the life of the pioneers in Palestine.
Recent studies of early Hebrew cinema shared this view. This article analyzes two Jewish films from inter-war Palestine, Vayehi Bimey (In the Days
of Yore) (1932, Tel Aviv) and Zot Hi Haaretz (This Is the Land) (1935, Tel
Aviv), to suggest a more complex view of the Zionist ethos and spatial
imagery in the context of the relationship between the urban and the rural.
A thematic and formal analysis of the films shows their sources of Soviet
influence and reveals the presentation of the city as a nationalist space.
Keywords: Hebrew cinema, identity, imagery, Jewish space, Soviet cinema, urbanization, Zionism, Zionist ideology
Nationhood, Space, and Place

The question of space and place has recently acquired a central place for
scholars in the social sciences and humanities with discussion of a spatial turn, following the pioneering work of Lefebvre (1991), who talked
about space as socially produced rather than as physically given (see also
Gunn 2001; Tuan 1977).1 Growing attention is given to what the cultural
geographer Edward Soja (1996: 56) calls Thirdspace, which encompasses
subjectivity and objectivity, the abstract and the concrete, the real and the
imagined, the knowable and the unimaginable. In other words, the understanding of socially produced space involves, along with physical space, the
study of cultural products of space design, such as maps, stories, cultural
boundaries, visual images, and other human-made cultural mechanisms.
Israel Studies Review, Volume 26, Issue 2, Winter 2011: 109131 Association for Israel Studies
doi: 10.3167/isr.2011.260207
110 | Hizky Shoham
Modern nationalism has made a strong claim in favor of the connection

between a specific social group and a defined space, employing the suggestive power of human imagination in the design of the physical space,
as emphasized by Benedict Anderson (1983). Although Anderson focused
largely on the impact of modern novels and journalism, the inventions
and developments that propelled film production from the late 1800s to
the early 1900s introduced into public life a powerful sensual and mental
tool to help design the national imagery of space.2 Discussions on this
topic have led to a lively conversation about the construction of national
identity in and through films by evoking national imagery, rather than
through the manipulative use of nationalist propaganda (Abel, Bertellini
and King 2008; Hayward [1993] 2005; Hjort and MacKenzie 2000; Kracauer 2004; Street [1997] 2009: 1; Williams 2000).3
This article will discuss the role played by the cinematic imagery
of urban space in the process of nation-building. Nationalist ideology
is commonly linked with rural landscapes, particularly in the case of
Zionism. Indeed, a number of fiction and non-fiction films dating from
pre-statehood Palestine, such as Spring in Palestine (1928), Oded Ha-noded
(Wandering Oded) (1933), and many others, presented rural landscapes
as the typical national space. For example, the film Tzabar (Sabra) (1935)
focused on the frontier as the locus of Zionist drama (Ben-Shaul 1997:
5057; see also Troen 1999). Nonetheless, cinematic representations of
urban landscape were also utilized for national mobilization. I will analyze two Jewish films from inter-war Palestine: Vayehi Bimey (In the Days
of Yore) (1932, Tel Aviv) and Zot Hi Haaretz (This Is the Land) (1935, Tel
Aviv). An analysis of the complex interactions, reciprocal influences,
and conceptual clashes between real and imagined space in these films
reveals a strained relationship between the urban and the rural in the
construction of national space, a relationship more complex than the
one represented in the anti-urban ethos that is overstated in scholarly
studies of Zionism.
The question of the desired design of national space posed a fundamental internal conflict in Zionist thought and praxis from the outset (Ben-Ari
and Bilu 1992; Gurevitch and Aran 1994; Mann 2006). Modern nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe was heavily influenced by folkloristic
anti-urban stances, which viewed the peasantrys allegedly simple world,
uncontaminated by industrialization and urbanization, as symbolic of the
true national spirit (Bendix 1997; Burke 1987: 322; Oinas 1978). Non-fiction
folkloric films frequently presented rural customs and landscapes as typically national (Kessler 2008: 23). Toward the end of the nineteenth century, these trends were often combined with anti-Semitic stereotypes that
specifically linked the Jews to European urbanization. The alleged anomie,
Of Other Cinematic Spaces | 111
alienation, and corruption of the Industrial Revolution were attributed to

prototypical Jewish qualities, such as detachment from the soil and lack
of patriotism (Pulzer 1964: 6573; Wistrich 1989: chap. 7). Regardless of
their truth, many Zionist writers and activists accepted these stereotypes
and desired to invert the pyramidthat is, to transform the typical Jewish
middle-class city dweller of Central and Eastern Europe into a new Jew,
one attached to the land, rooted, and productive (see, e.g., Eisenstadt 1998;
Shapira 1997; Zerubavel 1995: 2028). This internalized stereotype created a
powerful anti-urban ethos for Zionism and the Yishuv. From an ideological
perspective, rural productive life was glorified, while the urban luftgescheft
(a derogatory Yiddish designation for non-productive livelihoods, such as
commerce) was constantly criticized.
Nevertheless, Palestine went through a process of urbanization and
industrialization that began in the 1850s and expanded rapidly after the
British conquest in 19171918, along with Zionist colonization. It soon
became clear that most Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and elsewhere preferred to settle in cities. Indeed, the only Jewish city, Tel Aviv,
witnessed unparalleled growthfrom 2,000 residents in 1920 to 160,000
in 1939, a figure representing more than one-third of Palestines Jewish population (Druyanov 1936: 340341; A. Gertz 1947: 46; Gonen 2003;
Roman 1989; Shavit and Bigger 2001: 93). Based on standard measures of
patterns of population, economic development, and socio-economic stratification, the Zionist project was in factfrom its outsetan eminently
capitalist enterprise of urbanization and industrialization in Palestine
(Metzer 1998: 89, 215).
However, the anti-urban ethos did in fact influence politicians, builders, and planners: new Jewish cities were not built in Palestine during the
British Mandate, and national funds were mostly invested in purchasing
agricultural lands (E. Cohen 1977; Efrat 1984: 118; Troen 2003: 112140).
From an ideological perspective, the citys cultural diversity was presented as Babel and as a threat to the Zionist aim of consolidating a
monolithic national culture (Helman 2008: 122). The anti-urban critics
viewed the city as an extension of corrupt exilic life. Nevertheless, the capitalist geographic-economic reality sustained Yishuv politics, culture, and
ideological life, beginning with the Mandate period itself (Helman 2010;
Troen 2003: 85111). Among other factors, the urban space in which at least
80 percent of the Yishuv lived during the inter-war period was integrated
into the rural imagery of national space and thus created complications,
as we shall demonstrate.
With regard to Zionist cinema, the dominant standpoint in scholarship
underscores the transformation of the old Jew, whose negative qualities
included his urban nature, into a new Jew, a productive peasant, laborer, or
112 | Hizky Shoham
warrior (Feldstein 2009; N. Gertz 1998), and views the frontier as the focus
of Zionist drama. In the two films discussed here, urban space is included
in the national space, revealing a complicated relationship between rural
and urban space in early Hebrew cinema, which in turn discloses a rather
complex approach to the city in Zionist ideology.
Vayehi Bimey
The silent short film Vayehi Bimey (In the Days of Yore) (1932, Tel Aviv)4
was the first to be entirely produced in Palestine. Although the technology of talking cinema had been in existence as early as 1927, the film was
silent due to lack of funds and equipment: the entire budget was between
25 and 28 Palestinian pounds (see Halachmi 1995: 105). This film is a short
(18-minute) comedy of errors about mix-ups at the Tel Aviv Purim carnival
among three couples who represent different backgrounds: ultra-Orthodox, American bourgeois, and rural pioneer. The couples become involved
in a series of mistaken-identity incidents in which they are masked and
exchanged with each other.
The main plot line is focused on the ultra-Orthodox couple and the
struggle of Mendel the tailor for liberation from his obsessive and domineering wife. As part of this effort, he runs away from home, dresses
himself as a pioneer, gets drunk, and sings and dances, while she searches
for him all over the city. The other two couples try to identify each others
costumes, but since they are wearing face masks, they almost marry the
wrong person when they eventually meet at the office of the rabbinate.
However, thanks to a rabbi who forces them to remove their masks, Mendels wife forgives him, and the other two couples find each other and
live happily ever after. Between the staged scenes of the movies plot, the
producers added documentary footage (18 percent of the entire film) from
the actual Tel Aviv Purim carnival (Bursztyn 1990: 4044; Feldstein 2009:
7277; Halachmi 1995: 114; Tryster 1995: 155160).
The film conveys a classic carnivalesque picture, reflecting the rich and
imaginative literary and theatrical tradition of Yiddish satires and farces.
This tradition also had a degree of cinematic continuity, which can be seen,
for example, in the Soviet-Yiddish film Jewish Luck (1925) (Hoberman 1991:
9296). In the Days of Yore made extensive use of carnival-type props, such
as costumes, face masks, and alcohol, and carnival themes, such as the war
of the sexes (including the almost inevitable misogyny) and drunkenness,
which distorts the perception of physical space. For example, the visual
effect of upside-down camera movement shows the world of the drunken
Mendel turned upside down. Consequently, it seems to subvert bourgeois
family values, as it implies that Mendel was actually looking for sexual
excitement while wandering through the city streets. The carnivalesque
space distorts the clear judgment of all the participants, who fall victim to
material lusts, disguises, and fiascos of misidentification.
Strangely enough, the real Purim carnival in Tel Aviv of the 1920s and
1930s was quite different from the one portrayed in the film. Unlike historical, wild, premodern Purim celebrations, the Tel Aviv carnival was a
respectable tourist event that had been imported to British Palestine from
contemporary Mediterranean/Southern European carnivals, comparable
to those traditionally held in Monte Carlo, Venice, and similar locales. In
addition to its economic function, the Tel Aviv carnival also had a nationalist function, that is, to demonstrate Jewish control over the urban space
through the visual presence of Jewish masses in the streets (Shoham 2009).
Accordingly, it was perfectly organized, with careful attention to public order. City officials, let alone British rulers, were highly intolerant of
chaos. Still, the maintenance of order at the event was not only a result of
law enforcement, but also a consequence of a bourgeois values system that
stressed civility (Carmiel 1999; Helman 2006).
Three subversive, classical carnivalesque themes were key elements of
pre-Zionist Purim, especially among Eastern European Jewry: (1) public
drunkenness and gluttony; (2) wild sexuality and the war of the sexes,
which were specifically characteristic of early modern Jewish Purimspiels,
as well as the biblical book of Esther itself; and (3) violence, such as the
centrality of the hanging of Haman as a key scene in the biblical text as
well as in street performances stretching back hundreds of years (Belkin 2002; Hanegbi 1998; Horowitz 2006). All of these cultural elements
rituals of violence, vulgar language, role reversals by men and women,
rude sexuality, drunkenness, and grotesque eatingwere conspicuously
absent from Tel Avivs carnival. The carnivalesque space of Tel Aviv during Purim was thus all but carnivalesque, if we understand this term, in
keeping with Bakhtins (1968) definition, as subversive, disguising, and
space-distorting (see also Hayman 1983).
Since documentary footage composed only 18 percent of the film, this
gap between image and reality was concealed in the sequencing of the
scenes. The film, with its farces and disguises, appears to be a historical
oddity. Its intended audience had first-hand knowledge of the real Purim
carnival and knew, for example, that the celebrants did not wear face
masks. It is worth mentioning that the film was generally well-received
by its audience of Palestinian Jews, and the commentators in contemporaneous media, who were generally very sensitive to unrealistic cinematic
representations during this period, did not remark on this misrepresentation of the carnival and generally liked the film.5
114 | Hizky Shoham
In fact, the film was part of a wider carnivalesque discourse. Despite

the very limited presence of actual carnival-like elements in this respectable bourgeois event, there was a lot of talk about such components as
part of the quest for authenticitya key concept of modern nationalism. For a number of reasons, the carnivalesque genre was perceived as
authentic folk culture to a greater extent than other possible genres. In
popular songs, newspaper articles, and other types of public discourse,
the Tel Aviv carnival was portrayed as the place in which the real spirit of
the folk could finally exhibit freedom of self-expression, in keeping with
the previous wild, pre-Zionist festivities. The fact that their tourist event
was actually respectable and orderly, unlike the celebrated subversion and
wildness of the pre-Zionist Purim practices, was explained as the outcome
of the alleged harmony of a real folk culture that was given its true freedom only in Tel Aviv, the city of sun and fun (Shoham, forthcoming a).
It is somewhat surprising that the first fiction film created in Jewish
Palestine was entirely about the city, while rural space does not appear in
the film at all. The appearance of the halutzim (pioneers) in the film is strikingly marginal: they are the third couple in the mistaken identity gambit,
with secondary roles in relation to the two main couples, the bourgeois
and the religious. Pioneers function as an image, ideal, and desired object
for the other two groups, who both masquerade as pioneers, if they can.
Moreover, the pioneering women, the halutzot, stimulate a youthful spirit
in Mendel the tailor. It is the American bourgeois and Orthodox couples
who are at the heart of the plot, which is not about criticizing the old Jews
or describing their transformation into new Jews, as in Feldsteins (2009:
7277) interpretation, which neglected the spatial imagery in the film. It
is about the inclusion of all these groups in the national space. The only
national space to appear in this film is the urban, with its emphasis on
Jewish traditionalism and bourgeois family values, to which even the
pioneers subscribe.
Traditionally, epic national cinema (most notably, Soviet cinema) has
been at the center of discussions of national cinematic landscapes rather
than comedy (see Kessler 2008; Smith 2000).6 This scholarly overemphasis
emanates from excessive conceptual attention being given to the explicit
messages of the films, rather than to the spatial image of the nation they
reflect. However, In the Days of Yore is a nationalist film because it creates
an imagined national space in which everyone is Jewish and every Jew is
eventually happy, in his or her own way. Tel Aviv thus appears as a Jewish
space rather than a Hebrew space. The confusions and misidentifications at
first create a distorted space of imagined wild freedom. But no one is hurt,
the human bodies remain hale and hearty, there is no irreversible sexual
misbehavior, and the three couples live happily ever after, following the
resolution of the conflict in the office of the rabbinate, that is, within the
bourgeois institution of marriage.
The imagined loosening of the moral reins during the carnival results
in greater harmony on the collective level and thus, at the end, serves
to enhance the social order. The carnivalesque space represents concord
among different groups in Jewish society: the Orthodox religious circles,
the rural pioneers, and the bourgeoisie. This fictional depiction of Tel Aviv
refers directly to its most notable myth, the first Hebrew city, recreating
and empowering it, depicting the collective Jewish body as flourishing in
the urban space. Since nothing in the cityscape is particularly Hebrew or
Jewish, its Jewishness is more of a discursive and demographic fact than
a physical or cultural statement (Helman 2008). Thus, the film in no way
treats the city as an unavoidable evil, as cities are often viewed by Zionist
institutions. The ability to imagine an entire physical space as having a flexible Jewish identity was the greatest achievement of In the Days of Yore.
The film contained no nationalistic lectures about the greatness of the
nation, let alone direct (or even indirect) advocacy of national sacrifice. But
in terms of spatial images, it offered a specific image of a particular urban
space as Jewish (and bourgeois). In doing so, it thus established a positive
link between space and identity, a necessary step in order for the Jewish
community of Palestine to imagine itself as a modern nation.
Zot Hi Haaretz
In its day, the film Zot Hi Haaretz (This Is the Land) (1935, Tel Aviv)7 attracted
great interest, both in the Yishuv and throughout the Jewish world, as the
first Hebrew non-silent film to be produced in Palestine (the films that had
preceded it were shot in Palestine but edited and produced elsewhere).
The film describes 50 years of Zionist colonization in Palestine, which had
begun in the 1880s, combining documentary footage from the daily newsreels of Aga Film (owned by the films producers, the brothers Baruch and
Yitzhak Agadati) with staged scenesa format that commentators now
designate as docu-drama (Schnitzer 1994: 34).
Unlike In the Days of Yore, This Is the Land depicts the Zionist story as
an epic drama of the human struggle against the wilderness, presenting
a vibrant montage of the Zionist project with its varied components: agriculture, settlement, handicraft, industry, and culture. Thematically, it lacks
individual protagonists with names and faces, reflecting the influence of
some of the works of the Soviet montage school, in which the main protagonist was the masses (Eisenstein 1988: 5964).8 The film makes extensive use of innovative contemporaneous editing techniques, such as the
116 | Hizky Shoham
simultaneous display of several shots or images and the gradual dissolving of one shot into another. These techniques, and the philosophy behind
them, were also largely derived from the Soviet montage school. Hence, in
contrast with my discussion of In the Days of Yore, in which the focus was
the films theme, the following discussion will combine theme and style.
This Is the Land was privately produced by the Agadati brothers with no
assistance from Zionist institutions or any other public funds. The brothers
bore the full production cost in anticipation of significant profit. Film elements that would be defined today as ideologically motivated or as propaganda were present, but not as the outcome of any external pressure.
The film presented the Zionist grand narrative, which was understood
by the films creators and viewers as a gripping drama with commercial
potential (Feldstein 2009: 117; Gross and Gross 1991: 151160).
Almost immediately after its first showing in theaters, these great expectations were deflated by harsh criticism, which raised several important
issues. First, Arabs were completely absent from the films Zionist drama.
This was an artistic choice emanating from an Orientalist worldview, which
associated Arabs with the wilderness. In this film, the wilderness would
be identified with, and overcome by, the collective Zionist protagonist.
Hence, Arabs were only indirectly representedby camels in the opening
sequence.9 As we shall see, the omission of Arabs also derived from the
desire to imagine Palestine as a Jewish space. Another important issue
raised by critics was the absence of basic cinematic elements, such as plot
line and protagonists, or at least the faces of actors and actresses, which
might have strengthened the loose links between the scenes and created a
sense of continuity. Another valid point was the persistent preference for
dramatic lectures over the visual representation of Zionism (Gross and
Gross 1991: 140150; Zimmerman 2001: 142158).
This Is the Land indeed lacks a plot line; instead, it presents a coherent
historical narrative from the early immigration of the 1880s through the
hardships of World War I, the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and the rapid
development that took place during the British Mandate. A few staged
scenes fictively recreate historical events, such as the establishment of
the colony of Rishon Le-Zion in 1882, the foundation of Akhuzat-Bayit
(considered to be Tel Avivs first neighborhood) in 1909, and the Balfour
Declaration. The scenes of early Zionism are portrayed in light of the contemporaneous reality (1935), which exceeded the most optimistic expectations. A few sequences present the first pioneers as a vanguard of macho
men who made the revolutionary decision to come to Palestine, confront
the wilderness, and change their lives (Talmon 2001: 80, 106). Women are
almost absent from the film and, except for a few dancers and one singer,
appear as shrieking mothers and wives.10
In the first sequences of the film, the Zionist meta-narrative is presented

through the familiar romantic themes of return to the soil, personal sacrifice on behalf of the nation, and the land itself, while providing long
shots of pastoral rural landscapes, including some famous tourist sites (cf.
Kessler 2008). As the story of the colonization of the wilderness develops,
there is more documentary footage at the expense of the staged scenes,
including an increased depiction of civilization and fewer scenes of the
wilderness and picturesque landscapes. After the dramatization of the
Balfour Declaration, the film illustrates the gradual process of the countrys mechanization and industrialization, emphasizing the growth of the
(already sizable) Jewish society, exemplified by the remarkable numbers
of residents in Tel Aviv and Rishon Le-Zion.
The scene that focuses on the foundation of the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem in 1925 ends with a rhythmic montage sequence of masculine
construction workers crushing the rocks with a pneumatic hammer and
passing bricks from one to another (Talmon 2001: 77).11 The immediate
message of this narrative of progress comes across as mechanization and
industrializationin short, modernization, which is employed in Zionist
discourse as a moral-political justification for the colonization of Palestine (see, e.g., Hirsch 2009; Troen 1999). Up to this point, the film bears a
striking thematic resemblance to Sergei Eisensteins The Old and the New
(1929, Moscow), which depicted the mechanization of Soviet agriculture
and strove to reconcile the rural and the urban in nation-building (Carroll
and Banes 2000).
At this point, however, the heroic and consistent narrative is interrupted
by a dialogue regarding the city between a worker (a new immigrant) and
his veteran manager. The conversation takes place in an orchard when
the worker (actor Rafael Kalatchkin) stops working for a moment and
approaches the manager (actor Meir Teomy). The worker is still holding
the turiya (a square hoe) in his hand, while the manager is busy with the
branches of a citrus tree:12
Worker [reclines on the turiya with one hand on it while the other holds a
pole stuck in the ground]: There is one question that bothers me. Perhaps
you can answer me, Baruch.
Manager: Why? What am I, a professor?
W: Well, you see, you have already been in the country for many years, and
I have only been here a few months.
M: This is true, you are still a green cucumber.
W: You see, I came hereI revolutionized my life. Before that, I was a grocer
like my father. And now look! [taps on the turiya, which resonates with a
metallic sound] I am a laborer!
118 | Hizky Shoham
M: You are not a laborer yet. You still dont know how to hold a turiya.
W [close-up on his face]: Ehh if not today, I will learn tomorrow. But please
dont interrupt. Look. I look around and I see communes, villages, kibbutzim. Beit-Alfa, Ein-Harod, Tel Yosef, Deganya. I see the new Hebrew nation.
And I see these young fellows who left everything, who revolutionized their
lives, who left all they had and followed the shovel and the plow. But let me
ask you: why dont the new immigrants go to the villages, and why do they
want to stay only in the city? What is it? [He wrinkles his forehead]. We ran
away from the city. Do we really want to create a ghetto here?
[Tense silence; the fingers of the worker nervously tap the turiya.]
M [again in a wide frame]: Heyyou pioneer! [pats the workers shoulder]
You dont understand a thing! The Hebrew city in the land of Israel is a
great creation. The Hebrew city is a hub of industry, a center for commerce,
handicrafts, and culture, of course. Schools, a Technion, a university. Above
all, the city is important for us, for the village. The cityit buys our products
in short [puts his hand again on the workers shoulder], without the city,
the village cannot exist. Do you understand, cucumber?
[As the manager speaks, the worker scrapes clods from his turiya, removes
his hat, and scratches his head while nodding.]
W: Yes, I understandand dont [at that moment, the manager removes
his hand from the workers shoulder] but it is advisable to see a city.
Indeed, I have never seen a city in the Land of Israel [again, taps the turiya
with a metallic sound].
M: Here, we will have a day off. We will take a trip, and then we will see the
first Hebrew city.
W: OK [pats the managers chest].
M: Nu, and nowto work, to work! [sends him back with many pats].
The following sequence (about 12 minutes) is a montage of cities, mostly

Tel Aviv but with a bit of Jerusalem and Haifa as well. This is the most
effervescent and energetic sequence in the film, marked by jumpy editing
of newsreel footage and the increased use of photomontage. It then dissolves into spectacular superimpositions with corresponding pounding
music (Zimmerman 2001: 143). This sequence, with its frenetic depiction
of the city and similarly invigorating music, is an example of the inter-war
city symphony genre, which is also present in films such as Manhatta
(1921, New York), Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927, Berlin), and, most
notably, Djiga Vertovs A Man with a Movie Camera (1929, Moscow).13
The urban sequence comes to an end after three minutes of documentary
footage from the (real) Tel Aviv Purim carnival, in which huge masses are
seen in appallingly overcrowded city settings. Only then does the invigorating music become subdued, and the manager from the previous scene
appears once again. He stands at the head of a stairway, near what seems to
be an unfinished building. A few people, including the green cucumber,

are assembled and listen to the following speech:
Well, comrades, we saw the city. We saw its positive side: industry, commerce,
handicraft, and culture. Very well. However, along with it, we saw its negative
sidethe abhorrent side. We saw the parasites of the cursed exile. These parasites are sitting in cafs and pimp the nations body and soul. They sell the land
from one to another. The land! And also, we saw youth going about with no
purpose, no creativity, no love; its soul is empty and hollow and dissipates itself
on the noisy urban sidewalks. [The camera moves to another angle from which
we can see only the upper half of the managers body, above the listeners
heads.] And also, they build houses here, with hundreds of people living in a
building of three or four stories. And Im telling you, comrades, this is not good!
The city is corrupt, corrupt! If you are young, if the blood hasnt yet clotted in
your arteries, leave the city. Go to the spacious fields. Remember, comrades, the
reason we came to this country. Was it not for the sake of the regeneration of our
youth? Was it not for the revival of the nation? And what is the essence of our
revival? The land, yes! The land! This is the essence. We need villages. We need
people of the hoe and plow. We need land. Lets go, comrades, lets go!
[No answer, no one moves.]
[Cut. A new scene in a rural-pastoral landscape. A song is heard:]14
From the city, from the metropolis,
From the walls of the houses,
Rush, pioneer, rise and run away
To the village!
Rush, pioneer, rise and run away
To the field!
To the moshav, the kibbutz,
Rise, run, rush away,
Pioneer!
To the village, to the field,
Rise, run, rush away,
Pioneer!
To your mother, to the soil.
Dont ask why
Dont say what
Everyone knows
Soil!
Soilis the name of a mother,
Soilplow ahead,
Soilthe hand is working,
Soilthis is a homeland,
Soil, soil
Homelandsoil.
Dont ask why
[All of the assembled now form a convoy to Kibbutz Yagur, at the foot of
Mount Carmel.]
120 | Hizky Shoham
From this point to the end of the film, only Hebrew agriculture is depicted,
while the song is played in the background or sung by Yosef Goland,
standing on a carriage and traveling to the village.
Away from the City?

The ongoing debate in the Yishuv at that time regarding the city is summarized well in the opening and closing urban scenes of This Is the Land.
The argument against the city, explicitly or implicitly, is that it recreates
the ghetto mentality and thus contradicts the personal revolution sought
by the pioneers. It uses land (the nations soul) for commerce (profiteering), nurtures hedonistic youth, and is overcrowded and unhealthy. As an
argument in favor of the city, the film shows that it consumes agricultural
products, that it is the hub of Hebrew handicrafts, industry, commerce,
and culture, and that, implicitly, it is a good place for recreation from the
routine of hard work.
Whatever the arguments in this debate in terms of plot structure, the two
scenes defamiliarize the city for us. Seen through the eyes of pioneers, the
city is depicted as a strange phenomenon, an uncanny element that must
be explained, interpreted, and justified. In the second scene, the speaker
repeatedly uses the third person regarding city dwellers, although the
scene takes place in the city and urbanites could be among his listeners. In
the first scene as well, the worker differentiates between the we who revolutionized our lives and the townsmen who wish to preserve the ghetto
mentality in Palestine. This third-person reference is at odds with the fact
that the film itself was produced in the city by eminently bohemian urbanites and was screened mainly in the cities. It also did not align well with
the fact that 80 percent of the Jewish population of Palestine, the potential
viewers of the film, then lived in the cities, with a third in Tel Aviv itself.
Unlike Eisensteins The Old and the New, in this film there is no reconciliation between city and country but rather an estrangement from the city.
The views of the urban scenery are introduced by the green worker,
who says that he has already spent a few months in Palestine but has
never seen a cityquite a strange story, since he had to alight from a boat
in a port and at least pass through a city before finding an agricultural job
(his unmistakable Eastern European accent precludes the possibility that
he arrived via land). The storys structure thus leads the audience to view
the city through the eyes of pioneers who are enjoying a day off and go
to the city for recreation. In other words, the city is portrayed through the
eyes of a stranger, a flneur, who strolls through it with no specific purpose
beyond gaining an impression of the sights and the continuum of stimuli
that constitute the urban experience.15 The managers monologue draws

a moral conclusion from the tour: the city is corrupt and hence, Lets go,
comrades, lets go! It is as though the comrades are considering relocating to the city, but the charismatic speaker dissuades them, helping them
to overcome temptation. Rebuked, the comrades learn the pioneering lesson, conclude their urban sojourn, and travel back to the village, the main
locus of the Zionist drama.
The depiction of city life is framed between two scenes that portray the
passage to and from the city, thus signifying the city as a socio-cultural site
that is ideologically located at the margins of the Zionist project and poses
a threat to the center. Although the Hebrew city did not fit into the grand
narrative of the redemption of the pioneers through the return to the soil,
the films creators did not ignore the city in the same manner in which
they ignored the Arabs. The city was included for three reasons: personal,
stylistic, and thematic.
On a personal level, the creators of the film lived and worked in Tel
Aviv and were part of a markedly urban, even bohemian, cultural scene.
Baruch Agadati, the films senior producer, spent a few months each year
in Paris. From there, he introduced into Palestine the latest trends in a
variety of cultural spheres, including dance, mass entertainment, and cinema. He likely could not resist the temptation to include newsreel footage
from the Purim carnival in the film because of his (somewhat overstated)
personal reputation as a founder of the carnival (Carmiel 1999; Shavit and
Sitton 2004: 91).
Stylistically, the sequence of urban life, which employs superimpositions and dissolves, is the most intense montage in the film and has
exceptional expressive power. Had it been cut out of the film, the narrative would have been much more tightly contained, but it would have
been visually poorer. Purim celebrations were the catalyst for the largest
physical gathering of Jews in mandatory Palestine (Shoham 2009), and, in
keeping with the approach of Soviet cinema, which viewed the masses as
the primary protagonist of the drama,16 it was a means to portray the Jewish masses visually as part of the urban fabric.
Thematically, the meta-narrative of the struggle to overcome the wilderness would have been seen as incomplete without the depiction of city
life. The city has always been a pre-eminent mythical expression of the
ability of human beings to overcome nature, with their intelligence and
spirit, and to construct an orderly, rational, and controlled cosmos out
of chaos (Eliade 1954: 1221; Tuan 1978). Indeed, at the beginning of the
film, the myth of the creation of Tel Aviv from the sand dunes is cultivated
by a fabricated recreation of the alleged foundation ceremony. In this fictive ceremony, the future mayor, Meir Dizengoff, makes a speech in which
122 | Hizky Shoham
he envisions a sizable city with 20,000 inhabitants.17 Toward the end of

the urban sequence, there is footage of an actual speech by Dizengoff,18
in which he announces that the city has exceed all expectations and now
numbers more than 100,000 inhabitants. At least in terms of quantity, which
was very important for the cinematic schools that inspired the production,
no other project depicting Zionist colonization was similarly impressive.
The struggle to overcome the wilderness is, for the most part, presented
as a linear development from desert to civilization, that is, as a process of
mechanization, construction, industrializationand urbanization. Taken
to its logical conclusion (again, as in The Old and the New), it would have
transpired that the entire region was shifting from country life to city
life, which indeed happened, despite the anti-urban ethos. The framing
of urban life between the dialogue and the monologue creates a different
narrative: the creation of the new rural Jewish peasantry is presented as
the main Zionist story, whereas urban development is exceptional and
unpredictable, and hence requires explanations and justification. In order
to reach a nuanced understanding of the relationship between rural and
urban space in the narrative, let us take a closer look at the two scenes in
This Is the Land that frame the depiction of urban space.
Dialogue and Monologue

These two scenes were analyzed in detail by cinema scholar Yigal Bursztyn
(1990), who regarded them as typical of Zionist lectures in early Hebrew
cinema. Bursztyn interpreted the first scene between the worker and the
manager as static: [Kalatchkin] is shot in close-up, talking fast and overexcited; his face is static like the camera. Is he deceitful? Yes, he is however, it is not the words that lie, but the actors faces. The actors pretend
to be human beings, while they are actually nothing but instruments, a
loudspeaker for ideology (ibid.: 47; emphasis in original). Bursztyn goes
on to explain: Had Kalatchkin, during the conversation in the orchard,
performed some act, instead of standing upright and static, then his body
movement would have humanized his face and diverted the attention
from the words to the speaking actor. Had he wiped the sweat from his
face or coughed or drunk some waterthese banal acts would clash with
the dramatic words and turn the entire scene into a caricature (ibid.).
According to Bursztyn, Kalatchkin does not act for himself but for the
collective. The collective has no face (ibid.).
However, zooming out of this speech by Kalatchkin, a second look reveals
a different picture. The two scenes described above in detail are stylistically
and formally different from each other in their compositional design, in the
language used, and in the position of the camera. A particularly prominent

difference is the number of the interlocutors in the conversation: whereas the
first scene is a dialogue, the second is a monologue. The first scene is notably
dynamic when compared with the monotonic tone of the rest of the film.
This is the only sequence in This Is the Land that is supposed to be somewhat
amusing, in contrast to the dramatic tone of the entire film. The interlocutors
do act, in addition to speaking: they walk, cut branches from the trees, pat
each other, lean against each other while conversing, use slang, and fondly
tap the turiya. They even interrupt each others speech. The enthusiastic antiurban speech is located within a dialogue that is quite humane. Even more
important, during most of the scene, both figures are in the frame. There are
almost no close-ups and no shooting from a lower angle, techniques that
are characteristic of propaganda films that aim to create a heroic aura for
their protagonists. In fact, this is the only passage between two sequences
in the film that is made through a visual story, rather than merely through
captions. In contrast to the first scene, the second one is totally static: no one
moves, nor does the camera, except for one close-up of the speaker, above
the heads of his listeners. None of the workers even thinks about speaking
up, so no one has to say, Dont interrupt. Bursztyns harsh criticism is
more relevant to this scene than the previous one.
The framing of the depiction of urban life in Jewish Palestine between a
dialogue and a monologue may be explained by the different cultural work
that is performed by the two types of conversation, according to Bakhtin
(1981, 1984), who developed the concepts of dialogism and monologism
beyond the denotation of the number of interlocutors in conversation (see
also Kristeva 1980: 3591). The temporary shift to the city in the middle
of the romanticized rural narrative of the return of the pioneers to the soil
undermines its unity and creates an unexpected diversity in the narrative.
The city that emerged in Palestine was definitely part of the civilizing
Zionist project of seeking to overcome the wilderness; however, it did not
conform to some dictates of Zionist doctrinesdeveloping independently
(and even in spite) of themor to the dramaturgical dictates of the films
creators. The cucumber summarizes the discussion by saying, I understandand dont. This is precisely why he wishes to see the city.
In other words, the films audience is introduced to the city through
the depiction of its ideological ambivalence. The dialogue thus points to
multiplicity in the Zionist project by positioning urban life, with its merits
and shortcomings, as one among several options. The urban sequence that
follows, with its colliding montage, demonstrates the multiplicity that
is inherent in the hustle and bustle of urban life. The monologue operates in the contrary direction. It aggressively nullifies the option of multiplicity and regains the Zionist projects unity and necessity through its
124 | Hizky Shoham
presentation of an indisputable rural ethos, which does not leave room for
doubts or indecisiveness. The film thus returns from the vibrant montage
of urban life to the long pastoral shots of the rural landscapes.
The first scene breaks down the Zionist narrative into multiple components, whereas the second one reclaims the narratives unity. The portrayal of another Zionist narrative also frames the main narrative as
one possibility among others. The subsequent monologue is supposed
to silence the questions of the green cucumber and to turn the narrative
away from the city. Since the narrative frame was already unpacked and
diversified, a fierce action is needed to bring the audience back to that
meta-narrative. In other words, the city could indeed be part and parcel
of a Zionist narrative, but only if this narrative is pluralistic and the metanarrative undermined. The city introduces internal tensions into Zionist
meta-narrative because it provides the films only indicator of the option
of more complicated and non-linear developments, unpredictable and
uncontrolled, in the story of the redemption of the land.
Although the narrative appears to be repacked, the spatial representation remains plural. The film contains various and different subspaces
within its imagery of national space (i.e., the homeland), which is experienced by the audience as being composed of different sub-societies. This
diversifying role of the city is not accidental. The culturally uncontrolled
urban space of the capitalist-industrial city exemplifies human multiplicity and diversity (Low 1996), not abstractly, but sensually, through the
experience of walking in the city (Certeau 2000) or, alternatively, through
visual representations of the urban masses on screen. On the other hand,
the industrial city emerges as a main arena of socio-cultural and political disputes and, at the same time, a central site for collective identity
construction (Lefebvre 1996: 68). The emergence of the urban Yishuv in
inter-war Palestine represented the national space as diversified, despite
nationalist doctrines that advocated otherwise.
However, this diversity itself made a noteworthy, although controversial,
contribution to the imagery of the city as a Jewish space. Although rural
space is depicted as ethically superior to urban space, it is presented as aesthetically inferior. Thus, there is a disparity between style and themes in the
film, which implies that the dual nature of the rural and the urban does not
undermine the power of Zionist ideology conveyed in This Is the Land. Contrary to Bursztyn (1990), Zionist ideology does not become a caricature just
because the green cucumber taps his turiya and his manager teases him; it
is displayed as an authentic expression of a real life form, rather than as a
one-dimensional placard. Among the staged scenes in the film, the dialogical scene is, more or less, the only one with which the viewers can identify
to some degree. It is the only scene to describe an element of pioneering life
in Palestine that reflects a real issue that the settlers encounter and the only
one that includes (a bit) more than dramatic lectures.
Conclusion
Anderson (1983) emphasized the notion of empty, homogeneous time
in which modern narratives take place (in journalism and novels) and
give expression to nationalist imagery. Although this is true with regard
to cinema, films also allow for the simultaneous imagery of multiple subspaces, which are far from being homogeneous or empty. Sequenced in
the film in a narrative structure, the heterogeneous spaces diversify the
homogeneous meta-narrative. However, diversifying the homogeneous
nationalist narrative does not necessarily mean its deconstruction. The
multiple spaces can sometimes coalesce to create one social space that has
its own imagined unityJewishthanks to (and not in spite of) its ability
to contain collisions of different narratives.
Although urban space was not favored by Zionist ideology, the rapid
urban development of inter-war Palestine forced itself on Zionist spatial
imagery. The contradictory appearances of urban scenarios and cityscapes in the films discussed above reflect various inner tensions of the
Zionist project: vanguard versus mass society, overdramatization versus prosaic life, asceticism versus celebrating the body, unity versus
multiplicity in space design and nation-building. Whereas in the film
In the Days of Yore, the city appears as the only actual Jewish life form
in Palestine, in This Is the Land, it is one among other optionsbut it is
the one that introduces diversity into the national space. Ironically, the
multiculturalism and polyphony of the city, which so threatened Zionist
ideologues, were vital for the domination of Zionist ideology and the
ability of various Jewish communities to imagine Palestine as a Jewish
space. The Jewish cityTel Avivwas the only place in which the new
Jewish mass society in Palestine emerged as a historical entity with a
physical and visible presence, both in the street and on the screen. Only
the urban mass society could indeed be convincingly designated by the
pretentious term nation.
126 | Hizky Shoham
Acknowledgments
The article was written thanks to the Program for Judaic Studies at Yale
University, where I served as a Postdoctoral Associate between 2008 and
2010. I am particularly indebted to Steven Fraade and Paula Hyman for
their constant support. I wish to thank Miri Talmon, Barbara Mann, and
Olga Gershenson; the editors and the reviewers of Israel Studies Review;
and, above all, my friend Nava Dushi for useful comments on this article.
Hizky Shoham teaches at Tel Aviv University and is a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies at the Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem. His research interests include the cultural history of Zionism and
cultural theory. His book Mordechai Is Riding a Horse: Purim Celebrations in
Tel Aviv (19081936) and the Building of a New Nation (in Hebrew) is about
to be published by Bar-Ilan University Press.
Notes
1. For more on this topic in Judaic studies, see Brauch, Lipphardt, and Nocke
(2008), Fonrobert (2009), Mann (2006: 125).
2. On the national imagery of space, see Gellner (1983: 102108) and Portugali
(1993). For more about the unique role of cinema, see Shohat and Stam (1994:
100104) and Smith (2000: 56).
3. The concept of national cinema in not taken here to represent a particular
local cinema (French, Italian, etc.), which is characterized by a unique style
or cinematic language, or a protectionist cinema in the local language, as
opposed to a globalizing Hollywood cinema (see Hjort and Petrie 2007; Jarvie
2000; Walsh 1996).
4. Vayehi Bimey (1932) Palestine Production Company, Tel Aviv: screenwriting
and shooting, Natan Axelrod; staging, Hayim Halachmi. Steven Spielberg
Jewish Film Archive, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, VT DA016. I thank Mr.
Yosef Halachmi for allowing me to possess a copy of the film.
5. See critiques of the film quoted in Feldstein (2009: 7277) and Halachmi
(1995: 114).
6. On comedies and national identity, see Keeler (2008) and King (2008). On
pioneers theatre, see Ofrat (1980: 120127).
7. Zot Hi Haaretz (1935), Aga Film, Tel Aviv: producers, Baruch and Yitzhak Agadati. Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive, Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
VT DA330.
8. See Gross and Gross (1991: 136) on the influence of Soviet cinema on the Agadati brothers.

9. On the camel as an Orientalist symbol in Zionist culture, see U. Cohen (2003).
10. On masculine biases in Israeli and Hebrew cinema through the end of the
twentieth century, see N. Gertz (1996), Lubin (1999), and Zanger (1999).
11. For the detailed plot of This Is the Land, see Feldstein (2009: 108116).
12. The transcription and translation of film dialogue here and following are by
this author.
13. See Michelsons introduction in Vertov (1984: xxxviixl). On the city symphony genre, see Hillard (2004), Kracauer (2004: 182189), and Surez (2002).
14. The songs lyrics are by Immanuel Harusi, the melody by Mordechai Zeira.
15. For more on the flneur, see Benjamin (1997) and Simmel (1997: 174185). On
the flneur in the context of Tel Aviv, see Eidar (2003).
16. See Eisensteins October (1927, Moscow) and Vertovs A Man with a Movie Camera as examples of Soviet films that cast the masses as the protagonist.
17. On this myth, see Azaryahu (2007: 5458), LeVine (2005), Mann (2006: 7476),
Rotbard (2005: 126132), and Shoham (forthcoming b).
18. For the full speech by Dizengoff (in Hebrew), see Yediot Iriyat Tel Aviv 5, no.
67 (1934): 307308.
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Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies

5:1 (2007), 89-93
REVIEW
Stephanie Dennison and Song Hwee Lim. Remapping World Cinema: Identity,
Culture and Politics in Film, Wallflower Press, London and New York, 2006,
203 pp. ISBN 1-904764-62-2.
THE SOUBRIQUET world cinema is an amorphous phrase, frequently used to
describeadiversearrayofcinemawhileevadinganyclearcutdefinitionofwhatthis
category actually entails. While this is understandable, it has often had the
unfortunate sideeffect of creating a theoretical vacuum for analysing and
approachingfilmswhichfallintothiselusivecategory.Inresponsetothisambiguity,
itisnotuncommonforworldcinematobereductivelyatomisedandreducedtoa
category comprised of individuated national cinemas. Thus world cinema is
concretised by a conceptual orthodoxy one that appeals to the palate of the
cosmopolitan cinephile by constructing a cinema that displays the requisites of the
diverse,theexoticandaboveall,theforeign.
In Remapping World Cinema: Identity, Culture and Politics in Film, editors
StephanieDennisonandSongHweeLimattempttoaddresswhatistantamounttoa
deceptively simple question: What is world cinema? 1 Fortunately, both they and
the various contributors to this collection acknowledge the futility of seeking
definitive answers and choose instead to provide a cautious, considered account of
how world cinema is both discursively and empirically constituted. As a result,
fifteen wellcrafted, rigorous essays analysing an assortment of films have been
collatedinthisvolume.Diversetheoreticalapproachesarethoughtfullyfieldedinan
attempt to interrogate and reconfigure existing orthodoxies of world cinema
predicatedonthenotionofnationalisedfilms.
Letmenotbecoy.Westillparsetheworldbynations,notesDudleyAndrew
inAnAtlasofWorldCinema. 2 Thisobservationisparticularlycriticaloftherigid,
often nationalistic cartographies currently maintained in film studies. Not only is
Andrewconcernedwithredefiningfilmstudiesasanacademicdiscipline,butheis
simultaneously attentive to issues of pedagogical practice. Consequently, he
advocatesadeparturefrompanopticpracticesthatmerelysurveytheforeign,while
moving towards a pedagogy of localised engagement which may subsequently
disorientandevendiscomfortthestudentoraudience:Displacement,notcoverage,
mattersmost;letustravelwherewewill,solongaseverylocalcinemaisexamined
withaneyetoitscomplexecology.3
Andrews use of political, demographic, and linguistic maps not only lends
concisiontothedilemmaofhowworldcinemamightbeapproached,butalsooffers
alternative models of reconceptualisation. In his essay the term orientation, for
example, refers to the emergence of a localglobal nexus in which film displays a
perspective that is firmly situated in the local, yet remains outwardlooking and
interactive. Drawing on DeleuzeGuattaris The Nomad, Andrew contemplates
marginalised practices of production and distribution that are situated beyond
Westernepistemes.
Gibbs/Review of Remapping World Cinema
89
He also constructs a somewhat idealised, yet useful set of topographical

cartographiesinordertospecificallyruminateonanomadiccinema.Accordingto
hisconception,thenomadicisdefinedasmarginaltomoreorthodoxstudiobased
and industryfinanced models of production and distribution, and is consequently
posited in an imagined periphery. This reveals a highly localised, freeflowing
processoffilmproductiononethatischaracterisedbyflux,invisibility,indigeneity
and an elusive resistance to the centripetal logic of imperial classification and
institutionalised film. While Andrews various cartographies are periodically
acknowledged as promising by other authors, they remain, by and large, abstract
proposals confined to the borders of his essay. Nevertheless, the opportunity exists
for other writers and readers to actively pursue and utilise the diverse approaches
thatareproposed.
Andrew aside, there are several equally informative, even outstanding
contributions on offer in this collection which covers territory ranging from South
AmericantoEastGermancinema.Discoursesofpostcolonialism,race,gender,and
the ways in which they contribute to or disrupt national filmic identity are also
interrogated and critiqued. Rosanna Maule for instance, investigates the spectre of
colonial displacement and alienation that haunts the postcolonial films of French
director Claire Denis. Consequently, the burgeoning seeds of transnational identity
scatteredthroughDenisworkarebroughttolightforfurtherexamination.Issuesof
gender and sexual orientation are simultaneously explored, an approach which
ultimately complicates, and thus unsettles, monolithic conceptions of (French)
nationalidentity,andbyextension,(French)nationalcinema.
A later subsection entitled Interrogating Gender is comprised of twin
chapters that foray into the shifting politics of onscreen gender representation in
Japan and China, both past and present. Issues of identity are further explored in
briefessaysonBrazilianandFrenchstarletsSoniaBragaandIsabelleAdjani.These
chaptersdetailtheirethnicoriginsandsubsequenttrialsandtribulations.Thereisan
oblique discussion on how race is articulated through the performances of these
actresses and an examination of the sociopolitical implications of this process.
Arguablyhowever,bothpiecesarenotonlyfartoobriefintheiranalysis,butarealso
too narrowly preoccupied with the cult of individual personality (and celebrity) to
effectawider,morefruitfuldiscussion.
A refreshing change of focus however, occurs midway through Remapping
WorldCinemaasDavidRobbandEvelynPreusscontributethoughtful,theoretically
rigorouspiecesinformedbytheworkofBakhtin.Theinclusionofthesetwoessays
diversifiesavisiblefocusonSouthAmericanandAsiancinemasandtheprevalence
ofpostcolonialandfeminist theorythroughout thecollection. Essays suchasthese
successfully dispel any potential misapprehension that Remapping World Cinema is
merelyacritiqueofThirdCinemamasqueradingasworldcinema.Apreoccupation
with East German film is evident as both writers describe a temporally framed
cinema,wroughtinthemilieuofindustrialmodernity,yetrootedinthevenerable
traditions of commedia dellarte and comdie franaise. 4 An examination of the
carnivalesque directs the reader toward a subversive cinema imbued with the
potentialtounderminethepoliticsandpropagandaofnationhood.
Robbcreatesacompellingcasestudy,comparingtheoverlookedtalentsofKarl
Valentin to the undeniable genius of Charlie Chaplin. Fortunately, the work and
90
www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/gjaps
methods of the more obscure East German comic assiduously receives the lions
share of analysis. Valentins ability to wed high art or the avantgarde to the
Volkssanger or folk tradition culminated in his portrayal of a Hanswurst a
harlequinesque figure who evoked covert strategies of absurdity and
defamiliarisationinordertoprovideahumorouslyveiledsocialcritique.BothRobb
and Preuss introduce a detailed and welcome element of class analysis to the
collection. This draws attention to a cinema that reflected (German) national
boundaries and spoke to internal social stratification, thus further redrawing the
conceptuallinesofworldcinema.
Whilemostofthevolumeattemptstodispensewithnationallinesofcinematic
production,allowingforthetitularremappingofcinema,itinadvertentlyoccludes
entiregeographiesoffilmicimaginationfromitsanalysis.Althoughworldcinemais
remappedacrosstheseessays,itisnoteworthythatthisbravenewcartographyfails
to feature any cinema external to established national sites of film production and
distribution within the freefloating categories of third and world cinema. Thus
Pacific, Australasian, and Middle Eastern cinema along with any Asian film
industriesunfortunateenoughtobepositionedbeyondthecinematictrinityofChina,
JapanandIndia,areconspicuousbytheirpronouncedabsencefromtheworldstage,
leading to a poverty of representation. The category of Fourth cinema is similarly
excluded, thus foregoing any consideration of cinematic perspectives and practices
thatlieperipheral,parallelorincontradistinctiontothenotionofthenationstateas
logical site of cinematic production. In all fairness, these omissions will be partly
attributabletopragmaticconsiderationssuchasthewriterstimenottomentionthe
space available in this collection. Ultimately however, thedecision to exclude these
regions ofcinemarestswithDennison and Limand it is an editorial oversightthat
somewhatdiminishesthiscollection.
Nevertheless, the aforementioned absences leave a glaring swathe of cinema
excised from the proceedings. Furthermore, a clear inequity exists among those
cinemas that do receive representation. A glimpse of the Caribbean and Basque
countryiscapturedthroughRobStonescomparisonofthefilms,SoyCubaandAma
Lur. Discussion of Ama Lur in particular provides Remapping World Cinema with
perhaps the only chapter to truly contemplate uniquely cultural and indigenous
modes offilmicexpression.Stonesoverarchinginterest however, lies inexamining
contrastingmodesofMarxistrhetoricthatarepresentinbothfilms.SouthAmerican
cinemaisavitalpresence,whileAfricaismentioned,butonlyasafigmentofthe
Westernimaginary,ratherthananextantsiteofcinematiccreativity.
Directtovideo films in Nigeria are promising filmic territory that receive the
mostcursory,thoughadmittedlytantalising,ofglancesinthelatterstagesofDudley
Andrews contribution. Africa is revisited by both Keith Richards and Rosanna
Maule in cogent analyses of the postcolonial works of Claire Denis and Pier Paolo
Pasolinirespectively.Bothessaysidentifythemyriadwaysinwhichthecontinent
functionsasahighlymeditative,selfreflexivesiteforbothEuropeandirectors.While
theseessaysareinteresting,accessibleandaboontoanystudentorreaderinterested
in both the insights and problems of the Western ethnographic gaze, scant if any
attentionisaffordedtocinemaactuallycraftedbyAfricanfilmmakers.
It is unfortunate that Lcia Nagibs provocative proposal for, a method in
which Hollywood and the West would cease to be the centre of film history
91
remains largely unaddressed. 5 Although Remapping World Cinema offers a pithy

analysisoftheWestspresumedprimacyincinematicdiscourse,itfailstotrulymove
beyond this paradigm. It is ironic that intelligent discussion concerned with de
centring the West reifies it as an overriding theoretical preoccupation and point of
reference. In effect the West, as theoretical construct, exerts an overweening
hegemony through which all other cinema is filtered, compared, analysed and
critiqued,operatingasbothindispensablecounterpointandframe.
BothHideakiFujikisessayandKaushikBhaumiksconclusivechapterprovide
exemplarycasesinpointastheydemonstratethepressingneedtoaddressWestern
hegemonyontheonehand,andthepotentialpitfallsofaWesterncentricdiscourse
ontheother.FujikisconsiderablefocusonWesterncinemaisunderstandableinsofar
asheaccountsforacriticalhistoricalandculturaljuncturewhereinAmericancinema
collided with and later informed female representation in traditional Japanese
theatre.Inthisinstance,anunfoldingaccountoftheWesterngazeanditseffectson
later Japanese cinema is both pragmatic and essential; likewise with Rachel
Hutchinsons considered analysis of authenticity, selfappropriation and
Occidentalismin jidagekiorperiodaction drama. 6 Thenotion ofa filmic dialogue
between America and Japan arises, and with it the exploration of cinematic
techniquesthatbothanswertoandreassimilateWesternconceptionsofJapan.This
not only further forgesbutcritiquesJapanese identityandcinema from adistinctly
Japaneseperspective.
Bhaumiks essay similarly examines the conventions, concerns and cinematic
contribution of Bollywood to world cinema and attempts to take the Wests
dismissive,oftenignorantviewofBollywoodtotask.UnlikeFujikiandHutchinson
however, he is so wholly engaged with refuting the Western gaze that his work is
inexorably paralysed in that selfsame glare, resulting in a largely reactionary, if
lively piece. Bhaumiks focus on British and American failure to engage with
Bollywood dominates his essay to such an extent that the cinema he describes is
criticallycontainedbytheparadigmheseekstodismantle.Asaresult,hestrivesto
justifythefilmicandculturalworthofBollywoodnottotheworldatlarge,butto
theWest.Readingthischapter,(entitledConsumingBollywoodintheglobalage:
thestrangecaseofanunfineworldcinema)onemightassumethatBollywoodwas
an unpopular, insular, and marginal form of film on the global stage. Such an
assumptionhowever,ignoresBollywoodswidespreadpopularitythroughoutSouth
EastAsiaandoverlookstherichopportunitytoexamineanartisticreciprocitywithin
Asiancinema.
Rather than merely proposing the radical decentring of the West, a strategic
focus on Bollywoods immense international popularity could well provide the
meanstoactuallyachievethisobjective.Conditionsofcinematicsyncretism,suchas
those that often characterise Indian and Indonesian films, could be fruitfully
appraised without constant referral to an imagined centre. Perhaps it is unfair to
criticise this fairly comprehensive collection for what it fails to do, in light of its
successes. There is, however a point at which theory and praxis must meet, where
the former should be expressly materialised through the latter. A failure to do so
renderseventhemostpromisingtheoreticalshiftinertintherealmofabstraction.
SparkleAnneGIBBS
UniversityofAuckland
92
www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/gjaps
NOTES
StephanieDennisonandSongHweeLim,Introduction:Situatingworldcinemaasatheoretical
problem,inStephanieDennisonandSongHweeLim,eds,RemappingWorldCinema:Identity,Culture
andPoliticsinFilm,WallflowerPress,LondonandNewYork,2006,p.1.
2DudleyAndrew,AnAtlasofWorldCinemainStephanieDennisonandSongHweeLim,eds,
RemappingWorldCinema:Identity,CultureandPoliticsinFilm,WallflowerPress,LondonandNewYork,
2006,p.26.
3ibid.,p.19.
4DavidRobb,CarnivalesquemeetsmodernityinthefilmsofKarlValentinandCharlieChaplinin
StephanieDennisonandSongHweeLim,eds,RemappingWorldCinema:Identity,CultureandPoliticsin
Film,WallflowerPress,LondonandNewYork,2006,p.94.
5LciaNagib,TowardsaPositiveDefinitionofWorldCinemainStephanieDennisonandSong
HweeLim,eds,RemappingWorldCinema:Identity,CultureandPoliticsinFilm,WallflowerPress,London
andNewYork,2006,p.34.
6RachelHutchinson,Orientalismoroccidentalism?DynamicsofappropriationinAkiraKurosawa
inStephanieDennisonandSongHweeLim,eds,RemappingWorldCinema:Identity,CultureandPoliticsin
Film,WallflowerPress,LondonandNewYork,2006,p.176.
1
93
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Film, authenticity and language teaching

Barry Baddock
Gesamthochschule Kassel
Published online: 06 Aug 2007.
To cite this article: Barry Baddock (1991) Film, authenticity and language teaching, The Language Learning Journal, 3:1,
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Film, aulhenficily and language teaching

Barry Baddock
Gesamthochschule Kassel
Downloaded by [King's College London] at 16:39 15 December 2014
Inlroduction
To the film enthusiast (in contrast to the language teacher), an
"authentic film is one which accurately and realistically recreates
a particular period or environment. Take, for example, David
Lean's A Passage to India (1984). Although it was based on a work
of fiction and made 60 years after that work was published, it is
authentic insofar as it recaptures the idiom, atmosphere and behaviour of life in 1920s British India. Cinematic authenticity is
not the open-ended realism of the pure documentary, but the selective image-making of the film-maker. Pierre Sorlin develops
the point in assessing the 1939 epic Gone With the Wind:
Authenticity, constantly reaffirmed, is d r a w n from general
and individual behaxa'our. I am not claiming that Scarlett's
story is given as a 'true story', but that 'the true history" of the
war is presented as a mixture of general massacre and individual suffering. The Civil War is an accumulation of private
misfortunes and disasters - all of them gathered together in
a general o v e r t h r o w . . . (w)e are not looking at 'war in itself"
but at images of war?
As we shall see, cinematic authenticity - the accuracy of
"general and individual behaviour" portrayed - is important
from a language learning perspective too.
We may feel that a documentary film, characterised by unscripted, 'real-life' dialogue, offers a stronger guarantee of authenticity than a feature film. But this assumes that a more
accurate record of reality is to be found in the documen T
In
fact, a documentary-maker, just like a feature film-maker, uses
techniques of selection and arrangement which project his own
interpretation of reality. Furthermore, the range of the documentary film is limited by its very realism - limited, that is, to those
real-life situations which can be genuinely filmed. By contrast,
feature films, being products of the imagination and capable of
using the talents of actors, can portray and present a wider range
of "general and individual behaviour" - and the language which
belongs to it. The film theorist Siegfried Kracauer saw the proper
film form as "a balance between the documentary which tries to
follow the r a n d o m flow of nature a n d the story film which
strives to pull nature into a human shape"? In other words, a
film will ideally contain a mixture of realistic and formative techniques - to both record and reveal the culture being portrayed.
tion and layout are retained"?3Any effort to make language simpler, or more structured, for the student will automatically make
it different from the ways native speakers use it in real life. So
(the reasoning goes) materials artificially prepared for language
students will delay or retard the learning of authentic language.'
Languagetasks
Are we asking the student to do something with the material
which (s)he would want or need to do in real life? This is a question of the "appropriacy" of the task. Authenticity in this sense,
means that the important factor "is not the text itself but the
reader and whether he has the necessary k n o w l e d g e . . , to interp r e t it correctly, t h a t is, be c a p a b l e of the ' a p p r o p r i a t e
response'"? Authentidty, here, is a matter of what the student
does (or is asked to do) with the materials, and depends, really,
on his or her attitude to them.
Picture of the culture

Do the m a t e r i a l s
help
the s t u d e n t g a i n i n s i g h t s into the
behaviour of people in the foreign culture: their motives, intentions, desires and interests? In an increasingly unified and multicultural Europe, for example, an understanding of the mentality
and habits of neighbour countries is now seen as important and
necessary. In the search for cohesion and unity, nationalities are
realising how little they understand one another's ways. Consequently, students are being trained to become 'cultural translators" - prejudice-free mediators between cultures. Indeed, an
insight into the thinking and behaviour of the foreign culture is
nowadays seen as part of communicative competence. ~
Traditionally, a "culture' element - e.g. Civilisation Franqaise,
Landeskunde, Life and Institutions - was a d d e d to a language
course. Much of this consisted of high literature and factual information (sa)9 about educational institutions and political systems) which students could have looked up on their own. But
the 1970s brought a shift. Just as language study widened its
grammatical focus to include communicative aspects (how people interact), so foreign culture study widened its factual focus to
include psychological aspects (how people think)7 So the focus
on literature and institutions has widened. Nowadays, language
textbooks contain 'everyday" items which shape and reflect life,
habits and thought in the target culture, e.g. recipes, street
scenes, advertisements, Press cuttings.
Aulhenticily in language learning
Film in language learning
D u r i n g t h e 1970s, l a n g u a g e c a m e to b e s e e n in w i d e
socio-cultural contexts. This led, in turn, to wider approaches in
language teaching. The main objective became 'communicative
competence' - the ability to use language appropriately in various socio-cultural cL,rumstances. It was not enough for students
to put words together to make sentences, and to master an abstract linguistic system. It was necessar~ too, to practise the language in realistic contexts. So the question of authenticity moved
to centre stage: how could we be sure that students would learn
language as used in the real world for real purposes, rather than
language 'invented' by linguists and textbook writers? One kind
of guarantee, it was felt, would be to base classroom activities on
'authentic' materials - materials, that is, produced by native
speakers for native speakers' use.
During the debate which followed, t]uee kinds of authenticity came to be seen as important to language learning:
Let us now see how film use in class is compatible with these
three kinds of authentidty:
Languagematerial
Is the material "the real thing", in the sense just described? Is it
true of the language samples in a textbook, for example, "that
nothing of the original text is changed and also that its pl~senta16
Languagematerial
Is the language of a scripted film "the real thing'? Is it legitimate
at all to r e g a r d the p r o d u c t s of the cinematic i n d u s t r y as
'authentic materials'? After all, a fllmscript contains artifidal language, as in a drama or a novel - fictional dialogue, which was
never spoken in real life. The comparison with literature is apt.
Some literary works are fine representations of life and language
- and some are not. The abundance of (in this sense) un-authentic literature does not deter us, as language teachers, from selecting and using texts which are good reflections of life, language
and relationships. The same is true of films: there is profit in
seeking out the best of them for teaching purposes.
Another objection to film dialogue is that it is often too difficult or too rapid for language students to follow. But this is really
a question of how to use the film - a question of tasks. The fact
remains that any film produced by native speakers for a nativespeaker audience is authentic language material, and is not artitidally produced for language students. It will not lack any of
the dimensions of authentic language use.

One area where film is unique is in its portrayal of the communicative environment. Are the speakers in a public place, or
in private? Can they be heard by anyone else? H o w old are the
speakers? What kind of relationship do they seem to have - familiar or formal? What mannerisms, facial expressions, body
language suggest this? What does this or that gesture signify? It
is normally difficult to rc~:reate these features in language teaching. Yet they often determine what is actually communicated.
The policy, common in 'authentic" materials, of providing background information (about speaker relationships, setting and so
on) serves only to emphasise how un-authentic that policy is. In
its ability to portray the communicative environment, film scores
heavily over other authentic materials: to a very great extent, it
can show the context in which speech acts take place? As an example of this, consider a prison cell scene in Jim Jarmusch's film
Down By Law (1986). A recently-arrived Italian convict lays a
comradely ann around the shoulders of his two American cellmates. They turn awa~ embarrassed - an effective signal to the
newcomer: he has overstepped the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. Words are spoken in the scene, but they can only be understood as part of the overall communicative behaviour. Film
can show all this more completely than any other medium, including drama and prose.
Language tasks
It has been suggested that there can be no such thing as an
authentic text in language teaching since an authentic text is one
speaker/writer's communication to a partioflar audience at a
given moment?
Extending this, we can say that a film is authentic, in cultural
and sociolinguistic tenm, only to a certain native.speaker group
- the producer of a French film did not have ~
or F~gli.~h
viewers in mind. Sometimes, a student's awareness that (s)he is
outside the intended audience can affect motivation. The student
"may simply not feel himself in any way engaged by the text
being presented to him and so may refuse to authenticate it by
taking an interest?
This danger exists with any learning material. There is nothing which has a universal appeal, and every film will be
unattractive and unmotivating to some students. But we can try
to anticipate this problem by asking: what kind of learning tasks
are authentic when using film? More specifically, what tasks are
"appropriate" to students seeing a foreign language film?
Clearly, the receptive tasks of listening and (to a certain extent)
reading are. ~ But can film go further than this, and provide conditions for genuine communication to take place? One commentator has s u g g e s t e d that, for this to h a p p e n , a g e n u i n e
'information gap" is needed, with the necessary elements of unpredictability, freedom of choice (concerning what to say and
how to say i0, meaningful context and purposeful use of language? z At first sight, film does not seem to provide these conditions, o n e writer has described an activity involving someone in
a phone box describing the movements of someone else to a
third person. This has been suggested as a meaningful interaction on the basis that it occurs frequently in detective films!~ This
is reminiscent of Kracauer's view of the "sleuthing motif' as an
exemplary cinematic story form. "Here a conventional literary
plot device (the detective seeking out the truth) drives both the
film-maker and the spectator back into the raw material of life in
search of significant clues" and thereby "forces us to use, not
play with, our imaginations in seeking out the meaning of the
world around us."" I think that examples like these are far from
convincing descriptions of "meaningful contexts" leading to
"purposeful use of language".
Instead, let us consider the abilities which a viewer authenticaUy uses in order to make sense of a foreign language film.
First, (s)he can transfer "native' communicative skills to the task,
such as recognising significant features of behaviour (gestures
and body language) or deciding what kind of meaning a halfheard utterance must have had. Second, the student-viewer will
also have, through familiarity, an understanding of film conventions and techniques. When these abilities are used in the effort
to understand a foreign language film, then "given' abilities are
assisting in the task of learning new ones.
But we can go further than this: understanding a film is a creative process in which the spectator contributes much more than
k n o w h o w about communication and understanding of film
techniques. '5 Consider the information gaps which the viewer
has to cross in the effort to make sense of a foreign film, and to
impose logic and order on it. (S)he has somehow to deal with the
lack of that background knowledge (about social types, jokes,
class differences, folk sayings, family customs and the like)
which the film-maker shares with the "native" viewer. A 'non-native" viewer, though, brings a different combination of experience
and knowledge to the task. Though there will be elements the
viewer will not recognise, (s)he will try to make sense of the film,
and to understand it. (S)he does this by contributing something
from his or her own experience and knowledge in order, so to
speak, to creatively fill the gaps.
What kind of 'understanding' is at work here? How does the
'non-native" viewer make sense of a film which reflects (behaviourial, socio-cultural, political and psychological) realities of
another culture? We do not know exactl3~ But we can say that the
task of understanding a film is partly a creative effort on the part
of the viewer - a psychological process in which (s)he tries to impose order and a logic on what is seen. Whatever the filmmaker's original intentions, the viewer cannot be prevented
from making a contribution in this creative way. By merely
putting together a series of images, the film-maker leads the
viewer to answer questions like "Why these shots rather than
others? why does this follow that?' The viewer on his or her own
tries to give to the images some kind of meaning and human significance.
This creative effort is essentiadly an internal one. The question
is: how to get the student to go on to do something with the material (here: the film) which (s)he would want or need to do in
real life? What communicative activity would be 'appropriate'?
A frequent tactic in language teaching is to try "relating the task
to (the student's) own life a n d . . , providing a purpose for undertaking the activi~. "16 Here, the necessary conditions - information gap, unpredictability, freedom of choice, meaningful
context, p u r ~ e f u l use of language should stem from the student's desire to express opinions based on his or her own experience.
In certain circumstances, 'film talk' can provide these conditions. Custen, investigating native (American) speakers' responses to film, found that they did not talk like critics, seeking
out the "message" of the film, or "decoding" the film-maker's
intended "meaning". 17Instead, they related parts of the film to
their personal lives and circumstances. There was no evidence of
interpretational skills. The speakers mentioned a particular scene
they liked, because i t reminded them of a car they owned or
something which happened to them yesterday. In other words,
spectators tended to "reach inside and outside the film to make
it understandable and meaningful. ''8
This research was not conducted among language students,
but it does suggest a lead for teachers to follow. Students could
be encouraged to relate what they saw to their personal experience, to discuss what they liked or found difficult in the film,
and how they viewed this or that scene. To get students to expand formal knowledge of language into overall communicative
ability, we have to ask them to do tasks which they would want
or need to do in real life. Film talk, as a catalyst for personal response on the part of students, can provide this kind of task.
Picture of the culture

Since film-makers are shaped by their cultural milieu, their films
reflect the life and psychology of the country of origin, as well its
language. So national modes of film have evolved - that is, distinctive British or German or Australian film styles. In classes
where the language and culture of a particular country are being
studied, the existence of a national film tradition should be an
advantage.
But there are difficulties of definition here. As Le Fanu explains, after looking into national film styles for a very short
time.
one soon comes to realise just how difficult it is, in practice,
to provide accurate descriptions of film's formal syntax - descriptions which take into account not only such relatively
17
identifiable matters as shot length, frequency of close-up, use

of narrative ellipsis, but harder and more crudal concepts
like rhythm, musicality and intensity of philosophical gaze. It
follows from the poverty of this scientific vocabulary that it is
equally difficult to pinpoint with confidence the "culturespecific" status of a given national dnema. 1~
Given this difficulty, I suggest that, for language teaching, it
is best to avoid the question of whether and how this or that film
is an example of a national film style. It is better to start out with
the question: could the film lead to insights into the behaviour,
motives, intentions, desires and interests of people in the foreign
culture? As I have argued elsewhere, the best films for this purpose will be those portraying contemporary language and society - that is, recent films, set in their own time and culture?
q-IistoricaI' films are unsuitable, as are those which portray a culture which is outside the 'target culture'. In a changing world, a
film older than 20 years wi]l illustrate out-of-date language and
attitudes rather than current social realities and language usage.
Films portraying the quality and character of a particular locality (e.g. Scottish director Bill Forsyth's Glasgow-based films
That Sinking Feeling (1979), Gregory's Girl (1980) and Comfort and
Joy (1985)) are especially valuable because they are concrete and
limited in focus. Small-scale episcxies from local films provide
good bases for teaching units in the language class. Since film
presents language and behaviour in visible social contexts,

episodes could be used which reveal significant points of difference between the student's own culture and the target culture.
Clearly, film provides real scope for cross-cultural study, where
the emphasis is on getting students to think their way into the
psychology and life-style of the target culture. Apart from informing about the target culture, it can also lead students to
think about, and to question, behaviour and practice in their
own culture.
Conclusions
Though feature films are likely to be among the most economical
and available of teaching aids, their uses as "authentic materials'
have not been fully assessed. When we say a firm is authentic,
we normally mean that it satisfyingly recreates the idiom, atmosphere and appearance of a particular period or environment. In
language teaching terms, though, 'authentic' is a term describing
(a) language material made by native speakers for native speakers" use. (b) learning tasks which can be based on this material
and (c) the educational value of the material as a mirror of the
culture. I hope I have indicated how film can meet all these criteria, and offered bases for further thought and discussion on the
use of film in language classrooms.
Notes and references

1. P. Sorlin. The Film in History. Oxford: Blackwel11980,p. 111.
2. quoted in J. Dudley Andrew. The Major Film Theories. London: O.U.P.
1976, p. 120.
3. E Grellet. DevelopingReading Skills. Cambridge: C.U.R 1981. p.
4. See D. Clarke. 'Communicative theory and its influence on materials
production.' LanguageTeaching(April 1989), pp. 73-86.
5. Clarke. p. 78.
6. It is this insight which helps students to 'relate to the target value
system and reach personal decisions about their own values.' G.
Hughes. 'An argument for cultural analysis in the second language
classroom." American LanguageJournal 2,1 (1984), p. 38.
7. Concerning the distinction between "institutional questions" and
'psychological questions' in foreign culture study, see Hughes, pp.
38-39.
8. We can point, too, to the wealth of 'unsuccessful' communication
which pervades real life and which 'authentic' teaching materials
notably lack. Lee gives the examples of the No Parking notice when
we have no car and the loudspeaker announcing Bristol train.
P/afform 3 when we are not going to Bristol. Here, too, of course, film
has a strong advantage over other authentic materials. See W. Lee.
'Sense and nonsense about communicating by language'. IATEFL
News/etter57 (1979), p. 9.
9. IC Morrow. 'Authentic texts and ESP" in 5. Holden (Ed.). English for
Special Purposes.London: M.E.P. 1977, p. 15.
10. H. Widdowson. Teaching Language as Communication. Oxford: O.U.R

1978, p. 80. For Candlin emd Bmen, authenticity to the student is of
paramount importance and has little if anything to do with the
nature of the materials themselves. See C. Candlin and M. Breen.
"Evalua~m& adapting and innovating language teaching. On TESOL
"79: Tile Iamm,r in Focus. Washington: TESOL 1979.
11. See D. Wilkins. Notional Syllabuses. Oxford: O.U.P. 1976, p. 79, on
training receptive abih'ties with authentic materials.
12. K. Johnson. 'Communicative approaches and communicative
processes' in C. Brumfit and K. Johnson (Eds.), The Communicative
Approach to LanguageTeaching.Oxford: O.U.P. 1979. p.26.
13. Widdowson, p. 9.
14. Dudley Andrew, p. 124.
15. This is a view that was long expounded by the French film theorist
Jean Mitry.
16. Clarke, p. 83.
17. G. Custen. 'Talking about film' in S. Thomas (Ed.). Film~Culture.
Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1982, pp. 237-46.
18. Custen, p. 242.
19. M. Le Fanu. 'A song and dance about identity.' Times Higher
Education Supplement, 15.12.89, p. 16.
20. B. Baddock. 'Using dnema films in foreign language teaching.' Praxis
des neuspcachlichen Unterrichts 3 (1989), pp. 270-77.
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www.ccsenet.org/ijel
International Journal of English Linguistics
Vol. 2, No. 1; February 2012
Effects of Bimodal Subtitling of English Movies on Content

Comprehension and Vocabulary Recognition
Aida Etemadi
Department of English Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University
nd
2 door, Lane 8, Martyr Ramezani St., Iman Shomali St., Shiraz 7187914134, Iran
Tel: 98-91-730-7799
Received: October 13, 2011
doi:10.5539/ijel.v2n1p239
E-mail: aidasweet24@yahoo.com
Accepted: November 22, 2011
Published: February 1, 2012
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v2n1p239
Abstract
This thesis is an attempt to study the impact of bimodal subtitling on content comprehension of English movies
and vocabulary recognition. Forty four senior undergraduate students studying at Shiraz Islamic Azad University
were selected from two intact classes of Tapes and Films Translation course. Two BBC documentary movies
(Dangerous knowledge and Wheres my robot?), one with English subtitles and the other without subtitles were
selected based on the content and level of difficulty of the language. First, both classes watched the same movies,
but class 1 first watched Dangerous knowledge with English subtitling and then Wheres my robot? without
subtitling. To counteract the order effect class 2 first watched wheres my robot? and then Dangerous
knowledge. After viewing the movies, the participants answered the relevant multiple choice vocabulary and
content comprehension questions. The data gathered were subjected to the statistical procedure of paired samples
t-test. The results clearly indicated that bimodal subtitling had a positive impact on content comprehension of
English movies. It can be said that the participants comprehend the subtitled movie better than the one without
subtitle. However, for some reasons bimodal subtitling did not have an effect on participants vocabulary
recognition.
Keywords: English movies, Bimodal subtitling, Content comprehension, Vocabulary recognition
1. Introduction
English movies are available in many countries around the world and are a popular form of entertainment with
many students learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Using films to teach a foreign language can help
motivate students and remove some of the anxiety of not knowing the language. However, they are not just
entertainment; they are also a valuable language teaching tool. The use of movies as a teaching tool is not new in
the field of foreign language teaching and learning. Movies not only allow the teacher to introduce variety and
reality into the classroom, but discussions based on movie content allow students to bring their own background
knowledge and experiences into the discussion. Furthermore, almost everyone finds watching films pleasurable
and enjoys talking about them. From a motivational perspective, it seems that movies are a perfect choice for use
in a language learning classroom. However, the burden is on the teacher to find ways to make movies an
educationally valuable tool for instruction. This medium provides not only rich aural input, but also, the use of
subtitles can expose learners to visual input as well. It is the latter type of input which this study will address. As
Kusumarasdyati (2005) states, teachers play such movies without subtitles and ask learners to view them while
attempting to comprehend the conversations spoken in the target language. However, it is also possible to
present movies with subtitles in the native language. With advances in technology, options of how one can watch
movies become numerous. Not only can the sound and images be adopted, but the subtitles of various languages
are also called for assisting comprehension and language learning.
Subtitles in any language are wonderful tools that let people enjoy films from other cultures and countries, but
for language learners subtitles might offer a new path to language comprehension. The National Center for
Technology Innovative and Center for Implementing Technology in Education (2010) asserts that for students
who are learning English (or another language), subtitled movies can have benefits. The use of subtitled movies
has been proved to be more effective at improving overall listening comprehension than non-subtitled movies.
Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education
239
Students who watch subtitled movies to learn a foreign language have shown improvement in reading and
listening comprehension, word recognition, decoding skills, motivation and vocabulary acquisition.
The reading of subtitles must be separated from the normal reading of words and sentences printed on a page.
Seeing subtitles is perhaps closer to the act of listening than that of reading. The words are shown once, then
gone away. The viewer has no chance to go back and refer to an earlier part in the text. Not only do students
need to rely on their ability to take in printed material, but also they need to do it very quickly. The addition of
subtitled movies to classroom instruction has a further benefit of shifting watching typical classroom movies
from a picture-viewing activity to a reading activity, supplying struggling readers with additional reading
practice. (National Center for Technology Innovation & Center for Implementing Technology in Education, 2010,
para. 10).
The National Center for Technology Innovative and Center for Implementing Technology in Education (2010)
asserts that research has shown that watching movie appears to have a positive impact on comprehension skills,
and combining viewing with text, i.e. subtitles, appears to boost vocabulary acquisition. Though most students do
well with subtitled movies, the speed of subtitles could pose a problem for very young children or struggling
readers. For particularly low-level readers, teachers should consider using subtitled movies where vocabulary is
less likely to be difficult. These programs may include those where the main characters are children or teenagers,
animated movies, family programs, or movies with young children in the cast. (para. 7).
In the EFL classroom, the use of foreign language subtitles projected on the screen during viewings of
English-spoken movies is common. However, DVD technology now provides the powerful function of selecting
various subtitles that can facilitate the listening comprehension of learners with different levels of proficiency
and enhance their motivation toward learning the target language. Katchen, Lin, Fox and Chun (2002)
characterize six combinations of subtitles as presented in the following sections:
1)
Standard Subtitling (L2 audio with L1 subtitles)
2)
Bimodal Subtitling (L2 audio with L2 subtitles)
3)
Reversed Subtitling (L1 audio with L2 subtitles)
4)
Bilingual Subtitling (L2 audio with L2 and L1 subtitles simultaneously)
5)
Bilingual Reversed Subtitling (L1 audio with L1 and L2 subtitles simultaneously)
6)
No Subtitling (L2 audio with no subtitles at all)
1.1 Objectives and Significance of the Study

The present study intends to investigate the effect of bimodal subtitling on content comprehension of English
movies and vocabulary recognition of Iranian EFL students. It aims at finding answers to the following research
questions:
1) Does bimodal subtitling have any effect on content comprehension of English movies?
2) Does bimodal subtitling have any effect on L2 vocabulary recognition?
As King (2002) states films provide more pedagogical options and are a rich resource of intrinsically
motivating materials for learners. (para. 1). When learners are exposed to films, they can learn some words and
phrases used in the films and ultimately improve their target language. Various types of films, such as fiction,
science-fiction, romance, horror and historical movies, catch individuals interests and arouse learners
motivation. Watching films is among learners favorite activities. As learners who lack interest in learning a
foreign language often fail to make progress, films of various types that arouse different individuals interests
can be adopted as language learning materials. However, the way one watches movies has a particular effect on
ones learning. One way is watching movies with subtitles either in L1 or L2.
By using L2 subtitled movies, students can learn how to pronounce many words. Moreover, subtitles can
reinforce the understanding of English context-bound expressions and help learners acquire new vocabulary and
idioms. Furthermore, subtitles can motivate learners to study English outside the classroom context by watching
English movies, listening to the original dialogues. Finally it allows learners to follow the plot easily; in other
words, to enhance comprehension. Some researchers compared the presence and absence of subtitles. One study
revealed that the learners interacted more frequently when the subtitles were provided in the listening class
(Grgurovic & Hegelheimer, 2007). Few empirical studies have been conducted to test the effectiveness of
bimodal subtitling on content comprehension of movies in Iran. However, the case of vocabulary is different;
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there are a number of studies that investigated the effectiveness of subtitles on vocabulary recognition. Therefore,
this study could have significant implication for both teachers and students.
2. Review of Literature
2.1 The effect of subtitles on language learning
Various studies have investigated the different aspects of the effect of subtitling on second/foreign language
learning. Zanon (2006) investigated the contribution of computer-based subtitling to language learning and
concluded that subtitling could motivate learners to appreciate the huge amount of content of the film that does
not reach the audience when it is presented to them dubbed. In the same vein, Kusumarasdyati (2005) studied the
effect of subtitled movie DVDs and found them an effective teaching device to develop the EFL learners'
listening skills.
Borras & Lafayette (1994) incorporated subtitles into short video segments that were integrated into an
interactive multimedia course. The participants were able to see and control a video segment with or without
same language subtitles. Results indicated that having the opportunity to see and control subtitles positively
influences both comprehension and production of language.
Grgurovic & Hegelheimer (2007) used a multimedia listening activity containing a video of an academic lecture
to compare the effect of second language subtitles and lecture transcripts on the comprehension of the lecture. It
turned out that students preferred subtitles and used them more than the transcript.
To study the effect of subtitles on film understanding, Grignon, Lavaur, & Blanc (2005) compared three versions
of a film sequence (that is, dubbed, subtitled, and original versions). They found that the dubbed and subtitled
versions lead to better performance than the original version.
2.2 Effect of subtitles on vocabulary learning
A number of studies have more specifically focused on the effect of subtitles on vocabulary learning. Bird and
Williams (2002) conducted two studies examining the effect of single modality (sound or text) and bimodal
(sound and text) presentation on word learning. Both experiments led to the conclusion that subtitling can
improve the learning of novel words.
In a study, Koolstra and Beentjes (1999) investigated whether children in two primary school grades in the
Netherlands would learn English vocabulary through watching a television program with an English soundtrack
and Dutch subtitles. They concluded that vocabulary acquisition was highest in the subtitled condition. Two
hundred and forty-six Dutch children in Grades 4 and 6 (aged 9+ and 11+) watched a 15-minute documentary
having been assigned to one of three experimental conditions: (i) program about grizzly bears with an English
soundtrack and Dutch subtitles, (ii) the same program with an English soundtrack but without subtitles, and (iii)
a Dutch language television program about prairie dogs (a control condition to establish a baseline of English
vocabulary knowledge). These grades were chosen as English classes start in Grade 5, so in Grade 4, they would
have had no formal English lessons, while in Grade 6, they would have already had English on a regular basis.
Vocabulary scores for those watching with subtitles were higher than for those watching without subtitles and
scores in this latter group were higher than those in the control group. Grade 6 children performed better than
those in Grade 4. More words were recognized after watching the subtitled documentary than the non-subtitled
version, and, again, Grade 6 children outperformed Grade 4. Children with a high frequency of watching
subtitled programs at home had significantly higher English vocabulary scores than children with a low
frequency and medium frequency of watching subtitled programs. The findings confirm the many anecdotal
accounts that children can acquire elements of a foreign language through watching subtitled television programs.
Vocabulary acquisition was also found in children who watched the condition without Dutch subtitles. The
findings provided further evidence that the subtitles do not distract from hearing the words.
Stewart & Pertusa (2004) explored gains in vocabulary recognition made by intermediate students viewing films
in Spanish with English subtitles and others watching the same films with Spanish subtitles. They reported that
intralingual subtitles are more effective in enhancing vocabulary recognition.
Markham (1999) also examined the effect of subtitles on aural word recognition skills and found that the
availability of subtitles significantly improved the participants' ability to identify the key words when they
subsequently heard them again (p: 323-4).
2.3 Effect of subtitles on movie comprehension
Hinkin, Michael (2009) Performed Two studies to investigate the effects of subtitled movies on the
comprehension of movie content. Both investigations involved the presentation of 10-minute movie clips from A
241
Few Good Men and See No Evil, Hear No Evil. Participants completed three types of multiple-choice
recognition questions for each movie, including: pictorial-only questions, verbal-only questions and
combined-information questions. Experiment 1 was designed to investigate the difference between levels of
comprehension, when verbal information was presented only in the participants native language (i.e. English
soundtrack and/or subtitles). Results of Experiment 1 indicate that participants performed significantly better on
verbal-only and combined-information questions when their native language was present in the subtitles as
opposed to the soundtrack. These findings confirm previous findings that reading verbal information in subtitles
is more efficient than listening to the soundtrack. Comparison of performance on the pictorial-only questions
across presentation formats in Experiment 1 showed participants in the English soundtrack with no subtitles
condition performed significantly better than all other conditions. Although Experiment 1 provides a basic
understanding of how native language soundtracks and subtitles influence comprehension of movies, subtitled
media are primarily used when viewing a movie with verbal information from a foreign language. Experiment 2
built on the results of Experiment 1 by incorporating an unfamiliar language (i.e. French). The question sets used
in Experiment 1 were also used in Experiment 2; however, two French vocabulary tests were also used in
Experiment 2 to measure incidental foreign language acquisition. Consistent with the results of Experiment 1,
participants performed significantly better on verbal-only and combined-information questions when their native
language was in the subtitles. This finding extended the conclusion that native language verbal information
presented visually (i.e. subtitles) yields better performance on questions requiring verbal cues than native
language verbal information presented orally (i.e. soundtrack) to foreign language material. Comparison of
performance on the pictorial-only questions across presentation formats in Experiment 2 showed no significant
differences. Comparison across the two experiments reflected a distraction effect associated with the presence of
a foreign language. Performance on the French vocabulary tests was very poor across all conditions and yielded
no significant differences, suggesting that the tasks may have been too difficult.
In a study, published in the open-access journal PLoS One, Mitterer and McQueen (2009) investigated whether
subtitles, which provide lexical information, support perceptual learning about foreign speech. Dutch participants,
unfamiliar with Scottish and Australian regional accents of English, watched Scottish or Australian English
movies with Dutch, English or no subtitles, and then repeated audio fragments of both accents. Repetition of
novel fragments was worse after viewing movies with Dutch-subtitle but better after watching movies with
English-subtitle. Native-language subtitles appear to create lexical interference, but foreign-language subtitles
assist speech learning by indicating which words (and sound) are being spoken.
A study by Hayati and Mohmedi (2009) represented a preliminary effort to empirically examine the efficacy of
subtitled movie on listening comprehension of intermediate English as Foreign Language students. To achieve
this purpose, out of a total of 200 intermediate students, 90 were picked based on a proficiency test. The material
consisted of six episodes (approximately 5 minutes each) of a DVD entitled Wild Weather. The students viewed
only one of the three treatment conditions: English subtitles, Persian subtitles, no subtitles. After each viewing
session, six sets of multiple-choice tests were administered to examine listening comprehension rates. The results
revealed that the English subtitles group performed at a considerably higher level than the Persian subtitles group,
which in turn performed at a substantially higher level than the no subtitle group on the listening test.
To summarize, most of the studies mentioned so far, seem to confirm that subtitles can improve language
learning, vocabulary acquisition and content comprehension.
3. Methodology
3.1 Participants
This study involved 44 undergraduate students aged between 20-27 selected from senior students in the autumn
semester of 2010. They were both male and female and were English Translation majors from two intact classes of
Tapes and Films Translation course at Shiraz Islamic Azad University. Common to all of the participants was at
least six years of exposure to EFL instruction during which they had learned English. With regard to nationality
and language background no difference existed among the participants; all were Iranians and their mother tongue
was Persian. Furthermore, none of the participants had lived in any English speaking country.
3.2 Materials
Two BBC documentary movies, one with English subtitles and the other without subtitles, were selected for this
investigation. The one with subtitles was Dangerous Knowledge, about a mathematics professor, Georg Cantor,
who started a revolution he never really meant to start. It eventually threatened to shake the whole of
mathematics and science on its foundations. He started this revolution by asking himself a simple question: How
242
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big is infinity?. This movie took about thirty minutes to play. The other movie without subtitling was called
Wheres my robot?, which introduced different kinds of robots. The duration of this film was twenty minutes.
The movies were selected based on the content to be interesting, the level of difficulty of the language to be
appropriate for the participants and the duration of the films to be less than thirty minutes.
3.3 Instruments
Two different tests were used for each movie to collect the data. A set of ten multiple choice comprehension
questions and another ten multiple choice vocabulary questions were developed by the researcher for each movie.
These are four-choice questions and were extracted from the movies (Appendices A & B). For the
comprehension questions, first the researcher had to watch the whole movies to realize the theme and the subject.
Then, she watched them carefully part by part to pose the comprehension four-choice questions. The advanced
vocabulary was chosen from the movies for the vocabulary questions. Some of the sentences for the related
vocabulary were extracted from Cambridge and Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. To estimate the
reliability of the tests, SPSS was used. The reliability for the comprehension and vocabulary items (subtitle and
without) was calculated as .756 which is acceptable for a test of this kind.
3.4 Procedure
3.4.1 Data Collection
The participants were informed about the research project before the administration so as to stir motivation and
interest. First, both classes watched the same movies, but group 1 first watched Dangerous knowledge with
English subtitling and then wheres my robot? without subtitling. To counteract the order effect the second
group first watched wheres my robot? without subtitling, then Dangerous knowledge with English subtitling.
The movies were presented in one session. Then, after watching the movies, the participants of both classes
received tests of vocabulary and content comprehension. After the first movie was played, students received a set
of twenty multiple choice comprehension and vocabulary questions related to the movie, they had 15 minutes to
answer the questions. Then, the second movie was played and following it the related questions were answered
in 15 minutes.
3.4.2 Scoring and Data analysis
Data in this study consisted of the answers to the multiple choice comprehension and vocabulary recognition
questions. The participants received one point for each item answered correctly. The data gathered were
subjected to the statistical procedures of SPSS. First the scores were computed. Each participant had two scores,
one for the movie with subtitle, and the other for the one without subtitle. Then, these two scores were
categorized into four groups, including comprehension / vocabulary, and subtitle / without subtitle. In order to
compare each participants grade in one subcategory to their grade in another subcategory paired samples t-test
was run to calculate the significance of the difference between the means of the two sets of scores. The four
categories were total scores, comprehension with subtitle scores and comprehension without subtitle scores,
vocabulary with subtitle scores and vocabulary without subtitle scores. In the following chapter the results of the
analysis will be presented and discussed.
3.5 Design of the Study
The design of this research is one-shot case study; since, there was only one group without control one and also
no pretest was run.
4. Results and Discussion
4.1 Results
To understand the participants performance on the experimental task of the study, the statistical program of
SPSS was used. Paired samples t-test was run to calculate the significance of the difference between the means
of two sets of scores among three categories as presented below:
Subtitle and without subtitle scores, comprehension with subtitle scores and comprehension without subtitle
scores, vocabulary with subtitle scores and vocabulary without subtitle scores.
4.2 Discussion
Referring to Table 1 the main effect obtained is that the participants performed better when the movie was
played with bimodal subtitling. This includes total vocabulary and comprehension questions. The second row of
this table deals with comprehension questions; in this row the results are better than the total. It can be said that
the participants did actually perform better on comprehending the English movie with subtitle than the one
243
without subtitle. However, there isnt any significant difference between watching a movie with subtitle and
without for understanding the vocabulary of the movies. Therefore, our participants were more successful in
comprehending the English movie with bimodal subtitling than without subtitling, since the written forms of the
dialogues were presented to them. However, in the case of vocabulary viewing movie with subtitle had no
particular effect, due to the fact that learning vocabulary from subtitled movies may need watching the film more
than once.
5. Conclusion
This research on watching English movies with bimodal subtitling has shown that films are not only a means of
motivation to entertain students, but also they could assist learners to comprehend the language as spoken in
various accents. That is, EFL learners in general are exposed to the authentic language uttered by people with
different accents in various parts of the United States and United Kingdom. Therefore, it is hard for learners to
hear every single word, because they are used to the Standard English. Furthermore, this is a useful practice to
get acquainted with different accents of English around the world, and bimodal subtitling is a perfect choice to
assist the comprehension of the movies.
However, in this research bimodal subtitling had no effect on L2 vocabulary recognition, due to the fact that
expose to the film once had probably no effect on vocabulary learning. Since, as Koolstra and Beentjes (1999)
claimed, for learning vocabulary from subtitled movies students have to watch them with high frequency. It can
be assumed that subtitled movies could have an effect on vocabulary recognition if learners watch the movie
more than once. Viewing the movie twice or more may help students recognize vocabulary and they may learn
new expressions and idioms.
References
Bird, S. A. & Williams, J. N. (2002). The effect of bimodal input on implicit and explicit memory: An
investigation into the benefits of within-language subtitling. Applied Psycholinguistics, 23(4), 509-533. [Online]
Available: http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/jnw12/subtitling.pdf (September 26, 2010)
Borras, I. & R.G. Lafayette. (1994). Effects of multimedia courseware subtitling on the speaking performance of
college students of French. The Modern Language Journal, 78(1), 66-75. [Online] Available:
http://www.jstor.org/pss/329253 (September 26, 2010)
Grgurovi, M. & Hegelheimer, V. (2007). Help options and multimedia listening: Students' use of subtitles and
the
transcript.
Language
Learning
&
Technology,
11(1),
45-66.
[Online]
Available:
http://llt.msu.edu/vol11num1/pdf/grgurovic.pdf (September 26, 2010)
Grignon, P., J. M. Lavaur & N. Blanc. (2005). The effect of subtitles on film understanding. [Online] Available:
sites.google.com/site/jeanmarclavaur/grigronlavaurblanc2007.pdf (April 29, 2010)
Hayati, M. & Mohmedi, F. (2009). The effect of films with and without subtitles on listening comprehension of
EFL learners. British Journal of Educational Technology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.01004.x
Hinkin, M. (2009). Comprehension of multiple channel messages: Are subtitles more beneficial than soundtracks?
[Online] Available: http://krex.kstate.edu/dspace/bitstream/2097/1679/1/MichaelHinkin2009.pdf (September 26,
2010)
Katchen, J. E., Lin, L. Y., Fox, T. & Chun, V. (2002). Developments in Digital Video. [Online] Available:
http://mx.nthu.edu.tw/~katchen/professional/developments%20in%20digital%20video.htm (August 11, 2010)
King, J. (2002, February). Using DVD feature films in the EFL classroom. ELT Newsletter, The weekly column,
Article 88. [Online] Available: http://www.eltnewsletter.com/back/February2002/art882002.htm (January 5,
2010)
Koolstra, C. M. & J. W. J. Beentjes. (1999). Children's vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language through
watching subtitled television programs at home. Educational Technology Research and Development, 47(1),
51-60. [Online] Available: http://www.springerlink.com/content/7951541774721423/ (August 11, 2010)
Kusumarasdyati. (2005). Subtitled Movie DVDs in Foreign Language Classes. Monash University. [Online]
Available: http://www.aare.edu.au/06pap/kus06105.pdf (April 29, 2010)
Mitterer, H. & McQueen, J. M. (2009). Foreign subtitles help but native-language subtitles harm foreign speech
perception. [Online] Available: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007785 (January
5, 2010)
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National Center for Technology Innovation and Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd).
(2010). Captioned Media: Literacy Support for Diverse Learners. [Online] Available:
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/35793 (September 26, 2010)
Stewart, M. & Pertusa, I. (2004). Gains to language learners from viewing target language closed-captioned
films. Foreign Language Annals, 37(3), 438-447. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2004.tb02701.x
Zanon, N. T. (2006). Using subtitles to enhance foreign language learning. Porta Linguarum 6. [Online]
Available: http://www.ugr.es/~portalin/articulos/PL_numero6/talavan.pdf (September 29, 2010)
Appendix A
Part A: Comprehension
1. Who was Georg Cantor?
a) A philosopher
c) A mathematician
b) A physicist
d) A scientist
2. Cantor started the revolution by asking the question . .

a) What is infinity?
c) Is there any infinity?
b) How big is infinity?
d) How can infinity be proved?
3. What is Cantors last major publication about?

a) Set theory
c) Continuum hypothesis
b) Infinite theory
d) Modern mathematics
4. What did Cantor find after his first publication?

a) Infinity is a vague number without end.
b) He could not prove continuum hypothesis.
c) Set theory is not true.
d) He could add and subtract infinity.
5. When was the happiest and most inspired period of Cantors life?
When .
a) his theory came into publication.
b) he discovered there was a vast mathematics of the infinite.
c) he came to the Alps to meet a mathematician.
d) he proved the continuum hypothesis.
6. Where did Cantor spend his entire professional life?
a) In the asylum
c) In the lecture theater in the university
b) In the Alps
d) In his hometown, Hallie
7. What was Cantors dream?

a) To prove continuum hypothesis
b) To receive an invitation to one of the great universities
c) To publish his work
d) To meet his friend in the Alps
8. What did his one time friend and teacher, Kronecker, say about Cantor?
He said he was .
a) a corrupter of youth
c) the father of mathematics
b) a math sicker
d) a great scientist
245
9. What is the most precious possession of Cantors?

a) His publication
c) His continuum hypothesis
b) His fathers letter
d) His set theory
10. Which statement is not true about Cantor?

a) He proved the continuum hypothesis.
b) He worked on the continuum hypothesis for the rest of his life.
c) He had the musical talent.
d) He never fully recovered.
Part B: Vocabulary
1. Most of the people are in the . of happiness in their lives; some will reach it but others wont.
a) realm
b) tinge
c) pursuit
d) haste
2. When questioned by the police, the suspect, who had actually committed the crime, gave his
questioners ., insubstantial answer.
a) elusive
b) reticent
c) furtive
d) rudimentary
3. I think I managed to . the main points of the lecture.

a) detain
b) grasp
c) deter
d) glance
4. They showed obvious hostility towards their new neighbors.

a) hospitality
b) hatred
c) havoc
d) humility
5. The government is planning to . a bench marking scheme to guide consumers.

a) excel
b) launch
c) abolish
d) alter
6. Most of the students living in the dormitory in Iran have many adversities, which they have to overcome.
a) nuances
b) differences
c) pretexts
d) difficulties
7. It took a lot of .. to stand up and criticize the chairman.

a) asperity
b) brutality
c) audacity
d) brevity
8. We are . affected by what happens to us in childhood.

a) interminably
b) profoundly
c) indiscriminately
d) pragmatically
9. On this occasion we pay to him for his achievements.

a) homicide
b) budget
c) homage
d) blunder
10. Weve got a long way to go before we unravel the secrets of genetics.
a) abandon
b) conceal
c) reveal
d) blend
Appendix B
Part A: Comprehension
1. What did Danny quest for?
The .. robot.
a) beautiful
c) perfect
b) intelligent
d) walking
2. Which robot was in the Stanford University lab?

a) Stair
c) HRP3
b) Domo
d) Robotic 101
3. Why didnt Andrew tell Danny that Stair could talk?

a) thought Danny might know it
c) forgot to do so
b) thought it was something ordinary
d) wanted to surprise him
4. Why did Danny come to Japan?

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Because he .. .
Because .. .
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a) there were lots of robots there

b) many Japanese worked on robots
c) Japanese were famous for making complex robots
d) highly intelligent scientists were in Japan
5. Why did Danny show us a little Samurai robot on the train?
To indicate that .. .
a) a robot could walk

b) a robot could be small
c) a robot could do what you wanted it to do
d) Japanese have made humanoid robots for many years
6. Why is HRP3 unique in walking robots?
Because .
a) It can turn around

b) It doesnt need to be pre-programmed
c) It can both talk and walk
d) If it falls down, it can get up by itself
7. Where is HRP3 supposed to work?
a) In the office
c) In construction
b) In surgery
d) In the laboratory
8. Which statement is NOT true about HRP3?

a) It is very expensive.
b) It can tackle a large bump.
c) It is a robust manual worker.
d) It is a super robot.
9. Why does Domo need a vision system?
a) To recognize human faces
b) To detect color objects
c) To make sense of the world
d) To walk through rough surfaces
10. According to Danny, what is a crucial skill for robots if they are to do our bidding?
a) Moving around
b) Recognizing human faces
c) Talking and feeling
d) Making sense of the world
Part B: Vocabulary
Seeing that her husband was coming, she hastily changed the subject.
a) interminably
b) permanently
c) inexorably
d) promptly
c) quiver
d) endure
Nothing will stop them in their . for truth.

a) quest
b) embrace
The talks ended abruptly when one of the delegates walked out in protest.
a) unexceptionally
b) unfoundedly
c) unexpectedly
d) unfairly
Thats weird, I thought Id left my keys on the table but theyre not there.
a) funny
b) interesting
c) odd
d) annoying
This glass has been used, please . me a clean one.
247
a) fend
b) feud
c) flay
d) fetch
c) clique
d) baffle
Her bicycle hit a in the road and threw her off.

a) clamp
b) bump
Early of the cancer improves the chances of successful treatment.

a) expansion
b) depiction
c) estimation
d) detection
My father asked me to do my mothers ....... after his departure.

a) braiding
b) besiege
c) bidding
d) binding
Take care when you walk on that path, the paving stones are rather .
a) unformed
b) unbroken
c) uncovered
d) uneven
Jack watches at least two movies a day, in fact he is a movie ... .

a) fanatic
b) critic
c) fringe
d) cripple
Table 1. t values for the difference between the means of participants two sets of scores
Mean difference
Pair 1
total
Pair 2
comp (+sub)comp (-sub)
Pair 3
1.02273
1.47727
vocab (+sub)vocab (-sub)
-.45455
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
2.475
43
.017
4.650
43
.000
-1.690
43
.098
According to Table 1 the value of t for total vocabulary and comprehension questions was statistically significant
(t = 2.475 p< .017). It means that there is a significant difference between the two means. In other words
participants answered the subtitled movie questions better than the questions of the movie without subtitle.
Based on this table the value of t for comprehension was more statistically significant than total (t = 4.650
p< .000). These results showed that participants comprehended the subtitled movie better than the one without
subtitle. However, there isnt any significant difference between the two means for vocabulary.
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Using DVD Feature Films in the

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Jane King
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# Swets & Zeitlinger
FORUM
Using DVD Feature Films in the EFL Classroom

Jane King
Soochow University, Taiwan, R.O. China
ABSTRACT
DVDs have substantially replaced traditional VHS videotapes as the movie medium of the new
millennium. In addition to their compactness and availability, there are a variety of special
features offered on DVDs, including interactive menus, theatrical trailers, behind-the-scenes
commentary, foreign languages, captions and subtitles, and immediate scene access. With these
special features, DVD feature films provide a wide array of pedagogical options and represent a
rich resource of intrinsically motivating materials for learners. This study is three-fold in nature:
the first part is devoted to a discussion of film-viewing approaches; it then provides an
assessment on the use of closed-captioned and non-closed-captioned DVD feature films for
different levels of learners. Finally, suggestions are provided for choosing appropriate films to
promote active viewing and interaction in order to maximize classroom application of DVD
feature films.
1. INTRODUCTION
When commercially available video serials, explicitly designed for ESL/EFL,
were first utilized in the classroom, the student response was positive. Video is
a much more dynamic medium than a static text or an audio recording. In spite
of its promise, however, within a relatively short time span the use of videos as
a teaching medium failed to sustain student interest. Watching the same few
video actors and actresses appear in episode after episode became a dull and
uninspiring routine for most learners. Such classroom-styled videos were
Address correspondence to: Jane King, Soochow University, Taiwan, RO China. E-mail:
jane@mail.scu.edu.tw
510
JANE KING
intended to maintain student engagement by eliciting specific responses or

answers from them based on the viewing material. This was done in ways that
required students to analyze a multitude of specific linguistic details in a
self-conscious manner rather than absorb the living language and get a
general gist of what was being said.
Learning English through film viewing represents a novel approach for
some students whose preconceived notion of learning English is based on their
past learning experiences. For the most part such experiences have been
primarily textbook-oriented and test-driven, the focus being on form and
accuracy rather than meaning and communication. Such standardized
teaching materials lack a realistic and meaningful context and fail to deal
with contemporary issues that are relevant to their lives. For such
students, English has few moorings in the social nature of communication.
Language study is more often anchored in a berth of alienating frustration
(Shea, 1995, p. 3). With their training limited to endless grammar exercises
and the tests they take designed to analyze the fine points of formal English,
students struggle to understand main ideas in listening and reading. Some
learners insist on understanding everything that is said or written, a strategy
which runs counter to that employed by effective language learners: give
their best guesses, follow their hunches, endure ambiguity, and absorb
language input. Learning English through films compensates for many of the
shortcomings in the EFL learning experience by bringing language to life.
It is a refreshing learning experience for students who need to take a break
from the rote learning of long lists of English vocabulary and soporific
drill practices. Their encounters with realistic situations and exposure to the
living language provide a dimension that is missing in textbook-oriented
teaching.
Films are invaluable teaching resources for many reasons. They present
colloquial English in real life contexts rather than artificial situations, and
they expose students to a wide range of native speakers, each with their own
slang, reduced speech, stress, accents, and dialects. Feature films are
more intrinsically motivating than videos made for EFL/ESL teaching
because they provide students with a film to be enjoyed rather than a
lesson that needs to be tested on. Moreover, the realism of movies
provides a wealth of contextualized linguistic and paralinguistic terms and
expressions, authentic cross-cultural information, classroom listening comprehension and fluency practice (Braddock, 1996; Stempleski, 2000; Wood,
1995).
USING DVD FEATURE FILMS
511
2. MAKING THE MOST OF THE FILM MEDIUM

The use and feasibility of feature films in the classroom have inevitably
evoked controversy among classroom teachers who have a curriculum to
follow and limited time to allocate. Too many teachers still view movies as a
medium of entertainment that was not encouraged in a pedagogic setting,
or, at most, one that is to be used for either an outside classroom assignment or
as a class treat.
Films, however, offer endless opportunities to generate pedagogically
sound activities for developing fluency. The key to using films effectively lies
primarily with the teachers ability and savvy in preparing students to receive
the films message. Many teachers have come up with multi-purpose creative
ideas to enhance active viewing among students (Davis, 1998; Donley, 2000;
Fox, 1999; Holden, 2000; Lin, 2002; Katchen, 1996a; King, 2002; Ryan,
1998). A growing number of teachers choose to make use of viewing sheets
consisting of simple multiple-choice questions to promote fluency, rather than
impose many new lexical items and idioms upon students, which only serves
to divert the focus from fluency. Other teachers integrate film-response
journals into lessons, or use a whole-film approach based on a response-based
engagement with opinions and ideas. Films may prove amenable to other
types of projects that can be incorporated into the classroom setting. Casanave
and Freedman (1995) assigned a film presentation project for their
intermediate English students in which films were viewed holistically and
critically. The implementation of PowerPoint and DVD in student film
presentations represents another collaborative group work that encourages
computer applications (King, 2002).
Thus, make the most of movies has been adopted as a motto for many
teachers who are convinced of the merits of films as a powerful tool for
language acquisition. At the same time, these teachers feel obliged to make
the most of learning opportunities through films in order to justify their use in
the classroom. To start with, several questions may be posed: What are the
pedagogical reasons for using a particular film sequence (Stempleski, 2000,
p. 10)? What type of approach in dealing with movies should be taken,
viewing a film in its entirety or in segments? Will non-closed-captioned or
closed-captioned films be more appropriate for a particular class? What are
the film selection criteria? And finally, what kind of activities will integrate
speaking, reading, writing and listening skills into the course? How can
teachers elicit student involvement and avoid passive viewing?
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JANE KING
3. THE SHORT-SEQUENCE APPROACH

In presenting films, teachers have adapted several structurally-driven
approaches, including the following: a sequential approach of teaching
scene-by-scene or one segment at a time; a single-scene approach in which
only one scene or segment from the entire film is utilized; a selective approach
featuring only a few scenes from different parts of the film; a whole-film
approach that shows the full-length film in a single viewing. All of the
above approaches are feasible; a particular approach should be chosen to
match ones teaching objectives and target groups.
Many teachers advocate short sequences for less advanced learners. They
recognize that a 2-hr feature film may burden such students with language
overload; the sheer length may also prove daunting, so teachers need to
provide bite-sized chunks for students to digest. Essentially, a teacher has to
decide which function a given sequence is to perform (Stempleski, 2000,
p. 10). Is this sequence used to generate a theme-based discussion, to practice
listening strategies, or to present cultural background? What activities will
prove most beneficial?
For mature and advanced learners, films should be chosen not simply for
their entertainment value; they should be timely and deliver a clear message to
enhance classroom discussion. The short-sequence approach can be used for
theme-based discussion. Dealing with thought-provoking films the teacher can
select from among a wide range of fields and topics such as medicine,
education, science, history, marriage or justice (See Appendix A). The teacher
can first engage students in a preliminary conversation concerning any of the
general themes that the film itself will be exploring. Afterwards, the teacher
moves on to focus on more specific issues concerning the films topic,
illustrated by selected key scenes to generate what should turn out to be a
stimulating discussion.
A theme-based discussion allows students to explore relevant issues raised
from a variety of perspectives, develop critical thinking skills, elicit responses,
converse freely on many of the aspects of the film they have viewed,1 while
freeing them from overly restrictive learning habits that focus exclusively on
1
For example, questions posted by Dead Poets Society: see http://www/10pair.com/crasydv/

weir/dps/questions.html
Some excellent reviewing questions for The Shawshank Redemption can be found at
http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/units/shawshank/viewing_workhseet.html
513
grammar and vocabulary. As a rule, theme-based films do not lend themselves

to complete viewing due to time limitations and overall language difficulty.
When showing such a film, the teacher may prefer to use random access to
select the main plot line and ignore the subplots. A DVD feature film2 is
divided into many segments or chapters. If the teacher needs to go to a specific
chapter, they just press the closed captions key on a DVD remote control or via
the DVD menu. Moreover, if the teacher wants to skip some scenes, DVD
rewinding and fast-forwarding are much faster than a video.
4. THE WHOLE-FILM APPROACH

The whole-film approach is an approach in which a feature film is shown in its
entirety and studied as a whole. It usually takes 1 or 2 hr rather than the
shorter, more typical video-teaching techniques such as sound only, silent
viewing, pause/freeze-frame, and split viewing. This approach avoids the
problems of repeatedly turning on and off a movie video, rewinding it,
replaying it and analyzing it in piecemeal fashion. Shea (1995, p. 14) argues
persuasively that using full-length films is a theoretically and empirically
sound way of teaching English. If I cut up the movie in five minute segments,
focusing on the linguistic structure and the form of the language, the students
might never have recognized the emotional force and narrative dynamic of the
video as a story about important things in the human experience, aesthetic and
ethical things like dreams, imagination, and commitment; things that drive
language and ultimately stimulate students to learn it in the first place. A
short-segment approach may be useful with many types of videos, for
example, TV commercials, or news clips to supplement content materials.
However, . . . if communication is to be emphasized, the complete
communicative process of a movie is in order as the vehicle for study.
Obsessive word-by-word study approaches can be avoided by training
students to develop gist understanding via key conversations and lines of
2
Fair use rules for videotapes/DVDs: Each country has its own video/DVD copyright laws and
adopts the provisions of international treaties as it sees fit. In the US, Section 110 (1) of the
Copyright Act of 1976 specifies that the following is permitted: Performance or display of a
work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit
educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction (Simons, 1995). In
Asia, teachers need to purchase films in public viewing version from distributors who charge
about US$100 per film.
514
JANE KING
dialogue and thus producing many extra opportunities for language

development in every possible skill direction (Wood, 1995, p. 3). Moreover,
using a comprehensive approach would be less time-consuming and more
logical, coherent, and motivating for students (Chung, 1995).
Showing a complete film enhances student motivation to such an extent that
students are visibly impressed by the amount of English they can figure out on
their own. Their confidence soars when they realize that understanding a
movie is not as difficult as they had originally imagined.
In addition, insufficient amount of listening input places EFL students at a
disadvantage when it comes to learning everyday English and current usage.
Fragments of audio recordings that accompany textbooks designed for EFL
learners hardly begin to prepare them for the full-length listening required in
advanced studies. The whole-film approach, which features abundant
exposure to authentic listening, not only facilitates listening strategy training
among learners, but also increases their awareness of pragmatic usage an
essential component of communicative competence.
5. SUGGESTIONS FOR USING FEATURE FILMS

The merits of uninterrupted film viewing are numerous with the proviso that a
teacher follows accepted standards for choosing films. Finding an appropriate
feature film for a particular level of students is one of the most useful things
that a teacher can do. Arcario (1992) suggests that comprehensibility is a
major criterion in selecting a video for the purpose of language learning. It is
important to choose scenes that balance dialogue with a high degree of visual
support, and provide appropriate speech delivery, a clear picture and sound,
and a standard accent. Sometimes even though the storyline might be
appealing to students, actors enunciation, speed and accent may be very
difficult for them to understand. Using a film that is too difficult to understand
can lead to utter frustration. Students may end up confused, depressed and
convinced they will never understand real English. Viewing films can all
too easily turn into a frustrating experience for learners who might give up on
this stimulating tool for learning English.
The appropriateness of content and the comfort level of students need to be
taken into account in the selection process. Films with explicit sex, gratuitous
violence and excessive profanity should logically be ruled out. Furthermore,
films with minor scenes of sex, violence and profanity could be skipped and
515
fast-forwarded past whatever may be deemed offensive in some cultures. The

newest DVD authoring software now allows teachers to edit and customize
their films for teaching.
As far as student motivation and interest are concerned, entertaining films
are sometimes enjoyable and relevant to learners appreciation of popular
culture. Dramatic tension and good acting surely will make students forget
about language and focus more closely on the plot. Recently released films are
more appealing to students than classic ones (preferably within the last 15
years and with a notable box office success), even though old films are by and
large inoffensive. Choosing films that are age and culture appropriate and
suitable for both genders is also important. Romances, romantic comedies,
and less-violent action movies with relatively simple plots and subplots are
also good choices for college students.
The length of viewing time in the whole-film approach is, of course, quite
different from existing language-based video-teaching approaches. For more
proficient students, it is better to show a 2-hr movie in two class periods. It
serves as good intensive listening training. When students are attracted and
deeply absorbed by the story, they do appreciate the continuity their teacher
allows. For low-level learners, usually one class period is recommended
because of the problems of overload and attention span.
6. DVD CLOSED CAPTIONS AND SUBTITLES

DVDs have replaced videotapes as the medium of the new millennium since
they hit the market a few years ago. DVDs are vastly superior to videotapes
because of their compactness, audio-visual quality, availability and other
interactive features. In educational settings, many classrooms and language labs
have been upgraded from VHS videotapes to this new popular movie medium.
Usually every DVD has the capacity to carry captions and subtitles in up to 32
different languages. Language teachers should prepare for the coming of DVDs
and consider the benefits of incorporating DVDs into language classrooms.
DVDs greatly aid classroom teachers who plan and carry out film-based
lessons for instruction. There are a variety of special features offered on DVD
films that make the use of films in the classroom convenient such as closed
captions and subtitles in different languages, random access, behind-thescenes and scenes that were deleted from the film. Usually a teacher can check
the back of a DVD package for a listing of special features.
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JANE KING
DVDs offer subtitles and closed captions, selectable without the aid of a
caption decoder. Closed captions not only provide the visible text for spoken
audio, but also identify all the sounds, different speakers, music and lyrics.
The audience can easily get a clear image of related dynamic verbs and sound
effect words which appear in brackets on the screen, synchronized with
corresponding actions and sounds such as a phone ringing. Unlike closed
captions, subtitles translate only the spoken word (Johnston, 2000). Furthermore, DVD closed captions and subtitles are different from TV captions
because they will not appear in a black box.
DVD subtitles and closed captions also can be turned on and off via the
DVD menu or remote. The teacher is not forced to use just one mode all the
time. A given film can be viewed with English subtitles the first time to get an
understanding of the whole film and then viewed without subtitles to focus on
listening comprehension.
6.1. English Closed-Captioned Films
Teachers are sometimes fraught with uncertainty as to whether first
language subtitles help or hindrance students English learning (Katchen,
1996b; Lin, 2001). Should teachers show a film with or without
closed captioning? Which way will benefit their students most? The answer
is that each one serves different purposes depending on the teaching
objectives.
As this interest in closed-captioned materials is increasing, abundant
research in the field indicates that closed-captioned videos/films are more
positive and effective than non-closed-captioned videos/films in terms of
improving learning motivation and attitude, overall listening comprehension,
vocabulary development, oral fluency, and in helping EFL students comprehension ability (Borras & Lafayette, 1994; Garza, 1991; Kikuchi, 1997).
From my experience and observation, the value and benefits of using closedcaptioned films for language learners can be summarized as helping
students to:
follow a plot easily and get involved in plot development.

learn to pronounce proper nouns in different disciplines.
acquire colloquial, context-bound expressions and slang.
process a text rapidly and improve rapid reading.
keep up with closed captioning that accompany the native-speed spoken
English.
517
provide relaxing, stress-free learning environments where students can

comprehend jokes and have a few hearty laughs.
learn different strategies for processing information.
The problem with using closed-captioned DVD films is primarily that the
activity becomes reading skills or vocabulary development rather than
listening comprehension training. Since they read word by word on the screen,
they no doubt understand better what the characters say. It may also help
students practice pronunciation by repeating after the characters. However, the
closed captions sacrifice listening strategy training such as guessing and
inferring meanings from visual clues.
Furthermore, once using closed captions, students may become hooked.
Closed captions serve as a crutch that provides security and without which
habituated students become afraid to take a step on their own. Learning to
view non-closed-captioned films is a big step that students have to take
sooner or later if they are ever to experience a breakthrough in English
learning.
6.2. Non-Closed-Captioned Films
EFL learners, who are eager to comprehend spoken materials intended for
native speakers of English, but, at the same time, have misgivings regarding
their own proficiency levels, experience mixed feelings about non-closedcaptioned films. They are worried that they might end up becoming
confused and frustrated when fast-paced dialogues in English films whiz
by them. Several apparent difficulties watching non-closed-captioned films
arise mainly from language: the rapid pace of speech; unclear speech and
accents; technical or specialized terminology; an overload of slang and
idioms; unfamiliarity with the cultural background/knowledge; culturally
specific humor. Exposing learners to authentic materials, however, is a
necessary stage in the learning process to help them master listening
strategies.
Some compelling reasons for using non-closed-captioned films for listening
comprehension and fluency practice should not be ignored:
help students develop a high tolerance of ambiguity.
enhance students listening strategies such as guessing meaning from
context and inferring strategies by visual clues, facial expressions, voice,
and sound track.
promote active viewing and listening for key words and main ideas.
518
JANE KING
motivate students to make use of authentic English material on their own.

provide students with the opportunity to experience a great sense of accomplishment and self-assurance.
7. DEVELOPING FILM ACTIVITIES

7.1. Previewing
Previewing activities prepare students by introducing synopsis, key words and
phrases and aid their comprehension of the film. The teacher can detect
potential troublesome words and phrases from scripts available on the Internet
or the DVD. Some websites provide plot summary and definitions of
colloquial vocabulary for popular films, and are an especially helpful resource
for non-native teachers (See Appendix B). Random accessing is a feature that
is tremendously helpful for teachers in locating specific scenes, explaining
difficult lines in the script and providing repeated viewings.
7.2. Postviewing
After a film has been viewed, trouble-shooting should prove helpful in terms
of clarifying confusing scenes and enhancing students overall comprehension
of the movie. The whole-film approach is capable of employing a troubleshooting method by identifying, recording and clarifying several confusing or
complicated scenes and allowing students to focus on them. Afterwards,
study/discussion questions are used to ensure overall comprehension and
promote application.
7.2.1. Identifying and Clarifying Difficult Scenes
One effective way to check students comprehension is to explicitly ask them
about confusing scenes and dialogues that can be reviewed in class. The
teacher may go over in detail the scenes they failed to comprehend, repeating
them several times until learners have a clear understanding of these clips.
American humor obviously is one of the listening hot spots for
students. A teacher knows all too well when students fail to catch the
humor of a given situation; that is, when the joke is delivered and no
laughter ensues, just complete and total silence in the classroom. Proper
nouns and cultural backgrounds are other areas that a teacher needs to
focus on.
519
7.2.2. Preparing Study and Discussion Questions

Study questions should be designed to check students understanding of
specific details and clear up some complex issues, which greatly enhance
students comprehension of the film. Discussion questions are aimed at
extending and expanding students understanding and experience of the film,
requiring them to reflect on issues in terms of their own experience and to
compare cultural differences such as the wedding customs in the film, Father
of the Bride.
The following previewing activities are aimed at raising students interest,
promoting class discussion and developing oral fluency.
Speaking
Start the class with a guessing game by listing movie titles in English;
students then have to guess the title of each film in their first language.
Students choose their favorite films/actors/actresses and elaborate with
supporting reasons for their choice.
Engage in a bi-or tri-weekly film review group discussion depending on
available class time. Students share their personal reviews on preassigned
films with each member of their small group.
Students record their own movie reviews on tapes as oral journals for
fluency practice.
Listening
DVD films provide sufficient listening input with images for students. The
teacher makes an audiotape of the soundtrack of important scenes and has
students listen to it several times, and the teacher devises some informationgap activities for language practice to go with the tapes. For example, students
transcribe one selected scene by actively repeated listenings or by guessing
what is happening from listening without actually viewing the scene. Another
good exercise is using teacher-made cloze exercises from the script for
students to fill in key words by repeated listenings rather than passively
listening to the script.
Reading
The Web can be an unlimited resource to supplement lesson plans. Students
can surf on the Internet and find personal data or information about their
favorite actors/actresses and share such findings with the class or they choose
two film reviews of an assigned film and have their reviews ready for small
group discussion. Sometimes students find reviews written by professional
520
JANE KING
movie critics too wordy, confusing and difficult to comprehend. The teacher
should first screen film review websites and recommend easy reading ones for
them. Audience reviews are more comprehensible than professional ones. In
addition, reading each others discussion questions is another activity that
satisfies students curiosity about their classmates opinions about a film.
Writing
A bi-weekly film review and discussion can also be done in journal writing.
Students write personal reviews or a summary of an assigned movie as
homework and in class share them with classmates by employing a clocksharing mode. In this mode, students sit face to face in two rows. Members of
one row remain seated while the others, starting with the first person, move
down the row after each reading. In this way, students have the opportunity to
read their classmates reviews. In addition, students can write an article
reporting the events in a film or write a letter to one of the film characters. In
this way, students have the opportunity to read their classmates reviews. In
addition, students can write an article reporting the events in a film or write a
letter to one of the film characters.
8. CONCLUSION
DVD feature films provide enjoyable language learning opportunities for
students if the teacher chooses appropriate films, which are purposeful and
tailored to students learning needs and proficiency level. The closed captions
selection feature benefits students in various ways. English closed-captioned
films are a rich source of instructional materials that provide examples and
content in oral communication. Non-closed-captioned English films are
challenging and can be exploited for listening comprehension practice, even if
the comprehension is limited to advanced students. A teacher might work at
different purposes, and aim overtly at different aspects of language, by using
both closed captions and non-closed-captions alternatively.
An instructors initial attempt to implement the teaching of DVD feature
films in the classroom may be overwhelming. However, with each successive
attempt and increasing teaching experience, teaching DVD feature films can
turn into a rewarding experience for both students and teachers. When
students are provided with well-structured activities designed to promote
active viewing and stimulate involvement for making the most of learning
521
opportunities from films, there is no doubt that DVD feature films are the most
stimulating and enjoyable learning material for the e-generation.
REFERENCES
Arcario, P. (1992). Criteria for selecting video materials. In S. Stempleski & P. Arcario (Eds.),
Video in second language teaching: Using, selecting and producing video for the
classroom (pp. 109121). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
Borras, I., & Lafayette, R.C. (1994). Effects of multimedia courseware subtitling on the
speaking performance of college students of French. The Modern English Journal, 78,
6175.
Braddock, B. (1996). Using films in the English class. Hemel Hempstead: Phoenix ELT.
Casanave, C., & Freedman, D. (1995). Learning by collaboration and teaching a film
presentation project. In C. Casanave & Simons (Eds.), Pedagogical perspective on using
films in foreign language classes (pp. 2839). Keio University SFC Monograph #4.
Chung, V. (1995). A Comprehensive Approach to Teaching with Movie Videos. Paper presented
at the 21st Annual JALT International Conference, Nagoya, Japan.
Davis, R.S. (1998, March). Captioned video: Making it work for you. The Internet TESL
Journal, Vol. IV(3). Available, http://www.aitech.ac.jp/iteslj/
Donley, K. (2000, April). Film for fluency. English Teaching Forum, 2427.
Fox, T. (1999, March). Enhancing the power of passive film viewing. The ETA-Rep. of China
Newsletter, 3(1).
Garza, T.J. (1991). Evaluating the use of captioned video materials in advanced foreign
language learning. Foreign Language Annals, 24(3), 239258.
Holden, W. (2000). Making the most of movies: Keeping film response journals. Modern
English Teacher, 9(2).
Johnston, S. (2000). A guide to DVD subtitles and captioning. Available: dvdfile.com/ site/faq/
caption_guide
Katchen, J.E. (1996a). Using authentic video in English language teaching tips for Taiwans
teachers. Taipei: The Crane Publishing Co. Ltd.
Katchen, J.E. (1996b). First Language Subtitle: Help or Hindrance? Paper presented at the
Annual Meeting of the Japan Association of Language Teachers, ERIC 421873.
Katchen, J.E. (1997). Improving English through Chinese subtitles and X-files. TESOL Video
News, 8(1), 4,9.
Kikuchi, T. (1997). A review of research on the education use of English captioned materials in
Japan. Available: www.robon.org/gary/captioning/kikuchi.html
King, J. (2002). DVD feature film project learning. CALL Review: the Journal of the IATEFL
Computer Special Interest Group.
Lin, L.Y. (2001). The effects of different subtitles upon the learners listening comprehension
performance. Proceedings of 2001 International Conference on the application of
English Teaching, pp. 274287. Taipei: The Crane Publishing Co. Ltd.
Lin, L.Y. (2002). Effective learner-centered strategies for extensive viewing of feature films.
Proceedings of the Nineteenth International Conference on English Teaching and
Learning in the ROC (pp. 329336). Taipei: The Crane Publishing Co. Ltd.
522
JANE KING
Ryan, S. (1998, November). Using films to develop learner motivation. The Internet TESL
Journal, IV(11). Available: http://www.aitech.ac.jp/iteslj/
Shea, D. (1995). Whole movies and engaged response in the Japanese university ESL
classroom. In C. Casanave & Simons (Eds.), Pedagogical perspective on using films in
foreign language classes (pp. 317). Keio University SFC Monograph #4.
Simons, J. (1995). Copyright laws and video in the classroom. In C. Casanave & Simons (Eds.),
Pedagogical perspective on using films in foreign language classes (pp. 317). Keio
University SFC Monograph #4.
Stempleski, S. (2000, March/April). Video in the ESL classroom: Making the most of the
movies. ESL Magazine, 1012.
Stempleski, S., & Tomalin, B. (1990). Video in action: Recipes for using video in language
teaching. NY: Prentice Hall.
Wood, D. (1995). Film communication in TEFL. Video Rising: Newsletter of the Japan Assoc.
for Language Teaching, 7(1).
523
APPENDIX A
Suggested Films for Theme-Based Discussion

1. Education: Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, Mr. Hollands Opus
2. Romance and Marriage: When Henry Met Sally, As Good As It Gets, Ten
Things I Hate About You, My Best Friends Wedding, The Story of Us,
Regarding Henry (video), Pay it Forward, Father of the Bride, Notting
Hill, Youve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle.
3. Justice: The Shawshank Redemption, Amistad, Green Mile, The
Hurricane, Men of Honor.
4. Media: Insider, Enemy of the State, Primary Colors, Truman Show.
5. Culture: Anna and the King, Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon
(English subtitle).
6. Music/Dance: Billy Elliot, Moulin Rouge.
7. Environment: Erin Brockovich.
8. Science: Bicentennial Man.
9. Drugs: Traffic.
10. Medicine: Patch Adams.
APPENDIX B
Websites
http://us.imdb.com (internet movie data base).
http://mrqe.com (movie review quest engine).
http://www.cinemachine.com
http://screentalk.org
http://www.teachwithmovies.org (organize films by theme and by genre).
http://www.eslnotes.com (provide definitions of words and idioms).
http://www.dailyscript.com
http://www.script-o-rama.com (scripts).
http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html.(DVD FAQ)
ED300848 1988-00-00 Using Film, Video,

and TV in the Classroom. ERIC Digest
Number 11.
ERIC Development Team
www.eric.ed.gov
Table of Contents
If you're viewing this document online, you can click any of the topics below to link directly to that section.
Using Film, Video, and TV in the Classroom. ERIC Digest Number 11

THE POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS ARE WIDE-RANGING
FILM CAN LINK DISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES
FILMS CAN SERVE VERY SPECIFIC COURSES AND UNITS
FILMS CAN TARGET AND MOTIVATE WRITING
ERIC 01,0
2
2
Digests
ERIC Identifier: ED300848

Publication Date: 1988-00-00
Author: Aiex, Nola Kortner
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills Bloomington IN.
Using Film, Video, and TV in the Classroom.

ERIC Digest Number 11.
THIS DIGEST WAS CREATED BY ERIC, THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
INFORMATION CENTER. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ERIC, CONTACT
ACCESS ERIC 1-800-LET-ERIC
Teachers have long used the media--and particularly film--to accomplish various
instructional objectives such as building background for particular topics or motivating
student reaction and analysis. The appeal of visual media continues to make film, video,
and television educational tools with high potential impact; and they are now
ED300848 1988-00-00 Using Film, Video, and TV in the Classroom. ERIC Digest
Number 11.
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ERIC Custom Transformations Team
considerably more accessible and less cumbersome to use.
The use of film in the classroom has become more popular since the arrival of the
videocassette recorder (VCR) with its relative economy and ease of operation. The
opinion of one teacher probably echoes the opinion of many others: "The VCR gave us
flexibility. We could watch the first exciting twenty minutes, stop the tape and discuss
elements of introduction, mood, suspense, and characterization -and view it
again....The VCR is simple to operate, portable, and less expensive." (Farmer, 1987)
Another educator who has considered the potential of the VCR believes that "one of the
pedagogical tasks of the next decade may well be discovering the most efficacious
ways of employing this omnipresent piece of technology." (Gallagher, 1987) Another
teacher pinpoints a reason for the potential: "Because students live in a media-oriented
world, they consider sight and sound as 'user friendly." (Post, 1987)
THE POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS ARE

WIDE-RANGING
Even before the advent of the VCR, the "introduction to film course" had become a
staple in most American universities (Lovell, 1987). What has become apparent over
the years is that film can be used as an adjunct to almost any discipline, especially the
language arts. And it can be particularly effective in teaching different kinds of learners.
Lovell notes that in addition to encouraging the use and development of communication
skills, film can be used to establish a social context for English as a second language
and to provide visual "texts" for deaf students.
Post (1987) argues that videotapes of literary classics can become powerful allies of the
teacher in the English classroom if used effectively. She adds that films allow the
teaching of longer works that might otherwise be omitted or of controversial works that
might be excluded from the curriculum. The example she gives is of Tennessee
Williams's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Although it is definitely an adult film, its screenplay
contains none of the potentially objectionable material or language that appears in the
original play.
FILM CAN LINK DISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES

Film can also be used in interdisciplinary studies. Krukones and several colleagues
(1986) designed an interdisciplinary college-level course integrating political science,
literature, and film to examine politics on the local, state, national, and international
levels. Based on the premise that students too often sort information into categories
dictated by the different courses they take, the authors developed the course to enable
students to get from theoretical politics a clearer, practical meaning with broader
implications. Such concepts are not easy for all students to grasp, but can be more
affectively experienced when studied in the context of a political novel or movie.
In Krukones's course, four novels and their analogous films correspond to particular
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ERIC Resource Center
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political spheres: "The Last Hurrah" (local), "All the King's Men" (state), "Advise and
Consent" (national), and "Fail-Safe" (international). Following an overview of a novel or
film, specific scenes and passages are discussed and are related to real-world politics.
Classes meet for 2 1/2 hours once a week, so that more than one discipline can be
dealt with and sufficient time for movie viewing is available.
FILMS CAN SERVE VERY SPECIFIC COURSES

AND UNITS
The range of courses in which film can play a major instructional role is wide. For
example, White (1985) reported on the effective use of film in a college-level course
called "Women and Violence in Literature and Film"; Dyer (1987) developed a
secondary-level mini-course on "Rural America in Film and Literature."
Dyer's course encompasses nearly all the mass media forms. It begins with readings of
several classic short stories with rural settings by Willa Cather and John Steinbeck. It
proceeds by examining articles from the newspaper about farm issues and incidents,
and then it has the students view the recent movies, "Country" and "The River," both of
which portray contemporary life on a farm. Next the students view a 27-minute
television documentary about three women farmers in Minnesota; and then the course
continues with the study of the recent best-selling novels, "The Beans of Egypt" and "In
Country." It concludes by having the students listen to several segments of the radio
program "Lake Wobegon Days."
Rebhorn (1987) also uses Hollywood movies to enliven and enrich history classes, with
the conviction that film brings an immediacy and interest to historical events that
students often consider dull because they occurred long ago and faraway. Some of the
films which she uses are "Inherit the Wind," "The Grapes of Wrath," "All the President's
Men," and "Reds."
Another example of more focused use of film and television in the classroom is found in
a course on the Holocaust (Michalczyk, 1982). A review of Holocaust films yielded
material in various popular genres--newsreels (both German and Allied),
documentaries, fiction films, and TV docudramas; the value of the particular type of
media in teaching about the recent past was considered along with the content of each
piece. Michalczyk had Holocaust survivors and educators evaluate the diverse films and
their potential for teaching the Holocaust as an historical event with profound
implications for humanity; and their reactions and experiences were incorporated into
the course material.
FILMS CAN TARGET AND MOTIVATE WRITING

Boyd and Robitaille (1987) offer suggestions for using the popular mass media to
generate topics for a composition workshop designed for the college writer but
Number 11.
Page 3 of 7
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adaptable for secondary school students. They concentrate on advertising images but
also use movies, monthly magazines, and television series to help foster critical thinking
while writing. The work-shop is built around a sequence of analogies between what
students already know experientially as viewers of film and television and what they
need to know as writers of essays.
Another approach to teaching college composition classes (Masiello, 1985) organizes
brainstorming sessions around themes from popular movies--for example, talking about
family relationships as portrayed in "Breaking Away," "The Deer Hunter," "The
Godfather," "Saturday Night Fever," and "Terms of Endearment." He finds that the film
viewing helps students learn to observe carefully and often results in sharper writing
skills.
Moss (1987) uses the lowly, elemental daytime soap opera as a vehicle for teaching
remedial writing in the SEEK program in New York City colleges. Using a VCR so that
everyone can watch the episode at the same time (and filling in gaps in plot lines by
reading "Soap Opera Digest"), he begins by asking the students to write on the most
elementary level. The assignment is intended to tap into their passionate devotion to
"the soaps"--which characters do they like the best, the least, and why? Then the class
members discuss the acting and begin to impose certain critical criteria on the material.
A short lesson on genres establishes appropriate aesthetic categories, and the students
can begin to dissect the narrative in a composition.
Jeremiah (1987) outlines an instructional model for using television news and
documentaries for writing instruction in the secondary and postsecondary classroom.
He believes that the structure and content of news presentations mirrors the practice of
essay writing, and thus can serve as a writing project that effectively serves instruction.
A step-by-step examination of a selected TV program can be undertaken in a single
class period, using the following strategies: 1) as a warm-up mechanism, the teacher
introduces the writing skill (for example, to provide information or to persuade); 2)
students are allowed time for questions and comments; 3) the news segment or
documentary is shown; 4) students produce an outline for the news report they will write
in response to the stimulus; and 5) the outlines are assessed for organization. The
outlines are collected at the end of the class period to minimize any external influences;
and the students produce a full-length essay during the next class period, after their
outlines have been returned.
The instruction using this model and the evaluation of the products that result should
stress that the news treatment of a topic should include an introduction and adequate
supporting detail and explanation. If the aim is to persuade, the writing should include
adequate argumentation. Both formal and informal mechanisms should be used for
evaluation, and the students should be given opportunity to revise.
A novel approach in the use of film in generating enthusiasm for writing in the
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Number 11.
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elementary grades is advocated by a librarian who sponsored a writing contest in which

1,100 students participated (Simpson, 1982). She began by showing the classic short
French film without dialogue, "The Red Balloon." Students viewed the film and were
allowed two weeks to complete entries that included poems, short stories, or essays
expressing any themes or experiences connected with the movie. Entries were judged
on the qualities of appeal and originality, and all the participants received certificates on
Honors Day. The winners additionally received ribbons on their certificates.
The mass media are an integral part of the environment in which today's students learn
to read, write, listen, speak, and make meaning of their lives. Thus a properly designed
course of instruction can use media to channel a student's enthusiasm and route it to an
academically useful goal. The documents cited here are but a small sample of those in
the ERIC database illustrating how teachers can do that.
REFERENCES
Boyd, Veleda, and Robitaille, Marilyn. "Composition and

popular culture: From mindless consumers to critical writers," English
Journal, 76 (1), January 1987, pp. 51-53. Dyer, Joyce. "Rural America in film and
literature,"
English Journal, 76 (1), January 1987, pp. 54-57. Farmer, David L. "The VCR: 'Raiders'
as a teaching
tool," English Journal, 76 (1), January 1987, p. 31. Gallagher, Brian. "Film study in the
English language
arts." In Report by the NCTE Committee on Film Study in the English
Language Arts, 1987. 23 pp. [ED 287 165] Jeremiah, Milford A. "Using television news
and documentaries
for writing instruction." Paper presented at the 38th
Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and

Communication, 1987. 13 pp. [ED 280 031] Krukones, Michael G., et al. "Politics in
fiction and film:
An introduction and appreciation. A team-taught course," 1986.
30 pp. [ED 280 086] Lovell, Jonathan H. "Where we stand." In Report on Film
Study in American Schools. Report by the NCTE Committee on Film Study
Number 11.
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in the English Language Arts, 1987. 23 pp. [ED 287 165] Masiello, Frank. "The lessons
of popcorn." In Spielberger,
Jeffrey (Ed.), Images and Words: Using Film to Teach
Writing, 1985, pp. 56-59. 93 pp. [ED 260 393] Michalczyk, John J. "Teaching the
Holocaust through film."
Paper presented at the Modern Language Association Meeting,
1982. 20 pp. [ED 240 011] Moss, Robert F. "The next episode: Soap operas as a bridge
to improved verbal skills," English Journal, 76 (1), January
1987, pp. 35-41. Post, Linda Williams. "Frankly, my dear," English Journal,
76 (1), January 1987, pp. 28-30. Rebhorn, Marlette. "Hollywood films as a teaching
tool,"
1987. 6 pp. [ED 286 815] Simpson, Jeanette. "A writing contest? Why bother,"
Exercise Exchange, 26 (2), Spring 1982, pp. 47-48. White, Kathy. "Teaching about
women and violence," 1985.
14 pp. [ED 268 528] ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills
Indiana University 2805 East Tenth Street, Suite 150 Bloomington, IN 47408
This publication was prepared with funding from the Office of Educational Research and
Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract no. RI88062001.
Contractors undertaking such projects under government sponsorship are encouraged
to express freely their judgment in professional and technical matters. Points of view or
opinions, however, do not necessarily represent the official view or opinions of the
Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
Title: Using Film, Video, and TV in the Classroom. ERIC Digest Number 11.
Document Type: Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs)
(071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073);
Target Audience: Teachers, Practitioners
Descriptors: Elementary Secondary Education, Films, Higher Education, Instructional
Materials, Interdisciplinary Approach, Mass Media Role, Television, Videotape
Recordings
Identifiers: ERIC Digests
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DOCUMENT RESUME
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ED 423 689
AUTHOR
TITLE
INSTITUTION
ISSN
PUB DATE
NOTE
PUB TYPE
EDRS PRICE
DESCRIPTORS
IDENTIFIERS
Casanave, Christine Pearson, Ed.; Simons, J. David, Ed.

Pedagogical Perspectives on Using Films in Foreign Language
Classes. SFC Monograph #4.
Keio Univ., Fujisawa (Japan). Inst. of Languages and
Communication.
ISSN-0918-1199
1995-05-00
97p.
Serials (022)
Collected Works
MF01/PC04 Plus Postage.
Classroom Techniques; College Instruction; *Copyrights;
Critical Thinking; *Cultural Education; Film Study; *Films;
Foreign Countries; Higher Education; Instructional
Materials; Journal Writing; *Listening Skills; Second
Language Instruction; *Second Languages; Sex Role; Skill
Development; Sociocultural Patterns; Student Journals;
*Student Projects; Thinking Skills; Videotape Recordings
*Japan
ABSTRACT
This collection of articles on use of films in second

language instruction, particularly for teaching English as a second language
(ESL) in Japanese colleges and.universities, includes: "Whole Movies and
Engaged Response in the Japanese University ESL Classroom" (David P. Shea);
"Films in English Class: Going Beyond a Content Approach" (Jeffrey Cady);
"Learning by Collaboration and Teaching: A Film Presentation Project"
(Christine Pearson Casanave, David Freedman); "Finding the Last Puzzle Piece
Through Conversion" (Yoko Shimizu); "The Value of Reading and Film Viewing in
Fostering Critical Thinking" (Sae Yamada); "The Listening-Viewing Diary in an
Advanced Listening/Speaking Class" (Naomi Fujishima); "The Portrayal of Women
in American Films: A Scenario for Misunderstanding" (Yoshiko Takahashi); "An
Anthropological Perspective on Films in the Language Class" (Thomas Hardy);
and "Copyright Law and Video in the Classroom" (J. David Simons). (Individual
papers contain references) . (MSE)
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PEDAGOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON USING. yums IN

FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES
A
4.1
Christine Pearson Casanave and J. David Simons, Editors
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
EDUC TIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION

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TO THE EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES
INFORMATION CENTER
(ERIC)
VIMBic*AHVIA
SFC
PEDAGOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON USING FILMS IN

FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES
Christine Pearson Casanave and J. David Simons, Editors
Sae Yamada, Assitant Editor
CONTRIBUTORS
Jeffrey Cady
Christine Pearson Casanave
David Freedman
Naomi K. Fujishima
Thomas Hardy
David P. Shea
Yoko Shimizu
J. David Simons
Yoshiko Takahashi
Sae Yamada
March 1995
(see also Journal Writing: Pedagogical Perspectives,

C. P. Casanave, Ed., Keio University SFC Monograph #3)
i21114M**-AMER
>
Table of Contents
Introduction
ii
Whole Movies and Engaged Response in the Japanese University ESL Classroom
David P. Shea
Films in English Class: Going Beyond a Content Approach
18
Jeffrey Cady
Learning by Collaboration and Teaching: A Film Presentation Project
28
Christine Pearson Casanave and David Freedman
Finding the Last Puzzle Piece Through Conversion
40
Yoko Shimizu
The Value of Reading and Film Viewing in Fostering Critical Thinking
45
Sae Yamada
The Listening-Viewing Diary in an Advanced Listening/Speaking Class
52
Naomi K. Fujishirna
The Portrayal of Women in American Films: A Scenario for Misunderstanding

Yoshiko Takahashi
63
An Anthropological Perspective on Films in the Language Class
71
Thomas Hardy
Copyright Law and Video in the Classroom
78
J. David Simons
Author Biostatements
91
INTRODUCTION
Christine Pearson Casanave and J. David Simons
In preparing this monograph, eight teachers and two students came together in an
extraordinarily rewarding collaborative undertaking to produce a collection of papers on
various aspects of how and why we use films in classes of English as a foreign language.
When we began this project, we knew only that many of us used films in language
teaching and learning, and that as a theme for our mongraph, the topic of films would
thus allow a maximum number of people to contribute essays to the volume. However,
we did not expect the rich variety of perspectives, approaches, and writing styles that
now characterize the finished publication. As a result of this variety, the monograph has
surpassed our expectations in terms of interest, quality, and value to readers. It is a

collection that has something for everyone--for those who use films primarily as cultural
content and those who use them as linguistic resources; for those who want to know how
films can be used in classes to those who want to know how students respond to films as
they are used in those classes.
Some of the papers address common or complementary issues. We have grouped
these papers together so that they may be read in sequence, if readers so desire. The first
two papers, for example, deal with two different views on the question of how films can
be used in the language class. David Shea argues persuasively that films are best used
holistically, as content for critical thinking. Not fully convinced by the point of view
presented in Shea's paper, Jeff Cady struggles with the issue of whether to use films
primarily as content or as resources for focused language instruction. Christine Casanave
and David Freedman then describe a film presentation project for their intermediate
English students in which films were used holistically to help students learn to view films
critically and to present their views to a real audience. While the authors remain
committed to a holistic use of films, they also recognize the need to provide students with
sufficient language support to complete the tasks that teachers assign.
The next two papers look at the holistic use of film in the language class from the
student's perspective. The positions taken in the two student essays represent two (of
potentially many) different responses, and remind readers that students do not respond in
uniform ways to films as the primary source of content. Yoko Shimizu did have a
positive experience, describing a "conversion" experience that changed her from a person
who viewed films solely as entertainment to one who now views films as texts to be
5
li
engaged with at deeper analytical and personal levels. Sae Yamada, on the other hand,
found that the way films were used in her English class could not engage her mind in
critical and imaginative thinking to the same extent that reading does. In a less holistic,
more narrowly focused approach to film in the English class, practicing teacher, Naomi
Fujishima describes how she experimented with a "listening-viewing diary." In this

technique, students make notes and presentations on specific short scenes from fulllength films. The author found both benefits and drawbacks to this technique for helping
students increase their knowledge of both linguistic and cultural aspects of the films.
In the next two essays, the authors discuss the ways that films do or do not lend
themselves to helping students increase their understanding of their own and others'
cultures. Yoshiko Takahashi analyzes the portrayals of women in several American
films, arguing that the messages in these films can easily be misinterpreted by Japanese
students, who evaluate the feminist issues in the films according to their own cultural
expectations. She cautions teachers to contextualize these films within a background of
information about Western culture. Thomas Hardy, on the other hand, finds that
American and Japanese films can productively be used to help students recognize the
stereotypes they hold about Americans, and to then reflect their new understanding back
on themselves. The result is not just that students learn something about American
culture, but that, more importantly, they come to know their own culture in more
perceptive and critical ways.
The monograph ends with a very practical look at the complex and little-understood
issue of copyright law regarding the use of film and video in the classroom. In a
discussion of the copyright laws in both Japan and the United States, David Simons takes
readers through a number of scenarios that classroom language teachers might face as
they prepare lessons using films and videos, noting the legal and ethical dilemmas that
arise.
This collection of essays in no way presumes to offer a complete picture of issues

concerning the place of films in foreign language teaching and learning. It does,
however, represent a variety of contrasting viewpoints that we hope will make readers
consider these and other issues in the context of their own teaching. The process of
writing and then reviewing each other's essays has done that for the authors who have
contributed to this monograph, and helped us appreciate the value of diversity in our
approaches to language teaching.
Ill
W OLE MOVIES AND ENGAGED RESPONSE

IN THE JAPANESE UNIVERSITY ESL CLASS OOM
David P. She&
One of the definitive moments of clarity I've experienced as a teacher of English
occurred a couple of years ago when getting on an elevator. I'd just finished class and
was returning to my office with an arm full of papers and the video I was showing at the
time, Chariots of Fire. As I stepped onto the lift, I ran into a fellow teacher, a British
chap whom I'll call Nigel for the sake of argument.2 Nigel was holding in his hands a
copy of the video Tootsie. "Oh, so you're using movies too?" I asked, thinking to pick
up a few tips about using film in the ESL classroom. "Oh yes," he said, "but only for
five minutes."
"Five minutes?"
"Of course," he replied confidently. "ESL teachers too often misuse videos. They
simply turn on the television set and sit back to enjoy the movie. Students don't
understand the words and fail to grasp what's being said. They just watch the gestures
and scenery in the background and try to figure out what's going on without the
vocabulary or grammar or any linguistic features whatsoever. It goes in one eye and
comes out the other and doesn't even reach the ears!" Nigel chortled.
I was mortified. Nigel's description of irresponsible ESL methodology pretty well
summed up the way I had just run my class. Always susceptible to self-doubt, I thought
I'd better find out more about Nigel's view of language pedagogy, so I followed him out
of the elevator and into the teachers' room.
"I show a five minute segment of a video," he explained. "Then we review critical
vocabulary and expressions. Students answer comprehension questions about what

happened, or complete an information-gap exercise where half the class knows something
the other half doesn't. We talk about linguistic features such as register in the dialogue,
and students perform role plays where they work on features of intonation. Sometimes
they complete exercises utilizing relevant linguistic structures. After we fully analyze the
language used in one five minute segment, we watch the next selection, working our way
selectively through the movie."
1This paper is a substantially revised version of a presentation made at the SFC Symposium on Videos
in the EFL Classroom, Keio University SFC, January, 1993. I am grateful to Yoshiko Takahashi for the
original invitation to participate in the conference, and to Chris Casanave and J. David Simons for their
many helpful suggestions and criticisms during the revision process.
20riginally Nigel was a real person, but I have changed his name and put words in his mouth. He did,
however, express reservations about the misuse of videos as we rode the lift.
There it was: a rigorous, linguistically oriented approach to learning English through
movies. What more could I say? My confidence shaken, I went home to think about my
approach to teaching. I also went to class the next day and asked my students what they
thought about my approach to teaching and, after a good deal of reflection, some more
questioning and a little research, I'm willing not only to admit I have continued using
"whole" full-length movies in my classroom over the past two years, but also to argue
that it's a reasonably good idea. It even serves, in some contexts, to facilitate successful
language acquisition, but of course that depends on what you mean by language
acquisition and why students go about the endeavor in the first place.
The Social Fabric of Language Education

In my own second language training, I come from grammatical stock. I was raised a
FALCON in the Cornell intensive program in Japanese,3 where ten hours of drill,
language lab, and study a day take students from zero to linguistic sixty in twelve
harrowing months. It's the only way to go, especially if you've got other things to do
and don't really mind teetering on the brink of exhaustion. The FALCON program is the
brainchild of Professor Eleanor Jorden, who has very clear ideas about using videos in
the language classroom. Jorden (1991), for example, believes that videos should be
(among other things) linguistically sound (i.e., structurally driven), ordered (i.e., based
on frequency), and "clean" (i.e., building on what has already been mastered), rather than
humorous skits where the focus is on a story instead of language. Full length movies are
out of the question. They aren't structurally driven, they're certainly not clean, and
there's no apparent linguistic order to the dialogue.
But FALCON is for high-flying language birds, intent on where they're going and
willing to sacrifice much of themselves (including most of their time) to get there. There
is also a "washout valve" (Schumann, 1978) which allows slow-moving slaggards who,
for one reason or other, don't work to be "flushed," so to speak, out of the program.
Moreover, most of Jorden's (1991) comments are focused on start-from-the-beginning
students, not the "false beginners" at Japanese universities who not only have already
extensively studied structural aspects of the language, but also routinely expect to pass
English whether they come to class and do any of the assignments or not. Not to mention
other overwhelming constraints on actually studying English at the university: two hour a
day commutes to campus on crowded trains, eight to ten classes per semester, thirty five
to forty students per class, and so on.
3Callal FALCON for Far East Asian Language Concentration, presently directed by Robert Sukle.
2
Nigel reminds me somewhat of a baby FALCON, or perhaps a robin dressed in
falcon feathers. That is to say, on one hand Nigel wants to focus on language, its
structure and form, in the interests of successful and effective acquisition. On the other
hand, Nigel seems to be rigorously unprincipled about the linguistic aspects of the movies
he introduces, and he's willing to use entertainment as a teaching tool. Jorden argues that
serious language pedagogy and entertainment don't mix, which seems especially true for
learners at initial stages. Nigel appears to be sitting on a theoretical fence, as robins are
wont to do, between movie aficionados in their ground-floor seats and falcons circling
high in the rarefied linguistic air above.
Although I too feel that a clean, structurally driven approach is probably the most
efficient and linguistically sound way to use videos in the ESL language classroom, I
don't feel that it's necessarily the most appropriate pedagogy in every context of study.
There are obviously other contexts imaginable, such as my freshmen and sophomore
Japanese university students who have already studied a good deal of English grammar in
rather artificial, test-driven situations, and who have some very definite, though not
always congenial ideas about what English is and where they stand in personal relation to
it. A grammar-centric approach is inherently based on small classes of highly motivated,
begin-at-the-beginning students with a lot of time on their hands to do things like devote
much of it to study.
The issue is not simply that the structure of the curriculum in Japanese universities
doesn't allow for rigorous, efficient, intensive language practice. The issue primarily
concerns the six to seven year odyssey Japanese students typically make through the
hellishly intricate grammatical maze that's called English education in this country. Some
have gone so far as to compare the effort to battling the monster Godzilla (McCornick,
1992). By the time they enter the university, most Japanese students have already
memorized, if not learned, a good deal of English grammar and vocabulary, even though
in most cases they can't articulate that fact themselves. We must be careful, then, about
assuming that language acquisition takes place in a sterile vacuum which involves
linguistic ability measured on a test, unaffected by extraneous variables such as the social
fabric in which English is woven. It is critical to recognize that language study is not
simply about the linguistic facts of English, especially when much of language is not
about linguistics anyway, but about culturally situated thoughts, ideas, and feelings
which are related to things that might be best defined as the social world. From the
student point d view, however, English has few moorings in the social nature of
communication. Language study is more often anchored in a berth of alienating
frustration.
Input, Interest, and Responsive Engagement

A case can be made (though neither Nigel nor Professor Jorden would likely make it)
that popular films provide extensive exposure to new linguistic expressions that can be
acquired in the process of trying to understand communicative messages. Krashen

(1982), for one, makes this kind of argument. He might describe movies in terms of
providing "mass quantities" of interesting input which, if more or less comprehensible to
students, can be acquired in the course of trying to understand wilat's going on and
what's being said. Watching movies, students are exposed to new idioms and
vocabulary items, different accents and rhythms, as well pragmatic routines (both
formulaic and otherwise) of doing things with words. But even if this natural account of
language acquisition is true, it is only half the story (if that much) of what I'm trying to
accomplish in English class by using films.
Actually, I use popular movies as much to stimulate interest in English as to provide
input of pragmatic and linguistic features of the language to be learned. Movies are
narratives that, like literature (and even, in fact, conversation), tell a story about the
world, presenting imaginative slices of reality, mini-worlds in which viewers are invited
to enter and take part. In the case of popular movies,4 the dynamics of the narrative are
intriguing and compelling to many people, not just English teachers who are paid to be
compelled about language and indeed go so far as to spend their spare time thinking about
it. The popular movie is a proven hit, an intrinsic motivator guaranteed to capture the
attention spans of even large groups of ordinary people, and it is this arresting act of
arousal which can draw jaded university students into the "world" of English as a second
language, thus transforming it from an alien, dusty academic subject into a matter of
personal significance worthy of attention, engagement, and sometimes even excitement.
In other words, the emotional wallop of film serves to stimulate responsive engagement,
which is at the heart of authentic communication, even though it's characteristically absent
in the traditional English classroom.
I don't completely reject the notion of attention to form as a component of language
acquisition (e.g., van Lier, 1989; Schmidt, 1994). I admit that I do ask students to
approach the story as language students, to watch the movie, for example, with their
hands as well as their brains, taking notes on word use, recording unfamiliar vocabulary
and expressions, in addition to noticing various aspects of the literary structure of the
41 would distinguish between popular movies and vapid movies without substance. That is, I would admit
that some movies, though popular would not be appropriate for an ESL class. While beauty is admittedly
in the eye of the beholder, I exclude gratuitous violence and pornography from use in class.
4
10
narrative.5 And as an orientational prop before the movie begins, I often present general
background information that includes such relevant details as the names of central
characters, the time frame and location where the action takes place, and a broad overview
of major themes. I also ask leading questions. For example, I might say, "Do you like
rock music? You know the Beatles, of course. But did you know that the Beatles were
influenced by Black music from America?" in order to introduce the concept of "Soul" in
The Commitments, which is a story about Irish working-class lads who play the music of
African Americans because they consider themselves the "Niggers of Europe."
However, my central focus is not a unidirectional concern with stimulating interest,
whether it's in the service of comprehending the general meaning of a communicative
message or noticing the grammatical structure of linguistic form. In either case, such an
approach captures only part of what it means to develop fluency (or "literacy") in English
the second language. To stop there would be, in effect, to adopt the transmission model
of pedagogy Freire (1970) has called "banking" education. Students aren't empty
receptacles into which teachers rich in knowledge transfer facts and information, making
linguistic deposits into mental bank accounts. Even though the transmission model of
education is widely accepted, perhaps even expected, in Japan, it's important to avoid the
recipient way students are positioned in discussions of language "acquisition" as
consumers of language merchandise, as if they were accumulating fashionable vocabulary
apparel and grammatical accessories.
In addition to engagement as stimulated interest in English, I want to emphasize the
active, dynamically productive character of response when language is approached as a
form of social activity in the world. In other words, language "acquisition" is located in
active, creative response to what other people say (both in conversation and in film), and
that's where it derives its energy (and "success," too). Through articulating what they
think and expressing their feelings and opinions, students "acquire" language by making
it their own and using it to understand what's going around around them.
It's not easy to make sense of the world, and not just because inscrutable government
bureaucrats and crooked politicians devise arcane rules and obstruct citizens' rights.
Sense making is an inherently dynamic and creative activity that requires the expressive
articulation of ideas and opinions. Even to understand the phrase, "Mary had a little
lamb," for example, requires an active, engaged construction of ideas. Unless the context
is defined, it's impossible to say what the words mean, whether Mary cared for a sheep,
5There's no need to restrict language acquisition to word-level skills and knowledge of grammatical
structure. Interpreting a cultural text, whether an artistic production or daily conversation, also requires an
understanding of such "literary" elements is theme, symbolization, imagery, which are critical to grasp
the full nuance of what is being conveyed.
11
ate a meat dish, or gave birth to a meek child.6 And such semantic shenanigans only hint
at the dynamic complexity of the response required to "understand" what the word "Stop"
might mean in the first scene of the movie Boyz N the Hood when Tre Stiles and his
elementary school classmates walk past the one-way street sign. No text, whether a short
phrase or a whole movie, means anything apart from our active engagement in articulating
what it means, which is point of Bakhtin's notion of heteroglossia and the multivocality
of all utterances (Voloshinov, 1973). The interaction between the audience (in this case,
students) and the text (in this case, movies) serves to tells us what the movie "says" and
what it "means." Without this interaction, without the dynamic engagement of the learner
producing his or her own interpretation of the text, there is no communication. Arguably,
there is no language learning either.
Strong arguments have been made for the value of production in second language
acquisition. In Swain's (1986) formulation of "comprehensible output," distinguished

from Krashen's (1982) more passive notion of comprehensible input, second language
students are thought to need a "push" beyond a loose, general "understanding" of the gist
of communicative messages. Without the nudge to explicitly articulate thoughts, feelings,
and opinions, Swain tells us, students can fail to notice the linguistic means of
expression, such as the syntactic structure, which in turn works to improve accuracy and
thus (the argument goes) develop fluency:
[11roducing in the target language may be the trigger that forces the learner to pay
attention to the means of expression needed in order to successfully convey his or
her own intended meaning. (Swain, 1986, p.249)
While I find that, in some respects (i.e., the respects about productive expression
being central to developing second language fluency) I agree with this formulation, I
think there is a need to more fully recognize the social role of communicative activity in
production. I have particular doubts about the phrase "intended meaning," which sounds
very rational and fixed. Since language doesn't exist for the transmission of chunks of
information between individual speakers, any message's meaning is situated within a
social relationship, where meaning is fluidly and creatively shaped according to the
dynamic quality of the audience's engagement. How a listener orients to a speaker
changes not only the meaning of what is said but also, in a sense, the kind of person
saying it. Although this joint, cooperative character of language use is often overlooked
by individualistic capitalists who have no interest whatsoever in sharing anything with
other people, the heteroglossic, collaborative character of communication reminds us that
6The example is adapted from Ede lsky (1992, pp.99-100).
12
6
the acquisition of ESL "fluency" (or ability) cannot be divorced from the contexts of
interaction because language itself is generated there. That is why comprehending what a
movie (or a novel or a person) is saying involves far more than the composite of
vocabulary words and correct grammatical structure. That is also why resolutely
focusing on these components of language, rather than the movie, can be such a
deadening, incomprehensible endeavor for so many students trapped in university ESL
classrooms.
Classroom Practice
The concrete response to Nigel remains: "How do I use whole movies in English
class?"
Typically, when I show a film, I stop midway (partly because movies are ordinarily
120 minutes or longer in length and classes are only 100. The movie simply won't fit in
one class). Then I ask students to make an entry in their notebooks, writing their
response to what they've seen or thought about as they watched the movie. In some
classes, I adopt an open-ended approach, asking students to write whatever response
comes to mind. I say, "Anything is fine: whatever you think, whatever you feel."
Sometimes, though, especially when students appear unsure and reluctant to respond, I
use a list of questions adapted from a handout by Robert Probst (see Appendix 1) to
stimulate thinking and elicit response.
In either case, my primary concern is with the content of a message, with what the
students have to say, and I emphasize fluency far more than accuracy, if I mention
accuracy at all. In large part, the purpose of response at this stage, both spoken and
written, is to break the ice and stimulate thinking, allowing students to explore relevant
issues freely, without concern for spelling or grammar or other standards of conventional
style. The primary goal is to invigorate student brains, which too often seem frozen in
permafrost, incapable of generating ideas much longer than single sentences.7 Stiff,
naked opinions need to be warmed up and clothed in persuasive explanations of example,
argument, and illustration, which I often try to initiate by asking, "What do you mean?"
or "Why do you think so?" I use other comments, appreciation ("That's a good idea!"),
extension ("From a related point of view...") and even challenging critique ("What about
this aspect, how would it fit in?") with much the same purpose.
71 hold to the opinion that this reluctance is due more to experience in high-pressure test-driven high
school English classes engendering passivity, than to any cognitive inability or lack of linguistic skill.
13
A major pedagogic battle, then, is ideological, waged in the contest over the definition
of the activity and to what purpose students talk in English and put pens to ESL paper. I
want students to recognize that they're communicating to someone about something; at
the same time, I want them to recognize that, in relation to their classmates, they are that
someone and that something is important and worthy of attention, not simply a matter of
required performance for the teacher's evaluation based on notions of formal accuracy or
prescriptive style.
Since by training, many Japanese students of English feel more comfortable writing
their thoughts and opinions than articulating them orally, the journal entry is also a chance
to crystallize ideas, giving students a self-constructed scaffold which will later support
oral discussion and contributions to small group as well as large class interaction.
After the preliminary journal entry, I ask students to divide into small groups of four
or five, where they take turns expressing their impressions and opinions, talking about
aspects of the movie they find interesting, or perhaps about aspects of their own
experience they find relevant. Depending on the class and individual personalities, this
group work often generates an excited babble of talk, and the talk is primarily in English,
even in "lower level" classes (though I do have to remind people once in a while not to
lapse into Japanese). After everyone has had a turn to talk, I generally ask one or two
members of each group (or as many people as time and attentions spans permit) to stand
at their desks and make an oral summary, either of their own contribution or their group's
discussion, to the class. My job is to reply to that response, and it is an important job.
I try not to correct linguistic errors, even when I hear them, but to respond to the
substance of the ideas, focusing on content in a way consistent with techniques used by
teachers who employ journals as communicative tools in the ESL classroom (e.g.,
Casanave, 1993). First, I try to encourage and support student production while resisting
the urge to take control of the talk or ask "known-answer" questions which only lead
students to confirm what I already may know and want to hear. Second, I respond to
what students say using interactive discourse strategies of engaged response: summary,
clarification, restatement, extension, and so on. By doing things like noticing ideas,
asking for more explanation, extending important implications, and pressing for
clarification, I am engaging with students as an authentic partner in a joint, scaffolded
construction of talk (see Cazden, 1989; Palincsar, 1986; Wood, Bruner & Ross, 1976 for
discussions of scaffolding). I am also demonstrating a wide range of discourse practices,
from vocabulary words and grammatical structures to interactional patterns and pragmatic
routines, as well as interpretive approaches to texts, which students, through their own
engagement in the interaction, can appropriate as their own (Donato, 1994). Through this
scaffolded interaction, students can also develop a sense of the discourse community in
14
which they are a part, and the voices of their classmates with whom they are talking.
Then I ask students to go home (or to the computer lab) and write their ideas in a two
page (500 word) journal, or informal essay, by which I mean that I want students to
speak from their own experience in everyday, conversational language, writing as if they
were talking to a friend and trying to explain what they're thinking. Although some
students spend a considerable amount of time and effort on these journals, with multiple
revisions and careful computer spell-checks, other students seem to dash them off in one
unmodified, last minute sitting the night before it's due. Regardless, I guarantee all
essays an "A" if they are long enough, 100% the student's own words, and submitted on
time. Interestingly, and rather paradoxically, I found that not only the stylistic flair but
also the accuracy of the writing actually improved from one semester to the next when I
instituted this guaranteed grade policy. In spite of my nearly total lack of attention to
features of correctness (apart from insisting that everyone run a spell check program and
put two spaces after a period), the writing is often clean, sharp, and vivid, with a
resonant authorial voice and sometimes surprising insights.
In the next class, students exchange their essays with up to three or four people.
They read each other's writing and then write their own response in the margins or the
bottom of the page.
At this point, I collect the papers and take them home to read. As I proceed through
the essays, I also respond in the margins, sometimes asking for clarification, sometimes
expressing surprise or agreement, sometimes posing questions, sometimes making a
related comment on the topic being discussed. At the bottom of the page, I add a slightly
more extended reply. In my written responses, I try to follow the same principle of
scaffolding engagement that I use to respond to student talk in class, with a primary focus
on the content of ideas.
Then I give the papers back. Until now, that was the end of it, more or less, though
it shouldn't be. First, in order to be more effective (and more naturally engaged), I think
I need to deepen the texture of the interaction by letting students respond again to my
comments. That is, I will hand the essays back to students and ask them to respond in
turn to my comments as they revise what they've written for more clarity,
persuasiveness, thoroughness, and so on. In this way, the focus on critical ideas, jointly
negotiated among the students and the teacher, will drive the further development of
communicative skills. Second, I'm sure that this kind of exchange needs to be more
vigorously integrated into a student publication program. As Yoko Shimizu reports in
this volume, her class produced a collection of response essays on film, which we
distributed to class members and the school library. This kind of publication, which
makes the connection between the classroom writer and the real world reading audience
even clearer, should be a regular, institutionally sustained feature of every English class.
Student Voices
Another question remains. How much English do students learn engaging in this
kind of classroom activity, focused on an engaged response to whole movies? Would
they learn more from Nigel perhaps?
I have to admit that I'm not sure and, though it may sound rather irresponsible, I'm
not sure I want to find out either. Students would have to be tested and, aside from not
wanting to spend already limited class time on non-productive evaluation, tests are not
accurate measures of the kind of learning (or, rather, activity) I'm talking about. The
joint scaffolding of conversational and journal interaction is not measured on most testing
instruments. Fluency of expression and a focus on ideas and feelings is not usually
recognizzd either. In fact, tests are a big part of the original problem, because
communication is inherently fluid and the degree of its success depends largely on what
the participants bring to it and in turn expect to receive. Alternative testing measures are
called for, ones which include such factors as attitudes toward language use, confidence
in expressing ideas and experiences, fluency and the persuasiveness of ideas, quality of
engagement and participation, and so on. These aspects of language use are not easy to
measure.
It also depends on what we mean by "English," too. When language is defined as a
kind of social practice carried out in contexts of use, the context of sitting at a table
making grammaticality judgments fails to help the student much and usually bolsters only
the self-esteem of the test-giving scientist. Taking tests is generally alienating for
everyone but students who get good marks anyway, which brings us full circle back to
the examination grind (some call a battle with Godzilla) leading up to entering the
university in the first place.8
What I do know, though, is what students say, and for the purposes of this paper,
I've collected a few excerpts from recent class journals.9 These selections come from a
"low-level" class full of young men who were generally good at sports but quite sceptical
about English (for good reason in many cases, given their spartan training in the formal
8For an insightful critique of the perils of testing and biased conceptions of reading and writing,
particularly the tendency to trivialize "context-specific activity" and standardize interpretation, see Ede !sky
(1992, pp.141-153).
91 have edited the excerpts slightly, correcting spelling and typographical features for ease of reading.
10
16
intricacies of English leading up to the university entrance exam). For present purposes,
I will call them class B (for basement). The excerpts included here, however,
demonstrate an engagement in the communicative use of English, both in terms of
interested excitement, as well as the active production of personally relevant
interpretations of meaning and action in the world. Though a wide range of opinions are
evident, the comments nevertheless suggest (to me, at least) that a Nigelian focus on
English rather than movies, might well only serve to increase the scepticism toward
second language study, which arguably played a roll in originally having the students
assigned to a low level class.
The students are responding to the movie Field of Dreams:
This story made me think about "What is my dream?" and more things "What am
I doing?" and "Do I really find what my heart really want to do." Concerning
about my recently life, I noticed that I did not have any serious things to do.
Hitoshi
I don't usually like watching movies, because I am bored ... to sleep at last. So I
have been to watching movies only 3-4 times. Of course, I don't like watching
rental video. But I like watching movies at English classes very much. Because
after I watch the movie once you [Mr Shea] explain substances of the movie in
easy understanding English. I can understand substances of the movie. - Shinji
Seeing this movie, maybe many people cry. And I realize that everybody has
"Field of Dreams" in his or her mind. I think this story is excellent! and this
movie hit homer on our mind! - Hiroaki
We can tell about human relations as a metaphor of Catch Ball. Ray's father
threw a ball as a expectation to Ray, but Ray refused to catch it when he was
seventeen, and his father died. But at the end of the movie, he could catched the
ball that his father threw to him... Ray's father felt pain when Ray [doesn't return
the ball], and at the same time, Ray himself would felt pain, unconsciously. This
pain would turn into he Voice, and talk to him. Tagiru
Hitoshi makes the connection between the film's theme and his own dreams and
reality, while Shinji points out how he typically doesn't watch video movies, but given
the chance provided in class, he was able not only to appreciate the movie but also have a
positive experience in English. What strikes me about Hiroaki's comment is his use of
metaphoric image, which is the spark of interesting composition. And Tagiru's
identification of the pain of separation between father and son with the mysterious Voice
heard in the cornfield is insightful and perceptive, demonstrating his sensitivity to the
story's thematic timbre. Each student's focus of attention is different, and what they see
and hear in the movie resonates with their own experiences and ideas, but this is the locus
of engagement, where language becomes an essential tool of critical thought and a matter
of relevance for the students.
11
,...,
I confess that I am not walking around in my underwear by presenting these

excerpts.10 Even though B class is a "low" level group, these are the better students, the
basement elite, and I have picked journals to which I responded positively. Yet you can
certainly see the students' underwear in the form of their less than perfect grammar and
stilted expressions. At the same time, their mistakes are outweighed by the depth of the
ideas and the quality of the engagement, by the sincerity of opinion and critical reflection.
Given time and authentic participation in scaffolded interaction, these students would
certainly develop their language fluency.
An important aspect of response is, naturally, what students themselves think, so I

asked them. I asked B class, "Do you think it's useful to show movies in your class as
we've done this semester?"11 Most said yes, though for various reasons. Many focused
on the entertainment value of film, expressing their sense of relief that English could
actually be fun. Some pointed out how movies present the cultural context of language
use, while others commented on how the narrative helps situate understanding:
Of my experiences studying English at this university, using movies has been the
most meaningful. This is because through the media of film, I can get directly
into English and know the culture of the country where English is spoken as a
native language... The best point was probably that we could enjoy ourselves as
we studied English. I could understand a little of the enjoyment of studying
English.
I think it is very enjoyable to use movies in the English class. Very enjoyable. I
could hear interesting lectures and learn living English. I want you to continue.
Through movies, you can enjoy English. It's the most enjoyable way to study
English I've experienced.
Watching movies, you can see the gestures and facial expressions, so it helps to
understand the dialog. I studied a good deal of grammar in high school, and I
don't want to repeat the same kind of class. Even if I don't understand all the
grammar and vocabulary of the movie, I think I will develop my listening
comprehension.
To use English movie is very interested for me. I do not like study about
grammar, because it is so difficult and not so useful thing. So in high school, I
did not like English. But now I think I like English, and I can write <...> not so
fear about English grammar. I think this writing has many problem, but I can
write this by English.
I think that using videos is a very good way to teach, because you can learn
10As Robert Sukle, one of my Japanese professors, used to say in regard to being self-conscious about
one's language use in front of outside observers.
111 told students not to write their names (some did anyway) and that they could write in Japanese if they
preferred. Nearly everyone wrote in Japanese, and all the names are fabricated. Translations are my own.
12
18
English along with the excitement as you are drawn into the movie's world and
begin to follow its story.
The material which the teacher prepared (the transcript) helped. At my level,
watching videos without subtitles is still too difficult and has no meaning. Field
of Dreams has many abstract problems so it is a very hard to understand movie, I
think. But it is good to use [in class] because the content of the story captures our
interest.
Not every comment, however, is positive. Some students doubted the effectiveness
of using movies as instructional texts, since they couldn't understand all the words all the
time. They felt they relied too much on visual images and guesswork about the dialogue.
And, related to this criticism, some students pointed to the extra effort required to deal
with movies directly, without subtitles to figure out what's going on, even though they
admit that perhaps they ought to go so far as to make the effort:
I didn't understand the content of the story. It's better to have the Japanese
subtitles.
In general, watching movies is not useful. If you don't watch a scene over and
over, you can't remember the expressions. To learn English from a movie, you
have to watch it on your own many times.
While my effort [to study] was insufficient, I also feel that in one respect, I
couldn't keep up with the dialogue [tuite ikenakatta men ga alto].
Partly in response to these kinds of comments, I've taken to showing only films
which have Japanese subtitles.
Some students pointed out how useful movies can be since they provide background
information about the interaction, which helps them better understand the natural give and
take of spoken language.
Usually, we have few opportunities to hear natural English, so my ear is not

accustomed to it. I think, "Okay, I'll listen" or "I'll talk," but it doesn't turn out
the way I expect, so by using movies in class, my ear becomes tuned and I learn
how conversation proceeds.
I cannot learn its intonation from the book. I cannot learn the timing we must say
from its book.
I recognize that it's not always advisable to listen to students. Every comment
depends on its context and motivation and, while every student writes an opinion, some
students are motivated to study and others are motivated to drink, socialize, and read
comic books. And a distinction should probably be made between a nineteen year old's
heart of hearts, and the heart on his or her sleeve. In their heart of hearts, most college
13
19
ESL students really do want to learn English, but in the heart on their sleeve, they seem
reluctant to sacrifice the amount of blood the task requires. But overall, I think students'
positive response to film is a critical component of motivation and engagement in
language study.
Conclusion
I have to admit that, in the end, I have no solid proof I'm right and Nigel's wrong. I
recognize that all positions can be deconstructed and their contradictions pointed out,
including the classroom practice of responsive engagement to whole movies (see Jeff
Cady's article in this volume, for example). As stated above, pedagogic success depends
on one's point of view and definition of language. I do think it a valid question to ask
whether students benefit from spending forty or more hours a semester under my
tutelage. But my doubts are tempered by a theoretical recognition of the primacy of
motivation (or orientation) in learning and the necessity of student response. And my
worry that I'm not doing enough instruction about language is not as strong as my
conviction that a responsive engagement with real stories serves to drive language
learning and acquisition of the skills Nigel is spending most of his time teaching. I
believe that using whole movies, based on a response-based engagement with ideas and
opinions, is not a pedagogical cop-out but a theoretically and empirically sound path to
follow in the ESL college classroom. In the end, I find that I can't accept the structuralist
neglect of the central importance of aesthetic and authentic narrative, even if it is made in
the name of accuracy and efficiency.
A closing illustration: when my B class was watching the last scene of Field of
Dreams, a movie which no matter how many times I watch, invariably brings me to tears,
I had to look out the window and think when Ray asked his dad, who had come back
from the grave to play baseball on the field Ray had built, if he wanted to play catch. The
movie ends with this scene, and when the classroom lights came on, I was shocked but
partly relieved to see a significant number of teary faces in the room among the students.
I didn't want to count how many faces in front of everyone, and besides, I was busy
trying maintain my own composure, but I thought that if response is a critical element in
narrative, then many of the students had constructed a profound and moving story. If I
had cut up the movie into five minute segments, focusing on the linguistic structure and
the form of the language, the students might never have recognized the emotional force
and narrative dynamic of the video as a story about important things in the human
experience, aesthetic and ethical things like dreams, imagination, and commitment; things
that drive language and ultimately stimulate students to learn it in the first place.
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References
Casanave, C. (1993). Student Voices: The insiders speak out on journal writing. In C.
Casanave (Ed.), Journal writing: Pedagogical perspectives. (pp. 95-115). Fujisawa,

Japan: Keio University SFC Institute of Languages and Communication.
Monograph No. 3
Cazden, C. (1989). Classroom discourse. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Donato, R. (1994) Collective scaffolding in second language learning. In J. Lantolf & G.
Appel (Eds.), Vygotskian approaches to second language research. (pp. 33-56).
Norwood, NJ: Ablex
Edelsky, C. (1992). With literacy and justice for all: Rethinking the social in language
and education. London: Falmer Press.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.
Jorden, E. (1991). The use of interactive video in the learning of Japanese. In B. Freed
(Ed.), Foreign language research in the classroom. (pp. 384-392). Lexington, MA:
D.C. Heath.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford:
Pergamon.
MacGowan-Gilhooly, A. (1991). Fluency first: Reversing the traditional ESL sequence.
Journal of Basic Writing 10(1), 73-87.

McCornick, A. (1993). Journal writing and the damaged language learner. In C.
Casanave (Ed.), Journal writing: Pedagogical perspectives (pp. 6-17). Fujisawa,

Japan: Keio University SFC Institute of Languages and Communication.
Monograph No.3
Palincsar, A. (1986). The role of dialogue in providing scaffolded instruction.
Educational Psychologist 2111, 73-98.
Schmidt, R. (1994). Consciousness, learning, and interlanguage pragmatics. In G.
Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlanguage pragmatics (pp. 21-42). New

York: Oxford University Press.
Schumann, J. (1978). The acculturation model for second-language acquisition. In R. C.
Gingras (Ed.), Second language acquisition and foreign language teaching.
Arlington, VA: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: some roles of comprehensible input and
comprehensible output. In S. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language
acquisition (pp. 235-253). Cambridge: Newbury House.
van Lier, L. ( 1989). The classroom and the language teacher: Ethnography and secondlanguage classroom research. New York: Longman.
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Voloshinov, V. (1973). Marxism and the philosophy of language. Cambridge, MA:

Harvard University Press.
Wood, D., Bruner, J. and Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 17, 89-100.
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Appendix 1
Talking to a Story12
What is your first reaction to the movie? (i.e., what are your emotions?)
2. Do you think the movie is a good one or not? Why do you think so?
3. Does the movie remind you of any things in your life, such as sights, sounds, or
feelings?
1.
4. Does the movie suggest any thoughts or ideas?

5. What sort of person do you imagine the author to be?
6. Do you feel involved with the movie? Or distant from it?
7. What questions do you have after watching the movie?
8. What image or picture was called to mind by the movie?
9. What is the most important point of the movie?
10. What is the most difficult thing to understand about the movie?
12. Does the movie remind you of another story? What are the similarities and
differences?
13. Is there something else about this story not on this list?
12Adapted from a handout by Robert Probst (n.d.), Dialog with a text
FILMS IN ENGLISH CLASS: GOING BEYOND A CONTENT

APPROACH
Jeffrey Cady
I recently was asked to help out with two film classes planned by some of my
colleagues at Keio University, Fujisawa. In the course of the term, I came to realize how
much my own approach to using films in class is shaped by my background teaching
English in a rather conventional (if communicative) syllabus. I tend to use films in most
ways the same way I do textbook tapes, publishers' video materials or TV news stories.
My emphasis is on understanding (at least to some extent) the language of the films. I
felt, however, that my colleagues at Keio were largely ignoring the films as listening
material and taking an approach much closer to the way I would expect them to teach a
film course in an American or British University. As it turned out, their expectations for
the course were more than linguistic (see Casanave and Freedman in this volume) but the
course started me thinking about whether a purely content-based approach to films was
better than the one I had always used. When I was asked to contribute to this monograph
as well, I found I had to go back to the books and look again at the theory behind both the
use of listening materials in class and content based language teaching.
Theoretical Trends Supporting the Use of Films in English Class

Since the seventies, and the interest created by Stephen Krashen's emphasis on the
importance of input in language learning, the attention in the classroom to listening for its
own sake has increased, and there has certainly been a shift in the kinds of recorded
support materials used. During my own career the main published recorded materials
available have changed from audio-lingual drills to relatively naturalistic studio dialogues
and I see ever increasing use of various kinds of "authentic" recordings among my
colleagues, including unscripted dialogues and discussions and recordings originally
produced for native speakers: radio news, dramas, television entertainments and even
complete films.1 Despite the occasional protests of those students that prefer the
"easier", scripted, slow-spoken, pre-digested, traditional dialogues, the trend in listening

materials seems to be clearly toward sampling reality in one form or another.
At the same time that listening materials have been moving more toward the real
world, for a number of years theorists in second language acquisition have supported the
1The widespread availability of cheap audio and video technology in recent decades has certainly
contributed to this. For the legal aspects of this trend, see Simons in this volume.
2 48
notion that the best way of studying a foreign language may in fact be to study something
else in that language. In the 70s, H.G. Widdowson, among others, proposed that
students of English should be taught through "the other subjects on the school
curriculum" (Widdowson, 1978, p.16). His concern was that much teaching at that time
was based on the teaching of language usage, "the citation of words and sentences as
manifestations of the language system" as opposed to language use, "the way the system
is realized for normal communicative purposes" (Widdowson 1978, p.18). We were
teaching about language rather than how to do language and what we were teaching
about language wasn't even the whole story. Students were learning how nouns and
verbs were joined together properly, but not how they were used to deal with the world.
Widdowson observed that a usage approach dealt with language only at the level of word
or sentence, while it was becoming more and more evident that this was not sufficient to
explain (nor, probably to teach) language use. In the last couple of decades, both
teachers and language theorists have been forced to acknowledge the importance of
discourse considerations, the larger contexts that give meaning to grammar and
vocabulary. Many have accepted the importance to language teaching of cohesion, genre,
the mechanics of conversational interaction and other aspects of "communicative
competence" (e.g. Brown, 1980; Savignon, 1983). Some have gone so far as to assert
that practicing particular elements of language is either essentially useless or at least is less
effective than learning through some kind of actual communication2 .
In recent years we've seen two areas of practice emerge directly from the insights of
Widdowson and the other theorists. On the one hand, content classes mostly avoid the
issue of explicit teaching of language. In fact, research (reviewed by Ellis, 1994) seemed
to show that traditional approaches to explaining or drilling particular points of grammar
are problematic or don't work. These findings together with the complexity of the
discourse view of language, may have initially discouraged some people from hoping that
a similarly explicit approach would work any better at the discourse level. Content
teaching offered a straightforward way of introducing natural use into the classroom.
On the other hand, many teachers, unwilling to abandon teaching language directly,
have discovered that non-content communicative teaching of many sorts is possible and
in fact "communicative" has become a buzz-word for publishers of English language
materials. Simulations and information gap activities create a kind of real communication
in the classroom, skills training in reading, writing, speaking and listening give much
more attention to function and context than before. There is finally some research support
2Ellis (1994), cites Krashen (1982) for the stronger position, and Prabhu (1987), for the weaker. More
recently, Krashen seems to have somewhat softened his position to allow the explicit teaching of some
elements, if not grammar (Krashen, 1985). Ellis himself seems to support a modification of the weaker
view (see below).
19
for the feeling of many teachers that carefully designed explicit teaching of language can
work (Ellis, 1994). Indeed, Widdowson allows that a use-based approach "does not
mean that exercises in particular aspects of usage cannot be introduced where necessary"
(Widdowson, 1978, p.19). He was making room for grammar practice, but "exercises"
no longer has to mean just audio-lingual drilling (communicative grammar teaching is
enjoying a certain amount of popularity lately), nor does focusing on particular aspects of
language have to mean studying grammar at all. It can mean studying appropriateness,
function or cultural differences or any other aspect of language in context. Though
Krashen rejected "fine tuning" of input (meaning trying to adapt input to focus on
particular grammatical points), he didn't reject every kind of intervention. On the

contrary, he regarded adjusting the level of difficulty, and giving attention to context
creating "comprehensible input" as essential (Krashen, 1987).3 Ellis (1994), after

surveying the current research reaches the (admittedly cautious) position that:
Facilitating selective attention by devising instructional activities that equip
learners with conscious rules, or that help them interpret the meanings of
specific forms in the input, is both psycholinguistically feasible and
possible in practical terms (p.657).
To come back to my question about how best to teach a film class, Widdowson
proposed that content-based teaching would provide an automatic context for language
use which is both natural and familiar to students in school and may be more relevant to
the learner than other approaches. He asserted that the learning experienced in it is more
immediate in that it corresponds with the way the learners use their own language in the
study of other subjects. That students see film as relevant (and interesting) makes film
courses a natural subject for content courses but also a natural focus of the trend to
authentic listening. Theorists are urging us to provide learners with lots of "input" that
they can understand, and giving us some leeway to teach language explicitly. Theory
tells us that content classes, like other classes for language learners, need to supply
learners with comprehensible input, and it does not exclude helping learners to notice and
interpret the ways language is used. If these concerns apply to that part of a film class
where we talk about the film, should they not also apply to viewing the film itself? If we
can manage it, shouldn't we try to give some attention to the language in the films we
study and also to making the language easier for our students to understand?
3Michael Rost (1990) warns of the dangers of "easification" that distorts the language that students receive
or dilutes the authenticity of their interaction with it, but he is mostly concerned about conversational
interactions where native speakers are modifying the language they produce, trying to make it easier to
understand. The language of films remains "genuine", but the teacher must have some concern for the
"authenticity" of the students' interactions with it--not to lose track of the usual relations between films
and their viewers. See my comments about control below.
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For a More Langrumge-Ihnitensive Approach to Film

Interest in so-called content-based EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching has
increased, and attempts to actually try it out have been made (in Japan perhaps
encouraged by the habit of universities and, recently high schools, of hiring foreign
teachers whose specialties are outside the teaching of English as a foreign language). But
as Bernard Mohan (1986) puts it "While the need for coordinating the learning of
language and subject matter is generally recognized, just how this should be
accomplished remains a problem" (p. iii). Often EFL teachers don't feel competent to
teach in another field and non-EFL teachers struggle with how to adapt their teaching to
learners for whom the main learning difficulties are linguistic. The area where we may
find most cases of EFL teachers teaching content may be film, both as part of more
traditional language courses and as separate film-only courses.
Most of the papers in this monograph address film classes essentially as ordinary
content classes, more or less as if we were teaching geography or literature or cooking,
where the fact that the objects under study are in some way themselves linguistic objects
has small relevance to the way the class is designed. Their concern is with what the film
is about or how it was done--with the meaning of the whole film. Students may see quite
a few films in a term, where comprehension of the film's language is dealt with as a side
issue. Although they are encouraged to watch the films again on their own, very little
attention is given to the language of the film, as language, except in the same way it might
be dealt with in a film class for native speakers. In fact I've come to realize that I have no
serious quarrel with this approach; it allows a maximum of attention to other very
important aspects of the films, such as style, message, viewer's reaction, cultural
implications and so on, and the original theoretical arguments for teaching through
content hold up pretty well. Theory, however, does not limit us to this sort of armslength approach. There is support for a language based treatment that both makes the
films' language more comprehensible as input and that talks explicitly about the language
and the rules that govern it (whether grammatical or discoursal). A more intensive
approach to filth language is not incompatible with other aspects of film study (except,
perhaps in terms of time available). Furthermore, if we believe that input is important to

language learning, by neglecting a film's language we may be missing an opportunity that
films especially offer in the classroom. Compared to almost anything else, whether
textbooks, a blackboard, posters, magazines and newspapers, "realia" props, even

invited speakers or a library, films are a fantastic resource for language in the classroom.
As listening material they are in many ways almost ideal, offering us a vast range of
language, in context, complete with the best, most complete settings, both ordinary and
extraordinary that Hollywood (or the studios at Pinewood, or Cinecitta or Toei) can
construct, built-in character and motivation for each situation, with discourses features
suitable for analysis at every level. They are often better written and certainly better
illustrated than any textbook dialogue, and they cover an enormous linguistic territory,
from "ET call home" to "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows
of outrageous fortune..." to "Hoo-ahh".
As language vehicles, films are also very attractive to our students, whether in some
cases because of enormous advertising budgets, famous faces, and slick production, or in
other cases for the almost opposite reasons that attract students to cult films and obscure
documentaries. Not only are films at the heart of mass culture right next to television, but
they also exist at the fringes of culture and have a respectability among students that TV
may not. They offer students a chance to study language through something that is at the
same time fun and serious, authentic and innovative, more demanding than television, but
less intimidating than pages of printed text. We may wonder though if it is possible to
study a whole film in the intensive way that we treat other listening materials.
Practical Considerations for an Intensive Approach

Why haven't films completely taken over language classrooms? Or why do film
content classes shy away from dealing with the language in the films? There are several
apparent difficulties that may discourage teachers. Some of these look serious at first
regard but may not be as great as they seem. Several more are important, but can in many
cases be reduced or overcome.
Isn't the Language Too Difficult?
There is not only a huge amount of language in any film, but the language situations
are complex, the language is hard (and it certainly doesn't fit very well into any traditional
language syllabus sequence), and dealing with it takes a lot of time. A typical scene in a
good film can be fantastically more complicated than a textbook dialogue. Not only may
there be far more details visible (and audible) than even in a video teaching dialogue, but
these details have meaning, and these meanings interact with each other. A film audience
might be expected to notice what she's wearing, her running mascara or that he hesitates
for a long time before he continues after he says "A coffee and..." We may need to know
quite a bit more about the people involved because there's probably more going on than it
just being lunch time.
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This seeming drawback may be a bonus, however. Our students may be limited in
what they know about English, but they've grown up with film and television and the
greater part of the vocabulary of film is entirely international. They know what a tense
confrontation or a love scene looks like--even an American love scene (or a French one
for that matter). They've been trained by experience, the same as we have, to respond to
camera angles, editing pace and music. Furthermore, if the students know that the focus
is on a particular language point, they may be willing to accept some fuzziness around the
cultural or dramatic edges and vice-versa. If you simply point out the cocktail dress, the
hesitation, the lifted eyebrow, guessing is sometimes as good as knowing. And on the
other hand, the vivid reminder that a conversation has meaning, that it occurs in a
particular situation, said by particular people for a reason, transforms it as a teaching
vehicle. If you've ever led a patient but uninspired class through the first repetition of a
dialogue and then seen them come awake just from being forced to include "umm" at the
beginning of one of the sentences, or to stress one word a little differently, or to make a
minor gesture at the right moment, you've seen how the life of language is in these details
and so, maybe, have they.

The difficulty of the language in a film may not be as great as it at first seems, either.
In fact, once the characters, their motivation, the setting and so on have been dealt with,
such a traditional language teacher concern as grammar often turns out not to be such a
great issue in comprehension. And some films are much less difficult than others. The
density and complexity of the language varies a great deal according to whether the film is
intended for general audiences, whether the story is complicated and how much of it is
told visually, the amount of action, the period, the number of characters involved, their
accents, whether the characters and situations are ordinary (family members, household
settings vs. lawyers in courtrooms, etc.), and the number and importance of topical
references. Exotic accents, mistaken identities, topical comedies are hard. Mysteries can
leave students worried that the one word they don't know is a crucial verbal clue (though
they should be able to count on the teacher to keep them current), while, on the other
hand, in a science fiction film they know that some of the words will be new to native
speakers as well! Comedy may be mostly topical or it may be highly visual or almost
entirely based on very ordinary language.
The very attractiveness of films can help to make them easier. Rost (1990) points out
that "[Listening] texts which are vivid or interesting may be easy to understand even
though they contain unfamiliar content or difficult language features," and also "Listeners
may expend more effort on a difficult text provided the text offers useful and informative
insights" (p.159).
23
Making the Language Easier

When the language is too difficult, yet crucial to understanding an important scene in
the film, if there is time, it can still be dealt with without resorting to devices such as
subtitles. Over the last decade or two a range of techniques has been developed for
making difficult recorded texts more accessible to students' understanding. Some of

these approaches, traditional or recently developed, break a seemingly difficult listening
task down into something that learners, even at a fairly low level can deal with.4 Thes
approaches include pre-listening exercises and discussion, and methods of presentation

that separate the obstructions of context from those of the language itself (such as viewing
the scene first silently), or that supply some or all of the language on paper, with or
without explanation of crucial vocabulary and usage. We should remember also that both
from a theoretical and a practical point of vieW there is probably no necessity of the
students producing the same level of language as we are asking them to listen to.
Won't It Ruin the Excitement?

There is a danger, in examining scenes and the language in them in detail that we will
neglect one other aspect of a film--its pace. In fact, films are not really made to be
watched in small pieces and viewers' interest will not survive too much attention to
detail. But in intermediate to advanced classes a balance is achievable, if we work with
both the interesting fine points and with complete scenes, if students always have a
chance to view the forest as well as some of the trees, and if we are careful not to forget
about movement and suspense. Indeed we can put suspense back in where slow
comprehension has lagged behind and missed it. With the lowest level students,
however, a 90 or 120 minute movie can drag on forever if we attempt too much.
Letting go
After presenting some techniques and worksheets at a teachers' conference a yearpr
so ago, I was taken to task a bit by someone who had been at the presentation. He was
concerned that the work was so controlled. I think he was partly concerned about my
looking so closely at detail (what I presented in the conference was mostly limited to
exercises that focused the students on particular details and ignored the larger picture), but
he may also have been referring to a more general consideration. As we may want to give
4For video techniques see Lonergan (1984), Cooper, Lavery, & Rinvolucri (1991), and for general
listening skills many recent textbooks, including Richards, Gordon & Harper (1987), Viney & Viney
(1986), and Soars & Soars (1986).
3024
our film classes opportunity to ask the wider questions and look more at the overall
meaning of the work, we should give them more control over how the inquiry is
conducted as well--to let them control their own learning. This can have value in any
kind of film class.
Part of the value of interaction in language class is the importance of giving learners
control of input. In discussion this means the teacher giving up control and in listening it
is the same. At the conference, in trying to present twenty-some exercises for film
comprehension in 45 minutes, I may have given a rather teacher-centered presentation.
But where the control rests will depend on how we use the tools available. Simply
stopping the film and playing a scene again has already shifted control away from the
makers of the film to the teacher. Giving the remote control to the students shifts it the
rest of the way. Other methods involve letting students decide the questions, letting them
choose how much to watch and how long to focus on a section, even letting them choose
the film. Student presentations (about language or, of course, other aspects of the film)
likewise put control and a chance for creativity back into student hands. Student control
can be crucial to sustaining interest too.
Does This Take a Lot of Time?
The one aspect of a language intensive approach to film study that is not vulnerable to
theoretical insights or modern strategies is that it does take time. An intensive approach
somewhat similar to those used for purpose-made language teaching videos or for
listening to recorded news, divides a full-length film into 10-12 two hour intermediate
level lessons, including time to view each one week's 8-12 minute section several times,
do vocabulary and comprehension work and some general discussion. This is a lot of
time spent on one film and may vary with the level of the students, the film chosen and so
on. It can involve a lot of preparation for just one teacher as well, although the same film
can be used in other terms or with other classes. The time devoted can also vary with the
amount of attention teacher (and students) want to devote to the language of the film.
Although I'm arguing the advantages of an intensive approach, there's no reason to make
the issue black and white. A friend who teaches at a language school successfully teaches
intermediate non-college students to view and enjoy English language films with very
little language support by concentrating on general comprehension and does it in less
time. This requires, however, a deft touch and a good knowledge of one's students. If
other factors demand it (teacher or student interest, curriculum, administration), more or
less attention can be given to language vs. other aspects of film study, from an intensive
approach to one that deals with film language only when it is significant in some way to
25
I.
any audience (the future language of Clockwork Orange or 1984 for example).
Conclusion.
A language-intensive approach to film does take time. It is also true that students can
often appreciate a film and learn from it even if their level of comprehension of the
English in it is not high. But it is hard to justify the view that some greater understanding
of the language, or more detailed examination of its component parts, and the ways in
which these parts relate to their contexts in a general way, will not contribute quite a bit to
their study of the film if the opportunity is there. Furthermore, many of our students,
even in universities, come to English class primarily because they are interested in the
language as language, and may be resistant to a content approach that doesn't take this
into account. In truth, lots of our students aren't interested in film as art. Some of our
students are only interested in karate movies. (though they may see them as art). And
there are many teachers who don't feel competent to teach film as art either, or in fact as
anything but language.
In fact while I now think it is possible to choose (and justify) either a purely wholefilm approach (e.g., film criticism) or a very intensive, language based approach, there is
a lot of of middle ground available. Though, on the one hand, the content approach can
often benefit from greater attention to language, on the other hand, it will be a great waste
if we go too far the other way and treat films simply as splendid language samples. Just
as a text dialogue is hollow without some kind of transference to a real situation, we need
to follow up on our intensive attention to form and intonation with discussions at least of
how we relate to the story on the screen (the open questions why? and what if? as well as
the closed what? and when? and where?), and very possibly we need to pay some
attention as to how the scenes and the language in them are shaped by the technique of
writer, director and actors.

My return to the language theory books has given me renewed respect for teaching
content in language classrooms. I am beginning to think again about ways that I can
make language learning work more below the surface by teaching it less directly, and
possibly with the outward focus on learning other subjects. Nonetheless, I feel strongly
that language teaching theory can also justify the more intensive approach to films I've
used myself for a number of years. I think that this approach is feasible in a practical way
and otfers resources and possibilities that are otherwise difficult to duplicate, and that
teachers should use films when they can as a source of language for study to the great
benefit of their students.
32
26
References
Brown, D (1980). Principles of language learning and teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall.
Cooper, R., Lavery, M., & Rinvolucri, M. (1991). Video. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. London:
Pergamon.
Krashen, S. D. (1985). Inquiries and insights. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Alemany Press,
Prentice Hall Regents.
Lonergan, J. (1984). Video in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Mohan, B. (1986). Language and content. Reading, MA.: Addison Wesley Publishing.
Richards, J., Gordon, G., & Harper, A. (1987). Listen for it. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Rost, M. (1990). Listening in language learning. Harlow, Essex: Longman Press.
Savignon, S. (1983) Communicative competence: theory and classroom practice.
Reading, MA.: Addison Wesley.
Soars, J., & Soars, L., (1986). Headway, Intermediate. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Viney, P., & Viney, K. (1986). A weekend away. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Widdowson, H. G. (1978). Teaching language as communication. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
33
27
LEARNING BY COLLABORATION AND TEACHING:

A FILM PRESENTATION PROSECT
Christine Pearson Casanave and David Freedman
What Motivated This Project?

In the fall semester of 1993, we asked each of three classes of students to choose a
film, analyze it, and present ("teach") their results to each other in a large group setting.
We were led initially to this film presentation project because we faced a systemic
problem at the university that we needed to solve--namely, too many students and not
enough teachers to give classes as small as we wanted. Because students had class three
times a week, we were able to toy with a number of possible solutions, and decided to
experiment with a large-class/small-class combination. For the large class, we combined
the three smaller classes of about 35 students each at the same level and used the time to
show films, which many of us do in our smaller classes anyway. Ideally, we argued, the
films would constitute input (of content, primarily) for work that would then be done in
the smaller "core" classes, which tend to focus on critical thinking skills at the
intermediate-advanced levels. In these classes, English is the medium rather than the
object of instruction, and multi-skill language instruction occurs as a consequence of our
focus on nonlinguistic matters.
Why did we choose films as the main source of content? In the project we report on
here, the structural constraint that we faced made films an ideal source of content. By
showing films in a large lecture hall, we could be sure that all 100+ students would have
the grounding they needed for the further work that would take place in the core classes.
The content of the films was also accessible to all students, regardless of proficiency,
because we used subtitled versions. Finally, well-chosen films are interesting to many
more young people than are books, regrettable as this may seem to some. They are also
interesting to teachers, as lively lunch room conversations on our campus on the topic of
films have demonstrated.
Teaching, Learning, and Collaborating

This project pushed us to rethink our notions of teaching, learning, and collaborative
group work. Before discussing the specifics of what students did, we lay out some of
these notions as a way to ground our discussion in issues that turned out to be important
in helping us understand what worked and did not work in the project.
In the first place, we found it hard to separate teaching and learning into distinct sets
of activities carried out by different kinds of people, teachers and students. In language
learning, as in other kinds of learning, we recognized that we as teachers often seem to
learn more than our students do. The activity of teaching, we reasoned, results in high
quality learning because the teacher-learner does all the work essential for good learning:
researching, organizing, and communicating ideas to and with others. Indeed, all of us
who teach have probably experienced regularly the pleasures and surprises of learning
something new as we prepare materials to teach or as we interact with interested students
and are forced to articulate our knowledge in response to their (and our own) questions
and confusions. For most of us, the activities of preparing to teach and teaching result in
deeper and longer lasting learning for us than did our own past classroom learning
experiences.
What are some of the characteristics that distinguish this kind of learning from
traditional information-transfer learning? First, as teachers we know how to access the

resources we need to prepare to teach. These resources include not only books, journals,
and professional meetings, but also colleagues with whom we interact. We do not work
in isolation. Second, we are highly motivated to prepare lessons in ways that will be
optimally accessible to people who we presume do not already know the material or skill
we are teaching. The audience, in other words, is real, and has reasons (intrinsic or
extrinsic) for learning. Third, the activities of preparing to teach and teaching demand
that teachers exercise a wide range of linguistic, cognitive, social, and creative skills.
Fourth, we feel accountable and responsible not only for our own performance, but also
for ensuring that others (i.e., students) progress. In the stereotypical student role, on the
other hand, the student feels responsible only for him or herself. Finally, we are not
tested artificially on what we learn by teaching. Awareness of our successes consists,
rather, in evidence from ongoing implicit and explicit evaluation from our classes, such
as knowing that we have held the attention of our audience, helped them see something in
a new way, or inspired them to continue learning. It also consists in a very nontrivial
marker of success--our own growth in knowledge and interest in a particular content area.
Why, then, do we not routinely construct learning opportunities for our students that
mirror some of these fundamental facts about the close ties between teaching and
learning? The brief literature review that follows, particularly that on
cooperative/collaborative learning, captures some of the ideas we wish to ground our
thinking in, and suggests some of these ties.
29
Some Ideas from the Literature

There are many conceptions of learning, but they share the notion that some kinds of
learning involve memorizing and quantitative increases in knowledge (of facts,
procedures) and that other kinds are more abstract, involving so-called higher order skills
such as interpreting reality and conceptualizing. In all cases, we can say that learning
involves some kind of change. But deep learning, in which people use synthetic,
analytic, and abstracting skills in order to reorganize and interpret information, is prized
because it is thought to be longer lasting than surface learning, as well as more closely
connected to meaning, comprehension, interest, and motivation.
In the school setting, according to Kember and Gow (1994), "...these conceptions of
learning are important because of the evidence that they have a strong influence upon the
study approach students use for particular study tasks" (p. 58). For example, in a surface
approach to studying, students try to memorize material on which they will be tested. In
a deep approach, they focus on the meaning of reading material or of project work
(Kember & Gow, p. 59). In particular, Kember and Gow found that interactive teaching
methods, rather than teacher-fronted lectures where information is delivered in a one-way
fashion, encouraged students to study deeply, with interest and enthusiasm.

How, then, have educators designed interactive teaching and learning activities?
Some of the most effective interactive learning has been found to occur in small,
cooperative learning groups (Cohen, 1986; Johnson & Johnson, 1994; Slavin, R.,
1983). Cohen (1994) defines cooperative learning as "students working together in a
group small enough that everyone can participate on a collective task that has been clearly
assigned" (p. 3). In such groups, particularly when the mix of students is
heterogeneous, and the goals and group members are interdependent (i.e., when the task
cannot be completed by individuals working alone), students not only learn from each
other, but they also create knowledge that none of the members had before. (Both Cohen
[1986] and Johnson and Johnson [1994] point out that the benefits of group work do not
accrue automatically, but that students need to learn the social and discourse skills
necessary to work together effectively.)

One experiment demonstrates the potential of cooperative learning groups to foster
high quality learning in at least some situations. In a pre-service teacher education
program, Wedman, Hughes, and Robinson (1993) taught students in each of two
sections of a reading methods course to use reading inventory procedures. One group
received direct instruction through lectures. The other learned how to use and understand
reading inventory procedures in cooperative learning groups. In post-tests and follow-up
30
questionnaires, the experimental cooperative learning group achieved significantly higher

scores, and believed that working in a group benefitted their learning in ways that lectures
alone could not.
Related to cooperative learning is another approach referred to as a "workshop"

approach, which most closely resembles the approach we took in this film presentation
project. In the university setting in which they worked, Arredondo and Rucinski (1994)
designed a workshop approach that consisted of the following key elements: 1) reflective
journals, 2) individual student-professor conferences, 3) structured small group

discussions of project work, and 4) final presentation of the student projects to the whole
class (Arredondo & Rucincski, 1994, p. 274). Their purpose was to involve students
"...in complex projects requiring the meaningful use of language" (p. 275). At the
conclusion of five university education classes, both graduate and undergraduate, where
this approach was used, the authors learned from questionnaires that most students
favored this approach to a more passive approach. Graduate students responded

somewhat more favorably than undergraduates, however, and ratings were highest when
the professors' guidelines and expectations were clearly laid out. While a few students in
this survey preferred listening to lectures, writing individual reports, and taking tests,
most students appreciated the workshop approach for helping increase the depth of their
thinking, their creativity, and their motivation.
For our purposes in our SFC English classes, the second language acquisition
literature on the topic of interactive teaching and learning is less helpful than that
described above. The main reason is that the bulk of the second language literature
concerns language acquisition in a much narrower sense than we are interested in. In this
literature (some of which is described or presented in Allwright and Bailey [1991],
Kessler [1992], Nunan [1992], and the October 1994 issue of The Language Teacher)
researchers and teachers are concerned with the amount and quality of linguistic input and
output and their relation to students' language development. The same concern is
manifested in the work on task-based learning (e.g, Nunan, 1989). We believe that
students' language will develop as it is used for meaningful purposes (Krashen, 1987)
such as (in our case in Japan) work on a long-term project. We are also less concerned
with students' linguistic proficiency than are some English programs in Japan, and more
with what we call "educational growth"--the development of curiosity, critical and
analytical thinking ability, and skill in problem posing and exploration (Casanave, 1992).
For these reasons, we have found that the general education literature fits our purposes
better than does the literature in second language education.
Our point is that teachers, as a normal part of our class preparations, do what is
necessary for good learning to take place. We select, collaborate, confer, revise,
31
U.
organize, synthesize, and articulate. In the traditional language class, indeed, the
traditional class of any kind, students rarely do this. It is in this sense, then, that we use
the expression "learning by teaching." We want students to do what all of us do every

day, and by doing so to begin developing the same sense of interest and confidence in, as
well as responsibility for, their own knowledge that we as teachers gain as a result of our
teaching. In the context of the film course that we devised for our third semester
sophomore students, we felt we had the opportunity to experiment with some of these
ideas.
The Students, Class Structure, and Presentation Assignment

Our students during the film presentation semester consisted of three high-
intermediate university English classes (called EI, EJ, and EK, TOEFL mid to high 400s)
that met together once a week to view films as part of the class structure described above.
The film segment was run by a part-time teacher with whom we consulted regularly. We
selected films based on the theme of "The Human Dilemma," how individuals react to and
handle major crises in their lives, and showed one film every 2-3 weeks in a large theater-
style room. All films were in English, subtitled in Japanese, and included Mermaids,
Dominick and Eugene, Talent for the Game, and Witness.
In the second half of the semester, students also worked on their final presentations.
We often have students do final oral presentations rather than take a final exam, and we
reasoned that it made a great deal of sense to have the three classes present to each other
rather than to themselves. Therefore, in a final project, each class selected its own film
for a 100-minute presentation to the other classes. Each presentation was to contain a
summary, an analysis, a pro-con critique, and visuals. Beyond these basic requirements,
the students were fairly much on their own as to how they would divide the work and
what the specific content would be. Students worked primarily outside of class on this
presentation, but we did some of the groundwork in class, as well as set interim deadlines
for them (not always followed, of course).
Regular Core Class Activities

When the three classes met separately once a week in their core classes, we followed
up on the films that were shown with a variety of activities that were designed to help
students use English to practice the kinds of thinking the would need for their final
presentations, and to make the film viewing itself a more "active" (participatory) process.
For example, for each film we designed film-viewing worksheets that covered plot and
20 32
character development of the narrative line (summary), exploration of the issues or

dilemmas faced by the characters (analysis), and "open" questions on individual reactions
to the filmwith reasons explained (critique). Also, we required that students read a
published film review (e.g., Roger Ebert) for each film, and helped them see the elements
of summary, analysis, and critique in those reviews. This approach helped us structure
the discussion in the core classes so that we could concentrate on these three aspects of
reviewing. Further, this style of reviewing, we presumed, would help students prepare
for their final presentation project, where they, as a class, would review a film of their
choice and teach what they had learned to the other two classes.
Journals were a useful medium in which students could develop their ideas, and we
required that students write at least one journal on every film. In Chris Casanave's class
(EK), students wrote once a week, alternating between a response journal and a
summary. In David Freedman's classes (EI, EJ), in the first journal the emphasis was on
summary. The students were asked to briefly tell the story of the film. In the next
journal along with the summary an analysis of the main character was called for (Why, do
you think.., would you?). In the third journal a critique of the film techniques had to be
added (music, acting, writing, directing, and so on). In both Chris's and David's
classes, the students had the Roger Ebert review of each film to use as a model; also the
questions on the film viewing guide acted as a starting point for the students' writings.
Before or after collecting the journals, we asked students to discuss their ideas from them
in small groups. In order to keep the discussions in English and to lower anxiety about
speaking, students were allowed to "read" their opinions from their journals. In the
activity of small group journal sharing, we hoped to encourage the students not only to
make public their opinions, but also to begin to see how they could eventually collaborate
as a group to present a coherent view of different aspects of a film for their final
presentation.
Preparing for the Final 'Presentations

To prepare for the presentations, at about mid-semester, each class chose a film that
dealt with some kind of "human dilemma." The students had been given a project
worksheet outlining the requirements for their project. In the 100-minute class period,
each class was to present a summary, an analysis, and a pro/con critique of their film;
distribute a handout that would help convey the presenters' main points to the audience;
and integrate visuals with their presentation, such as video clips and transparencies for the
overhead projector. Each student had to sign up for one of the work groups that they
devised for themselves. The groups consisted of 4-6 people, which the students called
33
by a name such as Summary, Character Analysis, Critique, Technical Aspects, Handouts
and OHP, and Video Clips. Each class also chose two overall coordinators, and each
small group chose a group leader, and conferred with other groups as necessary to design
a presentation that would not be fragmented or repetitive.
As we mentioned, most of the specific work that students did for their final
presentations took place outside of class. However, in addition to the general activities
mentioned above, we helped students in more specific ways. David experimented with
the activity and concept of "teaching" in one of his classes, by having small group mini-
presentations where the group had to teach a skill to the rest of the class. The groups
were required to have both written and oral directions, but the subject was left open with
the proviso that at the end of the "lesson" the other students had to have either a physical
object or a new skill. Some of the presentations were Making Okonomiyaki, How to Tie
a Scarf, and Doing Calligraphy. The short detour into teaching a concrete skill with its
preparations helped the class understand the idea of teaching, and, indeed, the final
project of this class stood out in terms of how the students explained concepts and found
creative ways to get their ideas across.
In Chris's class, the students also gave mini-presentations as they began organizing
the various parts of their presentations. These helped students become comfortable
speaking in front of a group, develop appropriate eye contact, learn to modulate their
voices, learn to solicit questions and comments, and in general to make contact with their
audience in ways that encourage a teaching-learning interaction. Chris also gave students
some time in class to work in their small groups and to collaborate with other groups so
that they could coordinate potentially overlapping aspects of their presentation.
Both of us encouraged the students to prepare their handouts ahead of time so that we
could assist with proofreading, but only one of the three groups did this. We also copied
the handouts (last minute) for each group, as well as evaluation sheets for the audience to
fill out. We graded the small groups of students holistically, and averaged this with other
elements on which students were evaluated individually (e.g., attendance, participation,
and journal submissions).
Critical Discussion of the Presentation 'Projects

At this point, in order to comprehend the struggle for meaning that each group
brought to their final presentation, it may be worthwhile to listen to the language of a film
critic. Maya Deren in her seminal essay, " Cinematography: The Creative Use of
Reality" (1960/1985) writes, "As we watch a film, the continuous act of recognition in
which we are involved is like a strip of memory unrolling beneath the images of the film
'40
34
itself, to form the invisible underlayer of an implicit double exposure" (italics ours) (p.
56). Our students, like most people, tend to watch films purely as passive entertainment.
But in our class this semester, students were pushed to bring a deeper meaning to films--a
second layer of exposure, so to speak--that they otherwise would have watched only for
fun. In other words, we expected students to be active viewers, who brought their own
meanings to the films, whatever those meanings might be. It is this struggle to make the
invisible meaning visible that thrusts the students into the very heart of language and
teaching.
We had purposely left students on their own to engage in the struggle of selecting,
developing, and organizing issues from their films. It was in this preparatory work,
where students worked together to construct their own meanings and develop mediums to
communicate them effectively, that we hoped the main benefit of the "teaching" aspect of
the project would reside. It was our belief that the presentations would reveal the kinds
of thinking and organizing that had gone into their preparation.
On each of the three presentation days at the end of the semester, groups from each
class had set up the video equipment, OHP, microphones, and lights. One group had
even set up several extra TV monitors in the auditorium, in addition to the main screen on
stage, "in order to attract attention," a boy explained. Each group passed out its handout
and evaluation forms to the audience and took charge of quieting the room. The
presenting class sat up front, and each small group came forward to do its part. For the
most part, the presenters read from scripts they had prepared, and coordinated their
speaking parts with video clips and OHP transparencies that other students were
managing.
EK class presented first. They had chosen Fried Green Tomatoes, a film about the
identity struggles of two generations of women in the American South. The concept they
had developed for the film was two-fold. First, they saw the narrative structure as a
parallel construction of past and present stories. They very effectively communicated this
concept through the use of video and commentary in their summary section. Second, they
tried to develop the idea of the relative nature of truth from the perspectives of different
characters. This was presented via handouts and lecture, but was not communicated
nearly so effectively. A possible cause could be that this concept did not fit a "multimedia" presentation (a topic that enjoys great popularity on our campus, to be discussed
further below), and the students could not find alternative resources to present their ideas.
EI class presented Awakenings, a film about an alienated doctor who becomes
involved in the lives of his "awakening" catatonic patients. El's main concept was that
the narrative should be viewed through the characters as representatives of groups (i.e.,
patients, doctors, parents, etc.), rather than as individuals. Once again the main method
41
35
of teaching in their presentation was through film clips, though enlivened by students
appearing in costume to present the story from the viewpoint of their "group." Their
secondary theme, the role of windows in the film, was brought forward visually (via
video), but the students were unable to initiate a discussion of the meaning of this
symbolism, perhaps due to a lack of specific vocabulary for discussing symbolism in

film.
ET class presented last. Their film, A Few Good Men, is a film about the conflicts
between duty and honor, truth and loyalty in the Marine Corps. Their interpetation
hinged on the personal and psychological motives of the main characters, and how they
interacted with and exploited each other. The students used an OHP presentation and
handouts to demonstrate the "lines of relationship" that they saw in the film. While this
method had helped them as a class to clarify their ideas, they were unable effectively
communicate their concepts because the key diagram on these visuals lacked the clarity of
their preparatory discussion in class. They lost sight of the fact that their final
understanding of their concepts of the film had been reached via a process of learning that
their audience had not shared. Consequently, we can see that while each class struggled
within itself to elucidate a theme, and did so fairly successfully, each class, when faced
with the task of effectively explaining their ideas and engaging the audience in a further
exploration of their theme, was not so successful.

As we look critically at this learning-by-teaching project, we find that we have
questions about many aspects of it. Perhaps the greatest problem was over the amount of
target language necessary to work in class and do the project. Some terms were given in
vocabulary sections on the viewing sheets, but at the end, when the students became
involved in their projects, their concepts outstripped their linguistic skills and left some
parts of the final presentations unclear and weak. The question remains as to whether it
would have been better to preteach some specific, higher analytical vocabulary (such as
the language of the visual symbolism of windows for EI, or the language to allow EK to
develop the concept of women nurturing women), or whether the decision to offer the
teacher-as-resource (which is more consistent philosophically with the collaborative goals
of the class) was the better choice. We were disappointed that few groups used the
opportunity offered by the teacher-as-resource, even for proof-reading their handouts.
A problem brought up by the students in their final journal was the feeling that some
students worked while others loafed, and the class, as a whole, had no means of forcing
a classmate to participate. This problem remains to be solved in classes using large group
work as a final project. However, one comment was nearly universal on an end of
course questionnaire. When asked if they felt they learned anything from the course,
80% said they had learned presentation skills and felt more confident speaking (as
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opposed to 15% who said they had learned critic's skills). Even if the students did not
end up exactly where we wanted them to go, the teaching process brought its own
lessons to the students.

A larger issue concerns the basic concept of learning-by-teaching. Our idea was that
if we allow the students to choose their own material (film) and to find issues on their
own with relatively little guidance from teachers, they would develop their own concepts
that they would then want to communicate to the other students. The difficulty that the
students had in achieving this goal does not negate the method. In fact, perhaps one of
the most exciting aspects of this project was to watch students come up with ways to
think about their films that we had not thought of, and to watch them struggling to find
and articulate their ideas. Our own views of what was needed to be analyzed and
critiqued often went unheeded. And in spite of our desire to help students find the "real"
meaning in the film, and analyze and critique the film in ways that showed they had read
and understood Roger Ebert's film review, and our guiding comments to this end, they
went their own way. In the end, we had to allow them to do this, and to respect their
solutions, as long as we knew they had genuinely struggled with ideas in the film and
with how to present their ideas most effectively to an audience other than themselves.
Our biggest disappointments and praises came, paradoxically, in the same two areas.
In the case of Chris, she was both amazed at and disappointed in her class's summary
section. It was smooth, clear, and extraordinarily well presented as a combination of
narration and video clips, the technology of which was faultless. At the same time, she
felt that the efforts that went into the summary, particularly the media aspect, were made
at the expense of what she had hoped would be deeper thinking and engagement with
broader meanings in the film, the kind of thinking that some of the individual students
exhibited in their journal responses throughout the semester. But in the final
presentation, only a few students in the whole group seemed to reach any level of
profundity. In many ways, students' journals on other films showed more of this kind of
insightful, analytical thinking than did their final presenation.
Related to this, was the students' infatuation with media itself, not surprising given
that "multimedia" is THE buzzword on our campus. We see lots of showy technology-students learning computer graphics, computer music, data base technology, video
making and editing, and so on, but it is not yet clear whether the mechanics cif our high
tech campus are diverting our students' attention from serious intellectual pursuits to flash
and hype. In this project, we saw more flash in some cases than depth of thought. At the
same time, we can praise the students' ability to put together a coordinated "show" (if you
will), a task that may be neither deeply intellectual nor English-language oriented, but one
that does require intensive collaboration, negotiation, organization, planning, technical
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expertise, and so on. The EK students, for example, particularly the video group (the
technical support group), were as involved in their production as any students could be in
a learning-teaching experience, and no doubt learned a great deal from their experience.
As is often the case with an educational experience, however, they may not have learned
what the teachers intended them to learn.
Finally, we learned a great deal about what is involved in coordinating a project
involving three classes and over one hundred students. In brief, we learned that it was
possible, and that it was also both exciting and demanding in terms of how we planned
the timing and orchestration of so many parts into a coherent whole.
Final Thoughts
In this film presentation project, students had the opportunity to select, analyze, and
critique a film, using both the English language and a variety of visual media to "teach"
what they had learned to other students. In spite of the project's rough edges, we believe
that our students learned more about critical engagement with ideas and issues by
working collaboratively toward this goal than if we had guided and controlled the project
in more traditional, teacher-centered ways. In our case there were special advantages to
using films for the project, not only to solve our structural problems during this particular
semester. The films, unlike printed novels and stories, allowed students to enter quickly
into an analytical and critical frame of mind. Students did not, in other words, need to
spend the majority of the semester struggling with linguistic aspects of reading; instead,
they spent their time on complex thinking and organizing tasks, and on the linguistic
aspects of presenting their ideas orally to a real audience. Given the time, and fewer
structural constraints, teachers and students can certainly craft the same kind of learning-
by-teaching experience using media other than film, such as readings. The goal remains
the same: to involve students in an intellectual and communicative activity that requires
complex thinking, organizational and presentational skills, and language.

We remain committed to a learning-by-teaching approach that involves collaborative
group work and presentation to real audiences, whether or not we need to solve a
structural problem of large classes. We also remain committed to instructional activities
that allow us to relinquish control of the specific ways students prepare their ideas while
still providing them with ongoing guidance. We recognize that by giving up some
teacherly control, by asking students to do their own preparation for teaching, what
students learn cannot be predicted to the extent we may wish it to be. The benefits have
to do primarily with increased learner autonomy and with the possibilities for providing
students with chances for deep rather than passive engagement with tasks.
4438
References
Allwright, D., & Bailey, K. M. (Eds.) (1991). Focus on the classroom: an introduction
to classroom research for language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Arredondo, D. E., & Rucinski, T. T. (1994). Using the workshop approach in

university classes to develop student metacognition. Innovative Higher Education,
18, 273-289.
Casanave, C. P. (1992). Educational goals in the foreign language class: The role of
content-motivated journal writing. SFC Journal of Language and Communication,
Vol. 1, 83-103.
Cohen, E. G. (1994). Restructuring the classroom: Conditions for productive small

groups. Review of Educational Research, 64, 1-35.
Cohen, E. G. (1986). Designing groupwork: Strategies for the heterogeneous
classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.
Deren, M. (1985). Cinematography: The creative use of reality. In G. Mast, & M.
Cohen (Eds.), Film theory and criticism (third edition) (pp. 51-65). New York:
Johnson, D. W. & Johnson, R. T. (1994). Cooperative learning in second language
classes. The Language Teacher 18 (10), 4-7.
Kember, D., & Gow, L. (1994). Orientations to teaching and their effect on the quality
of students learning. Journal of Higher Education, 65, 58-74.

Kessler, C. (Ed.) (1992). Cooperative language learning. Englewoods Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
Krashen, S. D. (1987). Principles and practice in second language acquisition.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall International.
Nunan, D. (Ed.) (1992). Collaborative language learning and teaching. Cambridge:
Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge:
Slavin, R. (1983). Cooperative learning. New York: Longman.

Wedman, J. M., Hughes, J. A., & Robinson, R. R. (1993). The effect of using a
systematic cooperative learning approach to help preservice teachers learn informal
reading inventory procedures. Innovative Higher Education, 17, 231-241.
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45
FINDING THE LAST PUZZLE PIECE THROUGH CONVERSION

Yoko Shimizu
When I was six years old, my family and I moved to the United States because of my
father's job. I was educated there for 12 years until I came back to Japan. In Japan, I
discovered the difficulty of the Japanese language. Not only were my kanji skills very
poor, but I also realized that my Japanese skills overall needed a lot of work. In the
beginning, I even had difficulty understanding lectures and seriously thought I might fail
all of my courses taught in Japanese. I missed being able to speak English freely and to
express my thoughts on paper without so much hesitation. To maintain (or possibly
improve) my English skills and to regain confidence in myself, I decided to take English
as my required language choice at Keio SFC. Therefore, in the Spring of 1993, I

enrolled in the Intensive English Course for high level English students (mainly
returnees) with TOEFL scores of 600 and above.
A Movie Is for Entertainment? My Original Thoughts about Film Viewing

"Wonderful! I'm going to watch films in my English class!" This was my first
reaction when I discovered I would be watching films as a central part of class. Until
then, I had only watched movies for entertainment, as I'm sure most people do.
Cuddling together on a couch with my friends, I used to hold a big bucket of buttered
popcorn and run the video that we had chosen according to its popularity and the number
of "cool" actors and actresses that showed up in it. Once the video ran, it never stopped
until the movie ended. I saw only the main story, the story that anyone could understand
from just watching the film. For example, when I watched Fried Green Tomatoes for the
first time, I understood it only as a story about an old woman in a hospital who tells a
story about a friend she had when she was young, while a fat woman with an eating
problem listens and learns to be strong. Because it never occumed to me that there might
be another story in it, I didn't like the film very much.
Although I obviously didn't expect comfortable sofas nor buttered popcorn in the
course, I did expect to have some fun, as in the fun that I often experience while watching
videos with my friends, laughing about ridiculous jokes and accepting the story as it is.
However, my expectations were not fulfilled. In the class, I was too busy writing notes
to laugh at jokes. In the film course, the students were taught to look into the "other side
of the story" and to watch films critically. With a pencil in one hand and a notebook in
the other, we tried to look at everything the screen showed and wrote down anything that
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we even slightly suspected was a symbol, a sign of foreshadowing, or anything that

might be helpful for us to further understand the film, not just the main story. In the end,
what we had in our notes gave us ideas about the theme of the film, the message of the
film, or whatever came as the topic of the paper that we wrote after viewing each film.
Learning to Ask Questions!

Before taking this course, I often felt an indescribable feeling of dissatisfaction after
watching films, as if something kept me from saying "Now that was a good movie!" Just
as a puzzle is incomplete until the last piece is set, I felt as though I failed to place that last
piece in the right place. It was in this film course that I found the answer why--I hadn't
looked into the movie deep enough and was missing important points.
The first day the class watched the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, the instructor, as
always, froze the scene at a very odd place--a scene showing a rusty old truck getting
pulled out of muddy water--a scene I thought was almost meaningless to the story.
Annoyed and frustrated that he wouldn't let the film get to it's main story, I waited for his
explanation.
Pointing at the screen, he asked us "What do you think that means?" Confused, I
asked myself, "I don't understand....what else is it but a dirty truck? So what if a truck
was found in dirty water?" Since the teacher told us to write whatever we felt about the
scene into our notes, I wrote down, "What is the significance of the truck? What is the
significance of the filthy water?"
The instructor continued to press the pause button every time scenes changed or
something he thought was important appeared in it, and told us to write down anything
we felt or saw. When traintracks appeared on the screen, and he paused it again, and
asked the class, "What did you see? Did something catch your attention? If so, write it
down," I still didn't understand his intention. Instead of being interested, I became more
confused. I had no idea what to write, but I decided to write what I could think up, so I
jotted down, "What is the significance of the traintracks?" feeling "My gosh, what a
boring thing to think about, let alone, write about." Not for even a second at that time did
I ever think I'd be writing about it, and enjoying it.
The instructor not only constantly told us to write down what we thought, but he also
often called on some of the students to tell him what they thought. In a scene where Mrs.
Couch, the overweight woman with little confidence in herself, begins to show signs of
self-confidence, he stopped the tape and called on me to explain what I thought about it, if
I could relate Mrs. Couch's growth to someone else's in the film. For a minute, I looked
through my notes and came up with an idea. "Could it be that Mrs. Couch's growth is
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very similar to Idgie's?" I asked. As soon as I understood the point, I was able to
present my opinion smoothly.
Once I realized how to answer questions that piled up in my notes, I eventually
learned to find the scavenging for answers quite fun because of the satisfaction and the
confidence I felt when I found them.
Oh, I Get It:

After watching the movie once, I was overwhelmed with questions, words, and
phrases in my notebook, and as I looked at them, I realized I'd written the same words
more than once. One such word was "train", and ironically, I felt attached to it because it
appeared so many times in my notes and convinced me that there must be something
important about it. Ultimately I chose to look further into the connection between the
story and the train.
As soon as I decided what I wanted to further look into, I put together all of my notes
on "train." When I came up with my list of where the train appeared and when, I began
"Oh, I get it! The train passes by Whistlestop whenever Idgie
to see a pattern
experiences a change in her life, first when Buddy dies, next when she takes Ruth onto
the train, and finally when Ruth dies." When Idgie loses her best friend, Buddy, in a
railroad accident, she becomes even more withdrawn and selfish. When she and Ruth go
on the train to distribute food to the poor, we see that she has become more caring for
others and less self-centered. Finally, when Ruth, her best friend after Buddy's death,
dies she learns to accept death, and to become an adult, a lady. Thus, I found my thesis:
"The train takes Idgie from an immature tomboy to a grown-up adult."
This is why I now strongly feel that notetaking about even something one may think
is just a minor aspect of the story, is important in finding one's strong thesis.
Finding Evidence to Convince the Readers

After I found my thesis, I needed to watch the video again to find a convincing
argument to prove my idea was correct. Because I knew what scenes were crucial to my
paper, I watched them with much attention. I compared Idgie's actions before each
"train" incident with her actions after the scene, and checked that Idgie had matured, as I
suspected she had. When I made sure my opinion was correct, I knew I could write an
argument that was descriptive and convincing, and that even the strict instructor will
enjoy reading my paper.
Because I knew exactly what I was to write, all I had to do was to type it out which
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turned out to be quite simple. I had my thesis, my notes, and my main points
straightened out, which were all I needed. As if I had already written my paper in my
head, I wrote it without hesitation, which was unusual for me. Until then, I had
sometimes found difficulty writing my papers. Often, I had stayed up all night to come
up with something interesting and convincing, but in the end, I was left with a boring,
meaningless paper. Now I realize that the reason for my continuous failure was my
inability to come up with an interesting thesis, and to look deeper into my text which
meant that I was trying to write papers with very little understanding about it.
Soon after I finished my paper the instructor called on my to present my idea, and I
could explain my idea to the class with confidence. I learned how good it felt to be
satisfied about my work, and to be able to present it, knowing that I had a strong
argument.
Conversion: From Viewing IFilm as Entertainment to Viewing Film as

Text
As a result of my taking this course, I learned a new way of watching films-- viewing
film as a text. By having learned this method, I feel as though I have found the last
puzzle piece. Because I changed from an indifferent viewer to a critical viewer, asking
questions about an awkward scene or looking for signs that might give me a clue to an
answer, I can now look forward to discovering something new everytime I see a film,
more than just the main story. As "the train served as a symbol that alerted the viewer to
Idgie's maturity," the film course itself served as a guide to my growth in understanding
film watching.
My Improvement in English
As I stated above, I took Intensive English to gain confidence in myself and to
improve my English skills. After one semester of the English Film Course, however, I
realized I gained much more than that.
Now as a junior at the University, I can understand lectures with less difficulty and
write papers that make sense. More important, however, is the fact that I learned much
more than I expected from Intensive English. Not only did my English writing improve,
but my ability to view films also improved, which I never expected from taking Intensive
English. I feel as though I took a film course and an English course at once. I learned
the techniques of film watching, constantly thinking about each scene of the film and
about everything that appears in it, but I also discovered how to find my own idea about
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the film, find my own thesis through my notes and through my thoughts about the film
and to communicate these ideas in English. Although I knew how to find a thesis for a
paper about a novel or about a poem, it never occurred to me that I could find my own
idea in a movie. Before the course, I thought movies gave me all the information, that all
I had to do was sit and watch. Now, I know differently.
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THE VALUE OF READING AND FILM VIEWING IN FOSTERING

CRITICAL THINKING
Sae Yamada
I am presently a junior who has just finished taking the advanced level English
Intensive Course at Keio University's Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC). In all the three
semesters of this course, the aim of the class was not to concentrate on grammar, spelling
or vocabulary. We were required to think. Think intellectually and critically on issues or
certain themes. To achieve this aim, films and readings were used in class as text
materials. Throughout the three semesters with both readings and films, my mind
developed much more when reading than film viewing. So did the process of critical
thinking.
In the first semester, the class proceeded by first viewing films, then talking in
general about the film we saw. Then we broke up into groups of five to six people. Here
we exchanged ideas and sometimes read each other's response journals which we wrote
almost every week. The class procedure was almost the same in the second semester.
The difference was that instead of films, we did readings.
All films and readings we did in class dealt with certain themes. "Cross-cultural
Conflict" was the theme for the first semester. In the second semester it was "Human
Relationships." The materials used in providing the themes were films such as Fried
Green Tomatoes (discrimination against women and between whites and blacks), Do The
Right Thing (discriminaton among races in America such as blacks, Hispanic, Koreans
and whites), The Milagro Beanfield War (discrimination between the Hispanics and the
whites in America) and Children of a Lesser God (discrimination between the
handicapped and non-handicapped). For the theme "Human Relationships", we watched

When Harry Met Sally , a film about the relationships between men and women. We also
read short stories written by a variety of authors from "A Family Supper" by Kazuo
Ishiguro to "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan. We also had class presentations at the end of
each semester. My class as a whole did Children of A Lesser God in the first semester as
our final presentation. At the end of the second semester, my group did a presentation
based on our analysis on the book, Lord of The Flies by William Golding.
As I worked throughout the semesters with films and readings, I felt my mind
developed and grew a lot more when we read and not when we viewed films as materials
for critical thinking. From this experience, I believe that critical thinking can be better
achieved by reading than film viewing. The difference occurs for three reasons: the
difference in intellectual engagement of the mind, the difference in imagination that is
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required, and, most important, the difference in the interpretive process involved.
Intellectual Engagement
Viewing films does not require the full involvement of the intellectual mind. In other
words, viewing films is usually a passive act. I do not mean that students just sitting and
watching films in class is a passive act. Viewing films is passive because it does not
require the full engagement of the brain. In other words, it undermines the necessity to
understand what is going on in the film and has a tendency to divert the audience's
attention from the real message or essence of the film.
In class, when viewing a film, most of us students just had to keep our eyes open but
not the mind. To know what was going on, we just had to keep watching the film. Even
if there were parts we did not understand, the film kept moving forward. So even if we
did not get what was going on at that moment, it was still possible to keep up with the
film because just watching it, we could guess what had happened. Seeing is believing;
therefore, we just had to watch to follow. This could be a big help for some students
who give up easily especially when dealing with something that is in English, which is
their second language. On the other hand, this discourages the viewer from thinking
actively on his/her own. For example, the film Do The Right Thing was a heavy film. I
found it difficult to understand every scene and what the director, Spike Lee, was trying
to convey to us. It was certainly difficult to keep my mind alert at all times but
understanding every scene was not necessary. I could still take part in the discussion
with my classmates.
Reading was a different matter. For example, "The Cat Bird Seat" by James Thurber
took a lot of energy and I had to make use of all the knowledge I had. I had to read and
reread the story several times to finally understand what the situation was and what was
the context of the story. It was only then that I could participate fully in the discussion.
For me, I was more prepared for the discussions after going through a reading in class
than after watching a film. Discussion after watching the film helped me understand the
film better but discussion after going through the written work, drove the discussion
deeper in a more academic way. We became more aware of the themes and became more
conscious of the theme itself.
I find that films do the thinking for us. The necessity of understanding the incidents
is undermined by viewing films. If we get used to this, then when we do readings, just
reading good books or good articles, becomes tough work. This might lead some
students to laziness or tend to make their minds dull. From my experience with readings,
I had to recognize words, sentences and details to get the picture. I needed the
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participation of every cell in my brain to help me recognize these. Also there are parts or
paragraphs in the readings which are important and need to be digested by the brain until
the readers get the points. I had to go back and forth through the pages to understand
those certain parts. Of course, we can watch films over and over again but it is not as
convenient and easy to review films as it is to review the readings. Furthermore, we can
go through the pages anytime, anywhere in our own free time, in trains or while waiting
for the bus which is not possible with films.
Most films that succeed in capturing the audience's attention are films that are either
fast moving, or that have scenes that are fascinating or otherwise amusing. Films tend to
take the audience's attention away from important conversations or events that could
otherwise engage us intelectually to scenes of violence or sex. Visual images have a more
effective way of staying in our minds; therefore, rather than the important dialogue or
message, these scenes are the ones which stay with us.
Imagination
One reason that I like reading is that it gives me a chance to develop my imagination.
I believe imagination helps develop the reader's thinking skills. Imagining does not limit
itself to what the characters look like, what kind of environment the characters live in or
what kind of car they drive in the year 2599. Imagination goes beyond that. We can also
imagine the characters' feelings, the pain, the joy, the hardship, and the jokes. At the
same time, understanding why the characters feel the way they do is what I call
imagination.
Most important, it is exciting to create the story (following the reading material of
course) in my own way and my own style. Reading encourages and stimulates my
imagination. As I read, the words turn to images. In "A Family Supper" by Kazuo
Ishiguro, there is the line, "My father was a formidable-looking man with large stony jaw
and furious black eyebrows." Imagine that. Imagine the "furious eyebrows." What you
and I imagine can be completely different. This could lead to self discovery because we
can compare what we imagined and understand more about ourselves. Haven't you ever
felt disappointed after watching a favorite book made into a film? What you imagined
was totally different and maybe sometimes it takes your hopes away.
When I imagined Simon with flies buzzing around his head and there was no way to
get rid of them in Lord of The Flies, I believe the effect would be different when reading
that page and when watching the film. I would think, "Uggh! Disgusting!" when
viewing the film, but when reading, I would not be distracted by the ugly scene and will
be able to concentrate on what is happening in the story and allow my imagination to run
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on freely. Imagining the flies around Simon's head and my head would make me want to
throw up but at the same time, I would be fascinated by what I imagined and how it
would affect me. Here, I am able to put myself into Simon's shoes. I would be able to
imagine what he is going through. What would I do in such a situation? And on my
imagination goes. It would also be interesting to read the same page again sometime later
and see if I still imagine things I did the last time.
Imagining the characters' feelings will shed some light not only on other people's
behavior and attitudes but also on our own. Putting ourselves into other people's shoes
and imagining what they are going through will help us understand people better. I am
always confused when my friends talk or laugh or act in a way that I find disturbing, and
not knowing why they act that way makes things worse for me. Or sometimes I just
wonder why I find some people weird and strange yet I like them. Or why my parents
are the way they are towards me. All these questions with no answers. The surprising
thing is that sometimes I find the help or solutions in books. The details and the
information written in the book give us the opportunity to go into another person's life
and see things the way that person does. When the characters are in a similar situation as
I am or as others are, I will be able to imagine other's feelings and apply my
understanding to real life situations.
Interpretive Process
Viewing a film is watching someone else's work. Films such as Fried Green
Tomatoes are based on a book. When the work of interpreting is done, and the film is
made, we have a director's interpretation of the book. And when we view Fried Green
Tomatoes, we are looking at one person's interpretation of the original work. There is
not much critical thinking that can be done here because we students who watched Fried
Green Tomatoes in class, did not read the original material. If we had read the original,
we would have developed our own interpretation and understanding of the original piece.
It would have prepared us because if we have the preknowledge of the material after
reading, we can watch the film critically. We can compare our interpretation with 'the
director's interpretation. This is more stimulating because we can actually compare what
is different or new or the same. As both the audience and the director have read the
original work, there is a standard base everyone can refer to. If we do not read the
original and just watch the film, it is natural to feel bored and become passive. This
attitude will of course, raise no intellectual doubts or questions in the minds of the
audience.
Boredom and passivity will influence us to value the film as just a piece of
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entertainment or another person's thoughts. Films are entertainment because they do not
require much interpretation, allowing the audience to sit back and relax. It is through the
director's thoughts or eyes that we see things. What the director wants us to see is what
we see. It narrows our range of vision, as if to say, "This is what you see" for films.
For readings, it is, "This is all there is, you figure out what to see and how to think about
what you see." When we read, we, the students or readers, have to make our own
interpretation of the reading, whereas the interpretation is already done in films. The
mind involvement required is very small, and amounts just to following the development
of the story. Forget the reality and enjoy the film because film is a world of dreams. We
do not need to bother with the fact that the themes brought up in those films deal with
sensitive issues such as cross-cultural conflict and discrimination.
I believe interpretation is the key that opens the story to us. When I do my own
interpretation, first of all I have to understand the vocabulary, the words used, and at the
same time, why the author wrote the book. As I read and understand the story, I feel
closer to the characters. I also develop a sympathy towards these characters and can
understand why they take such actions towards problems and conflicts in the way the
story develops. I do not, however, feel close to whatever happens in the film. The
themes "Cross-cultural Conflict" and "Human Relationships" are something I face in my
daily life with friends, family and people. So when I watch films that deal with these
themes, I should be able to identify with the events and feelings in the film. Somehow to
my discovery, I felt closer to the characters and seem to understand the meaning of the
context better when I read. It is as if the films and I are too far apart, perhaps because I
do not need to interpret much here. I cannot connect the issues in the film to my life
without feeling forced to do so. Do The Right Thing felt so far away, as if what
happened was none of my business. When I read "Ten to Ten" by Can Themba or "Like
a Winding Sheet" by Ann Petry, I felt closer to the story and felt the progress of the story
stronger. For example, as I was reading "Like a Winding Sheet" I could feel the tension
building up between the husband and the wife and the whole atmosphere that surrounded
the husband as I struggled to understand the story. When the tension erupted (the main
character, Joe, loses control of his temper after a long hard day), I could feel the tension
coming and could sympathize along with Joe and his wife. I unconsciously entered into
the story and entered Joe's mind. In Do The Right Thing the film had it's own way of
building up the tension. I could tell that the tension was about to erupt and where and
what the climax would be but I did not feel it as strongly as when reading "Like a
Winding Sheet."
The time and effort taken for interpretation varies depending on the reader or the
students. Often the work of interpretation takes up too much time. As students, we
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55
know that class time is very limited. We prefer not to spend too much time on one thing.
It is true that reading is time consuming but I find this not a good enough reason for using
films rather than readings. Films such as Fried Green Tomatoes can be watched
elsewhere. Although readings can also be done elsewhere, I needed the help of the
English instructor just to explain some points that needed to be straightened out before
any discussion could occur. Rather than using an hour and a half or more time for a film
in class, it is better to spend the class time going over the book.
This also affects the intructor's way of teaching. If films are used in class, the
instructor need not explain or help the students with any interpretation at all. I always
seek the help of my instructors mostly when writing essays, and at other times, when I
cannot understand the context of the readings and therefore am unable to do my own
interpretation.
Conclusion
Reading develops our minds not only in the sense that we train ourselves to think
critically but it also helps us grow in other beneficial ways. We can improve our
language and enrich our writing expressions.
At SFC, where critical thinking is what we are expected to do, we (my classmates and
I) had a lot of discussions in class. Here we voiced our opinions and thoughts.
Everyone can do this. It is easy to talk, to express one own's thoughts to others. When
it comes to writing, it is not as simple as talking. In writing it is important to be able to
express thoughts effectively with concrete reasons to the other person. In class, if asked
to voice out their opinions, everyone will do so. But when it came to writing, not many
participated. I was the editor for a collection of essays for our class. I found out that
most of us did not know how to write and including myself, we did not have enough
writing practice to write an essay we could be proud of. There exists a big handicap
when trying to express feelings in words. Using words to express what we saw, felt,
and wanted to say was hard work because we did not learn any of these, at least in class
when watching films. It is important to know how to explain the complex situation and
human feelings in written language, and reading can help us do this.
Readings are souvenirs of our thoughts. After reading or viewing films, after
discussion or after thinking about what we have just read or watched, sometimes our
minds change or the way we think changes. Right after watching Do The Right Thing, I
was confused and disturbed by the film, because although I knew the story, I did not
understand it. After discussion, I finally got some ideas and so the way I saw the film
has changed. But this is only a reward of knowing that I finally understood what the
:
5 6 50
director saw and not the real issue being discussed. Also, it is easy to miss out important
details in films (with the violence and sex distractions). With readings, we can underline
sentences, make marks, and go back afterwards. We cannot make marks in a film.
There is the possibility to take notes during film viewing but while taking notes, we could
miss tiny, important details that occur as we are writing.
Where critical thinking is concerned, I believe reading rather than viewing films
achieves this better. Reading keeps the intellectual mind alert and awake at all times,
develops our imagination, and most important of all, allows us to construct our own
interpretations.
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57
THE LISTENING-VIEWING DIARY IN AN

ADVANCED LISTEN1NG/SPEAKING CLASS
Naomi K. Fujishima
In an EFL environment, it is often difficult to find materials which give students
exposure to English as it is spoken by native English speakers as well as exposure to
Western culture. Listening to taped lectures, songs, and radio programs are some
examples of ways to develop skills in listening and speaking, but video is another more
powerful medium as it offers both audio and visual cues to the language learner. With
video, students not only can learn about language, but also how it is used in the target
culture. Because of the many advantages that video offers, there has been a growing
amount of video materials available to teachers and students.
Basically, videos can be divided into two categories--video material designed for
English language teaching (ELT), and non-ELT material (Allan, 1985). Videos designed
for ELT have the advantage of offering graded language use and providing exercise
materials to aid the students and teacher. On the other hand, non-ELT material, or
authentic material, is geared toward native speakers and, thus, does not provide graded
language use. For the second language learner, authentic video allows the student to see
how native speakers interact in either staged or natural settings of real-life situations. In
EFL situations, finding opportunities outside of class to listen to native speakers can be a
difficult task. For that reason, movie videos can give the students this opportunity. I
base my own choice to use authentic video in the language classroom on these four
tenets, following Stempleski (1994):
1) It presents real language.

2) It provides an authentic look at the culture.
3) It gives students practice in dealing with the medium.
4) It motivates learners.
Because the teacher must compile and choose authentic materials from a number of
sources, classroom preparation can sometimes be rather time-consuming. However, the

advantages far outweigh the disadvantages when the teacher can see the interest authentic
video sparks in the students. In addition, for many students, video viewing is an
entertaining and enjoyable experience.
In Kwansei Gakuin University's Intensive English Program (IEP), movie videos
were used as one assignment, designed with the above points in mind, to provide
students with a project they could enjoy doing, while at the same time presenting them
with realistic examples of language and culture. The assignment was called the Listening-
5852
Viewing (LV) Diary.
The idea of the LV Diary was adapted from an article written by Michael
Furmanovsky called "The Listening-Viewing Video Diary: Doubling Your Students'
Exposure to English" (Furmanovsky, 1994). Furmanovsky describes how, after reading

through numerous student diaries, he designed an elaborate notetaking form where
students could systematically jot down notes regarding both cultural and language aspects
of the movie they watch. Students were to choose three or more language aspects and
two visual or cultural observations from one scene and take notes. He also gave his
students the freedom to choose a movie of their liking. At the end of the term, he
assessed students by either asking them to give a 5-6 minute presentation or conducting
what he called "rotating pair dialogs" where "students questioned each other about their
diaries for 6-8 minutes before moving on to another student" (p. 49).
According to the article, Furmanovsky's main purpose for this activity was to give
students more exposure to spoken English and to non-Japanese cultures. Although
Kwansei Gakuin's IEP allowed students more exposure to native English than other
regular track, non-IEP classes, I felt that two 90-minute classes a week still wasn't
enough. Based on Furmanovksy's appraisal of the LV Diary that students' exposure to
"native spoken English...can easily be doubled" (p. 26), I decided to use it with my
Advanced Listening and Speaking class.
The Setting, The Students, and The LV Diary Assignment

At Kwansei Gakuin, the LV Diary was used as a homework project for students
taking an Advanced Listening and Speaking Course to give them exposure to both the
cultural and sociolinguistic aspects of the English language. The class met twice a week
for 90-minute periods, and was made up of approximately 28 students from various
departments such as Law, Science, Sociology, Humanities, Economics, and Business.

The course was an elective, so students who first passed a screening test signed up
voluntarily to take it. The textbook for the class was called Passages: Exploring Spoken
English (James, 1993), for high-intermediate learners. The LV Diary was used as an
additional assignment and was not related to any topics referred to in the textbook. Since
the class was made up of students from various disciplines, the LV Diary was assigned as
a way for them to focus on something that everyone had in common, that is, watching
movies.
Many of the steps in Furmanovsky's article were used in the Kwansei Gakuin
assignment; however some adjustments were made. For example, the notetaking form
was simplified and only required the students to choose one language aspect and one
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59
visual or cultural observation (see Appendix A). In addition, each scene the students
were to watch could only be 3-5 minutes in length. This was included because, at the
beginning, some students tried to watch a whole 20-minute segment of the movie and had
a hard time focusing. With short segments, it was easier for the students to concentrate
on one or two aspects and analyze them critically. After the students took notes, they
were to write a 100-200 word essay which included these points:
1) their viewing technique (students had the option of watching the movie in its
entirety before or after their analysis)
2) a summary of the content of the scene
3) why they chose this particular scene (what cultural or language aspect
interested them the most)
At the beginning of the semester, I took an informal poll to see which movies students
thought were popular. From the results of the poll, I selected three movies that students
were to base their LV Diaries on. Each student chose one of the three movies to focus on
throughout the semester.
Since this assignment was a rather new concept for the students, it took some time to
explain the notetaking form and how to use it. I chose a short, one-and-a-half-minute
scene from Lethal Weapon for students to practice with during class. The scene was
somewhat simple--Detective Murtaugh, played by Danny Glover, walks into the kitchen
in the morning and is greeted by his wife. He has a brief conversation with her, gulps
down some orange juice and gets ready to dash off to work. As he leaves the kitchen, his
young daughter complains to him about her brother. He gives her a kiss, pats her on the
head, and is about to leave when his teenage daughter appears in a sexy party dress to ask
for his approval. A look of shock is on his face as he realizes uneasily that his little girl is
growing up. His facial expression is that of anxiety and worry as he goes out the door.
First, I explained each point carefully in the note-taking sheet. I emphasized the fact
that even though they were only watching one-and-a-half-minutes of a movie, there were
many language and visual cues to work from. Even though students were to do this
assignment individually outside of class, I had them work in groups during class to help
each other look for the cultural or language aspects. I didn't use a closed-captioned
version because none was available, but I was hoping the students would try to look for
visual cues rather than specific language observations. However, my expectations were
perhaps too high, and students were confused as to what they were supposed to do.
Since I only gave them two or three chances to watch the segment, they didn't have
enough time to absorb the information. I emphasized the fact that at home, students could
watch the segment they chose as many times as they wanted to find their observations.
In this particular scene from Lethal Weapon, I wanted students to notice the close
relationship between the daughters and their father, and how openly affectionate the father
was. Of course, not all fathers are this way, but in general, in the U.S., it is socially
acceptable for middle-class parents to show affection to their children. On the other hand,
in Japan, people are usually more reserved and do not show affection so openly. After I
explained this comparison, we watched the scene again, and the students tried once more.
I stressed that it was not so important to understand what was actually said, but how the
participants spoke and reacted to each other, such as intonation and facial expressions. I
also reminded them to look at the surrounding elements of the scene, such as the layout of
the house or the clothing being worn. In the end, some were even able to catch a few
phrases which I put up on the board afterwards and explained in detail.
After going through this introduction exercise, the students were to do the LV Diary
on their own time outside of class and turn in five entries all together in one semester.
The three movies they could choose from were Pretty Woman, Dead Poets Society, and
Roman Holiday. Each student looked at one movie and chose five different scenes on
their own to analyze. I made sure the students knew that I would be available to help
them if there were any areas they couldn't understand. At the end of the semester, the
students, either alone or in pairs, presented a language or cultural observation which they
taught to the rest of the class (see Appendix B for explanation of this assignment). Class
time was allotted for the students to work in movie groups, so they could all choose
different scenes to present.
As an example, one group of students taught the class the phrase "Seize the day!"
from Dead Poets Society (#1 in the Looking at Language section of the notetaking form-
Appendix A). At first, they showed the scene where it was uttered by the English
teacher, Mr. Keating, played by Robin Williams. Then, they asked the audience if
anyone could understand what was said. After choosing one or students to guess, they
wrote the phrase on the board and explained the meaning. In this particular scene, Mr.
Keating tells his students that every living being ends up as "food for worms". To make
the boys' lives worthwhile, he says they must "seize the day, make your life
extraordinary." The group ended their presentation on a positive note, saying that they
were influenced greatly by this particular phrase.
The Problems
One of the purposes of this assignment was to give students exposure to slices of
Western culture by using movies they were interested in and to give them another
assignment different from the textbook. Many students expressed enthusiasm for movies
and wanted to know what the actors and actresses were saying in their favorite scenes.
What better way to satisfy their curiosity than by using the LV Diary? Students could see
and hear authentic language in context as well as learn about other features such as facial
expressions, gestures, formal and informal settings, and social and economic status.
However, after giving this assignment once, I found there were some considerations to
keep in mind for future assignments.
Although one purpose was to give students exposure to western cultures, I also
wanted students to focus on various language aspects of the films. The first problem I
noticed was that students sometimes had trouble using new vocabulary words correctly in
a new sentence or really understanding new expressions or idioms. If students were able
to use what they heard by making up an original sentence with the new vocabulary word,
it was an indication that they understood the meaning. On the notetaking form, there
were spaces to write in the meaning and make up a new sentence (for the new vocabulary
word). Sometimes, the spaces were left blank or the meanings did not match the context
in which the word or expression was used in the scene. Some students did check the
meaning with me or other native speakers, but it was difficult to monitor all the students.
In a class with fewer students, this task would have been easier to carry out. An example
of a section of the filled out notetaking form is in Appendix A.
Another difficulty for some students was the diary entry. Some students wrote one or
two sentences only, or made a list of items that they thought would fulfill the writing
requirement. Explanation about how to write journals in English was not specifically
addressed in class because the assumption was that since this was an advanced listening
and speaking course, the students would have had exposure to journal writing in previous
classes.
One more problem involved the final oral presentation. Some students lacked the
necessary skills for effective public speaking, such as speech organization, timing, eye
contact, loudness, posture, etc. Students need to practice these skills more and be better
prepared for this final assignment.
Finally, I found that some students were not used to the notion of watching a movie
actively, where they must participate in the viewing and learning process. As Lonergan
(1984) states, "It is essential....that learners are introduced gradually to video in the
classroom, and guided to an understanding of how valuable the medium can be" (p. 6).
In some diary entries, students wrote comments such as "I enjoyed watching this movie"
or "Audrey Hepburn is pretty, so I chose this movie." I appreciated their honest opinion,
but felt they could have delved deeper in their analysis of the scene they chose.
The Benefits
In spite of the problems I encountered with this assignment, I still feel it is a
6 -9
56
worthwhile activity to use in the language classroom. Even with the lack of journal
writing and oral presentation skills, students were challenged by the LV Diary to take an
active role in the viewing process. At the same time, they were given the freedom to
choose scenes and movies they liked. Since the students worked on several diary entries
throughout the semester, they were able to grow more analytical and improve each entry
as time went on.
Several students commented that although the assignment was time-consuming, it
helped them learn new expressions and vocabulary words, as well as learn about different
American customs. In the diary entry, some students asked me questions about specific
points in the scenes they viewed. For example, one student asked about a scene in Pretty
Woman where Edward, played by Richard Gere, takes Vivian, played by Julia Roberts,
to a formal business dinner. The student wondered if it was usual for an American
businessman to take his girlfriend or wife to a business meeting. I learned that, in Japan,
it is rare for a businessman (or woman, for that matter) to bring along his (her) spouse or
companion to a company dinner or party. In another scene from the same movie, another
student found it strange that Vivian took a bubble bath. In Japan, people do not usually
put bubbles in their baths.
Another positive outcome of the cumulative diary entries was the final assignment.
As mentioned earlier, at the end of the semester, students gave oral presentations, either
alone or in pairs, on one language or cultural observation which they chose from their LV
Diaries. The presentations were a good way for the students to analyze thoroughly the
language or cultural aspect they presented, as well as to learn about other language points
or cultural differences from their classmates. At the end of the term, many students
commented that even though the presentations were stressful, they were glad they did it
because they could learn new expressions and note cultural differences from their peers.
Conclusion
Furmanovsky (1994) neglects to mention in his article the learning level of his
students, making it difficult to determine the audience for this LV Diary project. He states
that they were "second-year university students," but levels can vary from one university
to another, indeed, from one school department to another. This was especially true in
my Advanced Listening and Speaking class at Kwansei Gakuin with students from six
different departments with ages ranging from 19-22. In a different setting, for example
with a more homogeneous group, this activity might have been more successful.
In addition, Furmanovsky states that the ideal size of a class to assign the LV Diary is
20 and under. With a smaller class, the teacher can focus on more specific problems and
57
communicate better with each student. I became keenly aware of the communication
problem between student and teacher with my class of 28. Perhaps choosing one movie
for larger classes would help alleviate this problem for the teacher. With one movie, the
teacher could have groups of students working on specific scenes together and any
questions that arise could be shared with the whole class.
In the future, I will spend more time explaining and introducing this activity step-by-
step. I now know the potential limitations of the students, and the extent of their own
ability to choose and evaluate their observations. However difficult this LV Diary may
seem, it is still a practical way for students to be exposed to native language use and to
other cultures outside of the EFL classroom.
References
Allan, M. (1985). Teaching English with Video. Essex, England: Longman Group
Limited.
Furmanovsky, M. (1994). The listening-viewing video diary: doubling your students'

exposure to English. The Language Teacher, 18 (4), 26-28.
James, G. (1993). Passages: Exploring Spoken English. Boston, MA: Heinle &
Heinle.
Lonergan, J. (1984). Video in language teaching. .Cambridge, England: Cambridge

University Press.
Stempleski, S. (1994). Teaching Communication Skills With Authentic Video. In S.
Stempleski & P. Arcario (Eds.). Video in second language Ttaching: Using,
selecting, and producing Vvdeo for the classroom (pp. 7-24). Alexandria, VA:
TESOL, Inc.
64
Appendix A
LISTENING-VIEWING DIARY (with example)
scene length:
Name:
Movie Title:
Dept:
Date:
Diary Number:
Looking at Language
(Choose It or more)
1) Expression or Idioms
Situation:
Speakers:
Meaning:
2) Slang
Situation:
Speakers:
Meaning:
3) New vocabulary
tragedy
Situation: boys in the
study group are talking

about Knox's dinner at
the Danberrys
Speakers: Knox and
New Sentence:
The 1989 earthquake in California was a

great tragedy.
other boys
Meaning: a terrible or
unhappy event
4) Pronunciation
Situation:
Speakers:
How is it different?
59
G5
minutes
5) Function (greetings,
apologies, compliments,
excuses, etc.)
6) Other notable aspects
CHALLENGE
YOURSELF!
'Visual or cultural
observations (Choose 1)
1) Facial expressions and
body
language
2) Cultural differences -U.S. and Japan
3) Interesting or unexpected
translations
4) Other notable as_gects
CHALLENGE
YOURSELF!
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60
NOTE: On the back of this page, please write a 100-200 word diary entry
of your analysis (See details on other side)
TRY TO COVER THESE POINTS IN YOUR DIARY ENTRY (Of course, you may add
more, if you like!):
your viewing technique
e a summary of the content of the scene
o why you chose this particular scene (what cultural or language aspect
o
interested you the most?)
C7
61
Appendix B
LISTENING-VIEWING DIARY
ORAL PRESENTATION ASSIGNMENT

The final presentation for this class will be based on the Listening-Viewing Diaries you
have compiled throughout the semester. You may work in pairs or individually on your
scenes.
1)
Find a scene that is interesting to you and has some language or cultural aspect
which you can teach to the rest of the class.
2)
Show the scene to the class. (Naomi will provide the videotape, so let her know
where the scene is -- give the time count)
3)
Explain the expression or gesture to the class. First, ask the class what they think it
means, then give your interpretation. You may use the blackboard or OHP, if you
like (let Naomi know ahead of time if you need the OHP).
4)
Explain the differences between the U.S. and Japan.
5)
Give examples, so everyone understands clearly. If you are presenting with a

partner, a role play will enhance the presentation.
6)
Your presentation will take about 15 minutes.
7)
The presentations will be scheduled for 6/22 (Wed), 6/27 (Mon), and 6/29
(Wed). A sign-up sheet will be available soon.
BE SURE TO REMEMBER THESE POINTS:

Look at your audience
Do not read from a script

Organize your presentation so it's easy to follow
Speak loudly and clearly so people in the back can hear you
Don't be nervous!
C8
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THE PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN FILMS:

A SCENARIO FOR MISUNDERSTANDING
Yoshiko Takahashil
From the mid-1960s to the end of the 1970s, two main cycles of films have dominated
commercial films in Hollywood as a result of the women's movement (Kaplan 1983). In the
first cycle, Hollywood followed a policy of total avoidance. It ignored issues associated with
gender differences and excluded women from films almost entirely, focusing instead on films
of male bonding. In the second cycle, a new trend emerged as Hollywood evidently came to
believe the issues dealing with gender differences could no longer be avoided. Women came
to be targets of violence. In A Clockwork Orange and Last Tango in Paris, women are
brutally abused and raped. Kaplan (1983) explains this phenomenon as society's reaction to
the women's movement. Male-dominant American society, says Kaplan, feels a serious
threat from the women's movement, and women have to be put down in films.
In the 1980s, as American society had become more tolerant of women's battle for
independence, for the first time mainstream commercial films started being made which
explicitly address the social, political, and economic issues raised by the women's
movement. Looking for Mr. Goodbar, made in 1977, may be the epitome of films in this
genre. Theresa is among the first female characters to break the traditional female image in
Hollywood films. She is attractive, but not a pretty doll; she is aggressive and often angry;
she has explicitly depicted sexual desires. However, my experience with this film in the
Japanese context suggests that the message of women's independence does not necessarily
come through in the way(s) that the filmmaker may have intended.
In the fall semester of 1994, while I was teaching a seminar on feminism, I decided to
use the film Looking for Mr. Goodbar as a text. My original idea in showing this film was
to make my seminar students aware of the problems concerned with a woman's attempt to
achieve independence. At the same time, I was hoping that the students would realize how a
society, at least American society in 1977, was structured in such as way as to hinder
women's liberation.
Student reaction, however, was contrary to my expectations. Their comments centered on
the main character, a woman whom they described as displaying "aggressive behavior." It
became immediately obvious that I was dealing with an "outculture" film (films made in or
depicting other cultures) in hopes of engendering content discussions in the language
1 I would like to thank my friends and colleagues for their patience in discussing, reading and editing this
paper. I would especially like to thank Alan McCornick for his excellent editing and David Freedman for
his insightful comments. I am also grateful to Christine Casanave and J. David Simons for their superb
editorial comments.
63
classroom. I would like here to reflect on two aspects of this learning experience: the implicit
cultural messages which undercut my intended political goals, and the subtextual semiotics in
the film structure itself that undercut its purported feminist message. I will examine three
additional films in addition to Looking for Mr. Goodbar that are generally familiar to
audiences in the United States and Japan. These films are Thelma and Louise (1991), Switch
(1991) and Working Girl (1988).
Looking for Mr. Goodbar

Looking for Mr. Goodbar purports to address explicitly the social, political, and
economic issues raised by the women's movement of the 1970s. These issues, while quite
familiar to American audiences of the time, were still hard for my Japanese students in 1994
to grasp. Looking for Mr. Goodbar deals fundamentally with issues of women's
independence in a patriarchal society. Theresa, the main character, is a teacher of deaf-mute
students. She leaves home to free herself physically and psychologically from her father, a
tyrannical patriarch. Theresa rejects all the roles and values of this man, as well as the man
he wants her to marry. The film follows her as she searches instead for men in singles bars.
In the end, she is stabbed and killed by one of her one-night stands.
The film fails to reach Japanese students because the basic premise of the film, Theresa's
need to escape oppression, is not evident to them. What is she running from, they wonder.
To explain her behavior, two pieces of cultural information are necessary. The first is the
power of religion in Western society. The power of religion is not perceived by the majority
of polytheistic Japanese. The authority of the church which underlies the message of
Theresa's fatherthat a woman's happiness can come only through marriage and childbearing--does not communicate to the Japanese viewers the meaning that Catholic dogma
carries to Western audiences. Unless a student can be made to feel the oppressiveness of
religion embedded in Theresa's psyche, her struggle for liberation from its unconscious
influence remains unsympathetic.
The second piece of cultural information is the power of the father in a patriarchal society.
It is often said that the power of the Japanese father ended with defeat of the Japanese in
World War II. Contemporary Japan is distinguished from other Asian cultures by its
lessening of a son-fixated tradition. Girl babies increasingly tend to be as welcome as baby
boys in contemporary Japanese families. The social and domestic climate which in the past
made baby boys more attractive than baby girls has been quickly changing in Japanese
society. Socially speaking, the feudalistic ie ("family") system which prescribed that only the
eldest son could inherit the family name and the family fortune has almost ceased to exist in
Japan. In the past, families without a son had to adopt a boy or a man to maintain the family
64
line. Discontinuation of the ie in one's generation was considered to be a shame and a

betrayal to the family's ancestors. Since World War H all children regardless of their gender
and the order of their birth are treated equally before the law. This change lifted social
pressure on families to have male children.
From a domestic point of view, daughters are considered to be more useful than sons to
parents. When daughters are small, they tend to stay psychologically and physically close to
their parents. Even after marriage daughters tend to keep close contact with their parents.
Many people say that when sons marry, you lose them and when daughters marry, you gain
sons. What this means is, at least among middle-class families, married sons visit their
wives' families equally or more often than their own families due to strong psychological
bonds between daughters and mothers. Daughters can expect financial and physical support
from their own mothers, and mothers and fathers in return expect to be cared for by their
own daughters in old age.
Feminist activists in Looking for Fumiko (1993), a film documenting Japanese women's
liberation movements in the 1970s, explained that at least at home Japanese women remain
the center of the household and had power in the domestic sphere. The activists in the film
claimed that Japanese women had control over their husbands, children's education and
household budget. This domestic power made Japanese women less sympathetic to the
international women's liberation movement. Lacking general support, women's liberation

movements in Japan failed to attract many followers. I recognize that there is still broader
scalle sexual discrimination against women in Japan. However, for students whose
experiences are limited to mainly domestic spheres (where mothers are the center), it is very
hard to understand the experience of a working class family like Theresa's, ruled by a
parochial authoritarian male.
As I worked with students, encouraging them to examine the issues cross-culturally,
instead of judging Theresa's behavior in terms of their personal values, I began to realize
problems in the film itself. The further the class moved into the film, the closer we came not
to the feminist struggle, but to a Hollywood notion of gender roles. On the surface, Theresa
appears to be struggling for liberation. But there is an insidious subtext of visual clues and
verbal hints to suggest a different message. In the daytime, Theresa is a compassionate and
capable teacher of deaf-mute students. At night, however, she becomes a promiscuous
woman in search of pleasure. The image strikes one as schizophrenic. The sacred mother
during the day becomes the nymphomaniac at night, the bad girl deserving of punishment
and banishment.
Theresa seems to be enjoying herself. But as the camera captures the filth in her kitchen
we become aware of her constant restlessness, her insecurity, and her complete failure to
achieve independence. We are left with the implication that there is no place in this world for
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a woman like Theresa, and no fate for a woman who rejects a man's protection but death.
As I stated earlier, Japanese students failed to capture the basic premise of this film.
They could not understand Theresa's need to escape from oppression. The power of religion
and patriarchal oppression was alien to Japanese students. Theresa's struggle was perceived
as too radical and violent by them. In addition to the lack of cultural information, however, I
found more serious problems in the film itself. That is, superficially the film showed a
feminist struggle, but closer examination of the film reveals that it conveys a different
message (perhaps, a traditional Hollywood notion of gender roles). The visual cues of
Theresa's dirty kitchen and her promiscuous behavior in the evening certainly confused
Japanese students' attempts to justify Theresa's rebellious behavior, and therefore, the
message of the film itself.
Thelma and Louise

Made in 1991, Thelma and Louise deals on the surface with the same theme as Looking
for Mr. Goodbar, the price a woman has to pay for being on her own. In Thelma and
Louise, two working-class women, a housewife and a waitress, set forth on a short summer
trip. Before long they are involved in a series of serious difficulties. They stop off at a
shabby roadside bar and Thelma, who is married to a despotic self-important man who
shows little interest in her, fires herself up with margaritas and flirts with one of the roadside
cowboys. The flirtation ends in an attempt at rape, but the rape is thwarted by Louise, who
has a gun. The murder of the would-he rapist sets them off on their fatal journey.
In their flight from the police, they are verbally abused by a truck-driver, are robbed, and
end up robbing a general store themselves. There is no turning back now and they become
the target of a police search. No one, Thelma's husband included, makes any attempt to
understand what is happening to the two women and in the end, they choose death rather
than surrender to the forces about to engulf them.
I showed Thelma and Louise to a group of Japanese students in a summer program in the
United States with the expressed purpose of generating discussion on gender issues. Once
again, I found their understanding to flounder on two points. Why, they wondered, did
Thelma and Louise have to go to such extremes of revolt? And why was Thelma so afraid of
her husband?
Accustomed to a society where the value of harmony deflates the inclination to protest,
the students find Thelma and Louise's choices incomprehensible. When faced with a social
injustice, Japanese are likely to step back and ponder. What went wrong? Who is
responsible? But to take action, to show oneself in a disturbed state of mind, has always
been considered ignoble. Problems are to be solved or suffered quietly, at the personal level.
Indeed, the attitude is still common that society is bettered through self-improvement. This
was the conclusion reached in the Japanese feminist movement of the 1970s and documented
in the film Looking for Fwniko (1993). The women who participated in the movement came
to the conclusion that they should improve themselves and not revolt. Given this
background, it is not surprising that Thelma and Louise's violent and reckless actions should
carry little sympathy with Japanese audiences.
In Thelma and Louise, Thelma's suffering originates in her husband's oppression. Too
scared to face him, Thelma has to leave him a note to tell him she is leaving for a short
summer trip with Louise. Thelma's relationship with her husband parallels the relationship
between Theresa and her father in Looking for Mr. Goodbar. The characters of the father
and the husband represent the controlling power in a patriarchal society.
Louise's anger and frustration come in part from her relationship with her boyfriend, a
musician unwilling to commit to settling down. Unable to achieve the marriage she seeks,
the institution which society teaches her is necessary for her satisfaction, she lives in a
relationship characterized by tension. Both Thelma's anger and Louise's frustration reflect
the tension of relationships.
Japanese young people's relationships develop in a considerably different context.
Students, especially those from affluent middle class families, are seldom exposed to the
threat of a father's male power. They are not controlled by their professional salary-man
fathers in the same way as the characters of Theresa and Thelma and Louise are controlled by
their male authority figures. Instead, unmarried girls often have controlling power over their
fathers and boyfriends. The fact that Japanese girls often have a number of boyfriends for
different purposes may support my assumption. For example, boys are labelled asshii-kun
(from "ashi" leg - in Japanese) if they are seen for their ability to provide girls with a ride in
a car. Or they are mitsugu-kun (from "mitsugu" - contribute, or supply) if they are good
providers of gifts.
The visual clues in Thelma and Louise, like those in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, carry
different meanings for Japanese students from perhaps those intended by the filmmakers. In
one scene, a police detective investigating Louise's house, finds her kitchen shining clean,
and he concludes Louise cannot be the loose woman she is purported to be. He sympathizes
with her and offers her help. Louise's personality and values are suggested by her clothing
and her hairdo. Originally buttoned up and tidy, her clothes and hair gradually loosen as she
approaches the fall. What is this "looseness"? Increasing freedom or the road to destruction?
Japanese students tend to interpret these clues as a sign of Louise's fall from grace.
In addition to the two films I have discussed in the previous section, I would like to talk
about two more films which are commonly used by colleagues to effectively foster
discussion on gender issues in language classes. They are Switch (1991) and Working Girl
67
(1988). In contrast to Looking for Mr. Goodbar and Thelma and Louise, these films appear
to carry little misleading cultural information. However, if we simply view these films as a
means of approaching women's issues, we are still apt to find ourselves outwitted by student
expectations. Students may actually draw the opposite "lessons" from those intended.
Switch
Switch (1991) serves to illustrate how verbal and nonverbal behavior are gender specific.
In this film, Steve, a male chauvinist and exploiter of many women, is finally killed by one
and condemned to hell. At the last minute, God gives him one chance to escape his destiny.
If Steve can find a woman who truly loves him, God challenges him, he will be allowed into
Heaven. He is sent back to Earth to complete his mission. It turns out the job is not as easy
as Steve thinks. God has turned him into a woman.
Steve, now called Amanda, encounters all the usual women's difficulties in learning to be
a stereotypical woman. The tight clothes, high heels, the long hair all restrict movement.
Amanda cannot cross her legs, talk loud, or be vulgar. She learns to feel like a piece of meat.
Only when she gives birth to a baby girl, at the last moment of her life as a woman, does she
stop loathing being a woman. Up till that point, the film is a satire on gender polarization and
the unfair treatment of women. Suddenly, the message becomes the lesson that a woman's
hardships can all make sense, that life with difficulty can pay off, through childbirth!
Students who were laughing loudly up till that last moment at the stupidity of gender
polarization usually become serious at this point in' the film. At that point, instead of
analyzing the meaning and the validity of the lesson that the film is trying to teach, students
start entertaining the idea that, after all, childbirth does justify a woman's existence.
Working Girl
Working Girl (1988) serves to illustrate class distinctions within gender. Tess, the main
character of the film, is a secretary in a merger and acquisition company. She works for a
female boss about her own age but different in every other way. Unlike Tess, the boss is
poised, confident and capable. She dresses conservatively and speaks in a low wellmodulated voice, in striking contrast to Tess's cute-little-girl character with make-up and
hairdo fashioned to make her look like "just a secretary."
Tess is not just a secretary, however. She has ambition and a talent for business. She
discovers that her boss has stolen her business ideas, outwits her and eventually wins over
both her business and her business partner/boyfriend. The structure of Working Girl is
similar to that of the previous films. There is a woman in need of help, and men capable of
68
helping. This time, however, the woman accepts. She also succeeds in a big way. And she
gets it all. The students' interpretation of this film is usually simplistic. That is, a woman
with a wicked mind is punished and a woman with a good heart succeeds. Students rarely
reach the level of analysis where a stereotypical structure between men and women surfaces:
men are the ones who have the power and resources and women are the powerless and
resourceless ones. The stereotype persists that, without men's assistance and protection,
women never succeed.
D iscussion
I have identified two potential sources of problems in the use of "outculture" films in EFL
programs. These are implicit cultural sources of power and authority and the subtextual
semiotics in the film structure itself which undercut the purported message of feminism. In
Looking for Mr. Goodbar and Thelma and Louise, without proper cultural guidance,
Japanese students fail to understand the motivation for Theresa's rebellious behavior and for
Thelma and Louise's rampage. In Switch and Working Girl, the stories and characters are
less difficult to follow, but the treatment of the battle between the sexes, the hierarchy
between men and women, the struggle between the powerful and the powerless still escapes
them. If these Hollywood films are to be taken seriously, one would have to conclude this
hierarchical structure has not changed since Adam was given Eve to be his companion and
assistant. The cultural problems can be seen in two contrasting views of Japanese women-one is espoused in the work of Jane Condon (1985) and the other in the work of Sumiko
Iwao (1993). The former portrays Japanese women as being seriously oppressed and the
latter describes at least middle class women as being autonomous and unoppressed. If my
assumption is correct, and Iwao has the better understanding, her view should help explain
the Japanese students' perceptual gap.
Among the four films discussed, only Looking for Mr. Goodbar and Thelma and Louise,
the two with tragic endings, are generally taken by viewers as serious feminist statements.
The women not only fail; they are killed in their attempt to become free. There are father
figures who offer help and protection. Rejection of that help puts them out in the cold as they
come to be threats to the social institutions of a patriarchal society. In both cases, it is the
kitchen which is used as a symbol of a woman's quality.

There are some interesting differences between the films. Theresa's desire for freedom is
serious and intense; Thelma and Louise's is more casual. This may suggest that in the last
twenty years it has become easier for women to liberate themselves physically. Secondly, in
Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Theresa is only a victim of a crime, but in Thelma and Louise, the
women become criminals themselves. Women, now equipped with a gun/phallus, are able to
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attack and take revenge. No longer merely the recipient of male violence, where the phallus
is a weapon of assault, they are now equals in their capacity for defense. Louise shoots the
attempted rapist and later she and Thelma shoot up an abusive truck driver's truck in
retaliation for violence. The women have become perpetrators now of violence.
From a feminist point of view, these changes in the depiction of women are not
necessarily improvements. Women, still stereotypically associated with the kitchen, have to
die to achieve their ends. Is that the message? There are only two choices? Death or the
kitchen?
Women tend to be depicted in Japanese films with far greater power and strength of
character. One thinks of Oshin and of women in Trasan films. Even yakuza films have
featured women in main character roles (cf. the Hibotan Oryuu series popular among men in
the late 1960s and early 1970s and Gokudoo no Tumatachi in the late 1980s and early
1990s.) Indeed, Japanese women characters may actually outnumber female characters in
Hollywood films. This is not to imply equality in Japanese films but it is suggestive of the
way films may be a key to the analysis of cultural values and the ways gender issues are
culture specific.
Language learning is inseparable from culture learning. In this paper, I have tried to
show how Japanese students may fail to capture the premise of American films. In order to
get below a superficial interpretation of the content of outculture films, proper cultural
guidance is necessary. In order to understand Western films, information on various aspects

of Western culture, for example, some knowledge of the Judeo-Christian tradition, Greek
mythology or Freudian psychoanalytic theory, is desirable. When using outculture films in
class, teachers should not assume that students are equipped with cultural information
required to appreciate the film. Themes conveyed in Hollywood films are diverse, complex,
and often deeply embedded in cultural discourse. Equally important is an understanding of
one's own culture if we are to recognize the filters in place when we attempt to analyze
cultural artifacts. Teachers should always be aware of this potential cultural gap between
films and the students. Otherwise, as my scenario for misunderstanding suggests, students
may not achieve the depth of understanding that the instructor intends.
References
Condon, Jane. (1985). A Half Step Behind. Japanese Women Today. Tokyo: Charles E.
Tuttle Company.
Iwao, Sumiko. (1993). The Japanese Women.. Traditional Image & Changing Reality.
New York: The Free Press.
Kaplan, E. Ann. (1983). Women & Film: Both Sides of The Camera. London: Routledge.
70
AN ANTH OPOLOGIICAL PE SPECTI1VE ON FILMS IN THE

LANGUAGE CLASS
Thomas Hardy
About four years ago I became dissatisfied with the use of films in my content-based
English classes in comparative cultures. Students were simply comparing societies,

saying, for example, "The United States is individualistic, Japan is cooperative." What
students were missing, and what some asked for, was a sense of where these differences
came from and how they affected people's lives--in films and in real life. For example,
Naomi Y. noted in her comments on an end-of-class evaluation that she had learned a lot
about the USA. For her this was a first step in being "international." But she wanted
more. "An international person needs to know more than information about America. Or
about Japan. We need to learn to think abut other cultures and our own in an objective
way ."
This and similar comments started me thinking about using films in comparative
culture classes to emphasize critical thinking skills. Some have suggested that these skills
are particularly important, and difficult, for Japanese students, given the rigor of their rote
and prescriptive education (McComick, 1992). Without endorsing this view, or

suggesting that miracles can be worked, I have found that films can start students
thinking analytically and critically of the cultures of others, of their own culture, and their
place in it.
This reflects my background in anthropology, which I see as a comparative and

critical discipline. Comparative in that anthropologists look both at particular cultures and
the diversity within and among them, and at constants within and between them. Critical
in that, for many anthropologists, the knowledge they wring from their particular and
comparative studies leads them back to their own culture. The process goes something
like this: The particular studies let us appreciate the fit or lack of fit of experience to its
particular social structure and historical context. Comparing these studies allows us to
see the range of human experience and the diversity of responses to similar situations.
This, hopefully, awakens in the observer a sense of the constraint she or he lives under
and a sense of the alternatives possible. I use films to help my students through
something like this anthropological process.
In no way is this a new approach to comparative social research. Montaigne, writing
in 1590 in Renaissance France, practiced it in his essay "Of Cannibals" (1991). The
particular knowledge gained in the early voyages of European exploration, the knowledge
of the Other, allows Montaigne to compare it with life in Europe at the time and to make
71
critical sense of his own life and culture. To the students in my classes these analytic and
critical skills are new. Using films, a medium they enjoy and seem to think of as a
pleasure, starts them thinking along these lines while making the job of learning content
and analytical skills in the medium of English seem less like work. A discussion of one
such class might help make what I mean more clear.
Americans: Values and Society

I start the class by asking students to describe their "typical" American, the person
they see as hero or heroine in most films they watch. Given time they usually come up
with a short list that comes close to describing the dominant or referent group of the
United States: male, white, English-speaking, Protestant, professional or managerial,

suburban, and college-educated, among other characteristics. I tell the students that I
have reservations about using and reinforcing this view of America and Americans.
Nevertheless, I let it stand. First, because justly or unjustly this referent group does
indeed exercise power in the United States. Second, this group does, in most ways and
under most circumstances, set the standards against which other, less powerful groups
(women, African Americans, and gays, to name just three) resist or acquiesce. Third, for
the purposes of comparison, either within the United States or between the United States
and another culture, some base is necessary.

I then ask students to work in teams and, thinking about their experience with
Americans or popular American movies and television, come up with a list of values,
beliefs, or standards of conduct of the dominant American group. With a little work and
artful manipulation of answers I can usually get a list of values that roughly replicates that
of Alexis de Tocqueville (1945) on his visit to the Untied States in the 1830's, namely:
individual freedom and self-reliance, equality of opportunity and competition, and
material wealth and hard work.
As we work out the meaning of these terms in the American context, I remind
students that these are the ideal values, the tatemae, not the reality or honne of American
life. The films they normally see--comedies or tragedies, romances or action films-represent these ideals, affirming, rejecting, or simply provoking a reaction to them in one
way or another. I remind them again that these are the values of a specific group: the
dominant group. Those in power can use these values to suppress and limit the lives of
others who are outside of the group--through birth or training or skills or inclination.
These are values that would be different, very different, if we were considering films by
and about, for example, inner-city women or the rural poor or migrant workers.
Once the students seem to have a basic idea of what these values are about, I ask them
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where Americans experience them, what are the institutions of society. We usually wind
up with a list that includes the family, economic and business institutions, government,
education, and religion. We also usually include institutions specific to American society
because of particular historical experiences. In the case of the United States, one is
ethnicity and race, from the experience of assimilation and diversity and slavery in
American society. Another, differing wildly in depth, is sports and recreation, from the
ways organized sports, as distinct form individual play, illustrates and reinforces
American values.
I assign specific social institutions to teams of students. They use worksheets to

describe the institutions in the lives of Americans and, analyze the ways the values of the
dominant social group are reflected in it. We exchange these reports.
Films and American Values: Bull Durham

With this background of team reports and discussions, we vote on an institution of
general interest and I select an appropriate film to watch. If, for example, students select
sports, we watch Bull Durham, a film about a minor league baseball team set in Durham,
North Carolina. We spend a couple of classes watching parts of the film and analyzing it
in terms of the American values laid out earlier. With frequent use of the pause button,
students get used to the ways values are reflected in films. They learn, first, that popular
culture is packed with all sorts of information about the society that created it. It is their
jobs, as careful viewers, to unpack it and select what is important from what isn't, to
recognize the biases and prejudices of the work and build analyses around them, to
identify examples and counter-examples of the values, and to recognize the way these
biases are played on in the film.
Here is the way I have approached one short three-minute scene form the film. Ebby
(Tim Robbins) is an undisciplined but talented pitcher, put out in the farm leagues to
develop. The "organization" has brought in Crash (Kevin Costner) to groom Ebby in the
ways of baseball. After a series of entanglements--professional, moral, and romantic-Ebby gets transferred to a major league team and rushes to a local pool hall to tell Crash
the news. Crash is less than thrilled and picks a fight.
Crash: What do you mean you're not goin' to fight me.

[Crash shoves Ebby in the chest with his hands as he talks.]
Crash: You fuck.
Ebby: Fuck? Why am I a fuck?
Crash: Why are you a fuck?
Ebby: [Overlapping] Why am I a fuck?
Crash: Cause you got, 'cause you got talent. I got brains but you got talent.
[Crash raises Ebby's arm.]
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Crash: See this right arm? Worth a million bucks a year. All my limbs put
together aren't worth seven cents a pound. (Shelton 1992, pp. 91-92)
I first get the profanity out of the way--in part by linking it to the values of the male
subculture of sports and the processes of male-male bonding. From there I go on to
focus students' attention on the values inherent in Crash's anger. He is hardworking.

He puts in the time. He has the loyalty and the smarts. He reveres the fair play and
competition that are part of the creed of the Church of the Diamond. Yet the rewards for
his hard work, most specifically material wealth, escape him. Ebby, on the other hand,
by virtue simply of his talent will succeed in ways that Crash will never. Talented Ebby
will become rich, hardworking Crash will remain poor. The failure of the American
values of hard work and material success to reciprocate the way they should fuels the
anger of the film in this scene and makes Crash a sympathetic character.
Together we unpack the values and assumptions of two or three more scenes in the
movie. Then students go to the movies. I hand out a short list of suggested films for
each social institution. Each team selects one film, watches it off campus, analyzes it,
responds to it in some way, and shares their work with the class.
By the end of this exercise, students seem to have a fair grasp of the basic skills of
analysis and the ways films and society reflect one another. The fact that the culture
being analyzed is some exotic Other society (Durham, North Carolina, in the example)
seems to help students see the workings of social values, since it can be difficult for them
as insiders to see these values in their own culture. Additionally, I try to avoid
stereotypes by constantly reminding students that most of the films represent the values of
America's dominant group, even when the film critiques the group and its values. This
brings us about half way through the semester.
Films about Japanese Values and Institutions

In the second half of the semester I have students take their skills at analyzing the
values and practices of other cultures and turn them on Japan. The values become a lens
to see their own society more clearly. We spend one class coming up with a profile of the
dominant group in Japanese society and another class making a list of some of the values
of that group. This usually includes such values as group orientation, hard work
(gambaru), hierarchy, dependency, cooperation, and harmony. Next we develop a list of
significant institutions, usually but not always replicating the list from the United States.
Changes might include replacing race with community. Students then get back into their
teams and do some research on the nature of their team's institution in Japan. They use
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worksheets to describe their institution in the lives of Japanese and, analyze the ways the
values of the dominant social group are reflected in it. We exchange these reports.
By this point, it is time to start watching Japanese movies. Earlier in the term we
watched sections of an American film together in class (the Bull Durham example). Each
team has watched a film about a specific American institution and has reported in detail to
the class on the expression of their institution in a film. For films about Japan, I rely
heavily on students' judgment. I suggest films, for example Tokyo Monogatari for the
team working on the family or Kurosawa's Ikiru as a classic film about government.
Ultimately, I let the students pick and choose. As they did for the United States, each
team selects a Japanese film about an assigned institution, watches the film off campus,
and then analyzes, and responds to it. Later, each team shares its work with the class.
Student Illesponses
I have collected student comments about the class on course evaluations for the last
three years. The responses have been generally positive. Most find it an insight that
films can be more than entertainment. They are surprised to find films laden with the
values of their makers. The comment by Hiroko 0. is typical of this response. "It's
good for me to watch some movies. I only watch movies till this class just started. But
now I see movies with thinking about their background values. It will get interesting to
watch movies and TV in my future."
Other students go beyond this and make their first critical insights into their own
culture and values using the comparative and analytic skills of the class. Yoshiko A.
wrote, "I realized that to be International people we should know not only other country
but also to know our own culture well." Another student, Yasue K. took this a step
further when she noted, "I had have opportunity to think about Japanese values. When
we leave in Japan, we sometimes don't think what the Japanese based on history or our
origin. I fount that our life has a important meaning with values to understand what the
Japanese is." Or there are the comments of Tomomi 0. who noted that the class brought
films and thinking about Japan together for her when she wrote, "I have had the chance to
look at Japan and movies from an objective view, so that I fund lots of new facts of the
Japanese society which I did not recognize before."
Some students go beyond the a recognition of the values inherent in popular culture
and beyond simple comparative statements. They begin to make a fuller critical and
reflective response to their own society and their place in it. Take for example the
comments of Nobuaki I. "Dominants have their own values and use it to control other
people. I watch movies and think to touch on this." Misato S. had a similar response
75
when she wrote, "I learned ways to analyze the values of the dominant group in a each
culture. The values itself (like Japanese dependence) were thought-provoking." Another
student, Yuko S, took this critical response a step further. She commented on the ways
the values of the dominant group shape the values and responses of less powerful groups
when she wrote, "I think to learn dominant groups is to know not dominant groups. For
example, if I learn about the white, I can know the discrimination of the Negro and if I
learn about the men-dominant society, I can know that women are often not still accepted
in the society. At this point, the film work is very useful for me."
A few students begin seriously considering their own culture and their places in it
critically. They start to question what before had been simple truths to them. By
extension, this questioning might awaken them to a sense of the diversity surrounding
them. Consider the comments of Toshio K., "As for me, the Japanese way of thinking is
that the one who always receive many information will never analyze and criticize them.
The worse is, he believe these information are his original ideas even though they may be
some propaganda of some institutions. This class and films is good for always
emphasize the important of criticizing and analyzing movie and society. You try us to
realize there are many ways of thinking in the world (and even in Japan)."
Student responses suggest that the course is doing what I want it to. In the first
place, all the work in the class is conducted in English. Even more importantly, many
students comment that the course develops their "objective" ability to compare cultures
and that they become aware of films as more than simple entertainments. Others note that
the course has helped them consider for the first time the ways the dominant group of any
society, including their society, uses cultural values to reinforce its position in the society.
Conclusion
It is a long way from the critical and reflective musings of Montaigne to the responses
of Japanese college students. But read sympathetically, the students share certain features
with the French essayist. First, both exercise the basic anthropological skills of
comparative thinking. They take the particulars of a society and use them to develop a
sense of social diversity and constants. Second, both the students and Montaigne
exercise the anthropological skill of critical thinking. They use what they have learned
about particular cultures to reflect on their own culture and their places in it.
There are still things I want to do with the class. I want to find a way to start students
thinking more concretely about the ways the dominant culture and its values work to
suppress diversity. I want to reshape the class to help students become more aware of the
alternatives less powerful groups have constructed, of other perceptions and experiences
76
and values. This might require shifting the course to focus on those groups rather than
on the dominant group. It might require a class in liberation movements rather than
relatively straightforward comparative cultures. It might require getting students out of
the classroom and into the street, participating, observing, and interviewing. But this is
getting away from a basic class in comparative culture and the use of films.
As it stands, the class is a good start in the basic anthropological skills of comparative
and critical thinking. Students tell me that the structure of the early part of the class, by
referring to another society, frees them to watch, analyze, and respond to films in ways
they might not have done had they started with the too familiar, with Japan. They tell me
that films, more than books, make the characters' experiences of the institutions, and the
values there embedded, alive and immediate. Using the films allows them to bring
together a personal response with critical cognitive analytic skills--skills the students can
use in other classes, other situations, and, best of all, outside of class.
Refferen ices
McCornick, A. (1993). Journal writing and the damaged language learner. In C.P.
Casanave (Ed.), Journal writing: Pedagogical perspectives (pp. 6-17). Keio
University, SFC, Institution of Languages and Communication.
Montaigne, M. de (1991). The essays. London: Allen Lane.
Tocqueville, Alexis de (1945). Democracy in America. New York: Vintage.
Shelton, R. (1992). Bull Durham. Tokyo: Four In Creative.
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83
COPYRIGHT LAW AND VIDEO IN THE CLASSROOM

J. David Simons1
Like many things in life, your attitude towards copyright law may depend on your
vested interest in the subject. If you are an educator who is teaching or researching then
copyright law regarding copying books, articles, videos etc. may be quite restrictive. In
this respect, you may believe in the view that all knowledge, art and culture once created
should be free and accessible to everyone. Alternatively, if you are an educator who is
publishing then copyright law becomes your friend and possibly the reason for your
income. In this respect, you may take the view that the interests of those who create a
work should be protected thus encouraging the authors of such work to produce more for
the benefit of the public or for benefit to themselves.
The type of material which can be copyrighted can vary extensively--from the rights
to a book, a soundtrack, a computer program, a public image or even to situations which
you might consider to be quite extreme. Take for example the case of Carson v Here's
Johnny Portable Toilets Inc. (1983) where a court upheld that the entertainer Johnny
Carson had exclusive rights to the phrase "Here's Johnny" and was thus able to prohibit a
toilet company from using his magic words to market their portable toilet.
Whatever your attitude towards copyright law, the fact is that it does exist, and I
would like to provide here some guidelines as to how it relates to the recording and
performance of video material for educational use. I will explain the general laws and
guidelines in two countries: Japan and the United States and in two categories 1) off-air
recording from broadcasts, satellite, or cable--in other words, recording from the TV and
2) the use of pre-recorded video tapes in the classroom. I would like to point out that
these are guidelines only to provide some context in which to consider your use of video
material. It is not specific legal advice. If you have a particular copyright problem, then
it would be advisable to approach the copyright owners directly or to consult the
guidelines (if they exist) of your local educational authority.
International Copyright
When we look at the copyright laws of different countries, the important point to
remember is that even though there are international copyright conventions and treaties to
which most major countries are signatories, technically there is no such thing as
II would liketo express my thanks to my assistant, Mica Yano, for her invaluable help in the research of
Japanese copyright law.
8 4.
78
international copyright. Each country has its own copyright laws and adopts the
provisions of international treaties as it sees fit. However, one of the major outcomes
under these treaties and conventions is that each country protects the works produced in
another country as if they had been produced within its own borders (Berne Convention,
1971). In other words, Japan will protect a video produced in the United States to the
full extent of Japanese copyright law while the United States will protect a video
produced in Japan to the full extent of U.S. copyright law. In a situation where the laws
of the United States are stricter than the laws of Japan, this may lead to the anomaly of
Japanese film makers enjoying more protection of their work in the United States than in
their own country.
As with individuals, a country's attitude towards copyright law will depend on its
vested interests. A country like the United States which has a huge film industry will be
concerned with protecting strenuously the rights of ownership to its products while, on
the other hand, Japan which has a huge manufacturing industry especially in the field of
video cassette recorders, would perhaps logically want to encourage less copyright
control and more pro-user sentiment. An example of this conflict of vested interests can
be seen when Sony introduced the world to the video cassette recorder with its own
record function. In 1979, in the United States, Sony was sued by Universal City Studios
Inc. on the grounds that this record function was encouraging the illegal copying of
copyrighted material. In a landmark decision, the U.S. Courts finally upheld the right of
Sony to sell Betamax VCRs to home users for the purpose of "time-shifting," i.e.,
recording a TV program for private use at a more convenient time, thus paving the way
for a home video recording boom (Universal City Studios v. Sony Corporation of
America, 1981).
Japan
Off-air Recording
In Japan, the main provision governing copying copyrighted material for educational
purposes is contained in Article 35 of the Japanese Copyright Law (1970) which states as
follows:
A person who is in charge of teaching in a school or other education institution

(excluding those established for profit making purpose) may reproduce a work
made public to the extent deemed necessary for the purpose of using it in the
course of teaching. Provided that, this shall not apply if it prejudices
unreasonably the interests of the copyright owner in the light of the nature and use
of the said work as well as number of copies and mode of reproduction.
79
0c
What does this mean as far as recording programs from television is concerned? Let
us look at this question step by step.
First, the person instigating the recording must be the teacher. In other words, if a
friend of yours records a TV program and then comes to you and says "You might want
to use this video in class" then technically this would be illegal as the recording was not
made by the teacher in charge of the class.
Second, the education institution for which the recording is done must be non-profit.
This will include a private university but will not include a language school or cram
school. Therefore, any copying done for a private language school of television
programs will be illegal under the Act.
Third, there is the proviso that such copying shall not unreasonably prejudice the
interests of the copyright owner. Now, in Japan, it is very difficult to discover what
"unreasonably prejudice" means because virtually no cases have gone to court on this
subject so there is no legal definition of the phrase.
In the absence of case law, I was referred often in my research to the work of
Moriyuki Kato (1994)2 and it seems that in the practical application of Japanese copyright
law, his opinion is very well respected. In order to examine "unreasonable prejudice" in
educational use he considers four points:
1. the kind of material used, e.g., copying a whole novel or fairy tale for a Japanese
class is not allowed. Copying part of a literary work that has a limited availability is not
allowed.
2. the purpose of copyright material, e.g., copying a student workbook or

audiovisual teaching material for a class would not be allowed.
3. the number of copies--obviously the quantity copied will have a direct bearing on
whether the educational use conflicts with the commercial rights of the owner
4. the form of reproduction, e.g., making copies in a form that is marketable would
be illegal.
Using these four criteria as a guide to the interpretation of what prejudices
unreasonably the right of the copyright owner, when the educational use clashes with
commercial interests and overwhelms the profit or potential profit of the material, then the
use of that material will be prohibited. With regard to videos, it seems that since the
economic value of the material is very high, then the standards applied to dubbing will be
very strict (Kato, 1994).
2The references to Kato have been translated from the Japanese by my assistant, Mica Yano, and
paraphrased by me.
80
How does this translate into practice with regard to copying off-air? As long as the
recording of programs from Japanese television complies with the conditions of Article
35 then it cannot be regarded as an infringement of the Copyright Law. That is to say, if

you are an instructor at a non-profit educational establishment, you are able to record or
authorise the recording of any TV program for use in your classroom provided such use
does not unreasonably prejudice the right of the copyright owner. However, according to
Kato (1994), once the recorded material has been used, thereafter keeping the reproduced
works in school or in a video library would probably infringe the law and therefore it is
desirable to discard a videotape after use.
Since the advent of satellite television is only a recent occurrence in Japan, no
distinction is made between programs transmitted from terrestrial TV channels and those
transmitted by satellite. However, my research assistant did have an interesting

conversation with a representative of the satellite television company WOWOW.
Originally, when asked if copying their broadcasts for educational purposes was
permissible, they said that it was, subject to the guidelines Kato mentions with regard to
kind of material, purpose, etc.. However, the next day they called back to say that they
now considered recording of their programs even for educational purposes to be
prejudicial to their commercial interests. If WOWOW chooses to take such a stance, there
is no Japanese case law with which to challenge their policy. However, the converse will
also be true in that if an instructor records a satellite broadcast for educational purposes
and that instructor feels he or.she is not unreasonably prejudicing the right of the
copyright owner, the satellite company has no case law with which to challenge the
instructor either. Until a case involving this phrase "prejudices unreasonably" is

interpreted by the Japanese courts, then both copyright owner and instructor will continue
to be in this copyright no-man's land.
In practice, it is understandable why a television company is reluctant to announce
publicly that programs can be recorded for educational use under Article 35. For
example, movies, sports programs and news programs are normally purchased under
contracts which will restrict the recording of these programs by third parties or which will
protect the rights of privacy or publicity of those persons appearing in, for example, a
documentary. Any public comment by a television company authorising an Article 35
recording may result in a breach of those contracts.
Pre-recorded Video Tapes
The relevant section of the Japanese Copyright Law 1970 which deals with the
showing of a video in the classroom is Article 38 which reads as follows:
8187
A work already made public may be publicly presented, performed, recited or

presented cinematographically for non-profit making purposes and without
charging any fees to the audience or spectators.
The three criteria involved in Article 38 are 1) not being for profit-making purposes,
2) not collecting entrance fees, and 3) not paying the performers, which in the case of
showing a video in the classroom is irrelevant here. With regard to the first criterion,
non-profit making purposes, judgement should be made from the viewpoint of whether
the use will indirectly lead to profit-making (Kato,1994). I am not sure how showing a
movie at a language school would be interpreted, but I suspect that it would be seen as
being for indirect profit-making purposes, even though students are not being directly
charged for seeing the movie.
Provided therefore that all three criteria of Article 38 are met, a teacher at a non-profit
making establishment can show a video movie in the classroom. It should be noted here
that there is no provision as to whether the performance should be for educational
purposes or who the audience should be.

As far as dubbing from a pre-recorded video is concerned, the Japanese Video
Copyright Warning or American FBI Warning at the beginning of a pre-recorded tape,
whether rented or purchased, makes it quite clear that such an act is illegal. However, the
problem of copying movies for educational purposes is not generally a priority of
copyright infringement enforcement agencies. In Japan, there are two reasons for this,
both of which are based on practicalities. The first is that it is very difficult and
complicated to get a copyright licence and secondly, there are more serious problems for
the video industry such as the showing of videos in hotels, saunas and sightseeing buses
for profit. In other words, showing dubbed movies in an educational establishment does
not present as much of a liability to the video industry as other illegal uses do. However,
the knowledge that an action is illegal but will not be prosecuted presents an ethical
dilemma which I will address later.
Finally, how does the law apply to the copying of small clips from movies, e.g., to
illustrate a language point in the classroom such as the use of certain idioms or
conversational techniques? Again there is nothing in Japanese law to help you here apart
from the "prejudices unreasonably" phrase in Article 35. If you feel that copying say a
five-minute scene from a movie for educational purposes does not unreasonably prejudice
the right of the copyright owner, at the moment there is no case law in Japan to
specifically challenge this use.
82
United States
The Doctrine of 'Fair Use'
In the United States, the most important principle to consider for our purposes is the
doctrine of fair use which was embodied into statute by Section 107 of the Copyright
Law ( Copyright Law of the United States of 1976). Basically, the doctrine of fair use is
an equitable rule of reason (now expressed in statute) allowing a person to use
copyrighted material in a situation which is deemed to be fair. It is not unlike the
Japanese "doesn't unreasonably prejudice" except that the principle is much more defined
in Section 107 of the Act which is as follows:
Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 106 and 106A (which defines the
exclusive rights of the copyright owner) the fair use of a copyrighted work,
including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other
means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news
reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or
research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use
made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered
shall include:
1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a
commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes;
2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted
work as a whole; and
4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted
work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such
finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
This doctrine applies to all uses of copyrighted material and is especially useful
regarding making photocopies. However, the criteria embodied in Section 107 offer
guidance only and each case will raise its own situation which will have to be decided on
its own facts.
How does the doctrine of fair use affect the use of video? As an example, we can
apply the criteria of section 107 to the situation where an instructor wants to use video
clips to illustrate a language or cultural point. In this specific case, an instructor wants to
copy a one-minute scene from the movie Rising Sun starring Sean Connery to show
students how introductions are made between Japanese and non-Japanese. Let us apply
the criteria of fair use to this situation. First, is the purpose for non-profit educational
purposes? Yes. Good, that will go a long way to helping us. Second, what is the nature
of the copyrighted work? Is it a rare movie? It is a general release movie and video.
83
89
Good. Therefore the work is not particularly exclusive. Third, is the copied portion a
substantial amount of the whole? No. It is a one-minute clip only, less than 1% of the
whole. However, we have to be careful here because a small portion does not necessarily
mean unsubstantial. For example, if I copy just the smile from the Mona Lisa it may be
just a small portion but it represents the substance of the painting; or I copy the final
scene from a movie with the last line "The butler did it!"--only four words but an essential
part of the plot. In one case in the United Kingdom, the producers of the T'V series
Starsky and Hutch successfully sued a publishing company for using one frame of a
fifty-minute film for use on a poster. The use of the one-frame was found to be
"substantial" although it should be remembered here that the frame was used here for
commercial not educational purposes (Spelling. Goldberg v. BPC Publishing, 1981).
The final criterion to apply is what is the effect of the use on the potential market? In
this case, almost negligible as it is unlikely that the instructor would wish to buy this
particular video for just a one-minute segment. Therefore, under Article 107, the
instructor has justification for saying that copying this one-minute clip was fair use
(although the courts may say differently).
However, there is one additional point I would like to make here to demonstrate how
complex copyright law can be. In the United States, there exists what is known as a right
of publicity where a person (usually a famous personality) has the right to grant the
exclusive privilege of publishing his/her picture or in the case of Johnny Carson, his
catch-phrase, or in the case of look-alike actors, their visual image (although this right
does not apply if the celebrity's activities have a bona fide news value). Therefore, if
Sean Connery felt in anyway exploited by the use of this clip (which is probably not the
case here), he could have an action against the instructor.
Off-air Recording
The most important application of the fair use doctrine with regard to off-air recording
has been incorporated into guidelines laid down by a Negotiating Committee appointed by
the House of Representatives--a group comprising representatives of educational

organizations, copyright proprietors, and creative guilds and unions in the United States
such as the National Education Association and the Directors Guild of America
(Copyright Office, 1992; Appendix). These guidelines have not been incorporated into
statute but they do provide the educator with useful rules as to what is considered fair use
in taping off-air.
According to the guidelines, as with Japan, off-air recordings may be made only at
the request of and used by individual teachers of a non-profit educational institution. The
30
84
recorded program can be retained for 45 consecutive calendar days after date of recording
after which time it must be erased. Unlike Japan, there is a specified retention period in
the United States for the recorded material. Broadcast programs here are l'V programs
transmitted by TV stations for reception by the general public free of charge, therefore
these guidelines would not apply to cable TV. The recording can only be used once
within the first ten consecutive school days of the 45 day retention period and may be
used again within that period only for the purpose of teacher evaluation. Provided an
instructor follows these guidelines for recording programs off-air, then his or her conduct
will be considered fair use of the material.
Pre-recorded Video Tapes
The relevant section in the US Copyright Act governing the performance of movies
and videos in the classroom is Section 110(1) which states that the following is not
infringement of copyright:
performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of

face-to-face teaching activities of a non-profit educational establishment, in a
classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, unless in the case of a motion
picture or other audiovisual work, the performance, or the display of visual
images, is given by means of a copy that was not lawfully made under this title,
and that the person responsible for the performance knew or had reason to believe
was not lawfully made.
Therefore, a legally obtained video being shown by instructors or pupils in the course
of face-to-face teaching activities, again of a non-profit educational institution, in a proper
place of instruction is quite legal. I should point out here that the showing of the video
must be in the course of teaching activities and therefore, it is technically illegal to show a
video to your class, say, at the end of semester, purely as entertainment. Furthermore,
this section of the Act limits the non-profit making activities to educational institutions
only whereas in Japan no such distinction is made.

*****************************
To sum up the situation in both Japan and the United States, I would like to go over
briefly some of the main points of taping and performance for educational purposes.
With regard to recording programs from the television, in Japan such recording is
permissible provided it is instigated by an instructor at a non-profit educational institution
and does not unreasonably prejudice the right of the copyright owner. In the United
States, off-air recording is similarly permissible if made at the request of and used by
85
91
individual teachers of a non-profit educational institution but is also subject to specific
guidelines and retention periods as laid down by the Negotiating Committee. The
existence of these guidelines helps educators in the United States to interpret the fair use
doctrine thus avoiding the problems of the Japanese legislation where the interpretation of
unreasonable prejudice is extremely vague.
With regard to showing a pre-recorded video in the classroom, the relevant law in
Japan is more generous than in the United States because the legislation refers not only to
educational establishments but to any situation where a video may be shown publicly.
Therefore, the presentation of a pre-recorded video in Japan is permissible provided only
that the presentation is for non-profit making purposes and no entrance fees are collected.
In the United States, however, the showing of a pre-recorded video is restricted to

educational purposes and therefore is only possible in the course of face-to-face teaching
activities at a proper place of instruction in a non-profit making educational institution.
The Satellite Question

As I mentioned previously, there is no such thing as international copyright law--each
country has its own set of copyright laws. This notion is being severely challenged at the
moment by satellite broadcasts. Normally, copyright owners are able to control the
transmission of their work because a transmitter is linked to a certain country. Therefore,

when a company acquires the right to broadcast a piece of work, it usually acquires the
right to broadcast over all its transmitters in a particular region or country. However, a
satellite is a transmitter in space outside the territory of any nation and cannot be related to
the law of any nation. The footprint of the satellite, i.e., the reception area, will not
necessarily match country's boundaries and anyway each country will have its own laws.
In Europe, the EEC is in the anomalous situation of trying to harmonise the laws of
copyright within its own boundaries, which are not necessarily within the boundaries of
the satellite. Then there is the question of when the broadcast can be controlled for
copyright purposes. When it is transmitted to the satellite or when it is received from the
satellite? Some countries will allow recording for educational purposes, others will not.
People with powerful dishes will be able to receive broadcasts outside the nominal range
of the broadcasts and can make illegal copies. Legal action against such use will be
costly.
Solutions will always lag behind technology but my own feeling is that the copyright
laws will generally move more in favour of the user rather than the authors mainly
because the ability to control the use of copyright material is becoming increasingly
difficult.
92
86
Conclusion
Being aware of the laws regarding performance of videos in the classroom means you
cannot now claim ignorance of the law as an excuse--which is not a valid defence
anyway. However, the enforcement of copyright laws, especially as regarding video
performance or copying is concerned, is very difficult and time and effort by enforcement
agencies are generally directed against video piracy on a larger scale than the use of
videos in an educational establishment. In fact, I have only experienced one case

involving the illegal performance of a movie and that was when I lived on a kibbutz
(small community farm) in Israel. My neighboring kibbutz was fined by a film company
for broadcasting a film to the whole kibbutz without permission because it was deemed to
be a public not private performance even though the audience were all members of the
community and did not pay any admission charge. (Note: such a performance would be
legal in Japan because the performance would be for non-profit making purposes and no
distinction is made between public and private performance and educational use).
Therefore, the dilemma for us as educators will tend to be ethical rather than practical.
Certainly, when teachers become members of their local educational authority in the
United States they subscribe to the Code of Ethics of the Education Profession (National
Education Association, 1994-95) which states that "the educator accepts the responsibility
to adhere to the highest ethical standards." Is making illegal copies of videos without
paying for them adhering to the highest ethical standards? Do we believe that material
which has an educational and informative use should be freely available? Would we take
a flower from someone's garden to let our students see a rose? In order to overcome
these dilemmas, I think it is important for each educational authority or establishment to
take the responsibility of creating a set of guidelines regarding copyright policy to help
their staff. Where these guidelines do not exist and you are unaware of the law (this is
relevant to all copyrighted material not just videos), I think a good yardstick to apply is
the fair use principle of the United States. If you apply these conditions to what you are
doing, I think you will find you are taking a responsible attitude towards your use of
copyrighted material. By measuring your behaviour against the fair use criteria, you will
either be able to justify your use as being fair or you will know that it is probably
advisable to seek permission for your actions from the copyright owners.
87
References
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Paris Revision
1971), Article 5.
Carson v. Here's Johnny Portable Toilets Inc., 698 f.2d 831 (6th Cir 1983).
Copyright Law of the United States of America 1976 [title 17 of the United States Code,
Public Law 94-553, 90 Stat.2541(revised to February 1, 1993)].
Copyright Office. (1992). Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and
Librarians. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Kato, M. (1994). Chosakukenhou chikujyou kougi (Copyright case law studies).
Tokyo: Chosakuken Jyouhou Center.
National Education Association. (1994-95). NEA Handbook (pp. 387-388).
Spelling, Goldberg v. BPC Publishing 1981 RPC 280 [CA](NCET 6.4).
Universal City Studios Inc. v. Sony Corporation of America, 480 F. supp. 429, 203
U.S.P.Q. 656 (C.D. Cal. 1979) rev'd in part, 659 F. 2d 963, 211 U.S.P.Q. 761,
551 PTCJ D-1 (9th Cir. 1981).
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Appendix
Guidelines for Videorecording of Broadcast Programming for Educational Purposes
developed by the Negotiating Committee (U.S.)
1. The guidelines were developed to apply only to off-air recording by non-profit

educational institutions.
2. A broadcast program may be recorded off-air simultaneously with broadcast

transmission (including simultaneous cable re-transmissions) and retained by a non-profit
educational institution for a period not to exceed the first forty-five (45) consecutive
calendar days after date of recording. Upon conclusion of such retention period, all offair recordings must be erased or destroyed immediately. "Broadcast programs" are
television programs transmitted by television stations for reception by the general public
without charge.
3. Off-air recordings may be used once by individual teachers in the course of

relevant teaching activities, and repeated once only when instructional reinforcement is
necessary, in classrooms and similar places devoted to instruction within a single
building, cluster or campus, as well as in the homes of students receiving formalized
home instruction, during the first ten (10) consecutive school days in the forty-five (45)
day calendar day retention period. "School days" are school session days--not counting
weekends, holidays, vacations, examination periods, or other scheduled interruptions-within the forty-five (45) calendar day retention period.
4. Off-air recordings may be made only at the request of and used by individual
teachers, and may not be regularly recorded in anticipation of requests. No broadcast

program may be recorded off-air more than once at the request of the same teacher,
regardless of the number of times the program may be broadcast.
5. A limited number of copies may be reproduced from each off-air recording to meet
the legitimate needs of teachers under these guidelines. Each such additional copy shall
be subject to all provisions governing the original recording.
6. After the first ten (10) consecutive school days, off-air recordings may be used up
to the end of the forty-five (45) calendar day retention period only for teachers' evaluation
purposes, i.e., to determine whether or not to include the broadcast program in the
teaching curriculum, and may not be used in the recording institution for student
exhibition or any other non-evaluation purpose without authorization.
7. Off-air recordings need not be used in their entirety, but the recorded programs
may not be altered from their original content. Off-air recording may not be physically or
electronically combined or merged to constitute teaching anthologies or compilations.
89
35
8. All copies of off-air recordings must include the copyright notice on the broadcast
program as recorded.
9. Educational institutions are expected to establish appropriate control procedures to
maintain the integrity of these guidelines.
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90
AUTHOR BIOSTATEMENTS
Jeffrey Cady teaches at Athenee Francais in Tokyo and at Keio University SFC. His
B.A. in philosophy is from Brown University (1974) and his M.Ed. in TEFL from
Temple University, Japan (1988). He is co-author with Roger Barnard of Business
Venture, Vols, 1 and 2 (Oxford). He has presented on video, teaching business English,
and professional development for language teachers at teachers' conferences in Japan.
Christine Pearson Casanave received a PhD from the Stanford University's School
of Education in 1990. She is now Associate Professor of English at Keio University
SFC and an adjunct instructor at Teachers College Columbia University's Tokyo campus.
Her interests include second language reading and writing, disciplinary socialization, and
the professional development of language educators.
David Freedman teaches English at Keio University SFC, and is deeply interested in
the nonlinguistic issues raised by the use of film in the language classroom.
Naomi K. Fujishima received an MA TESOL degree from the Monterey Institute of

International Studies, and is currently teaching English conversation at Yasuda Women's
University in Hiroshima, Japan. Her teaching interests include global environmental
issues and authentic video in the EFL classroom.
Thomas Hardy received a PhD in anthropology from the New School of Social
Research in the literature department at Tamagawa University, and has a special interest in
critical and comparative perspectives.
David IP. Shea received his PhD in Language Education from the University of
Georgia in 1993. Since then, he has tried to to integrate pedagogic theory with classroom
practice while teaching in the intensive English program at Keio SFC. His areas of
research interest include intercultural communication, the sociopolitical dimensions of
langauge learning, and Vygotskian approaches to learning.
Yoko Shimizu is a senior in the Faculty of Policy Management at Keio SFC. She lived
abroad for many years and hopes that some day she will be able to finish the
autobiography she began after she returned to Japan.. During her spare time, she enjoys
karaoke and writing nonfiction stories.
J. David Simons is a visiting lecturer at Keio University. He received his law degree
from Glasgow University in 1973, and practiced law in Scotland for several years before
moving into the field of language education.
Yoshiko Takahashi received her PhD from Stanford University's School of Education
and is now at Keio University SFC. She teaches English and seminar courses in gender,
communication, and feminist issues in films. She is interested in sociolinguistics and
cross-cultural women's issues.
Sae Yamada, a third year student at Keio University SFC, grew up in Malaysia. She is
majoring in Environmental Information. Her hobbies include aikido and reading.
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91
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Universidad Alberto Hurtado

Integrated English III

Unit 1:Critical Thinking

To become aware of what the concept of critical thinking means.

critical thinking involves three

Universidad Alberto Hurtado

Integrated English III

information provided in written and oral

1. 1. Direct and indirect questions.

1. Falling intonation for Wh-questions.

Universidad Alberto Hurtado

Integrated English III

4.Past perfect simple and progressive.

3. Weak forms for modals, auxiliaries.

Universidad Alberto Hurtado

UNIT 1: Critical Thinking

4. Propose documented and concrete actions, alternatives to improve a

This task is a 10% of your Final grade.

IEL Writing Rubric Second Year

Some sentences are

Most simple sentences are

Can express simple ideas with

Can express ideas clearly most of the

Can write simple

Can write simple isolated phrases

Can write a series of simple phrases

Can often use a variety of frequent

Uses one or two

Use of appropriate content words

Can usually use appropriate content

Can use appropriate content words

Basic language structures and

Basic language structures and

Basic language structures and

COHESION: The linkage

Basic punctuation and

Correct use of basic punctuation

Specific position (perspective,

Correct use of basic punctuation and

Basic punctuation and capitalization

Specific position (perspective, thesis,

Specific position (perspective,

Extra categories adapted from: file:///C:/Users/UAH/Desktop/CriticalThinking.pdf (last accessed March, 2015)

Acad. Quest. (2013) 26:317328

Critically Thinking about Critical Thinking

Published online: 30 July 2013

Critical thinking has mesmerized academics across the political spectrum;

Defining and Measuring

Critically Thinking about Critical Thinking

information alone, because it involves a particular way in which

My experience was not a happy one. Boredom and confusion seemed

Critically Thinking about Critical Thinking

effort is made to sort out possible confounding factors like race/ethnicity,

Does the University Really Need Instruction in Critical Thinking?

What might motivate a professor to add critical thinking to a syllabus,

Underlying these practical issues are more serious academic freedom

Critically Thinking about Critical Thinking

Critically Thinking about Critical Thinking

off-the-shelf indicators available, why would a school spend a small fortune

Arum and Roksa, Academically Adrift, 122.

Critically Thinking about Critical Thinking

motivated students, less a skill that can be successfully taught to millions of

DISCUSSIONS IN EDUCATION SERIES