A multimodal approach to teaching business English through films. A case study

Audiovisual products, due to their intrinsic multisemiotic nature, in which each mode contributes to meaning making, have widely proven to be ideal material both for research purposes and for teaching. This is especially the case of films, which, despite their fictional character, have often been used in the context of language learning. As the concept of multiliteracies has become pivotal in language teaching, the use of films reflects a multimodal approach that can help students learn to exploit modes beyond verbal language (e.g., visual, gestural, spatial) to both understand and produce texts in the target language more effectively. This becomes particularly important in situated communicative contexts where domain-specific discursive, pragmatic and cultural features can create significant obstacles for language learners. The present paper focuses on a particular type of specialised discourse, i.e. business discourse, and intends to explore the ways in which films can be utilized as resource material in the English for Business and Economics class at the university. Some clips from a film representing this domain and with relevant communication exchanges that portray different business contexts and genres will be analysed both on the verbal and non-verbal level through a multimodal annotation software. This allows for the integration of verbal and non-verbal cues (e.g., gaze direction, hand/arm gestures, etc.) to show how a multimodal approach can actually help students to interpret a message, especially in ESP contexts.

视听产品因其内在的多符号（multisemiotic）属性——各类符号模态均参与意义的建构——已被广泛证实是兼具研究与教学价值的理想素材。电影便是其中的典型代表：尽管其具有虚构属性，却常被应用于语言学习场景中。随着多元读写能力（multiliteracies）理念在语言教学中成为核心范式，电影的运用正契合了多模态教学路径：该路径可帮助学生学会利用言语语言之外的各类符号模态（如视觉、手势、空间模态），更高效地理解并产出目标语文本。在情境化交际语境中，这一点尤为关键：此类语境下的领域专属话语、语用及文化特征往往会给语言学习者带来显著障碍。本研究聚焦于一类特定的专业话语——商务话语（business discourse），旨在探讨如何将电影作为教学素材，应用于高校商务与经济英语课程之中。本研究将通过多模态标注软件（multimodal annotation software），选取某一展现该领域、包含刻画不同商务语境与体裁的典型交际互动的电影片段，从言语与非言语两个层面展开分析。此举可整合言语与非言语线索（如视线方向、手部/手臂动作等），用以展示多模态教学路径如何切实帮助学生解读交际信息，尤其在专门用途英语（ESP）语境中成效显著。