The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of using a movie of "a short-short story" in the areas of listening comprehension after reading the original story. Subjects of this study were 28 Japanese junior high school students. The material for research was a movie adaptation of "The last leaf." The sources of the data are questionnaires conducted in class. In responding to the questionnaires, the students reported that they understood the story more deeply after reading the story and watching the movie. The results showed that watching a movie of a short-short story facilitates learners' listening comprehension. The results also indicated that the students could better understand the English when it was spoken by the actors and actresses in the movie.

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The purpose of this paper is to show that a series of short segments taken from one commercial film can be successfully utilized to teach oral communication and that the use of Course Management System (CMS) can greatly facilitate the learning process. Although films are often used in language classes, mainly for their motivational effect on learners, film-based college English textbooks designed to teach oral communication are still limited, and, for most teachers, the use of films, such as in film-based dictation exercises, only plays a minor and supplementary role in the oral communication classroom. In this study, a film-based oral communication textbook, based on a functional syllabus, was developed from the film "Ghost." Important characteristics of the main activities and curriculum organizing principles are described in detail, and the results of actual implementation are discussed, based on data from lesson observations and questionnaires. The results of the listening tests suggest that the use of films can improve learners' listening comprehension. The results of the learners' evaluation of the class reveal that the use of CMS significantly increased their motivation and interest in the class. Finally, the study suggests the combination of film-based English textbooks and CMS should be further explored.

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Narrative is considered a central part of how human beings construct the world and, therefore, to how we communicate. Being able to tell a story is no less a need and goal of second language learners. However, telling a story is a complex task. To make the narrative comprehensible, the narrator must attend not only to language, but also to content selection and organization while considering the knowledge-state of the audience. This paper proposes vicarious narrative as a method for the development of the skill in second and foreign language learners of English. In vicarious narrative, the learners do not tell their own stories, but rather narrate the story of a movie character as if they were that character. First, the paper examines research on child L1 narratives for the categorization systems it offers to rate narrative comprehensibility. Next, narratives produced by adult learners of English are considered according to the categorizations used for the child L1 narratives in order to identify to what extent the problems are similar, even as the reasons for the problems differ. Finally, the method of vicarious narrative is explained and the advantages considered.

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We analyzed the speaking speed in 11 movies, 3 TV dramas, and TV news programs and children's stories. We found a median rate of 5.1 for the movies and dramas; however, we were unable to confirm that 5.1 is a natural speed, because different scenes and different characters were faster and slower. We did not find that comedies, action films, or classic movies were necessarily faster or slower than the average, though a preliminary finding was that animation films were somewhat slower. We found that news programs were also relatively slower than films.

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This paper investigates functions of vocatives by analyzing the movie Casablanca. Vocatives are optional. They can help an addresser single out an addressee from others when heard. Participants in conversation define and maintain social relationships by choosing the proper vocatives or not using them at all. In the case of using vocatives with strangers, one can use titles or honorifics. When one feels like expressing favorable feelings, then one can choose endearments. In Casablanca, the vocatives uttered by Sam show that there was once a time when African Americans were supposed to use a type of vocative such as "Mr. Richard" in the States. The most tactful person is Renault, who is the most productive and skillful user of vocatives. A main character, Rick is the most frequently addressed and always gets people's attention. This also proves that he is the main character. He is, in most cases, on first-name terms with his acquaintances. A seemingly exceptional use of "you crazy Russian" reveals Rick's sympathetic recognition of a refugee from Russia.

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This squib points out a certain important aspect of the usage of the phrase no COMPARATIVE than that is often disregarded in the school grammar of English in Japan: namely, the expression following than is highly restricted to the ones that have a negative meaning with respect to the COMPARATIVE. Thus, while The box is no bigger than an egg is perfectly fine, The box is no bigger than the seal the earth/the space sounds rather odd. The reason for this oddity is that it is part of our common knowledge that an egg is a relatively small thing, usually about 2 inches in diameter, and can therefore be thought of as having a negative meaning in terms of size. It is demonstrated through the lines extracted from various movies (e.g., DEEP IMPACT, there's something about mary, etc.)that the same observation holds for every instance of no COMPARATIVE than, regardless of the adjectives that appear in comparative form. It also argues that the lack of awareness of the relevant phrasal property is what makes it difficult for Japanese learners of English to acquire the usage of this particular type of phrase. The conclusion, if tenable, is a step forward to a better understanding and teaching of the phrase in question.

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This study verifies the usages and meanings of the phrase be about to, as described in previous studies, using data from English films. The phrase has been discussed in reference to (1) events in the near future, (2) the intention of a subject in negation, (3) restrictions on adverbial phrases, (4) the person of the subject, and (5) as a co-occurrence with the adverb just. Based on the data and discussion, this study also proposes an approach to introduce this particular expression in English teaching.

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