The Handbook of Informal Language Learning

12Video and Informal Language Learning

ROBERT VANDERPLANK

Introduction

Can we learn a foreign language (FL) while watching a TV program or film in a foreign language? Is this a Disney fantasy like the one in the film Splash, released in 1984, in which a mermaid, Madison, (played by Darryl Hannah) leaves the sea in search of her long‐lost love, Allen (played by Tom Hanks) and quickly learns English from watching TV adverts and programs.

While we may dismiss Splash as whimsical fantasy, there are many stories of informal language learners achieving high levels of fluency from watching TV programs in foreign languages, such as the woman who told me that she had not gone out of her flat much in her first three months in Berlin, and had spent a lot of time picking up German words and phrases from advertisements and TV programs. For her, the largely silent period, watching and taking in from this source, was key to her language development. In another account, a German student told me how she had watched captioned comedies, soap operas, and advertisements while house‐sharing with British students in order to be able to take part in conversations with them and become friends. No doubt, there will be many readers who will think of their own anecdotes and cases of similar informal language learning.

For the last 70 years, people have held on to the belief that one should be able to learn a foreign or second language from watching TV programs, films, and other audiovisual material ...