Babylonia Journal of Language Education

« Tu veux parler comme un Français ? »

2026-01-03T10:33:52+00:00

Les vidéos éducatives de FLE au format court sur les médias sociaux constituent un terrain privilégié pour observer les représentations linguistiques. Cette étude qualitative analyse 30 vidéos et 5249 commentaires, mettant en lumière des tensions liées à l’apprentissage. Les créateur·rice·s valorisent un français dit « authentique », opposé au français « scolaire », suscitant des débats entre purisme et pragmatisme. Trois figures d’autorité émergent : le·la francophone natif·ve, l’enseignant·e et l’apprenant·e. Si les commentaires favorisent un apprentissage collaboratif, le manque de contextualisation limite le développement de la compétence sociolinguistique, soulignant la nécessité d’un accompagnement pédagogique.

Anti-Bias Education Approaches to Visual Storytelling using Avatar: The Last Airbender

2026-04-18T10:15:05+00:00

EFL classrooms are expected to teach language skills while fostering critical thinking and socio-cultural awareness through media. This study explores how multimodal youth media can support anti-bias learning in secondary classrooms, addressing the limited application of anti-bias education to fictional visual narratives. The study develops the Anti-Bias Media Analysis Framework by synthesises existing anti-bias frameworks (Derman-Sparks, 1989; Chiariello et al. 2022) and critical media literacy theories into a practical classroom-ready analytical tool guiding students from observation to reflection and action.

Applied to Avatar: The Last Airbender, focusing on the protagonist Zuko’s character arc, it demonstrates how issues of identity, injustice, and moral transformation can be critically explored. This work shows how the framework fosters anti-bias competences and critical media literacy, while outlining guiding principles and activities for classroom use across different media.

Film literacy x scientific literacy

2026-01-13T10:07:59+00:00

Film literacy enables learners to autonomously and critically engage with films in the English language. However, research indicates that learners struggle to perceive even fictional films as deliberately constructed media products that may contort facts. To address this challenge in English language education, we propose linking film literacy with scientific literacy, empowering learners to examine how complex topics are represented in films from an evidence-based perspective. We illustrate this approach through the animated films Inside Out and Inside Out 2, which explore the complexity of emotions during childhood and adolescence. In a teaching concept we introduce, learners critically analyse and produce science-based video essays, becoming active participants in scientific discourses.

Transmission des savoirs dans des séries françaises :

2026-02-10T13:02:15+00:00

This article examines the mini-series Générations Carbone (TV5Monde+ 2024) as a scientific communication tool for teaching French as a foreign language. Through short, humorous stories, the series makes complex ecological issues accessible. The analysis is based on a framework developed specifically for this study, combining narrative, (audio-)visual and reflective dimensions. It highlights the series' potential to promote the development of scientific literacy, series_serials literacy and foreign language communication skills in French language teaching.

Watch Me If You Can: intégrer la vidéo en L2 pour forger une conscience citoyenne

2026-03-12T04:03:44+00:00

This contribution examines the use of short films and video clips to contextualize literary texts in second-language classrooms and to foster learners’ critical engagement with historical, social, and cultural issues. Integrated into collaborative and kinesthetic tasks, these resources transform viewing into active learning, promoting collaborative meaning-making, argumentation, and empathy. Aligned with the frameworks of the Sustainable Development Goals, A Rounder Sense of Purpose, and Universal Design for Learning, observations show that these activities develop not only linguistic skills but also ethical and social competences, while highlighting both the potential and the limitations of digital pedagogy.

Using short films and clips in foreign language lessons to raise awareness on language difficulties

2026-01-15T01:43:36+00:00

Over the last years, there has been a notable increase in the number of students with language difficulties. These impact on child development at various levels and make classes significantly more heterogeneous. In view of the above, the aim of this paper is to highlight foreign language classes as one promising opportunity for raising public awareness on language difficulties. It is argued that authentic material, such as short films and clips, created by scientific bodies and official institutions, can contribute to important learning outcomes and engage the learners with the learning process while at the same time increasing their awareness of important real-world situations, such as living with a language difficulty, which often go overlooked.

Girotondo

2026-01-14T11:28:28+00:00

This article presents the short film project Girotondo, carried out during a project week with an upper secondary school class that had been learning Italian for only one year. The students collaboratively produced a 13-minute short film entirely in the target language. The article illustrates how film-based project work can be implemented as an effective, motivating and reflective learning environment even at an early stage of language learning. Drawing on current research in project-based learning, performative pedagogy and Task-Based Language Teaching, it shows how exposure, imitation, learner agency and media production foster linguistic, media-related and social competences. The project is presented as a response to the challenges of foreign language learning in a digital and AI-driven era.

Feministischer Widerstand in virtueller Realität mit DRAW FOR CHANGE! We exist, we resist: Didaktisches Potenzial und Immersionserleben

2026-01-14T11:27:42+00:00

The article examines the didactic potential of the interactive virtual reality short film We exist, we resist (2023). Available in four languages, the interactive VR application addresses gender-based violence and feminist resistance through art.

The empirical foundation is based on the analysis of subjective experiences from two university-level didactics seminars in Spanish teacher education, as well as on qualitative-quantitative data on students’ evaluations of the film and their immersion experiences.

The findings indicate considerable potential for fostering Education for Sustainable Development and intercultural learning, alongside a high level of immersion during reception, while also highlighting the need for sensitive didactic framing. In addition, the article provides concrete recommendations for didactic and methodological integration in school and university learning contexts.

Apprendimento linguistico e schermi: un percorso didattico tra letteratura, cinema e giustizia sociale

2026-03-01T08:16:46+00:00

This contribution documents a teaching experience conducted in the fifth grade of an Italian Liceo Linguistico, centered around the novel Como agua para chocolate. It aims to investigate 1) how the use of a novel and its cinematic adaptation can promote meaningful foreign language learning; 2) what linguistic, cultural and civic skills can emerge from a task-based curriculum that addresses social relevant issues. These activities were designed to foster the use of Spanish (and its varieties), visual literacy and critical reflection. The analysis suggests strong students engagement, the develop of strong (meta)linguistic skills, and increased social awareness. The experience presents itself as a concrete and replicable example of the integration of language, literature and audiovisual media, transforming storytelling into a privileged path not develop not only competent speakers, but also aware citizens.

L'uso dell'imput filmico nella didattica della letteratura italiana

2026-01-26T09:22:42+00:00

Il contributo intende mostrare come il testo cinematografico, attraverso l'esperienza audiovisiva più coinvolgente a livello emotivo, possa svolgere in modo proficuo una funzione di "ponte" (Spaliviero 2021) rispetto alla pagina scritta del testo letterario, soprattutto nei casi in cui la letteratura non sia il principale oggetto di studio.

Come esempio si analizzano scene del film Sostiene Pereira di Roberto Faenza messe a confronto con pagine dell'omonimo romanzo di Antonio Tabucchi.

Il pubblico di riferimento è quello di studenti e studentesse che si preparano per insegnare l'italiano come lingua straniera nella scuola media e che non hanno frequentato un Bachelor universitario. Si ritiene però che questa prospettiva didattica possa essere utilizzata con profitto anche per l'insegnamento dell'italiano LS in altri contesti, come quello liceale.

Windows and Mirrors: Approaching Diversity with the TV series Heartstopper (season 1)

2026-01-15T07:00:50+00:00

This article reports on a two-cycle design-based research project in which the TV series Heartstopper (season 1) was implemented in an elective English Literature class with ninth-grade students in Switzerland. The study examines how a contemporary television series can be integrated into the EFL classroom to support language learning, series_serial literacy, and engagement with diversity. Across both cycles, the teaching design combined language-based tasks, multimodal analysis, and creative production. Students analyzed cinematographic features, used technical terminology, compared media-specific storytelling strategies, and reflected on identity and representation employing Bishop’s metaphor of texts being windows, sliding glass doors or mirrors. Findings suggest that working with a series can productively link linguistic development with multimodal literacy and critical reflection, while allowing for differentiated responses to LGBTQ+-themed content.

Lights, camera, action: Films and clips in language lessons

2026-06-22T08:23:33+00:00

Noio volevòn savuàr… come si usano oggi in classe di lingua i film e i video.

Let’s begin our introduction with a quote from a film, as we feel it captures well the ‘spirit’ with which Babylonia and those who have contributed to this issue view the relationship between languages, film and education – a ‘spirit’ open to experimentation and to finding innovative and engaging teaching methods.
L’expression Noio volevòn savuàr („nous voulions savoir“) est tirée du film Totò, Peppino e... la malafemmina (1956, (https://w w w. yo u t u b e . c o m / w at c h ? v = E P -WYhR8N7nw)).

Totò a été un maître de la comicité verbale (cf. F. Rossi, 2002, La lingua in gioco. Da Totò a lezione di retorica, Bulzoni). La scène est devenue iconique pour l’utilisation d’un pastiche de langue. Elle repose sur un malentendu linguistique et culturel: Totò e Peppino sont arrivés à Milan depuis Naples et ils sont convaincus que à Milan on ne parle pas italien mais que la ville soit encore sous la domination autrichienne. Ayant besoin de trouver une adresse, Totò s’adresse donc à un agent de police qu’il prend pour un général autrichien. La solution pour se faire comprendre ? “Polylanguaging” et „arte di arrangiarsi“: „Dungue, excuse me. Bitte schön [...] Noio volevàn... volevòn savuàr, noio volevàn savuàr l‘indrìs... Ja? Dunque, noi vogliamo sapere, per andare dove dobbiamo andare per dove dobbiamo andare. Sa, è una semplice informazione“.

Who Is in the Spotlight? The Drama of Swiss Language Policies

2026-10-15T13:19:27+00:00

As we write this, two language-related matters are on the Swiss political stage. The first is a familiar one: the Languages Act, the place of foreign languages in school, national cohesion. The subject has largely mobilized our community. Emails, meetings, work groups, official stances, exchanges through various channels: many of us have discussed, argued, and provided our expert opinions. The federal consultation ended on 5 October 2026… to be continued in the next session.

The second matter also concerns languages. But these are languages that are generally not included when we speak of “language policy,” “plurilingualism,” or even “language teaching”: sign languages. In September 2026, the National Council accepted, by 102 yeas and 88 nays, an initiative from its Committee for Science, Education and Culture to draft a framework law on sign languages. The Council of States has yet to decide.

And what about us? How many of us are aware of this initiative? How many researchers, teachers, or language teaching specialists have felt directly concerned? The question is uncomfortable, because it forces us to ask why certain linguistic objects enter the scene so easily, yet others remain in the background. Why are some languages considered part of our field, while others, though at the heart of very real language experiences, remain outside of reel?

This brings us back to screens, and to those we use to teach languages. Because choosing a TV series, a video, a movie, subtitles, a language, or a mode of representation also means choosing what we allow people to see and hear. Who is in the frame, who is out of frame, who is entitled to subtitles, who gets the leading role? And above all: who decides on the script?

Enjoy this issue!

CineEducation: The World of Film in Language Teaching

2026-10-19T14:44:00+00:00

Several contributions explore how film can open up spaces for critical reflection on social, cultural, and scientific issues. Mayer and Schwarz, in Windows and Mirrors: Approaching Diversity with the TV series Heartstopper, revisit the metaphor of films as both “windows” into other lives and “mirrors”. Wengler’s contribution, Feministischer Widerstand in virtueller Realität mit DRAW FOR CHANGE! We exist, we resist, takes this engagement further by examining the use of immersive media. The intersection of film and scientific literacy is explored in Gödecke’s analysis of the French mini-series Générations Carbone and Leonhardt and Thorbecke’s framework linking film literacy x scientific literacy.

These contributions remind us that it is not only what we do with films, but also which films we choose that matters, for example in Kyrits i’s article on using short films and clips to raise awareness of speech, language, and communication. La contribution de Porfiri Watch Me If You Can: intégrer la vidéo en L2 pour forger une conscience citoyenne propose un cadre méthodologique pour soutenir l'engagement des apprenant·e·s envers les contextes historiques, culturels et sociaux d'œuvres littéraires.

Some articles focus more explicitly on the how of language learning with film. In Girotondo, Arcuri shows how even beginner learners can become active producers through film-based activities. Altri contributi ci portano in mondi da sempre vicini, la letteratura e il cinema, sempre con un approccio focalizzato sui contenuti e le istanze sociali veicolate dalle opere d‘arte: L’articolo di Minisci illustra L'uso dell'input filmico nella didattica della letteratura italiana descrivendo attività in classe basate sul romanzo e il film “Sostiene Pereira”. Nel contributo di Falcone, Apprendimento linguistico e schermi: un percorso didattico tra letteratura, cinema e giustizia sociale, le attività si appoggiano al libro e film Como agua para chocolate. L’article de Favre explore la norme linguistique à travers une étude sur les représentations linguistiques dans les vidéos éducatives de FLE en contexte numérique en partant de la question « Tu veux parler comme un Français ? ».

A further thread running through this issue is the development of visual literacy - the need to realize that images, too, must be consumed with awareness. A fact that is perhaps not yet taken for granted even in our “image-driven society,”and in our classrooms.

Finally, this season‘s Teaching Taster, by Thorbecke, Gödecke & Leonhardt is entitled Lights, camera… and science! provides teachers with a structured way of combining scientific with film literacy. To conclude, we include a „Primula“ practical parts of Abitha Ranganathan‘s MA thesis entitled Anti-Bias Education Approaches to Visual Storytelling using Avatar:The Last Airbender which provides a useful framework for unpacking bias in film that can be used with secondary school learners.