The Language Teacher
06 - 2000
Playing the Semiotic Game: Analyzing and Creating TV commercials in an EFL class
Karen McGee,
Nihon University College of Art
Fujita Tomoko,
Rikkyo University
Because television commercials are short, entertaining, culturally rich examples of English, they are frequently used in EFL courses. However, judging from the literature on the subject, as well as the approaches in available textbooks, most English courses using television commercials focus primarily, if not exclusively, on listening and reading comprehension. In Language Learning in the Age of Satellite Television, Ulrike H. Meinhof demonstrates a different approach to TV commercials and makes this suggestion to teachers:
. . . foreground issues of representation, intertextual references, symbolic meanings, and connotations right from the start and make them part of the language learning activities. It is not the language of the advert itself which provides the content for learning, but the whole range of things one can do with adverts. More than is the case with any of the other genres, learning from adverts is learning to play the semiotic game.
Following Meinhof's lead, the authors have created a content-based English course on television commercials that explores the symbolic in commercials. In this course, Japanese college students, through analytical and creative processes, begin to "play the semiotic game."
The activities in this course are designed to meet four objectives:
- Vocabulary: Learn and use key terms for describing and analyzing television commercials
- Analysis: Describe and analyze TV commercials viewed in class
- Group Projects: Plan, create, and present original TV commercials
- Writing: Analyze and critique TV commercials in writing
The course cycles through analysis, creative group projects, and writing activities three times during the year, focusing on different types of commercials with each cycle. For example, this year the course began with car commercials, moved on to food and beverage commercials, and finished with public service announcements. Following are descriptions of some of the class activities and materials developed for this course, as well as a discussion of the results achieved.
Vocabulary: Learn and use key terms for describing and analyzing television commercials
For students to function in this course they must master a set of content-related vocabulary, including key terms such as "product," "sponsor," and "target audience." Also, to discuss, for example, the target audience of a particular American commercial, students need the vocabulary used to describe characteristics of target audiences, terms such as "gender," "race," and "class." At the beginning of this course we use mainly American commercials to help us define as far as possible a specific cultural context. Later in the course we introduce a range of English-language commercials from different countries. Finally, to evaluate and analyze the commercials, students need to learn a few critical terms, such as "tone" and "irony."
Students are given vocabulary sheets at the beginning of the year that serve as a glossary of terms needed during the year. Quizzes are then used throughout the year to check that students are keeping up with the terms needed for the class assignments and discussions. The vocabulary quizzes require that they both define the terms and use them. For example, if they are defining "sponsor," they must be able to write that the sponsor of a Volvo car commercial is the Volvo car manufacturing company. Although learning vocabulary may seem like a simple task, we find that actually learning to use new vocabulary in discussion and writing is a big stumbling block for many students. Again and again students prove capable of memorizing lists of words just long enough to pass a test, and then of being at a complete loss when these same words show up on a test question or in a class discussion. The vocabulary quiz is the only means we have discovered to motivate students to learn vocabulary for long-term use.
Analysis: Describe and analyze TV commercials viewed in class
An Italian aria sung by a female vocalist is played throughout. A young couple kisses in the front seat of a parked Volvo while workers above them move a grand piano onto a balcony. The couple looks up through a sunroof just in time to see the piano falling toward them from the sky. They make a narrow escape by pulling out of their parking space. The final image is that of the grand piano smashing to the ground, while a deep male voice suggests in soothing tones that "this might be a good time to buy a new, more responsive Volvo 850SL" and the words "Volvo" and "Drive Safely" appear on the top of the screen. |
This commercial was chosen because it has so many clear indicators of a specific target audience, and because the symbolic content is fairly obvious. Before viewing the commercial, students receive a transcript of the language used in the commercial. Students are given transcripts of all commercials in this course before they view them. The language in the commercials is no more our focus than any other element in the commercial. As Meinhof points out, commercials are "poor linguistic models." Our objective is to move beyond language comprehension and into analysis and criticism as quickly as possible. After reading a transcript, students view the commercial a few times in a row.
The initial class activity is to describe the Volvo commercial in detail. Students work on this activity in groups of four to six members so that they can talk easily among themselves. Their first task is to identify the sponsor and product. If they have learned the key terms on their vocabulary sheets, this should be easy. Next they are asked to isolate and list as many of the visual images and sounds in the commercial as they can remember. For the images, the students' lists might include "crashing grand piano" and "20 to 30-year-old attractive dark-haired white woman." For sounds, students identify opera music, the whipping sound of a rope breaking, even the faint sounds of creaking as the piano falls through the air. Questions such as "How old are the two actors in the car," and "Judging from voice alone, how old do you think the narrator is?" encourage students to be as specific as possible in their descriptions of images and sounds. After attempting to make these lists, students are eager to view the commercial several more times to confirm their memories and settle debates.
Most students need their dictionaries to describe the commercial in detail and need assistance in finding words like "unraveling" or "creaking." Also, in each class there are inevitably students who confuse "images" as in visual details with "image" as in projected character and so list words like "rich" or "safe" in their images list. This first exercise allows the teacher to check student comprehension of key terms. It also impresses upon the students the complexity of individual television commercials.
Once students have finished describing the commercial, we ask them to define the target audience for the commercial. Deducing the target audience from the commercial foregrounds the question of why a particular set of images and sounds were chosen to advertise a particular product. This question will serve to "make strange" the commercials (as Meinhof puts it) by reminding students that nothing in a commercial is accidental, that all details imply a marketing strategy with all of its unvoiced assumptions about the product and the audience.
Most students can offer opinions about the target audience of the Volvo commercial. They recognize that the product in this case is an expensive car, and the high price of the product plus the age of the two actors in the car seem to be the elements that most influence their initial ideas about the target audience. By asking students to identify the gender and age of the target audience, we focus first on audience characteristics that require the least explanation. They are required to identify age by a range of ten or twenty years. Otherwise, students come up with vague descriptions like, "all people who can drive." To demonstrate that an analysis of details of the commercial is required, it is important that students understand the difference between a general television audience and a specific target audience. Volvo is pitching to television watchers, but Volvo is clearly not concerned with any and all television watchers, nor are they talking to any and all drivers of cars-another favorite student response to this question.
In discussing the target audience, students should understand that there is no one "right" answer: We do not have a crystal ball showing the thoughts of Volvo management or its advertising agency, and viewers inevitably interpret the same images and sounds in different ways. After age and gender are discussed (almost all American car commercials suggest a male audience to my students), a brief (and no doubt simplistic) outline of the American class system can facilitate a discussion of the several elements in the commercial (the shiny, black grand piano and the way it echoes the shiny black car below, the opera music, the glamorous yet conservative appearance of the actors in the car, even the old residential city neighborhood in which the scene was filmed) which conspire to suggest an upper-middle-class target audience.
Finally, students are required to paraphrase in writing the central message of the commercial. The verbal message in the commercial is an understated invitation to "consider" a new Volvo, along with the final gentle words of warning, "Drive safely." But the images in the commercial send a different message-one that is at once frightening and comic. There is a clear contrast between the explicit and implicit messages. Students recognize that the commercial is not simply about driving safely, and that the image of a crashing piano has nothing to do with the introduction of a new Volvo model-in short, that the content of the commercial is not adequately represented by the few words in the commercial.
To simplify the task of formulating a central message, the teacher can suggest that students try using a set of formulas for phrasing a promise or a threat, for example: "If you buy this product, (something good) will happen" or "If you don't buy this product (something bad) will happen." Given these formulas, most students identify safety as central to the message in this commercial, and come up with a message like, "If you buy this Volvo, you will be safe from accidents." Typically there are also some students who perceive the message to be about "looking rich" or "being able to kiss your girlfriend." Again, this is a good time to encourage differences of opinion and to emphasize that there are always many messages created by the same images and sounds. As students will soon be expected to analyze and evaluate commercials independently and defend their own conclusions, they need to be liberated as far as possible from trying to guess the one "right" answer.
Although it can take as much as two class periods to complete if all students are participating, the class work on the Volvo commercial is worth the time because it can serve as a prototype for future class work. In fact, once students have finished describing and analyzing this one commercial, the form "Describing a TV commercial" can be introduced, along with a sample of how this form looks when filled out to describe the Volvo commercial. (See Appendix A for the form.) This form gives students both a visual reminder of the process of description and analysis and examples of the language used in this process. Students are then ready to describe and analyze other commercials with less help from the teacher.
The class next views other car commercials chosen for appeal, symbolic content, and variety. Student teams describe and then analyze these commercials, with the ultimate goal of identifying the target audience and unspoken messages. Each commercial can now be covered more quickly, and the teacher's role can be that of playing the videos, providing consultation about language, and raising questions about the symbolic content of the commercial.
The camera focuses on a plastic toy doll dressed in safari-style clothing caught in a toy dinosaur's mouth. The song You've really got me, performed by Van Halen, begins as the doll comes to life, extricates himself from the dinosaur, and starts up a toy red sports car. The doll avoids several obstacles on his way out of a clothes and toy-strewn boy's room and down the hall to a girl's room full of stuffed animals and a large dollhouse. The driver then shows off his sports car to a blond girl-doll in tennis garb standing on the balcony of the dollhouse. She quickly abandons her blond tennis-playing partner to jump into the car with the interloper. The car drives between two giant feet and the camera pans up to show a middle-aged man in a baseball cap laughing down at the toys. The words "Enjoy the Ride" appear on the screen, and then the word "Nissan." |
When working on the Nissan commercial, the teacher can challenge students to think about why that particular Van Halen guitar music is used, what the lyrics of the song might add, what popular figure the driver might resemble (some students recognize "Indy Jones," as Indiana Jones is called in Japan), why the doll drives from the boy's room into the girl's room, why the two dolls in the fancy dollhouse start out with tennis clothes on, and what purpose the actor at the very end might serve. (He bears a striking resemblance to a founding Nissan designer, the "father of the Z car." But is he used effectively?) Discussion of this commercial can raise a variety of questions about the representation of class and gender in advertising. Not only does the driver of the sports car move from the boy's room to the girl's room, but he also seems to be "crossing the tracks," (he does, in fact, cross a set of toy railroad tracks) by driving into a room with a fancy, three-storied doll's house and the tennis playing dolls. Not only does he get a beautiful girl with a flashy car, but also he gets a "classy" girl away from a "classy" home and boyfriend. In discussing these elements of the commercial, students can begin thinking about how certain implicit messages make them feel, what kind of political or social assumptions can be conveyed in commercials, and what the tone of the commercial might be.
After students describe and analyze several car commercials in teams, they should be ready to do this same kind of work alone. The task of analyzing a new commercial can serve as a written exam. At this point in the course students are becoming accustomed to generating opinions about the target audience and unspoken message from an analysis of the details of the commercial, and to stating these opinions in discussions and writing.
Group Project: Plan, create, and defend original TV commercials
The first group project is to plan an American TV commercial for a new, expensive line of baby food. (See Appendix B for the assignment sheet.) We chose baby food as the product because it has such a clear, narrow target audience. The detailed description of the baby food (an expensive, "organically grown" food that comes in frozen pouches) further differentiates it from competing products and narrows the target audience. From the product information, students must decide on a target audience, choose an appropriate message, and then work together to identify the best sounds and images for conveying this message.
It only takes s few qmbitious students to raise the standard for the entire class.
Before they begin these plans, students are told that their commercials should be appropriate to the audience and product, and that they should be clear, convincing, and memorable. We talk briefly about what kinds of techniques and elements in commercials typically help achieve these qualities. (For example, naming the product and showing the product in use during the commercial are both techniques that help with clarity. To convince, advertisers may include detailed information, use "experts" or celebrities, stage realistic demonstrations and pseudo-scientific "tests" of their product, and create scenarios designed to play on emotions. To make a commercial memorable, advertisers use elements such as humor, rhyme, jingles, music, mystery, suspense, and surprise.) These four criteria for success provide a common language for discussing and appraising the projects.
This assignment to plan a commercial prepares students for their next round of projects, when they actually "produce" a commercial. Without this exercise in planning a commercial, students tend to create commercials that emulate something they've seen on television, with little thought to whether their ideas are effective approaches to marketing a particular product. Also, this assignment is a reminder that professional TV commercials are deliberate constructions and worthy of detailed analysis.
There are several challenges in this assignment that provide opportunities for dialogue between teacher and student. For example, students will probably not know that American mothers, at least the affluent mothers purchasing this expensive product, may be quite a bit older than their Japanese counterparts. Also, students are often not able to predict the connotations of certain images in a foreign culture. A team of students who used angels in a commercial for baby food did not understand that in a Christian culture angles can be suggestive of death, and might therefore be problematic when marketing to the parents of newborns. Students who want to use references from their own culture in these projects, such as Japanese super heroes, cartoon characters, and celebrities need help in sorting out which cultural figures and allusions are accessible to an American audience (Godzilla, ninja, samurai) and which are not (Doraemon, Anpanman). For foreign English teachers, discussions of these kinds are opportunities to learn about Japanese popular culture while their students learn about a foreign pop culture.
In subsequent group projects, students are asked to select a product from the general category of commercial we have just been studying. In this year's course, the student projects were first Food and Beverage Commercials and then Public Service Announcements. (See Appendix C for the Group Project sheet.) Students submit a detailed plan, at which time we discuss and remedy any problems with their language. Then students go ahead and "produce" their commercials by using skits, storyboards, puppet shows, or videos to present the commercial to the class. As some students have access to fairly sophisticated video equipment while others do not, students are advised that meeting the previously discussed criteria for success is more important than creating a slick commercial.
Despite all the discussion and planning, students inevitably start out creating commercials with themselves in mind as the target audience. Invariably several female teams create commercials using squeaky stuffed animals, elves, and characters from fairy tales. Male teams tend to favor macabre or surreal approaches, and frequently use assorted monsters, motorcycles, and gritty urban scenes with a hard rock soundtrack. In fact, this year, one team used a vampire theme to advertise milk. When evaluating their commercials, we try to talk about the way certain approaches might backfire (such as associating a brand of milk with blood), but in general we are quite accepting of their various approaches, but less so of errors in language, since they are given time to consult with the teacher and get the English right.
We have found that students need about three class periods to complete this type of project, assuming that at least half of the time spent on the project is outside of class. On presentation days, students are asked to take notes and warned that they will be expected to evaluate and analyze their peers' commercials in the future. Students are often more critical of each other's projects than the teacher is, and are willing to speak up about the strengths and weaknesses of student work. This is especially true when they are shown projects from other classes. To facilitate frank discussion, we frequently videotape the presentations not already on video (the skits, storyboards, etc.) to show in other classes. Encouraging students to evaluate each other's commercials is one more way that they can learn to view commercials critically. They seem more likely to question the effectiveness of a professional commercial once they have made and critiqued student commercials.
After presentation of the commercials, students rate each other's commercials in class, using a scale of 15 points; five points each for being clear, convincing, and memorable. This rating process immediately identifies problems with particular commercials, which can then be discussed. For example, when a humorous public service announcement on drunk driving earned a low rating from most students, their response led to a discussion of problems of tone in commercials. Students recognized that although they enjoyed the humor in the announcement, it undercut the message. Another public service announcement project was actually an ironic critique of a campus bus service. Although entertaining and well-made, students objected that it didn't fill the role of a service announcement, as it didn't communicate any new information or recommend any action.
Writing: Analyze and evaluate TV commercials in writing
After students have viewed and discussed their group projects, we spend some class time preparing students for a written exam. Students are told that they will be expected to use the kinds of details they have been discussing in their analysis and planning to support an argument written in paragraph form. We hand out several model paragraphs that begin with an opinion about commercials and then provide three or four concrete examples from the details in commercials to support these opinions. As these paragraphs are meant to serve as models for language and structure only, the opinions in them are on commercials not covered by the test. Students are also given a new vocabulary sheet, this one meant to serve as a sort of writing glossary, with lists of words that they may need to use when writing critical paragraphs. Modeling the use of verbs most often used in critical discourse seems particularly helpful to students; learning to use words such as "conveys," "suggests" and "creates" helps them to break out of the "is" trap.
The questions on the essay exams range from "Which is the most successful (or least successful) public service announcement? To "Which commercial has a serious problem with tone?" or "Which commercial most successfully uses irony?" The exams allow students to choose three out of six questions to write on, so that they aren't forced to argue an opinion they don't have or to write about a commercial they can't remember. A full 90-minute class period is devoted to completing the three paragraphs. Students are expected to work alone, without help from each other, but they can refer to the list of commercials they have viewed (since this is not a memorization test), their class notes and dictionaries. In fact, during the class prior to the exam, we give students a list of some of the questions they will see on their writing exam. In the past a few students (usually the least fluent) have prepared for this type of open-book exam by pre-writing whole paragraphs before the test day. As students who do this are probably spending even more time on the writing process than the 90 minutes allotted in class and working even harder to support and clarify their views, we have not viewed this type of "cheating" as a problem.
Content-based English classes in Japan can successfully introduce the discourse of analysis.
Following are three student paragraphs written during an in-class exam (and used here with permission) in response to the question, "Which public service announcement (PSA) do you think is most successful and why?"
Student 1
I believe the most successful PSA is "Avoid the rush hour." Because it has the effective method of contrast. The contrast between two situations -- a businessman takes an earlier train or not (he takes a later train) -- is very sharp. It is clear that the latter is better than the former. The images of the former -- a man is going to attend his office as soon as he wakes up, goes out of his gloomy room, walks through the narrow path, gets into the sardine can -- suggest that his life is like a rush hour train. The images of the latter -- he wakes up in sunshine, spends a lot of time having breakfast and his hair set, plays with a cat, walks on the quiet street -- suggest that his life is like a chartered train. Also, the contrast of the music is very clear. And the actor's face expressions have quite a contrast too. I believe the message of "Avoid the rush hour."
Student 2
I think the announcement "Smoking" is the most effective. This announcement uses words, visual images and sounds to convey a strong impact for audience. The words are simple that 4 babies names and 4 babies weight are explained and "2 packs a day" is last baby's explanation. Their words are very easy to understand that there are big contrast about three healthy babies but we understand he is different from other babies and the reason why he is attacked by a serious illness. "2 packs a day" is implied If you're pregnant because smoking will hurt your baby. The visual images are very specific contrast that 3 babies and last baby. The techniques of light are used to create contrast. Two colors of light are used properly that golde light (probably the setting sun light) shines on last baby. I feel the golden light is warm and peaceful that three babies are surrounded by their parent's love, but the blue light is cold and lonely that last baby is surrounded by incubator. The color of blue gives an effect that he is more sick and smaller than other babies. The sounds that the narrator's voice is soothing and music of opera is calming. This announcement is intended for Pregnant. I think it will successfully appeal to them. Because her soft voice doesn't surprise them and they are very easy to hear. So their simple words and visuals will be glued to this screen and probably they will be thought them about the ill effects of smoking after turn off the TV set. If this "Smoking" anouncement is explained about the ill effects of smoking that uses many words and visuals, they are boring and having low impact and pay no attention to this screen. So, I think this announcement is successfully create a convincing message.
Student 3
I think "Drunken Driving" is the most effective public service annoucement. Because this announcement has realistic conversasion in the situation that we lose friend because of accident. And visual image is so hard. So the grave symbolizes death and Broken glasses symbolize accident of Drunken Driving. And, Sound is silent. But, Suddenly, the scene is changed and tone is changed too. Tone becomes to be dark and shocking. I think these tone is used so that this announcement imply death of suddenly. The change from silent to dark and shocking has impact and it is effective! So. This annoucement is successful.
Obviously the three paragraphs represent a wide range of fluency and present a variety of language problems. However, each student has achieved at least some success. Student 1 writes a clear, concise answer with only minor language difficulties. He offers a sufficiently convincing list of details from the commercial to support his argument. We are able to read and understand his opinion without stopping to re-read or puzzle out his meaning. Perhaps his answer could be improved by a few more details about the facial expressions and the music, but then, he knows he is addressing someone who is quite familiar with the commercial under discussion. Student 2 has much less control over the language, and we are able to understand the paragraph only after reading slowly and making some assumptions about the writer's intention. (It helps, of course, that the reader is familiar with the commercial and with the class discussion of that commercial.) The student does provide several details from the commercial to support her argument, however, and, despite a certain amount of awkwardness and rambling, we are able to follow most of what she has written.
Student 3 has the least success in explaining his opinion. He starts off well, but somehow moves into vague and somewhat confusing statements about tone, after mentioning only two concrete details from the commercial (the images of the grave and the broken glasses.) Still, he is at least part of the way through the process of stating and then supporting an opinion, and seems to understand what this process involves.
Results
A significant advantage to class activities that allow students to work in groups and to assess each other's projects is that it only takes a few ambitious students to raise the standards for the entire class. The course we have described elicits more energy and effort from students as the year progresses and they become inspired and challenged by each other. Also, the group projects allow the teacher to communicate extensively with small groups of students in ways that would be impossible in front of a class of forty students, and that would require too much time if attempted one-on-one. During work on the group projects, the classroom becomes a place where teacher and student cooperate in solving problems and exchanging information. As is ideally true in content-based courses, English becomes the medium rather than the subject of the class. Although, as we have said, we try to focus on the ideas and plans rather than the slickness of their presentations, students in this course have often created quite sophisticated productions. The range of ideas and approaches is always unpredictable and entertaining. We have found that the creative group projects also give less fluent students, who struggle with discussions and written exams, a chance to excel.
On the whole, students' written exam answers demonstrate that most students are capable of constructing logical arguments to support their opinions if given sufficient guidelines, models, and permission to do so. In fact, it has been surprising just how quickly students become adept at this kind of writing. Our experience in this course leads us to believe that content-based English classes in Japan can successfully introduce the discourse of analysis.
Appendix A: Sample Form for Describing and Analyzing TV Commercials
Product: Volvo 850 GLT
Sponsor: Volvo car manufacturing company
Images: old apartment buildings in a quiet city neighborhood; balcony and fire escapes; blue sky; crane; fat, middle-aged piano movers in work clothes; late 20's or early 30's attractive couple kissing in a car, the woman with dark hair and conservative make-up, the man blond; black, shiny Volvo, fenders, doors, and sunroof; a grand piano, first hanging near the balcony, then falling and finally crashing onto the street; streetlight
Sounds: opera music sung by female vocalist; deep male narrator's voice; rope breaking; piano creaking as it falls; piano crashing; car starting; engine whining as car accelerates
Verbal Message: "This seems like a good time to introduce the new, more responsive Volvo 850 GLT. Drive Safely."
Nonverbal Messages: If you buy a Volvo 850 GLT, you and your family will be safe. You must buy a Volvo to be safe. Your children will be safe in a Volvo. A new Volvo will keep your children safe. Rich people who want to be safe drive Volvos.
Target Audience: Upper-middle class white males, between 40 and 60 years old.
Appendix B: First Group Project Assignment
Assignment: Create a plan for an American television commercial to advertise this product:
McGee's Healthy Baby Food: Frozen pouches of baby food that are more expensive than the most popular brand and much more expensive than generic brands. The label reads: All ingredients are organically grown! No pesticides, no preservatives, no additives. Just good, 100% pure produce, fresh from the garden and steam cooked. The marketing slogan is: "Just the way you'd make it, if you made it yourself."
Step 1: Create a team of 3, 4, or 5 students to work on this assignment.
Step 2: Define the target audience for this product.
Step 3: Decide on a nonverbal message that you think would appeal to this audience.
Step 4: Create a plan using the format shown below that shows and explains in detail what your TV commercial will look like, including the images, sounds, camera work, graphics, and words that you will use. You may draw pictures to help show the images in the commercial if you like.
Images:
Sounds:
Explanation:
Appendix C: Group Project Plan Sheet
Please fill out this sheet and submit it to me along with a detailed plan of the images, sounds and language you will use in your commercial. (Only one plan from each group.) After we have discussed your plan together, you can begin to produce the commercial. You should spend time outside of class on this project. It is a major grade, and should be considered as important as a mid-term or final exam.
Class Day And Time:
Group Members' Names and Student Numbers (3, 4, or 5 students):
Production Method (Circle one):
Story Boards
Video
Acting
Puppets
Other (please explain)
Product:
Target Audience (Please include an age range):
Nonverbal Message (The main point you are trying to make in your commercial):
Images:
Sounds:
Explanation:
References
Christians, Clifford, G., and Kim, B., Rotzoll, and Fackler, M. (1995). (Eds.), Media ethics: Cases & moral reasoning (4th ed.). London: Longman Press.
Davis, R. (1997). TV commercial messages: An untapped video resource for content-based classes. The Language Teacher 21.(3), 13-15.
Fiske, John. (1999). The codes of television. In Morris, P., and Thornham, S. (Eds.) Media studies: A reader (pp. 133-141). Edinburgh University Press.
Furmanovsky, M. (1995). Culture and language through TV commercials. In Kitao, K. (Editor in Chief). Culture and communication. (pp. 209-219). Kyoto: Yamaguchi Shoten.
Meinhof, Ulrike, H. (1998). Language learning in the age of satellite television. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Karen McGee is a native Californian who has been teaching English in Japan since 1993. She is currently employed at Nihon University College of Art.
karen@tokorozawa.art.nihon-u.ac.jp
Fujita Tomoko received her M.A. from the University of Houston, and is now teaching at Rikkyo University. She is interested in testing and research methodology.
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