Liz Walton

Professor Jan Reiman

English 1103

March 3rd, 2011

Revised Inquiry Question

My preliminary inquiry question was about discovering the positive and negative aspects of

switching from textbooks to film in college classrooms and how that affects learning. After researching

this, I found several references that both supported and opposed the switch as well as several that

supported the use of both. I mentioned a professor in my preliminary inquiry paper who supported the

usage of film, provided there was adequate discussion of the film afterwards. I’ve recently come across a

professor named John Golden, whose writing has been essential to the formation of my new and revised

inquiry question. After much thought, I eventually decided that the inquiry question listed above isn’t

related enough to the assignment itself. I believe the new inquiry question should focus more on how

film affects writing and analyzing text in the college classroom. My revised/ working inquiry question is

as follows: Does the use of a film rather than a textbook change the writing and analysis style of

students and professors? The question will mainly focus on a college setting. Initially, I will have to

research the style of writing and analyses used in a college classroom that uses only textbooks and then

look at the same aspects of a classroom that uses film. I want to take apart the structure of each class to

find the differences and look at what seems to be beneficial and what is detrimental to students

learning.

In my research of the preliminary question, I came across an author who supported the use of

both film and text in his class for a more media-rich, engaging setting. With this viewpoint in mind, I

started to ask myself whether switching wholly to film would be more detrimental than combining the

two types of learning to produce something better for a visually-oriented generation. At one point in the
introduction he commented on the reading and analysis skills of his students after analyzing movies. He

said, “…it was not just student’s analytical skills that had improved: it was also their reading skills... the

watching and analyzing of movies seemed to greatly affect their ability to read and critique literature.”

(Golden xiv-xv) This quote was the reason I decided to adjust my inquiry question away from the

viewpoint of film and text being different types of learning and look into the possibilities of a

combination.

Unsurprisingly, this new inquiry question also raised questions that I’ll need to follow up on. Are

there types of classes that are more inclined to use films as a learning resource than other? How does

the structure of the class differ from text to film? Is there a movement of more media-rich teaching

settings and if so, where and why did it start? Teachers have been showing movies clips in classrooms

for ages, mostly to have a distraction so they can focus on grading papers. How can the usage of movies

be revised to better promote learning through film and text combinations? These questions may be

taking me farther into classroom structure rather than the main point of my inquiry question, but they

could be helpful in finding out what helps, what differs, and why. I’m in the process of interviewing both

professors about the type of analysis and writing style needed to construct and run a class that relies on

film and students who are experiencing film based classes. Since I am participating in a film based class,

my personal opinion of the class and how I write in it will also be present in the resulting interviews.

Again, the conclusion of these inquiry papers results in more questions rather than a solution.

My response is just to keep on researching..

Works Citied

Golden, John. Reading in the Dark: Using Film as a Tool in the English Classroom. Library of

Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data, 2001. xiv-xv. Print.