Media and American Studies in the Efl-Classroom

The growing interest in working with media, particularly the new digital media, in the EFL classroom is reflected in the ten articles of this volume. Their focus is specifically on "traditional" visual media such as films and video clips, but also on blogs, podcasts, digital storytelling, hyperfictions, Internet projects, creating learner software, etc. As the articles either explicitly or implicitly indicate, these new media formats are suitable for integration into current action- or task-based teaching forms. All articles aim to foster nuanced judgments on literature, culture, and popular media in the US. The media discussed here mirror the multiplicity of voices within the US, indicating the tremendous variety of cultural and political positions. They undermine lopsided and biased attitudes toward American mass media, forcing the learner to discuss critical positions within the US and to modify stereotypical media judgements.