Multisensory Approach of BBC's Program Muzzy in Teaching Foreign Languages to Young Learners

Multisensory approach of BBC's program Muzzy in teaching foreign languages to young learners

Harun BAŞTUĞ*, Ajla KURSPAHIĆ **

Abstract

A multimedia program Muzzy is a linguistically recognized and multiple award-winning program for teaching and learning foreign and second languages, developed by The British Broadcasting Company (BBC). It originates from an animated movie entitled Muzzy in Gondoland (1986) and its sequel Muzzy comes back. In spite of these movies’ initial aim to teach exclusively English language, due to their remarkable success in young learners' English language acquisition, the movies have been redesigned into an educational program shortly entitled Muzzy. Nowadays, it is used for teaching not only English, but also many other languages worldwide. The essence of Muzzy lies in its entertaining and multisensory approach to language teaching and learning, presenting the linguistic items in meaningful context and stress-free environment. The research paper focuses on the way this program operates in terms of its main concept, and the analysis of the program's linguistic and cognitive aspects and components, as well as how the program deals with some common acquisition barriers.

Keywords: Multisensory, stress-free, teaching program, foreign language, young learners.

* Senior Teaching Assistant. International Burch University, Education Faculty, Department of English Language. Bosnia And Herzegovina.

** Junior. International Burch University, Education Faculty, Department of English Language. Bosnia And Herzegovina.

Introduction

Muzzy is a linguistically recognized and multiple award-winning multimedia program for teaching and learning foreign languages. It was developed by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). Muzzy was initially created as an animated movie Muzzy in Gondoland (1986) with the purpose of teaching English as a second or foreign language to children. Due to its extraordinary influence on young learners’ English language acquisition, BBC decided to release its sequel. The title of its sequel is Muzzy comes back. Although it was primarily supposed to be used for teaching only English language, due to their remarkable linguistic success, the movies were redesigned into a program Muzzy, used for teaching not only English, but also many otherlanguages worldwide. The essence of Muzzy lies in its fun and multisensory approach to language acquisition, presenting languages in meaningful context and stress-free environment.

1.The story

This is a story about a big green fury clock glutton, an extraterrestrial and friendly monster called Muzzy, who lands on Earth, in the Kingdom of Gondoland, where he meets the rest of the characters. He helps Bob, the gardener, win his beloved princess Sylvia. Corvax, the evil scientist working for the king, makes Bob’s aim to win Sylvia difficult with his intrigues, since he’s in love with Sylvia, too. The other characters, like the king and the queen, also get into a lot of trouble caused by Corvax. The story, however, has a happy ending.

1.1 The linguistic effects of the story

Muzzy is focused on teaching a foreign language in a way that a native language is taught, with no stress, and appealing to all senses. The most important tool of teaching, in this case, is the story itself, which resembles a lot to the tradition of learning moral lessons from fairytales, except that, instead of mere moral lessons, the MUZZY story teaches vocabulary, communication skills, and grammar acquisition occurs implicitly. The story is not too complex, so it’s easy for comprehension.

Stories are frequently claimed to bring many benefits to young learner classrooms, including language development (Wright 1997; Garvie 1990). The power attributed to stories, which sometimes seems to move towards the mystical and magical, is probably generated by their links into poetics and literature in one direction and to the warmth of early childhood experiences in another. Stories can serve as metaphors for society or for our deepest psyche (Bettelheim 1976 & Cameron, 2005)

Special emphasis on word learning and their function gives the story its authenticity, so every scene/lesson, has its specific linguistic purpose. Therefore, one scene is focusing on learning numbers, the next on fruit, the third on vowels, etc. The storyalso contains easily memorable songs.

One example is the song from Muzzy where Bob and Sylvia run away on Bob’s motorcycle singing a song that, with its rhymes, encourages learning vowels:

A-E-I-O-U, I love you;
A-U-O-I-E, you love me;
A-E-I-U-O, off we go.

I-O-U-E-A, far, far away;
A-U-I-O-E, you love me;
A-E-I-O-U, I love you;
A-E-I-O-U, I love you.

1.2 The multisensory approach of the story

Multisensory learning refers to the type of learning by engaging not only one, but as many senses as possible.

Multisensory learning has its roots in the Multiple Intelligences theory, developed by Howard Gardner in 1983. This theory claims and proves that all students differ in talents.

The learning style movement (Dunn, 1984; Dunn & Dunn, 1989) classifies students according to a preferred way of absorbing and recalling information: auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetics. (Baines, 2008)

Therefore, to appeal to all students regardless of the way they absorb information, it is necessary to use an approach that will appeal to all of their senses.

When I read, I remember 10 percent; when I hear, I remember 20 percent; when I see, I remember 30 percent; when I say, I remember 40 percent; when I do, I remember 50 percent. When I see, hear, say and do, I remember 90 percent(Baines, 2008).

In the program Muzzy, all of the above mentioned are incorporated. There is a script book that the students can read while seeing the video, at the same time listening to the dialogues, monologues and songs from the video. After watching the video and reading the script book, students do what they learn by repeating a scene or singing a song from the video.

From the rich experiences that our senses bring, we construct the ideas, the concepts, the generalizations that give meaning and order to our lives (Dale, 1969).

Teaching learners by appealing only to one of their senses can cause boredom and even stress. When a young learner is exposed to input that is appealing only to his sense of hearing, it might happen that he loses interest after a while because he doesn't see anything visual that might keep his attention or appeal to his sight. The same thing can happen when the situation is vice versa.

An attractive feature of multisensory learning is that the instructional techniques can pique a student's interest so that the desire to get involved can supersede the impulse to sit and do nothing. (Baines, 2008)

2.The application of Muzzy

The story is divided into several lessons, which are completely in the TL. Presentations for engaging students in using the learned words are also included. There isn’t only the audio-visual part, but the text for reading and pronunciation is included as well. The example can be seen in a Video Script Book in English intended for Level 1.

Scene 7

Sylvia: Can I have a peach please, Daddy?

King: Yes. A peach!

Queen: A peach.

Sylvia: Thank you. Can I have a plum and some grapes, please?

King: Yes. A plum and some grapes!

Queen: A plum and some grapes.

Sylvia: Thank you.

Muzzy has initially been presented on VHS and audio cassettes, but nowadays it is modernized and introduced on CDs, and in electronic versions on the Internet.

2.1 The application of Muzzy in young learners’ class

This program has been recommended in many publications, like in an Oxford book “Very young learners”, by Vanessa Reilly and Sheila M. Ward. This book also says that there are certain guidelines in choosing videos to use in classrooms where a foreign language is taught to very young learners, and Muzzy meets all of the given requirements.

Here are some guidelines for choosing a video to use in the English class with very young children:

It should be short (5-10 minutes)

It must have a good storyline

It must be suitable for the age-group

The language should be easy to understand by watching the actions

Think about what activities you could do to help the children understand it, for example acting it out. (Reilly & Ward, 2003)

The authors accentuate that the factor of enjoyment in the video must not be neglected.As the matter of fact, teachers need to pay attention to a couple of crucial things while using this program: students must closely relate to the characters of the story, listen to every lesson several times, and participate in exercises, as well as to repeat the heard words aloud.

Muzzy can be incorporated into the classroom in a number of ways, none of them being ineffective if used properly. Since Muzzy includes a video, it is necessary to use it in the most effective way possible to foster learning.Muzzy can be applied without the book by only using the video.

A wealth of research has substantiated that students prefer watching film to reading books (Baines, 2008a; Cennamo, 1993; Krendl, 1986; Sherry, 2004), largely because they consider viewing to be a much easier task than reading. (Baines, 2008)

However, foreign language can also be taught by using both the video and the book of Muzzy.

Certainly, film does more than text to help students visualize. In fact, sometimes the moving image overwhelms the text. (Baines, 2008)

A specific example of the application of the program Muzzy in teaching a foreign language can be seen in one of the lesson plans for teaching Italian language, provided by the Granite School District:

Pre-activity:

-Select about 10 to 20 vocabulary words /phrases from Part 1 (scenes 1-13), for instance:

English / Italian / Pronunciation
Hi / Ciao / [chow]
Goodbye / Arrivederci / [ah-ree-vuh-dehr-chee]
I am / (Io) sono… / [(yoh) soh-noh]
Yes / sì / [see]
No / no / [noh]

Preview Video Part 1 so that you can hear the vocabulary. Learn “Ciao”.

Core activity and the follow-up

Introduction: Tell students what vocabulary they are going to learn this week [how to greet someone, tell who you are, be polite and numbers 1-10]

-Use pictures to introduce the characters of the Muzzy story. Hold up a picture to your face and say “Io sono (name of character)”. Turn the picture around, look at it, wave and say “Ciao Muzzy.” Have the students repeat for each character. You can always write the characters names on the back of pictures to remind you.

-To learn “sì” and “no”: Hold up the pictures and say “¿Io sono (character)?” not pictured. Start with an obvious one like the king and say “¿Io sono Muzzy”? They’ll say “no”. When you say the correct name with a picture and they say “yes”, say “sì”. Continue through the pictures. You can always put a sticky (cheat- sheet) on the back of picture to tell you what to say for an incorrect name.

-At any time, if you would like to compliment the students on how well they are doing, you could say “molto bene” [mohl-toh beh-neh] (very good)

-Play DVD part one (scenes 1-13) Have the students count on their fingers the number of times they hear “sono” in the first scene (2 min) of the video. You can even stop it and ask for answers. Play the remaining scenes from part one.

-At the end, hold up a character picture, look at it, wave goodbye and say “Arrivederci (character)”.

3. Coping with Issues in Second Language Acquisition

This is, practically, quite a complete program that overcomes barriers related to teaching and learning a foreign language. Program was developed according to the U.S.national foreign languagestandards. According to linguists Susan Gass and Larry Selinker (2008), the causes for such diversity on the acquisition of a second and foreign language are:

Affect
Social distance
Age
Aptitude
Motivation
Personality, learning style and learning strategies

However, the approach of Muzzy is powerful enough to cope with these problems with its unique design.

3.1 The Issue of Affect

Affect refers to a feeling or emotion distinguished from cognition, thought, or action. More clearly stated, an affect is an emotional attitude, reaction or feeling towards a foreign language, native speakers of that language, or the native culture where that language is used as mother tongue.

Language shock refers to the realization that, as a learner, you must seem comical to speakers of the target language whereas culture shock refers to anxiety relating to disorientation from exposure to a new culture. (Gass & Selinker, 2008)

Both language and culture shock influence the acquisition of L2. Affect, thus, influences the second language acquisition to huge extent, since learning in a new uncontrollable situation becomes stressful and in that way often more difficult. However, stress in a form of low level of anxiety can be beneficial.

Affect, from Krashen’s perspective, is intended to include factors such as motivation, attitude, self-confidence, and anxiety. Krashen proposed an Affective Filter. If the Filter is up, input is prevented from passing through; if input is prevented from passing through, there can be no acquisition. If, on the other hand, the Filter is down, or low, and if the input is comprehensible, the input will reach the acquisition device and acquisition will take place. (Gass & Selinker, 2008)

Due to its adjustable content, program Muzzy can appeal to all cultures. It doesn’t cause stress of any kind. The amusing feature of Muzzy doesn’t allow learners to feel stress. The input is clear and comprehensible, and the diversity of activities contribute to motivating a learner, causing positive attitude and feelings towards learning a foreign language.

4.The Issue of Social Distance

Social distance refers to a case in which an L2 learner does not feel affinity to the target language community. This results in a diminished amount of input.The input provided by this program is not likely to be diminished, because it is quite clear. The unassertive way of presenting a culture of the native speakers of a particular language enhances the affinity to the target language community.

4.1The Issue of Age

There exists an Age Differences and the Sensitive Periods controversy in Second Language Acquisition.

Many conclude that children must come into the world endowed with an innate capacity for language acquisition, but a capacity, or various parts thereof, that can only function within one or more “sensitive periods“ before either deteriorating or being lost altogether (Long, 2007).

It is traditionally believed that children acquire an L2 easier than older (post-pubescent) learners. This is known as the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH). This hypothesis claims that there is an age-related point (between years 2 and 12) beyond which plasticity of the brain's left hemisphere declines, and it becomes almost impossible to learn an L2 to the same degree as the native speakers of that language do. Still, not all linguists agree on this. As a result, they came up with a Sensitive Period Hypothesis which predicts sensitivity, but not absolute drop-offs.

The original formulation of the CPH comes from a neurobiologist Eric Lennenberg (1967) who claims that automatic acquisition from mere exposure to a given language seems to disappear after puberty, and foreign languages have to be taught and learned through a conscious and labored effort. Foreign accents cannot be overcome easily after puberty.

The Critical Period Hypothesis is also not an issue here, since Muzzy, although primarily intended for kids, is suitable for all ages (with a couple of divergences in way of acquiring a language).

However, in Muzzy, the Issue of Age is out of question, since here it does not exist. Although it is primarily designed for teaching young learners, it is also adjustable for all ages with and different abilities. This specificity of this program lies in its approach to different ages in different ways.

-The pre-school students learn by imitating scenes and singing songs sung by the Muzzy characters.

-Elementary school students have a more developed ability to learn the presented vocabulary and communication skills.

-High school students mainly use the program to complete their school knowledge in a more relaxed atmosphere.

-Adults mostly use Muzzy to try to recall words and phrases from an already studied language and to enhance their competence in a certain language in a more fun way.

4.2 The Issue of Aptitude

Aptitude refers to a person's potential for learning new knowledge or skills, where a language aptitude generally refers to the potential of learning a language other than the mother tongue. The inexistence of this potential (aptitude) can make the second language acquisition more difficult and might cause the need for more effort in learning.

As already mentioned, Muzzy appeals to learners of different cognitive abilities. It even contributes to faster development of cognitive abilities - this results in brain capacity increasement, inevitably leading to better results at school and other areas of life.