Resumo

BRUNI, Antonio. Selection of Films in Teaching a Foreign Language from an Intercultural Perspective. Núcleo [online]. 2008, vol.20, n.25, pp.37-60. ISSN 0798-9784.

The aim of this article is to help language teachers choose films effectively, in order to use them in their teaching process. For this, first a bibliographical research on the importance of films in language teaching was carried out, with particular emphasis on  cultural  aspects. This  research  was  conducted  mostly  with  Italian  texts  and materials; however, the  results  can  be  applied  to  any  foreign  language  teaching  context. Then, the criteria that should help choose a movie were established. These criteria refer to the public -age, cultural background and linguistic proficiency- and to the movie -topic, intercultural problems, setting (space and time) and type of language used. Finally, a movie was chosen to be used with second year students of  Italian  at  the  School  of  Modern  Languages  of  the  Universidad  Central  de Venezuela, following the criteria outlined before. It is concluded that films are an important means to spread a language and a culture, and also, that in order to fully exploit their potential, a language teacher needs to follow some criteria for a rational and effective choice.

Palavras-chave : films; didactics; Italian; interculturality; applied linguistics.