Abstract It is argued that learning a language through films is enjoyable, useful and motivating. At the same time, despite being scripted, film dialogues are claimed to mirror authentic conversational language. This paper is aimed at exploring whether films provide useful and interesting instances of spoken language. These can be used in ESL (English as a Second Language) classes in order to foster second language (L2) learners’ communication skills. To this aim, a trial pedagogical intervention was carried out in which students were exposed to film excerpts and prompted to highlight spoken language features and anomalies. In order to foster learners’ noticing and comparing, the dubbed versions of the film excerpts were also addressed. The paper argues that the many instances of authentic colloquial language in film can be exploited in ESL classes. As far as the dubbed versions are concerned, this paper will demonstrate that not all dialogues are dubbed faithfully and many features of spoken language are unfortunately “lost in translation”. Nonetheless, exposing L2 learners to film sequences in both the original and dubbed versions can be useful in order to raise their awareness and foster noticing and comparing.

中文翻译：

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ESL课程电影中的口语特征（和异常）

摘要有人认为，通过电影学习语言是一种愉快，有益和激励的方式。同时，尽管电影对话被编写了脚本，但仍被认为是真实的对话语言。本文旨在探讨电影是否提供有用且有趣的口语实例。这些可以用于ESL（英语作为第二语言）课程中，以培养第二语言（L2）学习者的沟通技巧。为此，我们进行了一项试验性的教学干预，使学生接触到电影节录，并提示他们强调口头语言特征和异常现象。为了促进学习者的注意和比较，还介绍了电影摘录的配音版本。该论文认为，电影中真实口语的许多实例都可以在ESL课程中加以利用。就配音版本而言，本文将证明并非所有对话都是如实配音的，并且不幸的是，口语的许多功能都“失去了翻译”。尽管如此，使二语学习者接触原始和配音版本的电影序列还是有用的，以提高他们的意识并促进注意和比较。