Liz Walton

Professor Jan Rieman

English 1103

March 17th, 2011

Inquiry Research Proposal: Preliminary Draft

My current working inquiry question is as follows: How does the combination of film

and text in a class allow for student growth in analytical skills and enhance the student’s writing

skills, as well as their ability to easily recognize textual elements in a film? (I feel that the

last section of that question is too vague to understand without further

explanation, but am unable to explain further without making the question

much too long.) My structure and even the idea behind what I’m trying to find has definitely

evolved, but the basis for the question (does film affect writing?) has remained the same

throughout. My initial interest in the idea that film might affect writing was sparked at the very

beginning of the project. One of the options that we had discussed for the structure of the final

product was the ability to make it into a short film clip. Ideas began to come up all around the

room but here was my line of thought: ‘Since the topic of the paper could be film,’ I wondered to

myself, ‘I could create a film at the end just to cause a reason for film to affect the writing of my

peers, providing additional information into the existing argument.” My goal for this piece was

to make something creative that got people involved in the argument I was explaining.

The creation and mode of the final project wasn’t the only reason I wanted to study this. I

also have a personal reason to find this research interesting. I’m currently enrolled in a class that

uses film as the primary resource. I wanted to know if there were any differences in the way

Professor Gwyn, the teacher of said class, taught his students in this class and the way he might
have taught students in a primarily text-based class. Finding this out is one of the main courses of

research that I’m going to follow throughout this project. First, let me address the process that I

came through to get to the inquiry question I have now.

I began the inquiry process hoping to find out if professors would ever be open to making

films the sole reference material for courses. I wanted to know if learning through films was

different then learning from textbooks and how students would be affected by the transition.

Through further research I found that a switch was unreasonable and would be detrimental rather

than beneficial to any kind of learning. Discarding literature entirely would have a devastating

effect on our learning process and would, in my opinion, reduce our intelligence over time. I

went on to revise my question to see if a combination of text and film would provide a better

outcome. I also wanted to research how the analysis styles differ from text to film, in both

professors and students writing styles. “Does the structure of a class that uses film differ from

that of an all-text class?” and “What writing style is used most often in classes of this type?”

were questions that arose from the research on that question. I’m hoping that the interview I have

planned later on with Professor Gywn will be able to answer these.

My recent research is leading me more towards how film and literature can be combined

to provide a more media-rich and interactive environment. My findings have shown that, aside

from technical film classes, only a few types of courses have articles concerning using film in the

classroom. From these courses, language arts classes have the most material on the subject and

have already been interspersing clips of films to help the students analyze textbooks. One of the

main resources I have on the subject was written by John Golden, an English professor in

Portland. His insight in ‘Reading in the Dark’ has been essential to my project. Some of his

writing seems to suggest that film, when used correctly, can enhance students ability to analyze
text, recognize literary elements, recognize personal connections to text as well as film, and also

create richer and more complex literature themselves (2001, p. xiv, 43, 82, 95). From that it’s

simple to deduct that film must have an affect on the classroom and students writing style.

History professors have also been known to use films during class as well. Some professors, like

Donald Mattheisen, do have an active search for the right way to structure and teach a class that

uses films extensively (1-3).

I’ve found several sources that support the combination of film and text, but so far none

of the material that I’ve found has shown opposition to this teaching style. In addition to the

previously mentioned texts, my future research will involve interviews with professors and

students alike to gain a closer opinion on the topic. However, the form that this end research will

take is still unclear. The possibility of a short clip surmising my research is still an option, but the

amount of information collected might not allow something so brief to explain it fully. If I were

to pursue the short clip option, I’m not sure what the mood should be, or how it should be

structured. I could record the interviews and and have them as the main material. In addition to

that, there could be silent portions where the viewer is forced to read quick insights to make a

point about film and text. As you can see, this is the portion of the project that I am most unsure

about. I know where I want to go with this but at the moment I have no idea how to get there. In

writing this collection of thoughts, I hope to gain an adequate portrayal of where I am in the

process and provide a bit of clarity to where I might end up.

Works Cited
 Golden, John. Reading in the Dark: Using Film as a Tool in the English

Classroom. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 2001. Print.

Mattheisen, Donald. "Finding the Right Film for the History Classroom." Perspectives

Online 27.9 (1989): 1-3. Web. 17 Mar 2011.