Wood, David J.

Film Communication Theory and Practice in Teaching English as a Foreign Language

1995 0-7734-8997-5
This study traces the development of film as a vehicle of communication and the factors that make combining video's control with movies so attractive and effective for the millions of non-native English speakers interested in acquiring communicative skills. A detailed rationale is followed by a consideration of film's curricular status, and an overview of typical approaches and support materials so far adopted for use with video. The second half of the book is devoted to the actual use of video movies in the foreign language classroom context, beginning with a typography of relevant teaching techniques for individual scenes. A concluding chapter presents three detailed case studies of how to teach movies in their entirety, based on titles that are both popular with teachers and students and worthwhile enough in themselves to warrant sustained study.

Study of the Birth Imagery of Sylvia Plath, American Poet 1932-1963

1992 0-7734-9489-8
By investigating Plath's maternal experience between 1959 and 1963, its transformation into unique poetic imagery has been elicited through a detailed exegesis of her verse and novel. This is an examination of how maternity helped Plath originate a new faith, style and direction in her writing. Full use is made of the dating of The Collected Poems to rectify previous confusion and omissions, and the vital interaction between her life and art is considered in the light of the available biographic materials, despite their limitations. This work does not, however, limit her work to a single perspective, but synthesizes the soundest elements of diverse critical reaction, at the same time exposing fashionable misconceptions that still distort her art.