English screenwriting as an alternative medium for language learning in a Chinese university EFL classroom

In recent years, Chinese Second Language Acquisition (SLA) scholars have voiced their strong concerns over Chinese university students’ lack of context-sensitive usage of the English language (Zhang & Zhan, 2020). To address this issue, I have designed and implemented a nine-week English as a foreign language (EFL) screenwriting course in a state university in China. Compared to fictional prose, screenplays rely more on concise and intensive visual descriptions and dialogues to show the social context, characters’ emotional struggles and deeper themes. Such features make screenwriting a valuable medium through which language manipulation can be creatively practiced within a second language (L2) classroom. Therefore, the purpose of this study is twofold: to demonstrate the legitimacy of EFL creative writing courses at the tertial level; and to explore how an integrated EFL screenwriting syllabus can nurture a range of critical skills in the students.