English Screenwriting as an Alternative Medium for Language Learning in a Chinese University EFL Classroom: A Creative Stylistics Approach

This chapter reports a 9-week English as a foreign language screenwriting course that was conducted with 19 English-major students in a state university in China. This qualitative classroom research deploys the theoretical framework of creative stylistics to explore how a second language screenwriting course can feasibly integrate instruction on language forms with guidance on aesthetic writing and the promotion of creative thinking. In particular, the design of the course builds on stylistics and Second Language Acquisition pedagogy’s shared interest in the function of language in context. The primary data that this study focuses on are the weekly English screenwriting submitted by the Chinese students. Through selected excerpts of three focal participants’ English screenwriting, this chapter illustrates the following major themes identified through qualitative coding. First, students’ social knowledge served as a resource for creative thinking and context-sensitive interpretation of language forms. Second, effective phrasing was facilitated by students’ creative deployment of their multicultural literary repertoire. Third, the crafting of subtexts was in close relation with one’s metalinguistic awareness. The findings hold pedagogical implications not only for an English language classroom but also for an English for Academic Purposes classroom where L2 screenwriting may be used as a learning tool.