THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FILM AS A PEDAGOGICAL TOOL IN ESL CONTEXT: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY BY MADHULIKA SAXENA Supervised By DR. S. UPENDRAN Center for Media and Communication C.LE.F.L, Hyderabad. A Dissertation submitted in the partial fulfillment for the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY in English Language Teaching Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages Hyderabad-500 007 July 2007ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This is the time to remember and express my gratitude to all those who helped and encouraged me to complete this work. Lowe a great deal to my supervisor Prof. S. Upendran, for his guidance, insistence on perfection and his immense patience with my constant questioning and slow pace. Without his support and friendliness this thesis would have never been possible. “Thank you Sir, for being so approachable and helping me in times of distress.” Dr. Shruti Sircar for being there whenever I needed her. Will always be indebted to her for her care and concern like a teacher, friend and sometimes like an elder sister. “Mam, you are a source of inspiration in my life” I would also like to thank Dr. Geetha Durairajan, Prof.G. Rajgopal, Prof. Paul Gunashekhar and Dr.Anand Mahanand for their interest and constant inquiry about my work. Thanks to Leena, for helping me with the designing of tasks for my data collection and for providing important readings at times. Sincere gratitude to Prof. Z.N. Patil and Dr. Prema Kumari to allow me to teach on the ITP program as a part of my study and for all the other help that they offered during that one month. I express my eamest gratitude to Dr. N. Satish, the deputy librarian for making all the books available that I had requested for. Krishna, Srinivas and Satyanarayana for always being ready to find out any book or journal which I could not locate. Heartfelt thanks to all my informants who spared time out of their busy schedules to let me interview them.Special thanks to: Babu, Jenny and faizy, thanks for being my home...away from home. Faizy — another attempt to woo you- ‘Please marry me!* Nisha, my cry baby...for her unconditional love and the never ending chit-chat sessions. Vipin Sir for instilling the dream to do an M.Phil, and for all that he has taught me and Veena for her care and love. My old friends Ragini, Preeti, Papia, Jaishree, Shilpi, Dipti, Paromita, Sarvanan, Sharad, Phillip and Baquer for always being there. .. never short of friends because of all of you... Sarathi, Sajida, Satish and Madhu for being there in times of distress. Maya mam for all the dosas, I have had in her house. Nikhil for proof reading my thesis; and also for his nonsensical humour and the hindi bonding we shared. Samata, Viju and Shafeeq for making my last days at ciefl so wonderful... A bunch of siblings- the ever confused lot. Viju, my torrent master...because of whom I saw so many telugu, tamil and Malayalam films. Janani, for whom good food is the cure for all the worries. Will never forget her rasam and sambhar ... you are an amazing cook...just avoid coconut in pulav... Rajesh, Abhilash, Ashley, Kirti, Jobin, Vidya, Anubha, Gautam, Jafar, Shamsu, Durga....1 cannot imagine my stay at CIEFL without you. Ravi for all the Jam sessions and for always being my dance partner.