Ivanovo State University

With thanks to my creative students

The aim of the given paper is to demonstrate a non-traditional way of concluding a country studies course, namely, «American Studies». We have been practicing this approach for the past three academic years and it has proved to be an effective way of testing the students’ knowledge of the subject and the level of linguistic and sociocultural competence that they have acquired at the University and became aware of during the one-semester study of the mentioned syllabus.

The idea of this assessment form originated from watching the «Forrest Gump» movie, which looked such an ingenuine (from a teacher’s point of view) conglomerate of American phenomena put so naturally together as if it were meant to be a teaching tool*. The 3^rd year students who have chosen this course as their elective one and diligently studied it were given their final task – to watch a movie, not just for the fun of it but mainly for the sake of trying their hand at finding and correctly interpreting the relevant country-study information that the movie contains.

The results of this case study can be described as follows. Every student from the three participating groups (1998/1999, 1999/2000, 2000/2001 academic years) has come up with a summary of names, facts, and events from various areas of American (US) life accompanied by a substantial commentary. The collected data amounted 153 items (average 41 per paper) that were commented on linguistically (phonetically, etymologically, grammatically, stylistically) and otherwise (historically, geographically, culturally).

The covered entries included (but were not limited to): names of people (Forrest Gump, General Nathan Bedford Forrest, Elvis Presley/«The King», Chet Huntley, President Kennedy/John with his brother Bobby, Governor Wallace, Jesus, Joan Baez, Marilyn Monroe, Bobbie Dylan); places (Savannah, Alabama, Vietnam/Nam, Gettysburg, Normandy, Dallas, Phoenix, Detroit, Cleveland, Hollywood, California, Memphis, Tennessee); organizations, events, other phenomena (ping-pong, the book «Curious George», nurse’s outfit, sidewalk, Ku Klux Klan, I.Q., State Acceptance, anchorman, «Hound Dog», school bus, Christmas, a rebel flag license plate, quarterback, receiver, kick-off, touch down, to integrate/desegregate a school, campus, NBC, Standard Eastern Daylight Time, black-and-white/color footage, dorm, DJ, weatherman, the All-America Team, the Oval Office, Dr. Pepper, students in their caps and gowns, college degree, military recruiter, Uncle Sam, redneck, private Gump, drill sergeant, a Playboy magazine, college sweater, beatnik, the emcee, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WWII, Charlie, hippie); instances of peculiar pronunciation (suppa, naw, niggas, ya, ‘cause, ridin’, I musta drank me, sonabitches); suggestive phrases (with hidden information – allusions, proverbs, etc.) (his back is as crooked as a politician, Jenny and me was like peas and carrots, «You’re in the Army now!», «Run, Forrest! Run!», «Sometime later, for no particular reason, somebody shot that nice young President when he was ridin’ in his car... somebody shot his little brother, too, only he was in a hotel kitchen», «roger», «over»).

We believe that the above given examples clearly illustrate the wide range of phenomena relevant for the linguistic and sociocultural competence of current language students – future language professionals – that they were able to single out from the movie continuum and to comment on from various points of view. The format of the given paper does not allow a more detailed description of the process and/or results, but an interested reader is encouraged to apply for additional information to the author.

* In the present paper, we do not find it possible to discuss the artistic and other merits of the «Forrest Gump» movie.