Dimension

6
Teaching Pragmatics with the Mi Vida Loca Video
Program
Inmaculada Gómez Soler
University of Memphis
Errol M. O’Neill
University of Memphis
Abstract
This exploratory study examines the potentially beneficial role of utilizing an interactive
video program (BBC’s Mi Vida Loca) in aiding second language learners of Spanish
to enhance intercultural competence via pragmatic training. The results of a discourse
completion task shows that students who watched MVL significantly improved their
performance in a series of tasks that are appropriate for a Spanish context such as
ordering food, giving directions, etc., while the control group did not. Based on our findings,
we believe that MVL is a tool that would lend itself readily towards fostering their
intercultural and pragmatic competence to help students prepare for future encounters
with native speakers of Spanish in the U.S. and abroad. Pedagogical implications on
the integration of pragmatic training with authentic native speaker input are discussed.
Keywords: Mi Vida Loca, pragmatic competence, speech acts, videos, discourse completion
task
Background
Many institutions of higher learning have stated that one of their main goals is
to turn students into interculturally competent citizens in order to help them address
the challenges of an increasingly global society. This trend is evidenced in the mission
statements of many universities across the country. For instance, the authors’
own institution, the University of Memphis, highlights as one of its core objectives
“to address the challenges of our global society” (University of Memphis Strategic
Plan: Defining our Future, 2015). The trend is also reflected in the World-readiness
Standards for Learning Languages (National Standards Collaborative Board, 2015),
which state that learners should be able to communicate and interact with cultural
competencein order to participate in multilingual communities at home and
around the world. There are many efforts in which universities engage to help students
develop this type of competence (i.e., the ability to function in an intercultural
and international community, which includes being able to communicate and act ap-