Whose fault is it? Students’ perceptions towards the American financial system through an English for Specific Purposes class

Abstract

Critical thinking skills are considered a key component of any teaching-learning process. Specifically, in the English for Specific Purposes class, these are important to enhance language skills. In this sense, audiovisual media can play a fundamental role and can be used for their development. Thus, this study aims to analyze students’ perceptions of the American financial system and its influence on the rest of the world with an activity that was designed using a three-phase methodology. The study is framed in the Financial Translation class in which special attention was also paid to oral as well as critical thinking skills. The Netflix documentary used for this purpose was Dirty Money, which deals with different financial issues related to the US economy and its influence in countries around the world. Results show that activities of this kind can contribute dynamically and engagingly to the development of critical thinking skills while enhancing students’ oral competency and the use of specialized terminology at the same time.