Innovation in Language Learning

Language is a representation of culture and memes are 'gene-like infectious units of culture that spread from person to person' (Dawkins). Researches and experiences have identified the importance of memes as content and tools in academia, especially in English language teaching(ELT). This paper intends to study how memes around Bollywood (the mainstream Hindi film industry) can be used intelligently and effectively for ELT. In India  Bollywood is considered to be one of the most visible representations of Popular Culture . The omnipresence of Bollywood is prominent in social media and most specifically in memes.  Bollywood-themed memes work instantly because of the drama ingrained in them. Such memes have the obvious ingredients - visuals, dialogues, drama, music, lyrics, action and  sentiments for language activities. Such memes become prolific resources in language classrooms in higher education, which is the focus of this study. This research identifies the ways such resources can be best utilized for optimal English Language learning in India. Meme by its very nature has an instant appeal to the youth because of its familiarity and the humorous take on a topic, idea, situation, and personalities. Most Indian students are fed Bollywood content from their very early years. These memes  are representations of Pan-India irrespective of the academic programmes. This would do very well in engaging students from science/technology.management streams, who otherwise display disinterest in Language learning. Bollywood-themed memes are 'fun' and 'entertaining' and hence the 'burden' of learning is removed. Such memes can be used for creative teaching and assignments in English language learning. The paper focuses on language activities like dialogue writing, meme description, text translation, caption writing, mix and match, guided writing and humour/sarcasm/satire. This research intends to expand the horizon of the English Learning environment and and show how appropriating Bollywood theme-based memes  make language learning incidental, less intimidating experiential and effective in India.