Educational Studies

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Using feature films in language classes

Gölge Seferoğlu

To cite this article: Gölge Seferoğlu (2008) Using feature films in language classes, Educational
Studies, 34:1, 1-9, DOI: 10.1080/03055690701785202

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Educational Studies
Vol. 34, No. 1, February 2008, 1–9

Using feature films in language classes

Gölge Seferoğlu* veg]br[

Faculty of Education, Middle East Technical University, 06531 Ankara, Turkey

This study aimed at finding students’ perspectives on integrating feature films on digital
Educational
10.1080/03055690701785202
CEDS_A_278546.sgm
0305-5698
Original
Taylor
102008
34
GölgeSefero[gbreve]lu
golge@metu.edu.tr
00000February
and
&Article
Francis
(print)/1465-4300
Francis
Studies
2008
Ltd (online)

versatile discs (DVDs) in oral communication classes of advanced English as foreign language
(EFL) learners. A total of 29 students being trained as teachers of English participated in the
study. Data were collected through a survey questionnaire. All participants unanimously
agreed that through films they had the opportunity to learn about how people initiate and
sustain a conversational exchange, and how they negotiate meaning; types of exclamation and
filling expressions; colloquial English in real-life contexts, and non-verbal communication.
Participants also acknowledged that viewing feature films exposed them not only to a wide
range of native speakers, each with their own slang, accents and dialects, but also to a wealth
of contextualised vocabulary expressions and authentic cross-cultural information. The study
suggests that it is possible to exploit feature films in foreign language classes with a wide array
of pedagogical options.
Keywords: educational technology; digital versatile discs; language learning; feature films;
classroom research

Introduction
One of the greatest challenges a teacher of English in an English as a foreign language (EFL)
context faces is that English is not used authentically in the settings in which students live. Thus,
learners do not have many natural opportunities to be exposed to the language or use it in
authentic interaction. It may be easier for learners to have access to authentic materials in printed
form, but the situation is worse when it comes to developing oral comprehension and production
skills. There may be several suggestions to combat this drawback that EFL learners experience.
One suggestion may be to have learners listen to authentic materials on cassettes or video tapes
(Stempleski 1992, 2002).
Feature films, along with other authentic materials, are contextually rich sources of authentic
material which can be exploited in the language classroom. Through films learners see how
people communicate in real life in different conversational contexts since films “help bring the
outside world into the classroom” (Tomalin 1986, 9).
A review of literature on the use of feature films in English language teaching reveals that
films are highly useful resources in the English classroom for a number of ends. It has been
suggested that films can be used to increase students’ critical thinking skills (Eken 2003), their
awareness of pragmatic usage (King 2002) and their motivation (Ryan 1998), and to promote
comprehension-based learning (Swaffar and Vlatten 1997), fluency, etc. Development of new
digital technologies, such as the digital versatile disc (DVD), allows for much greater versatility
in the way feature films can be exploited. Some special features offered on DVD videos include
theatrical trailers, closed captions or subtitles in different languages, added video material such

*Email: golge@metu.edu.tr

ISSN 0305-5698 print/ISSN 1465-4300 online

© 2008 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/03055690701785202
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2 G. Seferoğ lu

as interviews with the director or the actors, documentaries about making of the film, and other
versions of the film with voice-over comments by the director.
Feature films are valuable teaching resources in language classes, especially when there are
few opportunities for exposure to English as used in real-life contexts. As King (2002, 510)
points out:
Learning English through films compensates for many of the shortcomings in the EFL learning expe-
rience by bringing language to life. It is a refreshing learning experience for students who need to take
a break from rote learning of long lists of English vocabulary and sporific drill practices. Their
encounters with realistic situations and exposure to the living language provide a dimension that is
missing in textbook-oriented teaching.
An examination of the use of feature films in language classes reveals that learning English
through film viewing is a fairly new idea. Although feature films present intrinsically motivating
linguistic and extra-linguistic input through a dynamic medium, some may criticise the use of
feature films in the classroom because the dense, idiomatic language of the films may not provide
students with much useful language that can be readily used outside the classroom.
Some researchers argue that there is scant empirical proof to verify effectiveness of using
feature films in language classes. Lin (2002, cited in Katchen 2003), for instance, conducted a
study and found that the experimental group who used DVD films as a teaching material showed
significant improvement over the control group in speaking, but indicated no significant differ-
ence in listening comprehension. In another study, again using DVD films, Katchen (2003) found
no improvements in students’ listening comprehension.
Views on how to make the best use of feature films in language classes vary as well. While
some teachers and researchers suggest that rather than the whole film, short sequences should be
shown and they may be followed by activities which practice and recycle the target language
(Canning-Wilson 2000), others do not advocate this idea on the ground that showing chunks or
sequences presents a danger of diverting the focus from meaning and fluency and losing the
wholeness of the film.

Method
This study aimed at finding students’ reflections on integrating feature films in oral communica-
tion classes of advanced EFL learners at the university level with regard to some specific issues.
A selection of feature films was integrated into the instruction of a freshmen oral communication
course. A total of 29 students enrolled in the course participated in the study. The students were
being trained to be teachers of English.

Research questions
The following research questions guided the research process:
(1) To what extent do the students think integrating feature films in the oral communication
class helped them improve their various language competencies, skills, cultural aware-
ness, appreciation of life/arts, and critical and creative thinking skills?
(2) Do the students find using feature films in English helpful in reaching the objectives of
the oral communication course they took?
(3) In what ways do the students think watching movies and dealing with different aspects of
films (linguistic and extralinguistic) in the classes helped them develop their English?
(4) How much of the content of the vocabulary and pronunciation notebook students have
kept throughout the semester has come from the movies they have watched, as perceived
by the students themselves?
 Educational Studies 3

(5) What was the most beneficial/best part of integrating feature films in the classes?
(6) What was the worst part of integrating feature films in the classes?
(7) What would the students suggest for more effective use of feature films in oral commu-
nication classes?

Instrument
A questionnaire was used to collect data; it consisted of two sections. The first section included
nine open-ended questions that aimed to tap the research questions 2 through 7. The second
section consisted of 12 items to which students needed to respond based on a five-point Likert-
type scale (from strongly agree to strongly disagree). The scale also included a comment section
where students were asked to explain their responses to each of the 12 items in this section. This
aimed to explore the extent to which the students think integrating feature films in their oral
communication class helped them improve their various language competencies, skills, cultural
awareness, appreciation of life/arts, and critical and creative thinking skills.

Procedure
Integration of feature films in this oral communication class involved the following components:
● Previewing activities.
● Viewing the whole film.
● Viewing sheets.
● Vocabularly and pronunciation notebooks.
● Film response journals.
● Collaborative group work.
● Role-play.

Previewing
Before they started watching the film, the students engaged in some previewing activities, includ-
ing guessing what the film was about from its title or keywords, and questions to activate
students’ background knowledge and schemata. Students were also provided with some key
expressions and potentially troublesome words and phrases in order to enhance their comprehen-
sion of the movie.

Viewing the whole film

The whole film as opposed to the short sequence approach was adopted. The students watched
the films in a multimedia language lab which had a computer with a DVD drive and a data projec-
tor. After the previewing activities the students watched the whole films with English subtitles
without taking any break.

Viewing sheets
Students were given viewing sheets that drew their attention to specific scenes and required them
to answer very short questions at certain times while watching the movie.

Vocabulary and pronunciation notebooks

Throughout the whole semester, the students were asked to keep a vocabulary and pronuncia-
tion notebook in which they noted down all newly met words in one section and newly learnt
4 G. Seferoğ lu

pronunciations in a separate section. The students’ task was to filter through all the language
input they were exposed to during the course of the semester in various formats and write down
any newly heard/learnt words, specifying where they came across the word. Some 10% of the
students’ course grade came from the instructor’s evaluation of this notebook.

Film response journals

The students were required to write one journal entry for each film they watched in the course.
The students were provided with guidelines outlining what they should include in their film
response journals. Each entry students wrote included a brief summary of the film, their reac-
tions to the theme, the characters and the audio and visual imagery in the film, and how they
were emotionally touched by the movie. Some specific questions they needed to answer
included:

● Did you learn anything from the movie? Did anything touch you emotionally? What was
it? Write a few sentences about what you thought of the film and what you took away from
viewing it.
● Did all of the events portrayed in the film ring true? Describe the scenes that you found
especially accurate. Which sequences didn’t seem to match reality? Why?
● What did you like best about the movie? What did you like least about the movie? Why?

Collaborative group work

Working with a group of four to six members, students were responsible for preparing a film
presentation. Some 15% of students’ course grade came from this work. The groups chose the
feature film they would be preparing in consultation with the course instructor. The groups
consulted the instructor and showed him/her their activities, discussion outline and questions one
week in advance. The responsibilities of the groups included preparing previewing activities,
watching task sheets, leading the post-viewing discussion and also performing a role-play of a
short segment of the film.

Role-play
As part of the group work that students were required to complete, they selected and studied a
segment of the film to role-play in the class. In this role-play, it was important that group members
worked collaboratively and that each had an equal share.
The researcher presented the first feature film, Dead Poets Society, with the above-mentioned
components in order to model the process, and then the students in groups of four to six prepared
and presented six films throughout the semester.

Data analysis
The questionnaire data from the first section were subjected to content analysis (Miles and
Huberman 1994) based on the framework established through the research questions.
Students’ responses to the second section of the questionnaire were entered into SPSS for
computation of descriptive statistics. The data were coded before its entry into the statistical
package where “strongly agree” was coded as 1, “agree” 2, “neutral” 3, “disagree” 4 and
“strongly disagree” as 5. Means, frequencies and percentages were calculated for each item in
this section.
 Educational Studies 5

Results
Results are presented within the framework established by the research questions. First, findings
obtained from the second section of the questionnaire are given, then students’ responses to the
open-ended items will be discussed.

● To what extent did the students think integrating feature films in the oral communication
class helped them improve their various language competencies, skills, cultural aware-
ness, appreciation of life and arts, and critical and creative thinking skills?
Descriptive statistics displaying means, frequencies and percentages with regard to the extent to
which students believed watching movies in English increased their awareness and helped them
improve various competencies and skills are given in Table 1.
As displayed in the table, a majority of students “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that watching
movies in English helped them to improve their

● awareness about cultural issues and cross-cultural comparisons;

● knowledge of how language is used in different contexts;
● speaking skills and pronunciation;
● listening skills;
● fluency;
● vocabulary;
● understanding and the appreciation of life;
● understanding and the appreciation of the arts;
● critical and creative thinking skills.

Table 1. The extent to which students believed watching movies in English increased their awareness and
helped them improve various competencies and skills.

SA A N D SD
Watching movies in English helped me
to improve my: Mean N % N % N % N % N %

Awareness about cultural issues and 1.7 9 31 18 62 2 7 – – – –

cross-cultural comparisons
Knowledge of how language is used in 1.4 17 59 11 38 1 3 – – – –
different contexts
Speaking skills and pronunciation 1.4 20 70 7 24 1 3 1 3 – –
Listening skills 1.6 14 48 12 42 3 10 – – – –
Fluency 2.1 9 31 10 34 8 28 2 7 – –
Grammar 3.1 2 7 4 14 14 48 8 28 1 3
Vocabulary 1.9 6 21 18 62 5 17 – – – –
Writing 3.2 2 7 1 3 15 52 9 31 2 7
Understanding of the teaching profession 3.3 1 3 8 28 5 17 11 38 4 14
Understanding and appreciation of life 2.2 4 14 17 58 6 21 2 7 – –
Understanding and appreciation of the arts 2.4 3 10 15 52 8 28 3 10 – –
Critical and creative thinking skills 2.1 9 31 11 38 5 17 3 10 1 3

Key: SA: strongly agree; A: agree; N: neutral; D: disagree; SD: strongly disagree.
6 G. Seferoğ lu

However, it seems students believed that using feature films was not particularly helpful in
improving their
● grammar;
● writing;
● understanding of the teaching profession.
About half of the students were “neutral” about films’ positive effect on their grammar and writ-
ing in English, and a considerable number of students (31%, 38% and 52% respectively) believed
that watching films did not help them improve their grammar, writing or understanding of the
teaching profession. The reason for the students’ opinion regarding whether integrating feature
films in the classes helped them improve their understanding of the teaching profession sought in
the questionnaire was twofold. One of the movies they watched, and the one presented by the
course instructor for modelling the presentation process, Dead Poets Society, was very much
related to the teaching profession. The students also had a chance to practise taking the role of the
teacher through the film presentation process in which they chose films to bring to class, prepared
materials and delivered their presentation. Probably because the theme of only one film was
linked to the teaching profession and maybe also as freshmen students who had not yet taken
teaching-related courses, they failed to see a direct link between what they were doing while
preparing/delivering presentations and the teaching profession itself. Thus, more than half of the
students did not think integrating feature films in the classes helped them improve their under-
standing of the teaching profession.

● Did the students find viewing feature films helpful in reaching the objectives of the
English oral communication course they took?
All of the students agreed that viewing feature films was helpful in reaching the objectives of the
English oral communication course they took. Some of their answers were as follows:
If an objective of this course is to teach spoken features of English, by watching films, we hear
English speakers’ speech and pronunciation.
I think it is really helpful to watch films in this course, because the aim of the course is to help us
speak fluently, and by listening we can improve our speaking skills.
Yes, they are very helpful. You hear from native speakers, you get used to colloquial English. You
learn about culture.
Yes, of course. By the help of them, I improved my pronunciation. Also, they make the course really
attractive.
Specific objectives of the oral communication course included the following. Students will be
exposed to:
● a wide range of native speakers (slang, reduced speech, stress, different accents, and
dialects);
● a wealth of contextualised vocabulary expressions;
● authentic cross-cultural information.
Also, students will learn about:
● how people initiate and sustain a conversational exchange;
● how people negotiate meaning;
● non-verbal communication;
● types of exclamation and filling expressions;
● colloquial English in real-life contexts.
 Educational Studies 7

In terms of meeting specific course objectives through watching feature films, all the students
seemed to agree that watching movies helped their exposure to a wide range of native speakers,
each with their own slang, reduced speech, stress, accents and dialects, together with a wealth of
contextualised vocabulary expressions, and authentic cross-cultural information. Furthermore,
students unanimously agreed that through films they had the opportunity to learn about how
people initiate and sustain a conversational exchange, negotiate meaning, together with types of
exclamation and filling expressions, colloquial English in real-life contexts and non-verbal
communication.

● In what ways did the students think watching movies and dealing with different
aspects of films (linguistic and extralinguistic) in the classes helped them develop their
English?
When the questionnaire data were subjected to content analysis, the following areas emerged in
relation to this research question: listening, speaking, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.
Out of 29 students, 26 mentioned that watching films helped them develop their English pronun-
ciation. Two sample answers are given below:
We improved our pronunciation. Native speakers sometimes speak fast and don’t pronounce words
fully or they pronounce them differently, and we became familiar with these.
While watching movies, I realised that I pronounce a lot of words incorrectly, and I learnt the correct
pronunciations.

Some 17 students mentioned that watching films helped them learn new words. One of them said:
You learn words that are used with different connotations.

One student also mentioned that watching films developed her self-esteem and her trust in using
English because she was able to understand what actors said.

● How much of the content of the vocabulary and pronunciation notebooks students kept
throughout the semester came from the movies they had watched, as perceived by the
students themselves?
Students’ responses varied to the question of how much of the content of the vocabulary and
pronunciation notebooks they had kept throughout the semester had come from the movies they
watched. While some students mentioned that almost all of this content came from the feature
films they watched, others said that at most half of the words in their notebooks were derived from
the films. Yet others stated that not a great deal of the content had come from the films because
they concentrated on viewing the films and did not want to interrupt the viewing process by stop-
ping and noting down the words they had noticed; rather, they had tried to acquire the words with-
out conscious attention and effort.

● What was the most beneficial/best part of integrating feature films in the classes?
Agreement was reached in almost all responses regarding the best aspects of using feature films
in the classes. Students believed it most beneficial in improving their listening and speaking
skills. For instance, some students argued that the response journal entry that they needed to write
after viewing each movie took away the fun from the viewing process. Thus, these students
suggested that no tasks be required. Moreover, some students complained that they were
disturbed by some of their classmates who turned on their mobile phones or fell asleep while
watching movies. They suggested that those students should not join the movie viewing sessions.
8 G. Seferoğ lu

Some students stated that they would like to spend more time on each movie after watching it,
and felt the movies could be exploited further.

Conclusion
It is possible to exploit feature films in English language classes with a wide array of pedagogical
options. If nothing else, they provide authentic language input and a stimulating framework for
classroom discussion. In this study, the focus was on meaning and absorbing the living language;
and thus, there was not much conscious analysis of linguistic items. However, especially if short
chunks or sections of movies are viewed, rather than the whole film uninterruptedly, then,
focused analysis of specific vocabulary items or grammatical structures will be possible.
Students who participated in this study stated that using films in the English oral communi-
cation class was a very enjoyable and rewarding learning experience for them. They believed they
not only improved their language competencies and skills, but also learnt many things which may
not be related to language per se. For instance, the films they watched provided a fertile source
not only for language, but also of non-verbal communication and of cultural issues. In this study
students, who were prospective teachers, also developed a better understanding of the teaching
profession through the theme of one of the films. Therefore, the findings of this study suggest that
feature films may provide valuable exposure and learning opportunities for language learners if
used purposefully.
To make the best use of feature films for achieving whatever purpose, it is essential to set
clear tasks, so that students watch with a purpose. It is also important that the teacher does not let
students associate films only with leisure and entertainment, and watch the films passively as
they might watch television. “We do not normally concentrate on such things as the gestures or
other nonverbal signals used by the people on the screen, or listen carefully for the intonation in
their voices”, Stempleski (2002, 365) has pointed out. Therefore, the tasks and classroom proce-
dures should “lead students to an appreciation of video as a valuable tool for language learning”
(Stempleski 2002, 365) and promote active viewing.
Finally, care should be taken in the selection of the feature films, in particular regarding
content; for instance, the needs and proficiency levels of the students should be taken into
account. Students may not otherwise be able to cope with the material, as Stempleski (2002, 364)
highlights:
The teacher plays a key role in the success or failure of any video used in the language classroom.
It is the teacher who selects the video, relates the video to students’ needs, promotes active viewing,
and integrates the video with other areas of the language curriculum. Any video’s chances of achiev-
ing the important goals of motivating students’ interest, providing realistic listening practice, stimu-
lating language use, and heightening students’ awareness of particular language points or other
aspects of communication can be improved or destroyed by the way in which the teacher introduces
the video and the activities which the students carry out in conjunction with viewing.
Therefore, the responsibility for making the film-based lesson a rewarding language learning
experience for the students lies with the teacher. While preparing materials and activities that
integrate feature films into language classes, a principled approach should be taken and the main
purpose of using this authentic material and the objectives of the particular lesson should always
be kept in mind.

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