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Article history :
Received 20, November, 2014
Accepted 19, December , 2014
Published 30 December, xx, 2014
Abstract
Because idioms are ubiquitous in the authentic language to which learners are exposed, learners of a second or
foreign language need to possess a good command of idioms and proficiency in idiom use to be able to comprehend
and produce language effectively. A considerable body of research has sought ways to optimize learning and
teaching of idioms. The present study aimed at investigating the effect of using movie clips containing idioms, as
one method of teaching, on the quality of 60 intermediate EFL pupils idiom learning. Oxford Placement Test (OPT)
was implemented to ensure homogeneity of learners in proficiency. All the groups were given two standard idiom
multiple-choice tests, one as the pre-test and the other one as the post-test. In the experimental group, idioms were
taught by displaying movie clips containing the idioms, while the control group followed the traditional class
activities using synonyms and antonyms. The results of both Scheffe Dependent variable Post-test and paired sample
t-test revealed that the participants in the movie clips group had better performance in post-test than in pre-test. This
study has theoretical as well as pedagogical implications in the fields of second/ foreign language teaching and
learning which are discussed.
Keywords: Teaching English Idioms, Multimedia Learning, Technology and
1. Introduction
All languages have phrases or sentences
that cannot be understood literally; even if you know
the meaning of all the words in a phrase and
understand the grammar completely, the meaning of
such phrases may be still confusing or misleading
(Liontas, 2006).Idioms exist in all languages and
they constitute an integral part of the linguistic
system of individuals. The use of idioms is so
widespread that their understanding is essential to
successful communication (Cooper, 1999). A
considerable body of research affirms that a strong
knowledge of idioms will help language learners to
be better speakers and negotiators and they will be
in a better position to use their knowledge in
appropriate contexts (e.g., Alexander, 1987; Cooper,
1998; Fernando, 1996; Fotovatnia & Khaki, 2012;
Gibbs, 1992; Liontas, 2006). Learning idioms has
always been a major problem for foreign language
Language Learning
26
An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Using Movie Clips in Teaching English Language Idioms
by Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki
www.etj.lieee.org
27
An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Using Movie Clips in Teaching English Language Idioms
by Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki
www.etj.lieee.org
2. Methodology
grammatical
points,
appropriateness,
and
inappropriateness of distracters. The rest had twenty
points and the time allotted based on the pilot test
was determined to be thirty minutes. Eventually, the
researcher came up with 20 items, which were used
as the pre-and post-tests. The control group received
no special treatment, but the conventional method of
teaching the idioms using synonyms and antonyms.
The experimental group was exposed to the idioms
through watching movie clips containing the idioms.
Before teaching the new idioms, the previous idioms
were reviewed. The whole project of teaching took
one and a half months. The students, tasks were to
go over the idioms and make themselves ready for
the test at the end of the term. In group A
(experimental group), the same idioms were taught
by showing movie clips containing the idioms.
However, in group B (control group) idioms were
taught only by teaching synonyms and antonyms of
the new words in idioms. To exemplify, two ways of
teaching the idiom "between the devil and the deep
blue sea" are as follow:
2.1. Participants
The participants were 60 intermediate level
EFL students in a foreign language academy in
Kerman, Iran who were subject to random selection.
Participants filled out consent forms prior to
participation in the study. They were all males aged
16 to 20. To homogenize participants with regard to
language proficiency, Oxford Placement Test (OPT)
was used.
2.2. Procedure
In order to make sure about the
homogeneity of the participants in the control and
experimental group and screen the subjects in terms
of their English language proficiency, the OPT
(Allan, 2004) was administered. The test booklet
consists of 200 items including 100 listening items
and 100 grammar items. The participants were asked
to take the test in sixty minutes. The listening section
lasted for about ten minutes and the grammar section
took a maximum of fifty minutes. Following the
matched-pair technique and rating scales of the OPT
level chart, the participants were assigned to two
groups: experimental and control. Each group
included 30 students. Afterwards, 20 similar
students at the same level were chosen for the pilotstudy.
The researcher (see the appendix)
developed a diagnostic achievement test for the
initial and final evaluation. It included 20 idiom
multiple-choice items. It was designed in advance
through a pilot study. Based on the performance of
the participants, the characteristics of the individual
items were determined and some items were revised.
The researcher then used KR-21 formula for
estimating the test reliability. To determine the
validity of the test, the researcher asked experts and
teachers to pass their comments on the content of the
test. Consequently, some items were deleted and
some were modified based on lexical selection,
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An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Using Movie Clips in Teaching English Language Idioms
by Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki
www.etj.lieee.org
Table 1.
Descriptive Statistics of Total Scores on pre-test and post-test for all groups
Pretest Control
Movie clip
Total
Posttest Control
Movie clip
Total
Mean
Std Deviation
Std Error
30
30
60
30
30
60
14.17
14.27
14.22
15.37
16.33
15.85
1.783
1.617
-325
-295
Lower Bound
13.50
13.66
Upper Bound
14.83
14.87
1.426
1.184
-260
-216
14.83
15.89
15.90
16.78
Minimum
Maximum
11
11
11
13
13
13
17
17
17
18
19
19
Table. 2 displays the results of pairedsample statistics for the movie clips group in pretest and post-test:
Table 2, Results of Paired Samples Statistics for Movie Clip Group in pre-test and Post-test
Pair
1
PRE TEST
POST TEST
Mean
Std Deviation
14.27
16.33
1.617
1.184
295
216
29
An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Using Movie Clips in Teaching English Language Idioms
by Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki
www.etj.lieee.org
Table 3.
Results of Paired Samples Tests between Pre-test and Post-test for Movie Clip Group
Paired Differences
Mean
Std Deviation
-2.07
1.048
-191
-2.45
-10.80
Df
29
Table 4.
Multiple comparisons between Groups based on Scheffe Dependent variable Post-test
MD
Std. Error
sig
Upper Bound
-967
343
023
-1.82
-11
967
-343
.23
-11
1.52
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An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Using Movie Clips in Teaching English Language Idioms
by Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki
www.etj.lieee.org
18
16
14
Mean
12
10
Pre test
Post test
6
4
2
0
Control
Movie clip
group
Figure2. Graphic Representation of Comparison between the Means of the Two Groups in pre
and posttest
3. Discussion
Within the field of applied linguistics,
educators should not always try to find direct
application of the research findings to their
pedagogic practices (Widdowson, 1990). Besides,
the previous research findings cannot necessarily be
of help to teachers, because these findings require
reinterpretations and/or accommodations to which
teachers resort based on their own pedagogic
practices.
Informal language and even formal
discourses abound with idiomatic expressions and
that is why a great deal of attention has been paid to
teaching and learning idioms in EFL classrooms.
The purpose of this study was to investigate
the impact of L2 film use on Iranian EFL learners`
idiom learning. The results of data analyses revealed
that movie clips application had positive effect on
L2 students` idiom learning. The results of this study
can be interpreted in light of three theories:
1)
Dual Coding theory of
(Paivio, 1986); which holds that
associating a verbal form with a mental
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An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Using Movie Clips in Teaching English Language Idioms
by Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki
www.etj.lieee.org
32
An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Using Movie Clips in Teaching English Language Idioms
by Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki
www.etj.lieee.org
4. Conclusion
Having an operative repertoire of idiomatic
expressions has long been regarded as one of the
important aspects of foreign language competency.
Due to their vital role in language proficiency,
idioms` instruction has been a subject of research in
educational linguistics and some even argue that
teaching and learning idioms are the most
challenging endeavors in the field of TEFL (e.g.,
Cooper, 1999; Holes & Moulton, 2005; Prodromou,
2003; Sadeghilar, 1993).
This study was conducted to investigate the
effectiveness of using movie clips as one new
method of teaching English idioms. Although many
teachers try to include new teaching methods in their
L2 idiom instruction plans, it seems that
implications of such methods have been overlooked.
Therefore, an attempt has been made
References
Ainworth, S. (2008). How do animations influence
learning? In D. Robinson & G. Schraw
(eds.) Current Perspectives on Cognition,
Learning
and
Instruction.
Recent
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An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Using Movie Clips in Teaching English Language Idioms
by Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki
www.etj.lieee.org
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An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Using Movie Clips in Teaching English Language Idioms
by Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki
www.etj.lieee.org
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An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Using Movie Clips in Teaching English Language Idioms
by Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki