QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

FINAL PROJECT

Experiences of E.F.L students by using movies as a way to improve

listening comprehension

Professor: Phd Rafael Espinoza

Alonso Bolaños Ocampo

San José
August 2019

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Contents

INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 10

RESEARCH DESIGN .................................................................................................................. 10

POPULATION AND SAMPLE ..................................................................................................... 10

SAMPLING PROCEDURES ........................................................................................................ 10

INSTRUMENTATION................................................................................................................ 11

FIELD TESTING ........................................................................................................................ 11

DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE .............................................................................................. 11

DATA ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................................... 11

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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION

At any E.F.L classroom sometimes we hear our students saying teacher, What

about watching a movie. It is a very common that learners want to watch movies in

class. After this, a very common question come to our minds, and it is Can movies

improve listening comprehension in the classroom? Is it a problem to watch movies

instead of being doing some other useful activates that makes students better

listeners. According to Safranj (2015) “movies are motivating media due to

encompassing various topics and that they are presented with both audio and

visual stimuli”page 1, it means that in movies teachers can find many things to

prepare the learners for being succesfully good listeners. As it is stated by Alabiladi

(2018) “One way that has been used effectively is encouraging language learners

to develop their language competencies through English movies. In fact, much

attention has been given regarding the effectiveness of using media, specifically

English movies, in language teaching and learning.” Acording to Alabiladi (2018)

and stated by Tafani (2009), “the use of English movies as an English learning tool

should be encouraged and implemented by language teachers”

Problem statement

This study is about how English conversational students at in high school perceive

the effectiveness of watching movies as a way to improve listening comprehension

in a E.F.L classroom, it is important for students to improve their listening

comprehension in English and a good way to do it is trough watching movies with

subtitles in English. Other people have researched about it, and have found that

listening comprehension is easy acquired by watching movies in a aim foreign

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language, since it is one of the most important skills that students have to develop.

Movies have become an important tool in the E.F.L classroom because it is

interesting for students, sometimes teachers have many things to covered in a

classroom, and the time is not enough to watch a complete movie, but what about

a homework or a project based on the movie, the thing is that teachers must be

sure that students are going to watch a movie that they really like, in order to have

motivation and make sure that students are going to watch a movie. Another

important aspect in watching movies to improve listening comprehension is that

students individually can choose the movie they like, and it is not going to be

something that they do not like. The topic fits into the real trend because more and

more students have access to movies, not only in their houses but also in their

cellphones, tablets, etc. It means that learners are going to have access to different

types of accents, idioms, slangs and so on.

Purpose statement

The purpose of this statement is to describe students experiences using English

movies to improve listening comprehension in E.F.L learners.

Research question

How do students describe their experiences using English movies as a way to

improve listening comprehension in E.F.L classroom?

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Delimitations

The study included only students who are enrolled in the specialty of Executive for

Center Service in 11th grade in the subject of Oral communication at CTP del Este

in San Miguel de Santo Domingo de Heredia.

Definition of terms

Experience of students refer to how good are the students at listening

comprehension, after being exposed to watching movies during a period of time in

a high school.

Listening comprehension refers to how good is a student to understand a message

in a foreign language.

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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Movies show real life situation, for that reason watching them is an interstesting

tool for teaching listening comprehension. It can also help the students to feel

motivated in learning English language. Safranj 2015

According to Qiu (2017) “Listening plays an important role in language learning,

researchers at home and abroad have been diligently pursuing various approaches

on teaching listening to improve students’ listening proficiency. Among them,

teaching English listening through movies is regarded as one of the effective ways

to fulfill the need”. It is actually one of the best ways for students to improve their

listening comprehension, because learners can feel that they are having fun and

learning both at the same time.

Based on Blasco (2015) page 2 “ Movie experiences act like emotional memories

for developing attitudes and keeping them as reflective reference in the daily

activities and events.” Many experiences in the movies might help learneres in a

daily basis, in order to help them when they have to use a new word, a new

phrases or even a new structure in English. Using movies in a E.F.L classroom is

an effective way to promote reflective attitudes, and link learning trough

experiences. It also help to dislocate emotions and ask questions which is very

important to improve speaking skills in the learners too.

Some learners have problems when reading a story that might have a movie based

on that, and as it is stated by Mathis (n.d.) “Using films in a different way than we

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might have used them in the past, we can change their status from fun reward with

little meaning to incredibly beneficial tool with many uses”, so according to her

when having problems in undertading a book of a story, what about watching tha

movie and improve their listening skills at the same time .

Based on Donaghy (2015) movies are a good resource to improve listening, in fact

language students have been using films in their classes for decades, and some of

the reasons that he pointed are: It is motivating and enjoyable, since motivation in

one of the most important factors that determines the second language acquisition,

it can be said that films are an integral part of learners ‘lives, so it has sense to

bring them into the language classroom, due to its entertainment process. Another

issue mentioned by Donaghy (2015) is that movies provide a source of authentic

and varied language. They give examples of English used in different real

situations outside the classroom, they also provide natural expressions and the

natural flow of speech, so in an foreign language classroom it is very useful for

students to be exposed to a real life language input. Movies can also give a visual

context to learners, it is an invaluable teaching tool because students can interpret

more that understand the language by using visual context, such as body language

or gestures. A film can help teachers with a range of teaching techniques and

recourses, helping the learners to improve and develop all four skills for example

while listening the movie, students can read the subtitles and then write a summary

of the movie and make a presentation about the most important aspects in the film.

According to Wilson (2008) there are some advantages related to the use of

videos like movies and it is that authentic material, with real world information and

something very important is the visual aspect. As it was mentioned before when

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learners are watching a movie they can learn better by seeing the visual stimuli,

there is also an interest of looking at people acting in their natural habitat.

Movies can be also a helpful tool for those with short attentions spans, and for

those who can’t read really well. Based on Wilson (2008) “Videos can also be

controlled”, page 3. It means teachers can pause the videos or movies at any time

in order to dived the movie into usable pieces, so the teacher and also the learners

can easily follow up activities that involves different skills such as speaking and

writing.

As is stated by Pimsamarn (2011) one of the majors reasons in using movies to

improve listening comprehension is that “movies have the power to motivate

people to listen and pay their attention to the target language” . Movies may have a

power that makes students pay attention to the target language, even they are

made for entertainment they are better than the videos made for teaching purposes

that teachers sometimes use in their classrooms. Pimsamarn (2011) said that

“there are also some disadvantages to using movies as a tool to improve listening

skill too. The whole movie alone might not be appropriate for teaching in the

classroom. In that situation, students should be encouraged to participate in

learning activities that are related to the movie. For example, students should be

encouraged to pay attention to the collocations or chunks of language while

watching the movies”. She also mentioned that sometimes the language is too

difficult or too rapid for foreigners because they have some limited linguistic

competences.

“Watching movies without subtitles can be beneficial because the students will be

exposed to real spoken discourse with both linguistic and paralinguistic features.

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Without the written texts, which may cause distractions, the students will have to

pay full attention to both sounds and images in order to understand the story.”

Pimsamarn (2011)

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CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY

Introduction
The aim of the research is describing the experience that students at E.F.L. have

had by using movies in English with subtitles either with native of the foreign

language

Research design
According to Sagor (nd) “it is a disciplined process of inquiry

conducted by and for those taking the action. The primary reason for engaging in

action research is to assist the “actor” in improving and/or refining his or her

actions.” In this kind of research the primary information is gathered from people

who have been enrolled in the process.

Population and sample

The target population of this study includes 10 students who are now enrolled in

the specialty of Executive for service center, in 11th year of a technical high school

with ages rounded between 16 and 18 years.

Sampling procedures
The self-constructed questioners with open questions ask about the subjects

behavior when watching movies. The respondents answer the questions by using

an interview, and all the students in the process are used. The sample used was

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taken because it is important for the major of executive to look for ways to improve

listening comprehension, especially learners who are about to graduate from high

school in the specialty mentioned.

Instrumentation
The purpose of the instrumentation is to gather information related to the use of

movies in order to improve listening comprehension in the E.F.L class, so all the

instrumentations used, such as interviews and observations has been collected

directly from the target population during classes. The instruments are scored by

using strategies such as excel and its formulas

Field testing
A group of teachers from the high school were chosen and they tested the validity

of the instruments.

Data collection procedure

Data collections begins in august 2019. First it is important to decide on what are

the groups that are part of the process, and select the instruments in order to know

what is the purpose of the research

Data analysis
Narrative analysis, by using observations interviews of respondents, and surveys.

The researcher is involved with the group of students who are the population

sample and make them watch movies with subtitles in English and the foreign

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language for a period of a week, also students in the sample have been watching

movies, and are exposed to it during their school experience either in the

classroom or at home. Researcher observes by asking questions about the movie

and pauses the movie, if students are understanding or are reading during the

subtitle session, and them observes the students again during no subtiltes session

with different movies during a week. It is important to explain that students and

researchers have some interviews to listening the description of the students

experience during the sessions, and finally discussing with leaners about the

experiences that they have had, and their opinions about it.

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CHAPTER 4

Analyzing and presenting the Results

REFERENCES

Albiladi, W. S., Abdeen, F. H., & Lincoln, F. (2018). Learning English through

Movies: Adult English Language Learners’ Perceptions. Theory and Practice in

Language Studies, 8(12), 1567. doi:10.17507/tpls.0812.0

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Blasco, P. G., Moreto, G., Blasco, M. G., Levites, M. R., & Janaudis, M. A. (2015).

Education through Movies: Improving teaching skills and fostering reflection among

students and teachers. Journal for Learning through the Arts: A Research Journal

on Arts Integration in Schools and Communities, 11(1). doi:10.21977/d911122357

Donaghy, K. (2014). How can film help you teach or learn English? Retrieved from

https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-can-film-help-you-teach-or-

learn-english

Jiang, Y. (2011). A study on applying english movies and tv programs to teaching

listening comprehension (Order No. 10552067). Available from ProQuest One

Academic. (1874913499). Retrieved from

https://search.proquest.com/docview/1874913499?accountid=3223

Mathis, M. (n.d.). Using Movies to Increase Student Learning. Retrieved from

http://www.teachhub.com/using-movies-increase-student-learnin

Pimsamarn, t. (2011). a survey of students’ opinions on watching English

soundtrack movies to enrich listening skill development (unpublished master's

thesis). language Institute, Thammasat university.

doi:http://digi.library.tu.ac.th/thesis/lg/0644/title-appendices.pdf

Qiu, J. (2017). The Effect of English Movies on College English Listening

Teaching. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 7(11), 1011.

doi:10.17507/tpls.0711.10

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Rodgers, M. P. (n.d.). English language learning through viewing television: An

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Wilson, J. (2008). How to teach listening. Harlow: Pearson/Logman

Sagor, R. (n.d.). Chapter 1. What Is Action Research? Retrieved from

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Research¢.aspx

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