The purpose of this thesis is to develop practical teaching methods of using English movies for students who learn English as a foreign language and to interest and motivate them to improve their English communicative competence such as their listenin...
The purpose of this thesis is to develop practical teaching methods of using English movies for students who learn English as a foreign language and to interest and motivate them to improve their English communicative competence such as their listening and speaking abilities.
It is also designed to study the effects of movies as an English-learning material, the attitude of learners toward movies and English-learning and the advantages of using movies in learning English.
In this thesis, “The Truman Show”is used as an example to suggest effective teaching methods. Specifically, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone”and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”are used to develop teaching methods for improving the students' listening and speaking abilities. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone”and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”are especially good for the most interesting educational effects due to be originally being based on popular novels. Additionally these movies are good because learners can easily understand the cultural background of the language because the main setting is the school that is familiar to the learners. This activates a learners' sense of empathy and improves their ambiguity tolerance which is one of the important factors in foreign language learning.
In order to effectively use movie materials, I classified the teaching-learning plans for improving listening and speaking abilities by using six stages and suggested at each stage teaching ideas and classroom activities as an example using one part of a movie. In listening activities, they are divided into i) the instruction of background knowledge, ii) the instruction of key words and useful expressions, iii) listening to find the answers for T/F questions, iv) listening to find the answers for essay questions, v) dictation for key words, and vi) dictation for useful expressions. In speaking activities, they are divided into i) the instruction of background knowledge, ii) guessing, iii) practicing pronunciation, stress, and intonation, iv) role play through pair work, v) role play through group work, and vi) discussion.
Commercially produced movies are effective tools for teaching English.
Using movies in an English classroom technically offers a direct route for the development of listening and speaking skills. First, the pronunciation and live expression of native speakers could make learners improve their listening comprehension abilities. Second, learners could be encouraged by situationally adopting the roles for their speaking ability.
In addition, using movies for teaching English has a lot of advantages.
First, English movies can make learners enjoy themselves and more than pay greater attention while studying English. Secondly, English movies can also offer an opportunity for learners to see native speakers interacting with each other in real circumstances Thirdly, English movies can be a link towards a culture that sustains the expression of the language. Finally, a good movie can provide a self-contained world with language expressed in a visual context.
In short, this thesis concludes that appropriate movie materials used in English classes can improve a student's listening and speaking ability including self-confidence, motivation, and an interest in English. As noted above, movie material has a great potential as a means for teaching English. We can use it in various ways according to the educational purposes. Especially, the teacher is in a position to exploit this rich resource by making the story and its language comprehensible to the learners in various ways. So, teachers must grasp the tendency of the learners' interest in English in movie and use the appropriate movie materials according to the situation in order to maximize the effect of using movies in English classes. Finally, I hope that teachers recognize the potential of movies as teaching material and try to use it actively to help learners not only to induce interest but also to develop communicative competence.