A Study on the Roles of Proper Names in English Education Using Movies

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how L2 (second language) learners recognize and utilize proper names when they are instructed. Proper names have been researched linguistically but have not been considered as the research subject of second language acquisition. In addition to encyclopedic knowledge that includes cultural information, proper names facilitate the association of narrative contents with language forms. Based on Hoey’s theory of lexical priming [1], this maximizes the retention of language forms, and helps with the understanding of pragmatic contexts. This case study of three students shows the educational value of proper names in the field of English education using movies. The study consisted of an oral memorization test and a written test about proper names followed by an oral interview about the participants’ experiences of proper names. The results show that learning proper names can help with memorization, suggesting it would be promising to teach encyclopedic information in the classroom through proper names. The results further indicate that the participants understood the importance of proper names in remembering a storyline and as a valuable aid for memorization. The participants subconsciously used proper names as primes which gave salience to the target utterances, such salience contributed to the participants’ successful memorization.