Learning Literature through Media: A Comparative Study of Learning Process through Written and Filmed Literature

Abstract

Literature documents and represents the experiences of human beings in the form of novels, poetry and dramas. These experiences can also be made visual in movies and other enactments. EFL practitioners employ literature to teach English. This study investigated the differences in the learning processes of EFL learners using texts and movies in the Pakistani context. Macbeth and A Passage to India were selected arbitrarily for this study. The data were collected through classroom observations and interviews from Lahore and NUML University Peshawar. The participants were divided into two groups of twenty. The control group used written texts of the literary works, whereas the experimental group was taught through movies of the novel and the play. The study’s findings revealed both positive and negative effects on the learners. The use of text resulted in better writing skills, correct spellings, and sentences but tended to show weak speaking skills with the local pronunciation of English words. On the other hand, watching movies improved the learners’ fluency and pronunciation, but they had spelling and sentence construction problems. Therefore, it is recommended that both written and visual forms of literary works be used concomitantly.