Using Movies in the EFL classroom: A Convergent Study of English Education and Movies

Abstract

Exposed to various media and technology resources--from audio to printed material--, students still lack the motivation for learning in the conventional way. This is the main reason why English language teachers always keep searching for more motivating teaching sources. Course books in Engish classes turn out to be artificial and not very engaging for students. One way of bringing variety into the classroom is the use of movies in EFL teaching.BR How can movies improve English learning in EFL classroom? This study investigated on the correlation between viewing movies and effective learning in EFL classroom. A review of the theoretical and research evidence on movies is presented in this paper. The study analyzes the effects of using movies in the EFL classroom. It reveals its effects on developing students’ all literacy skills: listening, speaking, writing and reading skills.BR The study concluded that movies attract students’ attention by presenting English in a more natural way than any of the textbooks. More importantly, movies offer a visual context aids, helping students to understand and improve their literacy skills. The aims of this paper is to promote better understanding of the usefulness of using movies as a teaching tool in the EFL classroom as well as promote language teachers to use movies in their language teaching.