USING FILMS IN THE EFL CLASSROOM TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF THE YOUNG LEARNERS

By:

Widya Rahmawati

1504072033

There are many factors that influence students’ communication ability in English. They has many problems in using English as their daily communication especially in school. Some problems which often faced by the students are lazyness to use English, lack of motivation and the limitation of their vocabulary mastery. One of the problems that non-native English language learners face is the lack of interaction in the language at home, school, or neighbourhood; which is generally understood to boost language learning through providing the necessary lan-guage input for spoken language learning (Bahrani & Tam, 2012).

Films can help on all counts. This is due in part to the fact that films use language so extensively in performing their cultural work. Narrative films in particular use language to advance plot, define characters, establish mood, and simply tell us what is going on.Language plays a crucial role in connecting and rationalizing the various other forms of visual and sound information that make up film experience. Insofar as realism is the dominant style of a film, its language approximates language use in real life, thereby demonstrating practical application.

The Definition of Film

Films are a shift from the conventional and offer students realistic learning environments (Sherman, 2003). Films are a fun way for students to relax/unwind and learn all at the same time. Films are a useful means for students to listen to authentic spoken communication and be exposed to various features of spoken communication, such as vocabulary, pronunciation, voice modulation, accent, speech pace, tone etc (Webb, 2010). Films are ideas, and the films best suited for the purpose of teaching language challenge students to examine all aspects of their personal, social, and cultural lives (Stewart: 2006)

HOW TO USE FILMS IN THE ESL CLASSROOM?

There are various ways to teach English to second language learners with the help of films. Students learn a lan-guage uniquely, according to their own specific learning abilities. While students develop learning abilities in different ways, the majority of students are visual learners and films are an ideal means for acquiring a second language. It is inevit-able that films present language in a manner that is often more natural than that found in course-books, the visual con-text improves understanding and enhances listening, and students just simply love them.

Films can be introduced in a language classroom as an English learning aid. There are many techniques employed to introduce a film to students. Films are effective means for learning a language, as long as students are presented with a variety of visual and relevant contexts in a movie. English teachers can use the film to expose the students to the four language skills; listening, while watching the movie and reading, writing and speaking in later tasks/activities after the film has been watched.

THINGS NEEDED TO PRESENT A FILM IN THE CLASSROOM

·      A movie (fiction, drama, cartoon, documentary, etc.)

·      Laptop or desktop computer

·      Movie projector

·      Speakers

FILMS GIVE A VISUAL CONTEXT

The “visuality” of films makes it a valuable language teaching tool, facilitating learners to learn better by interpreting the language in a complete visual context (Long, 2003). Films aid the learners‟ comprehension by enabling them to listen to language exchanges and see such visual supports as facial expressions and gestures simultaneously (Gruba, 2006). These visual clues support the verbal message and provide a focus of attention.

SUITABLE FILMS FOR THE EFL CLASSROOM

Before showing the film to students, it is essential that teachers select a film that is in line with the areas they're attempting to teach, to ensure that the students can connect the film content to the subject areas taught in the classroom. Make an effort to use films whose content material is popular. There are many films whose content is reliable and well suited for all ages and cultures. However, a number of contemporary films, which have popular content, but in some cases may have explicit and unsuitable scenes related to crime, sex, violence, death etc within them. Teachers should refrain from using these kinds of films.

References

Bahrani, T., & Tam, S. S. (2012). Audiovisual news, cartoons, and films as authentic language input and language profi-ciency development. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 11(4), 56-64.

Gruba, P. (2006). Playing the videotext: A media literacy perspective on video-mediated L2 listening. Language Learning and Technology, 10(2), 77-92.

Long, Q. (2003). A study of teaching English listening and speaking through films. Media in Foreign Language Instruction, 3, 1-10.

Sherman, J. (2003). Using authentic video in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Stewart, David M. (2006). Film English: Using Films to Teach English. Electronic Journal of English Education 24

Webb, S. (2010). A corpus driven study of the potential for vocabulary learning through watching movies. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 15(4), 497-519. 

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