an investigation on the effectiveness of using movie clips in teaching english language idioms

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An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Using Movie Clips in Teaching English Language Idioms

by Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki

An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Using Movie Clips in Teaching

English Language Idioms

Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki, English Department, Faculty of Foreign Languages

and Literatures, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Because idioms are ubiquitous in the authentic language to which learners are exposed, learners of a second or

foreign language need to possess a good command of idioms and proficiency in idiom use to be able to comprehend

and produce language effectively. A considerable body of research has sought ways to optimize learning and

teaching of idioms. The present study aimed at investigating the effect of using movie clips containing idioms, as

one method of teaching, on the quality of 60 intermediate EFL pupils’ idiom learning. Oxford Placement Test (OPT)

was implemented to ensure homogeneity of learners in proficiency. All the groups were given two standard idiom

multiple-choice tests, one as the pre-test and the other one as the post-test. In the experimental group, idioms were

taught by displaying movie clips containing the idioms, while the control group followed the traditional class

activities using synonyms and antonyms. The results of both Scheffe Dependent variable Post-test and paired sample

t-test revealed that the participants in the movie clips group had better performance in post-test than in pre-test. This

study has theoretical as well as pedagogical implications in the fields of second/ foreign language teaching and

learning which are discussed.

Keywords: Teaching English Idioms, Multimedia Learning, Technology and Language Learning

1. Introduction

All languages have phrases or sentences

that cannot be understood literally; even if you know

the meaning of all the words in a phrase and

understand the grammar completely, the meaning of

such phrases may be still confusing or misleading

(Liontas, 2006).Idioms exist in all languages and

they constitute an integral part of the linguistic

system of individuals. The use of idioms is so

widespread that their understanding is essential to

successful communication (Cooper, 1999). A

considerable body of research affirms that a strong

knowledge of idioms will help language learners to

be better speakers and negotiators and they will be

in a better position to use their knowledge in

appropriate contexts (e.g., Alexander, 1987; Cooper,

1998; Fernando, 1996; Fotovatnia & Khaki, 2012;

Gibbs, 1992; Liontas, 2006). Learning idioms has

always been a major problem for foreign language

learners. Any foreign language learner should know

that idioms are essential and their misunderstanding

leads to a feeling of insecurity (Dixon, 1994).

The assimilation of idiom instruction

strategies into the lesson plans of language teachers

seems to be indispensable ;however, the process

might be challenging or ineffective for some

learners or teachers because it does not serve to the

attainment of final educational objectives (Wu,

2003). Hence, the type of activities and how they are

reflected in the classroom are found as the most

important aspects that decide the success of using

idioms within and outside the classroom (Guo,

2007). The answer of whether knowing only the

literal meaning of the idioms will enable language

learners to extend that literal meaning to figurative

sense in general reading is yet to be known.

English movies can be assistive for

effective EFL/ESL idiom instruction because they

Article history :

Received 20, November, 2014

Accepted 19, December , 2014

Published 30 December, xx, 2014

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27



embody the notion that a story wants to be told rather

than a lesson needs to be taught. Plus, they are such

valuable and rich resources for teaching because

they present colloquial English in real life contexts

rather than an artificial situation providing an

opportunity for exposure to different native speaker

voices, slangs, reduced speeches, stress, accents, and

dialects, (Stempleski, 2000).

Movie clips and films offer endless

opportunities of sound activities for development of

fluency. The key to using films and movies

effectively mainly lies in the teacher's ability to

prepare students to receive the films` message. Some

reasons for the use of movies in language instruction

are (Ainworth, 2008; Hoffler & Leutner 2007;

Schnotz & Rasch, 2005):

Movies are motivating and they help ease

the cognitive load whereby learners can

form mental images of the presented

materials more comfortably

They enable learners to perform parallel

cognitive processing by providing

additional information that cannot be

displayed through static pictures.

They help learners build a dynamic mental

representation by providing through

external support for simulating the

behavior of the system depicted.

Cognitive theory of multimedia learning

(CTML) decides the theoretical framework for the

present study. Mayer’s CTML states that:

"words and pictures presented to the learner

via a multimedia presentation are

processed along two separate, non-

conflicting channels: they enter the sensory

memory through the ears and eyes; words

and images are actively selected by the

learner from the sensory memory and enter

the working memory where they are

organized into a verbal model and a

pictorial model; each channel can process

only a few ‘chunks’ of information at a

given time in working memory; the two

models are then integrated with prior

knowledge retrieved from long-term

memory; this integration occurs within the

working memory following each

segmented portion of instruction offered to

the learner in the multimedia presentation"

(Mayer, 2001, p. 27).

Figure 1. Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer, 2008)

Iranian students and pupils from many

other developing countries who study English as a

foreign language do not have sufficient exposure to

authentic materials in their schools to become

proficient enough to use idioms fluently (Sadeghilar,

1993).

Very few studies have been conducted to

investigate the direct effectiveness of using films

and movie clips on idiom learning in English




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language classrooms (Ghaderi & Afshinfar, 2014;

Khoshniat & Dowlatabadi, 2014; Sadeghilar, 1993).

The main concern of this study is to investigate the

immediate effect of using English movies on idiom

learning of a group of intermediate EFL learners.

Therefore, the answer to the following research

question will lead the study:

To what extent watching English movie clips does

facilitate idiom learning among EFL Learners?

Serving this purpose, the effect of applying movie

clips was examined on the experimental groups

2. Methodology

2.1. Participants

The participants were 60 intermediate level

EFL students in a foreign language academy in

Kerman, Iran who were subject to random selection.

Participants filled out consent forms prior to

participation in the study. They were all males aged

16 to 20. To homogenize participants with regard to

language proficiency, Oxford Placement Test (OPT)

was used.

2.2. Procedure

In order to make sure about the

homogeneity of the participants in the control and

experimental group and screen the subjects in terms

of their English language proficiency, the OPT

(Allan, 2004) was administered. The test booklet

consists of 200 items including 100 listening items

and 100 grammar items. The participants were asked

to take the test in sixty minutes. The listening section

lasted for about ten minutes and the grammar section

took a maximum of fifty minutes. Following the

matched-pair technique and rating scales of the OPT

level chart, the participants were assigned to two

groups: experimental and control. Each group

included 30 students. Afterwards, 20 similar

students at the same level were chosen for the pilot-

study.

The researcher (see the appendix)

developed a diagnostic achievement test for the

initial and final evaluation. It included 20 idiom

multiple-choice items. It was designed in advance

through a pilot study. Based on the performance of

the participants, the characteristics of the individual

items were determined and some items were revised.

The researcher then used KR-21 formula for

estimating the test reliability. To determine the

validity of the test, the researcher asked experts and

teachers to pass their comments on the content of the

test. Consequently, some items were deleted and

some were modified based on lexical selection,

grammatical points, appropriateness, and

inappropriateness of distracters. The rest had twenty

points and the time allotted based on the pilot test

was determined to be thirty minutes. Eventually, the

researcher came up with 20 items, which were used

as the pre-and post-tests. The control group received

no special treatment, but the conventional method of

teaching the idioms using synonyms and antonyms.

The experimental group was exposed to the idioms

through watching movie clips containing the idioms.

Before teaching the new idioms, the previous idioms

were reviewed. The whole project of teaching took

one and a half months. The students, tasks were to

go over the idioms and make themselves ready for

the test at the end of the term. In group A

(experimental group), the same idioms were taught

by showing movie clips containing the idioms.

However, in group B (control group) idioms were

taught only by teaching synonyms and antonyms of

the new words in idioms. To exemplify, two ways of

teaching the idiom "between the devil and the deep

blue sea" are as follow:

Group A: For this group at first the idioms

were taught by using the movie clips. The students

were shown a movie clip that contained the idiom

'between the devil and the dark blue sea'. The

students watched the clip two or three times in a

language lab in order to get the meaning. Then, the

researcher asked the students to write the text on a

piece of paper. At the end, the students were asked

some questions about the conversations in the movie

clip to check their understanding of the idioms.

Group B: In this group, the researcher

taught only the figurative meaning by providing a

synonym for the idiom – to be in a difficult situation

and then he wrote an example on the board. e.g.,:

David had an important final test last week and his

father was terribly sick, in fact he was between the

devil and the dark blue sea. The purpose of giving

this example was to make students familiar with the

way this idiom can be used in different situations.




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The idioms were chosen based on the

students` level of proficiency, culture, religion,

interest, motivation, and practical feasibility. The

final test, which was the post-test of the study,

consisted of twenty multiple-choice items. For every

item, a situation could be completed by just one

idiom out of the four idioms given in each item. The

pre-test was conducted to gauge participants` idiom

knowledge prior to the study, and the post-test was

used to screen the effectiveness if idiom teaching on

participants, idiom learning. The participants had 20

minutes to answer the items. The time given in this

test was based upon the result of the pilot study.

2.3. Data Analysis

A paired-sample t-test was run due to the

fact that the data were collected from a group of

students on two different occasions. The t-test

assesses whether the means of two groups are

statistically different from each other. This analysis

is appropriate to compare the means of two groups,

and especially appropriate as the analysis for the

post test- only two groups randomized experimental

design. For multiple comparisons between Groups,

Scheffe Dependent variable Post-test was used. 2.4.

Results

The descriptive statistics of the participants`

performance on the pre-test and post-test were

calculated and are presented in table 1

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics of Total Scores on pre-test and post-test for all groups N Mean Std Deviation Std Error 95% Confidence interval for Mean Minimum Maximum

-325 -295

Lower Bound Upper Bound

Pretest Control

Movie clip Total

30

30 60

14.17

14.27 14.22

1.783

1.617

13.50

13.66

14.83

14.87

11

11 11

17

17 17

Posttest Control

Movie clip Total

30

30 60

15.37

16.33 15.85

1.426

1.184

-260

-216

14.83

15.89

15.90

16.78

13

13 13

18

19 19

Table. 2 displays the results of paired-

sample statistics for the movie clips group in pre-

test and post-test:

Table 2, Results of Paired Samples Statistics for Movie Clip Group in pre-test and Post-test Mean Std Deviation Std Error Mean

Pair PRE TEST

1 POST TEST

14.27

16.33

1.617

1.184

295

216

As this table shows, the mean score of the

movie clip group has increased from pre-test (14.27)

to post-test (16.33). There is a significant difference

between the two means, so using movie clips

containing the idioms has played an important role

in learning idioms.

Table 3. shows the results of the paired

samples t-test between pre-test and post-test for the

movie clip group.




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Table 3.

Results of Paired Samples Tests between Pre-test and Post-test for Movie Clip Group

Pair PRE TEST

1 POST TEST

Paired Differences f Df

Mean Std Deviation Std Error Mean 95% Confidence interval

of the Difference

-10.80

29 -2.07

1.048 -191 -2.45

As table 3 shows, there is significant

difference between participant performance from

pre-test to post-test, t(29) = 10.80, p= .000.

Therefore, from paired samples statistics, it can be

concluded that using movie clips has had positive

effect on L2 learner’s idiom learning.

In the last step, all groups have been

compared with one another by using a post hoc

Scheffe test. This test is a method for

adjusting significance levels in a linear

regression analysis to account for multiple

comparisons. Table 4 represents the results of this

analysis.

Table 4.

Multiple comparisons between Groups based on Scheffe Dependent variable Post-test MD Std. Error sig 95% Confidence interval

Lower Bound Upper Bound

Control Movie clip

-967 343 023 -1.82 -11

Movie clip Control 967 -343 .23 -11 1.52

The results presented in table 4 shows that

movie clips group and the control groups are

significantly different. Based on the results provided

by tables 1 and 4 it can be concluded that mean score

of movie clips group was more than the control

group and in light of statistical analysis, the

difference was significant (sig.= .02), so applying

movie clips in teaching idioms was more effective

than the conventional technique. Based on the

comparisons made between the movie clips and the

control group, it is obvious that movie clips have

significant impact on the effectiveness of learning

idioms. Thus, the referential statistics also

confirmed the descriptive findings mentioned

previously. The comparison between the mean

scores of two groups in pre-test and post-test are also

represented graphically in figure 2.




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Figure2. Graphic Representation of Comparison between the Means of the Two Groups in pre

and posttest

3. Discussion

Within the field of applied linguistics,

educators should not always try to find direct

application of the research findings to their

pedagogic practices (Widdowson, 1990). Besides,

the previous research findings cannot necessarily be

of help to teachers, because these findings require

reinterpretations and/or accommodations to which

teachers resort based on their own pedagogic

practices.

Informal language and even formal

discourses abound with idiomatic expressions and

that is why a great deal of attention has been paid to

teaching and learning idioms in EFL classrooms.

The purpose of this study was to investigate

the impact of L2 film use on Iranian EFL learners`

idiom learning. The results of data analyses revealed

that movie clips application had positive effect on

L2 students` idiom learning. The results of this study

can be interpreted in light of three theories:

1) Dual Coding theory of

(Paivio, 1986); which holds that

associating a verbal form with a mental

image will facilitate recollection. The

researcher believes that informing the

students of the literal, original usage of an

idiom would call up a mental image of a

concrete scene, which could then be stored

in memory alongside the verbal form, as

recommended by Dual Coding Theory.

2) Cognitive Linguistics

(Langacker, 1988), and more specifically

Cognitive Semantics (Lakoff, 1987); the

central point of which is that language is

not arbitrary but rather ‘motivated’. It

means that, while the lexical make-up and

meaning of idioms is not fully predictable,

it can nonetheless often be ‘explained’ in

retrospect. For example, the figurative

meaning of many idioms can often be

inferred from its original, literal usage (like

'up in the arms'). This ‘motivated’ nature of

many idioms needs deep learning.

3) Level-of-Processing

Theory (Craik and Lockhart, 1972) which

holds that information that is processed at a

deep cognitive level through investing

cognitive effort in making associations is

better retained in memory than information

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Control Movie clip

Mean

group

Pre test

Post test




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that is processed at a more shallow level

through rote learning or blind

memorization. The researchers were

convinced that inviting their students to

invest cognitive effort first in trying to trace

back the idioms to their source domains

and subsequently in trying to infer the

figurative meaning of the idioms from their

original, literal usage would promote deep

processing and thus retention in memory.

There is almost a complete lack of literature

to be discussed aligned with the present findings.

Among very few studies, the results of this study can

be compared with those of other studies that have

examined the effect of other methods on L2 learners`

vocabulary learning. For example, regarding the

research question, the results of this study are in tune

with those of Secules et al., (1992). In their study,

which was conducted on L1 learners, they used

video films and movie clips in order to enhance the

learner’s vocabulary and idiomatic structures. By

analyzing the collected data, they concluded that, by

using video films and instructional movie clips, the

participants made progress in their vocabulary and

idiomatic structures. Tabatabaei and Gahroei (2011)

showed the effective role of movie clips in idiom

teaching and learning. Chun and Plass (1996) assert

that if words and idioms are presented along with

actual objects or imagery techniques such as pictures

and videos, higher degree of absorption and

retention is achievable.

Since idioms are figurative expressions that

do not mean what they literally state and since they

are so frequent in spoken and written discourse,

understanding and producing idioms present L2

learners with a special vocabulary learning problem

(Cooper,1998). Therefore, for second language

learners to become more fluent in the target

language, just a good command of grammar and

vocabulary is not enough. Idioms reflect the

language used daily by the native speakers of the

target language. Prodromou (2003) claimed that, in

the past, teachers relied heavily on grammar and

dictionaries to help them teach, but these were not

based on naturally occurring language. Liontas

(2002) argues that idioms should be introduced to

learners as early as possible along with other aspects

of semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistic, culture

and conventions of discourse. He also notes that

idioms should not be separated from other aspects of

learning a language. In short, idioms should be

integrated in to the language curriculum right from

the beginning. The phenomenon of EFL learning is

consistent with both linguistic theory and learning

theory. Different researchers have used different

approaches to deal with the matter of learning a

foreign language. Some linguists like Palmer (1933)

have recognized the ‘pull of mother tongue’ in the

process of learning the language and some linguists

like Chomsky (1965) gave the new claim of the

existence of ‘universal grammar. The results of this

study are proof for two other theories of language.

The first theory is cognitive semantic

theory (Lakoff, 1987) the central part of which is

that language is not arbitrary, but rather ‘motivated’.

If we consider idioms in this theory, it means that,

although the meaning of idioms is not fully

predictable, it can often be understood by

mentioning the real story behind them or using

movie clips including the idioms and they are not so

vague and arbitrary as they seemed at first look.

The second theory dealt with in this paper

is the ‘level of proficiency’ theory (Craik &

Lockhart, 1972). This theory asserts that

information which is processed at a deep cognitive

level, for example through knowing more

information about the motivational story behind

idioms, is better learned and retained in memory

than information which is processed at a shallow

level, for example through rote learning and

memorizing the idiomatic meaning of idioms.

In real pedagogical practice, Widdowson

(1990) asserts the teacher’s role in mediating

between theory and practice. Part of this mediating

role could be the implications teachers draw from

theory or research findings. The present study could

also have a number of implications in foreign

language learning contexts especially institutes. The

finding of this study can address a number of key

issues in the way practitioners, teachers, and

educators handle the question of how idioms can be

learned and taught more effectively. The results are

especially of great value to teachers in Iran, who

despite devoting much time to idiom teaching are

usually faced with students` complaints of having

problems in learning idioms. Teachers may also

familiarize their students with various methods and

encourage them to read and use idioms in their




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studies. The results of this study can be illuminating

for instructors who want to add variety in their work

by teaching idioms to their students. The common

institutes in Iran do not have time for extra activities.

Because of their nature, idioms can be a good subject

for extra activities in special institutes.

4. Conclusion

Having an operative repertoire of idiomatic

expressions has long been regarded as one of the

important aspects of foreign language competency.

Due to their vital role in language proficiency,

idioms` instruction has been a subject of research in

educational linguistics and some even argue that

teaching and learning idioms are the most

challenging endeavors in the field of TEFL (e.g.,

Cooper, 1999; Holes & Moulton, 2005; Prodromou,

2003; Sadeghilar, 1993).

This study was conducted to investigate the

effectiveness of using movie clips as one new

method of teaching English idioms. Although many

teachers try to include new teaching methods in their

L2 idiom instruction plans, it seems that

implications of such methods have been overlooked.

Therefore, an attempt has been made

in this study to investigate the effect of one

such method, namely, implementation of movie

clips, for the idiom learning of Iranian EFL learners.

The results of data analyses revealed

that movie clips` application had positive effect on

L2 students` idiom learning. The findings of this

study can help students to increase the rate of idiom

learning in a more effective way

The results of this study may be of

benefit to EFL teachers, testers, and students. The

finding may encourage teachers to revise their

methods on teaching idioms and change their

viewpoints in favor of memorizing idioms. In this

way, they may try to incorporate new teaching

techniques such as applying movie clips in their

practice

5. Implications for Further Research

Since few studies have been carried out on

the notion of impact of using movie clips on teaching

idioms, and its influence on EFL students` language

ability, as a step beyond, further research can be

conducted to see if there is any significant difference

in idiom comprehension and production between

EFL males and female students. Another fodder for

research can be the investigation of different

approaches for teaching idioms in general and the

most effective ways to develop idiomatic

competence in EFL students in particular. It would

also be very striking to do a similar research, but for

two different levels, such as intermediate and

advanced, and to compare the results.

Another interesting area of inquiry could be

the investigation of the processes of learning the

idiom. Do the students refer to their mother tongue

to understand them?

Classifying the idiom according to their

theme and teaching based on this classification can

also be a good subject for investigation.

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an investigation on the effectiveness of using movie clips in teaching english language idioms

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