A study of the effect of teaching English emotive expressions found in movies on the development of college students' language ability

Im, Mi Jin

Article

Journal of English Teaching through Movies and Media 2008;9(1):163-190.
Published online June 30, 2008.

A study of the effect of teaching English emotive expressions found in movies on the development of college students' language ability

Mi Jin Im

영화에 나타난 영어 감정표현 교수 및 효과에 관한 연구

임미진

Abstract

This article studies the effectiveness of a syllabus and textbook focusing on expressing degrees of emotion with emotive modifiers found in two movies, Parent Trap and The Last Holiday. 287 University students studying English participated in the research. They were divided into an experimental and a control group. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected: questionnaires before and after the experiment, an achievement test and selected student interviews with a native English speaker. Discourse analysis was employed for student interviews with the native speaker. Results from the achievement test taken in the classroom showed that using a syllabus and textbook based on these movies can enhance students' ability to memorize and present emotive expressions with modifiers because of the connection of their meanings to visual images and their contexts in the movies. From the questionnaires, students in the experimental group presented a positive attitude toward learning how to express their feelings with emotive modifiers. Discourse analysis of data from interviews showed evidence of improvement in communicative competence in real communication.

Key Words: English emotive expressions;speaking ability;movies