Movie and learning about culture: Focused on nouns

Yoon, Jae Woong

Article

Journal of English Teaching through Movies and Media 2008;9(2):65-85.
Published online December 30, 2008.

Movie and learning about culture: Focused on nouns

Jae Woong Yoon

영화와 문화교육

윤재웅

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to suggest a model English language class to teach students about culture using English language movies. Culture is recognized more and more as an important part of language education. In using movies to teach students about culture, the matter of how to use movies and what should be taught has been left up to teachers. This study will propose a method where teachers focus on interesting their students in nouns which are often the bearers of cultural values. In a class model intended to generate interest in nouns, students were shown movie segments spoken in English with Korean subtitles. They were found to become more and more interested in learning about culture if they happened to find nouns that expressed cultural values or ideas different from their own values or ideas. To measure the efficiency of this model class, a questionnaire was administered to 60 learners. The results of the study showed that learners recognized the existence of a deep connection between nouns and culture. In addition, the results indicate that viewing English language movies with Korean subtitles can lead to students' autonomous vocabulary learning.

Key Words: cultural value;culture learning;noun