The feasibility of English education through movies, based on literary works

Yoon, Jae Woong

Article

Journal of English Teaching through Movies and Media 2002;3(2):41-63.
Published online December 30, 2002.

The feasibility of English education through movies, based on literary works

Jae Woong Yoon

문학원작의 영화와 문학작품을 통한 영어교육의 가능성 고찰

윤재웅

Abstract

This paper explores the feasibility of English education through movies, based on literary works, in particular, novels and plays. Literary works can be good sources for English education, but these days most Korean students in the English department are turning their backs on the English literature classes. This situation may stem from various reasons, but is mainly due to the indifference of students to literature. They seemingly think that literary works are boring and of no use in the enhancement of their English proficiency. A good way of drawing students' attention to English literature is to assure them that it can meet their practical linguistic needs, plus provide them with interest and fun. Until now, however, many educators have only theoretically enumerated the merits of literary works as English education materials; they seem to have little concern for suggesting effective teaching methodologies or models to make literature classes interesting and helpful for students' linguistic needs. Today, students are generally attracted to multi-media. In this respect, using movies based on literary works in an English literature class can be an effective way to get the students' attention. This will give teachers a chance to show that literary works can be used for English education. Furthermore, student interest may lead to an independent recognition of the value of literary works as English learning materials. This paper suggests a concrete teaching model by which students can improve all four skills. In this model, movies are used to create student interest, literary texts are used for reading and writing, and movie scripts for listening and speaking.