The Second Language (l2) Learning With Movies

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There has been very little research on second language (L2) learning with movies. This is surprising because learners are motivated to learn language through watching movies (Chappie and Curtis 2000; King 2002; Colwell and Ipince Braschi 2006), and movies may be a valuable source of L2 aural input in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context, where there may be relatively few opportunities to improve L2 listening skills. L2 movies with English lan?guage soundtracks are often shown on Pandora Jewelry television and in theatres and are available for rental or purchase in many countries where English is not the first language (LI).

Although there does not appear to be any data on the amount of time that L2 learners watch movies, Gieve and Clark (2005) found that both European and Chinese learners were more likely to try to learn independently through watching films than through extensive reading, and Ding (2007, p. 275) found that among the participants in his study, all eight of the prize winners in national level speech contests in China 'regarded ...
... watching English movies and television series as one of the most effective ways of improving their English'. The reason for the lack of research on movies might be because the vocabulary in movies is too difficult for some learners to understand, and that until recently movie scripts have been relatively difficult to obtain and analyze. Whether or not film is used for language learning may depend on whether or not learners have the receptive vocabulary size sufficient to comprehend the vocabulary in L2 movies. Teachers are unlikely to use L2 movies in the classroom and encourage learners to watch L2 movies outside of the classroom if they are not sure whether learners will be able to understand movies. Studies which discuss approaches to teaching with Jewelry Store movies report that it is important to use movies that are at the appropriate level for learners (King 2002; Colwell and Ipince Braschi 2006); however, there is currently no research which indicates for which level of learners movies are appropriate. Moreover, different movies may have different lexical demands with movies from some genres being more difficult to understand than movies from other genres. Establishing the vocabulary size necessary to watch different types of movies would help teachers to determine which students should be able to understand movies and which students may not be ready to learn with movies. This would allow teachers to use film effectively in the classroom and may encourage learners to start using movies outside of the classroom for language learning.

The aim of this study is to determine the lexical coverage of movies. Coverage refers to the percentage of known words in discourse and is a valuable measure because it may indicate the vocabulary size necessary to understand a text as well as to incidentally learn words in the text. It is particularly important to know the vocabulary needed for comprehension because learners are unlikely to watch L2 movies if they cannot understand them and watching movies which are too demanding may discourage learners from using movies for language learning. Determining the vocabulary size necessary to understand movies may provide both teachers and learners with a vocabulary learning goal, which when reached, would allow movies to become a valuable source of L2 aural input.