TITLE:
The Effects of Movies on the Affective Filter and English Acquisition of Low-Achieving English Learners
AUTHORS:
Pavithran Ravinthra Nath, Maslawati Mohamad, Hamidah Yamat
KEYWORDS:
Acquisition, Anxiety, Motivation, Movies, Out-of-Class, Self-Confidence
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.8 No.8,
July
26,
2017
ABSTRACT:
This paper reports on the effects of movies on the acquisition of English language
among students at a tertiary institution in Malaysia. In this study,
“out-of-class” activities are leisure activities that students do outside classroom
setting and watching movie is one example. The study aims to examine
the effects of movies on the students’ Affective Filter (i.e. motivation, anxiety,
and self-confidence). The Affective Filter is a mental block that prevents language
learners from being receptive towards comprehensible language input,
thereby disrupting their acquisition process. In order for smoother acquisition
to occur, the block needs to be lowered and one of the ways in achieving this
is through out-of-class activities. The study also aims to examine the influence
of movies on the students’ English acquisition process. The participants of this
study were low-achieving students. Data were collected through Facebook
group discussions, participants’ reflective notes and focus group interviews in
this qualitative research. The findings of this study reveal that students’ Affective
Filter level is slightly lowered which allowed them to acquire new language
skills namely vocabulary and pronunciation knowledge. From the findings,
English teachers should consider utilizing movies as a learning tool. Students