University Students’ Perceptions about the Impact of Movies on Learning English as a Foreign Language

The aim of this study is to examine English language learners’ attitudes towards acquiring the language through watching English films. The study took place in the Eastern Mediterranean University at the English Language Teaching Department in Northern Cyprus. 80 undergraduate students volunteered to participate in the study. This study will identify if the learners believe that watching English movies would help them to acquire the English language in general and, in particular, and to improve their different types of skills, which are categorized into two types in this study: receptive skills (listening and reading) and productive skills (speaking and writing). Furthermore, it investigates to what extent participants can comprehend the differences between their culture and the English culture that is demonstrated in the movies. The study follows a mixed methods research in which a quantitative questionnaire of 22 items and a qualitative semi-structured interview were administered to the learners. The learners’ perceptions about the impact of watching English movies on their English language acquisition were positive in general. However, as far as the English language skills are concerned, they perceived them variably. Moreover, the cultural feedback that the movies are supposed to provide for the students with did not reach their level of expectations.