The effect of films on listening/watching and speaki̇ng skills in teaching Turkish as a foreign language

The main purpose of this study is to determine the effect of watching films in teaching Turkish as a foreign language on the development of listening/watching and speaking skills of students studying at the Department of Turkish Language at Suez Canal University in junior and senior years. In light of this objective, a research study group consisting of 33 junior and senior students were chosen from the Department of Turkish Language at Suez Canal University in Egypt during the fall semester of 2020-2021 academic year. A "Student Information Form" was used to survey the students' thoughts and feelings regarding Turkish films and television series as inferred from their personal knowledge about the subject. The research was designed and implemented in a descriptive research model with Experimental and Control groups. In the study, different movie segments were shown to students in the Experimental group for a period of 8 weeks, and related exercises and applications on listening/watching and speaking skills were carried out. Whereas in the Control group, the contents of the regular course were taught. At the end of the study period, the data was analysed from both groups where frequency and percentage methods of descriptive statistics were used to analyse the Student Information Form questions. In addition, the answers given by the students in the Experimental group and the Control group to the questions in the texts of the films were turned into a raw score and analysed statistically. This way, the overall scores of students in the Experimental and Control groups who participated in all 8 film scripts were determined. In order to compare students' scores by group and gender and given the number of samples in the groups, the data were analysed using the Mann Whitney U Test, a non-parametric method. In addition, the Kruskal Wallis H Test was used for non-binary variables. In light of the data obtained from this research, it is examined whether the junior and senior students' listening/watching comprehension skills show a significant difference between the Experimental and Control groups. It is noted that the listening/watching comprehension scores for the students of the Experimental group, where the method was applied by watching movies, differed significantly from the scores for the students in the control group, where the traditional method was applied. Furthermore, according to the 8 activities applied to the students in both the Experimental and Control groups in order to measure the skills of comprehension during listening/watching, it was observed that the experimental group students' scores increased as the activities progressed while the performance of the control group deteriorated. When examining whether there was a significant difference in the listening/watching skills of junior and senior students according to their gender, it can be said that there are no differences and that they have the same skills. According to the data obtained from the Student Information Form, when examining the main reasons students watch Turkish films, it is seen that they mostly watch them to improve their Turkish language (63%) and to get to know Turkey and Turks. and Turkish culture (24%). From these results, it may be concluded that Egyptian students mostly to improve their language skills and to get more acquainted with Turkey and the Turks. In addition, according to the Student Information Form results, nearly half the students prefer to watch Turkish films with Arabic subtitles, while nearly 25% of the group prefer watching them without subtitles and the remaining 25% of the group prefer watching them with Turkish subtitles. Considering students' answers to the film genres they prefer, one observes that the most preferred genres among Egyptian students were drama, romance, and comedy respectively. Moreover, based on the answers provided by the students to the Student Information Form, it was found that 72.5% of the respondents said that watching films or television series significantly affects their Turkish language skills. Among the 33 students who answered the Student Information Form, it was revealed that watching films contributed the most to listening/watching skills development and secondly to speaking skills. According to the results obtained in this research, short and long films, television series, cartoon and animation films, and documentaries, must be used as an educational material inside and outside the classroom for the development of listening/watching and speaking skills because they turn the content into an accessible visual and audible live state. Further, the results suggest that the use of films with similar themes to those found in the course books inside and outside the classroom is needed. Finally, in the field of teaching foreign language, when it comes to benefitting from short and long films, television series, cartoon and animation films, and documentaries, it is of paramount importance to pay close attention to the contents of the text itself.