Film and streaming media as resources in English teaching

Abstract: This study regards the role of film and streaming media in English
teaching. The aim of the study is to look at how film and streaming media
can be seen as resources in teaching and also find out how teachers use and
regard film and streaming media in education. Seven secondary and upper
secondary school teachers of English were interviewed for the study. The
results of this study suggest that film can be regarded as a resource in
teaching for several reasons. According to the interviewed teachers,
a “film experience” is regarded as a powerful tool for starting a
discussion or introducing a theme. The use of film can also benefit
students with different learning styles. The interviewed teachers also
expressed that film offers authentic target language input. It is also
likely that students’ positive perception of film in teaching has effects
on language learning since motivation and attitudes, according to research,
affect language acquisition. The results also suggest that teachers
generally are positive to the use of film in education and believe that
students can learn many things from audio-visual media. The interviewed
teachers use film in their teaching in several ways and point out that, in
this context, the role of the teacher is very important.