EFL competence enhancement in an educational technology setting through cinema: Innovation learning

Abstract

Despite Saudi Arabia's substantial investment in English and Science education to enhance future generations' global competitiveness, listening skills challenge many Saudi learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Most language courses at Saudi universities rely heavily on textbooks and sometimes use limited, non-film-based audio-visual support. This study examined the effects of including English feature films as teaching resources for sophomore English majors (N = 40) at Qassim University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It evaluated learner perceptions of the introduced methodology and materials. It measured the experiment's success through pretest and posttest to accurately measure EFL learners' listening skills. The results indicated significant improvement and learner engagement through film-based instruction as the literary texts were deemed difficult given their length and the variety of their language use.