Effect Of Movie-Directed English Corner On English Learning

Out-of-class English Activities are the places where English learners can use what they've learned into practice, so as to strengthen their comprehensive English application ability. A lot of self-initiated or organized out-of-class activities have boomed on university campuses. Two most popular ones are watching authentic English movies and English corner. But the defects of both have hindered learners to reach their English learning goal to some degree. Based on that, the present study introduced an innovative activity in a Chinese university-Movie-Directed English Corner, meant to compensate each other, so as to help English learners improve their oral English and comprehensive English application ability in a more effective and efficient way. Based on the input and output theories, motivation theory, cooperative learning, the study conducted an investigation into the Corner of its effect on English learner and attempted to answer the following questions.1) Will this integrated approach (Movie-Directed English Corner) help learners improve their 5 English skills, i.e. English listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating skills?2) Besides the five English skills, does the Movie-Directed English Corner have an effective impact on the learners'improvement of critical thinking and being culturally/socially correct in using English?3) What benefits can each party of English learners (i.e. the mass attendees and the high level English speakers as discussion leaders) obtain through taking part in movie-directly English corner?4) What kinds of movies work well in generating good discussions? Both qualitative and quantitative methods are adopted in the present study. Two questionnaires were administered to 91 freshman English majors, who have participated regularly in the Movie-Directed English Corner of Foreign Languages College in the University. Interviews were also conducted among participants and organizers to get the insights of all the parties that were involved in the activity. Results of this study show that 1) Movie-Directed English Corner has a major positive impact on the participants'English speaking, listening and translating skills, but relatively less such impact on writing and reading; 2) Movie-Directed English Corner can stimulate the enhancement of English learners'ability of critical thinking and being culturally/socially correct to a large degree. 3) As for the participants, the Movie-Directed English Corner not only has helped them improve their English, but also has a positive impact on their lives. Meanwhile, the discussion leaders have improved their ability both in English critical thinking and leadership and management. 4) The key feature of a movie that can lead to good discussions is that it has a strong story and a strong development of the story.Meanwhile, the study also shows that there are some challenges the Movie-Directed English Corner is facing, which are discussion leaders'ability to balance the time allocated to each group member, how to maintain the freshness and creativity of discussion topics, and the scale of the activity.