A Research On The Effect Of Watching Chinese Films On The Development Of Language Skills Of Indonesian Learners Of Chinese

After the Reformation the relations between China and Indonesia have been constantly improving. Along with the improvement of the relationship between the two countries, Chinese movies have spread to Indonesia and have already received a welcome from the Indonesian people. Watching Chinese movies is not only a recreational activity, it can also become an alternative way of learning the Chinese language. Movies are a combination of sound, image and language, therefore watching Chinese films can provide Chinese language learners a context close to authentic.The main objective of this research is to find out how helpful to the Indonesian students in terms of the development of language skills watching Chinese movies can be. The paper consists of four chapters, the content includes a report on the results of the research, a report on the results of the survey, analysis of the effect of watching Chinese movies on the development of students’ language skills and reflections on the ways of learning the Chinese language through watching Chinese movies. In order to get reliable data the author conducted a research and interviewed the students of the Maranatha University and Bandung Foreign Language Academy. Having analyzed the results of the research the author found that watching films in Chinese is indeed helpful for developing students’ language skills. Watching films in Chinese can help to develop listening and reading skills, improve students’ spoken language, as well as enrich learners’ vocabulary and develop the independent learning habit.Naturally, it is impossible to get a good result from watching movies randomly. There are two points to be taken into consideration: the first one is how to watch a movie and the second one is what kinds of movies to watch.In the last chapter the author provides four principles of learning Chinese through watching movies as well as lists of recommended Chinese movies for learners of different levels.The author hopes that the results of the research presented in this paper will become in handy to Indonesian students learning Chinese and will help them understand how to improve their Chinese language skills through watching Chinese films.