Student Perceptions toward the Use of Media for Extensive Study Purposes

This study explores student interest in and familiarity with English media as well as student perceptions regarding its difficulty and usefulness. Furthermore, this study explores whether there are significant differences between learners in regards to gender and selfreported English proficiency. In total, 167 students taking English class at a university in South Korea participated in this study. Participants were asked to complete a 5point Likert scale survey regarding their perceptions about English media viewership. Statistical analyses showed that there is strong correlation between student interest and familiarity with English media. Furthermore, the participants find slang, speed of speech, and media viewership without subtitles to be more difficult than the content, grammar and cultural references in media. In terms of learner differences, females were more familiar with online streaming services, and less proficient students were found to have higher perceptions of difficulty of media. Several pedagogical implications are presented based on the findings of the study.

http://dx.doi.org/10.17936/pkelt.2020.32.3.2

Student Perceptions toward the Use of Media for Extensive

Study Purposes

Devin Michael Strome

(Busan National University of Education)

Received on April 8, 2020

Reviewed on August 26, 2020

Accepted on September 18, 2020

Applicable Levels: tertiary education

extensive learning, English education, media extensive viewing, incidental language learning

Abstract

Strome, Devin Michael (2020) Student perceptions toward the use of media for extensive

study purposes English Language Teaching, 32(3), 21-45

This study explores student interest in and familiarity with English media as well as student perceptions regarding its difficulty and usefulness Furthermore, this study explores whether there are significant differences between learners in regards to gender and self-reported English proficiency In total, 167 students taking English class at a university in South Korea participated

in this study Participants were asked to complete a 5-point Likert scale survey regarding their perceptions about English media viewership Statistical analyses showed that there is strong correlation between student interest and familiarity with English media Furthermore, the participants find slang, speed of speech, and media viewership without subtitles to be more difficult than the content, grammar and cultural references in media In terms of learner differences, females were more familiar with online streaming services, and less proficient students were found to have higher perceptions of difficulty of media Several pedagogical implications are presented based on the findings of the study (155 words)

I INTRODUCTION

Learning a language is a monumental task that requires tremendous amounts of time and energy Despite receiving years of language instruction, students feel they fall short when they leave the classroom and need to use the target language in authentic circumstances For this reason, in order for students to attain communicative competence in a foreign language, learning must extend past

 Busan National University of Education/Visiting professor

the classroom as most language learning environments, especially EFL contexts, do not provide students with sufficient exposure to language input This necessitates the use of extensive learning

as an integral part of any language learning program (Krashen, 1982; Nation & Yamamoto, 2012; West, 1955)

Researchers and practitioners have recognized the need for extensive learning as a part of

a language program and have primarily looked to extensive reading In fact, there has been a wealth of research supporting the role that extensive learning plays in the building of a language learner’s lexicon and grammar Primarily a proponent of reading as an important input source, Krashen (Krashen, 1982; Krashen & Selinger, 1975) and others (Nagy, Herman,

& Anderson, 1985; Pigada & Schmitt, 2006) have demonstrated the importance of extensive learning in maximizing learner outcomes Alongside the emergence of corpus-based research and leveled readers, reading has received the most attention over the years as it is relatively easy to create opportunities for extensive learning by producing and adapting books to the level of the learner

When compared to the utilization of reading as a source of language input for language learners, however, the use of media viewing as a form of extensive learning has not received

as much attention English media is often too difficult for learners It can be difficult to cope with the speed of media (whereas reading can be done at a speed comfortable for the learner), and attempts to adapt or produce media for language learners would be a costly effort Furthermore, the use of movies and television is often seen as a form of entertainment rather than a language learning tool

Despite the inherent difficulty of using media for language learning, it is important that students are exposed to authentic language Tomlinson and Masuhara (2018, p 31), for example, argues against “overprotecting” learners from authentic texts since learners need to be prepared for the

“reality” of language use Viewing is a useful modality to accomplish this since it is often interesting and provides visuals that are capable of aiding comprehension Authentic language also offers learners opportunities to measure their ability, recognize where they fall short, and set the target of what they hope to achieve in their language learning

While research has demonstrated the benefits of media viewership (Abrams, 2014; Etamadi, 2012; Webb & Rodgers, 2009), the emergence of online movie and television streaming services has provided easier access to English media for both students and teachers

An increase in budgets and competition between these online media services has increased the quality and affordability of a potentially valuable source of input of authentic English content The phenomenon of the growing popularity of online streaming services has entered into the English vernacular as words such as ‘binge’ have ushered in a new type of media viewer While authentic English media may still prove too difficult for many learners, these services often provide tools to combat these difficulties such as subtitling, speed adjustment,

and playback options It is essential that teachers and students take advantage of this input in order to increase language learning motivation as well as to ensure that extensive learning takes place

It is clear that students are engaged in media viewing, but little is known about how the increase in online media content has affected their attitudes toward media, and whether individual learner differences affect these attitudes Due to the recent emergence of streaming media platforms that have slowly made their way onto the computers and then televisions in EFL environments, more should be learned about student perceptions toward this new form

of viewing This current research aims to provide insight into Korean students’ perceptions toward English media viewing in terms of their interest level, their familiarity with available online streaming services, as well as their views toward the potential benefits of viewing English media and its difficulties Furthermore, this study will explore how students’ perceptions are affected by their gender and proficiency in English The results of this investigation will hopefully provide teachers with insights into the potential role that they can play in facilitating student viewing of media and motivating students to use movies as a form of extensive learning to supplement the lack of exposure to authentic English input in their daily lives

II LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Extensive Learning

Due to time constraints, Nation (2014) shows us that the language classroom would most likely not support the amount of input necessary for preparing students for the challenges that authentic situations and texts present The EFL context further exacerbates this problem as learners have few opportunities to extend what they learn in the classroom to real-life contexts Renandya (2007) suggests that a lack of suitable input is a major factor that holds back language learners whereas “children learning their mother tongue are constantly flooded with oral as well as written language input” (p 134) Thus, extensive learning has the potential to provide valuable supplementation of input to any language program

The limits of the classroom have led researchers to consider extensive learning for students

as a supplementation of their regular language learning programs For this reason, in light of Nation’s (1996) four strands of a well-balanced language program, Nation and Yamamoto

(2012, p 171) argue that as a part of the meaning focused input strand, extensive learning

should make up 7/32s of course time and that a “reasonable proportion” of this time should

be spent on reading outside of class It is important for students to be partaking in extensive

learning outside of class because most classroom environments, due to an already full curriculum, are likely to make extensive learning impossible during class time

Reading as a form of extensive learning has received the most attention throughout the years, and several benefits have been demonstrated in research Constantino, Lee, Cho, and Krashen’s (1997) study found that the amount of free reading and number of books read were predictors for TOEFL scores In Renandya, Rajan, and Jacobs’ (1999) study, the amount of free reading students did was found to be a significant predictor of gain scores on a test of reading Furthermore, studies have found that free reading has a positive impact on reading comprehension (De’Ath, 2001; Lituanas, Jacobs, &, Renandya, 2001; Robb & Susser, 1989), and tests of reading and writing ability (Hafiz & Tudor, 1989)

Research has also suggested that there is potential for students to be intrinsically motivated

to practice extensive learning West (1955, p 7) states, “If we can ensure that every child who begins to study a foreign language shall, at the end of two years, be able to derive pleasure from reading it, we shall have ensured that no child who begins a foreign language will ever, in the future, be able to regret it afterwards as a waste of time.” Similarly, Krashen prioritizes enjoyment in extensive learning by emphasizing the importance of motivation, self-confidence and low-anxiety when reading (Krashen, 1982)

2 Extensive Viewing of Media

Another form of extensive learning that has received increased attention over the past decade is extensive viewing of media Several studies have found that extensive viewing is a strong motivational force for learning (Bada & Okan, 2000; Chapple & Curtis, 2000; Williams & Lutes, 2007), and that students have positive attitudes toward the utilization of extensive viewing of media for language learning (Ismaeli, 2013; Kabooha, 2016) Furthermore, studies have found evidence of language learning through the utilization of media for learning vocabulary (Ina, 2014; Rice & Woodsmall, 1988; Rodgers, 2013), improving listening skills and listening comprehension (Qiu, 2017; Sanfranj, 2016), attaining sociopragmatic knowledge (Abrams, 2014), and raising cultural awareness (Kim, 2006) The viewing of media is likely to have a positive impact on a variety of language skills, and the supplementation of extensive viewing to any language program is likely to have a positive impact on language ability

Media viewing has the potential to provide several benefits in developing the language learner The primary modality of communication for the majority of authentic language use

is through speaking and listening rather than through reading and writing Thus, media viewing has the potential to prepare learners for skills necessary for communication Viewing

of English media is also a highly motivating form of input that has the potential to

demonstrate authentic language in use English movies and TV shows can provide several benefits such as listening practice and accent familiarity (Etamadi, 2012), favorable conditions for incidental grammar and vocabulary acquisition (Webb & Rodgers, 2009), and the opportunity to learn sociopragmatic functions of language in use (Abrams, 2014) Furthermore, Ellis (2006, p 102) posits that meaning-focused learning provides opportunities for learners to have an “extensive treatment of grammatical problems.” In other words, language learned explicitly in the classroom can be reinforced when it is encountered outside

of the classroom during media viewing

Several studies have been conducted that have found that learners are motivated to learn using English media The participants of Chapple and Curtis’s (2000) study reported enhanced enjoyment from the utilization of media during class time Similarly, Bada and Okan’s (2000) study reported that the majority of students (83.8) and teachers (82.6) enjoy using media for language learning This study is particularly impressive considering that students and teachers both have a similar perspective toward the enjoyment of media for learning language

Research has also demonstrated that students are capable of learning language incidentally through watching media extensively Participants in Rodgers’ (2013) study were able learn

an average of six new vocabulary words after watching seven hours of television Furthermore, Ina (2014) reported that fourth, fifth, and sixth grade Greek students were able

to learn vocabulary incidentally from watching subtitled English media, and Kuppens (2010) found that Dutch learners who reported frequently watching subtitled English media scored higher on both Dutch to English and English to Dutch translation tests

While research has demonstrated the language benefits of extensive viewing, studies have suggested that individual differences, such as gender and proficiency, may also play a role in learner perceptions toward the utilization of English media for language learning King (2002) claims that gender should be considered in the selection of films to introduce to students in the classroom Furthermore, females may be more intrinsically motivated to practice extensive viewing perhaps because males are more physically active and less likely to engage

in extensive viewing of media As for proficiency, studies have demonstrated that proficiency learners are less capable of benefiting from language learning opportunities from media (Vidal, 2011; Wolff, 1987 as cited in Rodgers, 2013) Low-proficiency learners may

low-be less likely to engage in extensive viewing of media due to its difficulty

West (1955) discusses the potential for learners to utilize extensive reading to “…enjoy, and improve by himself after he leaves school”, and reading ability can be “improved in solitude without the help of a teacher.” (p 7) West’s view of reading can also be applied to extensive viewing of media since media can be interesting to learners and does not require that the teacher be heavily involved In other words, learners can take what is learned in the

classroom into the real world and attempt to make it their own and to hopefully have fun doing it

In order to facilitate and motivate learners to practice extensive viewing, it is essential that more

is learned about student perceptions toward media It is hoped that this knowledge will help teachers to have a positive facilitative effect on promoting students’ extensive viewing behavior

in order to increase the amount of extensive viewing students engage in There are several areas

of perceptions that need to be explored in order to better understand student perceptions toward extensive viewing of media It is important to gauge current interest level of extensive viewing and to learn more about perceptions toward the use of online streaming services, such as Netflix, for extensive viewing Also, it is important that more is known about student perceptions of the difficulty and usefulness of extensive viewing of English media for language learning including which aspects of extensive viewing learners find particularly difficult and useful Students that perceive English media to be difficult are likely to be less motivated to utilize extensive viewing

as a language learning tool, whereas learners that perceive media to be useful for language learning are likely to have an extra source of motivation to practice extensive viewing for language learning Furthermore, it is essential to explore whether individual differences, such as gender and proficiency, play a role on perceptions toward extensive viewing of media Thus, the research questions are as follows:

1 What are Korean university students’ perceptions toward the use of English media for language learning? How are these categories of perceptions related to each other?

2 What effect do learner differences have on perceptions toward the use of English media for language learning?

III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2 Instrumentation

A 5-point Likert scale survey ranging from 1 = “Strongly Disagree” to 5 = “Strongly Agree” was designed for the purpose of this study to measure learner perceptions toward media viewership The survey was divided into four factors in order to gauge the participants’ perceptions towards watching English media in terms of their:

1 Interest in English media (items 1-6) For example, one of the statements in this section of the survey that students are asked to rate is: “I like to watch English media (movies, dramas, etc.) in my free time.”

2 Views regarding what is difficult about watching media (grammar content, vocabulary content, cultural content, etc.) (items 7-13) For example, participants are asked to rate the following statement: “I find it difficult to watch English media because of unfamiliar vocabulary.”

3 Perceptions toward how their language ability can benefit from watching English media (grammar, vocabulary, cultural knowledge, etc.) (items 14-20) For example, one of the statements the participants have to evaluate is: “I believe I can improve my listening speed through watching English media.”

4 Familiarity with currently available online streaming services (items 21-25) The purpose

of this factor is to gauge whether students are currently engaging in some form of extensive viewing of English programs via online streaming A question that students have to rate

in this section is: “I like to watch English media via online streaming platforms (like Netflix).”

A section regarding students’ bio information was placed at the end of the survey Participants were assured anonymity and were asked to provide their gender, age, years of study abroad in an English speaking country, minor (all students were majoring in elementary education), and English proficiency

To check whether the survey was fit for factor analysis, a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy (KMO) was conducted The KMO statistic was 813 indicating that the survey data is considered appropriate for factor analysis

A factor analysis was conducted on the items of the survey in order to evaluate whether the questions for each factor were reliably grouped together Utilizing an eigenvalue of 1 to determine the number of components extracted, the analysis yielded six components explaining a total of 65.86% of the variance for the entire set of variables The results can be found in Table 1 below

TABLE 1 Varimax-Rotated Factor Matrix for the Items of the Survey

A reliability analysis was conducted on each of the four factors The Cronbach’s alphas for the interest, difficulty, and familiarity with online streaming factors were 91, 83, and 88 respectively These factors were found to be highly reliable for further analysis The Cronbach’s alpha for the

usefulness factor was 68 which is considered minimally acceptable for further analysis

3 Procedure

The participants were given the survey to fill out in order to explore their perceptions toward the utilization of movies for language learning All of the participants were given the survey to fill out during class time The participants were taking part in a mandatory English conversation course in 2019 at a university in South Korea They were briefed regarding the aims of the research and instructed to take their time and to carefully consider their choices for each question The participants were assured the anonymity of their information, told that the survey would not affect their grade for the class, and asked to fill out a section regarding their bio information The participants took between 10 to 15 minutes to complete the survey The surveys were then collected and the data was analyzed for the purpose of this study The responses from the survey were entered into SPSS (version 24) All of the items were 5-point Likert scale questions (items 1-25) The responses were coded ranging as ‘Strongly Disagree’ = 1, ‘Disagree’ = 2, ‘Neither Agree Nor Disagree’ = 3, ‘Agree’ = 4, and ‘Strongly Agree’ = 5.In regards to the bio-data section, males were coded as ‘1’ and females coded as

‘2’ For learners’ self-reported proficiency, low proficiency was coded as ‘1’, average proficiency as ‘2’, and high proficiency as ‘3’ The coding for learners’ age, grade, and length

of stay in an English speaking country represented the learners’ responses

To answer the first research question, a descriptive statistical analysis was conducted on the four factors of the survey A descriptive statistical analysis was further conducted on the individual items of the perceived difficulty factor in order to explore which aspects of media learners find particularly difficult 95% confidence intervals were utilized to explore whether the mean differences were significant A correlational analysis was then conducted for the four factors in order to find out how categories of perceptions of media are related to one another

For the purpose of the second research question, the data was analyzed in order to explore learner differences between the participants in terms of both self-reported language proficiency, and gender Descriptive statistical analyses for proficiency and gender were explored using SPSS (version 24) For the participants’ self-reported proficiency, Analysis

of Variance (ANOVA) and a post hoc Scheffe multiple comparisons analysis was utilized to explore whether there were significant differences in perceptions for the three proficiency groups Independent samples t-tests were used to explore the mean differences for the two gender groups

IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1 Perceptions toward the Use of English Media for Language Learning

The first research question aims to explore the views of Korean university students toward the use of English media for extensive learning purposes: 1) interest in English media, 2) beliefs concerning its difficulty, 3) views regarding the usefulness of English media, and 4) familiarity with online streaming services

TABLE 2

Descriptive Statistics of Perceptions toward English Media (N = 167)

95% Confidence Interval for Mean

= 47), and report being familiar with online streaming services (M = 3.64, SD = 1.09) 95% confidence intervals of the factor means were calculated for the four factors The results are displayed in Figure 1 below

FIGURE 1

95% Confidence Intervals of Means for Perceptions toward English Media

It was found that perceived usefulness of English media for language learning purposes (M = 4.34, 95% CI [4.27, 4.41]) was significantly higher than perceived interest (M = 3.60, 95% CI [3.45, 3.76]), perceived difficulty of English media (M = 3.24, 95% CI [3.13, 3.35]), and familiarity with online streaming services (M = 3.64, 95% CI [3.47, 3.80]) While there were no significant differences in mean between interest and familiarity with online streaming services, they were both found to be significantly higher than perceived difficulty of media

The participants’ views regarding the usefulness of English media for language learning seem to echo what the literature suggests (Etamadi, 2012; Mardani & Najmabadi, 2016; Rodgers, 2013) regarding the efficacy of media for language learning It came as a surprise that students consider English media to be a very useful tool for language learning since the viewing of media does not commonly find its way into Korean classrooms It can be expected that the use of other methods and materials for learning may relay to students that traditional methods are more effective for language learning, and that media viewing is less effective This was not the case, and learners consider media

to be a potent avenue for language learning It was also surprising that the participants considered English media viewing to be significantly more useful than it is interesting This perhaps points out that the perceived usefulness of English media may have the potential to play a motivational role for extensive viewing This provides an opportunity for teachers to introduce and recommend media in the classroom since students are already aware of the efficacy of media as a language learning tool Thus, teachers do not have to be overly concerned that utilizing small portions of class time to discuss English media will be perceived by students as time wasting

Perceived difficulty (M = 3.24, 95% CI [3.13, 3.35]) was found to be significantly lower than the other three factors (Interest, M = 3.60, 95% CI [3.45, 3.76]; Usefulness, M = 4.34, 95% CI [4.27, 4.41]; Familiarity with online streaming services, M = 3.64, 95% CI [3.47, 3.80]) It was encouraging that the participants of this study found English media not too difficult to deal with This indicates that perceived difficulty may not play a major role in dissuading learners from extensive viewing of English media Despite this, teachers need to pay extra attention to the motivation of less proficient learners since they are less likely to engage in extensive viewing The results show that the participants of this study were familiar but not very familiar (M = 3.64,

SD = 1.09) with English online streaming services This does not come as a surprise as popularity of English online streaming, such as Netflix, has been growing over the past few years This score may indicate that online streaming is in the process of being adopted by Korean viewers as an alternative

to more traditional forms of media, such as television This also indicates that online streaming is becoming more accessible to learners since many of their friends and family members are likely to have streaming accounts It is also now probable that online English streaming is available on many

of the students’ televisions It is important that teachers find out which of their students do not have access to an account, and to instruct them on the available avenues for gaining access

The individual items of the perceived difficulty factor of the survey were further explored to

determine which aspects of English media the participants found particularly difficult The descriptive statistics for difficulty and 95% confidence intervals are shown in Table 3 below

TABLE 3

Descriptive Statistics of Perceived Sources of Difficulty in Media (N = 167)

While the overall results from the perceived difficulty factor from Table 2 suggest that participants consider media viewing to be difficult but not very difficult (M = 3.24, SD = 70), Table 3 suggests that students consider certain aspects of viewing more difficult than others: vocabulary (M = 3.31, SD = 1.06), unfamiliar content (M = 2.93, SD = 97), grammar (M = 2.70,

SD = 92), speed of speech (M = 3.81, SD = 1.10), cultural references (M = 2.59, SD = 96), slang (M = 3.52, SD = 94), and lack of subtitles (M = 3.84, SD = 94)

95% confidence intervals of the item means were calculated for the seven items The results are displayed in Figure 2 below

FIGURE 2

95% Confidence Intervals of Means for Perceived Sources of Difficulty in Media

Lower Bound Upper Bound