The Impact of Watching English Movies on EFL Learners' Speaking Performance: An IELTS-Based Assessment

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the impact of watching English movies on the speaking skills of Iranian adult EFL learners. To this end, participants were selected among Iranian language learners and divided into two groups, namely an experimental group and a control group, with 16 participants in each. In both speaking classes, vocabulary worksheets were given in accordance with the discussion topic themes, while in the experimental group the participants were exposed to ten English films. The research design followed a mixed-method approach combining quantitative and qualitative procedures. Regarding the quantitative phase, a pre-test and a post-test were administered based on the IELTS Speaking Assessment criteria including Fluency and Coherence (FC), Lexical Resource (LR), Grammatical Range and Accuracy (GRA), and Pronunciation (P). The obtained data revealed that there was a significant difference in oral production between learners who watched movies and those who did not. This meaningful difference was mainly related to Pronunciation and Lexical Resource, while the other criteria did not show statistically significant changes. The data analysis procedure was based on the non-parametric Mann–Whitney U test. Regarding the qualitative phase, participants wrote reflective diaries before, during, and after the treatment. The analysis of these reflections showed that learners in the experimental group perceived improvements in their vocabulary use and pronunciation.