THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AUTHENTIC VIDEOS IN TEACHING ENGLISH IDIOMS TO VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of using excerpts from movies and television series to teach English idiomatic expressions to Vietnamese university students. 44 A2-level nonEnglish-majored students from two classes at a public university in Hanoi were assigned to either an experimental group or a control group and taught 20 English idiomatic expressions in six 45- minute lessons over a span of three weeks by the same instructor. The experimental group was introduced to English idiomatic expressions through authentic video clips containing idiomatic expressions while the control group received instruction through traditional methods without audiovisual input. Pre- and post-tests were administered to assess students’ comprehension of idioms. The descriptive and inferential statistical analyses of the test scores revealed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in comprehension of idioms. These findings highlight the pedagogical values of integrating authentic audiovisual materials into the instruction of idiomatic expressions for Vietnamese EFL learners and suggest the potential capability of this approach in other EFL university settings in Southeast Asia.