Literature and Film to Explore Feminism in EFL Lessons: What Students Think

Literature and Film to Explore Feminism in EFL Lessons: What Students Think

Marina Lozano del Amor, Yvette Coyle, Pedro Antonio Férez Mora
Copyright: © 2023 |Pages: 20
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-6020-7.ch013
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Abstract

This study examines the attitudes of secondary education students towards the use of literature, film, and feminist pedagogy as tools for EFL before and after the implementation of a teaching unit. The opinions of 22 students were explored quantitatively and qualitatively to determine whether they considered that conducting EFL from this perspective could be beneficial in enhancing their linguistic competence, motivation, and awareness of gender-related issues. The results showed that, in the pre-test, students' attitudes towards the three dimensions surveyed were generally more positive, and that film was preferred over literature. In the post-test, the agreement rate decreased, but students still valued the usefulness of the teaching unit and showed interest in the teaching approach employed. This decrease towards the post-test may indicate a need for literature-, cinema- and feminism-based EFL to be studied in further detail. The present study also outlines aspects to take into account when conducting EFL with the use of filmic and/or literary texts, or from a feminist perspective.
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Introduction

Research in the field of English Foreign Language (EFL) has increasingly advocated that foreign language learning should not solely be a matter of gaining command over grammar and vocabulary (Crookes, 2021; Férez Mora et al., 2022), but that cultural and social concerns should also be contemplated to enrich learners’ personal growth, develop their critical awareness and increase their motivation for language learning (Dörnyei, 2018; Férez Mora & Coyle, 2020; Kim, 2020). At the same time, research on literature- and film-based language teaching and critical applied linguistics is still limited in educational contexts especially when it comes to comparing cinema and literature (Dizon, 2018; Duncan & Paran, 2017; Férez Mora & Coyle, 2020). In an attempt to expand available research, the present study sought to examine students’ attitudes before and after an instructional unit, which made use of literature and film to deal with the topic of feminism and gender stereotypes.

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