EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF WATCHING AMERICAN TV SERIES ON VOCABULARY USE IN CLASSROOMS: EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES. CASE STUDY: SECOND YEAR EFL STUDENTS AT CHADLI BENDJEDID UNIVERSITY.

Abstract

The present study scouts about the effects of watching American TV series on vocabulary use in EFL classrooms. It seeks to verify the suggested hypotheses on second year EFL students’ perceptions and EFL teachers’ perspectives toward the issue at Chadli Bendjedid University. The study followed a quantitative descriptive method in analysing the data gathered from the administered questionnaires for both EFL students and teachers at the above mentioned university during the academic year 2018/2019. The obtained results from the gathered data give clear image about watching American TV series. It is demonstrated that EFL students have negative vocabulary outcomes concerning their awareness about formal and informal use of vocabulary inside the classroom. In addition, the findings showed that teachers are against that American TV series involving in enriching EL vocabulary or in learning in general. While a minority reported that students need guidance to extract what is only good for their sake and by following some instructions that will fulfil their objectives. When seeing students’, who are more aware of the matter, questionnaires, we can see that their amount of watching these series is fewer than the other group of students. Moreover, their external activities are embodied in reading, listening to audiobooks which is a better way to enrich vocabulary. Compared to the opposite group of students, who depend on subtitles and sit most of their times in front of TV, the gap is very huge between the two groups. And it is understood that everything is related to each other, the more you watch, with subtitles, wasting time on chat and music, with no contact with books nor academic stuff, the unaware you ,will become and vice versa. . This study was limited to second year EFL students at Chadli Bendjedid University, and it would be more practical to explore this subject area with larger population and to broaden it to see the effects of books and series or movies working together to provide and prepare a rich quality of students, not wealthy with rich but rich with knowledge.