Teaching Basic Collocations for Japanese Learners of English Through Popular Movies

Abstract

Learning collocations is a crucial concern in the development of English communications skills. However, learners often feel that collocations are difficult to memorize. Hence, providing more user-friendly learning material for students is necessary. The possibility of teaching basic collocations for Japanese students through movies is investigated using 1,572 basic collocations and a database of movie quotes for 77 famous movies. Three hundred and sixty-two collocations have been included in the database. The movies containing the maximum numbers of collocations are Erin Brockovich, Gosford Park, Anne of Green Gables, Jackie Brown, and Super Size Me. These movies have maximum 31 and minimum 26 kinds of basic collocations, respectively. The collocations appearing in several movies, having been observed in 22 to 54 works, are take care, do thing, take look, do favor, and tell truth. This indicates that using movies does not ensure that there will be a sufficient number of collocations to be presented. Consequently, merely through using movies, teachers cannot present sufficient volume of collocations to be learned. Thus, movies must be used in combination of other teaching materials and learning methods such as word lists and textbooks.