Using Film to Provide a Context for Teaching English Metaphors to Iranian EFL Learners: Explicit versus Implicit Intervention

It is widely acknowledged that teaching and learning languages should involve the invisible aspects of language such as metaphors as an indispensable element of pragmatic competence. This study was an attempt to investigate whether using films could enhance learning English metaphors, and to find out whether explicit or implicit intervention is more effective. Regarding these two main purposes, 90 Iranian intermediate level EFL students in intact classes were assigned to three groups, one receiving explicit film-based instruction, one receiving implicit film-based instruction, and one receiving script-based instruction serving as a control group. After the pre-test on English metaphors, during ten 30-minute sessions, the two experimental groups were taught metaphors via the selected parts of the American comedy ‘The Big Bang Theory’, one explicitly while another implicitly. To the control group, the metaphors were taught using the scripts of the comedies. Finally, the learners were given the post-test on metaphors, and their performances were compared through paired-samples t-test and one-way ANOVA. It was manifested that the explicit instruction of metaphors was the most beneficial approach. Moreover, it was revealed that the traditional text-based approach was more effective than the implicit instruction. The findings of this study suggest that teachers can benefit from films to enrich their classes and draw the learners’ attention and noticing to the more subtle features of second language pragmatic competence.