The Impact of Proper Names of Characters on Language Learning in Movie-Based English Education

This study proposes a method that uses proper names to help low intermediate university students maintain self-efficacy despite external evaluation standards. Five students participated; one with relatively higher English proficiency and four at a lower-intermediate level. <i>The Simpsons</i>, season 1, episode 1 (Silverman, 1989) served as the instructional material. Over three months, students engaged in twelve story-based sessions. After the sessions, four tests and one written response were collected from each participant. The first test required students to recall and write down character names. The second test asked them to match 30 selected lines with the characters who said them. The third test involved identifying word clues in each line that led to their guesses. The fourth test asked them to provide general meanings of the lines. Results showed that all participants, except one, demonstrated strong recall in identifying characters and lines. In the third test, most word clues used were nouns. In the final test, four participants conveyed the overall meanings successfully. These findings suggest that low intermediate learners rely heavily on nouns and can achieve meaningful comprehension through identifying proper names and contextual clues, which may contribute positively to their confidence and learning experience.