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EXTRAMURAL ENGLISH ACTIVITIES AND INDIVIDUAL LEARNER DIFFERENCES 4.5.3 Watching films and series The third topic was watching TV, movies, and series in English. As these are typical pastime activities for the general population, it is no surprise that most students watch movies and TV shows on a regular basis. There are differences, however, in the preferences of students in terms of the language of the content they consume. Paul mostly watches everything in Hungarian because he has a preference for the Hungarian dubbed versions of movies and (television) series. In his words: “TV shows I don’t [watch so much in English] because I like to watch them more in Hungarian.” Christian, on the other hand, consumes media in English because he thinks that it is an opportunity to improve his command of English, a conclusion drawn in the literature, too (Chapple—Curtis 2000, King 2002, Keene 2006, Liando et al. 2018, Lin—Siyanova-Chanturia 2014, Qiang et al. 2007). Krisztián explains this follows: Well, I watch movies and TV shows as well. I think it helps a lot with learning English, and it’s entertaining. Basically, you're watching something that is interesting, and you learn lots of new words, expressions. I usually watch TV shows in English, and when I don’t understand something, I pause it and look the word up ina dictionary. Christian seems to demonstrate more awareness of the benefits of watching films and (television) series in English. This idea is in line with the literature on the benefits of using films as authentic L2 input for incidental learning (Lin et al. 2014). He also adds that he uses English subtitles when watching movies and TV shows in English, but the same is not true for all participants. Valentina, for instance, only uses subtitles when the characters speak too fast. In her words: “Sometimes I use subtitles, but if I understand everything, I don’t even use subtitles; maybe in English in case they speak too fast and I wouldn't be able to understand it.” In her utterance, Valentina unknowingly reflects on the literature, which also emphasizes the importance and benefits of using subtitles in comprehension as they reduce the cognitive burden and help viewers understand what they hear with more ease (Guichon—McLornan 2008, Markham et al. 2001, Montero Perez et al. 2014, Winke et al. 2010). In contrast, Charlie watches everything in English without any subtitles because he likes films and (television) series more in English and, as he puts it, “you have to wait a lot for the subtitles.” By this, he means that films and (television) series are released much later, usually several months later, in Hungary. This applies to Lina as well, who claims that movies with characters speaking in an American accent are not difficult to understand, and she only uses subtitles if there is more + 76 +
