Impact of Films on Students’ Vocabulary Acquisition among UiTM Shah Alam Non-English Major Students

Given the accelerating pace of globalization, English language proficiency is essential for academic and professional success. However, many non-English major students have difficulty learning language, which limits their ability to communicate effectively. While the pivotal role of English language skills continues to expand, many non-English major students struggle to broaden their vocabulary due to a lack of exposure to appropriate learning strategies. This small-scale study investigates the use of English movies as a learning tool to improve vocabulary acquisition as well as examines the effects of English film subtitling on students’ vocabulary acquisition among non-English major students. A quantitative research design using stratified random sampling was employed, yielding 150 participants from non-English major students in UiTM Shah Alam. Data were collected via an online questionnaire distributed through Gmail, WhatsApp, and Telegram, stored in Google Sheets, and analysed in SPSS using descriptive statistics and correlations. Findings showed a significant result which indicates that there are various impacts for students who watch English films with and without subtitles. This displayed that some students agreed that watching subtitled English films help them expand their vocabulary while some see it as challenging due to the different levels of English proficiency. The study is based on Mayer's Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, that supported the use of multimedia to improve language acquisition. In sum, including films into language learning can be advantageous, yet simultaneously aiding the process of acquiring language. Hence, the study implies that multimedia-based approach can bridge vocabulary gaps particularly in higher education.

vocabulary, language, acquisition, films, non-English major

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