Using Western movies to enhance cross-cultural understanding among English literature students
Abstract
This study investigates how Western movies facilitate students’ cross-cultural understanding in a Cross-Cultural Understanding (CCU) course within an English Literature program in Indonesia. Using a qualitative descriptive design, data were collected over four instructional weeks through classroom observations, audio-video recordings of role-plays, and reflective journals. The findings show a clear progression in students’ intercultural learning. Initially, students experienced cultural dissonance when encountering unfamiliar pragmatic features such as direct refusals, sarcasm, and informal teacher-student interaction. With guided scaffolding, they began to reinterpret these behaviours and develop emerging cultural awareness. By the third week, students engaged in comparative reasoning between Western and Indonesian/Javanese norms, which later evolved into perspective-taking in the final week. Reflective journals reveal increased confidence, pragmatic sensitivity, and deeper cultural insight. Overall, the study concludes that Western movies are effective multimodal input for intercultural learning, but their pedagogical value is maximized when paired with structured discussions and reflective tasks.
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References
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Alasmari, A. (2020). Integrating cultural awareness into EFL classrooms: Challenges and solutions. International Journal of English Language Education, 8(1), 45–59. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijele.v8i1.16623
Alka, N. F. H., Thamrin, N. S., & Wahyudin, W. (2024). Promoting EFL students’ oral proficiency through the implementation of English movies: A quasi-experimental research at a high school in Indonesia. Measurement in Educational Research, 4(2), 57–64. https://doi.org/10.33292/meter.v4i2.313
Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Multilingual Matters.
Byram, M., & Wagner, M. (2018). Making a difference: Language teaching for intercultural citizenship. Foreign Language Annals, 51(1), 140–151. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12319
Deardorff, D. K. (2006). Identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of internationalization. Journal of Studies in International Education, 10(3), 241–266. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315306287002
Dervin, F. (2021). Interculturality in education: A theoretical and methodological toolbox. Palgrave Macmillan.
Fuat, N. H. M., Azman, N., Maznun, M. D., Idris, S. L., & Ramlan, N. F. J. N. (2025). Fostering cultural awareness via English movies. International Journal of Research in Social Science and Humanities (IJRSS), 6(9), 45-54. https://doi.org/10.47505/IJRSS.2025.9.5
Kartikasari, Y. D. N., Retnaningdyah, P., & Mustofa, A. (2024). Increasing students’ intercultural awareness using film as the media in the EFL classroom. IREELL: Indonesian Review of English Education, Linguistics, and Literature, 2(1), 15–34. https://doi.org/10.30762/ireell.v2i1.2765
Khalili, S., & Mohammadi, M. (2023). Exploring EFL teachers’ intercultural competence and intercultural sensitivity levels: The story of teachers’ experience. Journal of New Trends in English Language Learning, 2(4), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.30495/jntell.2023.1991817.1074
Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford University Press.
Krashen, S. D. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. Longman.
Long, J., & Lin, J. (2022). An empirical study on cultivating college students’ cross-cultural communicative competence based on the artificial intelligence English teaching mode. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.976310
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Ortega, L. (2020). Second language acquisition and social contexts. Routledge.
Pegrum, M. (2022). Digital literacies and language learning. Routledge.
Permatasari, I. (2023). The integration of intercultural communicative competence in ELT settings: A systematic review. LingTera, 10(1), 54–63. https://doi.org/10.21831/lt.v10i1.59885
Ruthner, A. R., & Stoian, C. E. (2025). Cultural awareness in higher education: A contrastive study of language and technical students’ perceptions. Revista Romaneasca Pentru Educatie Multidimensionala, 17(3), 472-504. https://doi.org/10.18662/rrem/17.3/1031
Syarif, A. R., Yassi, A. H., Nasmilah, & Pammu, A. (2023). Fostering English foreign language learners’ intercultural competence through foreign films. Asian Journal of Social Science and Management Technology, 5(1), 31–36. https://www.ajssmt.com/Papers/513136.pdf
Telcik, D., & Nushi, M. (2023). Enhancing cultural competence through media in ELT classrooms. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 17(2), 145–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2022.2085478
Wardhany, D. S. (2022). Promoting English movie as a means of enhancing EFL learners’ cultural competence. JOALL (Journal of Applied Linguistics and Literature, 7(1), 186–201. https://doi.org/10.33369/joall.v7i1.16594
Zayyana, A., Retnaningdyah, P., & Widyastuti, W. (2024). Navigating intercultural awareness with English language movie genres: English learners’ voices. Edulitics Journal. https://doi.org/10.52166/edulitics.v9i2.8545
Published
2025-12-31
How to Cite
PURNOMO, Budi.
Using Western movies to enhance cross-cultural understanding among English literature students.
Pioneer: Journal of Language and Literature, [S.l.], v. 17, n. 2, p. 270-286, dec. 2025.
ISSN 2655-8718.
Available at: <https://unars.ac.id/ojs/index.php/pioneer/article/view/7073>. Date accessed: 13 feb. 2026.
doi: https://doi.org/10.36841/pioneer.v17i2.7073.
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