Increasing Outside-the-Classroom English Listening Time: Get Them Hooked on American TV Shows

Four first-year university Listening classes, consisting of 158 students, were given a unit in which they were asked to listen to one episode per week of a popular English episodic television program for homework and to write reaction papers. The purpose was to evaluate whether the unit seemed to improve their listening and their English competence, and to see if the students were interested enough by the shows that they would continue watching the programs on their own afterwards. Students were given questionnaires after the end of the unit, and they felt that the unit had improved their competence. 76% indicated that they intended to continue watching their show, revealing genuine interest.