How Do Movie Stories Drive Language Learning? Through The Lens of Narrative Transportation With The Movie Coco

One of the most significant features of movies is their ability to provide access to authentic and dynamic conversations and interactions in a second language. Many researchers have looked into working with movies in ESL classes, especially in Korea. However, if learners perceive movies just as a tool only for language learning, they may become less active, focusing too much on the linguistic aspects rather than the story. Thus, before explicitly teaching language, the need to allow learners to actively participate in conversations and to connect the story to themselves has been raised. This study aims to analyze the impact of Narrative Transportation—the process of immersing oneself in a narrative structure, engaging emotionally, and connecting it to personal experiences—on second language acquisition. Specifically, it investigated how this process enhanced learners’ ability to memorize and retain expressions in long-term memory and how it influenced their perspectives on language learning (Mackey & Sachs, 2012). The movie Coco (Disney, 2017) was chosen as the material for this research, with four Korean English education graduate students participating in this case study in six weekly sessions. In this presentation, the presenter will show as follows. 1) How six selected scenes illustrate the film's theme and character relationships, 2) The process of finding and analyzing emotional vocabulary and expressions, 3) Learners connected them to personal experiences through reports, 4) How story maps presented for each scene enhanced learners' understanding of narrative flow and emotional shifts. Finally, weekly reports and a final test, including interviews, revealed positive effects on language retention and insights into second language acquisition.