Subtitled television series inside the efl classroom: long-term effects upon colloquial language learning and oral production

Identifier:  TDX:2219

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX2219

Authors:  Frumuselu, Anca Daniela

Abstract:
This research investigates the extent to which the use of subtitled and captioned audiovisual materials enhance informal and colloquial language learning and foster oral production. An initial quasi-experimental study sought to explore whether the L1/standard subtitled or L2/captioned audiovisuals are more profitable for EFL informal and colloquial language learning and recall. 49 participants were randomly divided into two subtitle groups: English sound + Spanish subtitles and English sound + English subtitles. Participants' lexical comprehension and recall were tested before and after they were exposed to subtitled episodes from the TV series Friends over a long-term period of 7 weeks. The data analyses reveal that the English subtitles benefit the acquisition of colloquial lexical items more than Spanish subtitles. A second study measured learners' short-term retention of colloquial and idiomatic vocabulary after they watched each subtitled/captioned episode from the sitcom Friends along the 7-week period (13 episodes in total). The results show that students' scores tended to increase in both subtitle groups, however there is no prevalence of one subtitle condition over the other. Study 3 explores students' retention of colloquial and informal language after a 14-week exposure time to captioned episodes from Friends. The analyses reveal the group tendency of increasing significantly their scores after being exposed to captioned television series, but also a big variance among learners' individual scores, as low- and high-level students responded differently to the treatment. Study 4 evaluated participants' oral production of informal and colloquial expressions in role-play activities and their speech fluency, spontaneity, ability to improvise well and sound naturally. High correlations are found between learners' scores from Study 3 and their oral productions from Study 4, hence students who scored high in their post- test will be able to express themselves using the colloquial expressions and informal lexical items in the oral task.