The Effect of The Subtitling Task On Vocabulary Learning: Jennifer Lertola
The Effect of The Subtitling Task On Vocabulary Learning: Jennifer Lertola
The Effect of The Subtitling Task On Vocabulary Learning: Jennifer Lertola
on vocabulary learning
JENNIFER LERTOLA
National University of Ireland, Galway
Introduction
In recent years, there has been an increasing research interest in the field of
Audiovisual Translation (AVT) and its many applications: audio description,
dubbing, subtitling, and live-subtitling. From theory to practice, subtitling is
definitely one of the most studied AVT modes, not only for the professional
practice and training but also for literacy and language learning.
In Europe, the first studies on the use of subtitles with hearing-impaired
children date back to the 1980s. However, their potential for foreign
language (FL) learning soon became apparent and many scholars have
investigated the beneficial effects of intralingual subtitles (i.e. within the
same language) and interlingual subtitles (i.e. from one language to another)
in second language acquisition with regards to reading comprehension (Gant
Guillory 1998; Bravo 2008), listening comprehension (Danan 2004; Caimi
2006), oral production (Borrás & Lafayette 1994), and vocabulary recall
(Bird & Williams 2002; Talaván 2007).
From Translation Research Projects 4, eds. Anthony Pym and David Orrego-Carmona,
Tarragona: Intercultural Studies Group, 2012. pp. 61-70.
http://isg.urv.es/publicity/isg/publications/trp_4_2012/index.htm
62 Jennifer Lertola
The theoretical framework for this study is inspired by Cognitive Theory and
its integration with Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Within this
framework, two significant assumptions are taken into account: first, learners
must be regarded as active participants in the learning process; second,
methods of information processing and, in particular, factors such as
intelligence, cognitive styles and memory all play a role in successful
acquisition of a second language. The humanistic approach to teaching and
learning, which focuses on developing students’ self-awareness and
motivation for learning, is also taken into consideration; students enjoy
watching films and this enhances their motivation. Because the language
used in films is realistic language in a medium that is not specifically
prepared for L2 students, it has much to offer to them. According to
Krashen’s input hypothesis, people can acquire a second language “only if
they obtain comprehensible input” (Krashen 1985: 4). The language is
spoken at a normal conversational speed and varieties of language from
various ages, genders, and socio-cultural backgrounds are encountered.
Indeed, “[a]uthentic videos can be challenging for the average student, but
the language can be understood with the help of subtitles, either by having
them already visible on the screen or by creating them” (Talaván 2010: 295).
The basic principles for designing learning environments within Mayer’s
cognitive theory of multimedia learning also underpin this project:
consideration was given to the two different channels used for managing
The effect of subtitling on vocabulary learning 63
audio and visual information; the limited amount of information that the
human mind can process at one time; and the active processing in which
humans are engaged in learning acquisition (Fletcher and Tobias 2005). The
simultaneous involvement of the acoustic and the visual channel enhances
learning and helps memory retention. It has been suggested that human
beings are able to remember 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they
visually perceive, and 80% of what they visually perceive and interact with.
In other words, as far as the subtitling practice is concerned, students are not
only watching and listening to the audiovisual material, but also interacting
with it as students translate the source text into the target language.
The benefit of translation as a language learning strategy has been the
subject of numerous debates over the years (Cook 2001) but now it is
considered a valuable resource. Translation phases theorized by Malakoff
and Hakuta (1991) are considered regarding the subtitling practice; and the
present study is designed accordingly. The two researchers argue that natural
translation goes through four phases: understanding the vocabulary in the
original text, understanding the message in the original language,
reformulating the message in the target language, and evaluating the
adequacy of the produced text. Specifically, in subtitling many further
implications have to be considered: time and space constraints; subtitling
strategies; and finally, in our case, subtitling is both an interlingual and
intersemiotic translation because it transfers an Italian oral source text into
English written language.
Translation could also help students notice the language. According to
the noticing hypothesis, proposed by Schmidt (2001), L2 learners should
notice the input in order to transform the input into intake for learning; and
“[o]ne way to make a foreign language feature noticeable or salient in the
input is to enhance it by providing contrastive association with the
corresponding L1 item” (Laufer and Girsai 2008: 697). In this study the
focus is on incidental vocabulary acquisition, and previous research,
independently of the type of tasks, shows that incidental vocabulary
acquisition depends highly on the depth of processing involved. The
Involvement Load Hypothesis states that unfamiliar words are retained
accordingly to the level of processing involved, so “[t]he greater the
involvement load, the better the retention” (Hulstijn and Laufer 2001: 545).
Indeed, translation could be considered a task-induced involvement, as it
implies the three factors that constitute the involvement construct: need,
search and evaluation. Need refers to the motivational dimension of the
involvement. During the translation/subtitling activity, students are required
to fully understand the foreign-language text in order to convey its meaning
in their L1, and if “an unknown word is absolutely necessary for
comprehension, s/he will experience the need to understand it” (Laufer and
Hulstijn 2001: 14). At the same time, search and evaluation represent the
cognitive dimension of involvement: search takes place when learners are
64 Jennifer Lertola
looking for the meaning of the unknown L2 word or for the L2 form i.e. L2
translation of an L1 word; evaluation happens when learners are required to
choose the appropriate meaning of a word in its context, for instance, when
an unknown word in the dialogue, looked up on the dictionary, has more
than one meaning and the students need to choose the one that best applies to
the context.
Research question
Will exposure to new words through authentic video material and its
translation for subtitling affect incidental foreign language vocabulary
retention? This question gives rise to two hypotheses:
The effect of subtitling on vocabulary learning 65
Experiment design
In order to answer the research question and test the two hypotheses, the
following experiment design was applied.
Testing Procedure
All participants sat a pre-test two weeks before the experiment, in order to
ensure the target words (TWs) were unknown; of course, students did not
know they were going to be tested again on the target items. Immediate and
delayed post-tests were administered after the treatment; the immediate post-
test was given to both groups at the end of the activity i.e. in the fourth hour,
and the delayed post-test was given two weeks after the immediate post-test.
Pre-test and post-test were modeled on the Vocabulary Scale Knowledge
Test (Wesche and Paribakht, 1996); the pre-test contained 15 TWs and 15
The effect of subtitling on vocabulary learning 67
distracters; the immediate and delayed post-tests were identical and only the
15 TWs were included.
The Vocabulary Scale Knowledge Test (VKS) combines a self-report
interview and written performance of lexical items that assess learners’
vocabulary development over short periods. Each word has a five-scale
rating that ranges from total unfamiliarity to the ability to use the given word
correctly both grammatically and semantically in a sentence. VKS is
reported as a type of depth measure as it shows a progressive degree of word
knowledge; moreover, it requires both receptive and productive knowledge.
For the adapted VKS see Figure 1.
The group statistics are presented in Table 2, with the mean scores of the 15
values or TWs according to the group (Eg and Cg) and time point (pre-test,
post-immediate and post-delayed). The medians reveal that there is an
improvement over time for both groups, which is higher for the Eg than for
the Cg. However, looking at the standard deviation (the average distance of
the scores from the mean) it could be noticed that the scores are higher for
the Eg (SD=1.11) at pre-test time point, showing that the sample was
heterogeneous and contained extreme scores compared to the Cg (SD=0.39),
where the scores are lower and thus represent a more homogeneous sample.
But at post-immediate and post-delayed point, the scores were more similar,
proving that the effects of the activity were more homogeneous in both
68 Jennifer Lertola
groups. Therefore, the results of the analysis confirm the first hypothesis:
both conditions i.e. subtitling and non-subtitling will result in retention of
new L2 vocabulary compared to the pre-task performance.
Table 2: Statistical parameters for mean scores at each time point per group
Group / Test N Mean Median Range
(Std) (Min, Max)
Experimental
Pre-test 6 2.8 (1.11) 2.43 (2.07, 5.0)
Post-immediate 6 3.73 (0.73) 3.87 (2.86, 4.87)
Post-delayed 6 4.0 (0.73) 4.20 (3.07, 4.87)
Control group
Pre-test 10 2.06 (0.39) 2.07 (1.53, 2.6)
Post-immediate 10 2.88 (0.79) 3.27 (1.87, 3.92)
Post-delayed 10 2.91 (0.66) 2.83 (1.93, 3.8)
In Table 3 the previous values for the two groups are compared. The
only statistically significant difference between the groups is at the post-
delayed time point, where the p-value of 0.0340 is lower than 0.05, that is,
the standard significance level that is being used (alpha=0.05). The non-
parametric Wilcoxon Rank-Sum Test was used due to the small sample size
(n=16), and also because the sample was not always normally distributed.
However, a student t-test confirms similar results. Hence, the second
hypothesis has been confirmed: the subtitling condition leads to a more
significant L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition compared to the non-
subtitling condition.
Conclusions
In sum, the results of this small study indicate that both conditions (i.e.
subtitling and non-subtitling) result in a clear improvement in learners’
incidental vocabulary acquisition from pre-test to immediate and delayed
post-tests, which confirms the first hypothesis. Regarding the second
hypothesis, statistically significant results emerge only at the post-delayed
point. Due to the limited number of participants in this study it is not
possible to draw definitive conclusions. Nevertheless, this research supports
The effect of subtitling on vocabulary learning 69
the positive results obtained in recent studies on the use of the subtitling
practice as an effective pedagogical tool in the FL class, and it greatly
encourages further research on the topic.
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