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CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM

Background of the Study

In today’s connected world, diversity of people and languages are still

apparent and being good at understanding English language gives a superior

help for students as English language is a key in academics and many

professional fields. However, finding a way to enhance the comprehension in

English language could be crucial. As a matter of fact, improving skills in

English language is a common and serious problem in Philippine education.

According to the results Programmed for International Student Assessment

(PISA) 2018, none among the 7,233 students with the age of 15 years old

from the 187 schools in Philippines acquired the top mark in reading. The

reading proficiency results of the 15 years old in the country is dominantly on

level 1a and level 1b which are the subsequent levels to the last or the

simplest tasks of proficiency in PISA reading test; compared to the other 20

educational systems, including the Organization for Economic Co-operation

and Development (OECD) countries.

Moreover, articles on the Philstar Global online news site had further

assessment results with below-the-average attainment in comprehension skill-

particularly in the English language- has accentuated the low results of

Filipinos. Certainly, this problem is not confined to elementary to high school

students. It is also evident among graduates and professionals employed in

the industry. This problem was highlighted by one of the articles written by

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Morallo (2018) in his article that English comprehension skills of the newly

graduate Filipinos are lower than the target for cab drivers in Dubai. This claim

is also supported by Rex Wallen Tan, general manager of Hopkins

International Partners- explicated the Philippine college graduates’ average in

English proficiency was 631.4 based on the metrics of the Test of English for

International Communication (TOEIC) which is lower than cab drivers of

Dubai, United Arab Emirates who have a TOEIC proficiency score of 650 and

lower than B2 target for Thai high school graduates wherein Filipino college

graduates are at B1.

Another article from Philstar Global written by Ronda (2009) states that

the assessment report submitted by the Universal Access to Competitiveness

and Trade (UACT) showed that only a miserably low percentage of college

graduate-applicants screened by Filipino and multinational Business Process

Outsourcing (BPO) firms were hired even with inadequate English proficiency

but qualified with other required skills. With these undesirable assessment

results, the strength of comprehension skills in English language is elucidated

as lower than other foreign countries. The office-in-charge of the Department

of Education’s (DepEd) Bureau of Education Assessment-Education Research

Division, Alexander Sucalit, said in a media press conference that if the

education system follows the computation of PISA with caveats, based on

the OECD with socioeconomically advantaged students, we will see that the

education system are around five to six years behind. By all these facts, the

researchers realize that English language is one of the most crucial skills to

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develop. Therefore, educators conceptualized more strategies in teaching,

especially that learners could not have enough of strategies to choose to

enhance their skill in comprehending the English language.

Additionally, English educators developed an authentic strategy that

can improve student’s comprehension skills. This is important for teachers to

recognize the necessity to introduce innovative and enjoyable approaches to

students. Consequently, researchers asserts that the utilization of English

subtitled movies significantly contributed to enhancing comprehension skills.

Despite researchers’ awareness of the existence of this strategy, still, a formal

integration of this into the curriculum has not yet materialized. In the study of

Braid et al. (2023), they stated that students acquire language by watching

films and videos in the target language most of the time. Specifically,

captioned YouTube videos, also known as subtitled videos, have facilitated

people’s language. Therefore, captions or subtitles are more likely to improve

word memory and vocabulary learning.

As for Fade (2020), he also considered the integration of audio and

visual aids from multimedia technology as effective for language learners. He

persists that video equipment and other modern pedagogical tools help

language learners in improving all aspects of language properties which he

emphasizes that audio-visual aids are necessity rather than luxury for

language learning (p. 48). Therefore, to address the challenges

comprehensively, the researchers want to investigate how to enhance the

comprehension skills of the college students through the implementation of

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English subtitled movies as a strategy. With these bases, the researchers will

focus on the first-year students taking up Bachelor of Science in Tourism

Management (BSTM) and Bachelor in Science of Hospitality Management

(BSHM), concerning the vitality of English language of their field. This is chiefly

because the nature of the program they will accomplish is expected that they

will encounter the diversity of foreign or native people, culture, and language.

Using English subtitled movies as a strategy, the BSTM and BSHM will

be assessed if the strategy is an effective tool to enhance their English

language comprehension skill. With the integration of audio, visual, and

subtitle texts of movies, multiple exposures to learners will be applied to

improve their English language comprehension skill. On Moattarian and

Tahririan (2014) study about the Language Needs of Graduate Students and

ESP (English for Specific Purpose) Courses: The Case of Tourism

Management in Iran, the participants- who are graduate students of tourism

management- believed that their ESP courses during undergraduate level

does not satisfy their needs; therefore, they need to resume and study more

ESP courses in their graduate program.

According to Baltova (1994) it is now commonplace to say that

audiovisual material, with its rich context, is a powerful instructional tool known

to have a motivational and affective impact on viewers, which in turn facilities

auditory processing (p. 510). The researchers will attempt to show if using

English subtitles on movie can make the participants comprehension

strengthen. They can use this as an alternative tool to enhance their skills in

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terms of comprehension. Subtitles are not only a tool for motivational

entertainment. According to the study conducted by Ebrahimi and Bazaee

(2016), they have concluded that subtitled movies could assist learners with

comprehending the language spoken in various accents which could be useful

to practice and be acquainted with different accents if English, globally.

Statement of the Problem

Statement of the Problem This study will determine the effectiveness of

watching English subtitled movies as a strategy in enhancing the

comprehension skills of the college students. Specifically, the study will aim to

answer the following problems:

1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of:

a.) age;

b.) sex;

c.) monthly family income; and

d.) place of residence?

2. Is there a significant difference in the levels of comprehension in reading

and listening between the respondents who watched movie with English

subtitle and those who watched movie without subtitle?

3. Is there a significant difference among the level of performance of the

respondents who watched movie with English subtitle and those who

watched movie without subtitle?

4. What is the level of performance among respondents who watched movies

with and without English Subtitle?

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5. What is the level of listening and reading comprehension skills among the

respondents?

6. Is there a significant relationship between the profile variables and the level

of listening and reading comprehension skills among the respondents who

watched movies with or without English subtitle?

7. Is there a significant relationship between the profile variables and the level

of performance among respondents who watched movies with and without

English subtitle?

Research Hypothesis

The study tested the following hypotheses at the .05 level of significance.

1. There is no significant difference among the levels of performance of

the respondents who watched movie with English subtitle and those

who watched movie without subtitle.

2. There is no significant difference in the levels of comprehension in

reading and listening between the respondents who watched movie

with English subtitle and those who watched movie without subtitle.

3. There is no significant relationship between the profile variables and the

level of listening and reading comprehension skills among the

respondents who watched movies with or without English subtitle.

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 4. There is no significant relationship between the profile variables and the

level of performance among respondents who watched movies with or

without English subtitle.

Significance of the Study

The researchers believed that the study is essential and imperative to

the following:

Educational Institutions. The findings can inform curriculum designers and

educators on the potential benefits of incorporating English subtitled

movies into language learning programs. This can lead to more

effective teaching strategies and enhanced language curricula that

better support students’ comprehension skills.

Students. The study directly benefits students by providing an engaging and

effective method to improve their comprehension skills. Watching

English movies with subtitles can make learning more enjoyable and

less daunting, potentially increasing their motivation and engagement

with the material.

Teachers and Educators. Educators can gain insights into innovative

teaching methods that integrate multimedia resources, such as subtitled

movies, to enhance language instruction. This can diversify teaching

approaches and cater to different learning styles.

Educational Researchers. The study can serve as a foundation for further

research into multimedia learning tools and their impact on various

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 aspects of language acquisition. It can inspire additional studies that

explore different genres of movies, other types of multimedia content, or

different student demographics.

Policy Makers. The results can guide policy makers in formulating

educational policies that support the integration of multimedia tools in

language education. This can lead to broader adoption of innovative

teaching methods across educational systems.

Technology Developers. Developers of educational technology and

multimedia resources can use the study’s findings to create more

effective language learning tools and applications. Understanding the

benefits of subtitles in movies can lead to the development of targeted

educational software and platforms.

Scope and Delimitation

This study is delimited only to the first-year students who were enrolled

in the academic year 2023-2024 under the programs of Bachelor of Science in

Tourism Management (BSTM) and Bachelor of Science in Hospitality

Management (BSHM) at Pangasinan State University, Alaminos City Campus.

The students were the respondents who gathered the data and information

about the use and effect of utilizing English Subtitled Movie as an

enhancement of comprehension skill. The study only focused on the

comprehension skills of the students. The comprehension assessment

consisted of two parts: twenty-five test items for listening skill of the

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respondents; and twenty-five test items for reading skill of the respondents.

Particularly, out of 153, only twenty (20) respondents from the first year BSHM

and twenty (20) from the BSTM who were subjected as the respondents of the

study. Those who were subjected in controlled group were watching movies

without subtitle while those who were subjected in experimental group

watched the movie with English subtitle.

Undoubtedly, the movies that the researchers presented were new and

unknown to the participants to avoid bias answers during the test of the

intervention questionnaire after the movie; hence, the students who had

already watched the movie were not included as the participants in the

intervention. Also, the researchers administered the experiment in three

phases with three different movies. Each movie was identically presented for

both groups of respondents who watched the movie with English subtitles

(experimental group) and the other without subtitles (controlled group).

For the most part, English was the only language in each movie that

was presented for both the experimental group with English subtitle and the

controlled group with no subtitle. The researchers particularly chose the

movies to consider the entertaining engagement and the needs to cater to the

different learning styles and interests of the participants. Lastly, the time

scheduled for the five-day experiment depended on the schedule of the

respondents, considering their different times and days of availability.

Definition of Terms

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 The following important terms were theoretically and operationally

defined to determine their use and significance in this study and to helped

facilitate understanding of different information and concepts.

Comprehension Assessment. Refers to the process of collecting and

evaluating information to identify the students’ comprehension level.

Subtitled Movies. Refers to a form of visual storytelling conveyed through

moving images, typically presented on a screen. They encompass a

wide range of genres and are a popular medium for entertainment and

artistic expression. Subtitles in movies are a tool that was used to

determine the effectiveness of the strategy in enhancing the

comprehension skill.

Enhancement. Refers to the process of strengthening the skill to make it

more effective, efficient or valuable.

Comprehension Skills. Comprehension skills refer to the ability to

understand, interpret, and draw meaning from written, spoken, or visual

information. These skills include the ability to grasp main ideas, make

inferences, recognize vocabulary, understand grammatical structures,

and appreciate nuances in meaning.

Level of Performance. Refers to the degree to which students demonstrate

their comprehension skills when assessed through specific tasks or

evaluations. This operational definition of “Level of Performance” allows

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 researchers to quantify and evaluate the effectiveness of the tool

(English subtitled movies) in enhancing the comprehension skills of

first-year BSTM and BSHM students

English Movies. In this research, it is defined as films where the primary

language spoken is English. Operationally, these movies serve as a

tool to enhance students’ comprehension skills by providing a rich

context for listening and reading practice. By using English movies in

these two modes, the research aims to evaluate their effectiveness in

improving the comprehension skills of first-year BSTM and BSHM

students. This operational definition ensures a clear understanding of

how English movies are utilized within the study to measure and

enhance comprehension skills.

With Subtitles. English movies are shown with English subtitles. This mode

aims to improve students’ reading comprehension, vocabulary

recognition, and inferential skills by providing written text alongside

spoken dialogue. It helps students to connect spoken words with their

written form, aiding in better understanding and retention.

Without Subtitles. English movies are shown without any subtitles. This

mode focuses on enhancing students’ listening comprehension,

requiring them to rely solely on their auditory skills to understand the

dialogue. It challenges students to recognize spoken words and

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phrases, grasp main ideas, and make inferences based on auditory

input alone.

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