Acta Scientiarum

http://periodicos.uem.br/ojs/acta
ISSN on-line: 1983-4683
Doi: 10.4025/actascilangcult.v40i1.36570 LINGUÍSTICA / LINGUISTICS

Intralingual subtitles, interlingual subtitles, and L2 vocabulary:

developments from an exploratory study
Rafael Matielo1*, Roberta Pires de Oliveira2 and Luciane Baretta3
1
Departamento de Estudos da Língua Inglesa suas Literaturas e Tradução, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Av. da Universidade 2683, 60020-
181, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. 2Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. 3Universidade do Centro-Oeste,
Guarapuava, Paraná, Brazil. *Author for correspondence. E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the effects of intralingual and interlingual subtitles on Brazilian English as a
Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ L2 vocabulary learning as a result of their processing and comprehension of a
North-American sitcom. Thirty-six intermediate-level EFL learners, enrolled in the Extracurricular Language
Courses at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), were evenly divided into two experimental groups
(intralingual subtitles and interlingual subtitles) and one control group (no subtitles). Participants’ performance
was measured based on an L2 vocabulary test (pre-test, test, and post-test), considering factors influencing word
learnability (Laufer, 1997). Regarding the effects of subtitling availability, statistical tests and analyses performed
revealed that experimental conditions were not found to substantially foster L2 vocabulary learning, and no
statistically significant differences among the experimental groups and the control group were found. Across
time, the results obtained point out to more positive growth in performance by the intralingual subtitles group,
followed by the interlingual subtitles group, and then the control group. These results are discussed in light of the
possible different processing mechanisms employed as well as some of the potentials and drawbacks that both
intralingual and interlingual subtitles may offer for L2 learning/instructional purposes.
Keywords: foreign language; L2 vocabulary learning; subtitling.

Legendas intralinguais, legendas interlinguais e vocabulário em L2: desenvolvimentos a

partir de um estudo exploratório

RESUMO. Este estudo examina os efeitos de legendas intralinguais e interlinguais na aprendizagem de

vocabulário em L2 por aprendizes brasileiros de Inglês como Língua Estrangeira (ILE) resultante do
processamento e compreensão de um sitcom Norte-Americano. Trinta e seis aprendizes de ILE, matriculados nos
Cursos Extracurriculares de Língua da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), foram igualmente
divididos em dois grupos experimentais (legendas intralingual e legendas interlinguais) e um grupo controle (sem
legendas). O desempenho dos participantes foi medido em um teste de vocabulário em L2 (pré-teste, teste e pós-
teste), levando em conta fatores que influenciam a aprendizagem de palavras (Laufer, 1997). Em relação aos
efeitos das legendas, os testes estatísticos e as análises revelaram que as as condições experimentais não
promoveram substancialmente a aprendizagem de vocabulário em L2, e não foram encontradas diferenças
significativas entre os grupos experimentais e o controle. Com o tempo, os resultados obtidos apontam para
ganhos mais positivos de desempenho do grupo de legendas intralinguais, seguido pelo de legendas interlinguais
e finalmente pelo controle. Os resultados são discutidos à luz de diferentes possíveis mecanismos de
processamento empregados e de alguns potenciais e limitações que ambos os tipos de legendas podem oferecer
para a aprendizagem/instrução em L2.
Palabras-chave: língua estrangeira; aprendizagem de vocabulário em L2; legendagem.

Introduction most important component for L2 learners (Gass &

Selinker, 1994).
The disciplinary field of Second Language
Vocabulary learning has, for quite some time
Acquisition (SLA) has devoted considerable scholar
attention to the research behind the use of subtitled now, awakened the interest of scholars in SLA,
videos in and outside language classrooms focusing questioning long-held assumptions, especially as to
on vocabulary learning. In some perspectives, the role that vocabulary plays in the picture of
vocabulary is viewed as the bulk of communication learning/acquiring a language (Ellis, 1997). Simply
and language learning, without which any attempt of put, learning a word, according to Ellis (1994),
communication is impossible (Laufer, 1997) or the would minimally entail its recognition and its
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Page 2 of 10 Matielo et al.

entrance to our mental lexicon. The scholar also PhD study, reports on the effects of intralingual and
posits that there is no single process of learning a interlingual subtitles on L2 vocabulary learning,
word since the processes are logically, pedagogically, more specifically on how these translational aids
and psychologically separable. affect brazilian L2 learners’ vocabulary gains when
In order to make videos accessible to populations watching a North-American sitcom in a pre-test,
that do not fully master the language spoken in the test, and post-test study design.
dialogues of the videos or to facilitate students’ This article has been organized into four sections
overall comprehension, subtitles tend to be used. in addition to this introductory one. Section 2
Regarding this translational aid, an important presents a brief review of the literature, stressing the
1 main findings related to subtitling availability and L2
distinction is in order: while interlingual subtitles
specifically refer to target-language texts, varying novel word learning. Section 3 centers on the
depending on the country, typically displayed at the methodological aspects informing the present
bottom of the screen, intralingual subtitles refer to research. Section 4 focuses on the descriptive
same-language subtitles (also known as captions), statistics, the results, and the discussion of the main
which originally had the function to serve the findings. Finally, section 5 offers a summary of the
hearing-impaired (Neuman & Koskinen, 1992). key results as well as some limitations and
As Neuman and Koskinen (1992) explain, the implications that have emerged.
instructional use of subtitled video materials
involves many benefits, some of which could be Intralingual subtitles, interlingual subtitles, and L2
summarized as follows: (i) videos’ combination of vocabulary
sounds and pictures might enhance the relationship In light of 18 empirical studies reviewed, carried
between words and meanings; (ii) videos have out between 1991 and 2013 on the use of
entertainment qualities that constitute a potential intralingual and interlingual subtitles to foster L2
advantage over static texts; and (iii) viewing could be development, a thought-provoking picture conjures
perceived as a cognitively active experience – when up. Although most studies on L2 word learning
suitable material is used (Anderson & Collins, 1988). aided by subtitling availability have found more
Moreover, from a learning styles standpoint, beneficial effects with the use of intralingual
subtitled videos might cater for different types of subtitles (Neuman & Koskinen, 1992; D’Ydewalle &
learners, such as visual and auditory ones at the very Van de Poel, 1999; Koolstra & Beentjes, 1999;
same time. Markham, 1999), one study has found more
Studies on interlingual and intralingual subtitled beneficial effects with the use of interlingual
videos have covered a number of language domains, subtitles (Raine, 2013) and two studies have found
such as: the improvement of Foreign/Second no significant differences between the effects of
Language (L2) reading (Markham & Peter, 2003; intralingual and interlingual subtitles (Yuksel &
Kruger & Steyn, 2014), L2 listening comprehension Tanriverdi, 2009; Matielo, Collet, & D’Ely, 2013).
with/without L2 vocabulary learning (Garza, 1991; It could be argued that subtitles have proven
Huang & Eskey, 1999; Markham, Peter, & effective, regardless of their type of translational aid.
McCarthy, 2001; Stewart & Pertusa, 2004; Winke, Nonetheless, when singling out studies involving
Gass, & Sydorenko, 2010; Matielo, Oliveira, Baretta, university-level participants from studies involving
2017), L2 vocabulary learning (D’Ydewalle & Van de other populations, the number adds up to a total of
Poel, 1999; Bianchi & Ciabattoni, 2008; Matielo, 13 studies. In analyzing the results obtained by these
Collet, & D’Ely, 2013), the effects on implicit and studies with a focus on those that looked at a direct
explicit memory and cognitive processing (Bird & comparison of intralingual subtitles and their
Williams, 2002), and the acquisition of L2 grammar absence, out of the six studies, the scenario we get is
(Van Lommel, Laenen, & D’Ydewalle, 2006; Bianchi that four of them favored the presence of
& Ciabattoni, 2008). Although there is a substantial intralingual subtitles, whereas two of them found no
body of knowledge to date concerning the effects of differences between experimental and control
subtitling on L2 development, very few studies have groups, when their focus was not on L2 word
been carried out with the brazilian population so far. learning per se. In light of these results, there still
In this sense, this paper, which is part of a larger seems to be a need for further scrutiny regarding the
effects of intralingual and interlingual subtitles for
1
Interlingual subtitles are also commonly referred to as standard subtitles or
language development, especially when one
simply as subtitles, that is, the type of translational aid involving one linguistic pair considers the fact that certain populations of EFL
(when soundtrack and subtitles present two different languages). Intralingual
subtitles, on the other hand, are also often referred to as captions in that they learners have been underinvestigated – brazilian EFL
present the same language on both soundtrack and subtitles, though a few
technical differences can be observed (Danan, 2004).
learners being the case in point.
Acta Scientiarum. Language and Culture, v. 40, e36570, 2018
Subtitling and L2 vocabulary Page 3 of 10

Method Participants’ teachers were also given a

questionnaire in Portuguese in order to provide
This study, which is of a mixed design
more information about their education and
(qualitative and quantitative) nature, was aimed at
experience with English language teaching. They
looking at the effects of intralingual and interlingual
were also inquired about their pedagogical use of
subtitles on L2 vocabulary learning. More
videos in the classroom. Overall, teachers
specifically, it was aimed at investigating how these
mentioned that the decision to use intralingual
translational aids seem to affect brazilian L2 learners’
subtitles or interlingual subtitles (or none) depends
vocabulary gains when watching a North-American
on the type of activity and their goals.
sitcom in a pre-test, test, and post-test study design.
Participants MateriaI
A total of 36 participants participated in the data Materials: on the TV series
collection (20 female; 16 male), all of which are
The participants watched a 20-minute episode of
brazilian intermediate EFL learners in the 18-60 age
the American TV series The Big Bang Theory, which
range (mean age of 22 years old), chosen on the
premiered in 2007. In Brazil, the show is broadcast
basis of their proficiency level. Participants were
with Portuguese subtitles on Warner channel and is
enrolled in level 5 (intermediate) in the
a critically acclaimed show. The sitcom (situational
Extracurricular (non-credit) Language Courses at
comedy) depicts Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC),
Cooper, two brilliant physicists who are best friends
Florianópolis, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. Studies
and roommates, who are friends with two of their
on the effects of subtitled video materials have
co-workers, with whom they spend time working
typically comprised intermediate learners of the
on their individual work projects, playing video
language, and an assumption behind that is that
games, watching science-fiction movies, or reading
these participants are usually at a threshold
comic books. As they are self-professed nerds, they
proficiency level that enables them to read the
have little or no luck with women.3
subtitles on screen in the foreign language, given the
The sitcom was selected to be used in the
short display time for subtitles (2-4 seconds, only).
present investigation based on a series of criteria.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of
First of all, the series and the specific episode
the treatment groups or the control group:
adopted in this research were used elsewhere
Intralingual Subtitles Group (n = 12), Interlingual
(Matielo, Collet, & D’Ely, 2013). Additionally, they
Subtitles Group (n = 12); and Control Group – no were also chosen on the basis of its genre, since a
subtitles (n = 12). Participants were explained about sitcom was thought to be appealing and appropriate
all the stages in the data collection in the first to the target audience. From the profile
meeting, when they were invited to participate in questionnaire administered in the very first session
the research, signed the Consent Form2, and had the in the data collection, 31 out of the 36 participants
opportunity to clarify doubts related to the goals and reported watching sitcoms, thus suggesting their
the design of the study. familiarity with the genre. The episode used in the
Most of the participants (75%) had been study was ‘The grasshopper experiment’, the eighth
studying English for at least three or four years, had episode on the first season. The episode was chosen
been having contact with the English language since it contained a complete story line and did not
mostly by attending EFL classes, as well as by require students to be familiar with the series or
listening to music and watching films and TV series. previous episodes.
97.22% of the participants informed that they had
been studying English because they seek Materials: On the L2 Vocabulary Test
professional and personal development and 83.36% The L2 vocabulary test contained three parts: a
reported to watch films or TV series at least twice or pre-test, a test, and a post-test. The pre-test was
three times a week. The majority of all participants aimed at assessing the participants’ previous
(86.11%) reported watching TV series with knowledge of the target vocabulary, in the first
interlingual subtitles, whereas a few of them session. They received a 20-word list in English in
(13.89%) reported watching TV series with which 10 of them were distractors. They were asked
intralingual subtitles. to write their meaning, a synonym or an explanation
in Portuguese or English using their own words.
2
The research project was submitted to the university’s Ethics Committee and an
approval was obtained. It is registered under the code 36597314.9.0000.0118.
3
Participants’ teachers also signed a consent form. Information retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898266.

Acta Scientiarum.Language and Culture, v. 40, e36570, 2018

Page 4 of 10 Matielo et al.

The target words were chosen taking into account The video was shown with the use of a standard
factors influencing word learnability (Laufer, 1997). DVD player with a digital image display projector
For instance, some words were chosen because of and external speakers in a relatively small classroom
their facilitated word learning aspect, such as with a large screen, with regular viewing and
familiar morphemes (e.g., ‘pointless’ and listening conditions. No time frame was
‘membership’), whereas other words were chosen established in any treatment conditions in order
due to their difficulty-inducing factors, such as the to ensure that the participants felt at ease to
presence of foreign morpheme (e.g., ‘obnoxious’), answer the questions.
and some were selected as neutral, such as those
related to concreteness or abstractness of a lexical Scoring of the L2 vocabulary test and statistical
procedures
item (e.g. ‘wrath’).4 Moreover, words are related to
the themes portrayed in the episode, but are not The L2 vocabulary test was scored strictly with
semantically related (Erten & Tekin, 2008). the help of three raters. Raters assigned 1 point
Regarding the number of times the target-words for each acceptable synonym, explanation or
appear in the selected episode, half of them was translation of the target-words in the pre-test,
uttered and was shown in the subtitles – both test, and the post-test. Cronbach’s Alpha
intralingual and interlingual – twice (slot, correlation tests were run in order to check for
membership, guinea pigs, showdown, and wrath), inter-rater reliability in terms of the rating of each
whereas the other half of the target-words was part of the L2 vocabulary test (pre-test, test, and
uttered or shown in the subtitles once post-test) for each of the groups (intralingual
(embodiment, pointless, pushy, obnoxious, and subtitles, interlingual subtitles, and control),
resemblance). The short exposure to the input is separately because raters did not agree with the
hereby acknowledged, although one has to have in responses provided. The results obtained in inter-
mind that the video length is also short (20 rater reliability tests for the pre-test revealed that
minutes). the rating was very or highly reliable (intralingual
Other important criteria considered in the subtitles group, α= 0.85; interlingual subtitles
selection of the target-words relate to whether the
group, α= 0.75; control, α= 0.98). In relation to
words actually appeared in the interlingual and
the test part, the results obtained in the inter-rater
intralingual subtitles and whether they were
reliability tests revealed that the rating was highly
somehow relevant to the story being narrated on
screen, which could facilitate participants’ reliable (intralingual subtitles group, α= 0.92;
processing and future recognition. Distractors, on interlingual subtitles group, α= 0.95; control,
the other hand, contained words that were likely to α= 0.99). Finally, in relation to the post-test, the
be familiar based on semantic familiarity (e.g., results obtained in the inter-rater reliability tests
‘affection’ and ‘mint’) and unfamiliarity (e.g., ‘award’ also revealed that the rating was very or highly
and ‘moisturizer’), taking into account their reliable (intralingual subtitles group, α= 0.88;
proficiency level. Another aspect that was not interlingual subtitles group, α= 0.97; control,
controlled for was word frequency. α= 0.98).
The L2 vocabulary test required the participants Given that most of the data were not
to reanalyze the 10 target-vocabulary word list from approximately normally distributed, with varying
the pre-test in English (excluding the distractors) skewness and kurtosis, two sets of statistical tests
and write their meaning, a synonym or an were run: In order to investigate how intralingual
explanation in Portuguese or English using their and interlingual subtitles affect learners’ L2
own words immediately after watching the video, in vocabulary gains, as measured by pre-test, test, and
the second session. As for the post-test, one week
post-test, Kruskal-Wallis One-Way ANOVA tests
later, participants were provided with a test identical
were run; in order to examine significant differences
to the one they had been given a week before to
check whether they were able to recognize the in terms of gains across time, for any experimental
words they encountered when watching the video. condition, Friedman’s Two-Way Analysis of
The participants were asked to write their meaning, Variance was run.
a synonym or an explanation in Portuguese or
English using their own words. As in the L2 Results and discussion of findings
vocabulary test, distractors were not included. This section has been divided into two
subsections. Subsection 4.1 reports on the
4
All of the examples have been taken from the actual test, devised and used in
this study.
statistical tests and the results obtained for the L2
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Subtitling and L2 vocabulary Page 5 of 10

vocabulary test, whereas subsection 4.2 focuses on on the tests was 4 points, which was obtained by
the discussion and highlights the main findings. the control group on the post-test.
A careful inspection of the histograms and box
L2 Vocabulary test: descriptive statistics and results plots was informative since it revealed the presence
The results obtained by the two experimental of outliers: on the pre-test, Participant 22
groups and the control group on the L2 vocabulary (interlingual subtitles group) was considered an
pre-test, test, and post-test are displayed in Table 1: outlier, obtaining a score of 2 points when the mean
score of the participant’s group is .47. Moreover, the
Table 1. L2 vocabulary tests’ results. same participant can be considered an outlier on the
Pre-Test Test Post-Test post-test, when s/he obtained a score of 3 points in a
Groups Statistics
Score Score Score group whose mean score is 0.63. Lastly, on the post-
Mean 0.58 0.94 1.02
Intralingual SD 0.621 0.826 0.846 test as well, Participant 30 (control group) was
Subtitles (n = 12) Min. 0.00 0.00 0.00 considered an outlier, scoring 4 points in a group
Max 1.67 2.67 2.67 whose mean score is 1.41. Nevertheless, the results
Mean 0.47 0.66 0.63
Interlingual SD 0.593 0.898 0.926 obtained by the statistical tests revealed that the
Subtitles (n = 12) Min. 2.00 3.00 3.00 groups were not statistically significant among
Max 1.11 1.16 1.41 themselves, with or without the aforementioned
Mean 1.11 1.16 1.41
SD 1.25 1.34 1.29 outliers. Thus, the researchers decided to keep
Control (n = 12)
Min. 0.00 0.00 0.00 Participants 22 and 30 in the sample.
Max 3.67 3.67 4.00
The next step was to verify whether the
n = sample size; SD = standard deviation; minimum and maximum obtainable scores:
0-10 points. apparent differences in performance by the three
groups on the three testing moments – pre-test,
The performance of the three groups on the test, and post-test – were statistically significant.
L2 vocabulary test points out to different mean To this end, a Kruskal-Wallis One-Way ANOVA
scores on the pre-test, test, and post-test parts. test was run, and the results obtained with the
The scores allowed for a minimum of 0 and a statistical test are shown in Table 2:
maximum of 10 points each, and a quick look at
the participants’ scores reveals that the scores Table 2. Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA on the L2 vocabulary
obtained by the groups are different. Looking at test.
the pre-test scores alone, it is possible to state that Pre-Test Test Post-Test
the three groups are slightly different from start: Chi-Square 1.310 0.916 3.830
df 2 2 2
while the performance of the experimental groups Asymp. Sig. 0.520 0.633 0.147
did not differ much apparently (M = 0.58 and df = degrees of freedom; Asymp. Sig. = asymptotic significance.
M = 0.47, for the intralingual and interlingual
subtitles groups, respectively), the performance of Despite the differences in mean scores shown
the control group was found to be better in Table 2 obtained by the groups, a Kruskal-
(M = 1.11). As for the test scores, it is possible to Wallis One-Way ANOVA test showed that the
perceive that the control group (M = 1.16) differences between the groups did not reach
outperformed both experimental groups, though a statistical significance and therefore did not reveal
better performance by the intralingual subtitles a significant effect of subtitle availability on L2
group (M = 0.94) over the interlingual subtitles vocabulary (H(2) = 1.310, p > 0.05 for the pre-
groups (M = 0.66) was also found. Finally, in test; H(2) = 0.916, p > 0.05 for the test; H(2) =
relation to the post-test scores, a similar trend is 3.830, p > 0.05 for the post-test). Therefore, no
observed in that the control group (M = 1.41) post-hoc tests were run. Moreover, a small effect
outperformed the intralingual subtitles group size (ranging from 2% on the test to 10% on the
(M = 1.02), who in turn outperformed the post-test) was found in the data, which refers to
interlingual subtitles group (M = 0.63). the percentage of the variability in the L2
Examining the minimum and maximum vocabulary test that suggests that availability of
scores obtained on the L2 vocabulary pre-test, subtitles did not seem to play a determining role
test, and post-test by the two experimental groups in the participants’ performance on the test.
and the control group provides an idea of the test In order to gather insights into the variation of
difficulty. The minimum score obtained on the the participants’ performance on the L2
tests was 0 points by the intralingual subtitles vocabulary test across time, three separate
group and the control group (on the pre-test, test, Friedman’s Two-Way ANOVA tests were run for
and post-test), whereas the highest score obtained each of the two treatment groups and the control
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Page 6 of 10 Matielo et al.

group. The tests were aimed at verifying whether interlingual subtitles – and the control condition.
the groups’ L2 vocabulary test performance These numbers are discussed in the next subsection.
statistically differed across time considering their
pre-test, test, and post-test moments. The results Table 6. Gain scores in L2 vocabulary.
obtained are reported in Tables 3, 4, and 5: Test to Pre-Test Post-Test to Test
Participant
Gain Scores Gain Scores
P1 1.00 0.00
Table 3. Friedman’s Two-Way ANOVA Test on L2 vocabulary
P2 0.00 0.00
test: intralingual subtitles group. P3 1.00 0.00
n 12 P4 0.00 -0.33
P5 0.00 0.67
Chi-Square 3.588 Intralingual
P6 0.67 0.00
df 2 Subtitles
P7 -0.33 0.00
Asymp. Sig. 0.166 (n = 12)
P8 -0.33 0.33
n = sample size; df = degrees of freedom; Asymp. Sig. = asymptotic significance.
P9 0.67 -0.67
P10 1.00 0.00
Table 4. Friedman’s Two-Way ANOVA Test on L2 vocabulary P11 0.33 1.33
test: interlingual subtitles group. P12 0.33 -0.33
P13 0.00 -0.33
n 12 P14 0.33 0.33
Chi-Square 0.963 P15 0.00 0.33
df 2 P16 0.00 0.00
Asymp. Sig. 0.618 P17 0.00 0.00
Interlingual
n = sample size; df = degrees of freedom; Asymp. Sig. = asymptotic significance. P18 -0.33 0.00
Subtitles
P19 0.00 0.00
(n = 12)
P20 -0.33 -0.33
Table 5. Friedman’s Two-Way ANOVA Test on L2 vocabulary P21 1.00 0.00
test: control group. P22 1.00 0.00
P23 0.67 -0.33
n 12 P24 0.00 0.00
Chi-Square 4.455 P25 0.00 0.00
df 2 P26 0.00 0.00
Asymp. Sig. 0.108 P27 0.00 0.00
n = sample size; df = degrees of freedom; Asymp. Sig. = asymptotic significance. P28 -0.67 0.00
P29 0.00 0.67
The results herein obtained with the separate Control P30 0.00 0.33
(n = 12) P31 0.33 -0.33
Friedman’s Two-Way ANOVA tests on the L2 P32 0.00 0.00
vocabulary test (pre-test, test, and post-test) revealed P33 0.00 1.00
P34 1.00 0.33
no statistically significant difference across time for P35 0.00 0.00
the intralingual subtitles group (χ2(3) = 3.588, p > P36 0.00 1.00
n = sample size.
0.05), interlingual subtitles group (χ2(3) = 0.963, p
> 0.05), and control group (χ2(3) = 4.455, p > Intralingual subtitles, interlingual subtitles, and L2
0.05). This means that the treatment – the vocabulary: discussion of the main findings
availability of subtitles – did not have a statistically The effects of subtitling upon L2 vocabulary
significant effect on the sample investigated in this have been explored in several studies over the last
experiment, that is, a statistically significant change years (Markham, 1999; Bird & Williams, 2002;
on the L2 vocabulary test scores across time. Stewart & Pertusa, 2004; Winke, Gass & Sydorenko,
Even though Friedman’s Two-Way ANOVA 2010; Matielo, Collet, & D’Ely, 2013; Perez, Peters,
tests revealed no statistically significant differences & Desmet, 2014, to name but a few). Overall, what
concerning pre-test, test, and post-test scores on the the literature shows is that L2 vocabulary
L2 vocabulary test, the researchers further inspected development is possible to be aided by the use of
gain scores in order to gather more information subtitled material, but the degree to which the
about the participants’ performance. In computing effectiveness of intralingual subtitles and/or
the variance in gain scores, it is possible to generate interlingual subtitles is related to such development
valid data on which group benefitted the most from in different L2 populations still poses challenges,
the treatment, even if statistical significance was not doubts, and inconsistencies to researchers and L2
achieved. The results of gain scores comparisons practitioners.
from test to pre-test and post-test to test are In this study, participants’ mean scores on the L2
presented in Table 6. vocabulary test were in fact higher than the pre-test,
The data displayed in Table 6 show positive, which confirms that the treatment must have had
negative, and neutral gain scores considering the L2 some effect. Despite this effect, which relates to the
vocabulary pre-test, test, and post-test for the (un)availability of subtitles, the statistical tests
experimental conditions – intralingual and revealed that the groups are not significantly
Acta Scientiarum. Language and Culture, v. 40, e36570, 2018
Subtitling and L2 vocabulary Page 7 of 10

different from each other (H(2) = 0.916, p > 0.05). amount of target-words they ‘knew’ before, though
Thus, inspecting gain scores was very informative this was not measured on any word recognition
because it revealed that more positive gain scores in scale. Recognizing a word, nevertheless, could be
the test/pre-test comparison were obtained by the regarded as the beginning of L2 vocabulary
intralingual subtitles group, followed by the development (Ellis, 1997), though it does not
interlingual subtitles group and finally the control explain the whole story.
group, regardless of the fact that the control group Yuksel and Tanriverdi (2009) stress the
outperformed both experimental groups in the pre- importance of encountering words in context. In
test, but not on the test. their study, participants’ ability to recognize target
The more positive gain scores that the L2 words did not differ statistically considering the
participants in the intralingual subtitles condition intralingual subtitles group and the control group,
obtained in relation to the other groups may be even though the former outperformed the latter.
attributed to a large number of factors. First, all The authors also bring up the fact that no test
participants had seen the target-words prior to video announcement was included in the study, so their
watching on the pre-test, which means that they had participants also did not know on what to focus
been provided with an untimed opportunity to while they were watching the video. This also seems
visualize the word form, even if they were unsure of to the case in the present study.
its meaning at that point. Yet, only participants in Another crucial aspect regards the low scores
the intralingual subtitles group had the chance to see obtained in the L2 vocabulary test by the participants
the target-words in written form again while in all groups in the present study. Unlike the
watching the subtitled TV series episode, in the relationship between subtitling and L2 comprehension,
English subtitles. On the one hand, participants in the in which learners may infer aspects of the story being
interlingual subtitles would have had to attend to the told on screen more easily from different input
auditory channel and the translation of that word in the sources, such as the auditory channel and the visual
Portuguese subtitles. Participants in the control channels, L2 vocabulary development is dependent on
condition, on the other hand, would have had to rely several meaningful and comprehensible encounters
exclusively on their listening skills if they were to with the input provided (Nation, 1990; Horst, Cobb,
attend to the target-words from the video itself. & Meara, 1998).
The fact that the intralingual subtitles group had The performance obtained by the participants in
more gains in L2 vocabulary in the pre-test/test this research might possibly be at the threshold of
comparison may seem attributable to this fact, even what those learners are capable of obtaining,
if they did not even examine the content provided considering the video adopted, the target-words,
via auditory input, thus ignoring it. The literature on their proficiency level, and the conditions under
subtitling and L2 vocabulary has given rise to many which they performed. In other words, with such a
conflicting results, but as far as intralingual subtitles short, limited exposure to the input – a 20-minute
and no subtitles are concerned, more positive effects video – containing the target-words, across the
with intralingual subtitles for L2 vocabulary different experimental conditions, the processing of
development have been obtained mostly (Neuman & certain parts of the input may not even have
Koskinen, 1992; Markham, 1999), though no occurred at times. This argument relates directly to
differences were found in Yuksel and Tanriverdi the Noticing Hypothesis (Schmidt, 1990; 2010),
(2009). which, in a nutshell, presupposes that input does not
Winke et al. (2010) state that the use of become intake for language learning or language
intralingual subtitles provides learners with an development unless it is noticed, that is, consciously
opportunity to attend to different input modalities, attended, which would also count towards explaining
which can impact not only overall understanding, the low mean scores obtained by the participants.
but also target-vocabulary recognition. It is Although the Noticing Hypothesis has been
important to keep in mind that their study did not harshly criticized for being vague or lacking
require participants to explain the target-words in empirical support (Schmidt, 2010), it would provide
any language nor provide a synonym to them. an interesting perspective into the results hereby
Instead, participants were only asked to indicate obtained. It would make sense to assume that most
whether they knew the words prior to the treatment target-words may not have even been noticed by the
or not, which was quantified on a vocabulary participants – let alone processed – which then
recognition scale. It is possible that participants in would have given them no chance to recognize
the present research might have purely recognized them or make other higher level of cognitive
more words after the treatment in relation to the processing, such as inferring their meaning,
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Page 8 of 10 Matielo et al.

providing a synonym or coming up with a in the Portuguese subtitles. Two participants in this
translation for them based on the context of the group reported that they were unsure of their
story in which they appeared. Conversely, it is valid meaning and were afraid of making mistakes by
to acknowledge that not everything that one learns guessing or trying to provide an answer that would
or eventually acquires language wise is necessarily be inaccurate. Most importantly, all of the
explicitly taught. This is the stance that proponents participants in this group wrote that they considered
and researchers in the explicit versus implicit the vocabulary part of the test very difficult.
learning paradigm take and have devoted part of As for the control group, ten participants
their academic life to investigate. Most scholars reported that they could not remember the target-
seem to agree that unlike the first few thousand words, but none of them specified whether they
most common words in a given language, L2 were referring to the video alone or if that inability
vocabulary is mainly acquired incidentally (Huckin to recall words encompassed the pre-test too. Given
& Coady, 1999). that a one-week gap between pre-test, test, and post-
Nevertheless, Gass (1999) and Ellis (1994) both test was established, the researchers assume that the
criticize those who equate implicit or incidental participants referred to the video itself.
learning with unconscious learning. Some level of The results reveal that some participants in all
consciousness is very likely to be present in any three conditions – experimental conditions and
(language) learning scenario. Thus, it is possible to control condition – presented neutral and negative
assume that the fact that the participants did not pick gain scores in the test/pre-test comparison. With
up many L2 lexical items after having watched the regard to neutral gains, it is clear that more
video could also be attributable to a lack of participants in the control group obtained that type
consciousness as a product of attention (Schmidt, of score. This means that the absence of a treatment
1990). Successfulness in L2 vocabulary recognition – a subtitled video – was impactful in terms of their
is possibly dependable on a large amount of L2 vocabulary performance as much as it did the
attention directed towards lexical items. As Ellis experimental groups because more neutral gains
(1997) states, the learning of novel vocabulary scores were obtained by this group in relation to the
consists of the development of associative experimental ones. As for negative gain scores, a
connections that are highly dependent on repetition, possible explanation is that a few participants in
learning, and practice. In the present study, the tests these groups may have changed their answers after
designed might not have offered the participants watching the video by the time they took the L2
with enough and meaningful chances to develop vocabulary test in relation to the pre-test they had
such associative set of connections because the input taken a week before.
provided to them must have not contained enough Concerning the availability of intralingual
enhancement to foster participants’ more successful subtitles, we assumed that participants in that
L2 vocabulary uptake. condition would be provided with a chance to
In their retrospective questionnaire, participants establish some relationship of the target-words with
reported insightful information about their the surrounding lexical items, whose meanings
perceptions of the L2 vocabulary test. The most would then be inferable from the context in which
frequent aspect mentioned by the intralingual they occurred in the subtitles, by matching their
subtitles group was that, differently from the occurrence with what was being narrated on screen,
comprehension part, they claimed that they did which did not happen effectively. As previously
remember reading the words on the subtitles but discussed, participants in any subtitling condition
they could not remember exactly what they meant. had to deal with the issue of time, that is, the
In other words, they were unable to infer their duration of subtitles on screen. It is quite possible
meaning. Two of them also reported that they were that the 2 seconds for one-liners and up to 4 seconds
surprised because they remembered having seen the for the two-liners are not enough for participants to
words both on the pre-test and on the subtitles of read, register, and carefully analyze the written
the video, but they were unsure of their meaning. input. Target lexical items were possibly mostly
Interestingly, participants in the interlingual unattended, that is, they did not become intake
subtitles group reported different opinions: three partly because they were not properly processed or
participants wrote that they had never seen the even noticed in the input. Furthermore, the
words before, which means that they could not even frequency must have also been a decisive factor,
recall the words from their encounter on the pre- since the target-words were not very salient in the
test. This confirms that the target-words were not input, given that they appeared in the audio/subtitles
attended by them via auditory channel or translation mostly twice.
Acta Scientiarum. Language and Culture, v. 40, e36570, 2018
Subtitling and L2 vocabulary Page 9 of 10

As to the availability of interlingual subtitles, a can have for L2 learning, instructional, and
different type of processing might have been experimental purposes. Despite the lack of robust L2
involved. Perhaps participants would have had to vocabulary learning results, studies with subtitled
make an extra effort to associate the input provided video materials are still much needed to address how
in the auditory channel with the written input L2 learners may benefit most from them in order to
provided in the subtitles. This, we posit, would develop their linguistic skills.
unavoidably require the actual processing of both As for the successfulness of L2 vocabulary
auditory and visual channels. In doing so, learning, specifically, many factors are expected to
participants in the interlingual subtitles condition play a decisive role. The mastery of a new word axes
would also have had to establish a successful on many other factors such as the salience of the
translation relationship between the target-words word in context (Brown, 1993), as well as the
and their meanings, synonyms or explanations. This richness of certain contextual clues, the learner’s
would have entailed a second piece of processing attitudes, and possibly the size and quality of their
effort on their part, one that might be even more existing repertoire of vocabulary (Laufer & Hadar,
cognitively demanding than noticing itself. 1997). Further research is thus necessary to continue
In relation to the control condition, their only exploring this issue, most of all with
chance to begin their lexical development of the underinvestigated populations, such as Brazilian
target-words through the video watching task would EFL learners.
be to successfully notice and process them in the This study was sponsored by the Conselho Nacional
auditory input. Once that is done, we believe that de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) –
they could match them onto visual cues, such as the Brazil.
images of the video, and/or other clues in the story
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License information: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the
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Subtitles, Interlingual Subtitles, and Video and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Acta Scientiarum. Language and Culture, v. 40, e36570, 2018