THE EFFECT OF CAPTIONED-VIDEOS ON THE INCIDENTAL ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY
Alejandro Stefan Balam Pech Universidad de Quintana Roo VIDEOS
INTRODUCTION Captioning now is considered a powerful tool for teaching and learning a foreign language (Danan, 2004; Markham, 1999). Captioned videos provide learners with multimodal input, making it possible for learners not only to see the context of use of a word but also its written form and, of course, its pronunciation. Recent studies have shown that watching captioned videos can result in gains in incidental vocabulary acquisition (Winke, Gass & Sydorenko, 2010). The aim of this study will be to examine the effect of captioned videos vs. non-captioned videos on incidental vocabulary acquisition.
CAPTIONS VS SUBTITLES According to Markham (1999) and Danan (2004) the main differences between captions and subtitles are that: • Captions tend to actually transcribe and render utterances in a foreign language while subtitles are selective and omit redundancy. • The on-screen text in captions is usually in the same language as the audio. The text in subtitles, on the other hand, is usually a translation.
English language captions were added to the video clips, based on the transcript of the documentary, using Aegisub, free software for creating and modifying subtitles. The videos will be presented in good quality MP4 format. In total there were 6 videos, 3 with captions and three without captions.
VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE SCALE For this study, the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) will be used in order to measure how much students know the target vocabulary. The VKS is the most well-known of such tests and was designed to capture initial stages in word learning that are amenable to accurate self-report on demonstration through the use of a five-scoring scale (Shahov, 2012). The five levels of the scales are: 1. I didn’t know this word before watching the video 2. I don’t think I knew this word before watching the video 3. I have no idea if I knew this word before watching the video 4. I think I knew this word before watching the video 5. I definitely knew this word before watching the video.
PROCEDURE
Figure 1. Example of subtitles
Figure 2. Example of captions
Group 1
Group 2
Group 1
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
W/ captions or without
W/ captions or without
W/ captions or without
W/ captions or without
W/ captions or without
W/ captions or without
METHOD PARTICIPANTS 30 English language learners from the B.A. in English Language at the University of Quintana Roo, Campus Cozumel will participate in this study. They will be students from the 6th to 10th semesters. These groups will be selected because they are more likely to have an intermediate to advanced level of English. Lower-level learners will not be included in the sample since it has been reported that captions are more a distraction than help for this proficiency level (Taylor, 2005). The participants’ ages will be from 18 to 24 and all of them speak Spanish as their first language.
MATERIALS VIDEOS The videos for this study were taken from a NatGeo documentary called “Intelligent Animals”. The video clips, approximately 5-6 minutes in length, feature three animals that are able to use language to different extents. The original video was cut into smaller clips using the Total Video Converter software. The videos kept the original audio.
VKS
REFERENCES Danan, M. (2004). Captioning and subtitling: Undervalued Language Learning Strategies. Journal des traducteurs. 49(1), 67-77. doi: 10.7202/009021ar Markham, P. (1999). Captioned Videotapes and Second-Language Listening World Recognition. Foreign Language Annals. 32(3), 321-328. Shahov, V. (2012). Measuring L2 Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Knowledge. Language Studies Working Papers. 4, 37-45. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-9720.1999.tb01344.x Taylor, G. (2005). Perceived Processing Strategies of Students Watching Captioned Video. Foreign Language Annals. 38(3), 422-427. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-9720.2005.tb02228.x Winke, P., Gass, S., & Sydorenko, T. (2010). The Effects of Captioning Videos Used for Foreign Language Listening Activities. Language Learning & Technology. 14(1), 65-86.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks to Dr. Gabriella Casillas Navarro for her invaluable help in this project.
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