Much of the recent research on discourse comprehension has centered on the readers' ability to construct coherent mental representations of texts. In order to form a unifi ed representation of a given text, a reader must be able to join the information presented in the text with his/her background knowledge to construe the meaning that may not be explicitly stated, through the generation of inferences. In this study, the process of inference making by native speakers of English while reading two different types of text was investigated using electroencephalography (EEG). Subjects read narrative and expository paragraphs, and judged the plausibility of the fi nal sentence of each four-sentence long paragraph by reference to the previous information. The analysis of data focused on the N400 component and on accuracy of behavioral responses. N400 amplitudes revealed that exposition was more demanding than narration in terms of semantic processing, whereas the behavioral data showed that subjects were more prone to generate inferences when reading exposition. Overall, this study suggests that these two types of text are processed differently by the brain, as revealed by the changes in the N400 component across the last sentences of the paragraphs.

The disciplinary field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) has witnessed an increasing interest in the investigation of the effects of subtitled and captioned audiovisual materials on domains of language learning/acquisition. In this context, this paper seeks to provide a systematic review of recent studies related to language learning aspects aided by the instructional/experimental use of subtitled and captioned materials. The present paper draws on relevant literature in the field of SLA that interfaces with subtitling/captioning, while outlining their goals and main findings. This paper also aims to unveil which dimensions have merited scholar attention the most in the last two decades. Finally, some considerations are made regarding possible avenues for future research, taking into account the existing literature and underinvestigated issues.

Much of the recent research on discourse comprehension has centered on the readers' ability to construct coherent mental representations of texts. In order to form a unifi ed representation of a given text, a reader must be able to join the information presented in the text with his/her background knowledge to construe the meaning that may not be explicitly stated, through the generation of inferences. In this study, the process of inference making by native speakers of English while reading two different types of text was investigated using electroencephalography (EEG). Subjects read narrative and expository paragraphs, and judged the plausibility of the fi nal sentence of each four-sentence long paragraph by reference to the previous information. The analysis of data focused on the N400 component and on accuracy of behavioral responses. N400 amplitudes revealed that exposition was more demanding than narration in terms of semantic processing, whereas the behavioral data showed that subjects were more prone to generate inferences when reading exposition. Overall, this study suggests that these two types of text are processed differently by the brain, as revealed by the changes in the N400 component across the last sentences of the paragraphs.

Exceto onde especificado diferentemente, a matéria publicada neste periódico é licenciada sob forma de uma licença Creative Commons -Atribuição 4. , were equally divided into two experimental groups (intralingual subtitles and interlingual subtitles) and one control group (no subtitles). Participants' performance was measured based on a general and specific video comprehension test. Data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Regarding the effects of subtitles on video comprehension, statistical tests and analyses performed revealed that intralingual subtitles were found to be more beneficial in terms of learners' general and specific video comprehension than interlingual subtitles, which in turn were found to be more effective than no subtitles. Still, participants' performance in the experimental conditions did not differ statistically. These results are discussed in light of the possible different processing mechanisms and potentials that both intralingual and interlingual subtitles may offer for L2 learning/instructional purposes.Keywords: Intralingual subtitles; Interlingual subtitles; Video comprehension; Sitcom. RESUMO:Este estudo explora os efeitos de legendas intralinguais e interlinguais no processamento e compreensão de um sitcom norte-americano por brasileiros aprendizes de Inglês como Língua Estrangeira (ILE). Mais especificamente, este trabalho investiga os efeitos de legendas intralinguais e interlinguais na compreensão geral e específica do vídeo por parte dos aprendizes. 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 com base em um teste de compreensão geral e específica do vídeo. Os dados foram analisados quantitativa e qualitativamente. Em relação aos efeitos das legendas na compreensão do video, os testes estatísticos e as análises revelaram que as legendas intralinguais foram mais benéficas para a compreensão geral e específica dos aprendizes do que as legendas interlinguais. Estas, por sua vez, foram mais benéficas do que a condição controle. Contudo, o desempenho dos participantes nas condições experimentais não mostrou diferenças estatísticas. Os resultados são discutidos à luz de diferentes possíveis mecanismos de processamento e potenciais que os tipos de legendas podem oferecer para a aprendizagem/instrução em L2.Palavras-chave: Legendas intralinguais; Legendas interlinguais; Compreensão de vídeo; Sitcom.

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.