Exploring the Potential of Subtitled Foreign Media for the Learning of Conventional Expressions

Abstract

Subtitled media have been found to be a beneficial tool in the acquisition of second language vocabulary, particularly for beginner-level learners. The present study follows up on Koolstra and Beentjes' (1999) suggestion that subtitled media may also be helpful in learning expressions and their associated contexts. Six beginner-level learners of Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) were taught the same thirty conventional expressions taken from a subtitled Japanese television drama-a control group without pragmatic instruction and a treatment group viewing the drama while taking note of form, meaning, and context of the expressions, as per Schmidt's (1993) noticing hypothesis. All participants were tested prior and subsequently with an oral discourse completion task (ODCT) and interviewed regarding their experiences. The results suggest that utilizing a target language television drama may be more beneficial than traditional methodology in multiple ways for learners both immediately and long-term.