The Effects of Keyword Captions to Authentic French Video on Learner Comprehension

Abstract

The common practice in captioning video programs for foreign language instruction is to transcribe the spoken language verbatim into captions. This practice presents a dense visual channel for foreign language learners. The study presented here tested a keyword captioning method based on the hypothesis that keyword captions present learners with less to read without attenuating their comprehension of the information in the spoken message. The design of the experiment was simple; the use of three different amounts of text on video were compared: full text, keywords, and no text. The results of the experiment showed that the keyword captions group outperformed the no-text group and that the full text captions group outperformed the keyword captions group; however, a post-hoc analysis revealed no significant difference between the means of the full text captions group and the keyword captions group. The positive effect of both keyword and full text captions on comprehension, the basic research hypothesis, is confirmed.

Reading All The Way to Functional Literacy: Using Same Language Subtitling in Television Programmes in India

“…There is also the question of the speed of the subtitles appearing on television. Guillory (1998) [43] states that if the language level is too advanced for the viewer, the subtitles cannot compensate for the advanced vocabulary and fast rate of speech. "...subtitles which remain on the screen long enough to be read more than once are just as irritating as subtitles that disappear before the audience has had time to finish reading them" (Ivarsson and Carroll 1998: 67) [28].…”

The effectiveness of english movie subtitles in vocabulary learning among iraqi kurdistan efl learners: soran university efl learners as an example

“…To (Guillory, 1998) keywords are beneficial especially for beginner furthermore; she found that beginning-level students would benefit more. She noted that keyword subtitling might be better for beginning-level learners because it may not impose as large of a cognitive load.…”

Fluency through Friends: authentic video, subtitle modification, and oral fluency

“…In addition to beingeffective in both authentic and non-authentic contexts, it has also been shown to be effective for both foreign language learners (Guillory, 1998;Borras &Lafayette, 1994;Danan, 1992) and second language learners (Lambert, .et al, 1981). One study (Garza, 1991) included subsamples ofboth foreign language and second language learners.…”

“…Studies have shown subtitles to be effective for first-year learners (Guillory, 1998;Danan, 1992), third year learners (Borras &Lafayette, 1994;Garza, 1991), and students in immersion settings (Lambert, et al, 1981). From the perspectives ofresearchers, then, subtitles are considered an effective way to aid learner comprehension ofvideo in a variety ofsituations.…”

“…Another researcher who took a more qualitative approach to student attitudes toward subtitles is Guillory (1998). Her study of 202 second-semester French learners at the University of Texas at Austin was done using L2 video with either no subtitles, full L2 subtitles, or keyword L2 subtitles.…”