Page 37 - ELG1903 Mar-Apr Issue 464

RESOURCES

develop their skills – if you choose the right
video to work with. I hope the above five
tips provide some inspiration for using this Succeeding with subtitles
powerful resource for language learning, even
with lower level students. An experiment with Spanish students of programme they saw, a one hour episode
Now for some homework that I hope you’ll English at B2 Level, previously reported of Downton Abbey, used too many low
enjoy: Choose a short TED Talk, or part of in the Gazette, showed that watching frequency words.
one, preferably one with something visually movies with subtitles in English improved And don’t expect the students to
interesting in it. it . Here are some suggestions listening skills by 17 per cent on a listening understand the story. Only students who
to get you started: test, compared to 7 per cent for those watched the programme with Spanish
Chris Burkard: The joy of surfing in ice-cold who watched the film without subtitles. subtitles did well on the comprehension test!
water Students who watched the same film with Given this, is it worth doing? Of
Daria van den Bercken: Why I take the piano Spanish subtitles actually scored slightly course! But consider letting students
on the road … and in the air worse on the post-test than they did on the watch L1 subtitles first, perhaps as
Munir Virani: Why I love vultures same test taken before they saw it. homework, so they understand the
Camille Seaman: Haunting photos of So, is it a good idea to get students to story. Or choose a film or programme
polar ice watch video with English subtitles? The the students are very familiar with.
Derek Sivers: How to start a movement answer is yes, if you want to improve their For millennials, something from Harry
phonological perception and help them Potter or an episode of Friends is a good
learn to link sounds and written spelling, bet. And go for non-verbatim subtitles,
according to authors Birulés-Muntané and those that don’t translate every word, if
Lewis Lansford has
contributed to a Soto-Faraco. It can also help advanced you want to improve comprehension.
number of awarding learners decode unfamiliar accents,
language courses something that L1 speakers do naturally. ■ Watching Subtitled Films Can
featuring TED Talks. But they may not learn much Help Learning Foreign Languages,
He’s currently vocabulary. In this study, students’ J. Birulés-Muntané, S. Soto-Faraco
developing an online
course with TEFL lexis improved very little, regardless of https://journals.plos.org/plosone/
Equity Academy due whether or not subtitles were used. The article?id=10.1371/journal.
to launch in April, 2019. authors argued this might be because the pone.0158409

editorial@elgazette.com 37