Assignment 3 - Research Proposal

Assignment 3: Research Proposal CALL

How Subtitle Assists The Second Language Learner In Listening Skill And Acquisition Of Vocabulary? 

INTRODUCTION

In Malaysia, the wide use of English language is a common fact as it does not only serves the function as second language among Malaysians, but also secures a position as one of the means of communication in this multiracial country. Majority of Malaysians adapt English language as second language regardless of what their races are. It is used in governmental affairs as well. English is also one of the medium languages in commerce and one of common languages of communication apart from other languages in Malaysia. English Language is not only taught and learnt in the primary and secondary level but also in the higher educational institution. Other than that, even people in the working sector also realise the important of English Language in Malaysia. So, the teaching and learning process of English Language must be interactive and interesting as people from different ages are now learning English as their second or third language in Malaysia since English has become a very crucial language in communication between people worldwide.

The use of technology in this modern era is very common and there are many software and website which made the learning of English Language much easier especially for the second language learners as well as the teachers. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) came into existence to help teachers and learners to learn language through the use of internet and computer. Recently, people use several approaches to make sure the teaching process is interesting yet it also helps the learner to understand it better and easier. Some of the approaches are by using the videos, podcast and software.

1.1 Purpose of Study

This paper aims to see how the use of subtitle in documentary films helps second language intermediate adult learners in acquiring the vocabulary, and enhancing their listening. Subtitled documentary is an approach to attract the attention of the learners. This research aims to show how subtitled documentary benefit or destroy second language learner and how it gives impact to the acquisition of new vocabulary and listening skills of the learners.

1.2 Significant of Study

This research is important to see the variance of teaching tool for the adult learners since there are not much websites and software that can help the acquisition of English Language among the adult learner. It is also significant to see how the use of video with or without subtitle enhances the listening skill, and vocabulary building of the adult’s second language learners. The use of computer as a tool in assisting language learning is believed that it will give more stimuli for the learners to participate in class activity.

1.3 Statement of Problem

            As English majors, the students must acquire great number of vocabulary to enhance their comprehension especially through listening. However, the teachers are in doubt about the usage of subtitles in enhancing the acquisition of vocabulary among the students whether it can help or destroy language acquisition and learning skills of Benl students. 

1.4 Research Question

1) How video or movie with or without subtitle helps in vocabulary acquisition and listening skills?

2) How frequent the learners use subtitle to understand certain words?

3) Which type of video is preferred by the learners, either the subtitled or non-subtitle video and why?

LITERATURE REVIEW

Subtitled Television programs, videos and documentary provide a rich context of foreign language acquisition. Many viewers are motivated to understand what is shown in television with the help of the subtitles. According to the previous researches, subtitles may distract the learning skills and language acquisition of the second language learner. Yet, according to Koolstra & Beentjes (1999), “word recognition in non subtitled condition was not superior to word cognition in subtitled condition”. That means, when watching both the subtitled and non subtitled program, the children do not get distracted and they learned second language words through watching the television program. In addition, they also stated that children who watch television program with subtitle acquire more words than the children that watch their own language program. In their study, the best way for the children to acquire language is through the use of both English spoken and subtitled television program but the children own mother tongue television program. This is because, the children acquire both reading and listening skills as they are watching, they read the subtitle and they listen the spoken form of English Language. Therefore, through the subtitle approach of learning, the learners learn the authentic use of the language by the native speaker of the language.

Subsequently, according to another research by Grgurović and Hegelheimer (2007), it is believed that with the aid from subtitle and transcript, students will perform better in their way to comprehend all the information provided through listening activity. The results indicate that participants interacted with the subtitles more frequently and for longer periods of time than with the transcript. The subtitles were also the preferred help option before and after the activity, and it appears that the participants picked the help option they were predisposed to in daily life. The higher proficiency group also used subtitles more frequently and for longer amounts of time than the lower proficiency group although both groups exhibited very similar behaviour on the transcript. In short, it can be concluded that the use of subtitle helps a lot in students’ process of learning and comprehending knowledge. The results of this study about the use of subtitles and transcripts as help options in cases of listening comprehension breakdowns showed that the participants used the subtitles more frequently and for longer periods of time than the transcript. The subtitles were also the preferred help option before and after the activity, and it appears that the participants picked the help option they were predisposed to in daily life.

In another research,Markham (1989) investigated the effects of subtitle on all level of English learners where he showed two subtitled videos on the topic that the students do not know. After measuring the results, it was stated that the students that viewed videos with subtitles performed significantly better than the group that watched the same video without subtitle. They can also improve their listening and reading skills by watching video with subtitle, according to the result. Apart from that, a few other studies also came out with the same result where the researchers can conclude from the result that learners perform better and understand better by watching videos that include the subtitle. Danan, (1992) for example, investigate the effect of subtitle on vocabulary recall. By watching videos with subtitles, students can distinguish between known and unknown words and at the same time solve the problem with segmentation (Danan, p. 521). With the advancement of technology nowadays, it is helpful for the teachers of second language learning to make use of the audio-visual materials to teach foreign language. The usage of the materials enables learners to make use of visual information to enhance comprehension through listening. 

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Sample/Participants

45 BENL students are chosen from different levels of study in which 15 participants for each level of study from year 1 till year 3. Then, the students are divided into 3 groups in which the groups will be containing 5 students from each year of studies. So, the number of students in each group is 15.

3.2 Method of Data Collection

A Documentary Film: An English film on ‘natural disasters’ with authentic and contemporary language called ‘Wild Weather’ is prepared to be used for the study. The four-part series Wild Weather looks at the extremes of the earth’s climate and how man lives with it and ultimately affects the man living the weather. The total film is approximately 180 minutes long. There are four episodes, each one of which contained 10 parts. Two episodes were selected as the main source of the experiment. Out of these two episodes, only three parts (each approximately 30 minutes long) were chosen to be viewed to the students. The parts are:

Part 1: Jungle (30 minutes)

Part 3: Desert (30 minutes)

Part 5: Ice storm (30 minutes)

A subject was given 1 point for each correct answer, with the highest possible score

being 10 and the lowest possible score being 0. The score will be evaluated and from the result, the researchers will know which film is more effective in developing listening comprehension and improve the students in their vocabulary.

3.3 Framework for Data Analysis

The framework of this research is the development of listening skills and the enhancement of vocabulary acquisition by the use of subtitled documentary video. This research will see their comprehension on what they had listened and watched from the video. Video acts as medium that can teach and learn by anyone especially students. Video and subtitle is not foreign to anyone nowadays and students are well adapting to the use of this multimedia. Students will be evaluated based on their listening skill and vocabulary acquisition from the subtitled video.

3.4 Instruments

3 types of Videos which are English subtitle video, Malay subtitle video and video without subtitle. Then the test is divided into 2 which are the pre-test and the post test. The pre-test consists of 70 questions of proficiency test and the post test is the listening comprehension test.

3.5 Procedure (Duration)

The experiment, lasting for a week, is conducted at the language laboratory of

International Islamic University Malaysia. The following three steps were taken in

this study:

Step 1: After drawing out 45 junior and senior students from the English department, a proficiency test with 70 questions is administered. The allotted time for answering the questions is 50 minutes. After correcting the papers, 45 students whose scores fell between 26 and 48 out of 70 are selected as the intermediate group.

Step 2: Based on their score in language proficiency test, the participants will be

assigned to three groups, that is, English Subtitle Group (ESG),  Malay Subtitle

Group (MSG) and Without Subtitle Group (WSG).

Step 3: At this stage, all three groups are asked to watch one part of the episode on the same day, and in order to increase the reliability of the study, each group will watch the same segment with the assigned condition, namely ESG, MSG or WSG. By the end of each session, immediately after watching the film, a multiple-choice comprehension test is administered in order to evaluate their listening comprehension and provide grounds for comparison.

Step 4: After the final test, the students in each group were asked to write their viewpoints

about the effect of subtitled and/or unsubtitled films. To make it easier and

stress-free for the students, they are allowed to give their comments in their first

language. Finally, the result are then calculated.

EXPECTED FINDINGS

At the end of the research, the results is expected to answer the following question:-

1) How video or movie with or without subtitle helps in vocabulary acquisition and listening skills

When listening to the audio, the learners are expected to understand the native language used in the video. The use of subtitle will help the learners to understand it more as the pronunciation of each word maybe different from the Malay pronunciation. When watching the video, the learners may be familiarized with new terms that usually used in such video. So, they may learn new words from that and add their existing vocabulary. For the ESG, they may get higher marks for the comprehension test as they were expected to understand the documentary much better than the other two groups. Then, MSG may have slightly lower marks as the test will also include some English terms that they may not know. Lastly, the WSG may have the lowest marks as they only dependent on the video and audio. They will have less understanding on the video shown without the help of the subtitle.

2) How frequent the learners use subtitle to understand certain words?

For the control group 1, the students with English subtitle (ESG), they may look at the subtitle more frequent than the other group because, if they do not understand the spoken form of it, they may easily identify the word from the subtitle given and they can easily refer to the video of they do not understand any of English words that are new for them. For the second group with Malay subtitle, they may see the subtitle as frequent as the first group but they may not know certain vocabulary as they referred to their own language. They can only depend on the video without knowing the real English word for certain things in the video.

3) Which type of video is preferred by the learners either the subtitled or non-subtitle video and why?

Learners preferred both English and Malay subtitle videos but not the non-subtitle video as the subtitle video will make people more understand of what have been said in the video. They may not be familiar with certain words pronounce by the native speaker but in the process of learning, they can refer to the subtitle and acquire new words. The use of subtitle also gives better understanding of what the learners are watching.

APPENDIX

Literature Review 1

Children’s vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language through watching subtitled television programs at home

Purpose of Study

To investigate how Dutch Children in grade 4 and 6 learn English words through the watching television programs

Significant Of Study

 To see how children acquire their vocabulary and how they differentiate separate words that been used in the program

Statement of Problem

 Reading the subtitle may distract the children yet how subtitle helps the children to acquire the words and if subtitle is not available, how it affects the spoken acquisition of English language.

Research Question

1) Do Dutch children learn English words from the subtitled English language television program?

2) Which level of students acquires more English words in the using of subtitle learning?

3) How frequent the children see the subtitle while watching the program?

Methodology

Participants: 125 boys and 121 girls from grade 4 and 6 from three primary schools in the urban district of Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Procedure

- Before the experiment was conducted, the children were asked to complete an English vocabulary test. They were asked to watch a video and they were told to “just watch” the video to make sure that they do not pay attention to the subtitle. Then, the vocabulary test was given to them. They were also experimented through the word recognition test. At the end of the session children were asked how frequent they watch subtitled program at home.

- For the vocabulary acquisition test, children were grouped based on their vocabulary test result. Then they were grouped into:-

1) Watch English tv program with Dutch subtitle, 2) Watch the without subtitle, 3) Watch the Dutch tv program.

- For the test, they were given multiple choice questions asking 35 Dutch translation words. All the English translation form has been spoken in the video and appeared in the subtitle. The score was taken and compared.

- As for the vocabulary matching test, the children were given and it only divided into two groups which are the subtitle vs non-subtitle group. Then, they were given 30 auditory items in which 20 of them are in the subtitle and soundtrack and the other 10 are nor.

Findings

- Children that watch program with subtitle have higher vocabulary score than the only Dutch TV program

- Word recognition in the no subtitle condition was not superior to word recognition in the subtitle condition

- Reading subtitle did not distract children from hearing the English words

- Grade 6 children have higher proficiency than grade 4 children as they started learning English earlier.

- Dutch children use more than half of their viewing time watching subtitled TV program

Literature Review 2

Title: Help Options And Multimedia Listening: Students’ Use Of Subtitles And The    Transcript

Statement Of Problem

Students are facing difficulties and problems in comprehending input. At some point of studying, some students undergoes comprehension breakdown as a result of inability to acquire the knowledge given by the lecturers. It is believed that with the aid from subtitle and transcript, students will perform better in their way to comprehend all the informations provided through listening activity.

Purpose Of Study

- This empirical study was designed to provide evidence about one such issue: whether subtitles or transcripts are more effective in providing modified input to learners.

- This paper offers suggestions on the design and implementation of software help options (L2 subtitles and L2 transcript) in a multimedia listening activity.

- Also, it investigates the learner’s use of multimedia listening software with a particular focus onlearner interaction with subtitles and transcripts in cases of comprehension breakdowns.

- The paper also examines if and how learners take advantage of help options available to them.

Significant Of Study

To find the most appropriate and suitable method of study to help students acquire the highest number of input in reading comprehension based on their listening skills with the help of subtitles or transcripts.

Research Questions

1.      How frequently and for how long do participants use two help options (subtitles and the transcript) offered in a multimedia activity?

2.      Are there patterns of participants’ behavior that suggest differences in how they approach help, and if so, how could those patterns be explained?

3.      Are there differences in the use of help options between participants at different proficiency levels?

4.    What are participants’ attitudes towards two help options before and after the activity

Methodology

-          A multimedia listening activity containing a video of an academic lecture was designed tooffer help in the form of target language subtitles (captions) and lecture transcripts in casesof comprehension breakdowns.

-          Eighteen intermediate ESL students enrolled in anacademic listening class at a research university participated in the study.

-          Two tests(initial listeningcomprehension and delayed recall),  andquestionnaires (pre and post-listening), in addition to screen recordings were used to analyze students' performanceon the activity and their use of help.

-          The participants were divided into two groups: higher intermediate (10 students) and lower intermediate (8students) based on:

a) the instructor’s opinion of their listening ability

b) their present grade in the course

c) a self-evaluation of listening proficiency

d) scores on an initial academic listening test

e) selfreported TOEFL scores

- The video segments could be played only once to make the delivery of input similar to delivery in a lecture hall where students usually don’t hear the same lecture twice.

Findings Of Research

-          The results indicate that participants interacted with the subtitles more frequently and forlonger periods of time than with the transcript.

-          The study identified four patterns oflearner interaction with the help options.

-          Overall, the participants interacted withhelp less than half of the time they opened help pages, an important challenge ininvestigating help options lies in finding ways to promote the use of help

-          The subtitles were also the preferred help option before and after theactivity, and it appears that the participants picked the help option they were predisposed to in daily life

-          The higher proficiency group also used subtitles more frequently and for longer amounts of time than thelower proficiency group although both groups exhibited very similar behavior on the transcript.

LITERATURE REVEW 3

Title: The Effect Of Films With And Without Subtitles On Listening Comprehension Of Efl Learners

Purpose of the study:

To examine the efficacy of subtitled movie on listening comprehension of intermediate English as a Foreign Language students.

Significance:

With the increasing access to TV, video equipment and more recently, the computers,

teachers have found more opportunities to use audio-visual materials at all levels of

foreign language teaching, and they have frequently used them effectively in language

classes

Statement  of the problems:

Teachers of English are sometimes in a dilemma whether they should show a film with or without subtitles and in what language and, above all, which way will benefit their students most in relation to listening comprehension.

Research question:

1. Do films with English subtitles help EFL students improve their listening comprehension

more than films with Persian subtitles or without subtitles?

2. Do films with Persian subtitles help EFL students improve their listening comprehension

more than films with English subtitles or without subtitles?

3. Do films without subtitles help EFL students improve their listening comprehension

more than films with Persian or English subtitles?

Methodology:

The sample was taken from out of a total of 200 intermediate students, 90were picked based on a proficiency test. The material consisted of six episodes (approximately 5 minutes each) of a DVD entitled ‘Wild Weather’. The students viewed only one of the three treatment conditions:

English subtitles, Persian subtitles, no subtitles. After each viewing session, six sets of multiple-choice testswere administered to examine listening

Findings:

The results revealed that the English subtitles group performed at a considerably higher level than the Persian subtitles group, which in turn performed at a substantially higher level than the no subtitle group on the listening test.

REFERENCES

Abdolmajid Hayati, F. M. (2011). The effect of films with and without subtitles on listening     comprehension of EFL learners. British Journal of Educational Technology , 42 (1), pp. 181-192.

Grgurović, M. H. (2007). Help options and multimedia listening: Students' use of subtitle and   the trascript . Language Learning & Technology , 11 (1), pp. 45-66.

Koolstra, C. B. (1999). Children's vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language through              watching subtitled television programs at home. Educational Technology Research     and Development , 47 (1), pp. 51-60.