The Effects of Video Caption Modes on English Listening comprehension

视频字幕模式对英语听力理解的影响

2. Literature Review

2. Literature Review

2.1 Definition of Caption

For the purpose of this research, it is necessary to distinguish subtitles from captions. Subtitles mean on-screen text in the learners#8217; native language combined with a second language soundtrack while captions refer to on-screen text in a given language combined with a soundtrack in the same language. In present study, the term captions will be used throughout in order to avoid repetition and avert confusing label changes.

2.2 Captions and Listening Comprehension

Captioning was used in foreign language instruction for the first time in the 1980s. The aim was to increase learners#8217; motivation, decrease the confusion and anxiety, help learners understand what was heard. (Burger, 1989; Froehlich, 1988; Vander plank, 1988). With the increasing popularity and availability of target language films, videos and sitcoms, using captioned videos to improve language learning have become widely welcomed (Brett, 1998). Captions can help learners build a connection between auditory and visual input (Garza, 1991). Many studies (Danan, 2004; Garza, 1991; Markham amp; Peter, 2003) have confirmed that combining captions with audiovisual materials is an effective instruction tool to improve L2 listening comprehension.

2.3 Empirical Studies on Captions and Listening

A lot of researches on captions and listening have been conducted abroad. Chinese studies on the video caption in college English teaching are still in the primary stage, video caption is an elective class in most colleges, and people pay less attention to it. Due to the limit of teaching material and the teachers#8217; abilities, video caption class is to broadcast the movie simply, which makes the students unable to understand the meaning and the teachers are also awkward. So vast majority of the studies are still at the beginning. But some colleges have further started the revolution of video caption course now.

Garza (1991) did a study to examine whether caption facilitated listening comprehension among Russian language learners. In his study, the students were randomly divided into two groups. One group viewed captioned video, while the other group viewed no-captioned video. The results strongly supported the previous findings that providing captions was effective and useful in enhancing L2 learners#8217; listening comprehension, which were in line with results of previous study designed by Markham.

Markham and Peter (2003) explored influences of different video captions (native language and target language) on intermediate L2 learners#8217; listening comprehension. His experiment involved 213 learners of Spanish as their foreign language. They were randomly assigned into English captions group, Spanish captions groups and no captions group. All the groups watched a DVD episode. After the treatment, a listening comprehension test was administered to the participants. Results showed that the students who received English captions performed significantly better than the Spanish captions group, and both groups performed considerably better than the no captions group. The results revealed that native language captions are helpful for listening comprehension in terms of difficult foreign language materials. This was consistent with Danan (1992) theory that native language captions came first, than was the target language captions.

The result of present study corroborated previous research that providing captions was helpful and influential in improving foreign language learners#8217; listening comprehension. But in terms of the effects of native language captions and target language captions on listening comprehension, the result of this study was inconsistent with the previous studies, which need further study.