The Effect of BBC World Clips With and Without Subtitles on Intermediate EFL Learners' Vocabulary Development

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of bimodal subtitled films on vocabulary learning among Iranian EFL learners. To achieve this purpose, 60 male and female intermediate learners who were studying English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Pardis Memar Institiute in Bandar Abbas, Iran, participated in this study. A standard proficiency test was run to ensure learner homogeneity. Then participants were randomly assigned to three groups, namely: experimental group with English subtitle (N = 20), experimental group without English subtitle (N = 20) and control group (N = 20). The experimental groups watched 10 video clips (with and without subtitles) with the duration of 2-3 minutes. Then the pretest including 50 vocabularies was administered to the groups. During 10 sessions two experimental groups watched the clips with different modes: Bimodal subtitle, and no subtitle. All groups received the same pre-test containing new words drawn from the movie. After 10 treatment sessions, the post-test, which was the parallel form of the pretest was administered. One-way ANOVA was conducted to identify any difference between the three different groups. The findings of the study showed that the participants in the bimodal subtitling group performed significantly better and learned more new vocabulary items. The performance of participants in the no subtitle group was less effective than for the bimodal subtitling group, while performance of the control group was the worst.