The Effect Of Three Modes Of Intralingual Subtitles On Incidental Vocabulary Learning By Chinese EFL Learners

In recent years,more and more attention is being spent on learning English by uniting different tools into one to get a more effective result.Recently,new advances in technology in general and multimedia in particular,have played a key role in facilitating foreign language teaching and learning.Many researchers have presented substantial evidence that multimedia have beneficial effects on language learning because of authentic comprehensible input.Today,language learning has turned out to be more available by implementing multimedia with spoken information and full visual context,such as subtitles.For instance,subtitled videos representing words and pictures in an aural and a visual form are more probable to activate both coding systems in the processing than words or pictures alone.The learning mode in the word annotation forms plays an essential role in improving students' vocabulary in the English learning process.This study combines effective vocabulary learning tools such as subtitles,annotation,and technology.As well as abroad in China,a sufficient amount of research was conducted on the effect of intralingual subtitles on vocabulary learning and annotations.But no one researched the effect of the combination of intralingual subtitles and annotations with continuous video viewing.The results of this study can later be used by teachers for more effective classroom vocabulary teaching,as well as for learning vocabulary by students outside the classroom.This study investigates which of three modes more efficient for vocabulary learning from videos with three modes of subtitles animation and intralingual subtitles with highlighted words(AISHW),animation and intralingual subtitles with highlighted words and gloss(AISHWG),animation and intralingual subtitles with highlighted words and example(AISHWE).More specifically,it seeks to explore:1.What is the best mode for L2 incidental vocabulary learning(AISHW,AISHWG and AISHWE)as measured by vocabulary recognition?2.What is the best mode for L2 incidental vocabulary learning(AISHW,AISHWG and AISHWE)as measured by vocabulary written production?3.What are students' general attitudes towards the three subtitles modes?The participants were one hundred ten freshmen students(all non-English majors,from class A)at Lanzhou Jiaotong University.All were L1 Mandarin Chinese speakers with English language instruction of four hours per week.Thirty-five participants in the AISHW group,thirty-nine participants in the AISHWG group and thirty-six in the AISHWE group.Each participant filled out Vocabulary Level Test,Vocabulary Recognition pre-test,Vocabulary Production pre-test,Vocabulary Recognition post-test,and Vocabulary Production post-test.Data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively.The quantitative data were collected from the three classes were analyzed by SPSS Version 16.0 for Windows.The main results of this study are presented as follows:Firstly,the vocabulary recognition of students who viewed the authentic video with intralingual subtitles with highlighted words and gloss achieved higher vocabulary recognition than those who viewed the authentic video with intralingual subtitles with highlighted words and example and with intralingual subtitles with highlighted words.Secondly,the vocabulary production of students who viewed the authentic video with intralingual subtitles with highlighted words and example achieved higher vocabulary production than those who viewed the authentic video with intralingual subtitles with highlighted words and gloss and with intralingual subtitles with highlighted words.Finally,the data collected from the questionnaire showed participants have positive attitudes toward learning from subtitled videos.Pedagogical suggestions and future research are recommended as follows:1)Teachers should make use of intralingual subtitles videos with highlighted words and gloss/example as part of their teaching syllabuses to improve their learners' vocabulary learning.The students can benefit from intralingual subtitles videos in EFL classes using audio-visual materials.2)Language learners can use intralingual subtitles videos with highlighted words and gloss/example for independent learning outside the class to improve their vocabulary.