Abstract
The present study examines the impact of implementing video captioning and subtitles on listening comprehension with special reference to the speaker’s speed. A total of 64 undergraduate Saudi EFL learners were assigned into six groups: fast speaker with full captioning, fast speaker with subtitles, fast speaker with no captioning nor subtitles, slow speaker with full captioning, and slow speaker with subtitles, slow speaker with no captioning nor subtitles. Each group was instructed to watch a video in English under its assigned condition and then answered a listening test. Participants also answered a questionnaire to determine the impact of these conditions on their cognitive load. The results revealed that the group that viewed the video of slow speakers with a caption obtained the highest score on the listening comprehension test, followed by the group that viewed the video of fast speakers with a caption. The group that viewed no caption video of fast speakers obtained the lowest scores. The questionnaire analysis indicated that the students in the subtitle slow group reported using low mental effort, whereas the students in the caption fast group reported using very high mental effort followed by the students in the caption slow group who also reported using high mental effort.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University for supporting and funding this project.
Funding
This work was supported and funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU) (grant number IMSIU-RG23007).
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Appendix A
All of the following questions refer to the activity (watching the video) that you have just finished. Please respond to each of the questions on the following scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree).
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1.
The topic covered in the video was/were very complex.
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2.
The activity covered ideas that I perceived as very complex.
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3.
The activity covered concepts and definitions that I perceived as very complex.
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4.
The explanations during the activity were very unclear.
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5.
The explanations were, in terms of learning, very ineffective.
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6.
The explanations were full of unclear language.
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7.
The activity really enhanced my understanding of the topic covered.
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8.
The activity really enhanced my knowledge of the ideas covered.
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9.
The activity really enhanced my understanding of the ideas covered.
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10.
The activity really enhanced my understanding of concepts and definitions.
Please choose the category (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9) that applies to you:
A In the video that I have just listened to, I invested.
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1.
Very, very low mental effort.
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2.
Very low mental effort.
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3.
Low mental effort.
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4.
Rather low mental effort.
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5.
Neither low nor high mental effort.
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6.
Rather high mental effort.
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7.
High mental effort.
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8.
Very high mental effort.
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9.
Very, very high mental effort.
B The video that just finished was:
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1.
Very, very easy.
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2.
Very easy.
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3.
Easy.
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4.
Rather easy.
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5.
Neither easy nor difficult.
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6.
Rather difficult.
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7.
Difficult.
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8.
Very difficult.
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9.
Very, very difficult.
C How much did you concentrate while listening to the video?
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1.
Very, very little.
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2.
Very little.
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3.
Little.
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4.
Rather little.
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5.
Neither little nor much.
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6.
Rather much.
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7.
Much.
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8.
Very much.
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9.
Very, very much.
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Almusharraf, A., Mahdi, H.S., Al-Nofaie, H. et al. Video Captioning and Subtitles in Second Language Listening Comprehension: Fast-Paced Versus Slow-Paced Speakers. J Psycholinguist Res 53, 29 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-024-10070-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-024-10070-z