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Is less more? Effectiveness and perceived usefulness of keyword and full captioned video for L2 listening comprehension*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2013

Maribel Montero Perez ,
Elke Peters  and
Piet Desmet
Maribel Montero Perez
Affiliation:
iMinds KU Leuven Kulak, Belgium (email: maribel.monteroperez@kuleuven-kulak.be)
Elke Peters
Affiliation:
KU Leuven, Belgium (email: elke.peters@arts.kuleuven.be)
Piet Desmet
Affiliation:
iMinds KU Leuven Kulak, Belgium (email: piet.desmet@kuleuven-kulak.be)
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Abstract

The aim of this study was twofold: we investigated (a) the effect of two types of captioned video (i.e., on-screen text in the same language as the video) on listening comprehension; (b) L2 learners’ perception of the usefulness of captions while watching L2 video. The participants, 226 university-level students from a Flemish university, watched three short French clips in one of three conditions: the control group watched the clips without captions (N = 70), the second group had fully captioned clips (N = 81), the third group had keyword captioned clips (N = 75). After each clip, all participants took a listening comprehension test, which consisted of global and detailed questions. To answer the detailed questions, participants had access to an audio passage of the corresponding clip. At the end of the experiment, participants completed a questionnaire and open-ended survey questions about their perception of captions. Our findings revealed that the full captioning group outperformed both the no captioning and the keyword captioning group on the global comprehension questions. However, no difference was found between the keyword captioning and the no captioning group. Results of the detailed comprehension questions (with audio) revealed no differences between the three conditions. A content-analysis approach to the questionnaire indicated that learners’ perceived need for full captions is strong. Participants consider captions useful for speech decoding and meaning-making processes. Surprisingly, keyword captions were considered highly distracting. These findings suggest that full rather than keyword captioning should be considered when proposing video-based listening comprehension activities to L2 learners.

Keywords

full captionskeyword captionsvideolistening comprehensioneffectivenessperceived usefulness
Type
Research Article
Information
ReCALL , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 21 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 2013 

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Footnotes

*

We are grateful to Carmen Eggermont (KU Leuven Kulak), Nathalie Nouwen, Vincianne Hermant, Séline Van Helleputte, and An Slootmaekers (KU Leuven ILT) for their help with the data collection.

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