Movie Subtitles and the Improvement of Listening Comprehension Ability: Does it help?

Abstract

The present study attempted to capture the possible effects of movie subtitles on the improvement of listening comprehension. The participants were 36 Iranian intermediate learners assigned into three groups: Bimodal‐Subtitles Group (BSG), Standard‐Subtitles Group (SSG) and No‐Subtitles Group (NSG). During the course, each group worked on fifteen‐2‐minute sections of a movie entitled ‘Alvin and Chipmunks.’ At the end of each session, a Multiple Choice (MC) Comprehension test was given to the learners. In the last session, all participants sat on an IELTS test. The results of the data analysis revealed that for MC tests the subtitles groups outperformed the NSG, and SSG performed better than the BSG; however, on the IELTS test the NSG performed significantly better than the SSG, and there was no meaningful difference between NSG and BSG. Overall, the analysis of groups’ performance revealed a better mean score for the NSG compared to other groups.