A survey on the effects of watching authentic english videos with and without subtitles on listening comprehension of students from the faculty of language at saigon university

This study aims to investigate the effects of watching authentic English videos with and without subtitles on the listening comprehension skills of students from the FFL at SGU.. While p

SAIGON UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE

RESEARCH REPORT

A SURVEY ON THE EFFECTS OF WATCHING AUTHENTIC ENGLISH VIDEOS

WITH AND WITHOUT SUBTITLES ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION OF

STUDENTS FROM THE FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AT SAIGON UNIVERSITY

SUPERVISED BY: NGUYEN LE THANH GIANG

SUBMITTED BY:

TRAN QUOC ANH DAN1211 3121380031 NGÔ KIM NGỌC DAN1211 3121380187 CHAU HANH PHUGC DAN1211 3121380224 LƯU NGỌC BẢO NHƯ DAN1212 3121380213

HO CHI MINH, NOVEMBER 177, 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF MEMBERS 00 da ii TABLE OF CONTENTS nn Hà KH kg kiện iii ABSTRACT nh HH HH KH KH KH KT KH KT KĐT KT KT TT KT 1 CHAPTER 1: THE INTRODUCTION nh HH HH 2 CHAPTER 2: THE METHOD i Hàng kế kg kh 4 CHAPTER 3: THE RESULTS i HH KH kế kết 5 CHAPTER 4: THE DISCUSSION nh HH Hà Hà Hà ko 11 j3) 9- 11 14

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the use of subtitles in authentic English videos has been widely debated among educators However, there is a lack of research specifically focusing on students from the Faculty

of Foreign Language (FFL) at Sai Gon University (SGU) This study aims to investigate the effects

of watching authentic English videos with and without subtitles on the listening comprehension skills of students from the FFL at SGU The study utilizes a quantitative research design and employs a survey questionnaire as the primary data collection tool The questionnaire consists of items designed to assess students’ listening comprehension abilities, their preferences regarding subtitles, and their perceived benefits and challenges associated with watching videos with or without subtitles The survey will be administered to a sample of 50 students from the FFL at SGU, ensuring a diverse representation of participants The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of incorporating subtitles in English language learning materials The results shed light on whether the presence or absence of subtitles has a significant impact on students’ listening comprehension skills Additionally, the study explores students’ preferences and attitudes toward subtitles, providing a deeper understanding of their perceived benefits and challenges The research contributes to the existing body of literature on second language acquisition, particularly in the domain of listening skills It can provide practical implications for language learners, guiding them in making informed decisions about the integration of subtitles in English language learning materials

Key words: Subtitles, Authentic English videos, Listening comprehension skills, Faculty of

CHAPTER 1: THE INTRODUCTION Acquiring fluency in a foreign language, particularly English, has become highly significant for anyone who wants to enhance their educational and professional opportunities However, achieving a master in English is a challenging endeavor Among the four main skills necessary for effective communication in English, listening is widely regarded as the most crucial As a result, the emergence of modern devices has provided learners with a range of innovative techniques that make the learning process more exciting and effective One popular approach is the use of authentic English-language videos with and without subtitles as a technique for listening skill acquisition

According to researchers, multimedia educational resources offer more advantages compared to traditional printed instructional materials (e.g., Mackey & Ho, 2008; Mayer & Moreno, 2002; Rose, 2003) Specially, authentic English videos created for native English speakers, such as films,

TV series, documentaries, and online video clips supply learners with real-life use of languages, authentic accents, and cultural contexts Numerous investigations have evaluated the impact of watching authentic English videos with subtitles on listening skills, particularly comprehension Several studies clearly indicate that English subtitles can enhance comprehension by giving learners visual assistance for understanding spoken language (Nation & Newton, 2009; Vandergrift, 2004) Furthermore, the presence of subtitles can support learners in decoding unfamiliar words, improving vocabulary recognition, and facilitating the understanding of idiomatic expressions and colloquial language (Markham, Peter, & McCarthy, 2001) Despite the benefits of subtitles, some researchers have inquired into the effects of watching non-subtitled English videos These studies argue that the absence of subtitles encourages attentive listening and

predicting, making inferences, and depending on contextual information

While previous research has provided valuable insights into the effects of watching authentic English videos with or without subtitles on listening comprehension, there is little studies focusing specifically on the students from the FFL at SGU

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the effects of watching authentic English videos with or without subtitles on the listening comprehension skills of students from the Faculty of Foreign Language at Sai Gon University by collecting data through a survey based on the following research question:

- What is the difference in listening comprehension skills of students from the Faculty of Foreign Language at SGU when they watch authentic English videos with subtitles compared to when they watch without subtitles?

- What are the challenges faced by students from the Faculty of Foreign Language at SGU when watching authentic English videos without subtitles and how does it impact their listening comprehension?

- What strategies do students from the Faculty of Foreign Language at SGU do when watching authentic English videos with subtitles to improve their listening comprehension?

CHAPTER 2: THE METHOD This study was carried out in quantitative design by utilizing the survey to investigate the effect of watching authentic English videos with and without subtitles on Listening Comprehension of Students from FFL at SGU The survey was assigned to these students due to their regular exposure

to English materials and English-related subjects Specifically, the development of strong listening skills was deemed essential to enable the extraction of meaning from these materials and the deepening of their understanding of the target language and culture To collect information, questionnaires were selected by the author because of their ease of use and short completion time, around five minutes A questionnaire concerning perspectives on the processes of learning listening skills through the use of subtitled or non-subtitled videos A survey was sent to the participants containing a series of questions: twelve category questions along with two open-ended questions on the form of Google After nearly a week, the form had been responded to by fifty students The responses were subsequently transformed into Excel files and graphed in different charts for the purpose of assessing the acquired results The overarching goal of the questionnaire was to obtain an overview of the listening skills of the students To carry out the research, a needs analysis was conducted to identify students’ problems in listening Subsequently, the writer studied theories related to the problems in listening Then, a comprehensive listening program based on the result of the needs analysis was designed The use of subtitles in the process of improving English listening abilities was verified by specialists for quality The writer subsequently carried

CHAPTER 3: THE RESULT

In this part, we focus on presenting and analyzing the results of our survey After one week through Google form, we collected about 50 responses from students of FFL at SGU The results will be broken down into 3 smaller parts

1 The differences between watching authentic English videos with and without subtitles

In this section, our study will indicate the variations between watching an authentic English- language video with and without subtitles

We surveyed 50 students from the Faculty of Foreign Language Figure 1 shows the types of authentic English videos that students often watch According to the pie chart from Figure 1, it can

be concluded that students watch subtitled videos more often than non-subtitled videos The fact that pupils can understand the majority of the information in the captioned videos may be the reason for these findings

What types of videos do you usually watch?

videos, while only 14% of students can understand that percent of the non-subtitled videos Additionally, while the percentage of students who only understood 0—25% of the videos when watching without subtitles was 0%, there were 4% of students who only understood that percentage

of the videos without subtitles These results suggest that learners who viewed captioned videos obtained more of the video content than students who viewed non-captioned videos Moreover, captioned videos may be a promising method for listening comprehension enhancement

To what extent do you understand each video with subtitles?

Figure 2.1 The extent to which students comprehend the subtitled videos

To what extent do you understand each video without subtitles?

students’ listening comprehension significantly The advantages of reading subtitles when watching films in real English are demonstrated by past research, which our findings support

2 The challenges of students when watching authentic subtitled and non-subtitled videos and their influences on students’ listening comprehension

In our survey, we had an open question for FFL students at SGU if they had any challenges in boosting their listening comprehension Students’ responses varied and differentiated from each other

“I kept getting distracted by the content of the video and did not pay attention to the thing that I need to learn my listening comprehension skills.”

“I can not catch up with the native speaker's speed when I watch videos without subtitles.”

“There are many complex sentence structures or slangs that I can barely understand.”

These findings illustrate the fact that students suffer different difficulties while learning English with videos Their difficulties may be the result of a lack of vocabulary, little exposure to native English ,and poor listening comprehension

3 Students’ recommendations on watching authentic videos with and without subtitles

to improve listening comprehension

There was also another open question in our survey asking if students recommend watching

positive responses to this question

Some students shared that watching subtitled authentic videos facilitates them in having a better understanding of the videos’ contents, expanding their vocabularies and they considered captioned videos as a method to enhance their listening comprehension

“I recommend watching videos with subtitles because you can have a better understanding of the videos as well as improve your reading and listening skills.”

“I recommend watching videos with subtitles because you can know more vocabulary, it’s helpful for your listening comprehension”

“T think we should watch videos with subtitles because it helps you to understand the situation easily and you can guess the meaning if you find there are difficult words, and also can remember

it for a long time.”

On the other hand, some students did not think that subtitled videos would benefit them in strengthening their listening comprehension They expressed that non-subtitled videos could help them boost their listening comprehension skills more effectively than subtitled videos

“You should watch videos without subtitles to help increase your vocabulary and communicate better.”

“T believe that we should watch videos without subtitles because it can help us to comprehend listening skills by active listening.”

“I recommend watching videos without subtitles because listeners can concentrate on vocabulary and pronunciation, which is helpful for your listening comprehension.”

Furthermore, there were special cases in which some students recommended that students watch subtitled or non-subtitled authentic English videos based on their own comfort levels and specific learning objectives They expressed that watching videos based on personal levels and needs could help them optimize the available materials Others said that it can be beneficial to combine both ways then gradually becoming less dependent on captions

“I'd recommend watching videos without subtitles and then rewatching the video with subtitles

again or when you feel like you are unsure about the video content That way your listening skills can be improved by days and checking it after helps to get the words into your mind.”

“Without subtitles: with contents appropriate for your levels, not too difficult and you can understand about 70%

With subtitles: with content you want to understand the ideas, not practice your English You should watch with the sub when you can only understand below 60% 70%”

CHAPTER 4: THE DISCUSSION The central focus of the study was to investigate the impact of viewing authentic English videos, both with and without subtitles, on the listening comprehension proficiency of students enrolled

in the Faculty of Foreign Language at Saigon University

The study revealed that students who watched genuine English videos with subtitles demonstrated

a significant improvement in their listening comprehension skills compared to those without subtitles This positive influence of English-subtitled videos on comprehension levels was evident despite challenges reported in understanding accents, vocabulary gaps, and the rapid speech of native speakers Interestingly, divergent student opinions emerged regarding the effectiveness of subtitles, with some endorsing their benefits for comprehension and vocabulary growth, while others favored non-subtitled videos The importance of a personalized approach was underscored, emphasizing the need to select videos based on individual comfort zones and learning objectives for an optimized educational experience

Contrary to the findings of Basaran and Kése (2013) and Latifi, Mobalegh, and Mohammadi (2011), which suggested no improvement in listening comprehension with English-subtitled videos, the results align with studies conducted by Shamsaddini, Ghanbari, and Nematizadeh (2014) as well as Hayati & Mohmedi (2009) These studies highlighted the value of subtitles in assisting EFL learners with listening comprehension, providing additional evidence of their beneficial effects on language acquisition

The positive outcomes can be attributed to subtitles offering valuable visual cues and aiding in the comprehension of spoken language, facilitating students in following and understanding the