The Effect of Subtitling on the Learning Effectiveness of Second Language Acquisition

Abstract

Learning a second language has been prevalent along with the globalization of the world. Quite a few people have started to utilize multimedia tools to achieve their learning goals. Subsequently, whether videos with or without captions would be more beneficial for learning has been heatedly discussed. To find the most effective way to learn and figure out the function of the second learning acquisition, this paper mainly focuses on the recent experiments of captioned videos influencing second language learning. Accordingly, captioned video has its merits, which promote learners’ listening competence. However, some people argue that watching captioned videos would also burden learners’ cognitive load, weakening their learning effectiveness. Based on this, some suggestions are raised to explore how to improve learners’ second language learning according to the influencing factors, including learning styles, learners’ reliance, and the presentation format of the videos. Therefore, it was suggested that there is a need to explore ways to meet different learners’ needs and address the visual and auditory imbalance.