Background of the Study

Subtitle is a transcript of the dialogue which usually located at the bottom frame of the

movie. This helps people to understand the storyline of the movie more. With the use of it, it may

help the student in their reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is obtained for academic

learning. This make it easier for those who do not understand spoken language, also to those who's

having problem of hearing.

In the Philippines, subtitles are being useful to those students who are into the movies especially

from a different country. With it, they can also use it as a tool for learning English and for reading

comprehension. Reading comprehension difficulty could be said to be solved by the use of subtitles.

However, there are still some dilemma regarding the subtitles, such as the misunderstanding that may

be associated with scenes involving humor, aspects of politeness or culture specific terms.

The viewers encountered problem on watching movies because some English movies don't have a

subtitle and the other barriers of those viewers is the movie that doesn't use a language but just only a

gestures or motions and the viewers were attracted on what the characters doing. They lack

understanding of what they are watching because of the accent of the characters in the movie.

Research problems

1. Is there any significant difference in post-test?

2. Is there a difference between on the group treated with subtitle on their post-test?

3. Is there any influence on the group treated with subtitle and the group treatment without

subtitle on their reading comprehension?

Hypothesis

Null hypothesis

There is no effect in using subtitles as a tool to attain Reading Comprehension.

Alternative hypothesis

There is an effect in using subtitles as a tool to attain Reading Comprehension.

Scope and Delimitation

This research is conducted to determine how subtitles influence the reading comprehension

of students in watching movies.

This study is limited to Emilio Aguinaldo Cavite grade 12 student taking humanities and social

science. Thirty people will be given questionnaires after watching the prepared movie; one with

subtitles while the other one doesn't have any. No other variables are intended to be discussed.

Significance of the Study

This research study gives importance to the learners of English language to gain more

knowledge by watching English movies with subtitle to help the students to become more proficient

in new vocabulary and speaking the second language through the use of movies. The results of this

study will be a great significance to the following.

This study is beneficial to:

1.) The students this study may help in improving the reading comprehension of students through

subtitles

2.) The future researchers this study may help them conduct another related study which tackles

about the comprehension skills through reading subtitles

3.) The Society this study may help them enhance their reading skills and to understand different

people they encounter.

4.) The Teachers will benefit through this study by improving their way of teaching by getting and

giving ideas to the students in an effective manner.

Definition of Terms

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This research study cited books, articles and laws, which are relevant to the present

investigation. It is composed of related literature and studies, both local and foreign, which contain
facts and information on the research problem at hand. It also provides explanations and logical

connections between previous researches and the present work.

Yang, Huang, Tsai, Chung, & Wu (2009) state that using videos or lms as a learning

resource has received a great deal of attention from researchers and has been successfully applied to

various ed-ucational applications. Many schools are incorporating more online and automated

content, which often includes subtitled lms

Borras & Lafayette (1994) incorporated subtitles into short video segments that were

integrated into an interactive multimedia course. The participants were able to see and control a

video segment with or without same language subtitles. Results indicated that having the opportunity

to see and control subtitles positively influences both comprehension and production of language.

FILM SUBTITLES AND LISTENING COMPREHENSION ABILITY OF INTERMEDIATE EFL

LEARNERS

Subtitles are mostly known for their purpose of translating the oral dialogue of films or

television programs into written text. This often involves viewers whose L1 is not the same as the

language in the spoken dialogue and are given subtitles so that they can understand what is going on.

This type of L1 subtitling is what we normally find in English speaking series and movies in Iran

where people download Persian subtitles so that they can comprehend the scenes better. However,

there are people who not only try to enjoy a movie but also at the same time try to learn another

language, particularly English. Many educators also believe that television programs with captions

seem to provide a rich context for foreign language acquisition. It is also argued that viewers are,

generally, quite motivated to understand what is shown and said on television when captions are

provided (Danan, 2004).

Markham (1989) investigated the effects of subtitled TV programs upon listening

comprehension of beginner, intermediate and advanced learners of English. He used two subtitled

videos on topics that the learners did not know about. Each group watched both movies with and
without subtitles. He measured the participants’ comprehension through multiple choice questions

based on the language of the video. Coming to a point where all three groups using the subtitles

performed significantly better, he speculated that ESL (English as a Second Language) students

might be able to improve their listening and reading comprehension simultaneously.

Vander plank (1990) had also examined how learners of English used captions over a three-

month period. Those who took notes while watching captioned videos produced more accurate

language on subsequent comprehension exercises. Those who did not take notes comprehended as

well as the note-taking group but did not retain specific language used in the videos. He concluded

that attention and processing are important for the intake and long-term retention of forms through

caption.

THE EFFECT OF BBC WORLD CLIPS WITH AND WITHOUT SUBTITLES ON

INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS' VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT

Bird and Williams (2002) and Schmidt (2007) maintain that watching subtitled programs is

the best way of language learning. They maintained that comprehension and learning language occur

to a greater extent because of clear word boundaries and no accent variation. Another study was done

by Karakas and Saricoban (2012) investigating the impact of subtitled cartoons on incidental

vocabulary learning. The findings of the study revealed significant improvement on pre and posttest

of both participated groups but results of t-test showed no significant difference between the two

groups.

A study conducted by Price (1983) examined the relationship between captioned TV program

and the learning of a foreign language. Some 450 students participated in the study, and the result

showed that captions significantly improved overall comprehension of the linguistic information

presented in the video material.

In another study, Vanderplank (1988) investigated the use of English language subtitles in

BBC television programs. Fifteen (15) high-intermediate and advanced ESL university students were
selected as the participants of the study. They received subtitled BBC television programs in nine-

hour-long sessions. The results revealed that they could follow line, sound, and picture

simultaneously. Students were better able to understand “fast, authentic speech and unfamiliar

accents.

Theoretical Framework

This theory will support the variables in this study.

According to Kusumawati (2018) subtitles allow an accented language to become intelligible to any

viewer. To understand the content of a movie subtitle plays an important role to bridge the audience

need, such as deliver the word according to the audience native and culture. Because of the audience

does not understand the meaning of the utterance automatically the audience would read and process

the subtitle in their native but when the subtitles are in the language of the film the audience is able to

hear the accent while reading the text.

Paivio (1971) proposed the dual-coding theory which suggests that when pictures are added to the

message the number of cues associated with the message increases. Viewers then will be more likely

to remember the message. In that sense the results of past research seem to sustain the aspect that the

use of captions triggers multi-sensory processing, interacting with audio, video and print

components.

Conceptual Framework

Figure 1 shows that this research focuses on individuals reading comprehension and how

subtitle affects the people who will benefit on this study. This illustration displays that the subtitle is

one of the tools in order achieve reading comprehension.

Synthesis