Teaching with Technology

Captioning is a technology most of us are aware of as viewers of foreign language films. Their use brings other worlds to a theater near you. Similarly, closed captioning brings educational, entertainment and other types films to the hearing impaired.  For decades captioning has also been a tool in foreign language teaching.  Winke, Gass and Sydorenko (February 2010) provide a brief history as well as current developments in the use of captioning in the teaching of a foreign language in their article, Effects of captioning videos for foreign language listening activities. Additionally, the authors studied the impact of video captioning on foreign language learning and effective methods for its implementation. 

As an American living in The Netherlands, I often watched television programs from English speaking countries that had Dutch sub-titles. I believe that reading the sub-titles expanded my ability to read Dutch. I also wished that Dutch produced television had English sub-titles to aid my listening comprehension. I was drawn to this article due to my belief that captioning can be a useful tool for foreign language learning.

Findings reported in this study confirm the benefits of the captioning in foreign language teaching. The use of captioning results, “in greater depth of processing by focusing attention” (p. 81) on areas that need further development;  the strengthening of  “acquisition of vocabulary” by engaging both aural and visual processes and the improved ability to determine word boundaries that can become blurred during rapid speech.  The researchers also investigated whether viewing order, (including captions in the first or second viewings) affected learning outcomes. These results warrant further study because there were many unanswered questions and the sample size was small, only 3 students for one of the cohorts. However, learner gains were made regardless of the viewing order.

Captioning can provide educators with a tool for supplementing language instruction by using materials that engage the learner; such as, interesting videos.  A key component to language teaching, and arguably to the teaching of any topic, is the engagement of the learner with the learning process. The more a learner is actively engaged the more likely they are to invest. The use of popular Youtube videos that are captioned is one way to increase engagement.  Software programs such as, iMovie, Adobe Premier or Viewpoint, a free online program offered by the University of Michigan’s Center for Language and Research (http://clear.msu.edu/viewpoint/), enable instructors to add captions to self produced videos or to videos posted on shared sites such as Youtube.

The ability to customize captioned videos for in-class and distance learning is timely. The article points out the growing interest in foreign language learning and the rise of online and hybrid programs (courses that combine in-class and online learning). From a cursory exploration of Viewpoint, captioning appears to be a relatively simple process.  The downside, I imagine, is that transcribing videos can be time consuming. The authors recommend that further study include captioning only portions of videos to focus on key areas. Due to the time involved in transcribing, that appears to be a good idea.  However, based on the trend toward greater online teaching, the endless possibilities captioning technologies afford and captioning’s proven effectiveness, its incorporation in language classrooms is worth serious consideration. This instructor intends to explore its possibilities.

We are all familiar with captioning in the form of sub-titles that provide access to foreign film entertainment. With the use of captioning, entertainment and other target language videos can be an effective means for teaching foreign languages as well.

Winke, P., Gass, S. & Sydorenko, T. (February 2010). Effects of captioning videos used for foreign language listening.  Language Learning & Technology, 14 (1), 65-86.  Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/vol14num1/winkegasssydorenko.pdf