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Exploring L2 learners’ processing of unknown words during subtitled viewing through self-reports

  • Andi Wang ORCID logo EMAIL logo and Ana Pellicer-Sánchez ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: April 2, 2024

Abstract

Studies have shown the benefits of subtitled viewing for incidental vocabulary learning, but the effects of different subtitling types varied across studies. The effectiveness of different types of subtitled viewing could be related to how unknown vocabulary is processed during viewing. However, no studies have investigated L2 learners’ processing of unknown words in viewing beyond exploring learners’ attention allocation. The present research followed a qualitative approach to explore L2 learners’ processing of unknown words during subtitled viewing under three conditions (i.e., captions, L1 subtitles, and bilingual subtitles) by tapping into learners’ reported awareness of the unknown words and the vocabulary processing strategies used to engage with unknown words. According to stimulated recall data (elicited by eye-tracking data) from 45 intermediate-to-advanced-level Chinese learners of English, captions led to increased awareness of the unknown words. Moreover, the types of strategies learners used to cope with unknown vocabulary were determined by subtitling type.


Corresponding author: Andi Wang, National Research Centre for Foreign Language Teaching Materials, School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University, No. 2 Xisanhuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China, E-mail:

Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the National Research Centre for Foreign Language Teaching Materials/NRITM, Beijing Foreign Studies University. We would like to thank the editor, Prof. Xuesong Gao, for his editorial support and the anonymous IRAL reviewers for their constructive feedback that has helped us strengthen the article.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2023-0208).


Received: 2023-08-28
Accepted: 2024-03-10
Published Online: 2024-04-02

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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