Does adding subtitles make watching movies easier?

Graduation Thesis

Presented to

the Faculty of the Department of

English Language and Literature

Notre Dame Seishin University

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirement for the Degree

Bachelor of Arts

by

Sayaka Kurahashi

2018

Contents

Abstract ⅣChapter One: The effect of watching movies 11.1 Introduction 11.2. Movies in language learning 2

1.2.1 Advantages of watching movies when learning 2

1.2.2 Disadvantages of watching movies when learning 3

1.2.3 What can we learn from watching movies? 5

1.2.4 Ways to watch movies 6

1.3 Learning new vocabulary from reading 7

1.3.1 Intentional learning 7

1.3.2 Incidental learning 8

1.4 Previous research on learning vocabulary from input 8

1.4.1 Waring and Takaki, 2003 9

1.4.2. Hioka (2015) Can we learn English from movies? 10

1.4.3. Kumei (2016) The effect of watching foreign movies when

learning a foreign language 11

1.5 Research Questions 11

1.6 Conclusion 12

Chapter Two: The experiment 132.1 Introduction 13

2.2 The experiment 13

2.2.1 Introduction to the experiment 13

2.2.2 Subjects 13

2.2.3 Test design 14

2.2.4 The two movie clips 14

2.2.5 Procedure 23

2.2.6 Results 23

2.2.7 Casual interview 24

2.3 Summary 25

Chapter Three: The Analysis 263.1 Introduction 26

II

3.2 Summary of the results 26

3.3 Discussion of the results 27

3.4 Research questions 28

3.5 Implications 28

3.6 Limitations of the Experiments 29

3.7 Further research 29

3.8 Conclusion 30

References 31Appendices 34

III

Abstract

There are a lot of ways to learn English, for example, listening to

English, reading English books, writing in English, and practicing to speak

English and so on. In this way, Japanese people who want to learn English

can learn in a lot of ways by themselves.

This study focused on the effect of watching movies when learning

English. Nowadays, watching movies is a popular amusement for everyone,

and according to previous research, there are 5 advantages of using English

movies. Watching movies seems to be a great way to learn English, however,

Hioka (2015) said that movies can affect only the learners who have enough

knowledge of English, so it depends on the learners. On the other hand,

Kumei (2017) said that watching movies with subtitles is a good way to

understand the contents. So an experiment was made to find out whether

subtitles affect the learning of new words or not.

In the experiment, the movie “Sleepless in Seattle” was used. The

subjects watched the movie and took a test about words and comprehension

questions after watching two movie clips. As a result, it showed that subtitles

were helpful to understand contents well and learning new words a little.

In this study, it was found that watching movies was a good way to

learn English, but it is not easy for learners to watch English movies with

English subtitles for learning new words.

IV

Chapter One: The effect of watching movies

1.1 Introduction

In Japan, after the Meiji Restoration (1868), a modern school system

which was modeled from western educational styles was made, and English

was introduced to Japan’s education system as the subject for foreign

languages. In those days, British English was the most favored to study in

Japan, but after World War Ⅱ, Japan was occupied by the United States of

America, and so now American English is the most widely studied, and most

English schools teach American English.

Movies are a kind of culture with which people can enjoy by themselves

easily, as it is a kind of amusement for everyone. In Japan, 39.8% of people

answered that they often watch movies, and 53.8% of people answered that

they sometimes watch movies which means that about 90% of people watch

movies in their daily lives. Japanese English learners may wonder if they can

watch English movies without looking at Japanese subtitles. In Chapter One, we

looked at the advantages and disadvantages to learn English with using

movies.

First, we need to understand the Japanese government’s demands for

English at schools. In 2011, at elementary schools, English classes were

introduced as compulsory education for 5th and 6th year students. On the

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National Center Test for University Admissions, English is one of main subjects

and furthermore, a listening test has been required for English as a foreign

language since 2006. As we can see, it became natural to study English for

Japanese students.

Nowadays, in Japan, globalization has been developing and learning

English has become more and more important. In Japan, the working

population is decreasing as Japan’s aging population is increasing, and it is said

that many more foreign workers are about to come to Japan in the future, and it

can be seen remarkably that a lot of Japanese companies are trying to widen

their business to overseas. In such as a world, learning English is becoming

more important for Japanese people.

1.2. Movies in language learning

There are a lot of advantages of watching movies to learn English from.

In the following it is assumed that watching movies is connected to studying

English at the classroom.

Kelly (2007) mentioned three advantages of using English, one of which

was using movies in class which she said can be engaging and helpful for

students. She also mentioned six disadvantages of watching movies.

1.2.1 Advantages of watching movies when learning

One is that “movies can extend the learning beyond the textbook.” A lot

of movies describe historical events which are sometimes difficult to understand

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for students, but movies can help them to understand complicated realities.

However, through watching the actors’ performance, students can get to feel

something about the events. It can be really helpful to learn historical events.

Then Kelly suggested that movies can be effective to aid the textbooks.

Two is “interest building.” In the classrooms, there are not so many

interesting lectures for students. They sometimes need stimuli to improve their

motivation, so Kelly suggested that using movies in class was good activity for

students to focus the lectures.

Three is “provide teachable moments.” Teachers can convey about some

important things for students to live and work at social places. There are many

problems, differences among countries, world cultures, and troubles of religion

all around the world. Such as topics are not easy for students to gain the ideas

and concepts, so Kelly suggests that watching movies has a role to help the

teachers to discuss such topics.

Looking at Kelly’s three advantages of using movies, watching movies

are not for learning English but for learning other things, for example, world

culture, different topics, and will have effects on the interests of students and

suggests that movies can be used to study some important things even it is

uninteresting.

1.2.2 Disadvantages of watching movies when learning

Firstly, “movies can cause students to lose focus.” Teachers need to

choose interesting movies for students, if they choose uninteresting movies

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students, might lose their desire to watch the movies. Focusing on watching

movies is very important to understand the stories, thus uninteresting movies

work nothing.

Secondly, “movies may take too much time.” Most movies are very long

to watch, for example, one hour and thirty minutes, or two hours. Kelly taught at

a school where it was the policy to watch Schindler's List (シンドラーのリスト)

with every 10th grade class. Kelly that “this took a whole week of classroom

time. Even a short movie can take up 2-3 days of classroom time. Further, it can

be difficult if different classes have to start and stop at different spots in the

movie.”

Thirdly, the “really educational part may only be a small part of the

overall.” Movies can convey ideas and concepts such as historical events, world

culture, and difficult topics. However, Kelly mentioned that really good parts to

study are quite few. Kelly said that “there are only parts of the movie that would

be appropriate for the classroom setting and truly provide an educational

benefit.”

Fourthly, “movies may not be completely historically accurate.” Movies

which are not focused on historical events but included historical facts are

needed for students to notice them, and teachers have to point out them and

explain about. If movies include fictional information, teachers tell students to be

not real, otherwise students may understand the historical events incorrectly.

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Fifthly, the “amount of homework is important to make a sure educational

experience.” Kelly said that “showing movies is not an easy way to create a

lesson.” There are reasons that teachers need to watch the whole movie before

the lesson and they have to plan the structure of their lectures. They need to

make homework and work sheets for students, and know about the movies in

detail and decide the part to teach.

Sixthly, the “perception of using movies can be bad.” Kelly said that “it is

key that if teachers pick movies wisely and properly create lessons that involve

the movies and the information that the students are learning.” Therefore,

teachers are required their skills to plan the lessons, and their sense to choose

movies for students to learn.

Looking at Kelly’s (2007) six disadvantages of using movies, it can be

seen movies might be a big burden for teachers as teachers have many things

to do before their lecture, for example, watching the whole movie, making work

sheets, and collecting information about a movie. Movies are enjoyable but

sometimes it will be an obstacle to study in class.

1.2.3 What can we learn from watching movies?

The site ‘Explore’ (2015) mentioned some advantages of watching

movies for learning English. First, it says that “learners can listen to real

English”. For Japanese learners, there is a little chance to hear native

pronounce of English, but movies can help them to do that. A lot of words in

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movies are really difficult to understand and hear, but it’s a great opportunity to

meet new words and natural expressions. In addition, if learners have their own

PC or phones, they can learn English by using movies whenever they want.

There are a lot of movies in English on the internet not only DVDs but

“YouTube” or other movie sites. Nowadays, learners can connect to the internet

to watch movies easily.

1.2.4 Ways to watch movies

There are a lot of ways to watch movies. First, listening to the foreign

voice while looking at first language’s subtitles is the typical way for Japanese

learners because if they can’t listen to English correctly, theJapanese subtitles

can help them to understand what the actors are saying.

Second, watching movies with Japanese dubbing, but this is a useless

way to learn English.

Third, listening to English with English subtitles. The writer of the site

Explore said that “learners will never learn a new thing without understanding

the meaning of the words.” This is the most important process when watching

movies. He mentioned the important point to learning new words when watching

movies, is to look up new words using a dictionary and take a note new

vocabulary and expressions to remember new things.

Fourth, listening to English while shadowing with English subtitles, is a

way to repeat what learners hear as quickly as they can. That repetition makes

them understand pronunciation and intonation.

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Fifth, repeating watching a certain movie can affect their fluency

pronunciation and intonation. Through watching a movie again and again,

learners can gradually hear new words and phrases. It is helpful to gain a way

to hear natural conversations.

Sixth, listening to English without subtitles, it is really challenging and

difficult for Japanese learners, and as was already found by Hioka (2015),

learners who have enough knowledge of English can use this way to learn new

words. Thus, this way is final step to watch when learning.

1.3 Learning new vocabulary from reading

This section will discuss intentional learning and incidental learning.

Intentional learning is suitable for learning new words or phrases with the

learners’ high motivation and their desires to learn them. Incidental learning is

suitable to read a lot of books or watching movies. The process to read or look

at the sentences leads the learners to discover words that they don’t know.

They need to look up words to use their dictionary and they can remember the

words easily. Incidental learning helps the learners to remember words long

lasting.

1.3.1 Intentional learning

According to the site the Training Place, Bereiter and Scardamalia (1989)

mention intentional learning as "processes that have learning as a goal rather

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than an unexpected results". Intentional learning makes learners plan to learn

something and have a goal in mind and is suitable for learning new words

because there is an advantage of being focus for only learning words. However,

the learning way to remember just words leads to make learners forget them

easily.

For example, when learners try to study English words they probably

practice to write them again and again. They can remember the words then but,

they need to keep their motivation to study it.

1.3.2 Incidental learning

Kerka's research (2000) defined “incidental learning as unintentional or

unplanned learning that results from other activities“. Incidental learning is

occurred when learners aren’t conscious that they try to learn something, it is

happened unexpectedly.

For example, when Japanese learners are watching English movies, they

probably happen to see new words. If the words are already known, they could

learn how to use them unexpectedly. Unexpected situations can bring learning

new things for learners.

1.4 Previous research on learning vocabulary from input

In this section, we will look at the previous research when learning

English by reading, listening, and watching. There are a lot of ways to study

English in the world, for example, going to English conversation schools,

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listening to English CDs, the radio, and watching educational TV programs, etc,

then watching English movies is one of them.

1.4.1 Waring and Takaki (2003) How Many Times Do Students Need to

Read a Word Before They Can Learn It?

Waring and Takaki (2003) researched whether learners can learn from

reading contexts using tests of graded reading. In their experiment, the subjects

read the story and took the tests after reading. They tried to determine how

many times students need to read a word before they can learn it.

Waring and Takaki found that the subjects can learn from a graded

reader, however their memory of the words disappears after a few days.

Moreover, the subjects were able to learn words from context, but are more

successful if they meet the word several times. They also said that people can

learn some words from graded readers, and people can learn from context

(here a Graded Reader,) and correct associations between a word’s form and

its meaning only occurred less than 40% of the time during reading even if the

subjects meet the word more than 18 times.

According to this research, people can learn words from graded reading,

and if they keep reading every day, it will lead to better learning.

1.4.2 Hioka (2015) Can we learn English from movies?

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Hioka (2015, p.30) said that it is difficult for learners who have a small

knowledge of the words to learn English from movies so learning English

depends on learners’ age or competence. As she said, just watching movies

brings about little language gains. Hioka focused on listening when people are

watching movies, and she analyzed texts and took tests for find out about

vocabulary learning.

First, she looked at the advantage of watching movies, she said that

learners can listen to natural English through movies. Moreover, they can meet

English at the natural speed of speaking by native speakers and help learners

get used to hearing it. And also learners can hear informal words or slang they

cannot find in books or dictionaries.

Second, she found the best way to learn vocabulary was reading-while-

listening according to the results of Brown, Waring, Donkaewbua (2008). It also

showed that only listening was much harder than reading or reading-while-

listening.

Third, she found out learning English from movies was difficult for us

because we need 95-98% coverage of the movies to understand them. If

learners have the enough knowledge of the vocabulary, using movies for

learning would be very helpful.

According to Hioka, learners who have enough know vocabulary to

watch movies can learn from movies because words and phrases are spoken

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by native speakers and scripts are written by native speakers. This suggests

that watching movies without subtitles is difficult for Japanese learners.

1.4.3. Kumei (2017) The effect of watching foreign movies when learning a

foreign language

In this section, we are going to look at the effect of subtitles when

watching movies from Kumei (2017). She used her original questionnaire to

clarify the effect of subtitles when watching movies for learning a foreign

language.

She compared two situations, one was watching with subtitles, and the

other was watching without subtitles. As a result, she found out that watching

with subtitles has some effect, and subtitles helped people to understand

easier.

According to Kumei’s research, actually, subtitles are not related to

learning more words. As she said, subtitles don’t affect understanding the

words, but she also said that it is clear that watching movies with subtitles affect

understanding of the contents.

1.5 Research Questions

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In the next chapters, we will find out the answers to the following two

research questions by the questionnaire and experiment.

1. Do subjects remember more words from watching movies with

subtitles or without?

2. Why does this happen?

1.6 Conclusion

In this chapter we looked at the advantages and disadvantages of

watching movies for learning English, and lots of ways to watch movies. In the

next chapter, we will look at the data from an experiment to see whether

subtitles affect to learn new words or not carefully.

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Chapter Two: The experiment

2.1 Introduction

In this chapter, we will look at the experiment using a movie to ascertain

the effect of subtitles. Above the mention in Chapter One, Kumei (2017) found

subtitles help people to understand contents, but not words, then this

experiment was carried out to find out whether subtitles really don’t work to

learn new words or do so.

2.2 The experiment

2.2.1 Introduction to the experiment

When watching foreign movies, most Japanese people choose to look at

Japanese subtitles to understand what is being said, and few people might

choose the subtitles of foreign language. In this experiment, one movie and

questionnaire are used to find out if the effect of subtitles when watching

movies.

2.2.2 Subjects

The subjects of the questionnaire were 20 Notre Dame Seishin

University English major 3rd and 4th students ages 20-22. They are learning

English literature and language learning, for example, human abilities, slang,

memories, idioms, and motivation and so on.

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2.2.3 Test design

This experiment asked subjects to watch two movie clips and then tested

them on how many words and expressions they learnt with subtitles or not. Two

types of questionnaire for two groups, A & B, were made. Group A watched

scene one with subtitles for first, and next, they watched scene two without

subtitles. Group B watched scene two with subtitles for first, and next, they

watched scene one without subtitles. Both Group A and B took a test about 18

English words, and 10 comprehensive questions.

This experiment used same two scenes for both Group A and B. The

reason why the subjects were divided into two groups was to compare the score

of two groups with subtitles or not. In this way the effect of subtitles became

clear by the scores.

When dividing the subjects, their abilities were not considered, but the

number of people needed to be same, and the subjects were formed two

groups of 10 people each.

2.2.4 The two movie clips

Both clips came from the movie “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993). This is an

American romance movie. The main characters are Sam who lost his wife,

Jonah who is Sam’s son, and Annie who has a fiancé but she fell in love with

Sam at the end of the movie.

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Story synopsis

One day, Jonah called the radio station to ask for advice about his father,

Sam because Sam was very depressed about his wife’s death. At the same

time, Annie was listening to Jonah’s story through the radio. When Sam was

talking about his feelings and memories of his wife, Annie’s tears were running

down her face because of Sam’s story through the radio, then she felt attracted

by Sam. On the other hand, Sam dated with Victoria before he met Annie, so

the story focused on three persons Sam, Jonah, and Victoria.

In both two of the two clips, Sam, Jonah, and Victoria appear, but the

places and their conversation are different at all because information from eyes

is also important to understand the contents and both scenes are in different

places, and in one scene, Victoria is laughing and in the other scene, she’s

nervous, these features help the subjects to understand the movie easier.

Scene 1 was at a dinner time for them, Sam wanted Jonah to meet

Victoria so he invited her to his home, but Jonah believed Annie who sent a

letter to them. Jonah behaved to Victoria unfriendly. Though Sam recognized

his son’s feeling all the time, he enjoyed talking to Victoria. In this scene, we

can see their real feelings from their expression and saying.

Scene 2 is located at the airport because Victoria was getting on a plane,

so Sam and Jonah came to see her. Victoria talked to Jonah friendly but Jonah

wasn’t so. After she leaves there, Sam talked to Jonah about dating Victoria

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and the relationships between men and women. At that time. Sam finds a

woman named Annie when Jonah was starting to talk about reincarnation that

he is taught by Jessica who is Jonah’s girlfriend. Then Sam loses sight of

Annie. In this scene, we can see thoughts of Jonah and Sam clearly.

Vocabulary and comprehension questions

For each scene, 9 English words were selected and the researcher made

5 comprehensive questions, totalling 18 English words and 10 comprehension

questions. Every word was very difficult to understand for Japanese learners,

Table 1 shows the meanings referred to a dictionary.

In Scene 1, the English test words were as follows

Table 1: The test words

English

words

Part of

speech

Meanings

1 Groceries Noun Food and other goods that are sold by a grocer or

a supermarket

2 Fireplace Noun A special place in the wall of a room, where you

can make a fire

3 Bricks Noun A hard block of baked clay used for building

walls, houses etc.

4 Hinge Noun A place of metal fastened to a door, lid etc. that

allows it to swing open and shut

5 Firm Noun A business or company, especially a small one

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6 Song and

dance

Noun It is an idiom. If you make a dance about

something, you behave as if it was worse,　 more

important, more difficult etc. than it really is

7 Kitchen

cabinet

Noun A place of furniture with doors and shelves or

drawers, used for storing or showing things in a

kitchen

8 Box seats Noun A special seat in a theatre

9 Flip Verb To move something with a quick sudden

movement so that it is in a different position

In Scene 2, the English words are as follows

Table 2: test words from Scene 2

　 English words Part of

speech

Meanings

1 Snow globes Noun A toy or decoration made from glass or plastic

containing a clear liquid and a substance that

looks like snow, falls on a model of a scene

inside when the object is shaken

2 Toss one’s hair Verb To move your head/hair quickly upwards,

especially when you are angry or do not care

about something

3 Barrette Noun A small metal or plastic object used to keep a

woman's hair in place

4 Get to the Verb To discover the truth about a situation

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bottom of

5 Appreciate Verb To understand how serious or important a

situation or problem is or what someone’s

feelings are

6 Try people on Verb To try to start a relationship with someone

7 Adjustment Noun A change in the way a person behaves or thinks

8 A twitch Noun A quick movement of a muscle, especially one

that you cannot control

9 Reincarnation Noun The belief that after someone dies their soul

lives again in another body

The 10 comprehension questions

There were 10 comprehension questions for Scenes 1 and 2. These are

for Scene 1.

1. Who said “you are so funny?” The answer is “Victoria.”

2. Does Victoria like baseball? The answer is “Yes.”

3. Has Victoria been camping before? The answer is “Yes.”

4. What time is Jonah’s bed time? The answer is “10 o’clock.”

5. What did they eat? The answer is “Dinner or potatoes.”

About questions and answers in Scene 2.

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1. Does Jonah know Victoria well? The answer is “No.”

2. Is Victoria mysterious for Sam? The answer is “Yes.”

3. Is Sam planning to marry Victoria? The answer is “No.”

4. What did Sam talk to Jonah about? The answer is “Adjustment or

Victoria.”

5. Is Jessica a girl or a boy? The answer is “A girl.”

The test booklet

A test booklet was made to present the movies, tests and

comprehension questions to the subjects. The text booklets are in the

appendices.

The movie scripts

The script of Scene 1

SAM: There she is.

JONAH: Why is she bringing those groceries?

SAM: She's cooking something for us, so prepared.

VICTORIA: Hi, Sam. Thanks. And let me guess. You must be Jonah.

JONAH: Hi.

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SAM: This it?

VICTORIA: Yeah.

SAM: The car’s down this way.

VICTORIA: Great.

SAM: She's on her sixth painter, and we’re never gonna finish this

job. Now she wants the fireplace rebricked.

VICTORIA: I know her pretty well. I could give her a call.

SAM: I've got it solved. I’m just gonna hit her with one of those

fireplace bricks.

VICTORIA: Oh that is so funny, you are so funny.

SAM: Whenever she wants anything done, she does this song and

dance about… “I don’t know. I’m stupid. You tell me. You

know better than I, but couldn’t we flip the house around so

everything on one side is now on the other, and the back

becomes the front? Could the whole house open up on a

hinge? That way I could just get in with the garage door

opener.” I just say,”yeah, we can know, we can do that. We’re

just gonna do--”

VICTORIA: “Move the kitchen cabinet.”

SAM: Jonah, bring that stuff around, alright?

JONAH: Do you like baseball?

VICTORIA: Yes, I do. In fact, my firm has box seats to the Mariners. Why

don't we all go sometime?

SAM: Hey.

JONAH: What about camping?

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VICTORIA: What about it?

JONAH: Do you like camping?

VICTORIA: I went camping once.

JONAH: You know what? We ought to start camping more often, Dad.

SAM: You’re right. Camping is good. Time for bed.

JONAH: It's only ten o'clock.

SAM: Yeah, ten o’clock. Time for bed.

JONAH: Good night.

SAM: Don’t you wanna thank Victoria: for this delicious dinner?

JONAH: Thanks for dinner. I never saw anybody cook potatoes that

way.

VICTORIA: I'm glad you liked it. Good night, Jonah.

SAM: Yeah, we don’t see a lot of potatoes around here. We’re rice

men.

The script of Scene 2

VICTORIA: Thanks for bringing me out here.

SAM: Well, he likes the planes.

VICTORIA: Can I bring something back for you? A souvenir? Does he like

snow globes? You know shake them up and the snow floats

down.

JONAH: Sure. I'd really like that. Thank you so much.

SAM: He’s eight.

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VICTORIA: He’s good at it.

SAM: I read an article about this. All children are hideous at age

eight. It’s quite normal.

VICTORIA: Well, when maybe I come back, the two of us oughta spend

some time together on our own. What do you think? Bye. Bye,

Jonah.

JONAH: Bye.

SAM: Jonah, listen to me. You don't know Victoria. I hardly know her

myself. She is, in fact, a mystery to me. She tosses her hair a

lot. Why does she do this? I have no idea. Is it a twitch?

Does she need a haircut? Should she use barrette to keep her

hair out of her face? These are things I'm willing to get to the

bottom of. And that is why I am dating her. That is all I am

doing. I’m not living with her. I am not marrying her. Can you

appreciate the difference? This is what single people do, they

try other people on and see how they fit. But everyone is an

adjustment. Nobody’s perfect. There’s no such thing as a

perfect… Come on.

JONAH: Dad, I was talking to Jessica about reincarnation. She says you

knew Annie in another life.

SAM: Who’s Annie?

JONAH: The one who wrote us. But Jessica says you and Annie never

got together in that life. So you’re hearts are like puzzles with

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missing places. And when you get together, the puzzle’s

complete.

SAM: Goddamn it.

JONAH: The reason I know this and you don’t is because I’m younger

and purer so I’m more in touch with cosmic forces.

SAM: Who told you this stuff?

JONAH: Jessica.

SAM: I sincerely hope you’re not marrying Jessica.

2.2.5 Procedure

The subjects were divided into two groups; A and B, both groups took the

same vocabulary test of English words and comprehension questions from the

movie script after watching each scenes. Both groups watched two scenes, one

with English subtitles, and the other without subtitles. First, Group A watched

scene one with subtitles and next, they watched scene two without subtitles.

Group B watched scene two with subtitles for first, and next, they watched

scene one without subtitles. Therefore, two groups watched the scenes in a

crossed-design.

2.2.6 Results

First we will look at the data for the amount of words learnt. Then we will

look at the data for the comprehension questions.

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Table 3: Data for the amount of words known in the two conditions by Group A

and B.

Without Subtitles With Subtitles

Group A 0.89 2.00 2.89

Group B 1.33 2.33 3.67

2.22 4.33

Table 4: Data for the comprehension questions in the two conditions by Group A and B.

Without Subtitles With Subtitles

Group A 7.20 9.20 16.40

Group B 4.40 7.80 12.20

11.60 17.00

Table 3 shows the result of the vocabulary test for Groups A and B. Both

groups had better scores with subtitles than without subtitles. Table 4 shows the

result of the comprehension questions for Group A and B. Both Groups A and B

got higher score with subtitle than without subtitles. It can be said that subtitles

help them to understand the conversation.

2.2.7 Casual interviews

The subjects were asked two questions; whether they have ever watched

the movie before, and whether it was easy or not. There were two subjects who

have watched the movie, and the all subjects including the two subjects

answered it was difficult test.

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Questionnaire data shows watching movies while reading subtitles help

learners to understand the contents well.

2.3 Summary

This chapter tried to find out the effect of subtitles while watching movies,

and found that subtitles can help learners to understand not only the contents

but also some words in the movie. In the next chapter, we will discuss this in

more detail.

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Chapter Three: The Analysis

3.1 Introduction

In Chapter One, we looked at previous data about learning English by

using movies, and in Chapter Two, the effect of subtitles when learning new

words. In this chapter, we are going to look at the results of data from the

experiment in Chapter Two in detail.

3.2 Summary of the results

Both Tables 3 and 4 showed the accuracy rate of the answers of Group

A and B. Table 3 showed that the data for the amount of words known in the

two conditions; without or with subtitles by Group A and B. First, about without

subtitles Group A got 0.89, and Group B got 1.33. Next, about with subtitles,

Group A got 2.00, this score is 1.11 higher than without subtitles, and Group B

got 2.33, this score is also 1.00 higher than the condition of without.

Table 4 showed that the data for the comprehension questions in the two

conditions; without or with subtitles by Group A and B. First, about Group A,

they got 7.20 in the condition without subtitles, and in the condition with

subtitles, they got 9.20, this score is 2.00 higher. Group B got 4.40 without

subtitles, and with subtitles, they got 7.80, this score is 3.4 higher.

If we compare the score of Table 3 with Table 4, it can be seen the

difference the results of words known and the comprehension questions. The

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amount of words known of Group A was 2.89, and the amount of the

comprehension questions was 16.40. The amount of words known of Group B

was 3.67, and the amount of was 12.20. Group A got lower point than Group B

for words, but for the comprehension questions, Group A got higher point than

Group B.

3.3 Discussion of the results

. 18 words which were chosen for the test were difficult for Japanese

learners to understand. For example, in Scene 1, the word ‘firm’ sounds like

‘farm’ several subjects answered the meaning this ‘farm’, and the expression

‘song and dance’ means complain but most subjects answered the meaning of

‘song and dance’ in Japanese. In Scene 2, for the word ‘snow globes’ they

might have heard only ‘globes’, and many subjects answered the meaning of

‘globes’, and the word ’reincarnation‘ means soul lives again but many subjects

answered the meaning of ‘carnation’ they might thought from the sound

carnation. Thus all 18 words were really difficult to understand.

However, the 10 comprehension questions were not very difficult. If the

subjects can listen to the correct words and watch the movie carefully they can

answer them easier than on the word test. For example, ‘what time is Jonah’s

bed time?’ This question is from Jonah, he said “it’s only ten o’clock” but also

Sam said “Yeah, ten o’clock.” In the scene, the subjects had chance to hear that

“ten o’clock” twice, it might be helpful to answer the question. In this way

comprehension questions were made easier than words test. Group A got

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higher scores for the comprehension questions than Group B, but the score of

Group A’s word test was lower than Group B. It can be said from this results,

Group A understand the contents from information by watching, listening and

reading subtitles even if they didn’t understand the meaning of the words.

3.4 Research questions

This section will answer the research questions from Chapter One.

1. Do subjects remember more words from watching movies with subtitles or

without subtitles?

It was found clearly from the experiment that subtitles affect the

understanding contents and words. It can be said that the condition of with

subtitles is helpful to remember words.

2. Why does this happen?

In Chapter One, according to Waring and Takaki (2003) research,

reading is helpful to learn new words, it is related this results. Watching movies

while reading subtitles seems to be a good way to learn new words. With only

listening, learners cannot see the correct spelling and they might misrecognize

words.

3.5 Implications

We looked at the results of the experiment, and we found watching

movies with subtitles is helpful to remember words, however, the effect was not

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large, so it is not easy for learners to watch English movies with English

subtitles. It seems necessary to do some practice, for example, repeat watching

of the same movie, look up unknown words in the dictionary, and shadowing. In

this way the methods of learning will be better. If learners can’t remember words

at all, they can listen to real conversations, pronunciation, and intonation by

watching movies which might improve their listening skills.

3.6 Limitations of the Experiments

There are several limitations of this study. Firstly, the experiment had

difference of difficulty between words test and the comprehension questions. If

easier words had been used, the results might have been different and there

might not such gaps in scores between the words and the comprehension tests.

Secondly, one movie was used this time so there was need to discuss from little

data. More movies were needed.

3.7 Further research

This study focused on the effect of subtitles when watching movies for

learning words, as a results, subtitles affected understanding contents better

than words. Guessing meanings of the words is difficult only from watching

movies, however there we found that that learners can meet new words, and

that is an opportunity to find new words. How do subtitles affect learners? This

question is still unanswered. Furthermore, in this study only 18 words were

chosen and all words weren’t used in the research, we don’t know how many

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words learners can listen when with subtitles or not, and the relationship

between listening and reading wasn’t found.

3.8 Conclusion

In this study, we looked at the effect of subtitles when learning new

words by using movies. Subtitles seem to be really helpful to understand the

stories but so much the words, but watching a movie only once doesn’t improve

learning much because they didn’t learn many new words. When learners learn

English by using movies they should repeat watch the same movies, look up

unknown words in the dictionary, and so on. Watching English movies seem to

be really helpful for learners because there are several advantages; they can

listen to casual conversation, real intonation, and pronunciation, etc. Thus

according to this study, watching movies is not really so good for learning new

words.

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References

Papers

Brown, R. & Waring, R. & Donkaewbua, S. 2008 Incidental vocabulary

acquisition from reading, reading-while-listening, and listening stories,

Reading in a Foreign Language, 20 (2): 136-163

Bereiter, C. & Scardamalia, M. (1989).  "Intentional Learning as a Goal of

Instruction," in Knowing, Learning, and Instruction, edited by L. Resnick. 

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Hillsdale, New Jersey, pp. 361-392

Kerka, Sandra. 2000 Trends and Issues 2000 Alert No.18, Incidental learning

Hioka, M. 2015 Can we learn English from movies? A text analysis. Thesis

presented to Notre Dame Seishin University

Kumei, M. 2016 The effect of watching foreign movies when learning a foreign

language. Thesis presented to Notre Dame Seishin University

Waring, R. and M. Takaki. 2003 How Many Times Do Students Need to Read a

Word Before They Can Learn It? Reading in a Foreign Language

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Webpages accessed

Edutech wiki, Incidental learning

http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Incidental_learning Accessed November 17, 2017

Explore, The most effective way to improve your ‘real’ English: watch movies.

https://app.griffith.edu.au/explore-student-blog/improve-your-english-watch-movies/ Accessed November 17, 2017

Creativity & Languages Learning languages out of a classroom, The difference between incidental learning and deliberate learning and why it matters to language learners.

http://www.creativityandlanguages.com/2012/04/the-difference-between-incidental-learning-and-deliberate-learning-and-why-it-matters-to-language-learners/ Accessed November 20, 2017

Kelly. M. Pros and Cons of Using Movies in Class

https://www.thoughtco.com/pros-and-cons-movies-in-class-7762 Accessed November 17, 2017

NTT, コムリサーチ映画館での映画鑑賞に関する調査.

http://research.nttcoms.com/database/data/001454/ Accessed October 21, 2017

The raining place, Intentional leaning.

http://www.trainingplace.com/il/ Accessed November 20, 2017

Though Co, Pros and Cons of Using Movies in Class.

https://www.thoughtco.com/pros-and-cons-movies-in-class-7762 Accessed November 20, 2017

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Wikipedia, English in Japan.

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AB%E3%81%8A%E3%81%91%E3%82%8B%E8%8B%B1%E8%AA%9E Accessed October 18, 2017

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Appendices

A. The two booklets

Does adding subtitles make watching movies easier?

Group A

Hello, I’m Sayaka Kurahashi. Thank you for coming today, and please

take the tests after watching two scenes of a movie.✎

Name

The movie－”Sleepless in Seattle”

34

Outline

Sam, who lost his wife is the hero in this movie and he moved to Chicago with

his son whose name is Jonah. One day, Jonah called the radio to ask for advice

about his father Sam, because he was very depressed about his wife’s death. At the

same time, Annie was listening to Jonah’s story through the radio and, Sam was

talking about his feelings and memories of his wife. Annie’s tears were running down

her face because of Sam’s story, and though she is engaged to Walter, she felt

attracted by Sam who she has never met before.

On the other hand, Sam was thinking about dating with a woman, considering

Jonah. One day, he asks Victoria for a dating.

Characters (both appear 2 scenes)

・Sam, who lost his wife.

・Jonah, who is Sam’s son and called to the radio and believes Annie.

・Victoria, who is dating Sam.

Please watch Scene 1. (subtitles)

35

In this scene, Jonah met Victoria for the first time, and Victoria cooked

dinner for them at Sam and Jonah’s home.

Word test

Please translate these words from Scene 1 into Japanese. If you don’t

know the words, please guess thinking about the scene.

1 Groceries _____________________________

2 Fireplace _____________________________

3 Bricks _____________________________

4 Hinge _____________________________

5 Firm _____________________________

6 Song and dance _____________________________

7 Kitchen cabinet _____________________________

8 Box seats _____________________________

9 Flip _____________________________

Please answer these questions about Scene 1.

1. Who said “you are so funny?” ___________________

2. Does Victoria like baseball? ___________________

3. Has Victoria been camping before? ___________________

4. What time is Jonah’s bed time? ___________________

36

5. What did they eat? ___________________

Please watch Scene 2.

In this scene, Victoria is about to get on a plane, and Victoria, Sam, and

Jonah are at the airport.

Word test

Please translate these words from Scene 2 into Japanese. If you don’t

know the words, please guess thinking about the scene.

1 Snow globes _____________________________

2 Toss one’s hair _____________________________

3 Barrette _____________________________

4 Get to the bottom of _____________________________

5 Appreciate _____________________________

6 Try people on _____________________________

7 Adjustment _____________________________

8 A twitch _____________________________

9 Reincarnation _____________________________

37

Please answer these questions about Scene 2.

1. Does Jonah know Victoria well? 　 ___________________

2. Is Victoria mysterious for Sam? ___________________

3. Is Sam planning to marry Victoria? ___________________

4. What did Sam talk to Jonah about? ___________________

5. Is Jessica a girl or a boy? ___________________

Thank you for your help.

Sayaka Kurahashi

38

Group B

Does adding subtitles make watching movies easier?

Hello, I’m Sayaka Kurahashi. Thank you for coming today, and please

take the tests after watching two scenes of a movie.✎

Name

The movie－”Sleepless in Seattle”

39

Outline

Sam, who lost his wife is the hero in this movie and he moved to Chicago with

his son whose name is Jonah. One day, Jonah called the radio to ask for advice

about his father Sam, because he was very depressed about his wife’s death. At

the same time, Annie was listening to Jonah’s story through the radio and, Sam

was talking about his feelings and memories of his wife. Annie’s tears were

running down her face because of Sam’s story, and though she is engaged to

Walter, she felt attracted by Sam who she has never met before.

On the other hand, Sam was thinking about dating with a woman, considering

his son, Jonah. One day, he asks Victoria for a date.

Characters (both appear 2 scenes)

・Sam, who lost his wife.

・Jonah, who is Sam’s son and called to the radio and believes Annie.

・Victoria, who is dating Sam.

Please watch Scene 2. (subtitles)

40

In this scene, Victoria is about to get on a plane, and Victoria, Sam, and

Jonah are at the airport.

Word test

Please translate these words from Scene 2 into Japanese. If you don’t

know the words, please guess thinking about the scene.

10 Snow globes _____________________________

11 Toss one’s hair _____________________________

12 Barrette _____________________________

13 Get to the bottom of _____________________________

14 Appreciate _____________________________

15 Try people on _____________________________

16 Adjustment _____________________________

17 A twitch _____________________________

18 Reincarnation _____________________________

Please answer these questions about Scene 2.

1. Does Jonah know Victoria well? 　 ___________________

41

2. Is Victoria mysterious for Sam? ___________________

3. Is Sam planning to marry Victoria? ___________________

4. What did Sam talk to Jonah about? ___________________

5. Is Jessica a girl or a boy? ___________________

Please watch Scene 1.

In this scene, Jonah met Victoria for the first time, and Victoria cooked

dinner for them at Sam and Jonah’s home.

Word test

Please translate these words from Scene 1 into Japanese. If you don’t

know the words, please guess thinking about the scene.

10 Groceries _____________________________

11 Fireplace _____________________________

12 Bricks _____________________________

13 Hinge _____________________________

14 Firm _____________________________

15 Song and dance _____________________________

16 Kitchen cabinet _____________________________

42

17 Box seats _____________________________

18 Flip _____________________________

Please answer these questions about Scene 1.

1. Who said “you are so funny?” ___________________

2. Does Victoria like baseball? ___________________

3. Has Victoria been camping before? ___________________

4. What time is Jonah’s bed time? ___________________

5. What did they eat? ___________________

Thank you for your help.

Sayaka Kurahashi

43