Should You Turn On Subtitles when Watching TV in English? Let's Find Out...

- Hello this is Jack from ToFluency.com,

and today we are going to try and answer the question

of whether it is best to watch TV in English

with or without subtitles.

Speaking of subtitles,

99% of my YouTube lessons have subtitles,

so if you want to turn them on,

just click the little CC button and turn them on in English.

And if you want to contribute to subtitles in your language,

then click the link in the description to do that.

But first, this video is sponsored by Italki.

Now, Italki is a great place if you want

to get speaking practice and feedback.

So it's a place where you can connect with online teachers,

and teachers who are going to help you personally.

So, this is what to do, click the link in the.

Okay, back to whether you need to turn on subtitles or not.

And there's key point here.

You can have subtitles in your own language,

or subtitles in English,

and I'd love your feedback on this.

Tell me what you generally do

when you watch TV or movies in English.

But to help us answer this question,

we are going to look at a study.

The study is called,

"Watching Subtitled Films

"Can Help Learning Foreign Languages."

So we're going to have a look at this study,

see how they tested people, and then answer the question

of whether you should turn on subtitles or not.

And I think you might be surprised

by some of the findings of this study.

Let's start with the Abstract.

It says, "Watching English-spoken films with subtitles

"is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world."

Definitely.

There is nearly unlimited access

to English-speaking TV shows and movies now.

But it says here, "One reason for this trend

"is the assumption that perceptual learning

"of the sounds of a foreign language, English,

"will improve perception skills in non-English speakers."

It's saying that if you watch something in English,

then you're going to better understand

people who speak English.

"Yet, solid proof for this is scarce."

It is rare.

"In order to test the potential learning effects

"derived from watching subtitled media,

"a group of intermediate Spanish students

"of English as a foreign language

"watched a one hour long episode of a TV drama

"in its original English version,

"with English, Spanish or no subtitles overlaid."

So they took a group of students from Spain

who have an intermediate level of English,

and they split them into three groups.

The first group watched the TV show with no subtitles.

The next group watched it with English subtitles.

And then the third group watched it with Spanish subtitles.

Now, prior to this experiment,

the students took an exam, and it says

"they took a face2face written placement test

"from Cambridge University in order to assess

"their English level objectively."

So they knew the level of the students

before they started the exam.

And I love the TV show that they chose.

"All participants watched the first episode

"of the 2010 British series Downton Abbey,

"and all participants took a listening

"and vocabulary test before and after watching the episode,

"and a plot comprehension test only after the episode."

Now, I'll leave a link to the study

so you can read it in depth,

because it does talk about the types of tests,

and the types of vocabulary test

that they gave the students, but let's move on.

Talks about Downton Abbey, and how,

"The plot focuses primarily on the inheritance

"of the Estate of Downton,

"belonging to the aristocratic Grantham family.

"The series was chosen

"because of its linguistic characteristics,

"Standard British, lack of slang and relatively high use

"of low frequency words."

That's interesting.

So they chose a TV show

that doesn't use high frequency words,

so that they could better test the results before and after.

It says, "Participants were only included

"if they declared not having watched

"the TV series Downton Abbey before."

Let's now talk about the results of this study,

because they're quite interesting

and relevant to the question of,

"Should I turn on subtitles or not?"

"The most relevant finding to emerge from this study

"was a significant improvement in listening scores

"of ESL speakers after watching a TV episode in English

"with English subtitles.

"17% increase versus 7% for no subtitles,

"and 0% for Spanish subtitles condition."

So, the learners who had English subtitles

increased their listening abilities

more than those who had no subtitles,

and even more than for those who had Spanish subtitles.

"This finding supports the hypothesis

"that subtitles in the original language

"can be used to retune the link of speech-sounds

"with perceptive categories."

What this is saying is that you can connect

the written word to the spoken word,

and it helps you just understand what is being said

if you can read it, too.

And I'm sure you find this as well.

If you turn on subtitles for my videos,

I'm sure you can understand what I'm saying

a lot better than if you don't turn on subtitles.

In addition to the listening test,

they also tested vocabulary and plot comprehension.

If people understood what was going on.

It says, "The vocabulary test showed no reliable differences

"between subtitled conditions.

"Finally, as one could expect,

"plot comprehension was best

"under native, Spanish subtitles."

Now, they also have some recommendations in the conclusion,

and we're going to read those,

and then I'm going to give my opinion as well.

It says, "Once a learner has reached the intermediate

"to advanced level of a language,

"the best condition for improving speech perception

"whilst watching series or films

"is listening to the original soundtrack

"with subtitles in the original language."

So that's just saying, because of the results of the test,

turn on English subtitles when you watch things in English,

if you want to improve your ability

to understand English speakers.

Now, it goes onto say that there is a trade off,

which means that if you do one thing

then you get a negative result on the other end,

and what the trade off is,

is that if you have the subtitles in English,

then your ability to understand what is going on,

this diminishes,

but I've got a little trick for you that will help.

To help with this, I recommend watching things

that you've already seen in your native language.

And you can think about this

in every part of learning English,

or getting input in English.

For example, if you have seen Friends

in your native language, and you know what is going on,

watch this in English.

If you have read a news article in your native language

about a story in America, then read it in English.

If you have read a book in your native language,

then read it in English.

And this supports the claim

of getting audiobooks in English,

where you can read and listen at the same time.

This is going to help you improve your understanding.

And another thing to know is that this test was limited.

They only tested 60 people,

and they only watched an hour of TV.

But a good thing to think about is,

what do you prefer?

Where are you right now with your English?

Maybe you can do both.

Like, maybe you can watch a TV show with subtitles

and then watch it without.

And that's why I want your feedback.

What do you think about this study?

I'll leave a link in the description

so you can take a good look at it.

But also, what do you prefer to do?

Do you like to turn on subtitles for my videos?

Do you think it helps you?

Do you like to turn on subtitles

when you watch TV shows in English?

Let me know in the comments section below.

I'd love to hear from you.

And finally, I think that doing something in English

and getting input is great, no matter how you get it.

But I do recommend getting things

that are specific to your level.

Don't try and listen to things or watch things

that you just don't understand,

because that's not going to be enjoyable,

and you're not going to get a lot out of it.

So choose things that you think are suitable

for your level, and find stuff

that you are interested in as well.

If you have enjoyed this video

then please like and share it.

Don't forget to leave that comment below.

And also, watch some more of my videos.

Turn on subtitles.

Or don't turn on subtitles.

It's up to you.

Okay, thank you for watching.

Bye-bye.

(upbeat music)