Can Adults Learn Vocabulary through Watching Subtitled Movies? An Experimental Corpus-Based Approach

Visual media are potential sources for second and foreign language acquisition, with several experimental studies examining the incidental learning of vocabulary through watching television. In contrast to previous studies that relied on self-reported use of English language media, the present experimental study explores how a combination of incidental learning (watching English-language movies with English subtitles) and intentional learning (using instructional materials) contribute to the recognition and recall of vocabulary. Furthermore, the study seeks to discover whether the learning of vocabulary in this way also contributes to the learning of parts of speech. Eighty-eight undergraduate learners of English at an Arabic university watched an English-language subtitled movie for two and a half hours. Using a corpus-based sampling approach, learning gains were assessed using a multiple choice receptive task and a fill-in-the-blank productive task. Based on paired sample t-tests and ANOVAs, the results showed that watching an English subtitled movie had a positive effect on the learning of vocabulary, for both recognition and recall; however, study participants scored significantly higher on receptive than productive tasks. Regarding parts of speech, most of the vocabulary items learnt were nouns, followed by verbs and adjectives. The teaching implications of the findings of the study are also discussed.