O’quv mashg’ulotining shakli

The issue of subtitles 

The issue of whether video used for English language learning should be subtitled – whether in the learner’s L1 language, or in English - or has generated considerable disagreement among language learning researchers for some time. 

The point of view of the authors of this White Paper is against the use of subtitles of any kind. Reading subtitles allows the learner to “switch off” his or her efforts to negotiate meaning from the clip (via context, tone of voice, recognized vocabulary, or other verbal and non-verbal clues) and thus, if subtitles are present, this negotiation-of-meaning skill – so vital in actual, unscripted communicative situations – is never properly developed. 

In addition, the presence of subtitles undermines a key building-block of language learning: the confidence that comes from being able to understand the gist of a communicative exchange, even if every word in the dialogue is not known or recognized by the learner. The presence of subtitles, whether in the learner’s L1 or in English – constitutes an all-too-comfortable “safety net” which can then sap this confidence when it is not available in real-life situations.