The Impact of Bimodal, Persian and No-Subtitle Movies on Iranian EFL Learners’ L2 Vocabulary Learning

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of bimodal, Persian, and no subtitle films on vocabulary learning among Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 27 male and female learners who were studying English in a language institute in Izeh, Khouzestan, Iran were selected as the participants of the study. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups, namely: Bimodal group, Persian group and no subtitle group. They watched the movie named ‘the impossible’ selected with different modes of subtitles: 1) Bimodal subtitle, 2) Persian subtitle and 3) no subtitle. All groups took a pre-test containing new words drawn from the movie. After six treatment sessions, the post-test was administered. Data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially. To arrive at any difference between the three different modes of subtitles, the researcher conducted a one-way ANOVA. The results obtained from the tests showed that the participants in the bimodal subtitling group performed significantly different and learned more new vocabulary items. Participants in the Persian subtitling and no subtitle groups performed the same, and revealed to be less effective than bimodal subtitling.