Advisor

• Dr. Min Liu

Degree

• Doctoral

Abstract

The motivation for this study comes from the hypothesis that the input processing of foreign language learners can be improved by decreasing channel layer density in viewing French authentic video. The standard practice in L2 subtitling is to use full text. The study tested a key word method to content in captioning. Two digitized video clips were prepared in three ways: (1) with no text; (2) with closed captions representing 100% of the text of the videos; and (3) with key word captions representing only 14% of the script of the videos. The determination of which words were the most important (key) to comprehension was made in a preliminary study by francophones. A word or phrase was determined to be key when it was chosen by fifty percent of the francophones who read a script of the video clip. Comprehension was measured by two 7-question short-answer tests. The researcher's hypothesis was a directional one: there is a positive effect of key word captions on the comprehension of authentic video by college student beginners of French. The results show that there is a significant difference (F = 452.0013$sb{lbrack2,202rbrack},$ p $<$.001) between the scores of the no-text group (mean = 7.282) and those of the closed caption group (mean = 10.059). This is an expected result given the research already done in captioning authentic video. This same significant difference exists between the scores of the no-text group and those of the key word group (mean = 9.239). A post-hoc Scheffe revealed no significant difference between the scores of the closed caption group and the key word group. This is an exciting finding for meaning processing in beginners, since the amount of text represented in the key word captions was only 14% of the script, while the closed captions represented 100% of the script. Key word captions transmit content as well as regular subtitles, with less cognitive load to the beginner reading the captions.