Vocabulary Learning Promotion through English Subtitled Cartoons

Abstract

Conspicuously, the purpose of this study was to survey the impact of subtitled cartoons on vocabulary learning improvement among EFL learners. Furthermore, 40 upper-intermediate learners which were attending to English classes were chosen after taking a placement test as a proficiency to ensure their homogeneity. Participants were assigned into two experimental and control groups, namely: a first class received subtitled cartoons and the second class cartoons without any subtitles. The experimental group watched two cartoons with English subtitles according to the level of that class and the control group again watched those cartoons by turning off the Subtitles. Research included a pre-test and a post-test in both groups. Participants took a pre-test containing new words selected from the cartoons. After six treatment sessions, the post-test was administered to the groups. Data were analyzed and in order to find the differences between the experimental and control groups, the researcher conducted UNI-ANOVA and independent T-test. In conclusion, the findings showed that participants in the experimental group with subtitled cartoons performed significantly better and learned more new vocabulary compared to the control group. Subtitling was the significant type of enhancing learners' vocabulary knowledge.