초록 열기/닫기 버튼
The current study explores the effects of the use of captions on low- and high-level EFL learners’ English speaking performance. The entire experiment lasted for one semester of the 2019 academic year. This study was conducted at a university located in the southern part of Korea. A total of 67 students from two freshman English classes were recruited. They were divided into two groups: captioned group (N = 34) and non-captioned group (N = 33). During 10 weeks, all participants watched the audiovisual media every week in class, with captions or without captions. In order to confirm the effects of caption use, all participants were required to take speaking tests. Findings from the independent t-tests revealed the positive effects of caption use on EFL learners’ overall speaking performance. Statistically significant group differences were found in both the low- and high-level learners’ total speaking score. Furthermore, in the case of high-level learners, a statistically significant mean difference between the groups was observed regarding speaking fluency and accuracy. Based on these findings, several pedagogical implications and suggestions for future study are made.
