Carmen Muñoz

This article investigates the Informal Digital Learning of English (IDLE) of users of synchronous text and voice chat enabled applications such as Discord. Thirty-one non-native English-speaking participants from a variety of geographical contexts took part in semi-structured interviews and follow-up questionnaires aimed at investigating their history with learning the English language through the internet, their usage of synchronous chat applications, and their use of digital tools in relation to synchronous chat applications. The results of the analysis indicate that participants followed varied but often comparable patterns with regard to IDLE, usually following a standard progression from passive internet usage to asynchronous usage, and finally to synchronous chat application usage. The overall usage rates of synchronous chat applications were extremely high, with most participants spending several hours a day using English in these venues. Users also took advantage of a variety of digital tools, such as voice or text chat, message editing, and online dictionaries to aid in their English communication.

This study explored the extent to which 6 groups of primary school L2 students ( n = 120) from Chile benefitted from viewing 11 captioned episodes of an animated cartoon in vocabulary learning at the level of written word form recall (dictation). The pretest-posttest research design compared the outcomes of the experimental groups that differed in year level and viewing distribution (year 4 = 1–4 episodes a week; year 5 = 2 or 4 episodes a week). The results revealed learners’ significant gains at posttest, especially in the case of fifth graders, and greater influence of viewing distribution on fourth graders. Specifically, a shorter distance between episodes appeared to enhance the recall of written word forms. The group interviews conducted with sample participants provided rich data on the beneficial effects of multimodality to compensate for knowledge gaps.

This chapter discusses the effects of aptitude on learning L2 grammatical constructions from TV series with or without captions. Study 1 involved 69 Catalan/Spanish learners of English (EFL) who watched ten episodes of an English TV series, and targeted grammatical constructions learning. Study 2 comprised 30 Flemish learners of Spanish (ELE) who watched two excerpts from a Spanish TV series episode, with auditory grammaticality judgement pretest-posttest to assess their learning of subjunctive constructions. Grammatical sensitivity and inference aptitude was measured using LLAMA F in both studies. Results revealed that groups without captions relied more on aptitude to handle the demanding processing of fast-paced TV series. Successful processing of uncaptioned input appeared to require higher aptitude, whereas captions attenuated the effects of individual differences.

This investigation explored the extent to which captioned video viewing (11 episodes) fostered the development of L2 reading skills in a group of 92 L1-Spanish primary school learners of English (years 4 and 5). It also assessed the influence of L1- and L2-related factors on students’ reading performance over time. The analyses revealed learners’ significant improvement in L2 reading skills as a result of the treatment and that L2-related factors were stronger predictors than L1-related factors. One interesting finding was that the treatment also enhanced the development of L1 reading skills, particularly in the case of fifth graders. This outcome lent support to the idea that in early L2 learning stages, students rely on their L1 linguistic infrastructure to deal with L2 print.

This study aimed to analyze the effects of textual enhancement of captions on vocabulary acquisition by 17 L1-Spanish/Catalan primary school learners of English in fifth grade. Participants watched 11 episodes of a children’s television series. They were divided into two groups: one watched the videos with regular captions, and one with enhanced captions, where target words were bolded and highlighted in yellow. Vocabulary gains were assessed through pre- and post-tests that tapped into form recall and form recognition. Results showed higher learning in the enhanced captions group, particularly in terms of form recognition. Additionally, an eye-tracking analysis showed that the enhanced-captions group had longer fixation durations initially, but the difference disappeared by the end of the intervention.

In this concluding chapter, we bring together findings from the studies in this volume and place them within the context of prior research on audiovisual input, particularly within the broader framework of the SUBTiLL project. The findings are organized into three sections: captioned viewing, learning outcomes across various language dimensions, and individual differences. The first section addresses several concerns regarding captions, including their appropriateness for use with primary school children, a comparison with L1 subtitles, and caption enhancement. The second section delves into the observed improvements in vocabulary acquisition, content comprehension, grammar, pronunciation, and pragmatics. The third section examines individual differences, specifically focusing on vocabulary size, reading skills, language learning aptitude, and age. Finally, we discuss implications and propose future research directions.

The extent to which L2 television is viewed by foreign language learners will depend on the degree to which it is understood. The addition of captions has been shown to support comprehension (e.g., Birulés-Muntané & Soto-Faraco, 2016; Montero-Perez, Peters, & Desmet, 2014), especially when proficiency is low (e.g., Lavaur & Bairstow, 2011). Yet, little is known about the extent to which captions benefit comprehension as L2 proficiency increases. This study seeks to investigate the effect of captions at different proficiency levels, and to identify the level at which captions cease to enhance comprehension. A total of 250 Catalan/Spanish university students, who had L2 English proficiency ranging from A1 to C2, viewed nine episodes of an English TV series with and without captions. Results showed that captioned viewing had a significant advantage over uncaptioned viewing in comprehension tests with multiple-choice and true-false items, and that learners with higher L2 proficiency and larger vocabulary performed better. While having access to captions increased the odds of a correct response independently of learners’ L2 proficiency and vocabulary knowledge, the additive benefits of captions were no longer significant at the C2 level, suggesting a threshold beyond which uncaptioned viewing does not negatively impact comprehension. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Based on the assumption that individual learner factors are context-dependent, this exploratory study examined whether differences in two learning environments (Denmark and Spain) have a differential influence on a set of learner factors that have together been previously identified as important in second language (L2) research, specifically, foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA), English competence beliefs (ECB), motivation (ideal L2 self) and attitudes towards English language learning. The study also examined whether the L2 learning environment and learner factors had a differential influence on the proficiency of two groups of adolescent learners, as measured by a more instruction-related test (grammaticality judgment test) and a more out-of-school-exposure-related test (listening comprehension test). The results showed that learning environment had a differential influence on FLCA and that gender had an impact on FLCA and ECB. Furthermore, the study showed a differential impact on the L2 English proficiency of the two learner groups of four different factors (i.e., FLCA, ECB, learners’ ideal L2 self, learners’ attitudes towards the presence of English in the academic context, and ECB interacting with FLCA). These findings point to a crucial role of the learning environment in L2 learning and provide empirical support for a context-dependent view of the expression of learners’ individual characteristics in relation to L2 learning.