The Efficacy of Bimodal Subtitling in Improving the Listening Comprehension of English as a Second Language (ESL) Learners

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the efficacy of bimodal subtitling (English) in improving the listening comprehension of English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. Fifty Grade 10 students from San Jose City National High School were selected as participants in the experiment. A listening comprehension test was first administered to determine the current listening level of the respondents and the result served as the baseline data in assigning them to the control and experimental groups through match-pairing. Six video lessons about selected literature of the world were used as materials in the study. The control group watched the videos without subtitles while the experimental group received the bimodal subtitling treatment. After the viewing sessions, the respondents answered a sixty-item comprehension test about the materials viewed, and the data gathered were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings show that the experimental group outperformed the control group in terms of listening comprehension and the difference in their post-test scores was significant. Thus, the efficacy of bimodal subtitling in improving the listening comprehension of ESL learners was proven.