Incidental foreign language acquisition from media exposure

A number of experimental studies have demonstrated the incidental acquisition of a foreign language by children and adolescents when watching foreign language television. While such experiments can only establish short‐term effects, this article investigates the extent to which children’s foreign language skills benefit from their long‐term consumption of media. An empirical study conducted in the Flemish (Dutch‐speaking) area of Belgium compared the self‐reported use of three English language media by 374 pupils in the last year of primary education with their scores on two oral translation tests: one from Dutch to English and one vice versa. Two general linear model analyses of variance reveal that pupils who frequently watch subtitled English television programs and movies perform significantly better on both tests. Interestingly, the effect of watching subtitled television and movies is stronger with girls than with boys. Furthermore, playing English computer games positively influences the scores on the English–Dutch test.

[1]  Stephen Krashen,et al.  Acquisition of Vocabulary from the Sweet Valley Kids Series: Adult ESL Acquisition. , 1994 .

[2]  Kevin M. Leander,et al.  Literacy Networks: Following the Circulation of Texts, Bodies, and Objects in the Schooling and Online Gaming of One Youth , 2006 .

[3]  Robert Vanderplank,et al.  The value of teletext sub-titles in language learning , 1988 .

[4]  M. Wesche,et al.  READING AND “INCIDENTAL” L2 VOCABULARY ACQUISITION , 1999, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[5]  D. Pulido.  The Relationship between Text Comprehension and Second Language Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition: A Matter of Topic Familiarity. , 2004 .

[6]  Khalid Al-Seghayer,et al.  THE EFFECT OF MULTIMEDIA ANNOTATION MODES ON L2 VOCABULARY ACQUISITION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY , 2001 .

[7]  Martine Danan,et al.  Reversed subtitling and dual coding theory: New directions for foreign language instruction , 1992 .

[8]  Cees M. Koolstra,et al.  Children's vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language through watching subtitled television programs at home , 1999 .

[9]  P. Meara,et al.  Beyond A Clockwork Orange: Acquiring Second Language Vocabulary through Reading. , 1998 .

[10]  Andrew Rutherford,et al.  Introducing Anova and Ancova: A Glm Approach , 2000 .

[11]  Géry d’Ydewalle,et al.  Could Enjoying a Movie Lead to Language Acquisition , 1997 .

[12]  D. Pulido,et al.  Modeling the Role of Second Language Proficiency and Topic Familiarity in Second Language Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition Through Reading , 2003 .

[13]  J. Hulstijn.  Retention of Inferred and Given Word Meanings: Experiments in Incidental Vocabulary Learning , 1992 .

[14]  H. Wode.  INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM , 1999, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[15]  Yuuko Uchikoshi,et al.  Early Reading in Bilingual Kindergartners: Can Educational Television Help? , 2006 .

[16]  K. Sjöholm.  The complexity of the learning and teaching of EFL among Swedish‐minority students in bilingual Finland , 2004 .

[17]  B. Laufer.  Vocabulary Acquisition in a Second Language: Do Learners Really Acquire Most Vocabulary by Reading? Some Empirical Evidence , 2003 .

[18]  M. Krcmar,et al.  Can Toddlers Learn Vocabulary from Television? An Experimental Approach , 2007 .

[19]  Wallace E. Lambert,et al.  PAIRING SCRIPT AND DIALOGUE: COMBINATIONS THAT SHOW PROMISE FOR SECOND OR FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING , 1984 .

[20]  Cees M. Koolstra,et al.  The Pros and Cons of Dubbing and Subtitling , 2002 .

[21]  James F. Lee.  THE INCIDENTAL ACQUISITION OF SPANISH , 2002, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[22]  David Thorne,et al.  The value of teletext subtitling as a medium for language learning , 2000 .

[23]  I.S.P. Nation,et al.  Vocabulary learning and reading , 1978 .

[24]  S. Krashen,et al.  ACQUIRING SECOND LANGUAGE VOCABULARY THROUGH READING: A REPLICATION OF THE CLOCKWORK ORANGE STUDY USING SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUIRERS , 1989 .

[25]  Isabel Borrás,et al.  Effects of Multimedia Courseware Subtitling on the Speaking Performance of College Students of French , 1994 .

[26]  J. Booker,et al.  Discussion-•-— »-— — — — — , 1998 .

[27]  Diego Giuliani,et al.  The effectiveness of computer assisted pronunciation training for foreign language learning by children , 2008 .

[28]  Thomas J. Garza,et al.  Evaluating the Use of Captioned Video Materials in Advanced Foreign Language Learning , 1991 .

[29]  J. Hulstijn,et al.  Implicit and incidental second language learning: experiments in the processing of natural and partly artificial input , 1989 .

[30]  Robert C. Gardner,et al.  Towards a Full Model of Second Language Learning: An Empirical Investigation , 1997 .

[31]  Yuuko Uchikoshi,et al.  Narrative development in bilingual kindergarteners: can Arthur help? , 2005, Developmental psychology.

[32]  Martine Danan,et al.  Captioning and Subtitling: Undervalued Language Learning Strategies , 2004 .

[33]  Paul Markham,et al.  The Influence of English Language and Spanish Language Captions on Foreign Language Listening/Reading Comprehension , 2003 .

[34]  Erwin Tschirner,et al.  Language Acquisition in the Classroom: The Role of Digital Video , 2001 .

[35]  Wallace E. Lambert,et al.  Combinations of printed script and spoken dialogue that show promise for students of a foreign language , 1984 .

[36]  Kathleen A. Bueno.  Got Film? Is It a Readily Accessible Window to the Target Language and Culture for Your Students? , 2009 .

[37]  S. Krashen,et al.  Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition in French as a Foreign Language. , 1993 .

[38]  Mabel L. Rice,et al.  Words from Sesame Street : learning vocabulary while viewing , 1990 .

[39]  P. Robinson.  GENERALIZABILITY AND AUTOMATICITY OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING UNDER IMPLICIT, INCIDENTAL, ENHANCED, AND INSTRUCTED CONDITIONS , 1997, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[40]  Ronda M. Scantlin,et al.  The relations of early television viewing to school readiness and vocabulary of children from low-income families: the early window project. , 2001, Child development.

[41]  S. Gass.  Discussion: Incidental Vocabulary Learning. , 1999 .

[42]  Wallace E. Lambert,et al.  Choosing the languages of subtitles and spoken dialogues for media presentations: Implications for second language education , 1981, Applied Psycholinguistics.

[43]  Agnes Kukulska-Hulme,et al.  Designed and user-generated activity in the mobile age , 2007 .

[44]  Géry d'Ydewalle,et al.  Foreign-grammar acquisition while watching subtitled television programmes. , 2006, The British journal of educational psychology.

[45]  P. Robinson.  Learning Simple and Complex Second Language Rules Under Implicit, Incidental, Rule-Search, and Instructed Conditions , 1996, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[46]  B. Hatim,et al.  The Translator As Communicator , 1997 .

[47]  Jim Ranalli,et al.  Learning English with The Sims: exploiting authentic computer simulation games for L2 learning , 2008 .

[48]  Géry d’Ydewalle,et al.  Watching Foreign Television Programs and Language Learning , 1992 .

[49]  Yuuko Uchikoshi.  English vocabulary development in bilingual kindergarteners: What are the best predictors? , 2006, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.

[50]  Mark Griffiths,et al.  The convergence of gaming practices with other media forms: what potential for learning? A review of the literature , 2008 .