A pilot study on the effects of closed-captioned television on English as a Second Language students' listening comprehension

The purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of closed-captioned television on ESL students' listening comprehension and to assess ESL students' attitudes toward captioned lessons. The research questions were (1) whether the groups watching closed-captioned television obtained higher scores in listening comprehension as compared to those not watching closed-captioned television as measured by a listening comprehension test, and (2) whether students at the beginning level show more positive attitudes toward closed-captioned television than students at the intermediate and advanced levels as measured by an attitude questionnaire.;The listening comprehension test was developed by the researcher. The test was designed to assess students' skills in comprehensive listening. The test were examined by three listening-reading experts in reading and language arts from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Ten native speakers with various levels of education were consulted to determine the validity of the listening comprehension questions. A test of development of attitudes toward closed-captioned television was designed by the researcher. Ideas of the development were from a literature search and self-study about closed-captioned television.;Data were collected from 65 international students enrolled in the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels at Center for English as a Second Language (CESL) Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. The students in each level were divided into the captioned and the non-captioned groups. The non-captioned groups responded to the listening comprehension test while the captioned groups responded to both the listening comprehension test and the attitude questionnaire. There were two types of video taped materials: captioned and non-captioned. The videotaped materials consisted of five excerpts from television programs. The segments chosen for this study were related to entertainment, social science, and science. The study had only one treatment in which a listening comprehension test was administered to students.;A two-way analysis of variance and Tukey's posthoc test demonstrated the captioned groups obtained higher scores in listening comprehension. However, there were significant differences only between the beginning and the advanced level students. Results from one-way analysis of variance revealed no significant differences in attitudes toward closed-captioned television. In conclusion, students at all levels had positive attitudes toward closed-captioned television.