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Article published In:
Audiovisual translation in applied linguistics: Educational perspectives
Edited by Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin, Jennifer Lertola and Noa Talaván
[Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 4:1] 2018
► pp. 55–76

The implications of Cognitive Load Theory and exposure to subtitles in English Foreign Language (EFL)

| Universitat Rovira i Virgili
The pedagogical use of subtitled and captioned material in the foreign language classroom is upheld by various theories which reveal the cognitive processing activated when students are exposed to multimedia and subtitled audiovisual materials. The three theories that will be considered here are Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) and Cognitive Affective Theory of Learning with Media (CATLM). The main purpose of the paper is to illustrate the internal mechanisms triggered in learners when various sensorial channels (visual, auditory and textual) coincide simultaneously on screen and how this may affect their cognitive engagement and motivation while learning a foreign language. Additionally, two empirical studies will be presented in the second part of the article in order to provide evidence of the benefits of using subtitled audiovisual materials in the English Foreign Language (EFL) classroom in higher education. The results show that both interlingual (L1) and intralingual (L2) subtitles prove to have a facilitating role in informal and colloquial language learning in this context.
Keywords: cognitive load theory, cognitive theory of multimedia learning, cognitive affective theory of learning with media, subtitled material, colloquial language learning
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Principles of Cognitive Load Theory
  • 3.Cognitive Load Theory and Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning
  • 4.The role of motivation in the Cognitive Affective Theory of Learning with Media
  • 5.Two empirical studies
    • 5.1Methodology
      • 5.1.1Participants
      • 5.1.2Resources
    • 5.2Study 1
    • 5.3Study 2
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 24 April 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.00004.fru
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Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Montero Perez, Maribel
2022. Second or foreign language learning through watching audio-visual input and the role of on-screen text. Language Teaching 55:2 ► pp. 163 ff. DOI logo
Vanderplank, Robert
2019. ‘Gist watching can only take you so far’: attitudes, strategies and changes in behaviour in watching films with captions. The Language Learning Journal 47:4 ► pp. 407 ff. DOI logo
Vanderplank, Robert
2019. Video and Informal Language Learning. In The Handbook of Informal Language Learning, ► pp. 181 ff. DOI logo

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