From Exposure to Engagement: Subtitle-Mediated Vocabulary Learning in Secondary EFL Classrooms

Lan Nguyen Le Chi, Gargi Sen

Abstract


While previous research has demonstrated that subtitles can facilitate second language vocabulary learning, most studies rely on experimental designs that measure learning outcomes rather than examining how vocabulary engagement unfolds in authentic classroom contexts. Process-oriented classroom analyses of noticing and regulation during subtitle-supported lessons remain underrepresented.

This study investigates the cognitive and pedagogical processes underlying vocabulary engagement during English-subtitled video lessons in three Vietnamese upper-secondary EFL classrooms. Drawing on classroom observations, learner interviews, teacher interviews, and learner reflections, cross-case thematic analysis traced patterns of attention allocation, noticing, regulation, and mediation.

Findings indicate that vocabulary engagement did not occur automatically as a result of subtitle exposure. Instead, learners selectively attended to lexical items under multimodal constraints, and noticing was shaped by participation norms and teacher mediation. Across cases, engagement followed a recurring trajectory of selective noticing → verification/refinement → consolidation, with variation in regulation orientation (peer-supported, self-regulated, teacher-mediated).

The study reconceptualises subtitle-mediated vocabulary learning as a regulation-sensitive and pedagogically contingent classroom process, shifting attention from treatment effects to engagement mechanisms in instructional ecologies. Implications are discussed for multimodal pedagogy and process-oriented SLA research.


Keywords


subtitle-mediated vocabulary learning; noticing; learner regulation; classroom interaction; multimodal instruction; Vietnamese EFL.

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.52155/ijpsat.v56.1.8006

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