Subtitle and Closed Captions Research

Research into the Use of Subtitles and Closed Captions

There has been so much successful research into the many benefits and uses of subtitles and captions on video and Television that the American government has recognized the need for subtitles and captioning, and important laws have been passed which mandate its availability.

That research has demonstrated that the benefits of subtitles and captions include:

• Subtitles and captions help children with word identification, meaning, acquisition, and retention.
• Reading subtitles is motivating to reading.
• Subtitles and captions can help children establish a systematic link between the written word and the spoken word.
• Pre-readers, by becoming familiar with subtitles and captions, will have familiar signposts when they begin reading print-based material.
• Subtitles and captions have been related to higher comprehension skills when compared to viewers watching the same media without them.
• Children who have a positive experience in reading will want to read; reading subtitles and captions provides such an experience.
• Reading is a skill that requires practice, and practice in reading subtitles and captions is practice with authentic text.
• Subtitles and captions provide missing information for individuals who have difficulty processing speech and auditory components of the visual media (whether this difficulty is due to a hearing loss or a cognitive delay).
• Students often need assistance in learning content-relevant vocabulary (in biology, history, literature, and other subjects), and with subtitles and captions they see both the terminology (printed word) and the visual image.
• Subtitles and closed captioning is essential for deaf and hard of hearing children.
• Subtitles and captions can be very beneficial to those learning English as a Second Language.
• Subtitles and captions can help those with reading and literacy problems, and can help those who are learning to read.

Further Investigation of That Research...

For those interested in the research conducted into the use of subtitles and captions you can visit our Download page where you will find a series of freely downloadable documents including White Papers on the subject.

Other Pages containing information about the Use of Video Subtitles and captions include:

The Missing Piece!

Using Video Subtitles for Reading and Literacy Improvement

Using Subtitles to Improve ESL Skills

Video Subtitles and Closed Captions Required By Law