1

CHAPTER I

PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Rationale and Background of the Study

These days, subtitles are available in all forms of entertainment: in the

movies, on television, and even at the opera. People from completely different

cultures who speak different languages are often interested in the same subjects.

For example, the blockbusters made in Hollywood often debut on the same day

throughout the world and the audience is not limited to people who only

speak English. In fact, producers today give more importance to the box office

results from foreign countries than they have in the past. Compared to dubbing,

subtitles are a more cost-effective way to share these products with audience

members who do not speak the original language (Scott, J 2010)

People may have seen some old movies in which some explanations

about the movie were shown between the sequences; these explanations are

called intertitles. Intertitles were mainly used for the silent movies. In 1927,

with the invention of sound films, people could hear the actors, so there was no

need for further explanations. Yet, there were some comprehension problems

for those who did not understand the language. Film producers could dub the

films or they also could insert the translation or the explanation inside the

picture; thus, they invented what we now know as subtitles. Nowadays, with

ever-increasing role of technology in education systems all around the world,

 2

the question arises as if we can use subtitles as a means of improving

comprehension ability of the language learners (Hayati, 2011).

Subtitles are mostly known for their purpose of translating the oral

dialogue of films or television programs into written text. This often involves

viewers whose language is not the same as the language in the spoken

dialogue and are given subtitles so that they can understand what is going on.

This type of subtitling is what we normally find in English speaking series and

movies in Korea where people download movies with subtitles so that they can

comprehend the scenes better. However, there are people who not only try to

enjoy a movie but also at the same time try to learn another language,

particularly English. Many educators also believe that television programs with

captions seem to provide a rich context for foreign language acquisition. It is

also argued that viewers are, generally, quite motivated to understand what is

shown and said on television when captions are provided (Danan, 2004).

Watching movies can improve the listening skills of the students,

whether they are learning English as a foreign language or whether they just

want to improve their ability to listen, concentrate on or comprehend it. Given

the importance of listening in terms of foreign language comprehension

(Alonzo, R.S 2013).

This study is an attempt to investigate whether watching movies with

and without subtitles has any effect on the Grade VII- St. Bartholomew

students of St. Scholastica’s Academy-Tabunok in their listening and reading

 3

comprehension ability and also to determine whether there is any difference

between watching movies with and without subtitles. In order to carry out this

study, the researchers choose the Grade VII – St. Bartholomew as their

subject.
 4

THE PROBLEM

Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this study is to determine how subtitles in English movies

and how this aid in the comprehension ability of Grade VII – St. Bartholomew

students.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. How subtitles in English movies affect the comprehension skill of the

students?

2. Which movie genre is highly preferred by the students?

3. How do subtitles in English movies improve the word study skills of the

students?
 5

Significance of the study

The researchers will conduct a study on how subtitles in English movies

aid in the comprehension ability of Grade VII - St. Bartholomew students. Thus,

this study will benefit the following:

Students. This will help the students improve their four macro skills namely:

viewing, reading, listening, and comprehension, and this develops as well their

speech proficiency in English.

Teachers. This will help teachers to address student’s deficiencies in the

acquisition of the four macro skills.

Other Researchers. This study will serve as a reference of other researchers for

their relevant studies in the problems regarding students’ comprehension.

 6

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Listening - It is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the

communication process. Morley (1972) said listening involves auditory

discrimination, aural grammar, selecting necessary information, remembering it,

and connecting it to the process between sound and form of meaning.

Listening Comprehension- encompasses the multiple processes involved in

understanding and making sense of spoken language. These include recognizing

speech sounds, understanding the meaning of individual words, and/or

understanding the syntax of sentences in which they are presented. Rost (2002)

and Hamouda (2013) defined listening comprehension as an interactive process

in which listeners are involved in constructing meaning.

Reading - is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols in order to

construct or derive meaning (reading comprehension).

Writing - is a method of representing language in visual or tactile form. Writing

systems use sets of symbols to represent the sounds of speech, and may also

have symbols for such things as punctuation and numerals.

Subtitling- Subtitling is a type of audiovisual translation that has its own

specifications, rules and criteria. Presents the translated and source languages

simultaneously, but it transforms speech into writing without altering the source

sound track.

Viewing- the action of inspecting or looking at something.

 7

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

According to Sabouri (2015), that despite of having numerous extensive

research regarding to the use of video subtitles in developing the student’s

reading skills, majority of the teachers and schools are still unaware on the

potential and significance of this study in overcoming the poor reading skills.

Many researchers had studied the benefits of using subtitles and videos into the

improvement of reading and listening comprehension of students. One of the

investigations is about the twenty Chinese students who are learning English.

The Chinese students were divided into two groups; the first group is designated

to watch a short clip without the subtitles and the other group will be watching a

short clip with subtitles. Posttests and interviews were given to the two groups for

the analysis of results. And eventually, the results had given the researchers the

reason to be firm with their decisions about the benefits of watching subtitled

movies into the reading and listening comprehension of students.

Among the four major areas of communication skills and language

development namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing the most basic one

is listening. Moreover, listening ability plays a significant role in the development

of other language skills, i.e. "Listening comprehension is currently considered the

most prominent aspect of language, as it is believed to facilitate the other

language skill; reading, writing and speaking" (Vandergift, 2011, p.455).

 8

The comprehensive ability of the Iranian EFL Learners was being tested

through the use of Persian and English subtitle. It aims to see if there are

significant effects unto the comprehension of these Iranian EFL Learners. It also

compares the difference of using between the Persian subtitle and English

subtitle (Arosenius, 2011).

Kurita (2012) said that listening comprehension is an important part of

language learning. Many of the learners want to understand the native speakers

and a lot of multimedia like movies, DVD, etc. It was also said that listening is a

significant skill to develop in second language learning.

Krashen & Hamouda (2013) stated that one of the important elements in

having a good communication is our listening skill. It has said to obtain an

understandable input and learning will not occur without this. The researchers

also added that listening is a very important skill because in our daily life it is

widely the widely-used language. The development of listening comprehension

widens the knowledge of an individual and the development interconnects to the

attainment of expertise in speaking, specifically in the vocabulary efficiency.

Movies are the ultimate product of the entertainment industry and it is

undeniably in demand from the very start and because of popularity only film

industries have expanded and developed over time and reached to the position

at present. Thus, we can say that movies create a great impact on us while good

movies can draw our attention towards an important issue which might be
 9

unknown to us or it may have educative, moral or feel good values, at the same

time the negative aspects should be kept in dark (Charmin Patel  ,2016).

The effects of having different subtitling conditions on vocabulary recall

were being investigated. It was said that aside from having the reversed subtitling

does not only produced good results but also the bimodal subtitling increases the

vocabulary recollection. The results in this investigation is constructive for

beginners who are using the bimodal response The researchers also explained

the efficiency of using reversed subtitling in our vocabulary recollection, in which

the translation eases the foreign language, which could contribute to the

segmentation problems. The subtitling helps the students, who are often having

the difficulty in distinguishing words (Hayati & Mohmedy 2011).

Hayati & Mohmedi (2012) conducted a study in which a total of 200

intermediate students, 90 were picked based on a proficiency test. There are

three treatment conditions prepared by the researchers namely: English

subtitles, Persian subtitles, no subtitles. The students will be only viewing one

of these. After each viewing session, six sets of multiple-choice tests were

directed to examine the listening comprehension rates. In those students who

viewed with the English subtitles have the highest listening comprehension

rates and the viewers who viewed with no subtitles got the listening

comprehension rate. The results of the study just show that subtitling

establishes constructive benefits on our vocabulary, written and oral

communication, listening comprehension, and verbatim recall. It was also said

that in this kind of study is somewhat growing, but the present study just
 10

wanted to show out which one is likely to be more effective in developing

listening comprehension: English subtitles with English dialogues or English

dialogues with no subtitle.

Other researchers had also concluded that movie sequence or fragments

are also a memory enhancer as well as in recoupment of the information. They

also had concluded that it develops the writing skills of the student. Movies are

one of the sources that motivate the prior knowledge of a person, which is a very

good essential in developing the four skills activities in a classroom (PhD.

Xhemaili, Mirvan, 2013).

Learning to read is a complex process, wherein the person needs to

determine the meaning of the word and what does the sentence wants to show.

Since captions or subtitles are already appearing unto movies and television

shows, it becomes an idea and strategy on how to teach the children in learning

to read. As subtitles are explicitly shown in movies, it illustrates the mapping

among sound; meaning, and text, captions could also benefit children learning to

read (Johnson, & Bates, 2011).

According to Joseph (2016) the use of captioned or subtitled media can be

a great tool for teachers looking to differentiate classroom instruction. Consider

using captioned or subtitled media whenever and wherever you use video in your

teaching; turning on captions during class has considerable benefits for boosting

the literacy skills of all students (Alisse Bran, 2016). They believed that through

videos it could produce visual, contextual, and non-verbal inputs. And these
 11

inputs also provide foreign language which synchronized visual and aural stimuli.

The use of captions in videos is one of the most effective auxiliary in videos. With

the use of multimedia learning materials, it could make up the students who have

difficulties on their comprehension and a good learning resource for language

learners.

Captions or subtitles are not only effective in widening the knowledge of a

student in identifying the word but also in producing target forms or providing

translations. But also, the researchers had discussed the effect of captioning to

the attention of the viewers, as comprehension scores reflect unto participants’

listening or reading skills (Montero,2014).

Listening comprehension is to help the students adapt the terms of

language. It helps them to understand the speaker’s pronunciation, the speaker’s

vocabulary and grammar, and understand its meaning. Developing our listening

comprehension is important because it could develop the other three elements of

language comprehension (Gilakjani, 2016).

According to Lin, Lee, Wang (2016), cognitive load theory has been

adopted to interpret the capacity on humans’ intellectual system when they are

performing a task. Cognitive load theory of multimedia learning is a working

memory model which identifies on how different combinations of visual and

auditory presentation can affect students’ learning. The cognitive load consists of

three components, namely: intrinsic cognitive load, extraneous cognitive load,

and germane cognitive load. The number of elements that must be managed
 12

simultaneously is the main cause to have this intrinsic cognitive load, and it is in

addition to the interrelationships between the elements. The instructional

materials that are unproductive for these learners is the reason why to have this

extraneous cognitive load. Germane cognitive load is the load when a learning

task is attained with or integrated into previous schema. These types of cognitive

load are assumed to be productive and learning of language will be attained. The

effectiveness of presenting audio text and excluding written text or subtitles is

dependent on the complexity and the difficulty of the text itself. As series of

experiment has been conducted in identifying the benefits of visual and auditory

presentations into the student’s learning. It has been confirmed that words

presented as audio text is a better aid for teaching the students than using the

words in written, namely, the modality effect (Lin,Lee,Wang, & Lin 2016).

Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television

programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a

form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language or a written rendering

of the dialog in the same language, with or without added information. Subtitles

can be seen on television shows, movies, animations, etc. Subtitles may be in

the same language with the media or may be translated into other languages

which are our mother tongue languages. Subtitled movies develop the reading

skills of the students, for which it enables the students to automatically read while

watching (UKEssays,2013)

The researchers want to see the effects of watching American Films with

and without a subtitle for a foreign student's communication skill. The participants
 13

are divided two groups which is randomly selected. The two groups are so called

variables the experimental and control variables. The two groups are divided in

equal numbers. After watching the two groups are given a pretest to see the

difference between the two groups with and without a subtitle. The two groups

enjoyed the movie after that the researcher analyze the result. The result

definitely shows the difference between the scores of students with and without

subtitles. Students who are watching with subtitles have bigger scores than the

other group. The study shows that movies with subtitles can help improve

communication skills (Rokn and Ataee, 2014).

Language production within a meaningful context and through interaction

has been demonstrated to assist second language acquisition (Ellis & He, 1999).

Living in today’s generation with increasing access to TV, video equipment and

more recently, computers, teachers have found more opportunities to use audio-

visual materials at all levels of foreign language teaching, and they have

frequently used them effectively in language classes. Movies are one of the

accessible medium to students that can keep and attract student’s interest in the

theories and concepts under discussion. Movies help improve the analytical skills

of the student’s and it could also change their point of views to the theories (Rokn

and Ataee, 2014).

For an instance, Television programs with captions seem to provide a rich

context for foreign language acquisition. It is also argued that viewers are,

generally, quite motivated to understand what is shown and said on television

when captions are provided (Rokn and Ataee, 2014).

 14

The implication of captions and subtitles in foreign language instruction

refers to about forty years ago, The findings of numerous studies revealed that

the combination of captions with audio-visual materials was a very effective

instructional method which increased both listening and reading comprehension

abilities. With the help of these captions, the viewers are able to interpret the

information. Captions and subtitles increases the language acquisition. A test

instrument called “Caption Reliance Test” made by Leveridge and Yang (2014),

evaluate the learner’s attention by uncovering what does the learner is focusing

to gain comprehension: audio or textual information. Since reading is an

interactive process, it is important to understand those interacting factors that

contribute to learners' development in reading strategies, Moreover, it is

important to understand the context in which reading occurs in which It examines

the development of reading comprehension processes in terms of three primary

influences: learner characteristics, text characteristics, and the social

context .Besides, research discussed includes both descriptive studies and

intervention studies designed to change current features of the learners, the text,

or social context (Janfaza,2014).

Not all children, who are in their final years in primary, have the proper

understanding of texts. It is unfortunate for children who suffer poor adoption of

texts. Reading comprehension is one of the important skills that people,

especially the children, need to acquire. It is a path to achieve the other skills. It

also tests the training of knowledge use of reading strategies leads to

improvement of reading comprehension (Muijselaar, 2016)

 15

In the field English, It becomes or serves a nightmare and biggest hurdle

in getting a good score in the exam for the students which having a hard times in

dealing with English language which includes reading and listening

comprehension and Vocabulary skills (Gradeup,2016).

Visual learning engages the use of visual aids like video to deliver

educational content even more effectively to the students. It greatly benefits and

enhances the learning process as interactive effects are used to reinforce the

material being studied. Visual learning is a great way of learning as it aids to

increase a learner’s interest and skills in a certain subject, it makes the learning

process more enjoyable, and retains the student’s interest for longer periods, by

using visual learning, audience understands more through retaining more

information through visual learning. Visual learning techniques includes: reading

comprehension, student’s achievement across grade levels, thinking and

learning skills such as organizing and communicating and support student’s

performance ability to learn (Zaneeducation,2016).

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Scope and Limitations of the Study

This study determined the benefits of subtitles in English movies in terms

of comprehension, listening, and vocabulary including the movie genre being

preferred by the students. This study was conducted only to all the Grade-VII St.

Bartholomew students with 17 boys and 26 girls’ age 12 to 14 years old of St.

Scholastica’s Academy Tabunok S.Y. 2016 – 2017. There were 11 respondents

in Set A with subtitles and Set B without subtitles. They were asked to watch five

(5) English movies. They viewed one movie for each genre (comedy, romance,

adventure, action, and thriller). The film viewing was done at the classroom and

research room. The class was divided into two groups randomly. The first half

viewed with subtitles and no subtitles in the other half. Each group was given

questions to check their comprehension about the certain movie. This study did

not include the oral communication efficiency of the students of Grade VII St.

Bartholomew.

RESEARCH PROCEDURES

Materials:

2 DLP Projectors 5 English movies in different genres

2 Laptop Units 215 intermediate sheets

 17

2 loud speakers

Procedures:

First, the researchers prepared the materials then setup the equipment for

the movie viewing distributed including the 5 movies in different genres and 5

sets of questionnaires. The researchers divided the class into two random

groups. The first group, which was set A, watched a movie with the subtitles in

St. Bartholomew classroom, while the second group, set B watched without the

subtitles in research room. Afterwards, the same activity worksheets were given

to both groups with the total number of 30 items which were divided into three

parts: the (5pts) vocabulary, (20pts) comprehensive questions and (5pts) essay.

The researchers checked the worksheets and tabulated the scores, and

analyzed the test results of the two groups. After which the researchers randomly

selected equal numbers of 11 respondents in set A and set B before comparing

the results through tables and graphs and determined the use of subtitles in

comprehension ability. Afterwards, the researchers calculated the average score

of each student in five movies by dividing into 5. Lastly, the researchers

conducted a survey and presented it through charts and determined the most

preferable movie genre among the five different genres.

 18

Gathering of Data

The key instrument in data gathering was the activity worksheet, survey

and likert scale. The student’s questionnaire was divided into three parts:

vocabulary, comprehensive questions and essay.

The first part of the questionnaire examined the vocabulary ability of each

student. The second part of the questionnaire measured the recalling ability of

the student through choosing the answer from the choices given. The third part

of the questionnaire figured out if the student could support information and sort

ideas through his/her original statement based on the given questions. After

viewing the five different movie genres, the researchers conducted a survey. The

likert scale was categorized into: (A) Outstanding, (B) Above Average, (C)

Satisfactory, (D) Below Average, (F) Unsatisfactory Achievement.

Treatment of Data

This study was a descriptive-qualitative because the researchers utilized

the use of questionnaires and survey that aimed to gather information. Moreover,

this study is also quantitative because the researchers also tallied the scores

from the activity worksheets given. A statistical tool was being used in treating

the data of this study namely likert scale, a scale of agreement, for identifying the

total average score of the internal and external factors in the study.
 19

CHAPTER IV
Presentation, Analysis, Interpretation and Discussion of Data
Table 1. Movie 1 Set A scores
NAMES VOCABULARY COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY TOTAL
(5pts) TEST (5pts) (30pts)
(20pts)
Bacus, Joemar 2 19 2 23
Balunan, Kyle Cedric 3 17 2 22
Basalo, Mary Kesie 2 13 2 17
Benlot, Fhei Mian P. 0 18 5 23
Canastra, Stephany May S. 4 18 3 25
Escala, Jude Emmanuel R. 2 17 4 23
Granzon, Nicole Keath C. 0 14 2 16
Inosante,Chito Angelo S. 3 17 2 22
Lastimosa, Krishna Gwen Mae C. 0 19 3 22
Palacio, Chito Angelo S. 0 11 3 14
Peliciano, Shaira Mae M. 4 15 4 23
TOTAL: 20 178 32 230

Table 2. Movie 1 Set B scores

NAMES VOCABULARY COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY TOTAL
(5pts) TEST (5pts) (30pts)
(20pts)
Amper, Johnna S. 4 18 3 25
Anadon, Hershey Gwen 1 15 1 17
Aniñon , Dana Mae F. 0 11 3 14
Asid, Matthew Frederick S. 2 16 2 20
Cabañero Mitsuhiro P. 1 14 2 17
Dy, Jaslyn Valerie C. 1 16 4 21
Monterde, RJ P. 2 17 3 22
Ortega, Angelito S. 2 8 1 11
Policarpio, Celine Joy G. 2 15 3 20
Saavedra, Christine 3 14 3 20
Villenermose, Lance Vincent J. 3 12 2 17
TOTAL: 21 156 27 204
 20

Table 3. Movie 2 Set A scores

NAMES VOCABULARY COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY TOTAL

(5pts) TEST (5pts) (30pts)
(20pts)
Bacus, Joemar 3 3 1 7
Balunan, Kyle Cedric 2 12 1 15
Basalo, Mary Kesie 0 12 1 13
Benlot, Fhei Mian P. 2 12 2 16
Canastra, Stephany May S. 2 14 4 20
Escala, Jude Emmanuel R. 2 5 1 8
Granzon, Nicole Keath C. 1 9 1 11
Inosante,Chito Angelo S. 1 9 1 11
Lastimosa, Krishna Gwen Mae C. 2 13 1 16
Palacio, Chito Angelo S. 1 11 1 13
Peliciano, Shaira Mae M. 3 10 3 16
TOTAL: 19 110 17 149

Table 4. Movie 2 Set B scores

NAMES VOCABULARY COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY TOTAL
(5pts) TEST (5pts) (30pts)
(20pts)
Amper, Johnna S. 3 15 3 21
Anadon, Hershey Gwen 4 5 1 10
Aniñon , Dana Mae F. 1 10 2 13
Asid, Matthew Frederick S. 2 6 1 9
Cabañero Mitsuhiro P. 2 4 3 9
Dy, Jaslyn Valerie C. 2 11 2 15
Monterde, RJ P. 2 7 3 12
Ortega, Angelito S. 2 5 2 9
Policarpio, Celine Joy G. 5 8 5 18
Saavedra, Christine 5 12 3 20
Villenermose, Lance Vincent J. 2 7 1 10
TOTAL: 30 90 26 146
 21

Table 5. Movie 3 Set A scores

NAMES VOCABULARY COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY TOTAL
(5pts) TEST (5pts) (30pts)
(20pts)
Bacus, Joemar 1 12 2 15
Balunan, Kyle Cedric 1 17 3 21
Basalo, Mary Kesie 5 5 2 12
Benlot, Fhei Mian P. 5 15 4 24
Canastra, Stephany May S. 3 15 3 21
Escala, Jude Emmanuel R. 2 16 2 20
Granzon, Nicole Keath C. 3 15 1 19
Inosante,Chito Angelo S. 1 15 3 19
Lastimosa, Krishna Gwen Mae C. 1 13 2 16
Palacio, Chito Angelo S. 3 14 2 19
Peliciano, Shaira Mae M. 3 14 2 19
TOTAL: 28 151 26 205

Table 6. Movie 3 Set B scores

NAMES VOCABULARY COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY TOTAL
(5pts) TEST (5pts) (30pts)
(20pts)
Amper, Johnna S. 3 14 3 20
Anadon, Hershey Gwen 1 17 2 20
Aniñon , Dana Mae F. 0 16 3 19
Asid, Matthew Frederick S. 2 17 2 21
Cabañero Mitsuhiro P. 2 16 2 20
Dy, Jaslyn Valerie C. 5 16 3 24
Monterde, RJ P. 1 18 3 22
Ortega, Angelito S. 2 13 2 17
Policarpio, Celine Joy G. 2 19 2 23
Saavedra, Christine 3 16 3 22
Villenermose, Lance Vincent J. 2 12 2 16
TOTAL: 23 174 27 224

NAMES VOCABULARY COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY TOTAL

(5pts) TEST (5pts) (30pts)
 22

(20pts)
Bacus, Joemar 5 16 1 22
Balunan, Kyle Cedric 3 16 4 23
Basalo, Mary Kesie 5 15 3 23
Benlot, Fhei Mian P. 5 17 5 27
Canastra, Stephany May S. 5 14 2 21
Escala, Jude Emmanuel R. 5 16 4 25
Granzon, Nicole Keath C. 4 17 3 24
Inosante,Chito Angelo S. 2 16 2 20
Lastimosa, Krishna Gwen Mae C. 2 16 2 20
Palacio, Chito Angelo S. 5 18 3 26
Peliciano, Shaira Mae M. 5 16 3 24
TOTAL: 46 177 32 255
Table 7. Movie 4 Set A scores

Table 8. Movie 4 Set B scores

NAMES VOCABULARY COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY TOTAL
(5pts) TEST (5pts) (30pts)
(20pts)
Amper, Johnna S. 4 19 4 27
Anadon, Hershey Gwen 1 14 0 15
Aniñon , Dana Mae F. 5 17 4 26
Asid, Matthew Frederick S. 0 16 4 20
Cabañero Mitsuhiro P. 0 16 3 19
Dy, Jaslyn Valerie C. 5 0 4 9
Monterde, RJ P. 3 12 5 20
Ortega, Angelito S. 5 15 2 22
Policarpio, Celine Joy G. 3 17 3 23
Saavedra, Christine 5 16 4 25
Villenermose, Lance Vincent J. 3 16 3 22
TOTAL: 34 158 36 228

Table 9. Movie 5 Set A scores

 23

NAMES VOCABULARY COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY TOTAL

(5pts) TEST (5pts) (30pts)
(20pts)
Bacus, Joemar 1 7 0 8
Balunan, Kyle Cedric 1 10 2 13
Basalo, Mary Kesie 2 10 2 14
Benlot, Fhei Mian P. 2 9 3 14
Canastra, Stephany May S. 0 13 2 15
Escala, Jude Emmanuel R. 1 8 4 13
Granzon, Nicole Keath C. 3 7 2 12
Inosante,Chito Angelo S. 0 4 0 4
Lastimosa, Krishna Gwen Mae C. 3 8 3 14
Palacio, Chito Angelo S. 2 5 3 10
Peliciano, Shaira Mae M. 1 10 3 14
TOTAL: 16 91 24 131

Table 10. Movie 5 Set A scores

NAMES VOCABULARY COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY TOTAL
(5pts) TEST (5pts) (30pts)
(20pts)
Amper, Johnna S. 0 9 3 12
Anadon, Hershey Gwen 1 9 0 10
Aniñon, Dana Mae F. 0 10 4 14
Asid, Matthew Frederick S. 2 6 3 11
Cabañero Mitsuhiro P. 3 7 3 13
Dy, Jaslyn Valerie C. 1 6 3 10
Monterde, RJ P. 1 10 2 13
Ortega, Angelito S. 1 7 2 10
Policarpio, Celine Joy G. 1 8 2 11
Saavedra, Christine 1 9 0 10
Villenermose, Lance Vincent J. 1 7 3 11
TOTAL: 12 88 25 125
 24

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

The Tables 1 to 10 revealed how subtitles in English movies affect the

comprehension skill of the students through comparing the total number of

scores between Set A with subtitles and Set B without subtitles from the five

different movie genres. There will be 11 expected respondents in Set A and Set

B due to valid excuses and absences of the students. In set A with subtitles, the

highest total numerical value is 255 points in the movie “Kubo and the Two

Strings” with a genre of adventure for which means they understand most, the

lowest total numerical value is 131 points in the genre romance entitled A Walk to

Remember, it could also mean that students did not understand that kind of

genre, the common numerical value is 23 among all five-different movie genre

and the final numerical value is 967 in all sets of movies.

In Set B without subtitles, an adventure movie, “Kubo and the Two

Strings”, had a total score of 228 points which was the highest total numerical

value, the same with Set A. A romance movie, “A Walk to Remember”, had a

total score of 125 points which was the lowest total numerical value, the same

with Set A. The common numerical value among five different movie genres was

20.
 25

TOTAL AVERAGE SCORE

26
27
 28

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

The Table 11 and Figure 1 to 1.2 presented the total average scores of

each respondent from the five different movie genres. After tabulating all the

scores, the researchers identified the K-12 standardized scale categorized into

(A) 90-100% - Outstanding, (B) 80-89% - Above Average, (C) 70-79% -

Satisfactory, (D) 60-69% - Below Average, (F) 59% and below - Unsatisfactory

Achievement. Based from the data above, out of the 43 students, there are 35 of

them belong to the unsatisfactory achievement while there is only 1 belongs to

the above average achievement. There is only 1 common numerical value which

belongs to both above average and satisfactory achievement.

 29

SURVEY
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ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

In Table 13 revealed the most preferred movie genre. After the survey was

conducted, it was found out that students preferred thriller, while action and

romance were the least preferred. The researchers have used the Likert scale, a

scale of agreement, for identifying the total average score of the internal and

external factors in the study. Each color signifies each question number. Figures

2 to 2.6 revealed that the students agreed that the movies were appropriate for

those (35%) and (5%) were not. The population strongly agreed that watching

movies with the aid of subtitles help them understand the movie and able to

follow the plot and at the same time learned new words (53%, 44%, and 35%,

respectively). 51% agreed that subtitles improved their comprehension skills and

there are some who did not (5%). Moreover, it doesn’t only improve their

comprehension skills but also enjoyed watching it and gained values (44% and

42%, respectively). The external factors such as: volume of audio, vivid projected

images, and time spent were said to be enough for them to be able to

understand more easily the movie (49%, 42%, and 42%, respectively).
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DISCUSSION OF DATA

The tables revealed the significance of subtitles in English movies and

how this aid in the comprehension ability of the Grade VII- St. Bartholomew

students. The tables 1-10 show the comparison of Set A with subtitles and Set B

without subtitles regarding the student’s four macro skills such as listening,

viewing, reading and comprehension through watching five different movie

genres namely comedy, action, thriller, adventure and romance. In table 1-10

revealed that Set A with subtitles got the higher scores compared to Set B

without subtitles which shows that students in Set A understand more the movies

through the aid of subtitles than students in Set B without subtitles, from the book

of Rokn and Ataee, 2014 found out that students who are watching with subtitles

have bigger scores than the other group. The study shows that movies with

subtitles can help improve communication skills. Also, simply implies that

subtitles are additional help to understand and comprehend more in watching

English movies.

Based from the results of the study the researchers find out that the genre

thriller entitled The Shallows was highly preferred by the students of Grade VII of

St. Bartholomew. Also, the researchers added that listening is a very important

skill for it is the first thing in developing a communication skill. The development

of listening comprehension widens the knowledge of an individual and the

development, interconnects to the attainment of eloquence in speaking,

specifically in vocabulary. (Krashen & Hamouda (2013).

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CHAPTER V

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The study was about subtitles in English Movies and how this aid in the

comprehension ability of the Grade VII–St. Bartholomew students. The

researchers found out the significance of having subtitles in the comprehension

ability of the students. Based on the results of the survey, the subtitles expand

the vocabulary of the students and had learned values about life. In the survey,

the genre thriller entitled The Shallows was more enjoyable and preferred among

the students. So far, there was no grammatical errors found in the subtitles.

Based on the findings of the study the following conclusions were drawn.

The researchers concluded that the genre thriller was highly preferred by the

Grade VII students of St. Bartholomew. Moreover, it enhances the

comprehension ability of students and helps expand their vocabulary.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In line with the findings and conclusions of the study with their various

implications, the researchers recommended the following:

1. To choose movies suited for their level of understanding.

2. To choose movies with subtitles for film viewing.

3. To use specific standardized grading scale for testing the results

accurately aside from K to 12 Standardized scale.

4. To give Diagnostic Test before conducting a movie test.