The Role of Subtitles in the Acquisition of L2 English Grammar: A Case of Study of Cleft Sentences and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Abstract

[eng] The present study aims at analysing the role of subtitles in relation to the acquisition of L2 English grammar. In order to prove that subtitles help optimally to the adoption of complex grammatical structures, the subjects of study are people with a similar level of English which will consist of a B1/B2 level approximately who are given a short video of the film “Harry Potter and the Philosopher‟s Stone” with L2 subtitles and without on-screen text reinforcement. The object of study is the learning of cleft sentences through this film, a goal which will be observed through a pre-test and a post-test. These tests will consist of two activities, one of familiarity with the cleft structure and other of sentence completion. The same test will be completed twice, one before watching the piece of film and one after it. A comparison between the pre-test and the post-view questionnaire will prove that those who have watched the subtitled content outranged those who have viewed the content without any subtitled reinforcement.