"One of the most cost-effective ideas. Could be used worldwide to increase literacy."
- - New York Times

"Simple yet effective."
- Indian Express

"A neo-literate gets a chance to read on the screen what he/she hears."
- Times of India

"Fun while you learn. "
- Asian Age

"The presence of text does not reduce television watching to text reading + pictures, but that learners continue to try and match sound and text, and indeed try to monitor the correctness of their own match."
- Vanderplank (1988)

"After years of sophisticated eye-tracking research on how subtitling is viewed on TV, film, and video: "If they're there [subtitles]. they will be read automatically."
- d'Ydewalle et al. (1991)

"For those with English as their only language but who are poor readers, poor spellers or illiterate in English, this simple addition [English subtitling of English dialogure] could become a valuable aid over time, not only for improving literacy and reading abilities, but also for enhancing and enriching listeners' general comprehension of verbal information."
- Lambert (1986)

Research Papers on SLS

Lambert, W.E. (1986). Dialogue in one language, sub-titles in another: Some alternatives for learning languages. In J.A. Fishman, A. Tabouret-Keller, M. Clyne, B. Krishnamurti, & M. Abdulaziz (Eds.), The Fergusonian impact, Vol. 1, From phonology to society (pp. 479-516). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.

Bean, R.M., & Wilson , R.M. (1989). Using closed captioned television to teach reading to adults. Reading Research and Instruction , 28 (4) , 27-37.

d'Ydewalle, G., & Pavakanun, U. (1997). Could enjoying a movie lead to language acquisition? In P. Winterhoff-Spurk, & T. Van der Voort (Eds.), New horizons in media psychology (pp. 145-155). Opladen , Germany : Westdeutscher-Verlag GmbH.

d'Ydewalle, G., Praet, C., Verfaillie, K., & Van Rensbergen, J. (1991). Watching subtitled television: Automatic reading behavior. Communication Research , 18(5), 650-666.

Garza, T. (1991). Evaluating the use of captioned video materials in advanced foreign language learning. Foreign Language Annals , 24(3), 239-258.

Goldman, M., & Goldman, S. (1988). Reading with close-captioned TV. Journal of Reading , 31(5) .

Holobow, N.E., Lambert, W.E., & Sayegh, L. (1984). Pairing script and dialogue: Combinations that show promise for second or foreign language learning. Language Learning , 34(4): 59-76.

Jensema, C.J., Sharkawy, S.E., Danturthi, R.S., Burch, R., & Hsu, D. (2000b). Eye movement patterns of captioned television viewers. American Annals of the Deaf , 145(3), 275-285.

Koskinen, P.S., Wilson , R.M., & Jensema, C.J. (1985). Closed-captioned television: A new tool for reading instruction. Reading World , 24(4), 1-7.

Koskinen, P.S., Wilson , R.M., & Jensema, C.J. (1986). Using closed-captioned television in the teaching of reading to deaf students. American Annals of the Deaf , 131(1), 43-46.

Brij Kothari, Avinash Pandey, and Amita Chudgar (2004). Reading Out of the "Idiot Box": Same-Language Subtitling on Television in India . Information Technologies and International Development, 1(3): 23-44.

Brij Kothari (forthcoming, 2004). Same Language Subtitling on TV: Literacy a By-Product of Entertainment. World Bank case.

Kothari, B., Takeda, J., Joshi, & Pandey, A. (2002). Same Language Subtitling: A Butterfly for Literacy? International Journal of Lifelong Education , 21(1): 55-66.

Markham, P. (1999). Captioned videotapes and second-language listening word recognition. Foreign Language Annals , 32(3), 321-328.

Neuman, S.B., & Koskinen, P. (1992). Captioned television as comprehensible input: Effects of incidental word learning from context. Reading Research Quarterly , 27(1), 94-106.

Peters, F.J.J. (1979). Printed messages in American commercial television and the reading teacher. Journal of Reading , 22(5), 408-415.

Vanderplank, R. (1988). The value of teletext sub-titles in language learning. ELT Journal, 42(4), 272-281.

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