The effects of TV series on pragmatic development

Abstract

The aim of this study is two-fold: first, it explores the effects of captions in audiovisual support in pragmatic development; and second, it investigates the role of proficiency when learning pragmatics with captioned/non-captioned audiovisual material. This study was triggered by the increasing interest in ILP in bringing together both theoretical and practical frameworks in the study of pragmatics. Twenty-nine EFL learners were assigned to two groups (captioned/non-captioned). The participants were exposed to one season of a TV show; however, neither of the groups received instruction on pragmatics. In order to test pragmatic development (requests and suggestions), a WDCT was used before and after watching the show. Although the results showed a significant change in some of the request and suggestion strategies, captions did not seem to have a significant effect on the participants’ responses. Regarding proficiency, no conclusive results could be drawn from the data of the present study.