영어 표현력 향상을 위한 한글 자막 활용 - 언어발견 자각력을 중심으로

Using Korean Captions for Faster Acquisition of English Expressions

  A wide selection of movies and TV sitcoms are on the market these days and they are fast becoming a very popular and valuable medium for teaching English. Korean captions on these media could be utilized to promote the students’ English capabilities. Korean captions skillfully translated by an expert can do wonders in conveying the core message as well as the often subtle shade of meaning. When a student sees a line of Korean caption on screen s/he is bound to wonder what the matching expression could be in English. This type of curiosity is defined as pick-up-a-language awareness. It refers to the learner’s desire to master the expression s/he wants to know. In this study, it is maintained that with maximization of students’ pick-up-a-language awareness, Korean captions can be transformed into a more powerful tool for teaching everyday English expressions. This research shows Korean captions, rather than English captions, are more effective in activating this awareness. In summary, it is argued in this paper that Korean captions can provide strong motivation for those who watch visual media to improve their English.