Effects of Captioning Order on EFL Listening and Reading: Should Captions Be First or Second?

This study examines the effects of captioning order on EFL listening and reading comprehension skills. The experiment was conducted over a period of 16 weeks in 2019. Participants were 128 beginner-level freshmen students majoring in aviation at a university in Korea. They were randomly assigned into two groups and watched an American television program in class once every two weeks. Caption first group (n = 60) was provided with captions first while caption second group (n = 68) was with captions second. To explore the effectiveness of captioning order, there were TOEIC-based listening and reading pre- and post-tests. The main findings are as follows: First, in terms of the captioning effects, there was no significant improvement in listening, but a significant difference was observed between pre- and post-tests in reading. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the improvement between listening and reading comprehension on the post-test. About the captioning order, there was no statistically significant difference between pre- and post-tests in listening for both caption first and caption second groups, but significant differences were found in reading for both groups. For differential effects of captioning order, a significant group difference existed only in listening comprehension. Based on these findings, pedagogical implications are made.