The development of L1 and L2 reading skills from captioned video viewing in primary school EFL learners

Abstract

This investigation explored the extent to which captioned video viewing (11 episodes) fostered the development of L2 reading skills in a group of 92 L1-Spanish primary school learners of English (years 4 and 5). It also assessed the influence of L1- and L2-related factors on students’ reading performance over time. The analyses revealed learners’ significant improvement in L2 reading skills as a result of the treatment and that L2-related factors were stronger predictors than L1-related factors. One interesting finding was that the treatment also enhanced the development of L1 reading skills, particularly in the case of fifth graders. This outcome lent support to the idea that in early L2 learning stages, students rely on their L1 linguistic infrastructure to deal with L2 print.