DOCUMENT RESUME ED 318 446 IR 014 356 AUTHOR Mehler, Audrey TITLE The Potential of Captioned Television for Adult Learners. Working Papers of Planning and Development Research. Working Paper 88-3. INSTITUTION TV Ontario, Toronto. PUB DATE Apr 88 NOTE 26p. PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070) -- Reports - Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adult education; *Captions; *Educational Television; Foreign Countries; Hearing Impairments; Instructional Effectiveness; Research Needs IDENTIFIERS Canada; *Closed Captioned Television; *TVOntario ABSTRACT With the assistance of the Canadian Captioning Development Agency, TVOntario has undertaken to determine the efficacy of applying closed-captioned television to the needs of adult learners who are not hearing impaired. In this research study, actual and potential applications of closed-captioned television for hearing audiences in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia were explored in order to provide a context to guide development in this area. Following a description of capti,ing technology and a discussion of the current commitment of Canadian broadcasters to captioned television, the report provides a review of experimental research studies that tested the use of closed-captioned television with adult students of English as a Second Language and literacy, as well as with learning disabled adults. The results of these studies are discussed in terms of neir implications for the development of captioned television for adult learners in Ontario. The adult learner markets for closed-captioned television in Ontario are described in detail, as are the programs currently available to these learners. Issues are raised concerning the learning, contexts that are best suited to learning with closed captions, and suggestions are made as to the types of programs and captioning methods that are most conducive to learning. The paper concludes with recommendations for the next phase of research--to conduct a pilot test of the use of captioned video in various classroom learning contexts and with learners of varying capabilities. (13 references) (Author, ..L) *******************************************X*************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***************************************************,4******************* ,ft ,.,1-; '. 1 .". 1%. 31. .:.' ,1,I,,.}i,,i..,, rto .ky 2,. ,,,. 4.4 .... '4, ,,,,e A ,?,,--,., w 1.s: .. ,, > 1. 12- 4 7 ' u" IIs" t:...14""It' ,AP-,,,,v ',1,.0, , .,'6.iiigi:4,...,---le.i.,,s, ;,(-',',111,..,,,,,,, ,,,, /; iiir..,, " ./,''',' IT. 1\s, A, I s V ''4 51 i'. 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Planning and Development Research WTVOntario Planification et recherche en developpement Working Paper 88-3 THE POTENTIAL OF CAPTIONED TELEVISION FOR ADULT LEARNERS By Audrey Mehler With the assistance of The Canadian Captioning Development Agency April 1988 Manager, Planning and Development Research: Judith Tobin CONTENTS al SUMMARY (ii) INTRODUCTION 1 CAPTIONED TELEVISION 2 The Technology 2 The Canadian Captioning Development Agency 3 Other Captioning Services 3 Canadian Broadcasters and Captioning 4 EDUCATIONAL APPLICATIONS 6 The United States 6 The United Kingdom 7 Europe 8 Australia 8 POTENTIAL FOR CLOSED-CAPTIONED TELEVISION IN ONTARIO. .. 10 The Deaf 10 The Learning Disabled 10 Literacy and English as a Second Language Programmes 11 DISCUSSION 12 Perspectives of the Captioning Industry 12 Perspectives of ESL Providers 12 Perspectives of Literacy Programme Providers 13 Issues and Concerns 14 RECOMMENDED PROCEDURES 17 Further Research 17 The Learning Context 17 Teacher Training 18 Learning Materials--Video 18 Learning Materials- -Print 18 Equipment 18 Promotion 19 Conclusion 19 FOOTNOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY (1) SUMMARY With the assistance of the Canadian Captioning Development Agency, TVOntario has undertaken to determine the efficacy of applying closed- captioned television to the needs of adult learners who are not hearing impaired. In this research study, actual and potential applications of closed- captioned television for hearing audiences in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia were explored in order to provide a context to guide development in this area. Following a description of captioning technology and a discussion of the current commitment of Canadian broadcasters to captioned television, the report provides a review of experimental research studies that tested the use of closed- captioned television with adult students of English as a Second Language and Literacy, as well as with learning disabled adults. The results of these studies, along with perspectives on captioned television from providers of adult literacy and language programmes, are discussed in terms of their implications for the development of captioned television for adult learners in Ontario. The adult learner markets for closed-captioned television in Ontario are described in detail, as are the programmes currently available to these learners. Issues are raised concerning the learning contexts that are best suited to learning with closed captions, and suggestions are made as to the types of programmes and captioning methods that are most conducive to learning. The paper concludes with recommendations for the next phase of research--to conduct a pilot test of the use of captioned video in various classroom learning contexts and with learners of varying capabilities. Development of print materials to accompany captioned television programmes is also advised. Closed-captioned television is felt by many to be an effective learning tool. While its current application is limited primarily to the hearing impaired, it is hoped that, by offering more captioned programming and raising audience awareness as to the availability of such programming as a learning resource, its utilization will be broadened. THE POTENTIAL OF CAPTIONED TELEVISION FOR ADULT LEARNERS INTRODUCTION This report examines the possibilities for TVOntario to make available, through broadcast and nonbroadcast, its closed-captioned television programmes for use by adult learners other than those who are deaf or hearing impaired. Research was undertaken to determine whether closed captioning, the audience for which is now largely limited to hearing impaired viewers, holds potential as an effective teaching tool for adult learners, particularly those in need of skills upgrading in the areas of reading, comprehension, vocabulary, and general language proficiency. During the course of this research, many people were contacted, including representatives of the captioning services industry in Canada, the U.S., and Australia, providers ofliteracy and language training programmes, representatives of provincial government ministries which are responsible for sponsoring literacy and language training programmes, and educational broadcasters in Canada, the U.S., Britain, and Sweden. Their views form the basis of the recommendations made in this report.In the first section, some