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The impact of audio on the reading of intralingual versus interlingual subtitles: Evidence from eye movements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2021

Sixin Liao Open the ORCID record for Sixin Liao [Opens in a new window] ,
Lili Yu ,
Jan-Louis Kruger Open the ORCID record for Jan-Louis Kruger [Opens in a new window]  and
Erik D. Reichle
Sixin Liao*
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia Macquarie University Centre for Reading, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Lili Yu
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia Macquarie University Centre for Reading, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Jan-Louis Kruger
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia Macquarie University Centre for Reading, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Erik D. Reichle
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia Macquarie University Centre for Reading, Sydney, NSW, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: sixin.liao@students.mq.edu.au
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Abstract

This study investigated how semantically relevant auditory information might affect the reading of subtitles, and if such effects might be modulated by the concurrent video content. Thirty-four native Chinese speakers with English as their second language watched video with English subtitles in six conditions defined by manipulating the nature of the audio (Chinese/L1 audio vs. English/L2 audio vs. no audio) and the presence versus absence of video content. Global eye-movement analyses showed that participants tended to rely less on subtitles with Chinese or English audio than without audio, and the effects of audio were more pronounced in the presence of video presentation. Lexical processing of subtitles was not modulated by the audio. However, Chinese audio, which presumably obviated the need to read the subtitles, resulted in more superficial post-lexical processing of the subtitles relative to either the English or no audio. On the contrary, English audio accentuated post-lexical processing of the subtitles compared with Chinese audio or no audio, indicating that participants might use English audio to support subtitle reading (or vice versa) and thus engaged in deeper processing of the subtitles. These findings suggest that, in multimodal reading situations, eye movements are not only controlled by processing difficulties associated with properties of words (e.g., their frequency and length) but also guided by metacognitive strategies involved in monitoring comprehension and its online modulation by different information sources.

Keywords

audioeye movementsmultimodal integrated-language processingreadingsubtitles

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Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , January 2022 , pp. 237 - 269
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© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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