The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of Same-Language Subtitles (SLS) on the subject-specific comprehension and the academic literacy levels of EAL students on the Vaal Triangle Campus of North-West University (NWU). Essentially, the study aimed to determine whether exposing students studying through English as an Additional Language (EAL) to subtitled lectures (live or recorded lectures) would help improve their comprehension of the academic content as well as their receptive academic literacy skills, compared to students who were not exposed to subtitled lectures. This study stems from the identification of an academic performance-related issue on the Vaal Triangle Campus of NWU. Indeed, campus statistics show that the throughput rate of EAL students remains low, and that these students‟ academic literacy levels are inadequate. In other words, EAL students on this campus are underachieving and seem to have difficulties in mastering academic English. Based on various studies that showed SLS to be a valuable tool in terms of learning and academic literacy, this study proposed to introduce SLS (both live via respeaking and offline) in the university classroom as a learning aid, thus optimising the time students spend in lectures. Very little information was available in South Africa on the impact of SLS on the subject-specific comprehension of EAL students in a tertiary academic context. Furthermore, it had been anticipated that a certain number of technical constraints were likely to be encountered during the empirical investigation. These two factors made it difficult to predict what other factors could influence the outcome of the study. As a result, the study was based on the principle of Action Research, a research method characterised by the fact that the research is carried out in as many cycles as may be necessary in order to achieve the optimal conditions for a specific intervention. Three cycles were necessary to reach the optimal design of the present study so that a confident conclusion could be made regarding the impact of SLS on comprehension and academic literacy. For each cycle, the intervention was carried out over an academic semester. In the first cycle, a test group composed of EAL first-year Economics students was exposed to live SLS via respeaking during class, while a control group (also composed of EAL first-year Economics students) attended the same class at a different time, without SLS. In the second cycle, the live SLS via respeaking were replaced with offline SLS. The intervention was taken out of the regular classes and was carried out in the context of practical revision classes scheduled specifically for the purpose of the intervention. The test group viewed subtitled videos of lectures, while the control group viewed videos without subtitles. After each viewing, all participants were required to complete a short comprehension test. This cycle was also conducted in first-year Economics. The basic design of the third cycle was similar to that of the second cycle, but for the fact that the intervention took place in the context of a Psychology module, which, unlike the Economics module, was taught without the lecturer making use of slides. After these three research cycles were completed, it could be concluded that offline SLS indeed have a positive impact on the subject-specific comprehension and the receptive academic literacy skills of EAL students in a tertiary academic context. This conclusion was supported by the following findings: 1. The first research cycle pointed towards a slight, but statistically insignificant benefit in terms of both comprehension and academic literacy. However, at this stage of the empirical investigation, the technical constraints made it difficult to draw a precise conclusion in that respect. 2. In the second research cycle, the SLS seem to have had a significant impact on the receptive academic literacy skills of the test group, compared to the control group. However, no such impact could be noted in terms of subject-specific comprehension. This was attributed to the presence of a confounding variable, namely slides used during the lectures. This once more made it impossible to draw a confident conclusion regarding the impact of SLS on comprehension. 3. The third research cycle made a more confident conclusion regarding the impact of SLS on subject-specific comprehension possible. Indeed, the results of the statistical analyses show that the test group performed significantly better in their semester test (covering the work done in all the recorded lectures) than the control group, which was not exposed to any videos at all. On the basis of these findings, it was concluded that SLS in their offline form have a positive impact on the subject-specific comprehension and the receptive academic literacy skills of EAL students in a tertiary academic context, specifically if the students are given sufficient time to get used to the mode. This study seems to indicate that the benefits of SLS for comprehension can be recorded provided that students are exposed to the intervention over a longer period of time. However, there may be further scope for refinement as far as this study is concerned. It is therefore important that the topic be investigated further. / MA, Language Practice, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of Same-Language Subtitles (SLS) on the subject-specific comprehension and the academic literacy levels of EAL students on the Vaal Triangle Campus of North-West University (NWU). Essentially, the study aimed to determine whether exposing students studying through English as an Additional Language (EAL) to subtitled lectures (live or recorded lectures) would help improve their comprehension of the academic content as well as their receptive academic literacy skills, compared to students who were not exposed to subtitled lectures. This study stems from the identification of an academic performance-related issue on the Vaal Triangle Campus of NWU. Indeed, campus statistics show that the throughput rate of EAL students remains low, and that these students‟ academic literacy levels are inadequate. In other words, EAL students on this campus are underachieving and seem to have difficulties in mastering academic English. Based on various studies that showed SLS to be a valuable tool in terms of learning and academic literacy, this study proposed to introduce SLS (both live via respeaking and offline) in the university classroom as a learning aid, thus optimising the time students spend in lectures. Very little information was available in South Africa on the impact of SLS on the subject-specific comprehension of EAL students in a tertiary academic context. Furthermore, it had been anticipated that a certain number of technical constraints were likely to be encountered during the empirical investigation. These two factors made it difficult to predict what other factors could influence the outcome of the study. As a result, the study was based on the principle of Action Research, a research method characterised by the fact that the research is carried out in as many cycles as may be necessary in order to achieve the optimal conditions for a specific intervention. Three cycles were necessary to reach the optimal design of the present study so that a confident conclusion could be made regarding the impact of SLS on comprehension and academic literacy. For each cycle, the intervention was carried out over an academic semester. In the first cycle, a test group composed of EAL first-year Economics students was exposed to live SLS via respeaking during class, while a control group (also composed of EAL first-year Economics students) attended the same class at a different time, without SLS. In the second cycle, the live SLS via respeaking were replaced with offline SLS. The intervention was taken out of the regular classes and was carried out in the context of practical revision classes scheduled specifically for the purpose of the intervention. The test group viewed subtitled videos of lectures, while the control group viewed videos without subtitles. After each viewing, all participants were required to complete a short comprehension test. This cycle was also conducted in first-year Economics. The basic design of the third cycle was similar to that of the second cycle, but for the fact that the intervention took place in the context of a Psychology module, which, unlike the Economics module, was taught without the lecturer making use of slides. After these three research cycles were completed, it could be concluded that offline SLS indeed have a positive impact on the subject-specific comprehension and the receptive academic literacy skills of EAL students in a tertiary academic context. This conclusion was supported by the following findings: 1. The first research cycle pointed towards a slight, but statistically insignificant benefit in terms of both comprehension and academic literacy. However, at this stage of the empirical investigation, the technical constraints made it difficult to draw a precise conclusion in that respect. 2. In the second research cycle, the SLS seem to have had a significant impact on the receptive academic literacy skills of the test group, compared to the control group. However, no such impact could be noted in terms of subject-specific comprehension. This was attributed to the presence of a confounding variable, namely slides used during the lectures. This once more made it impossible to draw a confident conclusion regarding the impact of SLS on comprehension. 3. The third research cycle made a more confident conclusion regarding the impact of SLS on subject-specific comprehension possible. Indeed, the results of the statistical analyses show that the test group performed significantly better in their semester test (covering the work done in all the recorded lectures) than the control group, which was not exposed to any videos at all. On the basis of these findings, it was concluded that SLS in their offline form have a positive impact on the subject-specific comprehension and the receptive academic literacy skills of EAL students in a tertiary academic context, specifically if the students are given sufficient time to get used to the mode. This study seems to indicate that the benefits of SLS for comprehension can be recorded provided that students are exposed to the intervention over a longer period of time. However, there may be further scope for refinement as far as this study is concerned. It is therefore important that the topic be investigated further. / MA, Language Practice, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

Cette recherche aborde un des grands défis liés à l'étude empirique des phénomènes linguistiques : l'optimisation des ressources matérielles et humaines pour la transcription. Pour ce faire, elle met en relief l’intérêt de la redite off-line, une méthode de transcription vocale à l’aide d’un logiciel de reconnaissance automatique de la parole inspirée du sous-titrage vocal pour les émissions de télé. La tâche de transcrire la parole spontanée est ardue et complexe; on doit rendre compte de tous les constituants de la communication : linguistiques, extralinguistiques et paralinguistiques, et ce, en dépit des difficultés que posent la parole spontanée, les autocorrections, les hésitations, les répétitions, les variations, les phénomènes de contact. Afin d’évaluer le travail nécessaire pour générer un produit de qualité ont été transcrites par redite une sélection d’interviews du Corpus oral de la langue espagnole à Montréal (COLEM), qui reflète toutes les variétés d'espagnol parlées à Montréal (donc en contact avec le français et l'anglais). La qualité des transcriptions a été évaluée en fonction de leur exactitude, étant donné que plus elles sont exactes, moins le temps de correction est long. Afin d'obtenir des pourcentages d’exactitude plus fidèles à la réalité –même s’ils sont inférieurs à ceux d'autres recherches– ont été pris en compte non seulement les mots incorrectement ajoutés, supprimés ou substitués, mais aussi liées aux signes de ponctuation, aux étiquettes descriptives et aux marques typographiques propres aux conventions de transcription du COLEM. Le temps nécessaire à la production et à la correction des transcriptions a aussi été considéré. Les résultats obtenus ont été comparés à des transcriptions manuelles (dactylographiées) et à des transcriptions automatiques. La saisie manuelle offre la flexibilité nécessaire pour obtenir le niveau d’exactitude requis pour la transcription, mais ce n'est ni la méthode la plus rapide ni la plus rigoureuse. Quant aux transcriptions automatiques, aucune ne remplit de façon satisfaisante les conditions requises pour gagner du temps ou réduire les efforts de révision. On a aussi remarqué que les performances de la reconnaissance automatique de la parole fluctuaient au gré des locuteurs et locutrices et des caractéristiques des enregistrements, causant des écarts considérables dans le temps de correction des transcriptions. Ce sont les transcriptions redites, effectuées en temps réel, qui donnent les résultats les plus stables; et celles qui ont été effectuées avec un logiciel installé sur l'ordinateur sont supérieures aux autres. Puisqu’elle permet de minimiser la variabilité des signaux acoustiques, de fournir les indicateurs pour la représentation de la construction dialogique et de favoriser la reconnaissance automatique du vocabulaire issu de la variation de l'espagnol ainsi que d'autres langues, la méthode de redite ne demande en moyenne que 9,2 minutes par minute d'enregistrement du COLEM, incluant la redite en temps réel et deux révisions effectuées par deux personnes différentes à partir de l’audio. En complément, les erreurs qui peuvent se manifester dans les transcriptions obtenues à l’aide de la technologie intelligente ont été catégorisées, selon qu’il s’agisse de non-respect de l'orthographe ou de la protection des données, d’imprécisions dans la segmentation des unités linguistiques, dans la représentation écrite des mécanismes d'interruption de la séquence de parole, dans la construction dialogique ou dans le lexique. / This research addresses one of the major challenges associated with the empirical study of linguistic phenomena: the optimization of material and human transcription resources. To do so, it highlights the value of off-line respeaking, a method of voice-assisted transcription using automatic speech recognition (ASR) software modelled after voice subtitling for television broadcasts. The task of transcribing spontaneous speech is an arduous and complex one; we must account for all the components of communication: linguistic, extralinguistic and paralinguistic, notwithstanding the difficulties posed by spontaneous speech, self-corrections, hesitations, repetitions, variations and contact phenomena. To evaluate the work required to generate a quality product, a selection of interviews from the Spoken Corpus of the Spanish Language in Montreal (COLEM), which reflects all the varieties of Spanish spoken in Montreal (i.e., in contact with French and English), were transcribed through respeaking. The quality of the transcriptions was evaluated for accuracy, since the more accurate they were, the less time was needed for correction. To obtain accuracy percentages that are closer to reality –albeit lower than those obtained in other research– we considered not only words incorrectly added, deleted, or substituted, but also issues related to punctuation marks, descriptive labels, and typographical markers specific to COLEM transcription conventions. We also considered the time required to produce and correct the transcriptions. The results obtained were compared with manual (typed) and automatic transcriptions. Manual input offers the flexibility needed to achieve the level of accuracy required for transcription, but it is neither the fastest nor the most rigorous method. As for automatic transcriptions, none fully meets the conditions required to save time or reduce editing effort. It has also been noted that the performance of automatic speech recognition fluctuates according to the speakers and the characteristics of the recordings, causing considerable variations in the time needed to correct transcriptions. The most stable results were obtained with respoken transcriptions made in real time, and those made with software installed on the computer were better than others. Since it minimizes the variability of acoustic signals, provides indicators for the representation of dialogical construction, and promotes automatic recognition of vocabulary derived from variations in Spanish as well as other languages, respeaking requires an average of only 9.2 minutes for each minute of COLEM recording, including real-time respeaking and two revisions made from the audio by two different individuals. In addition, the ASR errors have been categorized, depending on whether they concern misspelling or non-compliance with data protection, inaccuracies in the segmentation of linguistic units, in the written representation of speech interruption mechanisms, in dialogical construction or in the lexicon. / Esta investigación se centra en uno de los grandes retos que acompañan al estudio empírico de los fenómenos lingüísticos: la optimización de recursos materiales y humanos para transcribir. Para ello, propone el rehablado off-line, un método de transcripción vocal asistido por una herramienta de reconocimiento automático del habla (RAH) inspirado del subtitulado vocal para programas audiovisuales. La transcripción del habla espontánea es un trabajo intenso y difícil, que requiere plasmar todos los niveles de la comunicación lingüística, extralingüística y paralingüística, con sus dificultades exacerbadas por los retos propios del habla espontánea, como la autocorrección, la vacilación, la repetición, la variación o los fenómenos de contacto. Para medir el esfuerzo que conlleva lograr un producto de calidad, primero se rehablaron una serie de grabaciones del Corpus oral de la lengua española en Montreal (COLEM), que refleja todas las variedades del español en contacto con el francés y el inglés. La calidad de las transcripciones se midió en relación con la exactitud: a mayor exactitud, menor tiempo necesario para la corrección. Se contabilizaron las palabras eliminadas, insertadas y sustituidas incorrectamente; pero también computaron los signos de puntuación, las etiquetas descriptivas y demás marcas tipográficas de las convenciones de transcripción del COLEM; los resultados serían inferiores a los de otros trabajos, pero también más realistas. Asimismo, se consideró el tiempo necesario para producir y corregir las transcripciones. Los resultados se compararon con transcripciones mecanografiadas (manuales) y automáticas. La mecanografía brinda flexibilidad para producir el nivel de detalle de transcripción requerido, pero no es el método más rápido, ni el más exacto. Ninguna de las transcripciones automáticas reúne las condiciones satisfactorias para ganar tiempo ni disminuir esfuerzo. Además, el rendimiento de la tecnología de RAH es muy diferente para determinados hablantes y grabaciones, haciendo fluctuar excesivamente el tiempo de corrección entre una entrevista y otra. Todas las transcripciones rehabladas se hacen en tiempo real y brindan resultados más estables. Las realizadas con un programa instalado en la computadora, que puede editarse, son superiores a las demás. Gracias a las acciones para minimizar la variación en las señales acústicas, suministrar claves de representación de la mecánica conversacional y complementar el reconocimiento automático del léxico en cualquier variedad del español, y en otras lenguas, las transcripciones de las entrevistas del COLEM se rehablaron y se revisaron dos veces con el audio por dos personas en un promedio de 9,2 minutos por minuto de grabación. Adicionalmente, se han categorizado los errores que pueden aparecer en las transcripciones realizadas con la tecnología de RAH según sean infracciones a la ortografía o a la protección de datos, errores de segmentación de las unidades del habla, de representación gráfica de los recursos de interrupción de la cadena hablada, del andamiaje conversacional o de cualquier elemento léxico.