Video-Based English Subtitles as a Listening Comprehension Strategy for EFL learners

Resumen

Listening comprehension constitutes a fundamental skill in the development of communicative competence in learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Nowadays, learners encounter limitations in understanding spoken language due to factors such as speech rate, lexical limitations, and limited authentic material exposure. Given this, video-based English subtitles have gained relevance as a pedagogical strategy facilitating simultaneous visual, auditory, and written information processing. The objective of this research is to analyze subtitle impact on EFL learners’ listening comprehension. Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review was carried out in ERIC, DOAJ, and Google Scholar (2020-2026), analyzing 13 studies (n=13). Results confirmed that subtitles function as cognitive scaffolding given that multimodal material implementation reinforces phonological decoding and syntactic analysis across proficiency levels. Nonetheless, their effectiveness is dynamic and conditional since it depends on learners’ decoding ability and material complexity balance. Likewise, a marked study concentration was found in Asia and university contexts, evidencing a research gap in South American and early education contexts. Furthermore, to guarantee effective teaching, teachers should leave behind using audiovisuals as passive entertainment by implementing pedagogical activities with short subtitled videos and gradually decreasing textual aid. Hence, developing non-Western longitudinal studies is imperative to foster contextualized pedagogical approaches.