Learning formulaic sequences through watching captioned television : the role of textual enhancement and attention

Recently there has been a growing interest in vocabulary learning from audiovisual input. Evidence suggests that like single words, formulaic sequences can be learned incidentally through TV viewing (Puimège & Peters, 2019). A number of studies have also shown that textual enhancement helps direct learners’ attention to unknown formulaic sequences and promotes learning in written input (e.g., Choi, 2016). However, only one previous study has examined the role of textual enhancement in the acquisition of formulaic sequences through TV viewing with captions (Majuddin, Siyanova-Chanturia & Boers, 2019). Our study explores the effect of textual enhancement on learners’ attention to and learning of the written forms of formulaic sequences in captioned television. We conducted a within-participants study combining online (eye-tracking) and offline (vocabulary tests, interviews) measures. Thirty upper-intermediate EFL learners watched a captioned 30-minute English documentary while their eye movements were recorded. Twenty-eight formulaic sequences appearing in the input were presented in a counterbalanced design so that all participants were exposed to enhanced (= underlined) and unenhanced items. Knowledge of these items was tested before and after the treatment in a form recall test. We also interviewed participants to gain more insight into their attention to the formulaic sequences. The results show significantly longer reading times and lower skip rates for enhanced formulaic sequences, indicating that enhancement increased learners’ attention to the formulaic sequences. Enhanced formulaic sequences were also more likely to be learned in the form recall test. Further, a positive relationship found between amount of visual attention and learning odds suggests that attention mediated the relationship between enhancement and learning. Our findings will be interpreted in the light of theories on attention and noticing in L2 vocabulary acquisition (e.g., Schmidt, 2003)