Translated Subtitles Language Learning Method: A New Practical Approach to Teaching English

The purpose of the paper is to present a contrastive audio-textual approach to teaching English which has been made possible with the advance of modern technology. It tackles the problem of how to provide effective learning of English to students with different backgrounds and interests and particularly to those who are unable for any reasons to receive quality on-site English education. The method sees language learning as repetition of chunks of speech based on three ways of perception (audio perception of authentic English, visual perception of parallel English and the learner's native language texts and visual representation of image) simultaneously. Materials comprise specifically prepared video files with English and L2 subtitles. Perception of parallel texts is reinforced by visual representations of events. A special translation technique helps to adapt materials to different groups of learners. The method tackles varied learning needs of students of different age groups. The proposed method is originally designed for teaching English, yet can as well be applied to other languages.