The effect of L1 subtitles in a foreign language narrated instruction video on task performance, mental effort and attitude.

Abstract

Instruction videos are special types of infomercials that show the consumer how to assemble a product. Multinational companies often standardize their instruction videos for cost-saving reasons. However, because of the multinational audience, customers often depended on subtitles for their comprehension of the video. Research has suggested that the addition of subtitles might have a negative influence on comprehension of the video, due to an increase in mental effort. An experiment researched the effect of L1 subtitles in a foreign language narrated instruction video on task performance, mental effort and attitude by assigning 53 males and 48 females to either watch an instruction video with or without subtitles. In addition, the study also investigated gender differences with regard to mental effort required to complete the task depicted in the video. Results showed that L1 subtitles had a beneficiary effect on task performance, but not on mental effort or attitude. There was no significant gender difference. Multinational companies might want to consider adding L1 subtitles to their standardized instruction videos in order to achieve higher performance rates.