%0 Journal Article
%T Selecting Television Programs for Language Learning: Investigating Television Programs from the Same Genre
%A Stuart Webb
%J International Journal of English Studies (IJES)
%D 2011
%I Universidad de Murcia
%R 10.6018/ijes.11.1.137131
%X The scripts of 288 television episodes were analysed to determine the extent to which vocabulary reoccurs in television programs from the same subgenres and unrelated television programs from different genres. Episodes from two programs from each of the following three subgenres of the American drama genre: medical, spy/action, and criminal forensic investigation were compared with different sets of random episodes. The results showed that although there were an equivalent number of running words in each set of episodes, the episodes from programs within the same subgenre contained fewer word families than random programs. The findings also showed that low frequency word families (4000-14,000 levels) reoccur more often in programs within the same subgenre. Together the results indicate that watching programs within the same subgenre may be an effective approach to language learning with television because it reduces the lexical demands of viewing and increases the potential for vocabulary learning. Los guiones de 288 episodios televisivos se analizaron para determinar el alcance de la recursividad del vocabulario en programas de televisi¨®n del mismo subg¨¦nero y en programas no relacionados de g¨¦neros diferentes. Se compararon episodios de tres subg¨¦neros del drama americano: m¨¦dico, de esp¨ªas/acci¨®n y de investigaci¨®n forense, con varios grupos de episodios elegidos al azar. Los resultados muestran que, aunque el n¨²mero de palabras en cada grupo de episodios era equivalente, los episodios del mismo subg¨¦nero contienen menos familias de palabras que aquellos elegidos al azar. Los hallazgos mostraron que las familias de baja frecuencia (niveles de 4.000-14.000) se repiten con m¨¢s frecuencia en los programas del mismo subg¨¦nero. En conjunto, los resultados indican que el visionado de programas del mismo subg¨¦nero puede ser un m¨¦todo efectivo para aprender el lenguaje por medio de la televisi¨®n porque reduce la demanda l¨¦xica de la proyecci¨®n y aumenta el potencial de aprendizaje de vocabulario.
%K comprehension
%K corpus linguistics
%K genre
%K incidental vocabulary learning
%K television
%K vocabulary coverage
%K word frequency
%U http://revistas.um.es/ijes/article/view/137131