Effects of Extensive Viewing of Cartoons on L2 Listening Improvement: How Much Audiovisual Input is Needed?

Abstract

This study investigated the improvement in L2 listening proficiency through the extensive viewing of cartoons and the degree of audiovisual input that facilitated this effect. Japanese university students (n = 33) watched an authentic American cartoon, Regular Show over four months. Listening tests were conducted before, during, and after the experiment. In Week 1, the participants took a vocabulary size test and Listening Test A. From Weeks 2 to 15, they watched up to 16 episodes with English captions. Listening Test B was administered in Week 9 and Listening Test C in Week 15. The scores of Listening Tests B and C were higher than A (63.2% vs. 63.6% vs. 54.7%). However, there was no significant difference between B and C. In addition, the participants who watched seven or more episodes increased their scores on B from A. This study suggested that L2 listening proficiency improved during the early stage of the experiment but reached a plateau afterward. Moreover, this innovative study measured the amount of audiovisual input needed for improving L2 listening skills, finding that the participants who received over 17,000 words improved their listening proficiency.