Perception of subtitles in online education: What does the learner want?

Abstract Over the years, Audiovisual Translation (AVT) has grown considerably as a research discipline. For long, the focus has been on accessibility and language learning. However, in the last decade, more studies have emerged that examine the reception of AVT. Reception research investigates how a specific audience consumes AVT and how AVT affects viewing and reading patterns, cognition and comprehension, among others. While it undoubtedly plays a significant role in AVT research, few studies explore the audience thoughts, opinions and preferences with regard to AVT. It is, however, vital to assess the audience's perception to examine whether the audience wants to use AVT. That way, we can better utilize and communicate benefits of AVT revealed in reception studies. The present paper wishes to address this gap in research by interviewing students who were shown three English-taught lectures with either no subtitles, L2 English subtitles or L1 Dutch subtitles. Specifically, the students were asked how they experienced the subtitled lectures, what effects they thought the subtitles had on them and whether they would like to have subtitles for lectures in the future.