Watching a French TV series to learn new vocabulary? The role of pre- and post-viewing activities

Several studies suggest audio-visual inputs such as TV series support the learning of new vocabulary (e.g. Muñoz et al., 2021; Rodgers & Webb, 2020), and this learning may be enhanced through the use of pre/post-viewing activities (Schmitt, 2008). However, these theories have not yet been studied in the context of adolescent L2 French learners. This study investigates the effect of presence and sequence of viewing activities on the learning of new words in French L2. Seventeen target words of differing word class, length, frequency and occurrence were selected from three 13-15 minute excerpts from the French TV series "Plan Cœur" (Netflix, 2018; total 51 target words). A within-subjects design study was then undertaken in compulsory secondary school in Switzerland, where 97 beginner level L2 French students, aged 13-14, watched the three excerpts with French captions. The participants watched each excerpt in a different condition (episode only, episode and pre-viewing activity, episode and post-viewing activity). In the activities, the participants had to recognise the correct meaning (translation) of target words. Three immediate and one delayed post-test of the same type (meaning recognition) were administered to four upper-level classes (HI) and two lower-level classes (LO). We fit a mixed effects logistic regression model to our data which includes random intersects for each student, each item and each class. The immediate post-test results show that learners in the HI track have a higher (+20%) probability to recall the meaning of the target words than learners in the LO track. With an activity (regardless of pre or post), the probability of a correct recall significantly increases by 15% (HI) and 18% (LO), and there is no significant interaction with track. Similar patterns were observed with the delayed post-test results; however these were not significant. Thus, it seems that the repetition of a new word in the episode and in the activity enhances the learning of new vocabulary for both HI and LO learners. Our results also show that the sequencing of the activity is not decisive. Overall, these results highlight the importance of pre/post-viewing activities when learning new vocabulary through audio-visual input in foreign language teaching. We hope they encourage language instructors to incorporate TV series and pre-/post-viewing activities into their teaching.