Thursday, 03 April 2025
Researchers have called into question claims that turning on television subtitles can help children learn to read.
Public campaigns backed by celebrities and politicians have argued that television subtitles may dramatically improve children’s reading abilities. However, there has been no convincing research evidence for these claims.
In a new study, led by Royal Holloway in collaboration with the University of Nottingham and funded by Nuffield Foundation, the eye movements of 180 primary school children in Years 1 to 6 were tracked, whilst they watched movies with and without subtitles. The findings have been published in Psychological Science.
They found that the children did not even look at subtitles until they were able to read relatively fluently. The children who were not good readers tended to ignore subtitles.
The children who did look at subtitles were able to read at least one word per second. This level of reading proficiency is generally only achieved after three to four years of reading instruction, when children are in Year 3.
Dr Anastasia Lopukhina, from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, who led on the new research paper, said: “Subtitles are presented too quickly for young children to be able to engage with them. If young children do not look at subtitles, then it is hard to see how they could learn from them.
“Our results imply that being a proficient reader drives children to look at subtitles rather than the reverse.”
It is important that children get substantial reading practice even after the initial years of reading instruction.
Once children are sufficiently fluent, it is possible that subtitles can provide additional reading practice, but future research is needed to confirm that subtitles have a causal impact on reading.
Professor Kathleen Rastle, also from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, and Principal Investigator of the project, added: “These claims were appealing because they suggested that the hard work of learning to read could be replaced by watching television with subtitles. However, our findings show that subtitles are not a magic bullet for literacy.
Children need evidence-based reading instruction and several years of book-based reading practice to become proficient
Eleanor Ireland, Education Programme Head at the Nuffield Foundation, said: “The findings published in this article are important for parents and those working with children in helping them understand what approaches are most effective in helping children learn to read.
“Knowing that subtitles are unlikely to benefit early readers will allow parents and educators to focus on evidence-based approaches, such as shared reading and reading instruction.”
Story credits
More information is available from Dr Walter Van Heuven on walter.vanheuven@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 24 in Europe and 15th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the third most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2024 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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