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INTRODUCTION
Increasing the amount of exposure to comprehensible input in the target language is beneficial for second language (L2) acquisition (Ellis, 2013), even more so for developing listening competence—which is an often overlooked skill in the language classroom (Nation & Newton, 2009; Vandergrift, 2007). Furthermore, improving the understanding of oral discourse is one of the most difficult challenges foreign language (FL) learners with limited L2 input encounter, especially when they find themselves in an environment—such as the case of Spain—where they are not regularly exposed to the target language.
One way to increase the amount of L2 exposure is through extensive viewing (e.g., Webb & Rodgers, 2009a), which can provide authentic input in an environment that has limited L2 presence (Webb, 2015). TV programs in particular have been shown to be an effective source of comprehensible input and of natural, contextualized spoken dialogue (Vulchanova et al., 2015), having the additional semantic support provided by the images (Rodgers, 2013). Also, compared to other sources of comprehensible input such as reading, TV can provide a large amount of input in a short time, and it is already consumed in large quantities across the European Union, with 81% of the population watching it daily (European Commission, 2017). This figure goes up to 88% in Spain, a traditionally dubbing country, where the foreign language soundtrack of films and TV programs is replaced by a native language soundtrack. Therefore, most of this input is in Spanish (Almeida & Costa, 2014) rather than in the original version (OV), generally English. Compared to other European countries—in which learners are frequently exposed to English through television, movies, or newspapers (e.g., Vulchanova et al., 2015)—in Spain most of the exposure to English is limited to formal instructional settings (Muñoz, in press), where there is not enough time to provide learners with as much exposure to the L2 as needed. If learners were to watch TV in the L2 for enjoyment it could be a valuable source of meaning-focused input (Webb, 2015). Additionally, language learners are highly motivated to watch visual media for language learning (e.g., Vanderplank, 2019).
However, some TV programs might be too difficult for learners whose linguistic skills are not advanced enough. The addition of on-screen text in the L2 (henceforth captions)...