Learning Center

Description + Captioning = Access

In an address on March 15, 2011, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) Secretary Duncan stated: "In order to win the future, as President Obama has challenged us, we must enable every single American to reach their potential, and in my book, all means all. Every child, regardless of income, race, background, or disability can learn and must learn."

Reading Out of the "Idiot Box": Same Language Subtitling on Television in India

Public Law 85-905

Original text of Public Law 85-905, the public law that originally established Captioned Films for the Deaf. Also known as the Captioned Films Act of 1958.

Lesson Guide for Captioned Films: A Training and Utilization Guide

The forward to the first bound volume (1968) of educational Captioned Films for the Deaf lesson guides and a sample guide for the educational film The Adventures of Willie Skunk. Explains that lesson guides are prepared for "…teachers of the deaf for use in conjunction with captioned films and is intended to help avoid pitfalls inherent in the use of films as teaching tools." Each guide contained these sections or components: film summary, purpose of film, preparation for film (teacher and student), follow-up, and additional resource materials.

Captioning Techniques for the Captioned Films/Videos Captioning Workshop: Part III

Part III of a captioning manual prepared for teachers at summer workshops sponsored by the Captioned Films/Videos Program. This section includes general guidelines and an explanation of captioning levels.

Captioning Techniques for the Captioned Films/Videos Captioning Workshop: Part II

Part II of a captioning manual prepared for teachers at summer workshops sponsored by the Captioned Films/Videos Program. This section includes general guidelines and an explanation of captioning levels.

Captioning Techniques for the Captioned Films/Videos Captioning Workshop: Part I

Part I of a captioning manual prepared for teachers at summer workshops sponsored by the Captioned Films/Videos Program. This section includes general guidelines and an explanation of captioning levels.

Language Control in Captioned Films

For many years, the only source of educational captioned media was the Captioned Films for the Deaf program. Captions were written by teachers at summer workshops, of two or more weeks duration, which were usually held on the campus of a residential school for the deaf. This 1977 paper provided guidelines to caption writers as to caption length and vocabulary (language was often heavily edited). For each film, it was determined which of three levels of captioning would be followed, ranging from very simple sentence patterns with no compound sentences to those with complex sentences.

How Bird Hunting in North Carolina Saved Captioning

Pioneers of captioning

"Rockets: How They Work" Lesson Guide

This lesson guide for the first-ever educational captioned film, Rockets: How They Work, was written at DePaul University (Chicago) in 1968. "Even a good film loses its effectiveness if not used properly." Provides a film summary, purpose of the film, preparation for use of the film, follow-up, and additional resources materials.

"Rockets: How They Work"

In 1962 Congress amended previous legislation authorizing the captioning of entertainment films by passing Public Law 87-715, which added the captioning of educational films. That same year, Rockets: How They Work became the first educational film to be captioned. Indicating that the film was appropriate for the middle grades, the Captioned Films for the Deaf catalog described it as follows: "The film shows how rockets achieve motion and compares rocket power with other types of motive power and gives a clear picture of the basic scientific techniques on which the modern use of rockets is based." A lesson guide for the film was subsequently written in 1969.

"The Adventures of Willie Skunk"

Silent films had been used prior to 1930 in classrooms with students who were deaf or hard of hearing, but the advent of sound motion pictures made new films inaccessible. One of the first educational films ever captioned (1962), this primary-level film shows a family of skunks and how they live in their natural environment. A lesson guide was written for it and 70 other captioned educational films in 1968 at a DePaul University workshop, and these were printed in a bound volume for distribution across the United States.

Read Captions Across America

The National Education Association (NEA) annually sponsors an event called Read Across America. Originally created as a one-day celebration of reading on March 2, Dr. Seuss's birthday, the activity has grown into a nationwide initiative that promotes reading every day of the year. The result has been a focus of the country's attention on how important it is to motivate children to read, in addition to helping them master basic skills.

The Influence of English Language and Spanish Language Captions on Foreign Language Listening/Reading Comprehension

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using Spanish captions, English captions, or no captions with a Spanish language soundtrack on intermediate university-level Spanish as a Foreign Language students' listening/reading comprehension. These findings indicate that intermediate-level foreign language students' listening comprehension/reading comprehension can be substantially enhanced via the use of captions in English or Spanish

Abused Deaf Women and Their Families: A Lack of Information

Overviews types of abusive behavior and the lack of captioned resources.