The use of multimedia has often been suggested as a teaching tool in foreign language teaching and learning. In foreign language education, exciting new multimedia applications have appeared over the last years, especially for young learners, but many of these do not seem to produce the desired effect in language development. This article looks into the theories of dual-coding (DCT) and multimedia learning (CTML) as the theoretical basis for the development of more effective digital tools with the use of films and subtitling. Bilingual dual-coding is also presented as a means of indirect access from one language to another and the different types of subtitling are explored regarding their effectiveness, especially in the field of short-term and long-term vocabulary recall and development. Finally, the article looks into some new alternative audiovisual tools that actively engage learners with films and subtitling, tailored towards vocabulary learning.The dual-coding theory (DCT) is a general cognition theory that has been directly applied to literacy and language learning. The theory was proposed by Allan Paivio in 1971 and explains the powerful effects of mental imagery on the mind and memory. In his theory, Paivio originally accounted for verbal and nonverbal influences in memory, but researchers soon started applying it in other areas of cognition [8][9][10]. According to this theory, a person can learn new materials using verbal associations or visual imagery but the combination of both is more successful in learning [11]. The dual-coding theory states that the brain uses both visual and verbal information to represent information [12], but this information is processed differently along two distinct channels in the human mind, creating different representations for information that each channel processes. The existing two coding systems are the verbal system and the nonverbal/visual system. These two coding systems interact, and this interaction results in better recall [10,13]. The verbal system stores linguistic information/units (such as text, sound, or even motor experience such as sign language) in sequential units called "logogens." The non-verbal/visual system processes visual information/units (such as symbols, pictures, or videos) and keeps them in units called "imagens." The terms "logogen" and "imagen" refer respectively to representational units of verbal and nonverbal information that produce already existing mental words and images and can function unconsciously to improve cognitive performance [14]. According to Paivio [9] and Clark and Paivio [15], there are three different processing levels that take place within or between verbal and nonverbal/visual systems: representational, referential, and associative processing. The two systems are linked together through referential connections (Figure 1).

The academic excellence of universities around the globe has always been a matter of extended study and so has the quality of an institution’s presence in the World Wide Web. The purpose of this research is to study the extent to which a university’s academic excellence is related to the quality of its web presence. In order to achieve this, a method was devised that quantified the website quality and search engine optimization (SEO) performance of the university websites of the top 100 universities in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) Shanghai list. A variety of tools was employed to measure and test each website and produced a Web quality ranking, an SEO performance ranking, as well as a combined overall web ranking for each one. Comparing these rankings with the ARWU shows that academic excellence is moderately correlated with website quality, but SEO performance is not. Moreover, the overall web ranking also shows a moderate correlation with ARWU which seems to be positively influenced by website quality and negatively by SEO performance. Conclusively, the results of the research indicate that universities place particular emphasis on issues concerning website quality, while the utilization of SEO does not appear to be of equal importance, indicating possible room for improvement in this area.

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This paper reviews research literature in the area of student engagement and motivation and discusses the findings of an experiment which examined the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on the learning process of foreign language vocabulary with the use of a film extract. The extract was part of an online specially-built platform designed to enhance students' engagement through a series of interactive activities. The article focuses on the relationship between motivation and engagement and looks into the differences in performance between students who are more intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. Based on our findings, we argue that intrinsic motivation leads to more active engagement on the part of learners, which is a pathway to deeper learning and better academic achievements in foreign language learning.