Significance of Transcript Availability for Viewing TV Coverage of US Elections

Abstract

With its engaging spectacle and discussion of key issues, the US presidential election debates draw high viewership of not only Americans but also people of other nationalities through not only US-based television channels but also other mainstream channels around the world. Since many of the viewers are likely to be the learners of English as the most widely used Lingua Franca, who listen for as well as to the content, they should be helped with their processing of what they listen to, given the listening comprehension challenges. The demanding factors of speech rate and vocabulary necessitate the use of transcripts as an aid for listening comprehension. Transcripts facilitate the required vocabulary buildup and allow for semantic mapping through frequency counts of recurrent key words or word strings uncovering linguistic patterns and laying foundation for the enriching listening practices. Therefore, this chapter focuses on using transcripts accordingly.