SLS Group
Same Language Subtitling (SLS) and its impact on reading literacy (July 2023)
A summary of evidence - Authored by Dr. Brij Kothari, Co-Lead, Billion Readers (BIRD) initiative.
Journal of Eye Movement Research (Nov 2022)
Do weak readers in rural India automatically read same language subtitles on Bollywood films? An eye gaze analysis
Eye Tracking Research Study (June 2018)
Eye tracking study of AniBooks with Same Language Subtitling (SLS), Rajasthan, India.
Research Article (2015) SLS Impact in Maharashtra
Same Language Subtitling on Tv: Putting Children's Reading Literacy on a Path to Lifelong Practice and Improvement.
Same Language Subtitling of Bollywood Film. Songs on TV: Effects on Literacy.
Can India's "literate" read
Overview Article (2008) Some Key Findings
Same Language Subtitling(SLS) Project: Some Key Findings
SLS: Research Summary (2007) Some Key Findings
Let a Billion Reader Bloom
Reading Out of the "Idiot Box": Same-Language Subtitling on Television in India
Same-Language Subtitling: a butterfly for literacy?
Subtitling Randomised Control Trial
Understanding the negative impact of subtitles on UX
Independent Scholars
Payal Arora (2012): The folksong jukebox: singing along for social change in rural India, Asian Journal of Communication
WWC Single Study Review - U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Arora, Payal (2006). E-Karaoke Learning for Gender Empowerment in Rural India
Information and Communication Technologies and Development, 2006. ICTD apos;06.
International Conference on pp:155 - 164.
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Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society. Vol. 4; Issue.3, pp 121-130.
This account demonstrates the key challenges faced in producing engaging educational content for information and communication technologies (ICT) deployed in rural India. The Stills in Sync (SIS) project aims to enhance literacy through the revival and proliferation of popular regional folksongs with social awareness themes in rural India. This product entails the use of the Same Language Subtitling (SLS) karaoke feature that won the Worldbank Development Marketplace award in 2002 and the Tech Laureate honor from the Technology Museum of Innovation in 2003. This case study highlights the struggles faced in the production process as we sought to negotiate localism with scalability. The paper is meant to stimulate discussion and further research on the process of digitalizing cultural and educational content in multiple languages for literacy gains and empowerment. I attempt to give three-dimensionality to current buzzwords in education content creation using ICT: localism, relevance and engagement.
Arora, Payal (2005). Profiting from empowerment
International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT). Vol. 1; Issue. 4, pp. 18-29.
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Effects of Viewing the Television Program Between the Lions on the Emergent Literacy Skills of Young Children
Does viewing Between the Lions(BTL), an educational television series featuring literacy instruction, improve the emergent literacy skills of kindergarten and first-grade children?
Given that television is a universally available, free technology with enormous potential to reach all children, having children view a program like BTL will help a significant portion of students by reinforcing, motivating, and extending early literacy instruction, both in the classroom and within the child’s home.

Illiteracy and crime are connected. The Department of Justice states, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure. Over 70% of inmates in America’sprisons cannot read above a fourth grade level.

We are told the results of our two experiments in this area have already persuaded the BBC, Sky, and Amazon Prime to drop their concerns and accelerate adoption of subtitles by default on kids’ content.