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AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION AS A DIDACTIC RESOURCE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION. A
METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSAL
Talaván, N., Lertola, J. Encuentro 30, 2022, ISSN 1989-0796, pp. 23-39
23
AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION AS A DIDACTIC RESOURCE IN
FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION. A METHODOLOGICAL
PROPOSAL
TRADUCCIÓN AUDIOVISUAL COMO RECURSO DIDÁCTICO EN EL
APRENDIZAJE DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS. UNA PROPUESTA
METODOLÓGICA
Noa Talaván
Departamento de filologías extranjeras y sus lingüísticas, Facultad de Filología, Universidad
Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Spain
Jennifer Lertola
Dipartimento di Studi per l’Economia e l’Impresa, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Italy
Abstract
This paper presents a methodological proposal designed by the TRADILEX project, which stands for Audiovisual
Translation as a Didactic Resource in Foreign Language Education. The main goal of TRADILEX is to determine
the degree of improvement in the foreign language learning process after including the pedagogical use of
audiovisual translation (AVT) as a didactic tool. To this end, a methodological proposal has been articulated
including complete lesson plans which make use of diverse AVT modes (subtitling, voice-over, dubbing, audio
description and subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing) in order to enhance communicative competence and
mediation skills in an integrated and differentiated manner. The methodology designed by TRADILEX will be
piloted with B1-B2-level English as a foreign language adult students in non-formal educational contexts,
especially in language centres of the universities involved. Both the methodological proposal of didactic sequence,
based on the pedagogical use of the main AVT modes, and a sample lesson plan on subtitling, will be described
in this paper to present the basic elements that underlie this research project.
Key Words: Didactic audiovisual translation, didactic sequence, foreign language education, mediation skills,
subtitling.
Resumen
Este artículo presenta una propuesta metodológica diseñada por el proyecto TRADILEX, que equivale a la
TRAducción audiovisual como recurso DIdáctico en el Aprendizaje de LEnguas eXtranjeras. El objetivo principal
de TRADILEX consiste en determinar el grado de mejora en el proceso de aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras que
resulta de incluir el uso pedagógico de la Traducción Audiovisual (TAV). Para ello, se ha desarrollado un
planteamiento metodológico fundamentado que incluye planes de clase basados en el uso de las diversas
modalidades de TAV (subtitulación, voces superpuestas, doblaje, audiodescripción y subtítulos para sordos) para
desarrollar competencias comunicativas y destrezas de mediación de modo integrado. La metodología diseñada
por TRADILEX se testará con alumnos adultos en contextos de enseñanza no reglada, a través de los centros de
idiomas de las universidades involucradas. Este artículo describe tanto la propuesta metodológica de secuencia
AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION AS A DIDACTIC RESOURCE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION. A
METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSAL
Talaván, N., Lertola, J. Encuentro 30, 2022, ISSN 1989-0796, pp. 23-39
24
didáctica basada en el uso pedagógico de las principales modalidades de TAV, como una muestra de planes de
clase de subtitulación, con el fin de presentar los elementos básicos de este proyecto.
Palabras clave: Traducción audiovisual didáctica, secuencia didáctica, aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras,
destrezas de mediación, subtitulación.
1. INTRODUCTION
Media in Foreign Language Learning (FLL) have been employed for decades to present examples of
oral communication in realistic situations (Herrero and Vanderschelden, 2019). Over the last twenty
years, research and practice involving visual literacy and digital communication have also focused on
the active engagement of learners through Audiovisual Translation (AVT) tasks, what we know today
as didactic AVT (Lertola, 2019a; Talaván, 2020). When students get involved in didactic AVT tasks,
they produce a transfer of verbal language in audiovisual media by means of captioning and revoicing
(these two terms are often used in this context to refer to written and oral language transfer procedures
respectively). That is, learners engage in subtitling, dubbing, voice-over, audio description, etc. tasks,
where they transfer the original message using diverse mediation skills, into written form or into an
alternative oral form (be it through intralingual, interlingual, intersemiotic, or creative translation). The
potential of didactic AVT has been recognised by scholars and European institutions alike, by funding
research-led projects such as ClipFlair (Sokoli, 2015; Sokoli and Zabalbeascoa, 2019) or PluriTAV
(Baños, Marzà and Torralba, 2021), and several authors have contributed to the creation of various
strands of investigation on the topic (Incalcaterra, Lertola and Talaván, 2020).
Here follows a review of some of the main authors who have analysed the effectiveness of
didactic AVT in different educational contexts: (1) Fernández-Costales (2017, 2021) and Fernández-
Sanjurjo et al. (2019) have applied didactic AVT to Content Integrated Language Learning (CLIL). (2)
Ibáñez and Vermeulen (2013, 2017, among others) and Vermeulen and Ibáñez (2017) have centred their
research on the positive impact of audio description for integrated skills development. (3) Lertola has
focused on the potential benefits of didactic subtitling on vocabulary acquisition (2012, 2018, 2019b,
among others), as well as intercultural awareness (Borghetti and Lertola, 2014), and she has dealt with
the use of reverse dubbing and subtitling to develop pragmatic awareness (Lertola and Mariotti, 2017).
(4) Sánchez-Requena (2016, 2018) has researched the educational possibilities of dubbing to improve
speaking production skills in secondary education. Finally, (5) Talavn has assessed various didactic
AVT modes from different perspectives over the last decade: starting with the use of didactic interlingual
subtitling for listening comprehension enhancement (Talaván, 2010), going through reverse subtitling
to enhance writing production (Talaván and Rodríguez-Arancón, 2014), the combination of dubbing and
subtitling to develop writing and speaking production skills (Talaván and Ávila-Cabrera, 2015), the use
of intralingual subtitling for writing production and vocabulary enhancement (Talaván et al, 2016), the
application of intralingual dubbing in online environments (Talaván and Costal, 2017), the effectiveness
of audio description to achieve vocabulary and syntactic richness (Calduch and Talaván, 2018), or the
use of didactic voice-over for oral production skills (Talaván and Rodríguez-Arancón, 2018), to finish
with the introduction of didactic subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing (Talaván, 2019b) and creative
didactic dubbing and subtitling and their potential related benefits (Talaván, 2019a). There are other
AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION AS A DIDACTIC RESOURCE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION. A
METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSAL
Talaván, N., Lertola, J. Encuentro 30, 2022, ISSN 1989-0796, pp. 23-39
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relevant authors and proposals that could be mentioned provided that this area of research has been
rapidly growing in the last two decades; for further insight into the field, most of those works are
gathered in Lertola (2019a).
The novelty of the methodological proposal of didactic sequence presented in this paper compared
to the previous research outlined above lies on the combination of five different didactic AVT modes
and their sequencing for long-term use aimed at the development of integrated skills in the foreign
language. This will contribute to new knowledge in the field by testing the didactic sequence with a
relevant number of students from different language centres around Spain, gathering data on the
effectiveness of the sequence as a whole, as well as on the potential of the different didactic AVT modes,
provided that they will be tested on a larger number of subjects than in all previous studies. This proposal
has been designed within the TRADILEX (Audiovisual Translation as a Didactic Resource in Foreign
Language Education) project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, which involves
eleven Spanish and four international higher education institutions. TRADILEX aims to determine the
improvement in FLL – mainly English as a Foreign Language – through the use of didactic AVT. In
order to enhance learners’ communicative competence, as well as reception, production and mediation
skills in an integrated manner, a methodological proposal offering a didactic sequence of captioning and
revoicing tasks including subtitling, voice-over, dubbing, audio description (AD), and subtitling for the
deaf and hard of hearing (SDH), has been developed. This methodological proposal of didactic
sequence, described in this paper (together with a sample lesson plan), will be piloted with B1 and B2
adult learners in non-formal educational contexts and a quasi-experimental research will be carried out
to provide a representative indication to support the potential benefits of this type of methodology and
set the basis for its potential integration in the FLL curriculum. Ultimately, TRADILEX aims to
consolidate the use of didactic AVT to improve FLL as an innovative line of research and teaching
practice in which the benefits of the use of technology, digital communication, and audiovisual media
are combined to promote FLL in terms of audiovisual reception, production and mediation from an
integrated perspective.
In the present paper, we provide a theoretical basis that shows how translanguaging and mediation
skills play a fundamental role within didactic AVT tasks as they will be described herein. Then, the
methodological foundation for the use of the various didactic AVT modes designed by TRADILEX is
presented. In particular, the paper offers the proposal of a tailor-made AVT didactic sequence designed
for the improvement of English communicative skills in an integrated manner. Finally, to illustrate the
contents of the didactic sequence, a lesson plan sample is described in detail.
2. TRANSLANGUAGING AND MEDIATION IN DIDACTIC AUDIOVISUAL
TRANSLATION
In recent years, the term ‘translanguaging’ has gained popularity as it refers to the “holistic perspectives
that soften boundaries between languages” (Cenoz and Gorter, 2017, p. 319), and it is applied to the
description of diverse situations. According to Cenoz and Gorter (2017), translanguaging can be used
as an umbrella term that includes translation, cross-linguistic pedagogies and multilingual practices.
However, using the same term to describe different phenomena can cause issues, so the authors suggest
AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION AS A DIDACTIC RESOURCE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION. A
METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSAL
Talaván, N., Lertola, J. Encuentro 30, 2022, ISSN 1989-0796, pp. 23-39
26
that future directions should include a redefinition of the term. In this sense, Cenoz and Gorter (2020a)
distinguish two main different approaches, namely ‘pedagogical translanguaging’ and ‘spontaneous
translanguaging’. The former refers to a pedagogic theory and practice that involves instructional
strategies which make use of two or more languages. The latter indicates the current state of bilingual
usage in everyday language settings in which language boundaries are more fluid. Deepening in
‘pedagogical translanguaging’, Cenoz and Gorter (2020b, p. 300) define it as:
intentional instructional strategies that integrate two or more languages and aim at the
development of the multilingual repertoire as well as metalinguistic and language awareness.
Pedagogical translanguaging considers learners as emergent multilinguals who can use English
and other languages depending on the social context. Their linguistic resources are valued and
learners are not seen as deficient users of English but as multilingual speakers.
In particular, pedagogical translanguaging highlights the role of the teacher, who can plan
translanguaging activities in which learners employ different languages (Cenoz, 2017). Pedagogical
translanguaging allows learners to activate their linguistic resources as well as to promote metalinguistic
awareness, and thus benefit from these when learning a foreign language (Cenoz and Gorter, 2020b). It
should be pointed out that translanguaging has been recognised as suitable for both monolinguals and
bilinguals (Otheguy et al., 2015). García and Otheguy (2020, p. 26) also consider that translanguaging
might include non-linguistic multimodal resources such as “gestures, gazes, posture, visual cues, and
even human-technology interactions”. Hence, audiovisual input could be particularly suitable for this
purpose. In fact, Cenoz and Gorter (2020b) suggest further investigation on the multimodality in
translanguaging among future directions.
Didactic AVT can be considered as an instructional strategy of pedagogical translanguaging
(already applied as such in Wilson, 2020), provided that it comprises a number of AVT modes that
involve written as well as oral language transfer procedures, namely subtitling, voice-over, dubbing,
audio description, and subtitling for the hard of hearing. These didactic AVT modes can involve two or
more languages (i.e., interlingual), can take place within the same language (i.e., intralingual), or can
even involve intersemiotic translation (in the case of audio description). The language transfer can either
be standard, from a second (L2) or third (L3) language into the first language (L1) or reverse, from L1
into L2/L3. Both didactic captioning and didactic revoicing modes make use of audiovisual input at all
times within a multimodal context, and they allow learners to enhance integrated language skills: reading
and listening (i.e., reception) as well as writing and speaking (i.e., production) (Talaván, 2020). Didactic
AVT as means of pedagogical translanguaging envisages an active role of the leaners who employ
different languages, in particular their L1 and L2, to produce a concrete output (e.g., a subtitled or
dubbed video), and a role of the teacher as facilitator of these multilingual activities. While carrying out
AVT tasks, learners should focus on the message by conveying its meaning in an adequate way,
respecting time and space constraints. Additionally, AVT tasks have a practical and social dimension
that motivates learners to be multilingual speakers rather than language users. Related to this, didactic
AVT promotes the development of mediation skills, since students establish bridges of communication
so as to make an audiovisual text understandable or accessible. In a recent revised version of the
AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION AS A DIDACTIC RESOURCE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION. A
METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSAL
Talaván, N., Lertola, J. Encuentro 30, 2022, ISSN 1989-0796, pp. 23-39
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Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR), the Council of Europe (2018) highlights the
role of mediation, which is more than interpreting and translation, as it involves learners in a wider range
of activities, in which they construct or convey meaning in order to make others able to access a
particular text. This process allows learners to become mediators and to employ the language in
meaningful communication activities.
According to the CEFR (Council of Europe, 2001), learners develop communicative skills based
on the knowledge acquired throughout their lives in a continuous cognitive process. Through their
previous experience in communicative environments, learners build up enabling resources for language
learning. In this context, general competences (i.e., knowledge, skills and existential competence) are
those competences other than the linguistic one, which are part of the learners’ experience and cultural
heritage, and that are necessary to deal with communicative situations. Therefore, by merging the
competence in their first language and culture with the new competences in another language or in other
languages, learners become plurilingual and develop interculturality. In particular, both linguistic and
cultural competences of each language are adjusted by knowledge of the other, hence contributing to
intercultural awareness. Indeed, intercultural awareness plays a key role in mediation (Zárate, 2004). In
this line, and combining this relevant fact with the topic of the present paper, the link of plurilingual
competence and didactic AVT has recently been established by the PluriTAV project (González Pastor,
Ricart Vayá and Zaragoza Ninet, 2021), where researchers have combined the CEFR with the
Framework of Reference to Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures (FREPA) to design,
implement and assess a series of didactic sequences based on the use of different AVT modes to enhance
plurilingual competence in higher education face to face settings.
Going back to the CEFR, in its more recent version (Council of Europe, 2018, p. 116), on
continuing on the relevance of mediation skills, we may find the following division: “mediating a text”,
“mediating concepts” and “mediating communication”. Mediating a text indicates the transfer of
information from an oral or written text to another language for users who find it inaccessible for
linguistic, cultural, semantic or technical reasons. Mediating concepts refers to the techniques employed
to provide or facilitate information related to one or more concepts. Mediating communication refers to
those situations in which mediation is not only linguistic but intercultural and thus the clarification of
some aspects is required. Overall, mediation requires learners to shift their attention to the people for
whom they are mediating, and these three types of mediation are often integrated. In this sense, didactic
AVT can engage learners in meaningful mediating activities that activate their plurilingual and
intercultural competences, provided that the subtitles, voice-over, dubbing, AD and SDH they create
make the original audiovisual text more accessible and understandable, facilitating and clarifying the
linguistic and communicative transfer, thus mediating texts, concepts and communication in different
ways depending on the didactic AVT mode employed.
3. A METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSAL FOR L2 INTEGRATED SKILLS ENHANCEMENT
THROUGH DIDACTIC AVT TASKS
The main goal of the TRADILEX project is to consolidate an innovative line of research in which the
benefits of the use of technology, audiovisual media and mediation are combined: the didactic use of
AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION AS A DIDACTIC RESOURCE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION. A
METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSAL
Talaván, N., Lertola, J. Encuentro 30, 2022, ISSN 1989-0796, pp. 23-39
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AVT to enhance L2 foreign language proficiency. Specifically, it aims to determine the degree of
improvement in the L2 learning process when didactic AVT is included; and to achieve this goal, a
methodological proposal has been articulated including a didactic sequence (involving 5 different AVT
modes) that contains complete lesson plans (6 lesson plans per AVT mode) over one hour each, to be
completed online without the teacher’s assistance, and ultimately designed to enhance communicative
competence in English in an integrated manner.
The sequence (which has been devised both for B1 and B2) is designed to be carried out online
over 4 months. Its contents are fifteen lesson plans of 60 minutes each to be undertaken weekly (one
lesson per week) in the following order: 3 lessons on subtitling, 3 on voice-over, 3 on dubbing, 3 on
audio description (AD) and 3 on subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH). Each lesson plan
makes use of a two-minute video extracted from a short film or clip available online (selected according
to the corresponding L2 proficiency level and following a series of basic selection criteria), but the actual
AVT task is performed for just one-minute video fragment extracted from the two-minute video. Within
the 60 minutes of each lesson, 10 minutes are devoted to a warm-up section, 5-10 minutes to video
viewing with accompanying activities, 30 minutes to the AVT task, and 10-15 minutes to a post AVT
task, following the structure contained in Table 1 (adapting the type of tasks contained in each phase
depending on the AVT mode, the video selected, and the accompanying activities created ad-hoc for
each lesson plan).
Table 1. Lesson plan structure
PHASE
DESCRIPTION
OBJECTIVE
Warm-up
Reception and/or production task
(reading, writing, listening,
speaking, and/or mediation)
10 minutes
Anticipating video content,
characters, and events,
presenting new vocabulary,
structures, or cultural
information.
To gather the necessary background
knowledge to face the video viewing
and the didactic AVT phases.
Video viewing
Reception and mediation task
(listening, reading, and mediation)
5/10 minutes
The video extract is watched
at least twice, with or
without subtitles, and
accompanied by related
tasks.
To understand the messages to be
translated and to get familiar with the
key linguistic content.
Didactic AVT
Reception, production, and
mediation task
(listening, writing and/or speaking,
and mediation)
30 minutes
Students work on the AVT
of the one-minute clip
extracted from the video,
making use of the
recommended software in
each case.
To work on AV mediation skills and
strategies and to develop lexical,
grammatical, and intercultural
competence.
Post AVT task
Production and /or reception task
(writing, speaking, reading,
listening, and/or mediation)
15 minutes
Related production (and/or
reception) tasks to practise
elements present in the
video.
To make the most of the linguistic
and cultural content of the video and
to complement the previous
mediation practice.
AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION AS A DIDACTIC RESOURCE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION. A
METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSAL
Talaván, N., Lertola, J. Encuentro 30, 2022, ISSN 1989-0796, pp. 23-39
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The learning outcomes of the didactic sequence (and those of every lesson plan) are as follows:
• To develop audiovisual reception and audiovisual production skills.
• To develop audiovisual mediation skills.
• To enhance grammar, lexical, and intercultural competence.
• To enhance transferable ICT skills.
• To promote creativity within the L2 context.
• To enhance motivation towards the foreign language.
These objectives are achieved because in each of the lesson plans, students are receiving L2
audiovisual input (both written and oral) and developing strategies to interpret and understand it thanks
to the accompanying tasks. Likewise, they are producing L2 input (both written and oral) with the help
of the audiovisual element and the related tasks design in each case. As far as mediation skills are
concerned, when learners perform the AVT task, they are asked to transfer a message to a receiver who
cannot access the original audiovisual text, be it for linguistic, cultural or accessibility reasons, and so
they become mediators that put the audiovisual message across, establishing a bridge that helps convey
meaning, according to the definition of mediation included in the CEFR (Council of Europe, 2018).
They also develop grammar, lexical, and intercultural competence within the process, both guided by
the accompanying tasks and thanks to the translation activities they are asked to perform, where the
linguistic input contained in a one-minute video needs to be reformulated by the students in different
ways. As regards ICT skills, the lessons are undertaken in an online context (via Google Forms) and
every AVT mode requires a specific software to perform the AVT task (be it a subtitling editor or a
video editing tool), so that students will necessarily enhance their transferable skills in technological
terms when they are involved in this type of methodology. Also, creativity is developed as part of the
whole process of understanding, reinterpreting, and making the most of the linguistic content contained
in the video. And finally, motivation towards L2 learning comes hand in hand with the use of authentic
materials and technology within an active and real task, with a tangible result (the subtitled, dubbed,
voiced-over or audio described one-minute clip) that imitates a professional task and can be easily
replicated outside the educational context as part of the learners’ leisure activities.
Each set of lessons within each didactic AVT mode is designed in a scaffolded manner, in such a
way that the first lesson is an introduction to the AVT mode in technical terms, the second lesson
provides less technical support, and the third lesson almost none. Besides, the third lesson of each
sequence asks students to make use of creativity, by producing subtitles, voice-over, dubbing, AD or
SDH, that are a reinterpretation (humoristic if possible) of the original audiovisual input. Table 2
summarizes the structure of the didactic sequence, which is exactly the same for B1 and B2; the
differences lie in the video chosen as the core element of the lesson and the level of difficulty of the
accompanying non-AVT tasks.
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Talaván, N., Lertola, J. Encuentro 30, 2022, ISSN 1989-0796, pp. 23-39
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LESSON PLANS (LP)
STRUCTURE
TIMING
Lesson plans on subtitling (LPS)
1st (LPS1): basic
2nd (LPS2): intermediate
3rd (LPS3): advanced and creative
Weeks 1, 2 and 3
Lesson plans on voice-over (LPVO)
1st (LPVO1): basic
2nd (LPVO2): intermediate
3rd (LPVO3): advanced and creative
Weeks 4, 5 and 6
Lesson plans on dubbing (LPD)
1st (LPD1): basic
2nd (LPD2): intermediate
3rd (LPD3): advanced and creative
Weeks 7, 8 and 9
Lesson plans on AD (LPAD)
1st (LPAD1): basic
2nd (LPAD2): intermediate
3rd (LPAD3): advanced and creative
Weeks 10, 11 and 12
Lesson plans on SDH (LPSDH)
1st (LPSDH1): basic
2nd (LPSDH2): intermediate
3rd (LPSDH3): advanced and creative
Weeks 13, 14 and 15
Table 2. Didactic sequence structure
In order to be able to have extra materials for the students involved in the piloting, the two
sequences (B1 and B2) contain 3 extra lesson plans for each AVT mode. Hence, those students who
want to continue further will be able to use didactic AVT tasks for a longer period of time. Furthermore,
if teachers or students are interested in using just one didactic AVT mode as a self-contained didactic
sequence in the future, they will have access to a complete set of six lesson plans on that particular
mode. Table 3 shows the scaffolding model designed for a single AVT mode (i.e., subtitling) with its
six lesson plans, indicating the type of subtitling (i.e., intralingual, interlingual standard, reverse and/or
creative) required. With the following description, the design of the first three compulsory lesson plans
that appeared in Table 2 (as part of the complete sequence of five different AVT modes) will be
understood more clearly.
LESSON PLAN (LP)
COMBINATION AND DIFFICULTY
(creation of subtitles for one-minute video)
LP on subtitling 1 (LPS1)
Intralingual subtitling (English-English): Fill in the gaps of subtitles
that are already created for the student (keyword captions) working
within a subtitling editor.
LP on subtitling 2 (LPS2)
Intralingual subtitling (English-English): First half of the clip with
keyword captions with gaps to fill in, and the second half with blank
subtitles (a proposal of spotting/timing and suggestion of the first letter
of each subtitle is provided in this second half).
LP on subtitling 3 (LPS3)
Intralingual creative subtitling (English-English): Creative subtitles
(reinterpretation of the original) with technical support. First half of the
subtitles file with a proposal of spotting provided and second half blank
for students to produce their own subtitles (by spotting the
corresponding entry and exit timings).
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Talaván, N., Lertola, J. Encuentro 30, 2022, ISSN 1989-0796, pp. 23-39
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LP on subtitling 4 (LPS4)
Intralingual creative subtitling (English-English): Creative subtitles
(reinterpretation of the original) with no technical aid (students produce
both the spotting and the subtitles from scratch).
LP on subtitling 5 (LPS5)
Interlingual standard subtitling (English-Spanish) [the video should
have a higher linguistic complexity]: Subtitles in the L1 are produced
for a video in L2 (students produce both the spotting and the subtitles
from scratch).
LP on subtitling 6 (LPS6)
Interlingual reverse subtitling (Spanish-English) [the video should
contain specific cultural elements]: Subtitles in the L2 are produced for
a video in L1 (students produce both the spotting and the subtitles from
scratch).
Table 3. Didactic AVT sequence for a single AVT mode: Subtitling
Hence, considering students complete at least one LP per week, the methodological proposal for
didactic sequence can be taken as a 4-month experience working on five different didactic AVT modes
(3 lesson plans per mode plus 3 extra lesson plans in case some students are interested and have extra
time to undertake more related tasks), or as a month and a half experience, focusing just on one didactic
AVT mode, structured in 6 scaffolded lesson plans that include various possibilities and combinations.
The learners’ role when they face each LP is expected to be constantly active; they will need to
make use of critical thinking within each lesson, and they will be working online on integrated skills
practice (L2 audiovisual reception, production, and mediation) as well as on enhancing transferable
skills related to both visual literacy and ICT competence. It is important to note that all lesson plans
have been produced with complete keys for self-assessment, so that the students could even use them
for self-study without the support of a teacher: they contain both direct answers when there are multiple
choice or closed items and sample answers for open questions and for the AVT task that students can
use as a reference for self-assessment as it is typically the case in distance learning environments.
4. DESCRIPTION OF A LESSON PLAN SAMPLE
This section will describe the Lesson Plan on Subtitling 1 level B1 (LPS1 B1) as a sample of lesson plan
of the 60 LP contained in the didactic sequence summarised in Table 2. Being the very first subtitling
activity of the whole AVT didactic sequence, LPS1 B1 aims to introduce learners to subtitling in general
as well as in technical terms. Therefore, as an easy-to-learn activity, intralingual keyword subtitling is
envisaged. Learners should watch a two-minute video clip and insert the missing words in a subtitle file
(i.e., .srt file) already prepared for the one-minute clip extracted from the selected video watched in the
viewing phase. In view of the progression in terms of difficulty within the didactic sequence and
according to the language proficiency (i.e., B1), the video clip selected presents a two-people dialogue
in which a boy plans on asking out his crush, but he is imagining every possible worst-case scenario.
The extract is from the short comedy film “The Worst That Could Happen” (BlueDog Films) and the
humorous aspect should be a motivating factor for learners. Besides introducing students to subtitling,
the aim of this lesson plan is to practise requests and invitations. In addition, according to the CEFR
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(2001: 126), the lesson plans are categorised in functions and LPS1 B1 pertains to the “socialising
function”. Table 4 presents an overview of the descriptors of LPS1 B1.
CEFR level
B1
Session number
1
Video fragment
The Worst That Could Happen (extract)
https://youtu.be/IMypWCvM44g
Function
Socialising: requests and invitations
Didactic AVT mode
Subtitling (intralingual keyword subtitling)
Aims of the session
To introduce students to subtitling
To practise requests and invitations
Table 4. Descriptors of LPS1 B1
Based on the lesson plan structure presented in Table 1, LPS1 B1 will be developed online over 60
minutes through five phases, namely warm up, video viewing, didactic subtitling, and post AVT task.
Students are required to complete all the tasks included in the phases and submit everything through an
online form. Once submitted, they will receive the keys of all the activities performed in the lesson plan.
The contents of LPS1 B1 are described in detail below (the complete LP can be seen in PDF version
by clicking on https://cutt.ly/wxZiliK).
• The first phase (10 minutes), warm-up, engages learners in reception and production tasks as
they should write, read, and mediate. In the first activity, learners are asked to brainstorm forms
of asking somebody out for lunch and write down at least two ways for doing so. In the second
activity, they should read a few sayings and quotes about dating and find an equivalent in
Spanish for two of them. Students are reminded that they do not need to translate these sayings
or quotes word by word; instead, they should try to find a phrase that could mean the same in
their language.
• In the second phase (10 minutes), video viewing, students are asked to watch the video extract
from the short film with Spanish subtitles at least twice. In order to carry out an active viewing,
they are asked to pay attention to the differences or information missing between the original
English dialogues and the Spanish subtitles; some examples from the key in this regard are as
follows:
1. Original: and you’re ugly
Subtitle: y feo
2. Original: Would you maybe wanna grab lunch sometime?
Subtitle: ¿Te apetece salir a comer algún día?
3. Original: Why would you even say such a thing?
Subtitle: ¿Cómo se te ocurre siquiera pedirme algo así?
4. Original: This might be random
Subtitle: Puede que sea atrevida
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Hence, learners can notice that in examples 1 and 2 subtitles provide a more concise version of the
original dialogue, whereas the subtitles presented in examples 3 and 4 offer a more communicative
equivalent in Spanish of the original English dialogue.
• In the third phase (30 minutes), didactic subtitling, students should download the video and its
subtitles file (i.e., an .mp4 file and an srt. file). A short video tutorial on how to download these
files (https://youtu.be/PIHXjZeg-58) is provided for students who may need technological
advice. Then, learners should open the subtitling editor; the recommendations are AEGISUB
for Mac and Windows or SUBTITLE EDIT for Windows, since both are user-friendly choices
(the links to the corresponding downloading sites are also provided to save searching time).
After that, learners should upload both the subtitles file and the video to the chosen software
and start completing the missing words in the subtitles (see Appendix I), by playing the one-
minute video as many times as needed; another short tutorial (https://youtu.be/Ohzv2NEc2F8)
on this process is also provided for AEGISUB in particular to offer technical support, given that
most students will not be familiar with subtitling editors. When students have inserted all the
missing words, they should save their subtitles file and upload it to the online form, so one more
short video tutorial on how to save the final file and then upload it to the online form
(https://youtu.be/C87xw--04iM) is also provided for students in case they need extra help on
the technological side.
• The last phase of the lesson plan, the post AVT task (10 minutes), is basically a production task
that help learners to profit from the linguistic and communicative content of the video further.
It asks them to write a short dialogue exchange (80-100 words) where they invite someone for
dinner. A number of ideas to guide the written task are provided:
- start greeting the other person;
- suggest going out somewhere;
- the other may not feel like going out;
- try to convince him/her;
- offer interesting alternatives you too may like;
- agree on day, time, place, and other arrangements.
Finally, learners submit the online form with all the completed activities and automatically receive
sample answers that they can compare with their own before receiving the corresponding personalised
feedback from their teacher (whenever possible).
This introductory lesson plan, which engages students in an intralingual keyword captioning
activity, provides them with the opportunity to get to know didactic AVT tasks and develop their
language skills (i.e., reception, production, and mediation) in an integrated and motivating manner
within a translanguaging framework. Over 60 minutes, learners can practice the foreign language
through several activities that make an active use of audiovisual input, and they can develop both
creativity and ICT skills within a familiar environment that enhances motivation towards the language
learning process.
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5. CONCLUSION
The methodological proposal described in this paper will be piloted with adult B1-B2-level English as
a foreign language learners in language centres of higher education institutions in Spain. The
TRADILEX researchers are currently elaborating the necessary materials to conduct a quasi-
experimental research study which will attempt to bring to the fore a representative indication which is
hoped to provide the necessary evidence regarding the potential benefits of this type of methodology
that involves the use of didactic AVT (by combining AVT modes for integrated skills enhancement).
Based on the work carried out in the methodological design stage and the results obtained from the
subsequent piloting, the members of TRADILEX will write a manual of good practices on the use of
didactic AVT which will be available for researchers or teachers interested in this field. Furthermore,
from the results obtained, an online platform will be ultimately created with the aim of disseminating
the use of this didactic resource, making use of the didactic sequence and the lesson plans elaborated
and piloted within the project, that will be ready to be used within a single user-friendly web platform,
in which both a subtitle editor and a voice recorder video editor will be integrated.
All in all, TRADILEX follows the path opened by previous national and international projects:
LeViS (Romero, Torres-Hostench and Sokoli, 2011), ClipFlair (Sokoli, 2018), Babelium (Pereira
Varela, 2014) or PluriTAV (Martínez-Sierra, 2018). However, this will be the first project of this sort
to present a complete methodological proposal including structured sequences of lesson plans based on
different AVT modes to be tested in a long-term quasi-experimental study with a considerable number
of subjects. Furthermore, there is a clear added value to the project related to accessibility, provided the
inclusion of the two main media accessibility modes (AD and SDH) as didactic AVT modes that may
serve to extend the awareness on media accessibility needs.
Finally, we cannot forget the relevance of focusing on the enhancement of mediation skills in FLL
in a plurilingual society within a multilingual world immersed in audiovisual communication and
technology. In this context, making use of an online teaching and learning methodology that
encompasses translanguaging and audiovisual mediation skills within a digital environment, makes the
proposal contained in TRADILEX essential today, in a world marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hence, in the present society, where audiovisual communication has almost become the norm and where
mediation skills such as summarizing, paraphrasing, interpreting, translating, or adapting become even
more relevant not only in the current FLL context, but also in our multilingual digital society, the
didactic AVT tasks proposed in the methodological proposal described herein are expected to become
highly effective to enhance FLL processes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the researchers involved in the TRADILEX project and in TRADIT research
group at the UNED for their hard work and enthusiasm during the first year of the TRADILEX project.
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FUNDING
Spanish Government, Science, and Innovation Ministry / Gobierno de España, Ministerio de Ciencia e
Innovación (Project reference PID2019-107362GA-I00).
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APPENDIX I. Sample answer for the AVT task
English subtitles for LPB1 B1. The missing word(s) to be inserted by learners are in bold.
1
00:00:01,067 --> 00:00:04,467
-Hi Amy.
-Hi Brennan, the theatre major, right?
2
00:00:05,500 --> 00:00:09,200
-Biology, yeah...
-Are you majoring in biology?
3
00:00:09,267 --> 00:00:13,000
Everybody that majors in biology
is a total loser.
4
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,433
So that means/must mean that you're a loser
and a creep and ugly.
5
00:00:17,433 --> 00:00:19,867
No one will ever love you
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and you're gonna die alone.
6
00:00:22,817 --> 00:00:23,833
Okay.
7
00:00:26,333 --> 00:00:28,533
-Hi Amy!
-Hi, Brennan, right?
8
00:00:28,567 --> 00:00:34,733
Yeah. I was wondering if you might wanna
maybe get lunch sometime.
9
00:00:34,733 --> 00:00:36,400
I have a boyfriend.
10
00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:43,033
And he's a professional wrestler
and I'm going to ask him to murder you.
11
00:00:46,310 --> 00:00:50,700
Hi, would you maybe wanna
grab lunch sometime?
12
00:00:53,333 --> 00:00:56,600
This is so gross, why would you even
ask me that?
13
00:00:57,267 --> 00:01:00,233
You are so hideous and I'm so pretty.
14
00:01:00,633 --> 00:01:02,733
Why would you even
say such a thing?
15
00:01:03,900 --> 00:01:05,067
Sorry.
