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Didactic Audiovisual Translation and Teacher Training: A Preliminary Approach
Abstract
Didactic audiovisual translation (DAT) implies the pedagogical use of any audiovisual translation (AVT) mode, like dubbing, subtitling or audio description, as a resource in language education (LE). This area of research has attracted increasing interest in the last decade and can be said to have been consolidated as a field of study on its own right in recent years. In order to extend the use of DAT to larger contexts, LE teachers should be properly trained to use AVT resources in the pedagogical context. However, research on teacher training in DAT is still scarce. The present chapter offers a teacher training experience in Italy where a group of pre-service teachers were given a workshop on DAT to offer an example of implementation based on previous related experiences that may serve to provide more solid ground for the design of a DAT teacher-training methodology which could be adapted to various educational contexts. Besides, the data gathered from this proposal also aims at contributing to this area by confirming the potential benefits of DAT in training future professionals in LE, already mentioned tentatively in a few previous small-scale studies.
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This paper discusses the uses and applications of interlingual subtitling for the d/Deaf and hard of hearing (SDH) in the language classroom and builds on a pilot experiment involving over a hundred students who partook in a didactic initiative based on the use of SDH.
The present study forms part of the TRADILEX (2020–2023) international project, which draws on action-oriented approaches to produce didactic sequences of didactic audiovisual translation (AVT) and media accessibility (MA) tasks in foreign language education (FLE).
A pilot experiment involving didactic interlingual captioning (Spanish into English) was carried out with two cohorts of students ( N = 104) from two undergraduate programmes at a Spanish higher-education institution. The results shed light on the students’ perception of didactic SDH, as well as the pedagogical benefits of learning English by captioning video clips. The students boosted their translation skills in different ways, and awareness was raised on the importance of analysing visual, acoustic and paralinguistic information when localising clips.
Ultimately, this paper examines the potential benefits of action-oriented captioning tasks and advocates for integrating didactic AVT-MA into the FLE curriculum.
The current paper reports on the results of a national research project investigating the use of didactic audiovisual translation (DAT) in foreign language teaching. Although previous research in this field concludes that there are positive outcomes in students' learning, most studies rely on small samples and analyse one language skill only. The TRADILEX project aims at examining the effect of several modes of audiovisual translation (AVT)-i.e., subtitling, dubbing, subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing, audio description and voiceover-in oral and written skills of university students learning English as a foreign language. This article assesses the effectiveness of a didactic proposal that includes 30 lesson plans through an intervention carried out with 566 participants from eight universities in Spain. The study relies on a quantitative design, and statistical tests (descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon Test) were carried out to estimate the effect of DAT on oral and written reception and oral and written production of the students. Our results underline that there are statistically significant differences that confirm students improved in the four communicative skills in the foreign language. Besides, there is a positive evolution in students' achievement during the study, and participants report a favourable perception of the didactic intervention. Resumen Este trabajo presenta los resultados de un proyecto nacional sobre el uso de la traducción audiovisual didáctica (TAD) en el aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras. Si bien los resultados de investigaciones previas en este campo son favorables con respecto al desempeño académico del alumnado, la mayoría de los estudios analizan una única destreza lingüística y cuentan con muestras reducidas. El proyecto TRADILEX tiene como objetivo analizar el efecto del uso de diferentes modalidades de traducción audiovisual (TAV) (subtitulado, doblaje, subtitulado para sordos, audiodescripción y voces superpuestas) en las competencias orales y escritas del alumnado universitario que estudia inglés como lengua extranjera. El presente artículo analiza la efectividad de una propuesta didáctica que incluye 30 planes de estudio y que se analizó a través de una intervención con 566 participantes de ocho universidades españolas. La investigación toma un diseño cuantitativo en el que se realizaron pruebas estadísticas (estadísticos descriptivos y Test de Wilcoxon) para valorar el efecto de la TAD sobre las destrezas lingüísticas de recepción oral y escrita, producción oral y escrita del alumnado. Los resultados subrayan que hay diferencias estadísticamente significativas que demuestran que los participantes del estudio mejoran en las cuatro destrezas comunicativas analizadas. Además, los datos también confirman la evaluación positiva del rendimiento del alumnado en el transcurso del estudio, así como una percepción favorable de la intervención didáctica por parte de los participantes.
Audiovisual accessibility has become, since the beginning of the 21st century, one of the most interesting and promising fields at both academic and professional levels related to audiovisual translation (Pereira and Lorenzo, 2021; Permuy, 2021; Sanz, 2017). Audio describers need to develop, among other skills, social sensitivity, knowledge of film language, fluency in their own language and culture, and an understanding of the semiotics of the image (Díaz-Cintas, 2007; Navarrete, 1997). Moreover, as proved by previous studies, audio description-originally understood as a communication support service (AENOR, 2005) for blind and visually impaired people-may work as an excellent tool in foreign language learning (Talaván et al., 2022; Vermeulen & Escobar, 2021; Navarrete, 2018). In order to delve into the acquisition of the necessary skills for audio description and, simultaneously, to improve the students' level of English as a foreign language during a course on AD and didactics of English, a pedagogical experiment was carried out involving the identification of aural and visual elements found in a short movie and considered relevant to the plot. Subsequently, the preparation and delivery of an AD in English was to be performed. The activity was carried out with 35 participants from different Spanish universities, enrolled in the course "Audio description and English as a foreign language education" developed within the framework of the ADAS project (Audio Description for Language didactics). This study reveals the results obtained from this five-stage activity, in terms of the acquisition of specific skills and the raising of awareness of the importance of audio description in today's film industry.
Un mundo globalizado, cambiante e interconectado requiere ciudadanos multilingües y multiculturales que sepan manejarse en diferentes situaciones. La formación de dicha ciudadanía necesita propuestas educativas rigurosas e innovadoras que estén al servicio de las necesidades de la sociedad del siglo XXI. Teniendo en cuenta la elevada exposición a productos audiovisuales y la motivación y el interés que dichos productos suscitan es necesario explorar las diferentes posibilidades para la inclusión de los mismos en los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje. El análisis fílmico es una opción con un largo recurrido, y en las últimas décadas ha tenido lugar un inusitado auge de la Traducción Audiovisual Didáctica, materializado a en proyecto como PluriTAV, ClipFlair o TRADILEX. El objetivo de esta propuesta es explorar la escalabilidad de la Traducción Audiovisual Didáctica (TAD) para comprobar su compatibilidad con la producción audiovisual, los estudios fílmicos, la metodología AICLE (Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lenguas Extranjeras) y el enfoque IFSyC (Inglés con Fines Sociales y de Cooperación) para el tratamiento de contenidos transversales. Para ello se ha producido un vídeo en el seno del Proyecto I+D+i TRADILEX (La TRaducción Audiovisual como recurso DIdáctico en el aprendizaje de Lenguas EXtranjeras) (2020-2023) que ha servido como base para diseñar una unidad didáctica. Este vídeo versa sobre las desigualdades de género a lo largo de la historia y se basa en A Room of One’s Own de Virginia Woolf. A modo de conclusión, la TAD muestra una alta compatibilidad con la metodología AICLE y el enfoque IFSyC es de gran interés para trabajar contenidos transversales en el aula de lenguas extranjeras.
In the last two decades, the use of audiovisual translation (AVT) in the foreign language classroom has been consolidated as an extremely useful tool for improving communication, mediation, intercultural and ICT skills. Research has shown that it is highly motivating for students (Lertola & Talaván, 2020; Talaván, 2019). However, previous studies on teachers’ perceptions of the validity of didactic AVT (Alonso-Pérez & Sánchez-Requena, 2018; Sokoli et al., 2011) highlighted areas in need of improvement in the field. With this in mind, the article explores the integration of five AVT modalities (subtitling, voiceover, dubbing, audio description and subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing) in one autonomous learning sequence of 15 lesson plans, as designed by members of the research project TRADILEX, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. This paper analyses the results of a questionnaire completed by teachers (N=30) who supervised the implementation of this learning sequence in B1 and B2 proficiency level courses from higher education language centres. The main aim of this article is to determine to what extent this new approach addresses the weaknesses observed by teachers in previous studies. The analysis of the gathered data led to conclude that teacher training in didactic AVT significantly improves the implementation of the methodology. Besides that, the comprehensive approach of the TRADILEX sequence, including the five AVT modalities, allowed teachers to identity which modality is better suited for their teaching practice. On the other hand, high dependence on technology and motivation were two of the main concerns shown by teachers which require further research. Keywords: didactic audiovisual translation, foreign language education, teachers’ perspectives, TRADILEX project
This article is framed within a research project based in Spain aimed at studying the use of Audiovisual Translation tools to develop communicative competences for teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language. The aims of the study are to get to know to what extent the oral and written production skills of the participants improve thanks to the implementation of an Audiovisual translation-based course, and to get to know if the overall performance of the post Integrated Skills Test is 150 better than the pre-Integrated Skills Test after the learning process. It is also aimed to prove the validity of those language assessment tests. A mixed methodology (qualitative and quantitative analysis) was used to obtain information from the participants. Research data was collected from different universities in Spain with an initial sample of 40 applicants, 8 of which finally completed the course. Data analysis shows that oral and written production skills improve thanks to the implementation of six audio description-based lesson plans completed during a pilot course offered during the summer of 2021 to volunteer adult participants with a B2 level in English language. Furthermore, the study illustrates that the results of the final tests are better than the results of the previous ones after the intervention. We discuss the results obtained in this study and conclude that they are harmonious with former studies on the topic as they validate the use of tests to improve the development of communicative skills. Although, there is a very limited number of participants in the sample, we consider this may be used as an example of a trend that will be explored in the future, as this is a pilot study included in a wider research project which is still underway.
En las dos últimas décadas, la participación activa de los alumnos a través de la traducción audiovisual didáctica en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras (L2) ha recibido una atención creciente por parte de académicos y profesores. La mayoría de las modalidades de traducción audiovisual (TAV) -subtitulado, doblaje, audio descripción (AD), subtítulos para sordos (SPS) y voces solapadas- pueden emplearse como recurso didáctico en este contexto y existen directrices para su aplicación (Talaván, 2013, 2020). La investigación empírica se ha centrado en los beneficios de la TAV didáctica para la mejora de las habilidades lingüísticas individuales e integradas tanto en contextos presenciales como en línea, siendo el inglés el idioma principal implicado en las tareas pedagógicas de la mayoría de los estudios experimentales existentes (Lertola, 2019). Recientemente, un proyecto relacionado, TRADILEX (Traducción Audiovisual como Recurso Didáctico en la Enseñanza de Lenguas Extranjeras), liderado por el grupo de investigación TRADIT de la UNED, ha sido financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España con una duración de 3 años. El objetivo principal de TRADILEX es evaluar el grado de mejora de la L2 en términos de habilidades lingüísticas comunicativas y de mediación gracias al uso de tareas didácticas de TAV. Con este fin, se está pilotando una propuesta metodológica escrupulosamente diseñada, que incluye planes de clase sobre diversas modalidades de TAV (es decir, subtitulado, voces solapadas, doblaje, AD y SPS), con alumnos de inglés como L2 de nivel B1 y B2 en contextos educativos no formales, en centros de idiomas universitarios de toda España.
This article discusses the action-oriented foundations of TRADILEX (Audiovisual Translation as a Didactic Resource in Foreign Language Education), a project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, which involves researchers from twelve universities across Europe and the UK. This project focuses on the improvement in the linguistic skills perceived through audiovisual translation (AVT) practices such as the use of captioning (i.e., interlingual and intralingual subtitling) and revoicing (i.e., dubbing, voice-over, and audio description) through an action-oriented approach (AoA). The ultimate objective is the study of AVT as a means to enhance learners' communicative competence and reception, production, and mediation skills in an integrated manner. Following the design of a methodological proposal for a didactic sequence of AVT tasks, proposals are currently being piloted with B1 and B2 adult learners of English as a foreign language utilising-and adapting-the recent illustrative descriptors (Council of Europe, 2018) for AVT instruction. The potential benefits of action-oriented AVT tasks in foreign language education (FLE), in which foreign-language learners become active producers of AVT work, are put to the test employing empirical inquiry and thereafter advocating for more comprehensive integration of AVT in the FLE curriculum overall.
The aim of this research is to showcase the versatility of Audiovisual Translation (AVT) as a resource in the language classroom. Didactic AVT helps students improve their communicative competence and linguistic skills in the foreign language (L2). Students also develop their digital competence by working with online resources and AVT editing software, and their intercultural competence by being exposed to authentic material in their L2. Mediation skills, as promoted by the CEFR (2001), are also developed with the implementation of didactic AVT. The literary review first introduces general concepts of didactic AVT, and later breaks down different AVT modes to focus on the benefits and potential downsides as classroom resources inherent to each one: subtitling, dubbing, subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH) audio description (AD), and creative AVT. With the intention of exemplifying some practical applications of AVT modes as central tasks in Secondary school EFL classrooms, this paper presents four learning sequences which are based on the theoretical principles reported in the reviewed literature. These learning sequences are not meant to be prescriptive, but rather an example of potential ways to implement AVT in the classroom.
La rivoluzione digitale ha promosso lo sviluppo di nuove forme di insegnamento delle lingue. Contemporaneamente, la traduzione nell'insegnamento delle lingue, oggetto di dibattito per anni, è stata rivalutata in una prospettiva comunicativa (Cook 2010). Negli ultimi due decenni, l'applicazione pedagogica della Traduzione Audiovisiva (TAV)-il trasferimento del linguaggio verbale negli audiovisivi-ha attirato l'attenzione sia di studiosi sia di istituzioni europee. La ricerca empirica mostra che la TAV nella classe di lingua può favorire sia le competenze ricettive sia quelle produttive, oltre alle competenze IT (Lertola 2019a). Questo articolo propone l'integrazione della TAV e, in particolare, delle attività di sottotitolazione e doppiaggio nell'insegnamento dell'inglese come lingua straniera a livello universitario. L'articolo fornisce uno stato dell'arte con particolare riferimento alle precedenti esperienze di integrazione della TAV nell'insegnamento delle lingue. Inoltre, presenta e analizza il feedback fornito da 38 studenti di laurea magistrale in un questionario di valutazione sulla loro esperienza di apprendimento utilizzando attività di sottotitolazione e doppiaggio (L2-L2; L1-L2; e L2-L1) come parte integrante del loro modulo di lingua inglese. Parole chiave: traduzione audiovisiva, traduzione nell'insegnamento delle lingue, sottotitolazione, doppiaggio, inglese come lingua straniera, università.
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.
Audiovisual translation (AVT) has been exhaustively studied from various perspectives such as Cross-cultural Studies or Reception Studies. More recently, attention has been paid to its value in teaching foreign languages. However, in spite of the numerous descriptive papers on the didactic potential of AVT, relatively few are based on empirical research and even fewer when referring to the teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Thus, this case study aims to contribute to this field by taking the pulse of the didactic opportunities that AVT, in particular subtitling, offers in ESP and to provide a sample of activities that enhance the development of the skill of listening comprehension by the use of materials which are real and attractive to students. Resumen Tendiendo puentes entre la traducción audiovisual y el inglés para fines específicos La traducción audiovisual (TAV) ha sido analizada en profundidad desde distintos prismas como los Estudios Interculturales o los de Recepción. En los últimos tiempos, se ha prestado mayor atención a su valor en la enseñanza de idiomas. Sin embargo, a pesar de los numerosos artículos descriptivos sobre el potencial didáctico de la TAV, muy pocos se basan en investigaciones empíricas y aún son menos los que lo hacen en el contexto de la enseñanza del Inglés para Fines Específicos (IFE). Es por ello que este estudio de caso pretende contribuir a este campo considerando las oportunidades didácticas que la TAV, y en particular la subtitulación, ofrece en el IFE y ofreciendo una muestra de Building bridges between audiovisual translation and English for Specific Purposes 1 Pilar González-Vera Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain) pilargv@unizar.es 83 Ibérica 41 (2021): 83-102 PILAR GoNzÁLEz-VERA actividades que favorezcan el desarrollo de la destreza de comprensión auditiva a través del uso de materiales reales y atractivos para el estudiante.
Most current university students are permanently surrounded by multimedia content, especially in their leisure time, and this is affecting their attention span and the way in which they communicate and learn. As teachers/researchers it is both challenging and rewarding for us to create activities that keep them motivated and focused, therefore we must adapt our courses in order to achieve the expected results, trying to take advantage of what interests students whilst ensuring that their skills are clearly developed. Audiovisual translation can be useful in this scenario when it is integrated in the learning process as a tool, with a pedagogical objective: that is, as a means to an end.
This is the goal that a group of researchers from UCM, UNED and UAM aimed for when designing this project: to take advantage of the interest of a group of university students in multimedia content and ICT. All the activities were developed with a definite purpose –that of the improvement of writing skills in English and the use of specific vocabulary related to their degree in Tourism–.
The students undertook reverse subtitling activities before handing in written compositions at several stages of the project. The researchers gathered data about the effect that these reverse subtitling activities had on the improvement experienced by the students in their writing skills and compared them to the performance of a control group
This article shows the preliminary design process for a tailor-made Initial Test of Integrated Skills (ITIS) specially adapted to the needs of TRADILEX, a project (2020-2023) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities to study the scope and validity of using audiovisual translation (AVT) tools to develop communicative competence in a foreign language. We also design a complete virtual AVT-based teaching platform that will help to promote faster and better EFL learning. In this paper we present one of the project’s initial stages, i.e. the ITIS design and the methodological framework for the design process from draft stage to final product. The draft pilot ITIS was tested by specialists, who produced a series of reports and anticipated several potential problems that occurred when the test was carried out. We pay special attention to the changes and improvements made to the draft ITIS as well as its three-stage process and remedial measures. The validity of the ITIS is currently being tested with a pilot group. The ITIS will be complemented with a Final Test of Integrated Skills (FITIS), which is currently underway.
This paper explores the use of Audiovisual Translation (AVT) as a didactic tool in schools of Primary Education. The investigation of active subtitling and dubbing in formal contexts has delivered promising results concerning students’ motivation, the improvement of translation skills, and the promotion of oral and written comprehension and production. However, research in the field has predominantly concentrated on university students, and there is a paucity of studies scrutinising Primary Education. Also, there is a dearth of articles analysing teachers’ voices regarding the use of AVT in the classroom. Moreover, this is the first paper providing empirical results on the combined effects of subtitling and dubbing in bilingual education. The study comprised a sample of 31 teachers working in 8 public schools of Primary Education offering bilingual streams in Asturias, using a mixed design with quantitative (a survey) and qualitative (focus groups) techniques. The most salient findings underline that teachers consider AVT beneficial in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), as it promotes code-switching, students’ metalinguistic awareness, and working with the 4Cs in content-subjects. The paper also ponders the challenges identified by teachers concerning the use of AVT in Primary Education.
The improvement of foreign language (L2) skills is of paramount importance in the university context, and a considerable number of students lack linguistic proficiency in their oral and written communication skills. This lack of proficiency needs to be properly addressed and methodologies employed in order to help students improve such skills. There are many cases in which international students, whose cultural background is either European or Asian, need to improve their oral and written production in English as an L2. This paper presents a study conducted at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid throughout the 2017–2018 academic year, in which a number of undergraduate students enrolled in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) used reverse subtitling, from Spanish or Chinese into English, as a learning tool. The main focus of this case study was to enable students to improve their written skills in English through the combined use of Business English and reverse subtitling in accordance with the course content and expectations. A mixed method was used in order to gather and evaluate quantitative and qualitative data. This study therefore aims to bring to the fore the potential of using reverse subtitling in the ESP class. Lay summary Improvement in written and oral skills is a universal task for all university students studying a foreign language. Their goal is to work toward improving their skills in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) by completing the tasks proposed by their lecturers in the subject in which they are enrolled. One of these skills is writing, which is a production skill that requires the lecturer’s supervision. The aim of this paper is to present a study centred on the improvement of written skills in the class of ESP with a majority of students from Spain and a minority from China. The study took place in the 2017–2018 academic year at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. Participants submitted compositions in English relating to business and commerce. In addition, they used subtitling as a pedagogical tool to improve their written production in ESP. This practice consisted of transferring the original oral text of a video into subtitles, from Spanish to English (in the case of Spanish speakers) and from Chinese into English (for Chinese speakers). By doing so, we compared quantitative data obtained from the tasks submitted by students, and qualitative data in the form of participant questionnaires in order to observe improvement in their skills. We aim to highlight the pedagogical potential of subtitling for the improvement of written skills in ESP.
After years of rejection and criticism blaming on their entertaining nature as a source of distraction within the classroom, in recent decades audiovisual translation has been accepted as a tool for language learning. Real-life needs have shown that watching subtitled audiovisual materials enhances language acquisition and foster varied skills, so that it has gained a place in the classroom. Recently, one step forward has been taken in the use of this resource, moving from passive subtitles to active subtitling, in order to turn the target receiver —the foreign-language student— into a subtitler. The present article reviews the didactic possibilities of both activities, analyses the benefits of active subtitling, and presents some subtitling programmes whose features make them feasible for use as a teaching tool.
The present article describes a didactic proposal based on the use of an audiovisual translation and accessibility mode as a pedagogical tool: subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH). When students create SDH for a pre-selected clip within a well-structured task, they are enhancing integrated skills, especially in the form of written production (of the subtitles), listening comprehension (of the original), and lexical creativity (through the condensation of the original message in the form of subtitles and the description of paralinguistic elements). A project undertaken with online students to assess the potential benefits of SDH has acted as a preliminary study to back up the didactic proposal presented herein. The main data gathered from this experience offers a reference for future practice and research in this field, since it confirms previous assumptions on the validity of subtitling as a pedagogical tool to improve foreign language learning skills.
The aim of this book is to systematically review studies on the applications of captioning (subtitling) and revoicing (dubbing, audio description and voice-over) in the foreign language classroom, in order to offer an overview of the state of the art and encourage further research. The literature review presents research on the topic, paying particular attention to relevant experimental studies (i.e. empirical research that involves data collection, and not just a mere description of the experience or the learners’ outcomes), examined in terms of research focus, target languages, participants, learning settings, audiovisual materials, captioning/revoicing software and type of analysis (i.e. qualitative and/or quantitative).
Keywords: language learning, audiovisual translation, subtitling, dubbing, audio description, voice-over
In the past decade, techniques traditionally used in the audiovisual
translation (AVT) industry have been applied to foreign language
teaching (FL) with promising results. Both teachers and researchers
have provided useful data on various AVT typologies (i.e., subtitling,
dubbing, audio description) to improve specific learning areas:
vocabulary acquisition, listening comprehension, pronunciation,
intercultural awareness, etc. (Ibáñez & Vermeulen, 2014; Baños &
Sokoli, 2015). The following study aims to provide information in two
relevant areas identified in the field: (1) the direct experience of those
teachers who have been using AVT techniques in the classroom in
recent years, and (2) their perspectives on the combination of FL and
AVT in the future. A total of 56 respondents from Europe, the USA, and
Asia participated in the study, these being teachers of French, English,
German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, and Catalan as
a FL. The results obtained are applicable to different languages and
useful to professionals interested in using AVT in classroom or
conducting further research.
This chapter explores the use of subtitling as a teaching tool to promote bilingual methodological strategies in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Subtitling as a didactic resource in CLIL –and in bilingual education in general– has been neglected so far, probably due to the stigmatization of translation in foreign language teaching and its association with the Grammar Translation method; however, translation can stimulate students’ language awareness, and challenge language separation in bilingual education: namely, the introduction of subtitling in CLIL is intended to encourage code-switching or translanguaging (i.e. the purposeful alternation of the L1 and L2) by working with inter- and intra-linguistic subtitles, enhancing students’ metalinguistic skills and leading to the natural use of linguistic codes in the classroom. In addition, watching subtitled videos and producing subtitles in the L1 and the L2 can promote CLIL’s 4Cs, as speci c contents will be presented with the support of audiovisual material, and cognition, communication, and intercultural elements will be endorsed in the two languages.
Active audiodescription to promote speaking skills in online environments.
Research on the use of audiovisual translation in foreign language education has considerably increased over the last decade. However, it has mainly covered the use of subtitles as a support, and the use of active subtitling and dubbing as a task. This paper introduces the pedagogical use of another AVT mode: active audiodescription —the oral description of visual information for blind and visually impaired people— to enhance speaking skills in distance learning education The quasi-experimental study, developed in an online setting, involved 30 Spanish students of English for Specific Purposes (level B1). Participants were required to write the audiodescription of two tourist advertisements collaboratively online and then record their voices using the web platform ClipFlair. Reasonably valid conclusions that shed some light on the pedagogical benefits of audiodescription were obtained and they invite further research on the possibilities of revoicing techniques in L2 contexts.
This paper reports on a quasi-experimental study carried out at the National University of Ireland to investigate the development of subtitlingin the foreign-language class. The study uses both qualitative and quantitative methods and focuses on the effects of the subtitling task onincidental vocabulary acquisition. The sixteen students (Level A2 of CEFR) of Italian as a foreign language were assigned either subtitling practice (Experimental Group) or oral comprehension tasks and writingtasks (Control Group). Both groups worked for a total of four hours (1hour per week). All participants sat a pre-test to ensure the target wordswere unknown; immediate and delayed post-tests were administered after the experiment. The results are presented and discussed.
Interlingual subtitling has been extensively investigated for language learning and teaching purposes in the last decade. However, there is a lack of research into the creation of subtitles as a means of intercultural learning. This article is a first empirical attempt to verify the potential of subtitling for intercultural language education. It reports on a case study carried out at an Irish University with 14 A2/B1-level students of Italian, who attended a subtitling module as a regular part of their language course. The aim of the study was to investigate whether the creation of subtitles can offer language students opportunities for learning in terms of cultural and intercultural awareness development. A multi-method approach was employed to collect data through initial and final questionnaires, interviews with participants, class audio-recordings, teaching forms and notes, and students' interlingual subtitles. Thematic analysis of the collected data was then conducted. Findings confirm that teachers play a major role in enhancing students' cultural and intercultural awareness development fostering class interaction and discussions; however, they also show that the use of subtitling tasks offer conditions in which students can better develop intercultural skills even when teacher mediation is limited.
La audiodescripción (AD), que en principio se dirige a personas con una discapacidad visual, es una actividad traductora de índole intersemiótica, ya que se trata de fomentar la accesibilidad de los documentos audiovisuales (películas, series, documentales...), trasladando claves visuales (imágenes), y no visuales (referencias culturales) a palabras (Orero y Warton 2007, Braga Riera 2008). Aunque se observa un creciente interés por la AD dentro de los estudios de traducción (Jiménez Hurtado 2007a, 2007b, 2008), su aplicación didáctica en el aula de lenguas está poco explotada. En este trabajo mostramos cómo resulta ser un excelente recurso didáctico para promocionar el desarrollo de las cuatros destrezas lingüísticas (leer, escribir, escuchar y hablar) de forma integrada.
Presentamos en el presente artículo un estudio de caso llevado a cabo en una clase de Español como Lengua Extranjera (ELE), con estudiantes de español de la Facultad de Lenguas Aplicadas, de la Escuela Superior de Gante (Bélgica), en la que la AD se implementó aplicando el método de aprendizaje basado en tareas (Ellis 2003, Littlewood 2004). Resultó ser una herramienta altamente motivadora, no solo por el atractivo del cine, sino también porque a los contenidos en sí se les atribuye un valor funcional. Así, la lengua extranjera (el español) se utiliza como un recurso no sólo para comunicar sino también para ayudar a un grupo específico de hablantes a comunicarse con el mundo.
This article analyses a novel foreign language learning activity consisting on the students' production of video subtitles. With the help of specific subtitling software, this strategy allows students to understand foreign language acquisition and production from a different perspective. One of the main advantages of this strategy is that, since it makes students create language within a familiar and motivating context (audiovisual extracts), they feel they play an active role in their own learning process, so their language acquisition is enhanced. Besides, the combination of audio, visual, and textual information makes this technique very valid for all types of students Este artículo analiza una nueva actividad para el aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras consistente en que los alumnos produzcan subtítulos de vídeo. Con la ayuda de un software de subtitulación específico, esta estrategia permite comprender la adquisición y la producción del idioma desde otra perspectiva. Una de sus ventajas es que, al hacer que los alumnos produzcan lengua dentro de un contexto familiar y motivador (extractos audio-visuales), sienten que desempeñan un papel activo en su propio proceso de aprendizaje; así, mejora su adquisición lingüística. Además, su combinación de información auditiva, visual y textual la hace válida para todos tipo de alumnos.
This paper presents the teaching innovation project AUDIOSUB, which aimed at assessing the didactic potential of audio description (AD) and subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH) in foreign language education. Within an online setting, 25 undergraduates of English Studies in a Spanish university worked collaboratively for two months and a half, in groups of five, so as to provide accessibility to complete short films. To that end, they were provided with a number of ad hoc tutorials and guidelines on technical issues related to AD and SDH, the two media accessibility modes used for this proposal. A pre-experiment was designed for data collection: pre- and post- writing and oral production tests, as well as general translation pre- and post- tests, were administered, and quantitative data were exploited using SPSS; pre-and post- questionnaires and observation were also used to triangulate and complement the analysis. The results show evidence of improvement both in written production and in general translation skills thanks to the pedagogical application of media accessibility and point towards a more systematic exploitation of didactic SDH and AD in the foreign language learning context.
This paper investigates the use of Audiovisual Translation (AVT) as a didactic tool in primary education. Several studies confirm that subtitling and dubbing are beneficial for productive and receptive skills, vocabulary acquisition, translation competence, and learners’ motivation and engagement. However, research in the field has been devoted primarily to university students enrolled in translation and language programmes, and there is a dearth of papers exploring the use of AVT in early educational stages. This paper is intended to fill this gap by examining the perceptions of primary education students on the use of interlingual subtitling and creative dubbing in learning English at school. The sample includes 120 students from 10 public primary schools in Spain who participated in a 3-month teaching study. The research tool was a student questionnaire aimed at gathering their perceptions on the use of AVT; this survey was complemented with in-class observations. Results underline the favourable views students had on the use of AVT in language learning in primary education, with a slight preference for dubbing over subtitling. This outcome brings to the fore the educational possibilities of AVT, which may be a useful resource in language teaching.
This study accounts for the results obtained from a teaching innovation project called SubESPSKills (Subtitling tasks in the English for Specific Purposes class to improve written production skills) with a control and experimental group of undergraduates taking a course on Business English. The study was conducted during the 2018–2019 academic year at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. Among our main goals was the improvement of writing production skills in the English for Specific Purposes class. In order to do so, reverse subtitling was used as an audiovisual translation tool to enhance participants’ written skills in a course of Business English (Degree in Commerce). With the aim of using reverse subtitling as a tool for the practice of writing in English as a foreign language, the participants were required to submit a number of activities of written production on topics related to business and commerce. Additionally, they had to subtitle two videos from Spanish/Chinese into English, related to the aforementioned area of knowledge. Subsequently, a mixed method was followed since quantitative and qualitative data were gathered and analysed. The results presented here aim to prove the potential of active reverse subtitling as a tool for foreign language learning.
In recent years, interest in the application of audiovisual translation (AVT) techniques in language teaching has grown beyond unconnected case studies to create a lively network of methodological intertextuality, cross-references, reviews and continuation of previous trials, ultimately defining a recognisable and scalable trend. Whilst the use of AVT as a support in language teaching is not new, this volume looks at a different application of AVT, with learners involved in the audiovisual translation process itself, performing tasks such as subtitling, dubbing, or audio describing. It therefore presents a sample of the current research in this field, with particular reference to case studies that either have a large-scale or international dimension, or can be scaled and replicated in various contexts. It is our hope that these contributions will arouse the interest of publishers of language learning material and other stakeholders and ultimately lead to the mainstreaming of AVT in language education. Originally published as special issue of Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 4:1 (2018).
This article aims to contribute to shedding light on subtitling in the field of second language vocabulary learning while indicating possible directions for future research. In view of previous research, it investigates the effects of subtitling on incidental vocabulary acquisition. It is based on an experimental study carried out, after extensive piloting, with 25 English native speakers studying Italian as a Foreign Language (levels A1–A2) at the National University of Ireland, Galway. By triangulating quantitative and qualitative data, the experimental study shows that interlingual subtitling promotes the incidental acquisition of new word meanings in terms of productive recall.
Audio description (AD) is a type of audiovisual translation (AVT) used for making video content accessible to the blind and visually impaired. Over the last decade, the pedagogic potential of AVT in foreign language learning (FLL) has gained increasing recognition by experts. However, AD as a didactic tool in FLL is an innovative area that has received very little attention so far, despite its significant potential for language learners. In addition, many experts in applied linguistics have shown a growing interest in the study of fluency, pronunciation and intonation.
With these ideas in mind the author of the present article has carried out a small scale preliminary experiment with university students of Spanish as a foreign language. This article presents the methodological framework of the experiment which includes the instruments for data gathering. Although only six students completed the experiment, their responses were positive and encouraging as they found active AD tasks useful for language learning. It is hoped that the lessons learnt will inform the methodological framework for larger scale studies.
While translation is gradually regaining importance as an effective task in foreign-language (FL) teaching, the challenge for teachers is often to find ways of integrating translation into methodologies which have long since moved away from the grammar-translation method. Subtitling can offer a stimulating addition to more traditional monosemiotic translation tasks, while at the same time facilitating mnemonic retention, helping to raise awareness of cultural and intercultural issues and pragmatic aspects of communication, increasing motivation and enhancing the overall learning experience. This article discusses the use of subtitling in FL teaching and reports on students’ feedback on their subtitling experience. It will first provide an overview of recent literature and developments in this field. The article will then define a theoretical background for the use of subtitling and establish a methodological framework for its introduction in the foreign-language curriculum in third level undergraduate courses. Finally, it will report on a 24-week subtitling module taught annually at the National University of Ireland, Galway between 2009 and 2012 as part of the regular language course for undergraduate students. The responses of 40 students to an evaluation questionnaire on the subtitling module will be presented and discussed.
This article describes a pilot study which aimed at gaining insights into how language learners benefit from training in interlingual subtitling. With the growth in digital broadcasting which will allow for TV and film productions to be shown with a wide choice of subtitles in many languages, there is considerable demand for skilled subtitlers, working in various language combinations, in this specialised medium. Even for students who have no desire to work in the media, the combination of aural, visual and written elements required in order to subtitle competently makes it unique as a language-learning tool. This study showed that students' communication competence in both L1 and L2 improved while they simultaneously mastered transferable skills. The use of subtitling is limited, however, mainly due to the cost and time-consuming nature of the training. It is proposed that more practically based and vocationally orientated courses, similar to subtitling, would be of benefit to language undergraduates and would contribute to increase motivation in second language acquisition.
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