Audiovisual translation in primary education. Students’ perceptions of the didactic possibilities of subtitling and dubbing in foreign language learning

Abstract

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.

Enhancing communicative competence and translation skills through active subtitling: a model for pilot testing didactic Audiovisual Translation (AVT)

“…When quantitative data are triangulated with the information retrieved from the questionnaires, very interesting conclusions can be drawn. First of all, subtitling has proved to be a motivating methodology that arouses the interest of students, as reported by Talaván & Ávila-Cabrera (2015) and Fernández-Costales (2021a). Results underline that students' satisfaction is high: according to the initial questionnaire, 90% of the participants expected subtitling to contribute to the enhancement of their competencies.…”

“…Studies in the field have reported empirical evidence to support didactic claims that AVT favours vocabulary retention (Danan, 2010;Lertola, 2019b), intercultural awareness (Borghetti, 2011;Borghetti & Lertola, 2014), productive skills (Talaván & Costal, 2017;Talaván & Rodríguez-Arancón, 2018), and fluency (Herrero et al, 2017;Sánchez-Requena, 2016). Recent contributions have also focused on the potential of AVT in bilingual education (Fernández-Costales, 2021b), the combination of subtitling and dubbing in language teaching (Fernández-Costales, 2021a;Talaván & Ávila-Cabrera, 2015), or the promotion of creativity through active AVT (Talaván, 2019).…”

“…The increasing number of papers in the field, the interdisciplinarity and varied perspectives of the studies, and the growing complexity of the methodological designs suggest research on didactic AVT is gaining momentum (Fernández-Costales, 2021a). Nevertheless, to maintain the momentum, the field would benefit from incorporating more robust techniques and procedures that allow for triangulation and replication, as most studies focus on case studies that cannot be tested in or exported to other settings.…”

“…Furthermore, it should be noted that the pilot study presented was implemented in a translation course and not a language subject, and the possible relation with language syllabi has not been directly explored in the TRADILEX project. However, recent studies confirm didactic AVT may be integrated into language courses, and AVT tasks can be framed within the curriculum of Primary Education (Fernández-Costales, 2021a, 2021b. Captioning and revoicing activities can also be used in the bilingual education (CLIL) syllabi of non-language subjects, where students learn curricular contents through the L2.…”

Integración de la subtitulación activa en el aula: estudio de una intervención educativa

“…A principios del siglo XXI se produce un punto de inflexión en el uso de la TAV didáctica: se pasa de una aplicación de la misma desde una perspectiva pasiva a otra activa en la enseñanza de lenguas (Couto-Cantero et Pilar Gonzalez-Vera • Integración de la subtitulación activa en el aula: estudio de una intervención educativa al., 2021). Los beneficios del uso didáctico de la TAV desde un planteamiento activo han sido recogidos en estudios realizados dentro del Proyecto TRADILEX (Couto-Cantero et al, 2021;Fernández-Costales, 2021a;Talaván y Lertola, 2022) así como en otros trabajos derivados de colaboraciones mantenidas durante la ejecución del proyecto y que estudian la TAV didáctica en la enseñanza de lenguas (Sánchez-Requena, 2018;Gonzalez-Vera y Hornero Corisco, 2019;Hornero Corisco y Gonzalez-Vera, 2020;Talaván, 2020Talaván, , 2021Fernández-Costales, 2021b;.…”