Chapter 30 | Audiovisual Translation in Language Teaching and Learning

 

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Publication date: 13 September 2018
Copyright date 2019
Hardback ISBN: 9781138859524
E-book ISBN 9781315717166
You can order this volume on the Routledge website

 

 

 

 

 

This chapter explores the use of AVT in language teaching and learning settings. It begins with a historical overview exploring the benefits of presenting language students with subtitled video material, and experimenting with different subtitle types: standard (audio in L2 and subtitles in L1), bimodal (audio in L2 and subtitles in L2) and reversed (audio in L1 and subtitles in L2). It then moves on to focus more specifically on recent qualitative and quantitative studies involving the completion of active AVT tasks by learners, where AVT tasks and any other necessary preparatory activities are performed by students. Whilst subtitling is the most widely exploited AVT mode in the language classroom, this chapter also shows that dubbing and audio description have also been profitably and imaginatively applied in language teaching and learning contexts, and that, in some cases, two AVT modes have been combined in order to maximize their impact.

As far as research in this area is concerned, most students involved in pilot studies investigating different aspects of the interface between AVT and language learning are situated in face-to-face learning environments; however, participants enrolled in virtual learning environments have also participated in some trials. The theoretical framework underpinning these studies includes research into cognitive psychology, second language acquisition, translation studies and didactics of translation. Advances in technology and EU-funded projects have made AVT tools freely available to teachers and students and can facilitate the integration of AVT in language teaching curricula. Going forward, this chapter advocates a move towards mainstreaming active AVT tasks, which contribute not only to the linguistic and (interc)cultural development of language students, but also to the enhancement of learners’ key digital skills and multimedia literacy. Research to be prioritized by specialists should take the form of large-scale international and longitudinal studies involving different languages and language combinations.

 

 

Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin is Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages, Literatures & Cultures at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Her main research area is applied linguistics, particularly in connection with audiovisual translation, language technologies and e-learning. She has published widely in these fields and participated in many related national and international projects.

 

 

The Routledge Handbook of Audiovisual Translation Studies provides an authoritative and straightforward overview of the field through thirty-two specially commissioned chapters written by leading scholars in the field.

This state-of-the-art reference work is divided in four sections. The first part focuses on established and emerging audiovisual translation modalities, explores the changing contexts in which they have been and continue to be used, and examine how cultural and technological changes are directing their future trajectories. The second part explores the interface between audiovisual translation and a range of theoretical models that have proved particularly productive in steering research in audiovisual translation studies. Some of these models are associated with disciplines that have long intersected with audiovisual translation, while others are drawn from areas of knowledge that are only now beginning to make their presence felt in the audiovisual translation literature. The third part surveys a range of methodological approaches supporting traditional and innovative ways of interrogating audiovisual translation data. The final part addresses a range of themes pertaining to the place of audiovisual translation in society: these include the institutionalization, academization and technologization of audiovisual translation, as well as its role as a force for social change, both within and outside the industry. This Handbook gives audiovisual translation studies the voice it needs to make its presence felt within the Humanities research landscape.

 

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