Article body

1. Introduction

Using videos to learn a foreign language is a recognised strategy due to the engaging and rich context that audiovisual materials provide for learners in a variety of settings. More precisely, watching subtitled or captioned videos has proven beneficial for several reasons, with exposure to the L2 and promoting incidental and intentional learning being the most salient. Vanderplank synthesizes the potential videos have in language learning in the following terms: “after all, TV and films provide rich resources for language learning with the added benefit of motivating content and familiarity with the medium. No teacher, no classroom, no textbook can provide the richness, range and variety of language available in television and films” (Vanderplank 2019: 182).

The use of videos in the classroom can impact the students’ learning process and promote their language competence in several ways. Within this framework, the emergence of Audiovisual Translation (AVT) as a research area within Translation Studies has paved the way for the opening of several lines of enquiry focusing on subtitling and dubbing, one of which is the application to language learning in formal contexts (Díaz-Cintas 1995; Gambier, Caimi, et al. 2014; Talaván Zanón 2013).

The didactic use of subtitling (including standard and reverse subtitling, and also Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing or SDHH) and dubbing (including Audio Description or AD) have already been examined, with recent studies concentrating on the possible gains implied in the production of subtitled and dubbed video clips (for a recent review, see Incalcaterra McLoughlin, Lertola, et al. 2018). The current paper aims to contribute to this burgeoning line of research by analysing the didactic possibilities implied in the active production of subtitled and dubbed video clips in primary education.

While several studies have reported on the benefits of AVT for students in terms of vocabulary retention (Danan 2010; Lertola 2019b), intercultural awareness (Borghetti 2011; Borghetti and Lertola 2014), fluency (Herrero, Sánchez-Requena, et al. 2017; Sánchez-Requena 2016) and production skills (Talaván Zanón, Rodríguez-Arancón, et al. 2015; Talaván Zanón and Costal 2017), the focus of most papers has been on higher education with a particular emphasis on translator training. However, within the emerging trend of didactic AVT, few studies have been devoted to analysing its potential within a school context, especially given the dearth of any research which could provide empirical data on the effects of using translation in primary and secondary school classrooms (Lertola 2019a). Furthermore, studies exploring the combination of dubbing and subtitling are scarce (Talaván Zanón and Ávila-Cabrera 2015), but the few that do exist focus mostly on subtitling, though a limited but increasing number are now examining dubbing.

The current paper is thus intended to fill a relevant research gap in the use of AVT as a didactic resource by investigating the use of subtitling and dubbing as a teaching resource in primary education. The objectives of the paper are the following:

  1. To analyse student perceptions of interlanguage subtitling (L2>L1 or standard, L1>L2 or reverse) as a didactic resource in primary education.

  2. To analyse student perceptions of dubbing (dubbing one character—L2>L1 and also L1>L2—, dubbing two characters—dialogues—, and producing alternative dialogues—creative dubbing—) as a didactic resource in primary education.

  3. To examine student preferences on the use of subtitling and dubbing for learning English as a foreign language.

To the best of our knowledge, the current paper makes a significant contribution to the field by analysing both AVT modalities jointly and by scrutinizing a relatively large sample within this research line (n=120). The main aim of the article is to contribute to an “educational turn” in the field of AVT and language teaching by providing empirical results on the use of subtitling and dubbing within a school context and in an educational stage that, to date, has been overlooked.

2. State-of-the-art

Translation has always been linked to foreign language teaching (see Laviosa 2014). More specifically, the didactic use of AVT has drawn scholarly attention over the last three decades with the primary goal of assessing the gains of subtitling and dubbing in language learning (Gambier, Caimi, et al. 2014; Incalcaterra McLoughlin, Lertola, et al. 2018). With studies exploring this field of study from different perspectives and research paradigms, we currently rely on a relatively prosperous and robust research corpus which has brought to the fore the advantages of AVT as a teaching resource (Borghetti and Lertola 2014; Incalcaterra McLoughlin, Lertola, et al. 2018; Lertola 2018; Talaván Zanón 2010; 2013; Talaván Zanón and Ávila-Cabrera 2015; Sokoli 2018; Vanderplank 1988; 2016). Results in the field have found that AVT does have a positive effect on students who are learning a foreign language:

[g]enerally speaking, teachers and researchers who work on active AVT tasks with their students found that they encourage not only receptive and productive tasks, but also critical thinking, pragmatic and intercultural awareness both in L1 and L2, as well as the ability to extract and infer information from multisemiotic texts.

Incalcaterra McLoughlin, Lertola, et al. 2018: 2

Unmistakably, subtitling and dubbing have been the predominant AVT modes, probably because they are easily accessible and familiar to teachers and learners alike. Still, other AVT modes, such as Audio Description, Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and even voice-over, have started to receive attention from an educational perspective in the last five years (Calduch and Talaván Zanón 2017; Ibáñez Moreno and Vermeulen 2017; Navarrete 2018; Talaván Zanón and Ávila-Cabrera 2016; Talaván Zanón and Lertola 2016).

In this paper, we refer to the main findings reported by the most relevant studies that have approached the didactic possibilities of subtitling and dubbing. Furthermore, we examine some of the challenges and gaps in this line of research. The following review is not intended to be comprehensive but to offer an updated outline of the current state in this area of study.

2.1. Subtitling

The study of the outcomes of subtitling on language learning dates back to the 1980s when the pioneering study by Vanderplank (1988) scrutinized the effectiveness of intralingual subtitles on students studying English as a Foreign Language. Vanderplank examined the possibilities of using teletext for vocabulary acquisition and improving comprehension skills, setting the basis for the use of AVT in language learning and concluding that “subtitles might have a potential value in helping the learning acquisition process by providing learners with the key to massive quantities of authentic and comprehensible language input” (Vanderplank 1988: 272-273). This seminal study paved the way for researchers interested in the didactic prospective of AVT and the relationship between applied linguistics and technology.

Since then, the positive effects of watching subtitled videos have been scrutinised and it has been found that student learning is enhanced in terms of vocabulary acquisition, intercultural awareness and comprehension skills (Díaz-Cintas 1995; 2012; Talaván Zanón 2010; Zabalbeascoa 1990). Moreover, these early approaches already identified the didactic potential of AVT by proposing to go beyond watching subtitled films to where learners generate subtitles in the language class to promote interaction in productive tasks. The pedagogical value of subtitling as a didactic tool has been supported by studies reporting on the positive impact of standard and reverse subtitling in terms of the students’ acquisition of vocabulary (Caimi 2006; D’Ydewalle and Van De Poel 1999) and listening comprehension (Santiago Araújo 2008). In terms of the possible differences between standard and reverse subtitling, it should also be noted that “interlingual subtitles are more suitable for first beginners, as they seem to rely more on their L1, while intralingual subtitles are more appropriate for advanced learners (Danan 2004; Talaván Zanón 2012)” (Lertola 2015: 248).

In the context of the present study, it is worth mentioning those projects which have been devoted to exploring the pedagogical dimension of subtitling, focusing on the learning and teaching process of the foreign language and not only on learner outcomes. In particular, Ghia (2012) provides empirical evidence of how subtitling can be introduced in secondary education and concludes that it does impact whether learners notice and acquire linguistic structures. In two experimental studies, Ghia analyses the notion of “translational salience” produced by the contrast between L2 dialogues and L1 subtitles.

Talaván Zanón (2013) provides a comprehensive approach to subtitling in foreign language learning by offering a sound theoretical and practical model. Beyond contextualising AVT as a teaching resource in language teaching paradigms and justifying its suitability within well-established theories of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), Talaván Zanón offers a model to introduce productive subtitling in language learning contexts, taking into account the learners’ needs and methodological issues in the teaching process.

Lertola (2018) contributes to the field by examining the historic role of translation in foreign language learning. Lertola’s review of language teaching methods examines SLA theories that support the use of AVT in the classroom, contextualising translation within methodological approaches in language teaching. In particular, Lertola provides new insights by situating subtitling (and dubbing) activities in the post-method era, underlining their communicative value as tasks to be performed by the students, a conclusion that tallies with Ragni (2018), who analyses the role of subtitling to enhance noticing within Task-Based Learning.

Further research has been primarily devoted to exploring the impact of subtitling on oral comprehension (Talaván Zanón 2011; Talaván Zanón and Rodríguez-Arancón 2014), written production (Talaván Zanón, Ibáñez Moreno, et al. 2016; Talaván Zanón, Lertola, et al. 2016), lexical acquisition (Lertola 2012; 2019b), integration in the foreign language curriculum (Incalcaterra McLoughlin and Lertola 2014) and the effects on the development of intercultural awareness (Borghetti 2011; Borghetti and Lertola 2014).

2.2. Dubbing

The didactic use of dubbing for language learning has been relatively ignored compared to subtitling—which is significantly more widespread—and has only recently attracted scholarly attention (Talaván Zanón and Ávila-Cabrera 2015: 149).

Research has predominantly explored the impact of dubbing on oral production, particularly regarding intonation and prosodic features (Kumai 1996), fluency (Danan 2010) and pronunciation (Chiu 2012), with studies concluding that oral skills benefit from the deliberate practice of dubbing in language learning, as “the method of film dubbing offers a unique opportunity for the imitation of English pronunciation and intonation within a contextualized scenario” (Chiu 2012: 24). Moreover, besides promoting the students’ pronunciation and oral expression, motivation seems to be reinforced when students are engaged in dubbing activities (Danan 2010).

As with subtitling, it is worth commenting on those studies aimed at exploring the didactic possibilities of dubbing as a teaching resource in language learning. One of the first studies on dubbing was by Navarrete (2013), who analysed the gains of dubbing activities with a group of 20 secondary school students in the United Kingdom who were learning Spanish as a foreign language. The most salient finding was that oral expression and fluency were enriched, and dubbing seems to be particularly suitable for students to time and monitor themselves in a way that is not possible with other types of activities (for example role-playing).

Sánchez-Requena (2016) measured the benefits of dubbing in L2 learning by observing the effect on pronunciation and fluency in spontaneous conversation. This pilot study scrutinized another sample of 20 secondary school students in the United Kingdom who were learning Spanish as a foreign language. The most relevant outcome of this study was that it demonstrated how dubbing has a positive impact on non-prepared conversations, an area largely neglected in AVT research, as claimed by the author.

Further research conducted by Sánchez-Requena (2017) with a larger sample (47 participants) tallies with the results of prior research and confirms the benefits of introducing intralingual dubbing as a teaching resource in language learning. This quantitative and qualitative study analysed the effects of dubbing videos over 12 weeks in secondary school students. In particular, the speed, intonation and pronunciation of learners of Spanish were enhanced after the three-month period using this pedagogic intervention.

2.3. Research on the combination of subtitling and dubbing

Although most studies in the field have been devoted to the analysis of one of the two primary AVT modalities, despite a paucity of research on the didactic possibilities of AVT holistically, in recent years, several efforts have focussed on the combination of subtitling and dubbing.

López Cirugeda and Sánchez Ruiz (2013) studied the combination of subtitling and dubbing with a group of university students who produced captioned and dubbed videos aimed at children. The study inspected a sample of 54 second-year students studying education and the main conclusion is that subtitling and dubbing tasks can be motivational material for prospective teachers. However, this study also identified some challenges, mainly computer illiteracy, poor language level and the insufficient didactic background of some participants.

Talaván Zanón, Bárcena, et al. (2014) analysed the use of subtitling and dubbing in the degrees of Tourism and English Studies in Spain. The study took a qualitative approach—with classroom observation and evaluation questionnaires—, and it concluded that AVT promotes collaborative learning among students from different degree programmes. In addition, the participants in the study (n=15) acknowledged that the use of AVT enhanced their translation skills. However, they also identified some challenges, namely that subtitling and dubbing are time-consuming activities and that they had some difficulties when using the software.

Talaván Zanón and Ávila-Cabrera (2015) conduct a quasi-experimental study examining the effect of using subtitling and dubbing in undergraduate programmes. This study looked at a sample of 40 students in formal and informal learning contexts, where the primary objective was to assess the improvement of oral and written production activities, as well as the general translation skills of participants. The most revealing conclusion reached by Talaván Zanón and Ávila-Cabrera is that learners’ oral skills benefited more than their written skills through AVT. It is also worth highlighting that dubbing seems to be more popular amongst students, as participants in the study reported that their productive and translation skills had been better reinforced by dubbing than subtitling videos.

Lertola and Mariotti (2017) offer an innovative approach by combining the use of interlingual reverse dubbing and subtitling to enhance pragmatic awareness. This quasi-experimental study with 33 undergraduate students from Italy suggests AVT activities increase pragmalinguistic awareness: reverse subtitling and dubbing raise language learners’ pragmatic awareness better in written productions compared to reverse translation. Furthermore, Lertola and Mariotti confirm that AVT activities in the foreign language classroom increase the participants’ motivation in L2 learning, in line with Talaván Zanón and Ávila-Cabrera (2015).

Alonso-Pérez and Sánchez-Requena (2018) examine a largely ignored topic in this field of study: the teachers’ perspective. Aiming to better understand the advantages and challenges of introducing AVT—including several typologies of subtitling and dubbing—in the foreign language classroom from the teacher’s point of view, this study screened a sample of 56 practitioners working in several countries and teaching in primary, secondary and higher education. The survey used suggests that teachers perceive the potential advantages of AVT in language learning and find it beneficial in terms of student engagement and motivation. Besides, teachers acknowledge that AVT promotes the introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the classroom. However, participants also show some scepticism regarding the expansion of subtitling and dubbing as a language teaching resource, especially for teachers who are not familiar with AVT or those not engaged in translator training.

Finally, Talaván Zanón (2019a) examines the didactic possibilities of creative subtitling and dubbing, an area largely ignored in AVT research. Relying on the premise that “the potential benefits of modern AVT modes, such as fansubbing and fandubbing, understood as the creative translation of an audiovisual text” need to be addressed (Talaván Zanón 2019a: 53), this project measured the combined effect of creative dubbing and subtitling in a group of 8 undergraduate students in Spain. The results advocate that creating alternative dialogues contributes to enhancing the students’ learning of the foreign language, specifically their writing and speaking production.

2.4. Challenges in the study of AVT’s didactic possibilities

The previous sections outlined some of the most relevant and updated studies devoted to investigating the didactic possibilities of subtitling, dubbing, and the combination of both modalities in language learning. This line of enquiry is gaining momentum as indicated by the increasing number of published papers, the growing complexity and robustness of the methodological designs, and the interdisciplinarity and varied perspectives of the sources quoted. However, if we want this area of investigation to move forward, we need to address the research gaps and the challenges present in the current research corpus.

Firstly, most studies are devoted to the use of AVT in higher education. With very few exceptions, research in this area is primarily focused on the effect of subtitling and dubbing in undergraduate Translation Studies and foreign language programmes, with only a few works examining AVT in secondary education (Ghia 2012; Navarrete 2013; Sánchez-Requena 2016; 2017). To date, the advantages and challenges of introducing subtitling and dubbing in primary education remain unexplored with the only exception being a study by Alonso-Pérez and Sánchez-Requena (2018), which does include primary education teachers. The objectives are different when analysing the effects of AVT in the language learning process for translation students than for other types of learners. For instance, many papers emphasise translation norms and best practices in subtitling practice, which are relevant aspects for translation students, even if we want to brief foreign language learners on the general use of translation. However, when working within school contexts (and foreign language teaching in general), this is less evident, as acknowledged by Lertola, who claims that “technical skills are, of course, far less important in the teaching environment” (Lertola 2015: 257). Generally, it seems that most studies concentrate on grammatical accuracy, translation skills and subtitling practice, but there is much to do in terms of pragmatics, sociolinguistic competence, language awareness, intercultural competence, language transfer and assessing both student and teacher perspectives.

Secondly, most studies in the area investigate a relatively small sample of participants, with most projects screening fewer than 50 participants (many papers have under 25 respondents). Although results can hardly be generalised in this field, working with larger samples will provide more solid evidence based on more robust statistical analyses, due to the high number of variables affecting the process of learning a foreign language.

Finally, although sometimes ignored in the scientific literature, the use of AVT as a teaching resource has limitations that should not be neglected. In particular, the use of AVT as a language teaching resource is time-consuming for teachers, makes teaching more dependent on ICTs—that can occasionally fail—and poses concerns regarding intellectual property rights (López Cirugeda and Sánchez Ruiz 2013; Sánchez-Requena 2017). Moreover, teacher training—or the lack of a teacher’s translation skills—are seldom considered (precisely because, in most cases, studies are conducted in the field of translation degrees).

3. The present study

This study relies on an empirical, primary and mixed research approach following Dörnyei (2009). In particular, this is a quasi-experimental and exploratory study: data were collected directly from a cohort of students from 10 schools who participated in a 12-week teaching strategy focused on subtitling and dubbing to learn English.

The project was presented to the schools in July, 2019, and permission was requested from each student’s family to start the intervention stage in October[1]. A training workshop on the basics of subtitling and dubbing was offered to all participating teachers, who were also instructed on the use of Aegisub[2] for subtitling and Windows Movie Maker for dubbing.[3] This workshop consisted of a 5-hour training session (1 hour for subtitling, 1 hour for dubbing, 1 hour for subtitling tools, 1 hour for dubbing tools, and 1 hour of subtitling and dubbing activities). Teachers were provided with a teaching unit designed by the researcher with written explanations of subtitling and dubbing, software instruction, and a pool of activities and exercises to be used with the students.

From October to December 2019, teachers started the project by devoting 1 hour a week to the use of AVT in the classroom (12 hours in total). Students created subtitles and dubbed videos for 12 weeks to assess the cumulative effects of longitudinal exposure (Bisson, Van Heuven, et al. 2014; D’Ydewalle and Van De Poel 1999). Subtitling activities included interlingual subtitling (L2>L1 or standard, L1>L2 or reverse) and also “creative subtitling” where students produced alternative subtitles for the videos (without actually translating the content). Dubbing activities consisted of dubbing one character (L2>L1 and also L1>L2), dubbing two characters (dialogues), and producing alternative dialogues (creative dubbing). All activities were performed in groups (3 to 5 pupils) to promote communication in the L2 and collaborative work among students[4]. Teachers introduced a gamification component by encouraging students to vote for the best subtitled and dubbed videos in the class at the end of the project.

As for audiovisual resources, short clips (less than 1 minute) from Pixar’s Coco[5] and Inside Out[6] were used for subtitling activities, while Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone[7] was selected for dubbing tasks. These particular videos were selected since all students knew the films. The contents of the videos were suitable for the English as a Foreign Language curriculum in primary education in Spain (for instance, the scene where Harry Potter meets Ron Weasley was dubbed by the students, as personal introductions were being practised in these courses).

3.1. Sample

The sample of the study was composed of 120 students in the last cycle of primary education (5th and 6th grades, ages 10-11) enrolled in 10 public schools in the Principality of Asturias (Spain). Non-probabilistic sampling was selected since the study required the schools to implement a didactic intervention where students subtitled and dubbed video clips in primary education classes. All participating classes shared common characteristics in terms of curriculum, socio-economic status (medium), level of English and ICT competence. Schools were selected after a formal call through the Regional Ministry of Education: only public schools in the central area of the region were selected, where 70% of the population is concentrated and public education comprises 90% of all schools. Because of the characteristics of the sample and analysis of students’ perceptions of AVT use as a teaching resource (instead of examining the gains in their language competency), control groups were not required.

The project was carried out in the “English language” class. All students were enrolled in mainstream education, where they learn English as a foreign language (3 hours per week), and the rest of the subjects are delivered through Spanish (none of the participants was enrolled in bilingual sections or Content and Language Integrated Learning, where students learn content-subjects through English).

The sample distribution was as follows: 61% girls and 39% boys; 57% enrolled in 6th year and 43% in 5th year of primary education; 97.5% of the participants were born in Spain (and are native speakers of Spanish), while 2.5% were born abroad (1 in China, 1 in Romania, and 1 in the Czech Republic, although all have been living in Spain for the last 6 years and are fluent in Spanish).

The sample size does not require advanced statistical techniques such as factor analyses, although variance and multivariate analyses do allow for catering for statistical significance taking into account the quasi-experimental type of study (Dörnyei 2014: 62).

3.2. Research instrument

Surveys are one of the most accepted tools in this line of research, and have been consistently used to assess the efficacy of AVT in language learning—see, for instance, Bolaños García-Escribano (2017), Incalcaterra McLoughlin and Lertola (2014), Sánchez-Requena (2016), or Talaván Zanón (2019b) for some recent examples. A questionnaire was designed ad hoc for the current research project, since—to the author’s best knowledge—no prior research tools have studied the simultaneous use of subtitling and dubbing in primary education.

The questionnaire comprised 15 items in three sections (5 questions in each): 1) subtitling (where students were asked their opinion on the use of subtitling in the classroom, their preferred subtitling modality, the activities they liked most, the main difficulties and their perception of the suitability of subtitling for learning English); 2) dubbing (with the same questions as in the previous section adapted to dubbing); and 3) subtitling vs. dubbing (asking which of the two AVT modalities they preferred, which was more difficult and which was more effective for learning English). The last 2 questions gathered data on the students’ age and gender. The questionnaire was administered in Spanish.

Participants completed the first two parts of the questionnaire by using a Likert Scale (1 to 5) while the third section included dichotomic answers (participants had to choose between subtitling or dubbing).

The design of this tool followed standard guidelines in the construction of questionnaires (see, for instance, Brown 2001; Dörnyei 2014), taking into account the context of the current research project and the participants. Since questionnaires were administered at the schools (and in the English classes) to primary education students, the number of questions and the time to complete them was limited to 10 minutes.

The questionnaire was first subjected to an expert validation, with three independent judges—researchers working in educational research, translation and applied linguistics—assessing the suitability of the questions. Furthermore, a test run was carried out with a group of 10 students from a primary school not included in the current project. After the test run, the questionnaire was fine-tuned through item analyses and some minor changes were made to ensure internal consistency. Subsequently, the questionnaire was considered appropriate for the current research. Validation of the scale revealed a Cronbach’s alpha result of .783, showing an adequate level of homogeneity in the survey items.

3.3. Procedure

The questionnaire was delivered on paper to all students after the three-month intervention was finished (December 2019). All participants answered the survey anonymously in class and were given about 10 minutes to complete it. The statistical analyses were done using SPSS v. 24.

4. Analysis of results

Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and mean comparison tests were used in the analysis to assess student perception of the use of AVT. Chi-squared and non-parametric tests were performed to check statistical significance. The results on the use of subtitles will be presented first, followed by data on the students’ perception of dubbing. Finally, the participants’ responses regarding their preferences for subtitling or dubbing for learning English will be examined.

4.1. Subtitling

The participants reported a favourable view of the use of subtitling as a didactic resource in the English classes. The majority of participants reported that they enjoyed subtitling activities “a lot” (61%) or “quite” (21%), with 15% acknowledging that they enjoyed it neither too much nor too little, and only 3% stating they did not enjoy it very much (Graph 1). It is worth noting that no participants replied that they did not enjoy subtitling “at all.”

Graph 1

Participants’ perception of the use of subtitling activities

Participants’ perception of the use of subtitling activities

-> See the list of figures

Secondly, when asked what was most interesting about subtitling in the classroom, the students’ top three responses were “Working with films” (32.5%), “Learning English in a different way” (31.8%), and “Doing activities with my classmates” (18.2%), as shown in Graph 2.

Graph 2

Most interesting features of subtitling activities

Most interesting features of subtitling activities

-> See the list of figures

As for the type of activity the students preferred, intralingual subtitling (English to English) was chosen by 45.5%, reverse subtitling (Spanish to English) by 27.3%, creative subtitling 15.6%, keyword captioning 9% and standard subtitling (English to Spanish) 2.6%.

The most relevant subtitling difficulties for the primary school students were as follows: matching the subtitle with the dialogues (32.5%), vocabulary (27.3%) and writing the subtitles (26.6%).

Finally, the results underline that most of the students who participated in the study (79%) learned English by subtitling video clips in the classroom, as reported in Graph 3 (“A lot” 43% and “Quite” 36%). 15% of participants acknowledge that they learned neither too much nor too little while only 6% of students felt that they did not learn English by subtitling video clips in class.

Graph 3

Responses to item 5 (“Did you learn English while subtitling video clips?)

Responses to item 5 (“Did you learn English while subtitling video clips?)

-> See the list of figures

4.2. Dubbing

Starting with the students’ perception of the use of dubbing activities in the classroom, most participants indicated positive views, with 71% of respondents reporting they liked it “A lot” and none claiming they did not like it at all (Graph 4).

Graph 4

Participants’ perception of the use of subtitling activities

Participants’ perception of the use of subtitling activities

-> See the list of figures

According to the students, the most interesting reasons for dubbing films in the classroom were the following: “Learning English in a different way” (26%), “Recording sound for the films” (24%), and “Using films in class” (23%) as shown in Graph 5.

Graph 5

Most interesting features of dubbing activities

Most interesting features of dubbing activities

-> See the list of figures

The most appreciated dubbing activities were the following: creation of alternative dialogues (44.8%), dubbing English videos into Spanish (22.1%), dubbing Spanish videos into English (21.4%) and storytelling or narrating voiceless videos (11.7%).

As for the challenges of dubbing videos in the classroom, students found the most difficulties in matching the dialogues with the video (37%), pronunciation (31.8%), recording the dialogues (15.6%) and reading dialogues aloud (14.3%).

Finally, it is worth noting that most students acknowledge that they learned English through dubbing videos in the classroom, as reported in Graph 6.

Graph 6

Responses to item 10 (“Did you learn English while dubbing video clips?)

Responses to item 10 (“Did you learn English while dubbing video clips?)

-> See the list of figures

4.3. Subtitling vs dubbing

Participants’ answers on their preferences between dubbing and subtitling activities in the English classroom are shown in Table 1.

Table 1

Comparison between subtitling and dubbing

Comparison between subtitling and dubbing

-> See the list of tables

The students in the current project preferred dubbing over subtitling activities, while a slight majority indicated that they learned more English through dubbing than through subtitling. Of note, subtitling seems to be slightly more demanding than dubbing for the participants in the study.

Finally, non-parametric analyses were carried out to check the impact of some of the variables in the students’ perception of the use of AVT in the classroom. The results show that there were statistically significant differences when it comes to the gender of students (Sig.=.000), with female participants showing more favourable views of subtitling and dubbing for learning English as a foreign language. No gender-based differences could be established in the study regarding the preferences of male and female students for one or the other AVT modality. Likewise, age and class year (5th or 6th year) did not have a relevant impact, as no statistically significant differences could be identified.

5. Discussion

The results of the questionnaire underline the positive perception students had regarding the use of AVT in the classroom. This is a promising finding, as students show a very favourable attitude towards subtitling and dubbing videos in learning a foreign language in primary education, and that subtitling and dubbing contribute to their learning of a foreign language. This is not surprising if we take into account previous research in the field, where participants also enjoyed working with subtitling (Borghetti 2011; López Cirugeda and Sánchez Ruiz 2013; Talaván 2006) and dubbing (Danan 2010; Talaván Zanón, Lertola, et al. 2016) in formal settings, although these studies analysed the use of AVT in university students and focused on the gains in the learners’ language competence (mainly vocabulary recall, fluency and pronunciation, listening comprehension, and translation skills). The results here tally with prior research examining the impact of subtitling (Ghia 2012) and dubbing (Sánchez-Requena 2016; 2018) in secondary education, where AVT also seems to be effective in teaching foreign languages.

Concerning the first and second objectives of the current paper (students’ assessment of the use of subtitling and dubbing in primary education), student perceptions were very optimistic regarding the two AVT modalities examined. Although there are divergences in the students’ appraisal of the use of dubbing (mean = 4.61) and subtitling (mean = 4.39), the results confirm that participants value the didactic use of AVT very positively (note that the mean values are on a scale of 5 points). It is worth underlining that there were almost no negative responses to the use of AVT in the classroom, with 82% of participants confirming that they enjoyed subtitling activities and 92% showing a favourable or very favourable view towards dubbing as a learning tool.

The students’ positive perceptions may be explained by the fact that all activities included in this project are student-centred and that pupils have a proactive role in the learning process through hands-on tasks where they have to cooperate with their classmates and use ICTs. This corroborates prior research in the field, as “the practice of AVT implies being involved in an authentic task, situated in a meaningful context, whose outcome, unlike watching subtitles or using viewing techniques, is a tangible, shareable product: the subtitled or dubbed video” (Sokoli 2018: 78). Moreover, student engagement in subtitling and dubbing activities in formal contexts suggests that AVT may contribute to boosting students’ motivation in the L2, as has been claimed in several studies (Danan 2010; Talaván Zanón and Ávila-Cabrera 2015). The results point towards this direction, as the students’ assessment of the use of both AVT modalities in the language class was very encouraging and most participants felt that subtitling and dubbing activities contributed to “learn[ing] English in a different way.”

Regarding the types of activities carried out with the students, it is also worth noting that there is a clear preference for creating alternative dialogues in the dubbing activities (44.8% of participants chose this option as their preferred activity). Participants seem to enjoy producing their own dialogues for the films, as they can engage with their classmates in a creative task that promotes communication among students. Further investigation is recommended, as creative dubbing and subtitling may have a relevant effect on student engagement and participation, as foreseen by Talaván Zanón (2019a).

As regards the third objective of this paper, the results show a slight preference for dubbing, which can be explained since this modality provides more personal or immediate results, as students can watch the video with the voices of their colleagues. From a linguistic point of view, dubbing also allows students to work with prosodic features and intonation. This conclusion concurs with related studies in the field, which have also identified a tendency for students to prefer dubbing activities over subtitling activities (Talaván Zanón and Ávila-Cabrera 2015). Participant observation in the classroom allowed the researcher to identify an interesting result: shy students or those who are more hesitant to communicate in English (according to the reports from their teachers) were more likely to participate in dubbing activities than in other types of oral production tasks (role playing). Our hypothesis is that, since attention is drawn to the screen, students feel less stressed as they are not directly watched, and their anxiety levels are reduced. This connects with Krashen’s affective filter hypothesis (Krashen 1985), which has already been linked to the use of AVT as a didactic tool in several studies (Lertola 2018; Talaván Zanón 2013). Moreover, this finding tallies with prior research in the field, which suggested dubbing activities allow students to time and monitor themselves in a way that is not possible with other types of activities (Navarrete 2013), and contributes to improving fluency in non-prepared conversations (Sánchez-Requena 2016; 2017).

Despite the slight preference for dubbing over subtitling, there are no statistically significant differences between the two modalities as regards the learning of English. The higher percentage of students that consider dubbing to be more demanding than subtitling find this modality more difficult due to the challenge of synchronizing the voices with the images.

Statistically significant differences were found according to the gender of participants, with female students showing consistently better attitudes towards the use and the didactic possibilities of AVT in the classroom. This conclusion is not surprising, as this tendency has already been identified in language learning (see, for instance, Pavlenko and Piller 2008).

As for the main challenges of the project, it should be noted that the activity is time-consuming, as teachers require more time to prepare their lessons than other more mainstream activities. Also, technology-related issues in the classroom have to be taken into account, although teachers may opt for analogical-based alternatives instead of using subtitling or dubbing software: for instance, one of the groups taking part in our study declined to use Windows Movie Maker for dubbing, and students read the dialogues aloud at the same time the video was being played in the classroom. Generally, as has already been anticipated by López Cirugeda and Sánchez Ruiz (2013) and Sánchez-Requena (2017), the lack of specific teacher training on both AVT and technology-related issues are two of the most obvious challenges when introducing translation activities in the school context. Although these issues are not a significant hurdle to working with subtitling and dubbing in primary education, they should be taken into account to minimize the possible shortcomings in the use of AVT as a didactic tool in formal settings.

6. Conclusions

The present study set out to provide new insights into the didactic possibilities of AVT by determining the primary education students’ perception of the use of subtitling and dubbing when learning English as a foreign language. The most salient contribution of the paper is, precisely, that it broadens the horizon of AVT by analysing its possible application in school contexts, since most studies have focused on higher education. More precisely, the study may pave the way for the introduction of AVT as a teaching resource at early stages (that is primary education). Furthermore, the research takes into account students’ voices in the use of subtitling and dubbing in the classroom, as most studies have been primarily devoted to examining the gains in terms of language competence. Also—with a few exceptions—the field has focused on scrutinising the impact of either subtitling or dubbing, and the simultaneous use of both modalities requires further investigation.

The results of the current project have allowed us to underline the primary education students’ positive perception of the use of AVT in the classroom. Participants’ responses are encouraging, as they show a very favourable view of the use of dubbing and subtitling. Although both modalities were appreciated by participants, the former is preferred over the latter, as dubbing activities seem more engaging for primary education students, especially when they are allowed to create their own dialogues. It is worth highlighting that creative dubbing and intralingual subtitling (English to English) were the participants’ preferred activities.

As in any research, the study has some limitations that should be acknowledged. First, although the size of the study sample is more extensive than most papers in the field, the results should be taken with caution when applied to other contexts and educational settings. Second, the study relies on a research design and tools that have been consistently used in the area (and in the humanities and social sciences), but there have been some issues. The use of questionnaires, although very frequent, may pose some disadvantages, such as the social desirability bias, by which students are willing to please the teacher (or the researcher) by providing the expected answer instead of their actual response to some questions (see, for instance, Dörnyei 2014: 7). Also, the study does not examine individual motivation and the impact it may have on the results obtained. It should be recognised that individual variables—motivation being one of the most relevant—should be considered in future studies, since motivation may be correlated with the results obtained in the study.

Prospective research lines include longitudinal studies examining the impact of AVT over a whole academic year to assess cumulative effects of longitudinal exposure, and the use of further statistical analyses to cater for the impact of several variables, namely the use of subtitling or dubbing outside the classroom, or the language proficiency of students. Furthermore, the impact of AVT on students’ attitudes and motivation towards language learning deserves attention within this line of enquiry. Moreover, it is of paramount importance that teachers’ voices be examined to assess the difficulties and challenges practitioners face when introducing subtitling and dubbing in primary education.

The study contributes to the educational turn in AVT, as the use of subtitling and dubbing may render positive outcomes for students learning a foreign language at early stages in the school context. Student perceptions underline the fact that the students learned through the production of subtitled and dubbed video clips in the classroom. This finding does have some implications for Translation Studies: AVT should be promoted as a didactic tool in formal contexts in early educational stages. This requires specific training for teachers who are not familiar with translation, but also for translators and translator trainers who should be acquainted with the challenges and the specific methodological framework of using subtitling and dubbing in the language classroom. All in all, the didactic use of AVT should be approached in translator and teacher training alike.

Overall, this paper strengthens the idea that research on the didactic use of AVT in language learning is a fruitful and burgeoning area with plenty of possibilities, not only regarding translator training but also in the field of language learning in the school context.