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Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 37:1 (2024) ► pp.57–82

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Subtitling short films to improve writing and translation skills

ORCiD logo with link | Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, UNED
ORCiD logo with link | Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, UNED
Published online: 28 November 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.21032.tal
Abstract
This paper presents the results of SUBFILM, a teaching innovation project that studied the benefits of reverse didactic subtitling to improve both foreign language learning writing skills and general translation skills. Didactic subtitling is to be understood here as the active production of subtitles by the students within a guided online task. SUBFILM made use of complete short films as basic audiovisual resources, and students of a Translation course within the degree of English Studies at a Spanish university were asked to subtitle them from Spanish into English over a period of one and a half months. A total of 26 students finished the project, where interdisciplinary individual and collaborative learning were constantly being stressed. A quasi-experimental research design including diverse data gathering tools has provided sufficient evidence to prove the benefits of reverse subtitling of complete short films for the enhancement of translation skills and writing production, as well as for vocabulary and grammar proficiency. Hence, the conclusions derived from the study complement previous research and open new related paths for didactic subtitling research and practice.
Resumen
La subtitulación de cortometrajes para mejorar las destrezas escritas y la competencia traductora
Este artículo presenta los resultados de SUBFILM, un proyecto de innovación educativa que investiga los beneficios de la subtitulación inversa para mejorar tanto destrezas de producción escrita en lengua extranjera como la competencia traductora en traducción general. La subtitulación didáctica ha de entenderse aquí como la producción activa de subtítulos por parte de los alumnos dentro de una tarea guiada en un contexto en línea. SUBFILM utilizó cortometrajes completos como recursos audiovisuales básicos y los estudiantes de una asignatura de traducción general dentro del Grado en Estudios Ingleses de una universidad española tuvieron que subtitularlos de español a inglés en el transcurso de un mes y medio. Un total de 26 sujetos finalizaron el proyecto, en el que constantemente se enfatizó un tipo de aprendizaje interdisciplinar, tanto individual como colaborativo. Este diseño de investigación cuasi experimental que ha hecho uso de instrumentos de recogida de datos de diversa índole ha demostrado que la subtitulación inversa de cortometrajes completos como tarea didáctica contribuye a la mejora de las competencias de traducción y de producción escrita en lengua extranjera, así como al desarrollo de las competencias léxica y gramatical. De este modo, las conclusiones extraídas del estudio complementan las derivadas de investigaciones previas, por un lado, y abren nuevas sendas de investigación futura.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.State of the Art
    • 2.1Didactic subtitling as a mediation task
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Resources: Videos and software
    • 3.2Procedures
  • 4.Data Analysis
    • 4.1Sample description
    • 4.2Descriptive statistics
    • 4.3Inferential statistics
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (39)
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Nurgaliyeva, S. & A. Zhumasheva
2025. THE ROLE OF AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION IN SHAPING CULTURAL IDENTITY: DISNEY SONGS IN KAZAKHSTAN. Bulletin of Shokan Ualikhanov Kokshetau University Philological Series :1 ► pp. 114 ff. DOI logo
Tinedo-Rodríguez, Antonio-Jesús
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