Audiovisual translation and media accessibility in language learning contexts

The integration of audiovisual translation (AVT), in its multiple forms (i.e., interlingual, intralingual and intersemiotic, Jakobson 1959) and modes (revoicing and subtitling), with a key focus on multimodality have found their way more recently in the foreign language education (FLE) context. If subtitles and subtitling remain a hugely discussed topic in their pedagogical application (see Díaz-Cintas and Wang 2022), over recent years studies about didactic AVT have definitely enlarged their scope and come to comprise the various AVT techniques that can be used in the classroom as a motivating booster of language learning, since, especially in active practices, the learner is really at the centre of his/her learning process. Current research on didactic AVT shares the premises that this kind of translation is beneficial not only as a complex problem-solving activity triggering integrated skills as well as critical thinking, but also as a multisensorial and intersemiotic experience demanding a holistic approach, which fosters sociopragmatic competences and intercultural awareness in learners (Incalcaterra McLoughlin, and Talaván 2018). In the past twenty years, one of the most innovative and promising fields within AVT has been Media Accessibility (MA) research and practice, in line with the urgent need of providing accessible and inclusive services to all members of society (Díaz-Cintas, Orero, and Remael 2007). The great potentials of MA tools, including SDH and AD addressed to the aurally and visually impaired audiences respectively, also started to attract the interest of scholars in AVT in language learning. Learning a language by learning to translate, as well as by reflecting on translation(s) through media resources, has certainly gained a specific status in the ongoing “new relationships” between translation and contemporary language teaching (Koletnik and Froeliger 2019). However, while a lot has been achieved in AVT, there is much still to explore and learn.