PEDAGOGICAL TRANSLATION. A DIDACTIC UNIT IN EFL CLASSROOM TO TEACH GRAMMAR BY MEANS OF SUBTITLING

Abstract

The application of translation in EFL classes has been subject of debate since the perspective of the second language learning (SLL) changed to a more communicative one thanks to methodologies like the Direct method or the Communicative approach. Nonetheless, it is now living a revival because of the increase of use of ICT. Some recent research has concluded that the use of translation or the L1 in general may be beneficial for the confidence of the students and accuracy. The specialty this work is going to focus on is subtitling. Taking the ClipFlair Project as example, many studies have shown that subtitling may improve the listening and writing skills of the students and make them acquire some elements of the second language. Research around subtitling also points the positive attitude of the students towards this kind of exercises. Nevertheless, most of the studies have been done with advanced or university participants and they were focused on the listening skill and the acquisition of vocabulary. The motivation of the students, even though it has been analysed, requires still further investigation. Therefore, the present work will try to fill this gap by answering to the following questions: (1) is subtitling (translation as a language contrasting tool) effective to improve the knowledge of 1st of ESO students on the past simple? And (2) Do subtitling (translation) tasks improve the motivation of students of 1st of ESO towards EFL classes? In order to do so, we are going to divide the participants of 1st of ESO in two groups (control and experimental group) and we will work on the past simple through a subtitling task. A pre-test and a post-test will be used to analyse the knowledge of the participants and to compare the groups. We will also use a questionnaire to collect data about attitude of the students towards the task. On the one hand, we expect both groups to have similar results on the tests. On the other hand, we expect the students to show positive attitude towards the task.