Converting semiotic signs into a linguistic code: Implications for language learners’ oral skills
Marga Navarrete
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Title
Converting semiotic signs into a linguistic code: Implications for language learners’ oral skills
Abstract
Research on the use of audio description (AD) in foreign language education has only been developed over the last decade. This paper introduces an experimental study on the potential of active audio description in learners’ oral skills, focusing on the quantitative data which evidenced that oral productive skills are enhanced by this AVT mode. The study involved 81 undergraduate students of Spanish enrolled in a British University. During the ten-week intervention, participants were required to complete collaborative AD tasks. A range of instruments were used for data collection, which include pre- and post-questionnaires, rubrics, pre- and post-tests based on recordings of spontaneous conversation and observation notes by the teacher-researcher. There were two observers who revised all data collection tools, and three external evaluators assessed the potential enhancement of oral productive skills in learners’ pre-tests and post-tests. Such a wide choice of tools was essential to allow the triangulation of data, and thus, to guarantee a greater reliability and consistency of the results obtained. Intonation, speed, and stress demonstrated the most significant improvement following the intervention, while the reduction of prolonged pauses was minimal, with the lowest rating among all examined features.
Keywords
Didactic audio description (DAD), foreign language teaching, oral production skills, experiment, quantitative data
36(1) - 2024