Audiovisual translation in foreign language education: the use of intralingual dubbing to improve speed, intonation and pronunciation in spontaneous speech

Recent studies have shown that the current situation of foreign language learning in England seems to be discouraging in comparison with the European average (British Council, 2013; European Commission, 2013). The fact that numerous cities are becoming multilingual nowadays emphasises the usefulness of opening up to other communities. Bearing this in mind, communicating verbally with others in another language can be seen as a convenient skill to develop in the foreign language classroom. In an attempt to satisfy the need to practise oral conversations and offer innovative options in the context of England, new didactic approaches are being considered. Amongst these, the active use of techniques traditionally employed in audiovisual translation has proved to have a positive impact on foreign language learning (Talaván, 2013; Incalcaterra and Lertola, 2014; Baños and Sokoli, 2015). This thesis examines the effect of the technique of intralingual dubbing (where students replace the original voices of actors in video clips) on Spanish oral production. There are two main aims. The first is to provide objective evidence to support the hypothesis that the use of intralingual dubbing can enhance students’ speed, intonation and pronunciation when speaking spontaneously in Spanish as a foreign language. The second is to create a teaching and learning toolkit on the subject for teachers. To this end, a total of 94 students aged 16–19 with a B1–B2 level of Spanish dubbed videos in several stages. In addition, 28 teachers received training on dubbing activities and five of them implemented the activities in their classes with a total of 26 students. The data is triangulated qualitatively and quantitatively. Results confirm that the main hypothesis serve as evidence to support the theoretical justification for the inclusion of active AVT techniques in FL speaking classes

Teaching foreign languages through audiovisual translation resources: teachers’ perspectives

In the past decade, techniques traditionally used in the audiovisual translation (AVT) industry have been applied to teaching foreign languages (FL) with promising results. Both teachers and researchers have provided useful data on various AVT typologies (i.e. subtitling, dubbing, audio description) in order to improve specific learning areas: vocabulary acquisition, listening comprehension, pronunciation, intercultural awareness, etc. (Ibáñez & Vermeulen, 2014; Baños & Sokoli, 2015). The following study aims to provide information in two relevant areas identified in the field: (1) the direct experience of those teachers who have been using AVT techniques in the classroom in recent years, and (2) their perspectives on in the combination of FL and AVT in the future. A total of 56 respondents from Europe, the USA and Asia participated in the study, these being teachers of French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Japanese and Catalan as an FL. The results obtained are applicable to different languages and useful to any professional interested in using AVT in their classroom or carrying out further research

Una propuesta triple: análisis fílmico, traducción audiovisual y enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras

Recent years have witnessed an increase in the number of studies incorporating Audiovisual Translation (AVT) techniques as a tool to develop linguistic competence in Foreign Language (FL) learning. In parallel, there has been a shift towards attaching greater relevance to the use of films in the FL curriculum. The originality of the present study lies in according a similar degree of importance to film literacy as to the chosen AVT techniques and the FL learning. This article aims primarily to offer a pedagogical method combining three disciplines -film literacy, Audio-Description (AD) and Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (SDH) applied to FL learning. Based on the methodology employed in the Film in Language Teaching Association (FILTA) (www.filta.org.uk), it outlines a teaching model in which the learner concurrently acquires film knowledge and the skills needed to translate audiovisual texts. On the one hand, students receive film analysis training; on the other hand, they also acquire the basic knowledge required to complete activities using AD and SDH

Audiovisual translation in teaching foreign languages: Contributions of dubbing to improve fluency and pronunciation in spontaneous conversations

The development of new technologies has led to a greater focus on the active use of audiovisual translation in teaching foreign languages in recent years. This paper constitutes a descriptive pilot research, which primarily looks at the interface between the activity of active dubbing and the oral expression of English students of Spanish. After triangulating the data, it has been established that students have improved their speed by an average of 22 words per minute in only six weeks, their confidence and comfort has considerably increased when expressing orally and, concurrently, students have developed other learning areas indirectly.El desarrollo de las nuevas tecnologías ha supuesto una mayor atención en el uso activo de la traducción audiovisual dentro de la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras en los últimos años. Este estudio constituye una investigación piloto descriptiva que analiza primordialmente la relación entre la actividad del doblaje activo y la expresión oral de estudiantes ingleses de español. Tras la triangulación de datos, se ha constatado que los alumnos han mejorado en una media de 22 palabras por minuto en solo seis semanas, ha aumentado considerablemente su confianza y comodidad al expresarse oralmente y, a su vez, han desarrollado otras áreas de aprendizaje indirectamente

Differential effects of lipopolysaccharide on mouse sensory TRP channels

Acute neurogenic inflammation and pain associated to bacterial infection have been traditionally ascribed to sensitization and activation of sensory nerve afferents secondary to immune cell stimulation. However, we recently showed that lipopolysaccharides (LPS) directly activate the Transient Receptor Potential channels TRPA1 in sensory neurons and TRPV4 in airway epithelial cells. Here we investigated whether LPS activates other sensory TRP channels expressed in sensory neurons. Using intracellular Ca2+ imaging and patch-clamp we determined the effects of LPS on recombinant TRPV1, TRPV2, TRPM3 and TRPM8, heterologously expressed in HEK293T cells. We found that LPS activates TRPV1, although with lower potency than for TRPA1. Activation of TRPV1 by LPS was not affected by mutations of residues required for activation by electrophilic agents or by diacylglycerol and capsaicin. On the other hand, LPS weakly activated TRPM3, activated TRPM8 at 25 °C, but not at 35 °C, and was ineffective on TRPV2. Experiments performed in mouse dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons revealed that genetic ablation of Trpa1 did not abolish the responses to LPS, but remain detected in 30% of capsaicin-sensitive cells. The population of neurons responding to LPS was dramatically lower in double Trpa1/Trpv1 KO neurons. Our results show that, in addition to TRPA1, other TRP channels in sensory neurons can be targets of LPS, suggesting that they may contribute to trigger and regulate innate defenses against gram-negative bacterial infections.status: publishe

Subcutaneous anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin for prevention of disease in asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical trialResearch in context

Summary: Background: Anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin (hIG) can provide standardized and controlled antibody content. Data from controlled clinical trials using hIG for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 outpatients have not been reported. We assessed the safety and efficacy of subcutaneous anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin 20% (C19-IG20%) compared to placebo in preventing development of symptomatic COVID-19 in asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: We did a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, in asymptomatic unvaccinated adults (≥18 years of age) with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection within 5 days between April 28 and December 27, 2021. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to receive a blinded subcutaneous infusion of 10 mL with 1 g or 2 g of C19-IG20%, or an equivalent volume of saline as placebo. The primary endpoint was the proportion of participants who remained asymptomatic through day 14 after infusion. Secondary endpoints included the proportion of individuals who required oxygen supplementation, any medically attended visit, hospitalisation, or ICU, and viral load reduction and viral clearance in nasopharyngeal swabs. Safety was assessed as the proportion of patients with adverse events. The trial was terminated early due to a lack of potential benefit in the target population in a planned interim analysis conducted in December 2021. ClinicalTrials.gov registry: NCT04847141. Findings: 461 individuals (mean age 39.6 years [SD 12.8]) were randomized and received the intervention within a mean of 3.1 (SD 1.27) days from a positive SARS-CoV-2 test. In the prespecified modified intention-to-treat analysis that included only participants who received a subcutaneous infusion, the primary outcome occurred in 59.9% (91/152) of participants receiving 1 g C19-IG20%, 64.7% (99/153) receiving 2 g, and 63.5% (99/156) receiving placebo (difference in proportions 1 g C19-IG20% vs. placebo, −3.6%; 95% CI -14.6% to 7.3%, p = 0.53; 2 g C19-IG20% vs placebo, 1.1%; −9.6% to 11.9%, p = 0.85). None of the secondary clinical efficacy endpoints or virological endpoints were significantly different between study groups. Adverse event rate was similar between groups, and no severe or life-threatening adverse events related to investigational product infusion were reported. Interpretation: Our findings suggested that administration of subcutaneous human hyperimmune immunoglobulin C19-IG20% to asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection was safe but did not prevent development of symptomatic COVID-19. Funding: Grifols