Subtitling short films to improve writing and translation skills

Abstract

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.