Title
The elaboration of nonconventional ADs in Spanish phonetics classes
Conference name
1st International conference on didactic audiovisual translation and media accessibility
City
Country
Spain
Modalities
Date
22/03/2023-24/03/2023
Abstract
Audio description (AD) is a versatile teaching resource that enables the development of language skills in foreign language classes (Talaván & Lertola, 2016; Herrero & Escobar, 2018; Navarrete, 2018). However, as Soler Pardo says "[AD] is an activity that lends itself to practise oral aspects of the language production such as pronunciation, intonation, and speed" (2022: 170), something we explored in this pilot project.
According to Fryer, audio describers should employ 'a neutral way of speaking' (2016: 88), although neutrality is an indeterminate concept that gives rise to considerable debate. Udo and Fels' (2009a, 2009b) studies on unconventional ADs show that they can sometimes contribute to greater enjoyment, and intonation, among other elements, can play an important role in this. Cabeza-Cáceres (2013) also concludes that intonation in AD does not affect comprehension, but it does affect enjoyment. In more recent studies, Machuca, Matamala and Ríos try to find out what a neutral or pleasant voice is and whether it should indeed be the norm in AD recordings (2020a, 2020b).
In this paper, we present a pilot experience in a Spanish phonetics class for English speakers. Our main objective is to work on intonation and other prosodic features in Spanish by creating unconventional AD of films’ scenes of different genres. In this action-research, we have used a pre-questionnaire and two diagnostic tests (oral and written), and we have analysed them together with the recordings of the different ADs and two final tests.
The first results of this pilot experience show that the participants improved their performance of different prosodic features in Spanish (intonation, fluency, accent), and considered that the practice of AD was a different, motivating and very creative activity that allowed them to explore new ways of practising Spanish phonetics.
According to Fryer, audio describers should employ 'a neutral way of speaking' (2016: 88), although neutrality is an indeterminate concept that gives rise to considerable debate. Udo and Fels' (2009a, 2009b) studies on unconventional ADs show that they can sometimes contribute to greater enjoyment, and intonation, among other elements, can play an important role in this. Cabeza-Cáceres (2013) also concludes that intonation in AD does not affect comprehension, but it does affect enjoyment. In more recent studies, Machuca, Matamala and Ríos try to find out what a neutral or pleasant voice is and whether it should indeed be the norm in AD recordings (2020a, 2020b).
In this paper, we present a pilot experience in a Spanish phonetics class for English speakers. Our main objective is to work on intonation and other prosodic features in Spanish by creating unconventional AD of films’ scenes of different genres. In this action-research, we have used a pre-questionnaire and two diagnostic tests (oral and written), and we have analysed them together with the recordings of the different ADs and two final tests.
The first results of this pilot experience show that the participants improved their performance of different prosodic features in Spanish (intonation, fluency, accent), and considered that the practice of AD was a different, motivating and very creative activity that allowed them to explore new ways of practising Spanish phonetics.