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Foreign Language Class with Audio Description: A Case Study

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Researching Audio Description

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting ((PTTI))

Abstract

Walczak presents the results of a study aimed at examining the influence of audio described films on foreign vocabulary acquisition among primary school learners with and without vision impairments. The study also tested whether audio description itself can help both sighted and partially sighted children to increase their lexical competence and better understand the content of educational movies. Finally, the study looked into whether audio describing educational films could prove helpful for young viewers with and without vision impairments, and more importantly, whether such audiovisual materials could become an additional didactic tool. The results showed that these hypotheses were supported and that it is worth introducing films with audio description into the school curriculum. The educational value of audio description was confirmed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    All translations have been made by the author.

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Acknowledgements

This research was partially supported by the European project Hybrid Broadcast Broadband for All (HBB4ALL) from the FP7 CIP-ICT-PSP.2013.5.1 # 621014. It is also partially funded by the Catalan grant 2014SGR027.

I owe a great deal of gratitude to Karolina Chromińska and Wojciech Figiel for their constant support and inspiration as well as invaluable help in conducting the study. I would also like to thank Agata Duran and Paulina Cich for their help with data collection. Last but not least, I extend my gratitude to the directors and teachers of the Didasko Private Primary School and the Zofia Galewska Special Educational Centre for Visually Impaired Children for allowing me to carry out the study and to all the participants who were keen on learning English with AD.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Agnieszka Walczak

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  1. Agnieszka Walczak
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Edifici B, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

    Anna Matamala

  2. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, UNIVERSITAT AUTÓNOMA DE BARCELONA, Barcelona, Spain

    Pilar Orero

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© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)

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Walczak, A. (2016). Foreign Language Class with Audio Description: A Case Study. In: Matamala, A., Orero, P. (eds) Researching Audio Description. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56917-2_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56917-2_10

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-56916-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56917-2

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