Active Subtitling as a Learning Tool for ESP Students

Abstract

This article aims at approaching subtitling as a tool for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) students. It provides a description of the important role audiovisual translation (AVT) plays in language teaching/learning. It is based on scholars' work, including (Sokoli 2006; Diaz Cintas  2013; Talavan 2007).  This paper tackles the pedagogical application of subtitling in an ESP context as it enhances individual and collaborative learning, exposure to and interaction with real and new complex situations, and developing different linguistic skills.  The article presents a classification of the different types of subtitles that are used in language teaching/learning and considers the pros of using subtitled videos as a didactic tool to enhance vocabulary learning for ESP students. Accordingly, the paper emphasises active subtitling, a technique in which learners create their own subtitles, especially with the groundbreaking progress of IT technology (Diaz Cintas 2012; Talavan 2013). The article ends by presenting the findings of an experiment I have conducted in my engineering classes on the basis of active subtitles.