Learning ESL through AVT: A Case Study

It is claimed that watching films is a good way to improve a second language (L2), because it is an enjoyable activity. Furthermore, films expose to instances of real-life language, which is what L2 learners often lack. This paper is aimed at exploring how a selection of film sequences in the original and dubbed versions can be used as teaching materials to involve, motivate and amuse students. To this aim, this paper presents a case study carried out with 11th grade students, who participated in a workshop and watched film sequences in both the original and dubbed versions. The film excerpts were selected on the basis of their effective or ineffective renderings in the target language (Italian). Students watched the excerpts and were prompted to find instances of accurate or inaccurate audiovisual translations (AVT). Sometimes they were asked to suggest coherent renderings, especially when the dubbed utterances were imprecise and/or sounded unnatural. In this way, students increased their language awareness; they learnt the expressions which hallmark spoken language, and became acquainted with translation challenges. At the end of the lesson, students filled in a questionnaire. The paper findings highlight that not only did students find the lesson enjoyable and interesting, but they also perceived their L2 proficiency as increased.


Introduction
It is argued that second language (L2) incidental learning is fostered by watching films (Gilmore, 2010;Nunan and Richards, 2015). Films are, in fact, defined as a fertile ground for authentic material (Gilmore, 2010;Donaghy, 2014). Although scripted, it is claimed that film language is the closest thing L2 students have to authentic spoken language (Sherman, 2003, p. 13; Donaghy, 2014;Pavesi, Formentelli and Ghia, 2015). Therefore, watching a film is a way to learn real-life spoken interaction. The advantages of using authentic materials in class are plenty. Amongst others, students feel motivated and raise their language awareness (Buck, 2001). In this way, their L2 fluency will also increase. Tomlinson (1998), in fact, states that "there is certainly a likelihood that increased awareness will lead to increased proficiency" (ibid. p. 42).
Watching films is particularly motivating, enjoyable and interesting for L2 students (Gilmore, 2010, p. 117; Donaghy, 2014). As interest is considered the main purpose in L2 learning, ways to address it should always be in sight (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 41). Furthermore, some scholars argue that watching (excerpts of) films is a way to "bridge the gap" between intentional and incidental learning (Frumuselu et al., 2015, p. 110). Nonetheless, literature reports that teaching materials should not be too challenging vis-a-vis the students' level of L2 knowledge (McGrath, 2013, p. 158). In this case, in fact, they would feel demotivated and their learning process would be hindered (ibid.). For instance, some scholars report that watching an entire film could be too demanding (Canning-Wilson, 2000); therefore, sequences or extracts of films would be more adequate (Gilmore, 2010). In this respect, Stempleski (1992) states that a few minutes' excerpt provides enough material for an entire lesson. Finally, some researchers argue that dialogue transcripts would enable students to better concentrate on relevant linguistics aspects, without being distracted while watching (Gilmore, 2010).

Film Excerpt Analysis
In light of the above, this paper is aimed at exploring how a few film excerpts in both the original and dubbed versions can be stimulating for L2 learners. In particular, it will highlight that students exposed to film sequences may improve their language awareness. To this aim, a case study was carried out. Thirteen 11 th grade students (who attended a foreign language secondary school) participated in a 120-minute workshop where they watched film excerpts in both English and their native language (Italian). The film excerpts were from a few seconds' to a few minutes' long and focused on some successful or unsuccessful instances of audiovisual translation (AVT) (Giampieri, 2016 , 2006). Inaccurate renderings also contain flaws, inconsistencies or proper mistakes. When exposed to effective dubbing, students had the chance to increase their language awareness because they could retain the features of spoken language (Giampieri, 2018). On the other hand, when exposed to inaccurate renderings, students felt stimulated by language challenges. In these cases, in fact, they were prompted to find what was wrong and to correct the dubbing mistakes. Thanks to these tasks, students felt involved and, at the same time, they had the chance to improve their L2. Furthermore, they became aware of the challenges encompassing the rendering of spoken language (Giampieri, 2018). At the end of the lesson, students filled in a questionnaire, where they expressed their opinions on the lesson content and materials.
The first part of this paper outlines the film sequences which contain accurate or inaccurate examples of Italian dubbing vis-a-vis the original versions. In particular, it highlights the exercises proposed to students which helped them feel involved and improve their L2 knowledge. The second part is dedicated to the questionnaire analysis and lesson assessment.
In this part, sequences of original language films and their dubbed versions are addressed. As stated above, students watched excerpts sourced from several films. The excerpts were selected with the aim of raising language awareness and favour learning (Tomlinson, 1998, p. 42). As a matter of fact, they contained successful and unsuccessful dubbing instances (i.e., accurate and less accurate renderings). Before starting the workshop, students were informed that they would watch film sequences in both the original (English) and dubbed versions (Italian). Furthermore, they would decide whether the renderings of the dubbed versions were faithful and sounded natural. In particular, students were prompted to find out if there was anything wrong with the renderings of the dubbed sequences and, if so, they were asked to correct it. Alternatively, they had to propose a coherent translation into Italian of original sequences before watching the dubbed versions. Students were also given transcripts of the dialogues in order to focus on linguistics aspects. . They were extracted from each film by using VLC media player free software and were from 30 seconds' to 5 minutes' long.
The first film sequence that students watched was sourced from the film My fair Lady (1964). The sequence showed Higgings, a notorious professor of phonetics, trying to make Eliza, a poor flower girl, become a lady. Eliza had a strong Cockney accent and she practised by pronouncing the sentence "the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain" more times. In Italian, this sentence was changed into "la rana in Spagna gracida in campagna" (literally "the frog in Spain croaks in the country"). The reason for this choice was due to the fact that in the dubbed version Eliza used regional expressions and spoke a mixture of Italian dialects: Neapolitan, Apulian and Ciociarian. Therefore, her sentences sounded distorted. Although fictional, this dialect was very effective. Another interesting example students were exposed to, was when prof. Higgins taught Eliza how to pronounce the H. In the Italian language, Hs are not pronounced; therefore, the audiovisual translators had to find ways to justify her efforts. The solution was found in teaching how to pronounce the Hs in order to let Eliza take breath properly and exercise her diaphragm. Students were exposed to these examples because in this way they could understand that adapting a dialogue, both linguistically and culturally, is not always an easy task.
In the excerpts which followed, they focused on a different dubbing strategy. For example, when street language and slang were used in original dialogues, students noted that these were never rendered in the Italian versions. An example was sourced from the film The Godfather -Part II (1974), where some characters speak Sicilian in the original film. In the Italian version, instead, they speak Italian with a Sicilian-like accent. Students noticed these differences and were puzzled by such inconsistent translation choices. For instance, in a dialogue with Harry, he says: "Thought you were leaving without saying goodbye, did you?" In this sentence, the following imprecisions can be noticed: subject ellipsis ("thought") and a question tag ("did you?"), which is unrelated to the main phrase tense ("you were leaving"). In the Italian dubbing, his sentence is uttered in standard language: "Pensavi di andartene senza salutare, eh?" (Back translation: "Were you thinking to leave without saying goodbye, uh?") Students were astonished by the differences in the two versions and understood that sometimes dubbing entails levelling off language differences.
Another rather disappointing example students were exposed to was sourced from the film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009). In this excerpt, the famous wizard Harry Potter chooses the girl he will go to a party with, and utters: "I'll ask someone I like, someone cool!" The dubbed film proposes a completely distorted version, where Harry Potter becomes a bold character he has never been: "Inviterò una che mi piace, una fica!" (Back translation: "I sill ask someone I like, a hot babe!") As it can be clearly noticed, the two utterances are quite different. In this way, students became aware of possible unjustified divergences between an original film and its dubbed version.
One last example revolved around a mistranslation in the film IT (1990). Pennywise, a monster-clown, utters the following words when inviting Georgie (a boy passing by) to join him: "There's cotton candy, rides and all sorts of surprises down here. And balloons too, all colours." Intrigued by the invitation, Georgie promptly asks: "Do they float?" In Italian, Georgie's words are rendered as follows: "E galleggiano?" (Back translation: "And do they float?") Although the verb choice might seem appropriate, it is utterly at odds with its semantic load. In Italian "galleggiare" ("to float") only means "to float on/in water"; whereas in English, "to float" also applies to the air. In Italian, "to float in the air" is best rendered by "fluttuare" ("to fluctuate"). After being prompted about the meaning of "galleggiare", students easily proposed an alternative rendering.
As outlined above, another way to raise the students' interest and attention was by asking to perform a few translation tasks. For example, they were asked to propose a coherent rendering of the pun in the following joke, extracted from Pulp Fiction (1994): "Three tomatoes are walking down the street; Pappa tomato, Mamma tomato, and Baby tomato. Baby tomato starts lagging behind and Pappa tomato gets really angry, goes back and squishes him and says: catch up, catch up." As it can be inferred, the pun is in the word "catch up", which is a homophone of "ketchup". A few students proposed interesting solutions, such as "passa un pomodoro, passa un secondo pomodoro, è fatta la passata" (literally "one tomato passes, another tomato passes; all tomatoes have passed"), where "passata" both means "passed" and "(tomato) puree". Then students watched the Italian dubbing and found out that "catch up" was rendered with "fai il concentrato" (literally "be concentrated"), where "concentrato" both means "focused" and "(tomato) paste".
Another interesting pun which was brilliantly tackled by students was in the film Robots (2005). The film sequence shows a man-robot hurrying home to see his newly-born childrobot. As soon as he gets home, however, his wife says: "Oh honey, I'm so sorry, you missed the delivery." While uttering these words, the wife shows a parcel with pieces to mount. Students were prompted to find where the pun was before watching the dubbed version. They clearly identified it in the word "delivery" and rendered it with "arrival", which was the same word used in the dubbed version.
The pun in The Chornicles of Narnia (2005), although less challenging, was also perfectly addressed. In this sequence, a girl (Susan) is inspecting a wardrobe after her sister (Lucy) claimed that it was the entrance to a magic forest. In the original version, Susan sceptically utters: "You see, the only wood here is the one in the back of the wardrobe." Students were prompted to find the pun and to propose a coherent translation before watching the dubbed version. The pun was easily found in "wood" and students proposed "bosco" (literally "wood/ forest") and "legna" (literally "firewood"). In the dubbed version, Susan utters "alberi" ("trees"): "Lucy, gli unici alberi qui, sono quelli usati per fare l'armadio." (Back translation: "Lucy, the only trees here are those used to make the wardrobe.") Another challenge, which students met outstandingly, was in the film Charlie and the Chocolate factory (2005). To perform this task, the students were exposed to an original sequence and to its dubbed version. Then they were prompted to pinpoint discrepancies. In the excerpt, Willy Wonka, the owner of a chocolate factory, is paying a visit to Charlie (his future successor) and his family. When entering, Willy Wonka stutters: "You must be the boy's p...p... ." The sentence is finished by Charlie's father with "parents". In the Italian version, the dialogue is the following: Willy Wonka: "Voi dovete essere i suoi p.. p..." Charlie's father: "Parenti." (Back translation: Willy Wonka: "You must be his p..p.." Charlie's father: "Relatives.") The students noticed the mistranslation, but remarked that it must have been necessary due to lip movements. This was a very insightful remark.
An example of how dubbing can flatten socio-cultural references and values could be found in Jumper (2008). In this case, students were exposed to a dialogue between Dave and Griffin, two jumpers (people with space-travelling powers), and were prompted to propose a translation before watching the dubbed version.
Dave: "Yeah, my mum, she took off when I was five… I know what it's like… you know… My dad, he…" Griffin: "Did I ask you about your family? I mean, we're on Oprah here, or…??" What was culturally bound in the dialogue between Dave and Griffin was the reference to Oprah Winfrey, a notorious American TV show anchor. The students were thrilled about finding a possible corresponding Italian anchor and proposed a few names. Unfortunately, they were disappointed when they heard the dubbing, where no references were uttered. The last film excerpt was sourced from the twelfth episode of the third season of The Mentalist (2011), where a woman questioned by FBI agents says to another woman: "Probably orangecream sodas, right Esther?" Esther: "Yes, we make natural sodas." In Italian, the dialogue was the following: "Credo sia la soda alla crema d'arancia, vero Esther?" Esther: "Sì, facciamo bibite naturali" (Back translation: "I think it's the orange-custard sodium carbonate, right Esther?" Esther: "Yes, we make natural beverages.") It is self-evident that there were a couple of mistakes in the Italian version. The first one regarded the word "soda", which was left as such in the Italian dubbing. Unfortunately, "soda" means "sodium carbonate" in Italian. Therefore, it is far from being a refreshing beverage. The second mistake was the false-friend "cream" which sounds like "crema". This, however, means "custard". Students were able to pinpoint the second mistake, but they did not notice the first one. This was very interesting and remarkable. Although further research would be necessary, it could be speculated that students could not notice the erroneous translation of "soda" due to repeated exposures to the same mistranslation in past films or series. In light of the film excerpts provided above and the ways students met linguistic challenges, it can be asserted that the workshop was enjoyable, interesting and successful. As a matter of fact, students participated actively and proposed effective renderings. Before ending the workshop, however, a final questionnaire was administrated.

The Questionnaire
The questionnaire was anonymous and was designed with the aim of verifying whether the workshop had been effective, i.e., whether the students enjoyed the lesson and perceived any improvements in their L2. According to literature, in fact, in order to improve second language, materials should not be too demanding (McGrath, 2013) and lessons should be enjoyable (ibid.). In light of the above, the questionnaire assessed the following aspects: the previous students' L2 knowledge and whether it had been enough to follow the lesson; the effective participation in the activities; the level of satisfaction with the lesson and with the materials; the length of exposure to the sequences and any perceived language improvement. Appendix 1 reports the full questionnaire that students filled in, together with the results.  Table 1 Students answering the question "How did you find the lesson?" Table 2 Students giving reasons for their opinions in Table 1 teacher of English who also attended the workshop.
All students (13 of 13) declared that their previous L2 knowledge enabled them to follow the lesson and participate in the activities (see Appendix 1 for full information). The majority of the students found the lesson interesting and amusing. The main reason was the fact that they dealt with something new (Tables 1 and 2). Another question revolved around the materials. In particulars, the students were asked whether they would have preferred watching an entire film to excerpts of different films. Almost all students (12 of 13) replied negatively and their reasons were mostly grounded on the fact that by watching several sequences they had the chance to notice, understand and learn a wider variety of L2 peculiarities ( Table 3).
Most of the students (10 of 13) felt that, thanks to the workshop, they acquired new L2 features. In particular, they stated that they increased their knowledge of spoken language (Table 4).
All students agreed that this type of lesson should complement the regular ones (13 of 13), mainly because it was a good way to learn and to feel involved (Table 5).
What is also noticeable is that almost all students remarked their intention to watch films in original language after the lesson ( Table 6).
In light of the above, it is self-evident that students could actively participate in the workshop. They enjoyed the lesson, focused their attention on language and probably enhanced their L2 skills. After the workshop, most of the students declared that they were willing to watch films in the original language, which corroborates their motivation and interest. As a matter of fact, not only did they find the lesson interesting (Tables 1 and  2), but they also felt that their knowledge of spoken language increased (Table 4).  Table 4 What students perceived as newly acquired knowledge Table 5 Answers to "Why should this type of lesson complement the regular ones?"  Gilmore, 2010), the majority of the students stated that they preferred sequences of different films to watching an entire film.
It is argued that watching films in a second language (L2) motivates learners and helps them boost their language proficiency. Through films, in fact, students are exposed to instances of real, informal language, which would hardly be found elsewhere. This paper was aimed at exploring whether watching film sequences can be considered an enjoyable and effective language learning activity. To this aim, this paper presented a case study where secondary school students were exposed to excerpts of films in the original and target language. The film sequences had been chosen on the basis of the accuracy or inaccuracy of the dubbed versions. A version was considered accurate when it was faithful to the original one and it sounded natural to the target audience. A version was considered inaccurate when it sounded unnatural or it contained mistakes or inconsistencies.
At first, students watched the original and dubbed versions of the film extracts in order to focus on successful translation strategies (e.g., the fictional regional accent of the character Eliza in the dubbing of My Fair Lady). In this way, their awareness was raised. Then, they were exposed to instances of unsuccessful translations. In these cases, they were asked to find the translation mistakes of the dubbed versions. Most of the times, students were able to spot inconsistent renderings quite easily (e.g., the translation of "float" in the Italian version of IT).
Other times, instead, they had some difficulties. For example, possible previous exposures to erroneous translations did not help them pinpoint the dubbing mistakes in the rendering of "soda" in The Mentalist. The students were also prompted to watch sequences in the original version and propose translations into Italian before watching the dubbed excerpts. Most of the times, the students were able to provide sensible and insightful translation proposals (e.g. the joke in Pulp Fiction; the pun in The Chronicles of Narnia). In these cases, it was noticeable that students' proposals were accurate and original. Other times, their proposals were the same as the ones uttered in the dubbed films (e.g., the back translation "arrival" which rendered "delivery" in Robots). At the end of the lesson, students filled in a questionnaire, where they expressed their opinions on the lesson. They first declared that it was not difficult for them to follow the lesson; hence, they could participate actively. The questionnaire results highlighted that all students enjoyed the lesson and found it particularly interesting and useful. Furthermore, they felt that their L2 knowledge increased and confirmed perceived improvements in the understanding of L2 sayings and speech elements. They also declared their intention to watch more films in original language and to ask for similar lessons in the near future.
This case study proved that preparing a lesson by using film excerpts could be fruitful for language teaching and learning. In addition, if students are provided with transcripts, they can better understand and analyse dialogues. In this way, it will be possible for them to retain new language features, especially those encompassing spoken language. Consequently, students will find the class amusing and gratifying; hence, they will feel involved and motivated. Furthermore, they will be able to understand and address language challenges, find out dubbing mistakes or inconsistencies and propose appropriate renderings. Therefore, their language awareness will be raised.
In light of the above, it can be stated that improving a second language by watching film excerpts is possible and enjoyable. It could also be speculated that the students raised awareness can lead to an increased fluency, although further research would be called for.