Audio description and intercultural competence in French as a foreign language class A teaching experience

Abstract

Audio description, an accessibility modality that guarantees access to audiovisual cultural products for people with sensory functional diversity, has been used as a didactic resource of undeniable value in foreign language classrooms for at least a decade (Rodrigues Barbosa, 2013; Ibáñez and Vermeulen, 2013, 2014, 2017; Calduch and Talaván, 2017; Navarrete, 2018). Audio description allows the development of communicative competence and is a very motivating tool for students. However, its exploitation is not yet widespread in the French language classroom, something that we intend to address in this project.

We started with the elaboration of a classroom intervention device (a didactic sequence), whose final product was the writing of an audio description script, and its subsequent application in B2 level classes of an official language school in Valencia. Our main objective was to develop intercultural competence in French classes, not only by comparing audio description scripts in two different languages, but also through the creation of scripts in French. Over four 100-minute sessions, activities designed around this didactic resource were implemented. An initial and final questionnaire, the AD scripts of two scenes created by the participants and their observations in a discussion forum were analyzed. The students improved in the recognition of the French-speaking cultural references presented throughout the sequence, which they included more frequently in the final audio description scripts. In addition, the comparison of scripts in different languages promoted intercultural reflection and the consideration of the describer as a cultural mediator.

Thus, we have created a didactic sequence to be applied in B2 level classes at the Official Language School of Valencia. Students take on the role of audio describer and are confronted with several scenes from films with French-speaking cultural references. By integrating audio description into the activities of the sequence, almost all the competences described by the Common Framework of Reference for Languages will be worked on in class (oral comprehension and written and oral expression in French, as well as mediation). It should also be noted that, given the strong cultural nature of the audio description activity, our intention is to introduce French-speaking culture into the classroom in a more motivating and innovative way. The results obtained show that the development of a script of different film sequences has encouraged cross-linguistic and intercultural reflection thanks to audio description and that the students have valued very positively the inclusion of this form of accessibility to develop communicative competences.