UCL offers a doctoral scholarship to start in October 2014 and to carry research
on:
Television subtitling for deaf and hearing-impaired viewers: a route to improve
English language skills for UK migrants with normal hearing
Supervisor Pair: Professor Bencie Woll and Dr Jorge Díaz-Cintas
Potential Student’s Home Department: PaLS/DCAL
A
major concern in relation to migrants is the development of English
language skills
and of acculturation to British society. Television has a powerful role
to play in both of these. There is evidence from several studies that
use of television subtitling can enhance literacy skills in deaf and
hearing-impaired viewers – both children and
adults. The proposed project will explore the current and potential use
of television subtitling to support the development of spoken English
and English literacy in migrants to the UK with normal hearing. The
first stage will explore current uses of subtitling
by migrants and attitudes to subtitling and the development of English
language skills; the second stage will develop an intervention programme
in conjunction with a small number of migrant advisory groups and FE
colleges offering English language courses
for migrants. Skills in English and acculturation/identity ratings will
be measured both before and after intervention for comparison with
non-users of subtitling. Feedback from users will form part of a
guidance document for subtitlers and for those involved
in English language education for migrants. This project is unique in
applying provision for the deaf community to a wider population and
combines expertise in subtitling (Diaz-Cintas) and deaf people’s
language development and literacy (Woll).
Further details:
www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/aco/bat/gc/
www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/aco/bat/gc/
Dr Jorge Díaz-Cintas
Director of Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS)
University College London
50 Gordon Square, Room 206
London WC1H 0PQ
Tel.: +44 (0)20 7679 9363
Internal: 09363
