Free commentary to enhance writing and speaking skills in EFL teacher training

In recent years, the application of Audiovisual Translation (AVT) in Foreign Language Learning (FLL) within a communicative approach has attracted the attention of scholars and European institutions. A fast-growing body of research supports the integration of AVT in the language classroom because of its benefits as a learning task (Lertola 2019). Captioning and revoicing (written and oral language transfer procedures respectively) can enhance receptive and productive language skills. In particular, captioning and revoicing tasks allow language learners to deal with authentic multimodal material that combines both verbal and non-verbal elements in an innovative and motivating manner (Sokoli 2020). This paper discusses an exploratory study on the application of a less-studied revoicing mode – free commentary – with 18 Infant Education students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in a Vocational Education and Training (VET) centre in Madrid, Spain. Within their professional module “Teaching English in Infant Education”, learners have developed a free commentary task in which they had to collaboratively create the written script of a short animation and then record it individually. The task had a double objective: to foster learners’ writing and speaking skills, and to give them the opportunity to develop an infant-targeted digital storytelling activity. The didactic use of English in teacher training can be considered a form of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) since it should be tailored to the learners’ future professional needs (Masoni 2019). A number of data collection instruments were employed in the exploratory study, namely a feedback questionnaire for learners, an observation rubric for the teacher-researcher and the only-observing teacher, evaluation of learners’ written scripts through a tailored-made rubric, and an audio-recorded focus-group with learners. The findings of this study support previous research on the benefits of revoicing tasks in language learning.