Multimodality in translation: a look into EFL and JSL classrooms

Abstract

There has been an increased interest in multimodality in the field of both language pedagogy and translation studies. To our knowledge, however, only a few empirical studies have investigated students’ perceptions and learning through translation classrooms focusing on multimodality. This paper reports on multimodal translation tasks implemented in two different classrooms: a Korean-to-English translation classroom in Korea (English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom) and a Japanese-English translation classroom in Japan (Japanese as a second language (JSL) classroom). In both classrooms, the students were assigned a task translating comics. In addition to the text itself, students also discussed other semiotics that appear in the comics, including images, font size, and colour, and made translation decisions accordingly. Based on the analysis of students’ learning journals, this paper discusses a number of pedagogical benefits and challenges derived from a multimodal translation classroom. In doing so, it highlights the importance of raising students’ awareness of different semiotics that construct text.

Keywords:

• Multimodality
• Korean
• Japanese
• translation in language teaching

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The data collection and analyses of the Japanese language classroom was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI under Grant Numbers [17K13486] and [20K13079].

Notes on contributors

Eiko Gyogi

Eiko Gyogi is currently an assistant professor at Akita International University in Akita, Japan and will start as an associate professor at Okinawa University, Okinawa, Japan in April 2022. She teaches various undergraduate Japanese language courses. She obtained a PhD in Linguistics at SOAS, University of London. Her research interests include translation in language teaching, pragmatics, and heritage language education.

Vivian Lee

Vivian Lee is an associate professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, South Korea. She teaches various undergraduate and postgraduate English language and Korean-English translation and interpreting courses. She obtained her PhD in Linguistics at SOAS, University of London. Her research interests include translation, intercultural communication and language pedagogy.