Editor's Message

Abstract

Editor's Message Benjamin Fraser, Editor of Hispania We are so pleased to be launching this special issue of Hispania on Applied Translation, guest-edited by Javier Muñoz-Basols (Universidad de Sevilla), Craig Neville (University College Cork), Barbara Lafford (Arizona State University), and Concepción Godev (University of North Carolina at Charlotte). What they capture so well in their substantive introduction is the state of developments in the field, including even the rise of AI and the increased availability of tools such as Chat GPT. More than that, they have advanced a compelling framework for integrating Applied Translation into L2 teaching at this very moment when education is rapidly changing. They explain this IMI+ framework (Integration, Multimodality, and Interaction) as a way of developing digital literacy and critical thinking in Spanish L2 classrooms, and they support a Critical Ecological Approach that can help researchers, instructors, and students to identify and perhaps also to correct power imbalances and societal inequities. The full title that the guest editors have chosen for their introduction is "Potentialities of Applied Translation for Language Learning in the Era of Artificial Intelligence," which speaks to the breadth and depth of the research articles that follow. Their introduction is really an article-length intervention in its own right and is sure to have a reverberating impact. It is well contextualized in the existing literature and richly cited. What strikes me most as a non-specialist in Applied Translation is how accessible it is even for other non-specialists out there. This is a fascinating collaboration that is all the more powerful for being a fusion of four different voices. I understand that the guest-editors enjoyed working on this project together, and it truly shows. Specialized researchers working in the area of Applied Translation will surely appreciate the seven articles collected here. Still, the appeal goes well beyond specialty to broach intriguing connections across linguistics, pedagogy and even literary and cultural studies. Discussion ranges far and wide, crossing bilingualism, morpho-syntax, pedagogy and communicative tasks, humanitarianism, ethics and empathy, music, audiovisual materials, and even the graphic novel. [End Page 169] Copyright © 2023 AATSP