Multimodality in translation: a look into EFL and JSL classrooms

Abstract

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.