Impact of Didactic Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing in Foreign Language Learning

This article aims to determine whether it is possible to improve the Communicative Language Competence in all or some language skills (oral reception, written reception, oral production, written production and mediation) through an intervention based on three Lesson Plans (LPs) of Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (SDH), as one of the modes of Didactic Audiovisual Translation (DAT) for foreign language learning. The method applied in this study involves a quantitative analysis using descriptive statistical data: the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test and Mediation Analysis using PROCESS with Bootstrapping. This study aims to i) analyse the correlation between the initial Test of Integrated Skills (ITIS) and the Final Test of Integrated Skills (FITIS, and ii) find out to what extent the SDH activities as mediation variable impact on the results between the ITIS and the FITIS. This study was conducted among 167 participants from six Spanish universities during the academic year 2021-2022. The results obtained are consistent with previous research published within the TRADILEX project. Furthermore, these data demonstrate progress in learning across all skills, with a particular emphasis on improvements in oral production. Therefore, in the discussion and conclusions, the combined use of SDH with other DAT modes is recommended for these skills.