Improving Oral Production Skills in the Business English Class Through Creative Dubbing

Abstract

This study focuses on an innovative teaching project entitled Doblaje creativo (Creative Dubbing), which was conducted at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid during the 2019–2020 academic year. Its main goal was to explore the use of creative dubbing as an innovative tool for improving oral production skills in the business English classroom, as well as for other language skills. To this end, twenty students from the Degree in Commerce practised their speaking skills (a measured and dependent variable) in business English through creative dubbing activities (a manipulated and independent variable) - a recent application of didactic audiovisual translation (AVT). Several lecturers from public universities took part in this project, which employed a mixed methods study involving an experimental group (N=20) and a control group (N=20). Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. The former involved student tasks designed to assess three video-recorded presentations carried out by both groups, serving as pre- and post-language tests. The latter involved questionnaires filled in by the students. The results obtained indicate that creative dubbing is indeed a tool that can enhance students’ oral skills, motivating them regarding the use of a non-traditional educational methodology, which can be applied in any other English for specific purposes (ESP) context.