English audio description: Selected linguistic features and applications for ESL classrooms

Abstract

This chapter focuses on audio description (AD), a form of accessible translation delivered orally and consumed aurally that was originally conceived to make visual content accessible to people who are blind and visually impaired. Recently, AD has started to be used successfully by several secondary audiences, and especially in the language classromm, where it has a great potential. In this chapter, we take into account diverse classroom applications of both art and screen AD. In the first part of the chapter, we set the foundations of this discipline and highlight a selection of linguistic aspects of professional English AD for the art. Then, we show some possible applications of art AD in the English language classroom. In the second part of the chapter, we describe AD as a versatile resource for university students learning English and illustrate a university course aimed at teaching how to write English ADs for the screen. Finally, we showcase an example of art AD simplification targeted at audiences with cognitive difficulties.