Student responses to subtitled and dubbed educational content: Implications for university translanguaging practices

Abstract

This article examines audiovisual translanguaging as a pedagogical strategy in South African universities, where students navigate tensions between English dominance and the institutional mandate to promote indigenous African languages. Through investigating student experiences with subtitled and dubbed instructional videos in agricultural science programmes, three research questions were added: (1) students’ audiovisual language preferences, (2) how these preferences reflect linguistic tensions and (3) implications for balancing language needs. Our mixed-methods study revealed that while English subtitles are predominantly preferred, students showed greater willingness to engage with indigenous languages aurally than through text. Students strategically pair different languages across modes, often combining indigenous language audio with English subtitles to balance comprehension and comfort. However, difficulties with formal academic terminology in indigenous languages highlight the need for more accessible vocabulary development approaches. The study demonstrates how audiovisual materials create productive student spaces to leverage students’ full linguistic repertoires while acknowledging that horizontal translanguaging practices alone may not provide sufficient access to languages of power necessary for academic success.
Contribution: We make recommendations for institutional policies that recognise multilingualism as a reality, supporting both fluid multilingual practices and the development of academic registers in indigenous languages.