Description
Presentation: Reconfiguration of Chilean translators’ cultural and professional identities: The impact of multimodal consumption in language learningIn a globalised world, cultural interchange goes beyond physical geographical boundaries. Nowadays, Chileans are able to engage with online series, music, books, games and others that grant them access to become part of the culture for which these materials were conceived and, thus, reconfigure their identities by becoming part of that target culture. This process is significant in higher education programmes in which languages configure students’ restructuring of their identities in the target languages, such as translators. This presentation outlines the social representations held by first- and fifth-year students of the Translation Studies undergraduate programme at Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH) to compare how their perceptions towards the learning process and themselves evolve and how they visualise themselves as speakers of English, Japanese and Portuguese. Data were collected using a free association of concepts and semi structured interviews in three focus groups, which were recorded, transcribed and analysed. The results of this case study show that learners experienced a self-driven learning process through multimodal consumption, which enhanced virtual engagement with online members of foreign communities. Participants also evidenced a reconstruction of their cultural identity by means of collective negotiation of meaning on the internet. In a formal learning context, students emphasised rapport and teaching style as interaction boosters in the foreign languages. It is concluded that students move from an unfocused, inconsistent vision to a coherent, sound stance in which their desires to become part of the target culture empowers them as efficient professionals with a multicultural identity.
| Period | 5 Oct 2018 |
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| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Manchester, United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | National |