The impact of fundubbing on the attitude towards the learning of Basque in primary education: A case study

Abstract

This article presents a fundubbing project carried out in a 6th grade primary education class in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital city of the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC). The study aims at analysing whether attitudes towards Basque, a minority language in Spain, can be improved by the use of audiovisual translation (AVT), specifically fundubbing. Qualitative data about the use of Basque by the students were gathered through pre-test and post-test questionnaires based on Lasagabaster (2003) to measure attitudes towards Basque, both in an experimental group (n=22) that carried out the fundubbing project, and in a control group (n=23). Additionally, data about the opinions on the process and results of the project were gathered and analysed in the experimental group after the project was concluded. The results demonstrate that students developed a more positive attitude towards Basque after experimenting with fundubbing in the language classroom. Students principally highlighted the motivation provided by technology in the classroom, which aligns with previous research on didactic AVT (Alonso-Pérez & Sánchez-Requena, 2018; Fernández-Costales, 2021). These findings bring a clear didactic implication with them, as they indicate that fundubbing could be considered a valuable tool in the development of positive attitudes towards minority languages in young learners.