Steven Wong predoc researcher FWO

Research Steven Wong

Research team

Mapping the Boundary of Translation: A Process-Oriented Empirical Comparison of Interlingual, Hybrid, and Intersemiotic Audio Description. 01/11/2026 - 31/10/2030

Abstract

This project addresses the long-standing conceptual problem of where the boundary of "translation" lies by shifting the debate from definitions and products to empirically observable processes. Using empirical and experimental methods in Cognitive Translation and Interpreting and Writing Studies, it compares three tasks under controlled conditions: interlingual audio description (AD), hybrid AD, and intersemiotic AD. Seventy-five professional participants (25 per task type) will complete four short tasks whilst their behaviour is recorded through keylogging, eye-tracking, screen recording, audio recording, the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX), and retrospective interviews. These multimodal data will be used to model stages, strategies, and patterns of temporal, production, and cognitive effort for each task, followed by statistical comparison using linear mixed-effects models. The project will deliver empirically grounded process models for interlingual AD, hybrid AD, and intersemiotic AD, and will evaluate the extent to which intersemiotic practices exhibit translation-like process characteristics. By grounding the boundary debate in systematic process evidence, the study advances conceptual clarity in TS, extends the empirical scope of CTIS, and contributes new knowledge to AD research.

Researcher(s)

Research team(s)

Funding

  • FWO

Project type(s)

  • Research Project

TAP: tapping the audio description process. 01/10/2024 - 30/09/2028

Abstract

Audio description (AD) is an accessibility service for people with vision loss. In films, it is an additional audio track which describes the visual cues necessary to understand and enjoy the film. It is a translation of images into words, also known as intersemiotic translation. There are two workflows to produce AD scripts: (1) writing - choosing the relevant visual elements and turning them into text that fits in the limited space between the dialogues and the important elements of the original soundtrack; (2) translation of existing AD scripts (e.g., English>Dutch). These workflows exist in professional practice, but research into AD processes is non-existent. The project has three aims: (1) to conceptualize the AD process model(s): (2) to conceptualize intersemiotic translation as a process; (3) to test the reactivity of think-aloud protocols (TAP) in AD process research. We conduct four experiments, two on AD-writing and two on AD-translation. We monitor the participants' work with keylogging, eye tracking, screen, voice and face recording, and interviews. Participants will be asked to think aloud in half of the tasks. This project is urgent to avoid a one-sided view of audiovisual translation and media accessibility practices as a product. It is also relevant since it elicits essential questions that product-oriented approaches cannot answer and complements existing methodological approaches in AD research.

Researcher(s)

Research team(s)

Funding

  • BOF

Project type(s)

  • Research Project