A Step Forward to Using Translation to Teach a

Foreign/Second LanguageSayuki Machida

Sara Pacheco

MILEOct 2011

A step forward to using translation to teach a foreign/second language

QUESTION:To what extent can the class incorporate

translation activities?

AIM:To inform the broader question of whether

translation can be a major methodology in today’s language teaching.

Translation as an old methodGrammar-Translation (GT) method

L1 in L2

Focus on learning grammar rules and vocabulary, and deductive L2 learning

Much grammarFew listening & speaking

Natural Method orDirect Method

L2 in L2

Oral-aural approach in the early stage of L2 learning“input before output”

More listening Less speaking

Audiolingual Method (ALM)

L2 in L2

Habit-forming approach based on behaviorismExposure to language input

Less writingMore speaking

Communicative approach

L2 in L2

Meaningful input in L2Realistic situationsRealia

More speaking and writing

Notional/functional syllabus

L2 in L2

language as a tool of communication functional equations between L1 and L2 usage

More speaking and writing

Current post-communicative, cognitive paradigm

•Grammar can enhance learner syntactic system

Ellis (1996)

•Grammar teaching + Communicative tasks

Brown (1994) & Larsen-Freeman

(1991)

•“Focus on form” instruction

Dought & Williams (1998)

•Tradition synthetic grammar +context

•Negotiating meaning / metalinguistic discussion

•Forms in communication | Holistic activities

Focus on form

approach

•Authentic, challenging and meaningful projects

•Learner’s experiences into class activities

Constructivist approach

Current post-communicative, cognitive paradigm

•Bilinguals access one common storage sys-tem containing both L1 and L2 vocabulary.

•L1 to assist learners’ comprehension of L2 by creating more networks between nodes in their long term memory.

Macaro (2003)

No L1

L1?

Is L1 helpful in L2 learning?

Is it more beneficial than erroneous?

L1 use in L2 instruction and translationTHIS

STUDY

in an advanced L2 program

to explore effective ways of using the ‘act of translating’ to promote these learners' better comprehension of L2 texts

Teaching translation

Translation processes

Translation as a product

Translation from L2 into L1

To show whether they understand or not.

English-speaking learners

Reverse sentence translation(from L1 into L2)

To raise awareness of sentence structure and part related to meaning

The act of translating requires understanding of the original text, and linguistic and non-linguistic abilities and skills to recreate the original text meaning in another language.

1)It naturally creates more opportunities for the learners to focus not only on meaning, but also on the form of the text;

2)working back and forth between L1 and L2 can naturally bring not only explicit attention to the form and meaning of the text, but also discussion on linguistic and non-linguistic forms;

3)the act of translating can provide the learners with holistic challenging projects, involving problem-solving, and integrate linguistic, cultural, and pragmatic knowledge beyond com-municating using language.

L1 use in L2 instruction and translation

Setting

Introduction and use of act of translating for teaching Part A) In-class activities translating

mostly in pairs and groups

Part B) Outside class outside of the class semester long project

Act of translating as a method into teaching Japanese as a second language

Translation activities

Subject12 weeks over 3

months

Taken after a core course (4 years)

a) further development of students’ Japanese language skills

b) learning basic differences between English and Japanese

c) in-class experiences working between two languages and cultures

Part A) In-class activities (Text comprehension/translation)

Translation activities in class first six week period1) Sentence level translation, with focus on one particular

linguistic target at one time2) Short article translation integrated into reading exercises

involving various genres, such as newspaper, magazine, essays, and internet media.

Assessmentat the end of the first six weeksat the end of the semester

1st test translating one from a choice of two short essays (approximately 350 words: L2 to L1 translation) 30 minutes

2nd test sentence level (L1 to L2) translation and essay translation (L2 to L1: two out of three choices: 300–350 characters each) two hours.

translation tests

The essays were based on the topics covered during the six week teaching period

Learners bilingual dictionaries but no other references

Learner feedback and Teacher observation Learners’ informationLearner expectations of the subjectActivities the learners liked and dislikedActivities the learners considered useful

for their language learningTeacher/researcher observation on each

activity

Act of translating as a method into teaching Japanese as a second language

•Researcher’s recording•Questionnaires

Students quickly got bored with translating sentences.

After a few inquiries to clarify the objectives, most of them appeared to manage the work

fine.

Act of translating as a teaching methodTest Results Errors

1) extra meaning added by the reader (example: 市民 was translated as ‘innocent people’

instead of ‘civilians’ in a war article)2) missing words 3) loan words

(example ニーズ was understood as ‘news’, not as ‘needs’) 4) Voc-synonym

(example; AFP 通信 was understood as AFP communication, instead of AFP correspondence)

5) voc-antonym (they chose an opposite word)6) voc-wrong (word choice completely out of context)7) expression-wrong

(collocation wasn’t understood properly such as in 腰をすえる )8) syntactic misunderstanding

(e.g. subjects of clauses were changed due to not understanding the sentence structure).

The large proportion of the errors stemmed from vocabulary problems (61% in total)

More or less every student’s work included some vocabulary errors despite their being allowed to use dictionaries.

Syntactic errors appear to be more detrimental to their translation quality.

Students who performed better in their translation work tended to interpret further, whereas the translation of lower performing students contained missing parts or misunderstanding of some expressions.

Results

ResultsThe students performed better with the essay translation

than sentence

level translation.

DiscussionAssessment of the first introduction

Understanding learners’ general attitudes/perceptions toward the new methodologyThe students generally liked

using translation as a teaching methodology for the large part of the subject

About half of the learners (48%) found the materials challenging but manageable, and a few (10%) found them too easy

How to assess the students’ learning assisted by act of translating to be acceptable to both teacher and students needs further study

Inquiry into teaching and assessment materials for the subject is required.

Evaluating the introductory teaching A) Teaching materials & tests

Sentence level translation

Passage level translation

Test

Semi-independent vocabulary learning:

Discussion

The L1 into L2 translation prevented them from utilising a large part of their knowledge, enabling them to access only ideation

available in both L1 and L2

The test analysis revealed that syntactic errors caused more damage to their translation than vocabulary errors.

Students with less grammatical skills did not perform as well as those who possessed good grammatical skills.

Those who were able to connect vocabulary to area knowledge appeared to enjoy the activities.

B) Approach

Analysis shows the following points need to be taken into account and certain aspects explored further in order to advance the effectiveness of using translation as a method in such classes: 1) Translation between L2 and L1 includes not only L2 language skills

but also L1 literacy and background knowledge on the topics to a large extent. Therefore, materials which can absorb a range of learner variables need to be developed. Alternatively, class activities should be structured so that learners can adjust their translation task to their level.

2)Students demonstrated insufficient interest towards the exercises using sentence level translation. Before including sentence level translation in future, the possible causes of the negative response need investigation to discover whether the problem is due to: a) irrelevant topics and content of the sentences used; b) direction of the translation; and c) formats for the exercises.

DiscussionThe fundamental premise of the approach was that positive inclusion of L1 in classroom instruction creates a potentially

powerful learning environment for already advanced L2 learners to further their reading and writing skills in L2.

Discussion3) Students showed very different knowledge and interest in the

current topic, whereas they more commonly were interested in the social topics. It is not certain whether the difference in current or social topics, or their familiarity with the contents or sentence style, resulted in the different reception of the two areas. Further research into how to grade the difficulty of translation tasks on articles should be undertaken.

4) Semi-independent project work also demonstrated substantial variation in students’ vocabulary learning. The spread between successful and unsuccessful learners was wider in this task than in the other two types of in-class translation practice. This suggests that semi-independent work can assist good learners better. However, it can also result in leaving weaker learners further behind, so the optimal amount of semi-independent work in the course needs further investigation.

5) The test analysis showed that every student had some sort of vocabulary problem even when using dictionaries and a reasonable amount of background knowledge. It also showed syntactic errors had more impact on the quality of their translation. In an L2 class where ‘act of translating’ is used as a teaching method, vocabulary, syntax and their relation could be learned effectively by focusing on where the learners have demonstrated insufficient understanding by failing to translate appropriately.

Next step to improve the use of translation as a teaching method for L2 class

The results of the study suggest that the following are the potential strengths of the method for raising students’ Japanese text comprehension: a)developing information networking in the brain; b)developing learner self-assessment of appropriateness of their L2

tagged information; c)encouraging utilisation of available resources (e.g. Færch &

Kasper, 1983: interlanguage based achievement strategy use); d)providing opportunities to focus on form; e)making available input likely to become intake through interaction

between L1 and L2; f) widening the scope of language learning: inclusion of own cultural

context and the sociolinguistic nature of the original text; and g)providing a hands-on approach which expands L2 learning,

Discussion

Feedback from the students and teacher observation show a definitely positive attitude towards developing act of translating as a major method.

Source:

Machida, S. (2008). A Step Forward to Using Translation to Teach a Foreign/Second Language. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 5, 140-155.