Dear colleagues
As the last course of the Master in TEFL we need to consider the role of translation in language learning so I would really appreciate your comments about this topic.
Does translation have a place in the language classroom?
Are there any objections EFL practitioneres have to translation or everybody agrees on the benefits of its use?
Write a well organized PARAGRAPH to express your opinion on this issue and use the support material on academic writing to organize your paragraph properly.
I look forward to reading your comments and opinions.
Maria Luisa
My first experience in learning English in primary and a public high school was using translation in the classroom. When I decided to study English at ICPNA, the teachers spoke English all the time, but the lessons in the books were both English and Spanish in parallel so before reading a sentence in English I knew its translation in Spanish, and it was a matter of discussion among students. This happened at the beginning of the 80s, so many people of my generation learned English in this way. Then I dedicated to teach math, because I am a math teacher and I was out of the English world for many years. After 10 years I got a position to teach English and surprise, translation was out of fashion within the language classroom due to the influence of different methodologies. So translation became less and less associated with the excitement of discovery English learning, even more, fossilized by some EFL practitioners. But I never felt that,as many things in this life, the idea of translation has evolved a lot through the years and as we know it is called The Functional-Translation Method, that it works in and out of our classrooms nowadays. In my humble opinion translation has always been there and many people agree on the benefits of its use. Furthermore, I have asked some ESL teachers here in NC and they do not refuse the idea to use translation in their classes.
ReplyDeleteDear Javier
DeleteThanks for your long and interesting reply. Like you, I was also told according to this mix of translation and drilling method and I definitely agree that Translation has a place in the EFL classroom. In another page we will look into different ways of doing so.
Many people who have not had the opportunity to study English may think that it would be easier to learn it through translation, however, I can tell them by experience that it is not. I was 13 years old when my Dad sent me to study English at ICPNA. On the left you had the text in English and on the right in Spanish but the amount of words differed in both languages so it was very difficult to match the meanings. Moreover, when the teacher spoke it was really hard to follow her because we were trying to understand word by word missing the most important thing, the message.Traslation is not the way to teach and learn a language, however, we should not feel afraid to use it from time to time,when we know it is extremely necessary.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply Lourdes. Like Javier, you and I have had the experience of studying English at ICPNA in the times when the audiolingual and the direct method were introduced and translation was going out of fashion. What you say about one-to-one correspondence is true but students still try to translate what they are being told in order to "understand it better" as they claim. My reservation is about delegating translation as a last resource and not exploiting it as another tool in the EFL classroom. Perhaps after next Saturday´s session we could find more possibilities for its effective use.
DeleteI am also a Translator and I can say that is very different to teach a language to communicate and teach the language in order to translate texts. Some advantages when you learn to translate is learning more about grammar and vocabulary but the drawback is the speaking because it is not useful for communication and as teachers our main goal is training our students to produce the language correctly and fluently. Furthermore, I can say that Translation develops three qualities, which are essential to language learning: accuracy, clarity and flexibility, training the learner to search for the most appropriate words to convey what is meant. Therefore, Translation could be used in some activities and help students'awareness, we should not be afraid to use it although over the centuries translation had gradually become fossilized. However, as professionals of the language we can use translation in some of our classes (if it is necessary) and also focus the activities in order to communicate, too.
ReplyDeleteDear Kei
DeleteI am pleased that you have managed to identify the three qualities essential to language teaching and that you are aware of the possibilities it has in the classroom. On Saturday we will explore the possibilities of using translation in a more communicative environment.
In a language teaching context, the use of translation as an approach to teach and learn the foreign language can be both good and bad. Translating is good when it comes from the learner. This means, it is the student who translates a piece of language into his / her native language. This type of task is not only challenging - since learners have to use their cognitive and linguistic resources to come up with an accurate translation -, but also beneficial because it promotes students’ self-assurance, motivation, and empowerment; that is as long as the phrase or sentence to be translated is consistent with the students’ foreign language level. Translation is bad when the teacher does the task but not the students. Teachers’ role nowadays – in a communicative approach – is of a facilitator, which implies creating and/ or promoting the situations for students to practise the language. In that sense, the role of a teacher towards translation is to invite students to make use of their communicative knowledge to come up with a translated version of a given text. Translation can, then, be a tool to use in order to promote students’ language awareness and self-improvement, or a weapon to kill students’ creativity and thinking.
ReplyDeleteA tool or a weapon? Interesting dichotomy my dear DC. I am pleased to know that you think that translation promotes self-assurance, motivation and empowerment and that promoting this is part of our responsibilities as teachers. We will keep discussing this topic in a more practical way on Saturday when we discuss possible ways of using translation in class.
DeleteThanks Kei, Lourdes, Mr. DC and Mr. F for your replies to this topic. It is particularly good to mention your own experiences and opinions on this issue. You will have the chance to put them to the test when you develop the classroom activities using translation in our next session.
ReplyDeleteMaria Luisa
In the teaching and learning English field there are different approaches, one of them is translation which has been used a lot in the past, however, many researches have been having different point of view concerning the use of it. Considering the fact that, as teachers, we deal with different contexts every time a course is assigned to us, I personally believe that we can take the best of different approaches to teach in our classes that is why translation can be good for two main reasons: Students can be aware of the differences between the languages, for instance when teaching to chefs, they need to learn certain words and expressions and they can notice the differences between one language and another in their fields. Also, we can use translation as a tool to promote our students’ autonomous learning which at the same time requires a positive attitude, a capacity for reflection, and a readiness to be proactive in self-management. It is our job to discover when we can use this approach taking in consideration, of course, our students´ learning settings.
ReplyDeleteNicely put Syl, thank you. I wish you could explain the second argument to defend translation in the classroom. how is it that translation promotes our students´autonomous learning??
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your proposal of taking the best of the different approaches trying to meet our students´learning settings.
Maria Luisa
Translation is good if it is seen as a teaching tool and not as a core of our teaching. We as teachers know that we require a healthy combination of different tools in class, first of all to make our learners understand the target language and later little by little to make them use it as a mean of communication. Our learners especially in basic level use L1 as a natural need in order to clarify some grammatical structures or vocabulary and avoid feeling confused, lost or even frustrated. The mother tongue may in fact become a teaching and learning resource which can greatly enhance the acquisition process and encourage learners to focus on similarities and differences between their L1 and the target language and here translation takes an important role. Therefore, translation may be used in the EFL classroom as long as it helps our leaners to understand, practise and produce the language effectively.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marleni.
DeleteTrue, comparing both languages may help some students understand the similarities and differences between the two languages. As we did in the classroom activity when we analysed the translation of the poem, you could see how there were more possibilities of using a variety of expressions in Spanish to convey the same feeling.