Wednesday afternoon’s #eltchat was on the use of translation. Over my teaching career this has been a topic that has often come up in development session. As a teacher as I have got more experienced I think I have gone from the draconian ‘no use of l1’ to a more tolerant approach but nevertheless I was blown away by Guy Cook’s revelation (in a talk I saw at the weekend) that there is no research to support the ‘banning’ of translation. I tend to agree with the point made that translation is a skill (the fifth skill as it was referred to yesterday) but we need to be careful and ensure we draw a line between L1 use in the classroom and the use of translation.
As a language learner I have always needed translation as a crutch and as one tweet said:
“Show me a beginner learner who is NOT trying to translate at some stage”
And our learning experiences seem (for the most part) to hold this view:
Teachers reflecting on their learning and translation:
- Comparing structures is often quite useful – what crosses over between L1 and L2 and what doesn’t
- I learnt through translation as well but must say it was when I ABANDONED translating that my acquisition took off
- I need translation skills all the time (live with an Italian)
- Translation is what helped me realise how uniquely different the two systems are, on multiple levels.
- As a learner, I noticed a sequence (in myself) of translating from words to chunks…
In the summary of below I have tried to categorize the main points of chat, the topic headings are my own, I hope they reflect the chat as a whole.
Why is translation ignored?
- There is no research to suggest translation is a bad thing yet it is generally ignored
- It’s the effects of the Direct Method still gripping all other later approaches IMOHO
- I think it’s a general feeling that translation is ‘old-fashioned’ but it’s not
- What I remember most about my CertTESOL course is the icy stare I got from lecturers when I told them I actually enjoy translation
- Perhaps the problem is that many still look at translation from a grammar translation point of view, which takes us back to those boring lessons.
- Some schools actively ban L1 completely
Plus points of translation:
- It can be great at empowering learners when they’re feeling overwhelmed by English speaker at front!
- Translation can be useful for highlighting specific differences between L1 and L2, but should we be using it for other things too
- Translation can be a great tool for students to grasp real meaning of what they’re saying
- Students also seem to feel secure with some translation of vocabulary items. Maybe as you know a language more you need it less.
- Just yesterday a student of mine said he felt much more comfortable doing his homework and using an online translator
- Students find it very difficult to understand come concepts without translation
- Just as some students are visual learners, etc, some will benefit more than others from translating
- It can help convey a cultural concept from one language which does not transfer to the other
- Translation is handy with monolingual groups when we can’t get meaning of a lexical item across after attempts: translate! Quick & effective
Some issues:
- It’s a tricky thing for a teacher to manage or use in a multilingual class.
- As any other tool in the language classroom, translation has to be used carefully, but it may be useful if used properly
- Translation perpetuates the myth that the native English teacher is always best or the NEST perpetuating myth
- It is widely used in mainly state education systems and often in “boring” grammar-translation” lessons.
- Is there a danger of students becoming dependent on translation, if allowed more freely? The problem of overreliance.
- It’s important that we are encouraging students to speak English rather than banning them from using their L1
- how does L1 culture affect attitude to using translation? Issues of identity, politics all play a part.
- Allowing students to use L1 will prevent them from acquiring important features of pronunciation, for instance
Some way to use translation:
- Translation can be used in multilingual classes as personalised exercise
- The lexical approach is a big advocate of translation
- Mixing translation with pronunciation. Sentences written in phonemic script
- Translation and contrastive analysis are important teaching tools
- Does the teacher need to be in control or is it a way of handing over learning to the students?
- Have multilingual classes translate poems etc into their own language
- It can be extremely useful especially in ESP courses.
- Get multilingual classes to translate into their L1s, then give ‘literal’ translations back into English
- Fixing a bad translation into English is a great activity
- Learners’ conversation are much more natural if they think about what they would say in L1 in the context before thinking about L2
- Translating songs
- Writing subtitles in L1 for a TV clip
- Scraps of paper: L1 one side, L2 the other. Put in circle. Roll dice, say translation (works for very clear direct equivalents)
- Getting students to translate L1 newspaper stories into L2 in summary and then present – works in reverse too
- L1 can also be used for input or conversation trigger. For instance, a newspaper article in L1, but discussion in L2.
- Drama activity: Students act out scene in L1 then watch it in L2 – great for cultural and paralinguistic features
- For business lessons replicating real situations useful, e.g., getting students to explain menu, news headlines, signs, etc.
- Translation great for practising reported speech as it should be practiced
- Students can build list of troublesome false cognates
- Find a badly translated menu and get students to improve it – mostly food vocabulary but a real task
Links
Guy Cook’s recent talk on translation
Links for Translators and Translator trainees
Cross-linguistic strategies from an MA thesis
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Clear, precise and mostly useful summary of an interesting and stimulating chat. Thank you.
Hi Shaun,
Great summary! Thanks for doing it
Sandy
Thank you, Shaun, for this great summary. It was wonderful to be able to watch Guy Cook’s talk, especially after the #DOSConference tweets I followed. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you again for tweeteing from the conference. It really gave a feel for what it must have been like for you.
Now I really must read his book too
Erika
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Good summary Shaun.
I sometimes like to use translation activities in class. Correcting bad translation can be quite a fun activity for students.
Thanks, Jon.
It is a very interesting summary. It is very hard to be either on one side or another. You need to balance it.
I stopped translating years ago when I moved to the UK (I am Polish) and now I don’t even own a Polish dictionary and don’t need it.
However, but I got some bilingual dictionaries for my students this year for some of the reasons that you mentioned above. If I stopped or had no need for translation, it does mean my students will….
Thanks for sharing.
@ESOL_teacher
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