Learners’ perceptions of grammar-translation as consciousness raising

Abstract

Foreign language teaching methodologies of the 20th century were dominated by the principle of monolingualism. Language teaching specialists and linguists of that time generally argued in their publications against using learners' own languages in the classroom and described translation as a dull activity which did not contribute anything to language learning. However, since the beginning of the 21st century calls for a reassessment of translation have begun to appear. This article offers an argument for a reassessment of grammar-translation in language teaching based on learners' perceptions of this activity. It reports a study in which 45 secondary school Polish learners of English were asked to evaluate two consciousness-raising activities they had performed: a grammar-translation task and a communicative language exchange. The results show that the learners considered translating sentences from Polish into English to be as useful and interesting as communicatively-oriented consciousness raising.

Tackling the Plurilingual Student/Monolingual Classroom Phenomenon

“…The turn of this century saw a shift in the overall attitude toward plurilingual AL teaching and learning, bringing about a reassessment of the dominant monolingual approaches (Scheffler, ). The plurilingual paradigm continues to gain momentum and voices are increasingly heard in favour of the use of the students’ first language (L1) in informed ways (see among others Byram, ; Cenoz & Gorter, ; Cummins, ), through different manifestations, from translanguaging (García, ), to pedagogically based code‐switching (Corcoll, ), and translation (González Davies, ; Källkvist, ).…”

“…This tendency to isolate languages in the curriculum stems from the notion favoured by the reform movement, and subsequent approaches like the direct method, that an AL is better acquired in the same way as the L1 to avoid negative transfer, as opposed to the view that connecting previous knowledge favours efficient learning (Richards & Rodgers, ; Scheffler, ). However, Cummins's interdependence hypothesis () insists that underlying attributes are common across languages making “possible the transfer of cognitive/academic or literacy‐related proficiency from one language to another” (Cummins, , p. 68).…”

Examining the potential of fansubbing as a language learning activity

“…Both E.Y. and Scheffler (2013) found that their research participants responded positively to collaborative translation. Fansubbers themselves regard the activity as a hobby, one where they can 'immerse themselves and find fun, pleasure and friendship' (Lee 2011, 17).…”

“…with 20 low-level Korean learners of English, the act of translating selfauthored and peer-authored texts into their first language and into English, respectively, helped the participants to become aware of deficiencies in their writing. The Polish learners in Scheffler's (2013) research revealed that they found translating a set of sentences to be helpful in making salient differences between Polish and the target language of English. As such, the researcher concluded that translation could serve as a viable consciousness-raising task.…”

“…At its core, fansubbing is a variation on a translation activity. Translation in foreign language teaching and learning has often been denounced as irrelevant and boring, an overly difficult activity that leads to the production of errors which would not naturally occur (Scheffler 2013). However, more recently, the use of translation in foreign language pedagogy has started to garner more positive perceptions, with teachers and learners both viewing it as an activity that can be at once intellectually stimulating, as well as enjoyable.…”