Students’ Use of Translation as a Learning Strategy in EFL Classroom

Abstract

Abstract-Translation has long played a controversial role in English teaching and learning. It has been largely ignored as a valid activity for language practice and improvement. On account of this matter, although, most language educators are completely against the use of translation in language classrooms, nowadays, this perspective is changing and more and more professionals have believed the facilitating role of the first language in ELT. On the basis of this matter, this issue has been discussed in applications of language pedagogical methodologies. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate Iranian English learners' use of translation as a learning strategy to learn English. It is also to find out the strategies involving translation the students use in the proce ss of learning. In order to do all this, the study employed quantitative and supplemental qualitative methods. For the quantitative part, 170 Iranian EFL learners were asked to answer the Inventory for Translation as a Learning S trategy (ITLS ) questionnaire. For the qualitative survey, 120 students were selected to respond the learners' interview guide. Then, the data analysis and statistical calculations revealed that language learners used a wide variety of learning strategies concerning translation to comprehend and remember as well as produce English whether or not they are discouraged to do so by their teachers.

Students’ Beliefs on Translation Strategy in Learning German Language

“…The result is consistent with the study conducted by Karimian and Talebinejad (2013) who reported that the use of direct translation of grammatical terms from the mother tongue could help to clarify the rules of the grammatical parts. The Persian participants in their study needed the security of their mother tongue to lower their anxiety level when learning English.…”

“…This result is similar to Karimian and Talebinejad's (2013) study in which the participants gathered some information in their first language (Persian) and translated it to the target language (English) to write a composition. When the participants could not find the English equivalent of the words during the writing process, they had to look up the words in the Persian-English dictionary.…”

“…The questionnaire, which was first designed by Liao (2006) originally in English, has been adapted by some researchers for their research studies, such as Bagheri and Fazel (2011), Karimian and Talebinejad (2013), Asgarian and Vefalı (2015), Mutlu, Bayram and Demirbüken (2015). In the present study, the questionnaire was adapted and further amended by the researchers.…”

“…The result of that study indicated that most of the students endorsed the belief that translation facilitates the acquisition of English writing skills. Along the same lines, Karimian and Talebinejad (2013) also conducted a similar research and adapted Liao's questionnaire, The Inventory for Translation as a Learning Strategy. Of the 170 Iranian students who participated in that study, the highest percentage (about 54%) agreed that translation was a helping strategy in their learning of a new language.…”

Learning Strategies: A Means to Deal with the Reading of Authentic Texts in the EFL Classroom

“…In fact, Karimian and Branch (2013) recognizes that "the use of translation can increase our sense of security to learn what we do not know" (p. 607), a valid statement applicable to this research study because learners were encouraged to deal with authentic literary language for the first time in their lives. In this sense, learners informed that they sometimes had to look up words in the dictionary to clarify understanding.…”