Translation In Second Language Learning And Teaching

Proceedings of a conference, "Translation in second language teaching and learning", that took place at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, March 27-29, 2008

Translation can help improve foreign language teaching and learning - this study shows how. In an increasingly globalised world and in an increasingly multilingual Europe, translation plays an important role. Significant signs of a new revival of translation in language teaching have become visible, as shown by recent literature on applied linguistics. This book contributes to this movement, embracing both a theoretical and an empirical purpose by integrating viewpoints from Applied Linguistics, Translation Studies and Second Language Acquisition. In an attempt to show how the use of translation in foreign language classes can help enhance and further improve reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, this work calls for a re-evaluation and a rehabilitation of the translation activities in the foreign language classes.

Oxford Applied Linguistics features books providing thorough yet accessible coverage of controversial topics related to language use, including learning, teaching, research, and policy. All titles are based on extensive research and include comprehensive bibliographies. The authors are notedauthorities in their fields.

The aim of this volume is to record the resurgent influence of Language Learning in Translation Studies and the various contemporary ways in which translation is used in the fields of Language Teaching and Assessment. It examines the possibilities and limitations of the interplay between the two disciplines in attempting to investigate the degree to which recent calls for reinstating translation in language learning have borne fruit. The volume accommodates high-quality original submissions that address a variety of issues from a theoretical as well as an empirical point of view. The chapters of the volume raise important questions and demonstrate the beginning of a new era of conscious epistemological traffic between the two aforementioned disciplines. The contributors to the volume are academics, researchers and professionals in the fields of Translation Studies and Language Teaching and Assessment from various countries and educational contexts, including the USA, Canada, Taiwan R.O.C., and European countries such as Belgium, Germany, Greece, Slovenia and Sweden, and various professional and instructional settings, such as school sector and graduate, undergraduate and certificate programs. The contributions approach the interplay between the two disciplines from various angles, including functional approaches to translation, contemporary types of translation, and the discursive interaction between teachers and students.

This book provides a historical overview of approaches to translation in language education. It explores the functions and scope of translation in the L2 classroom. Translation, as a valid resource and an indispensable skill in today's multilingual communication, should become an integral element of contemporary foreign language learning.

For at least a century, attitudes to the use of translation in language teaching have been predominantly negative, the deprecators of the methodology having been particularly vocal at the turn of the 20th century and again in the 1960s and 70s. Yet, for all of this time, translation has remained a significant component in the teaching of many languages in many parts of the world, and the 1980s saw a revival of support for the practice among a number of applied linguists. Language teaching for translators has been rather less contentious. It has always been assumed that translators must know their languages thoroughly, but little has been written about how they, as a special group, might be taught their languages. In the final quarter of the 20th century, attention among translation scholars and pedagogues has turned so decisively away from linguistics that even teaching translators about their languages and how they can be put to use has been frowned on in many quarters. This book takes a fresh look at both issues. Part One addresses the question of the place and nature of language teaching in translator training programmes. Part Two deals with the issue of how translation might best be used as a teaching and testing methodology in language classes. Finally, the papers in Part Three address the relationship between translation and language teaching from the somewhat divergent points of view of the translator trainer and language teacher.

The dynamics of immigration, international commerce and the postcolonial world make it inevitable that much translation is done into a second language, despite the prevailing wisdom that translators should only work into their mother tongue. This book is the first study to explore the phenomenon of translation into a second language in a way that will interest applied linguists, translators and translation teachers, and ESOL teachers working with advanced level students. Rather than seeing translation into a second language as deficient output, this study adopts an interlanguage framework to consider L2 translation as the product of developing competence; learning to translate is seen as a special variety of second language acquisition. Through carefully worked case studies, separate components of translation competence are identified, among them the ability to create stylistically authentic texts in English, the ability to monitor and edit output, and the psychological attitudes that the translator brings to the task. While the case studies mainly deal with Arabic speakers undergoing translator training in Australia, the conclusions will have implications for translation into a second language, especially English, around the world. Translation into the Second Language is firmly grounded in empirical research, and in this regard it serves as a stimulus and a methodological guide for further research. It will be a valuable addition for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of applied linguistics, translation theory, bilingualism and second language acquisition as well as those involved in teaching or practicing translation at a professional level.

This monograph mainly focuses on the idea that language teaching in higher education involves making use of new approaches and technology. It identifies the key determinants of the materials needed to improve language teaching on the basis of the actual experimental research included in the respective contributions. Thanks to its unique perspective, the book offers a distinctive approach to addressing empirical research on second language teaching, translator training and technology. As universities are some of the best arenas for analyzing teaching techniques for various subjects, higher education teachers can use this book to thoroughly prepare for the application of pilot studies and learn more about students' responses to new teaching and translation techniques. An enlightening guide for scholars and students with an academic interest in acquiring the basic principles of language teaching and translation, this book mainly provides actual cases in which the implementation of technology was useful to second language teachers and translation trainers. As the authors are experienced scholars, readers will not only come to understand how to use new teaching strategies, but also discover that the proposals described in each chapter can be useful to any level of second language training for teachers and translators.