Cover not available
Article published In:
Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts
Vol. 4:2 (2018) ► pp.248–281

Reviving pedagogical translation

An investigation into UK learners’ perceptions of translation for use with their GCSE Spanish studies and beyond

| University of Westminster | University of Cambridge

The aim of this study was to determine to what extent translation may be an effective pedagogical tool for use by UK GCSE language students. It is offered as a contribution to the ongoing debate regarding the use of pedagogical translation. In March 2015, 41 students preparing for their GCSE Spanish exams were presented with a variety of translation-based activities, including a discussion about professional translation, a mistranslations exercise and a group translation task. The research design combined both translation as a means (explicative and process-oriented) and translation as an end (communicative and product-oriented), and was based upon a realistic, student-centred, socio-constructivist pedagogical foundation. Qualitative data, and a small amount of quantitative data, were collected via a post-session questionnaire and semi-structured group interview, through which students were asked about their experience of the translation sessions in order to answer the following questions: (1) According to students, does translation have a place in UK secondary school foreign language education? (2) If it does, what do students feel are its main benefits? (3) What form should translation activities take, according to students?

Students felt that translation could add to their language classes in a variety of ways, including building their confidence, making their language learning more engaging, giving their learning a more ‘real-world’, practical focus and increasing their general language competency. They also felt that it was best delivered in the form of task-based group work. Students’ responses to the translation sessions were overwhelmingly positive, providing compelling support for further use of both explicative and communicative translation tasks in UK secondary school language education.

Keywords: translation in language teaching, second language acquisition, pedagogical translation, UK language education, explicative translation, communicative translation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Translation in language teaching (TILT)
    • 1.2Crisis in Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)
    • 1.3Study rationale
    • 1.4Study aims
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Explicative translation
    • 2.2Communicative translation
    • 2.3Task-based, student-focused group learning
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Sample pool
    • 3.2Research design: the translation sessions
      • 3.2.1The opening discussion
      • 3.2.2The mistranslations exercise
      • 3.2.3The group translation task
    • 3.3Data collection instruments and delivery
      • 3.3.1The questionnaire
      • 3.3.2The semi-structured interview
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Methods of analysis
    • 4.2Does TILT have a place in secondary school MFL?
      • 4.2.1Overall session feedback
      • 4.2.2Enjoyment
      • 4.2.3Usefulness of activities
    • 4.3How might translation be helpful?
      • 4.3.1Language competency
      • 4.3.2‘Real-life’ Spanish
      • 4.3.3Developing transferable/interdisciplinary skills
      • 4.3.4Student confidence
      • 4.3.5Developing interest in the translation profession
    • 4.4Which translation techniques or activities should be used in MFL?
      • 4.4.1Use of the mother tongue
      • 4.4.2‘Real-life’ skills
      • 4.4.3Learning by example
      • 4.4.4Group activities
      • 4.4.5Interpreting
      • 4.4.6Audio-visual media
  • 5.Conclusion
    • 5.1Recommendations for future studies
  • References
Published online: 26 April 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.00012.bar
References
Baños, Rocío, and Stavroula Sokoli
2015 “Learning Foreign Languages with Clipflair: Using Captioning and Revoicing Activities to Increase Students’ Motivation and Engagement.” In 10 Years of the LLAS E-learning Symposium: Case Studies in Good Practice, ed. by Kate Borthwick, Erica Corradini, and Alison Dickens, 203–213. Dublin: Research-publishing.net. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barbour, Rosaline
2008 Introducing Qualitative Research. London: SAGE.Google Scholar
BBC Education
. August 24 2006 “Languages ‘At Point of No Return.’” Accessed October 19, 2016. [URL]
Brooks-Lewis, Kimberly Anne
2009 “Adult Learners’ Perceptions of the Incorporation of their L1 in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning.” Applied Linguistics 30 (2): 216–235. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Butzkamm, Wolfgang
2003 “We Only Learn Language Once. The Role of the Mother Tongue in FL Classrooms: Death of a Dogma.” The Language Learning Journal 281: 29–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Byram, Michael
ed. 2000 Routledge Encyclopaedia of Language Teaching and Learning. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Carreres, Ángeles
2006 “Strange Bedfellows: Translation and Language Teaching. The Teaching of Translation into L2 in Modern Languages Degrees: Uses and Limitations.” In Sixth Symposium on Translation, Terminology and Interpretation in Cuba and Canada. December 2006, La Havana: Canadian Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters Council: 1–21.Google Scholar
2014 “Translation as a Means and as an End: Reassessing the Divide.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 8 (1): 123–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carreres, Ángeles, and María Noriega Sánchez
2011 “Translation in Language Teaching: Insights from Professional Translator Training.” The Language Learning Journal 39 (3): 281–297. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Andrew, and Kirk Allison
2001 “Bilingual Processing Strategies in the Social Context of an Undergraduate Immersion Program”. In New Perspectives and Issues in Educational Language Policy: In Honour of Bernard Dov Spolsky, ed. by Robert Cooper, Elana Shohamy, and Joel Walters, vi1: 35–60. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Andrew, and Amanda Brooks-Carson
2001 “Research on Direct versus Translated Writing: Students’ Strategies and their Results.” The Modern Language Journal 85 (2): 169–188. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cook, Guy
2010 Translation in Language Teaching: An Argument for Reassessment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Department for Education
2015 Modern Foreign Languages: GCSE Subject Content. London: Crown Copyright. [URL]
Department for Education and Skills
2002 Languages for All: Languages for Life. Nottingham: DfES Publications. [URL]
Ellis, Rod
2005 “Measuring Implicit and Explicit Knowledge of a Second Language: A Psychometric Study.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition 27 (2): 141–172. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fernández-Guerra, Ana Belén
2014 “The Usefulness of Translation in Foreign Language Learning: Students’ Attitudes.” International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies 2 (1): 153–170.Google Scholar
Ferreira Gaspar, Neide
2009 “Translation as a Fifth Skill in EFL Classes at Secondary School Level.” In Translation in Second Language Learning and Teaching, ed. by Arnd Witte, Theo Harden, and Alessandra Ramos de Oliveira Harden, 173–180. Oxford, Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Foddy, William
1993 Constructing Questions for Interviews and Questionnaires: Theory and Practice in Social Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gile, Daniel
2009 Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
González Davies, María
2004 Multiple Voices in the Translation Classroom. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haywood, Louise, Michael Thompson, and Sándor Hervey
2009 Thinking Spanish Translation: A Course in Translation Method: Spanish to English. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
House, Juliane
2009 Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Huertas Barros, Elsa
2011 “Collaborative Learning in the Translation Classroom: Preliminary Survey Results.” Journal of Specialised Translation 161: 42–60.Google Scholar
International Teacher Training Organization
Accessed April 29, 2017. [URL]
Jolin, Lucy
2014 “Why Languages Are Great For Business.” The Guardian.Google Scholar
Kavaliauskienë, Galina
2009 “Role of Mother Tongue in Learning English for Specific Purposes.” ESP World 1 (22), Vol. 81. [URL]
Kelly, Dorothy
2005 A Handbook for Translator Trainers: A Guide to Reflective Practice. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar
2006 “Reflections on Directionality in Translator Training.” FORUM 4 (1): 57–81. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kerr, Philip
2014 Translation and Own-language Activities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kiraly, Don
1995 Pathways to Translation. Pedagogy and Process. Kent: Ohio, Kent State University Press.Google Scholar
2000 A Social Constructivist Approach to Translator Education: Empowerment from Theory to Practice. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
2012 “Growing a Project-Based Translation Pedagogy: A Fractal Perspective.” Meta: Translators’ Journal 57 (1): 82–95. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kroll, Judith, and Janet Curley
1988 “Lexical Memory in Novice Bilinguals: The Role of Concepts in Retrieving Second Language Words.” In Practical Aspects of Memory, Volume 2, ed. by Michael Gruneberg, Peter Morris, and Robert Sykes, 389–395. London: Wiley.Google Scholar
Laufer, Batia, and Nany Girsai
2008 “Form-focused Instruction in Second Language Vocabulary Learning: A Case for Contrastive Analysis and Translation.” Applied Linguistics 29 (4): 694–716. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laviosa, Sara
2014 Translation and Language Education: Pedagogic Approaches Explored. London and New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liao, Posen
2006 “EFL Learners’ Beliefs about and Strategy Use of Translation in English Learning.” Regional Language Centre Journal 37 (2): 191–215.Google Scholar
Malmkjær, Kirsten
ed. 1998 Translation and Language Teaching. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar
McLoughlin, Laura, and Jennifer Lertola
2014 “Audiovisual Translation in Second Language Acquisition. Integrating Subtitling in the Foreign-language Curriculum.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 8 (1): 70–83. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Phipps, Alison, and Mike Gonzalez
2004 Modern Languages: Learning and Teaching in an Intercultural Field. London: SAGE.Google Scholar
Prince, Peter
1996 “Second Language Vocabulary Learning: The Role of Context versus Translation as a Function of Proficiency.” The Modern Language Journal 80 (4): 478–493. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pym, Anthony, Kirsten Malmkjær, and Mar Gutiérrez
2013 Translation and Language Learning. Luxembourg: European Commission.Google Scholar
Rumsey, Alan
2014 “Bilingual Language Learning and the Translation of Worlds in the New Guinea Highlands and Beyond.” Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 4 (2): 119–140. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schweers Jr, William
1999 “Using L1 in the L2 classroom.” English Teaching Forum 37 (2): 6–9.Google Scholar
Speak to the Future
2015 Accessed October 19, 2016. [URL]
Swain, Merrill
1985 “Communicative Competence: Some Roles of Comprehensible Input and Comprehensible Output in its Development.” In Input in Second Language Acquisition, ed. by Susan Gass, and Carolyn Madden, 235–253. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
The Nuffield Languages Inquiry
2000 Languages: The Next Generation. London: The Nuffield Foundation.Google Scholar
Tinsley, Teresa
2013 Languages: The State of the Nation. London: British Academy. [URL]
Tinsley, Teresa, and Kathryn Board
2016 Language Trends 2015/16: The State of Language Learning in Primary and Secondary Schools in England. Reading: Education Development Trust. [URL]
Translators in Schools
Accessed October 19, 2016. [URL]
Wolfersberger, Mark
2003 “L1 to L2 Writing Process and Strategy Transfer: A Look at Lower Proficiency Writers.” TESL-EJ 7 (2): 1–12.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Barnes, Katrina
2021. Translation in the UK language classroom. Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 7:1 ► pp. 41 ff. DOI logo
Beauvais, Clémentine & Charlotte Ryland
2021. ‘We actually created a good mood!’: metalinguistic and literary engagement through collaborative translation in the secondary classroom. Language, Culture and Curriculum 34:3 ► pp. 288 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 september 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.