scholarly journals Teachers' Attitudes toward and Use of Translation in the Foreign Language Classroom at Institutions of Higher Education in Croatia

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 906
Author(s):  
Mladen Marinac ◽  
Iva Barić
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Language For Specific Purposes ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom ◽  
Teachers Attitudes

The role of translation in the foreign language classroom has been changing, but it still remains a contentious issue. The long-lasting debate whether students of foreign languages might benefit from the use of translation in class might have made practitioners insecure in relation to whether using translation is beneficial or not, what methods are best and when to use translation. The aim of this study is to investigate EFL practitioners’ perspective on translation in teaching foreign languages. Specifically, it explores language for specific purposes (LSP) teachers’ attitudes toward translation at tertiary-level institutions in Croatia. The data were collected by means of an online questionnaire using snowball sampling method in order to reach a greater number of teachers. The respondents were English, German and Italian LSP teachers from a variety of tertiary-level institutions. The study revealed that in the Croatian context the majority of LSP teachers use translation in language teaching, however, there seems to be a lack of certainty about its usefulness. In addition, LSP teachers' approach to translation appears to be rather traditional given there is no diversity in the methods mentioned.

scholarly journals Question du feedback en didactique des langues étrangères : quelques réflexions théoriques

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 31-42
Author(s):  
Ewa Półtorak
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom ◽  
Teaching Learning

The article aims to take the issue of feedback into the context of teaching/learning foreign languages. In the first place, the source concept of feedback will be presented. Then, the feedback phenomenon will be defined in the context of teaching foreign languages. It will allow to discuss its significance and specific roles that it may play for individual participants in the process of teaching/learning foreign languages. In conclusion, based on criteria important from the educational point of view, examples of classifications of feedback, which may be accompanied byboth real and virtual foreign language classroom, will be presented.

scholarly journals Corrective feedback, learner uptake, and feedback perception in a Chinese as a foreign language classroom

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingfeng Fu ◽  
Hossein Nassaji
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teacher Perception ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Coding System ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Feedback Type ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom ◽  
Learner Uptake

The role of corrective feedback in second language classrooms has received considerable research attention in the past few decades. However, most of this research has been conducted in English-teaching settings, either ESL or EFL. This study examined teacher feedback, learner uptake as well as learner and teacher perception of feedback in an adult Chinese as a foreign language classroom. Ten hours of classroom interactions were videotaped, transcribed and coded for analysis. Lyster and Ranta’s (1997) coding system involving six types of feedback was initially used to identify feedback frequency and learner uptake. However, the teacher was found to use a number of additional feedback types. Altogether, 12 types of feedback were identified: recasts, delayed recasts, clarification requests, translation, metalinguistic feedback, elicitation, explicit correction, asking a direct question, repetition, directing question to other students, re-asks, and using L1-English. Differences were noted in the frequency of some of the feedback types as well as learner uptake compared to what had been reported in some previous ESL and EFL studies. With respect to the new feedback types, some led to noticeable uptake. As for the students’ and teacher’s perceptions, they did not match and both the teacher and the students were generally not accurate in perceiving the frequency of each feedback type. The findings are discussed in terms of the role of context in affecting the provision and effectiveness of feedback and its relationship to student and teacher perception of feedback.

Technology in the Foreign Language Classroom

2005 ◽  
pp. 2757-2760
Author(s):  
William J. Switala
Keyword(s):  
High Schools ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Public High Schools ◽  
American Council ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom ◽  
Year 2000

America is a country made up of people from all corners of the globe. Although this is the case, few Americans can communicate in a language other than English. The major reason for this is that Americans do not study foreign languages to any great extent in school, and those who do, have not developed a facility to speak the language they have studied. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages found, in its survey entitled “Foreign Language Enrollments in U.S. Public High Schools, 1890-2000,” that there was a steady decline in the numbers of students studying foreign languages from 1976 to 1994. From 1995 to 2000 this trend was reversed and the number of students learning new languages in the year 2000 almost matched that of the enrollment for 1974. However, this still only accounted for 42.5% of the total number of students attending American high schools (ACTFL, 2004). A possible explanation for this low number may rest in the methodology used to teach foreign languages in our schools. (Brecht, 2002).

scholarly journals The Revival of Translation as a Fifth Skill in the Foreign Language Classroom: A Review of Literature

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies ◽  
Houda AYACHIA
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Direct Method ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Review Of Literature ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Listening And Speaking

With the advent of the monolingual principle entrenched by the Reform Movement of the late nineteenth century and exponents of the Direct Method, translation has been treated, for a long time, as a skeleton in the closet. Recently, however, many researchers (Witte, Harden & Ramos de Oliveira Harden, 2009; Cook, 2010; Leonardi, 2010; Malmkjaer, 2010) have questioned the outright dismissal of translation from the foreign language classroom and called for reassessing its role. Moreover, they welcomed it as a fifth skill alongside reading, writing, listening, and speaking that learners need in their learning and future careers. This paper argues for the rehabilitation of translation in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. It attempts to give a panorama of the revival of translation. So, it first reconsiders its dismissal in the method era and then it summarises the literature on its revival in the 21st century. The review of literature has revealed that the onslaught against translation was illegitimate and that the literature in favour of it is a reputable, a recent, and an abundant one.

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