Using Translation in the Classroom

This article looks at the pros and cons of using and teaching translation in the classroom. It was originally part of our Delta Module One course and it discusses the questions:

a)      Why is translation often avoided in the language classroom ?

b)      What are the advantages of / reasons for using translation in the classroom

You might like to read it in conjunction with a related post on Using the L1 in the Classroom. And other useful articles on the topic can be found here, and here (including the comments).

Section a

Reasons why translation (whether of individual items or as a skill in its own right) is often avoided include:

1. It is often equated with the grammar translation approach which, in an attempt to make modern language learning academically acceptable, modelled its methodology on that used to teach classical Greek and Latin – which was seen as an intellectual exercise where difficulty was to be welcomed  and not as  a “practical” subject where communicative ability was the aim. In reaction to this, the Direct Method, faced in the early 20^th century with the need to teach migrants from a large number of L1 groups outlawed both rule-based instruction and translation as methodological techniques, replacing them with a method intended to favour acquisition rather than learning. This attitude was not questioned until the 1970s and 80s, and even today many teachers still believe that the L1 should not be used in the classroom, that bilingual dictionaries should be discouraged and that learners should be encouraged to “think” in English.

2. Teachers may avoid translation if they do not speak the language of the learners in front of them as they have no way of checking that the translation is accurate – learners may have been misled by false cognates, by polysemy etc. Misunderstanding the concept when the T is unable to pick it up may cause confusion and hinder further learning.Other forms of concept check would therefore be preferable - for example, to check that Ls understood the meaning of attic, they could be shown a picture of an attic and one of a cellar and asked to choose which was the attic. 

3. This will also be important in contexts where the T. is expected to be the “knower” and able to impart all necessary information to learners – eg in SE Asian situations. Being unable to answer a L’s questions about the exact translation might cause the T to lose the confidence of the learners.

4.  Ts may not want the Ls to become over-dependent on translation as there are times when there is no exact equivalent in the L1. For example, haggis can be explained in Italian but not translated, while pronto soccorso translates as, and can mean, first aid, but is also the name given to an A&E department in an Italian hospital. 

5. Over-dependence on translation in the classroom may lead to Ls failing to develop coping strategies such as paraphrasing, asking for clarification etc (ie negotiating meaning) – a skill they will need to have acquired when they are in a real communicative situation outside the classroom.These coping strategies are emphasised in the Communicative Approach as being essential for successful communication in an L2.  

6. This negotiation of meaning will also mean greater cognitive involvement, with the result that learning will be more effective. Swain’s “Output Hypothesis” suggests that it is by failing to communicate meaning that Ls “notice” that their use of the language is not effective, and in attempting to remediate it “learn” what formulation of the language works to ensure comprehensibility. 

7. Encouraging students to develop the skills involved in negotiating meaning also means they become more autonomous – they can depend on their own skills and are less reliant on other students/the teacher to translate. Since the 1980’s Humanistic Approaches have emphasised that developing autonomous learning skills leads to more effective learning as learners can continue to use them outside the classroom, without needing the presence of a teacher. 

8. Especially in a monolingual learning situation, students may have little exposure to English outside the classroom and little opportunity to use the L1. Classroom use of English both by the T and students should therefore be maximised. By listening to the T’s explanations, they are receiving exposure to natural, spontaneous language use which they will not encounter elsewhere, especially at a lower level where eg internet based materials will be too difficult for them. This type of “comprehensible input” is, according to Krashen, essential for acquisition. 

9.  The T considers that translation is the “easy” approach to conveying meaning, and that approaches that require more cognitive effort, such as working out meaning from context will result in greater retention.

10. If in a multilingual class the T. spoke the languages of some but not all the learners, and used translation for them, they might be perceived as discriminating against the others, causing resentment and a negative classroom dynamic.

 

Section b

The advantages of and reasons for using translation include:

11. When possible, translating an unknown word can be much quicker than trying to explain it – especially with low-level learners who might have difficulty understanding the explanation. Class time is limited and therefore best spent on clarifying and then practising the target language in the most efficient way possible. It would, for example, take much longer to explain the exact meaning of the word starling than simply to translate it into the learner’s L1. 

12. Even when the teacher does explain the unknown word, it is common for the first learner to understand to call out the translation in the L1 and for the rest of the class to sigh with relief.  I too find that when encountering new words in other languages, I automatically try and think of the English equivalent. I exploit this natural tendency in my classes by explaining the word, but then nominating a learner (not the strongest) and asking what they think it is in Italian. This gets “the best of both worlds” as they all have to listen to and try and understand the meaning from the explanation in case they are the one called upon, but excessive time is not wasted if some learners haven’t understood.  

13. Some learners need to develop interpreting/translating skills and these should therefore be taught in the classroom.  This was the case of eg a learner I had who worked as personal assistant to  a high ranking politician who occasionally had to attend EU meetings. The politician was at A2 level and her PA (who was at C2 level) had to interpret for her during spontaneous conversations. 

14. Translation activities can be an efficient form of controlled practice as they can highlight the differences between L1 and L2. For example, in Italian a sentence like I have lived here for three years would use a present simple verb. An activity which asks the learners to translate ten or so sentences like this, half from English to Italian and half from Italian to English, highlights the difference and makes it more memorable. 

15. When students are trying to say something but having difficulty, they can say it in their own language and the teacher can reformulate it for them (3), possibly rephrasing and simplifying to show them how they could have expressed themselves within the language they already know. 

16. If the teacher does not speak the students’ language, it can be useful for them (the students) to have a bilingual dictionary in the classroom so that they can double check their comprehension of lexical explanations. 

 

 

Using Dictionaries in the Classroom

Should learners use dictionaries in the classroom or should all explanation come from the teacher? If they do use dictionaries, should these be monolingual or bilingual? This article, based on material originally used on our Delta Module One course, addresses these questions.

 

a) Why might some teachers not want learners refer to dictionaries in the classroom? 

1. If Ls start looking at dictionaries, eg in a T-Class phase, their attention will no longer be on the T and they may lose track of the lesson – which will be detrimental to learning.   This is one reason why I tend to insist that mobile phones be turned off during lessons. 
2. If they just reach for the dictionary every time a new word occurs, they’ll fail to develop essential skills for both effective language learning and for “coping” in the real situation. Eg skills such as asking for explanations and understanding the replies, inferring meaning from context, and inferring meaning in only partially understood texts.
3. The T knows what the Ls need to learn and should be constantly “in control” of what is happening in the classroom. Learners learn better from the T’s explanations than from their own unaided efforts with dictionaries. This could be useful eg where the T. wants to introduce a word with a large number of meanings such as a party (a group of people on an outing as in a party of tourists) and doesn’t want to risk confusion with its other meanings (a social gathering, a political group, someone involved in a legal situation etc).  Ls might not use the dictionary effectively and may find eg the wrong meaning of the word. Dictionary use is therefore likely to create more problems than it solves.
4. Dictionary use can be time-consuming and there is insufficient time in the lessons to include it. It is quicker for the T. to explain, which leaves more time for Ls to practise the language.  For example, if in one of my monolingual Italian classes a learner says How do you say “storno” In English? it is quicker for me simply to reply starling than to tell them all to look it up.
5. The T suspects the Ls will be using bilingual dictionaries and believes that only English should be used in the classroom, and that “translating” is detrimental to language learning. This approach reflects beliefs which were current in both the Direct Method (which reacted against the over-reliance on translation of the Grammar Translation method) and Audiolingualism (which would have argued that translation blocked the formation of the new “habit” of associating the meaning and the English word).

 

b) And why might other teachers argue that incorporating dictionary work into the course is essential?

1. Dictionaries are an aid to learning, not an impediment, as they contain a large amount of information about words (meaning, pronunciation, register and variety etc). Eg looking up the word afters the learner will find out not only that it means dessert but also that it is UK English and informal in style; looking up the word bough will show how the –ough spelling is pronounced in this case.
2. Time must be spent on dictionary use in class because Ls will need training in order to be able to use them effectively and extract this information (see section b for what type of training). This would be particularly necessary for eg learners who had only a low level of literacy in their own language, learners who were unfamiliar with the order of the Roman alphabet, or learners who were not familiar with the phonemic script.
3. If Ss can use dictionaries effectively, they will be able to further their learning not only in the classroom but also outside when the T. is not available, thus increasing in autonomy. This reflects a humanistic view of language learning which sees the T’s role as that of a facilitator who aims to empower Ls to take control of their own learning.
4. The T can never hope to cover in the c/r all the lexis which the Ls will come across or need productively (especially true at higher levels). Limiting vocabulary work to what the T can explain in class would inevitably mean drastically limiting the quantity of vocabulary known by the Ss. Whilst in the Audiolingual Method vocabulary was limited to what the Ss could learn and use for productive purposes, the Communicative Approach would argue that Ss need to be able to cope with a much larger amount of lexis for receptive purposes.
5. Ss will learn more effectively if they are finding things out for themselves than if they are simply “told” by the teacher as the level of effort will mean deeper cognitive processing and thus greater retention. This is an active, constructivist view of the learning process.
6. The T’s role is not “just” to teach language but also to educate –in this case increasing the range of learning strategies at the learners’ disposal, which they could potentially use in future to learn any other language, or even to improve their command of their own L1. This “Teacher as educator” role might be particularly important when teaching young learners.

c) If learners are going to use dictionaries, they have the choice between a monolingual dictionary and a bilingusl dictionary. What are the disadvantages of bilingual dictionaries?

1. Bilingual dictionaries do not always contain the same amount of information on meaning, use and restrictions as monolingual dictionaries intended specifically for learners. This is particularly true of pocket dictionaries and electronic dictionaries.  Google Translate, for example will translate afters as dessert and indicates pronunciation but gives none of the other information mentioned in point b1. 
2. Bilingual dictionaries encourage the idea that English words and expressions will have exact equivalents in the L1 (and vice versa), which is not necessarily the case. For example, Italian has no exact equivalent for the type of pain expressed by the English word sore.
3. The vocabulary found in a bilingual dictionary may be less memorable than that found in a monolingual dictionary as less cognitive effort has been used in understanding it. Anderson and Reder suggest that elaborative processing – ie linking new information to old – will help with retrieval. Looking up the word grumble in a monolingual dictionary and associating it with the already known word complain from the definition helps fulfil this criteria.

 

c) What advantages can bilingual dictionaries sometimes have over monolingual dictionaries?

Presuming that the dictionary is a good one (there is no reason that bilingual dictionaries cannot contain the same information as monolingual dictionaries, apart from the fact that the definition is replaced by L1 equivalents or near-equivalents), a bilingual dictionary may have the following advantages :

1. At lower levels, a definition may be too difficult for the learner to understand. This may also be true even at higher levels with dictionaries intended for native speakers (as opposed to learner dictionaries).  For example, the Oxford Shorter Dictionary defines the word ruff as a frill – which is also likely to be unknown to the learner.
2. Even if the dictionary explains a word comprehensibly, the definition may not be sufficient for the learners to fully understand the meaning.  Eg they can find out that a “grouse” is a smallish fat bird which is shot for food and sport (Longman Advanced Learners’ Dictionary) but still don’t know exactly which bird it is. A monolingual dictionary would give the name of the bird in their own language, making it recognisable.
3. Even if learners read an L2 definition, it is a natural response to think “Oh yes, it’s XXXX” (the L1 equivalent) and frequently, as they understand they will say the L1 equivalent to themselves and others in the class. Unless they are at a fairly high level, learners may not feel psychologically comfortable or that they have “really understood” until they have translated the word. The bilingual dictionary avoids the possibility that they may in fact have mistranslated.
4. Monolingual dictionaries are usable for words which you meet receptively, but useless for words which you need productively as you do not know what to look up. Learners cannot use monolingual dictionaries if eg they need to use a word when they are writing. (They might also refer to a monolingual dictionary after having found what they think to be the appropriate word in the bilingual dictionary, as a final check.)
5. For the same reason, if the learner is learning in an English speaking country, they may even find a dictionary on a mobile device (or a small but easily portable bilingual dictionary) useful to have with them in case they need to refer to something they don’t know the name for in English.   
6. Bilingual dictionaries are quicker to use than monolingual dictionaries.   This may be important in eg an exam (if permitted), or if Ls are reading for pleasure, need to understand a word and don’t want to interrupt the “flow” of the activity.  
7. A good bilingual dictionary can actually make the Ls more aware of the range of meaning covered by a word and/or the lack of an exact translation, because they see that for one English word a number of equivalents are given.  For example, the Collins Mondadori Pocket Italian English dictionary has then following translations for date – data, appuntamento, dattero corresponding to the meanings day of month/year; social engagement; fruit.

d) What type of activities could be used in lessons to promote dictionary use that was conducive to learning?

Activities with the following learning aims can be used....

1. To increase Ss awareness of the type of information the dictionary can include so that they can both select them more effectively and will know what information they can find there.  Eg : Ls might be given three or four dictionaries plus a checklist of what they could potentially include (grammatical and phonological info., style, common collocations, combination with affixes, examples of use etc). They look at the different dictionaries and tick off what is included in each to evaluate which is the most useful.  
2. To encourage effective use – eg : a) to increase awareness of the phonological information found in dictionaries,  eg : Ls have a list of word pairs eg photograph / photographer and have to find out how the words are stressed;  b) to increase awareness of the grammatical information found in dictionaries  eg : Ls have a list of words they already know as nouns (eg record). They have to check the dictionary to see which can also be used as verbs.
3. To ensure Ls can exploit the phonological information included : the teacher could gradually introduce the phonemic script and, as the Ls became familiar with it, practise it by getting them to look up words with problematic pronunciation – eg “silent” letters as in comb, salmon etc. This would both ensure that Ls were able to use the phonological information in the dictionaries, and encourage them to do so. 
4. To help them understand the problems of using dictionaries, eg Polysemy - there may well be more than one meaning for a word: eg Ls read a text containing a word with several meanings, and have to scan a dictionary entry for that word to find out the meaning intended in the text.
5. To help them understand why it is sometimes more effective not to use a dictionary (as in Part (a) above) and what alternative strategies may be more effective – eg they watch a video where someone attempts to have a conversation using a dictionary to check unknown words rather than by asking for explanation.