THE EFFECT OF USING A COGNITIVE BASED METHOD ON THE
STUDENTS' ACHIEVEMENT IN TRANSLATION
Ahmed Khalis Shalan
Faculty member at Nawroz University, Kurdistan Region-Iraq.
Abstract
This study was carried out in 2009, and lasted about 3
months from 1st Oct. to the end of Dec. 2010 (about 11-12 weeks).
In this study, the researcher hypothesized that using
a recent modern approach based on cognitive principles, namely the
'task-oriented approach', in teaching translation would not make any statistically
significant difference in the students' achievement.
The students, of the Department of English/College of
languages/University of Baghdad, were chosen as a research community, and
consequently, the 2nd-year students of the department were chosen as
a specimen of the department-students-community.
The researcher divided the student-specimen (120
participants) into 2 groups: group A and group B (each consists of 60
participants). With group A, a traditional approach of teaching, in terms of
applied linguistics called the 'teacher-controlled approach', was used. It is
well-known that this approach gives the teacher a dominant role, much bigger
than that of the student's in the teaching-learning process, i.e., the teacher
takes the lead in every step of the process in the classroom; helping the
students to identify the problematic points in translation and he also suggest,
more than the students do, the strategies to overcome such difficulties.
Meanwhile, a different modern approach was used with group B; an approach
called the 'task-oriented approach'. This approach is practically passed on
giving the student a dominant role, i.e., the students are given assignments to
be done at home, which implicitly means that the students have to identify the
problematic points in translation themselves, and find the proper strategies to
overcome the difficulties. Finally, according to this approach they bring their
achievements to be discussed in the classroom.
Before initiating the experiment, a pre-test was conducted
to examine the equivalence in abilities between the two groups of the specimen.
The test results proved a convenient equivalence between them.
Furthermore, during the first 2 weeks (an average of 4
academic hours) of the experiment, the two groups of the specimen were given
theoretical and general knowledge about translation and of a good translator.
Then, the following step was to apply the two proposed
approaches on the two groups in teaching translation. Parts of a course-book
called 'Advanced English for Translation' were selected as a syllabus
for the experiment. The two groups were given, for 8 weeks, the same lessons
and the same texts to be dealt with as training in translation, according to
the approach of teaching chosen for each group as mentioned before.
Afterwards, an achievement-test was designed. The
items of the test were chosen from the same course-book, as an unseen passage
(not one of the passages the students dealt with before). The test items and
materials' validity was examined by a group of specialists.
Finally, conducting the achievement-test, the analysis
of the students' results has shown two levels of findings:
-
Horizontally,
the results were in favor of group B (following the 'task-oriented approach');
55 students out of 60 passed the exam, whereas only 42 students out of 60
passed the exam from group A (following the 'teacher-directed approach), and
-
Vertically,
the test's results, examined by specialists in evaluation and assessment, have
shown statistically significant differences in favor of the modern cognitive
approach in teaching, the 'task-oriented approach', manifested by the
achievements of group B.
1-
Introduction
T
|
he facts
of life indicate that change is the dynamic law of existence; everything
related to man, in this world, is apt to development, or at least to
improvement.
Doubtlessly,
the syllabus currently taught in the Department of English/ College of
Languages, which has been applied for at least two decades, should now be
reconsidered; in respect of whether it still satisfies the needs of the
learners or not. That is, however the current syllabus was justified at a time;
it would have become unable to respond to nowadays increasing needs of the
students in a time, when English is tilting to be a second-language. This is,
especially when the students increasing needs are taken in the light of the continuously
happening developments in the field of Foreign Language Teaching (henceforth FLT)
in general, and in the field of Translation Teaching (henceforth TT) in
particular.
Hence, it
is the time to investigate the adequacy of the syllabus of translation (which
has been taught for long), whether vertically or horizontally. Although
discussing the shortages of the said syllabus is not one of the concerns of
this paper, they can be briefed in the following points:
1- The syllabus is too prescriptive to encourage the learners to use their
talents realizing highly-qualitative achievements in translation.
2- The syllabus is not originally designed for two-hours-weekly translation
course, as it is the case in the Department of English/College of Languages,
i.e., it is rather designed for TT situations which differ largely in
conditions (objectives, number of hours, degree of majoring, etc.)
3- Though the syllabus provides the learners with situational usages of
language and how to translate them, it does not provide them, but very little, with
the chance to put such usages in authentic translational contexts. And thus it underestimates
the students' needs to go to their logical ends in achieving a real text
translation.
Therefore, following a new method based on the latest cognitive
principles of ELT, the researcher has undertaken an experiment of teaching a
new course in translation from the very beginning of the academic year
2007-2008, lasted for about 3 months (from the beginning of October 2010 and
lasted for about 11-12 weeks).
This paper is dedicated to showing the steps of this
experiment in an authentic situation of both, TT and Language Teaching (henceforth
LT) and the findings gained from the experiment.
2-
Aims of
the Study
This
paper aims at:
-
Making a comparison between
two different approaches in TT, in order to find out the effect of the
'task-oriented approach' on the process of translation.
-
Eliciting reliable judgments
about the second year EFL learners' (Department of English/College of
Languages/University of Baghdad) talents and abilities in translation, via an
experiment.
3-
Hypothesis
It is
hypothesized that there are no statistically significant differences between
the achievement of the students who are taught translation by the
traditional method 'teacher-directed approach' and those who study translation
by using a new method based on certain cognitive principles, 'task-oriented
approach' of TT.
4-
Value of
the Study
This
paper is particularly trying to provide, via practically justified steps, the
preliminary grounds of modernizing the translation syllabus in the Department
of English/College of languages/ University of Baghdad. So, it may ultimately
provide new horizons for researches to open the page of cognitive learning in
translation.
5-
Limits
The study
is limited to the second-year students/Department of English/College of
Languages/University of Baghdad and the two-hours-weekly-course of translation
they are taught for the academic year 2009-2010.
6-
Definitions
of Basic Terms
For the
sake of this study, the relevant terms are defined as follows:
-
Achievement test: It is a
test, which is designed to measure how much the language learners have
successfully learned with specific reference to a particular course, text-book,
or program of instruction, and according to a certain teaching/learning
approach (Hughes 1989- cited in Johnson & Johnson 1999).
-
Form-based Translation: It
means teaching which focuses on control of formal aspects of language such as
the grammatical features of a specific type of discourse or text, e.g.
narrative (Larson 1984).
-
Meaning-based Translation: It is
an approach in translation which pay attention to meaning more than to form
(Larson 1984).
-
Student-centered: it
refers to the methods of teaching which (a) emphasize the active role of
students in learning, (b) try to give learners more control over what and how
they learn, and (c) encourage the learners to take more responsibility for
their own learning (Butts 1974; Sheerin 1989).
-
Task-oriented Approach: This
term is borrowed from the term 'task' in Applied Linguistics. And 'task', in
terms of teaching, is an activity which is designed to help achieve a
particular learning goal (Nunan 1989; Grookes and Gass 1993a; Parbhu 1987-
cited in Johnson & Johnson 1999)
-
Teacher-directed: It is a
teaching style in which everything in the classroom is managed and controlled
by the teacher. Many current teaching methods try to encourage less
teacher-directed interaction (Butts 1974).
7-
Methodology
of the Experiment
7-1
Experimental Design
The aim
of the current research is to compare the effect of two different approaches on
academic achievement in TT: the 'teacher-directed' one and the 'task-based'
one. Therefore, the researcher depended on an experimental design for its
necessity for the aims of the research (Vandalin, 1985: 364), whose final touch
would be an achievement post-test for the two groups according to the diagram
given in Figure No.1:
 |
7-2
Experiment Population
The
population of the experiment comprised about 120 2nd-year students
at the Department of English/College of Languages. But, for procedural reasons the
sample was divided into 2 groups:
-
Group A (60
learners), that was taught translation according to the "Teacher-directed
Approach", and
-
Group B (60
learners), that was taught translation according to the "Task-oriented
Approach".
7-3 Duration
of the Experiment
The
experiment lasted for about 3 months; from the 1st, Oct. to the end
of December, 2010 (around 11-12 weeks).
7-4 Syllabus
7-4-1 Selection
of the Materials
The
materials chosen to be used in the experiment were selected from 'Advanced
English for Translation' by Dennis Chamberlin & Gillian White. As a
matter of fact, "This book is designed for upper-intermediate and more
advanced students of all nationalities, who need to use English in their
work." (Chamberlin & White 1993 p.2). Furthermore, the text-book is
designed to achieve the following objective:
-
To provide practice in those
areas of English which are known to cause difficulty to foreign learners.
(Chamberlin & White 1993 p.2)
Furthermore,
this course-book involves various types of texts (36 texts) selected for
translation, graded deliberately to respond to the student translation' needs
in many fields, and representing the available styles and registers found in
the contemporary written English. Naturally, a text in such a
translation-course should inevitably be followed by exercises focusing on the most
problematic cases that would face the translator, not to mention putting emphasis
on certain kinds of the many-fold words and expressions found in English
via usages and idioms.
7-4-2 Objectives
The
syllabus was chosen to achieve the following objectives:
General:
a-
Provide the materials that
would enable the translation-work to become a positive process (in the short
run), and
b-
Energize the students to
enjoy the language learning activity by their own (in the long run).
Specific:
-
Specify the areas of English
which cause much difficulty to the EFL learners in translation and figure
convenient strategies out by themselves to solve the problems they face in
translation.
7-4-3
Design
The
syllabus that has been chosen to be taught to the students during the
experiment period was a procedural syllabus, i.e., a translation textbook of a
design that is supposed to meet the objectives in the mind of the experiment's
undertaker. This syllabus consists of texts chosen from various sources, and followed
by exercises about the areas of English which cause problematic difficulty
to the foreign learners in translation.
7-5
Teaching Approach
As the
experiment sample was divided into two groups: group A and group B,
in TT, two approaches of teaching were used. With group A, a 'teacher-directed
approach' (traditional one) was followed, and a 'task-oriented approach'
(a recent- cognitive one) was adopted with group B, as follows:
-
For Group A, the
teaching approach was based on fulfilling the process of translation as whole
in the classroom, in which the teacher plays the major role in
identifying the difficulties, and suggesting the strategies to solve such
difficulties.
-
For Group B, the
teaching approach is much currently used in ELT, and based on giving the students
a weekly assignment, in order to go and try themselves to identify the
difficulty areas, and try by their own to find strategies to solve the
difficulties.
The
following table shows a comparison between the two methods:
It is
worth mentioning here that, in an attempt to apply it in TT, the 'task-oriented
approach' used in this experiment was borrowed from what is technically
called 'task-based language teaching', used in the ELT discipline. It is
argued that one of the characteristics of this approach is to focus on the
nature of the learning process activities (Johnson and Johnson 1999). Hence,
since the 'task-oriented approach' is practically supposed to be
organized around tasks carried-out by the learners themselves (Richard
and Schmit 2002), rather than the Teacher-controlled one, which is closely
managed, and directed by the teacher, the approach in this experiment is almost
built on Prabhu's (1987) hypothesis which argues that " . . . structure
can be best learned when attention is focused on meaning." (Richard &
Schmidt 2002).
Furthermore,
the experiment is theoretically built on an overriding principle in translation
discipline, which argues that translation is basically a meaning-based one.
That is, 'once the translator has defined the meaning of the source text, his
goal is to express that same meaning in the receptor language (Larson 1984).
Therefore,
in the course of the experiment the same theoretical basis was put into
practice for the two groups (A & B) in the process of
translation. It is the use of what, in terms of translation, is called the 'meaning-based
translation'. Meanwhile, pedagogically, the 'teacher-controlled approach'
was followed with group A, and the 'task-oriented approach' was
adopted for group B.
7-6 Model
of the Translation Process
As a
guide to the translation process, the model used in this experiment is borrowed
from Bell (1993). This model represents, comprehensively, the process of
translation as follows in Figure No.
The model represents the transformation of a
source-language text into a target-language text via processes taking place in
the memory:
a-
Analysis of a source-language
text into universal semantic representation, and
b-
Synthesis of semantic
representation into a target-language text. (Bell 1993)
Building on the fact that as the learner has had a
long period of exposure to both, his/her native language and the EFL learning,
then he/she is supposed to be aware enough of how to decode and to encode in
both languages, Arabic and English. Hence, in order to make the student feel on
firm ground, the process represented in the above-mentioned model can be
rendered, in practice, by the teacher; asking them to do the following
procedural steps (or series of tasks):
1-
Analytically:
-
Do a pioneer reading of the
text from top to bottom,
-
Reread it again underlining
the semantically unfamiliar words and expressions and putting them in a list,
and then
-
Reread it once more in the
light of knowing almost the general meaning of the text in order to comprehend
its core meaning (this step may help the student's achieving the universal
semantic representation of the source-language text.
2-
Synthetically:
-
Start translating the text,
sentence by sentence, not word by word (regarding the equivalents on both
levels; word and expression),
-
Reread the resultant
target-language text, in order to make any necessary modifications in the
meaning of the sentences due to the message context of each paragraph, and
-
Reread the resultant text in order to make any
necessary modifications due to the whole text message coherence; in other
words, to make sure that quality of meaning, unity, and purpose are all
reasonably perceived in the discourse of the text.
This last step would help the learner to achieve the
semantic representation of the target-language text.
Unquestionably, these procedural steps (tasks),
if done properly (decoding the English text and encoding it into Arabic), is
supposed to serve in achieving objective No, 1, mentioned above in (7-1-2).
Furthermore, and if arguing for the sake of achieving
objective No.2 in (7-1-2), for Group A; a back-translation (retranslating
the resultant Arabic text into English) is made in the classroom, and for Group
B, the student is advised, as soon as he accomplishes translating the text,
to make verifiable and justifiable back-translation, as part of the assignment
and as a feed-back step. If this feed-back step realizes (whether in the
classroom or at home) an acceptable degree of correspondence between the
English source-language text and the English feed-back text, this
would grant validity to the Arabic target text.
8-
Application
of the Experiment and the Test
Whether for Group A (in the classroom) or for Group
B (at home), the procedures were effectively built on the principles of a student-centered
teaching method, in which the learners are supposed to have a major and
active role in the learning/teaching process; by letting them take the
initiative to have more control over what they learn and how. This,
consequently, may encourage them to take more responsibility for their own
learning (Richard and Schmidt 2002).
8-1 Steps
of the Experiment
8-1-1
Step No. 1
Week 1: Theoretical
Discussions for Both Groups
Firstly, the
experiment started during the first week of Oct. 2008 within the first semester
primarily with discussing the theoretical principles of translation needed for
this experiment, by refreshing the students' memory of the basic structures of
the two languages in question, English and Arabic, and the contrastive points
between them as well.
Building on the fact that the learners have had a long
period of exposure to both languages they are dealing with, refreshing their
memory was achieved by holding discussions, between the teacher and the
students. This was done via a process lasted for four lessons, in which the
students defined and specified the general basic (non-detailed) structural and
cultural differences between English and Arabic, and wrote down whatever they
thought to be as guidance at hand.
Such discussions, on the other hand, had to make stop
at the characteristics of a good translator, which, as far as they have to do
with the learners' current normal level of language command, could be briefed
as follows:
-
Have relatively a good
command over the basics of the two languages,
-
Be aware enough of the basic
cultural variations of the two languages,
-
Have a good sense of
selecting the proper sense of a word or expression meaning, due to the context
of the text message,
-
Be equipped well-enough with
the tools that facilitate the translating process, i.e., at least three types
of dictionaries for the moment; an English-Arabic one, an English-English one,
and an Arabic-English one.
Secondly, and
very importantly, the learners were told in advance that they had been chosen
as a sample of population for a new experiment in translation, by enlightening
them about the principles of the Teacher-directed Approach plus Student-centered
Teaching Approach (for Group A), and the Task-oriented Approach plus
Learner-centered Teaching Approach (for Group B), which both aim at the
manifestation of the students' talents, not the teacher's, in translation. The
difference between the two approaches here is obvious; with Group A, it is
controlled by the teacher, whereas with Group B is not.
As a matter of fact, making the students aware of
their role in the experiment was hoped to energize their motivation to a higher
degree of participation.
Furthermore, they were also told about the model
adopted in the experiment, and the way it could be rendered into series of
tasks, mixed of physical and mental processes (see 7-3 above)
8-1-2
Step No.2:
Week 2:
Pre-Test
In order to find out whether, or not, the two groups, A
& B have the equal variances, a pre-test was carried out to
examine the equivalence between the two groups. The following statistic results
were obtained from the t-test:
Thus, the results of the t-test, given in Tables 2 &
3 above, have approved the equivalence of the means related to the two groups,
and at the same time; this justified the grounds of carrying out the
experiment. This is, because the difference in the standard deviation between
the 2 groups showed that the variances of the 2 groups are almost equal.
8-1-3
Step N0. 3: The Teaching Process
For both groups, A (in the classroom) and
B (at home), the students were asked, when translating all the passages
given to them at the same time, to concentrate on the following:
-
Communicating the general
meaning,
-
Paying attention to sentence
building, and
-
Identifying and solving the
problematic points, specified by the text-book.
The materials of the lessons were all chosen from 'Advanced
English for Translation', afore-mentioned to cover the following
8-weeks-students- performance in figuring out strategies to solve the problems
they face when translating the critical-points attached to the passages. No
doubt, the texts have been chosen by the authors of Advanced English for
Translation' on the basis that they semantically demonstrate certain
problematic points even to the English native speakers in translation, who may
miss the sought sense of the word in the said text. Most significantly,
"To provide practice in those areas of English which are known to cause
difficulty to foreign learners." (Chamberlin & White 1993 p.2)
Week 3:
A passage1 from the novel 'The Spy
who came from the cold' by John Le Carre, (cited in Chamberlin, Dennis
& White, Gillian-1993 p.10) with the following problematic items in
translation:
-
The use of 'by' in time
expressions,
-
Past perfect continuous
tense,
-
Idioms with 'to/into',
-
Double comparatives, and
-
The modal verb 'might'.
Week 4:
A passage1 of trade correspondence
(cited in Chamberlin, Dennis & White, Gillian-1993 p.15),
with the following problematic items:
-
Present simple/ present
continuous,
-
Take/ bring/ fetch,
-
Present continuous tense
expressing future,
-
Phrasal verb- to see, and
-
Idiomatic expressions with
's
Week 5:
A passage2 about shopping from 'The
Consumer Jungle' by Marion Giordano, (cited in Chamberlin, Dennis &
White, Gillian-1993 p.20) with the following problematic items:
-
Plural nouns,
-
Adjectives in –ing &
-ed,
-
The word 'one',
-
Arise/ raise/ rise, and
-
The modal 'may'.
Week 6:
A science-fiction passage3 from 'James
and the Giant peach' by Ronald Dahl (cited in Chamberlin, Dennis & White,
Gillian-1993 p.25), with the following problematic items:
-
The word 'Quite',
-
To keep (on) + -ing,
-
The word 'very',
-
As if/ as though, and
-
Result clauses.
Week 7:
The passage4, Repairing a Fuse, from
The Good Handyman's Encyclopedia, by F. J. Christopher and Rosemary
Christopher (cited in Chamberlin, Dennis & White, Gillian-1993 p.30), with
the following problematic items:
-
The modal verb 'should'
-
To loosen/ loose/ to lose
-
It+ to be+ adjective+
infinitive
-
The word 'only'
Week 8:
A trade correspondence letter from a company to a
purchaser5 (cited in Chamberlin, Dennis & White,
Gillian-1993 p.35), with the following problematic items:
-
Phrasal verbs – to run
-
Stative verbs
-
Do- pro form
-
Conditionals
-
Prepositions of final
position
Week 9:
The passage6, Wanted, five enterprising
people to challenging project, a Rolex of Geneva (cited in
Chamberlin, Dennis & White, Gillian-1993 p.40), advertisement from the Time
Magazine, with the following problematic items:
-
Compound nouns with 'break'
-
Adverbials with present perfect
-
Future passive
-
-ing clauses
-
Opportunity/ chance/
occasion/ possibility
Week 10:
A passage7 from the novel, Bonecrack,
by Dick Fransic (cited in Chamberlin, Dennis & White, Gillian-1993 p.45),
with the following problematic items:
-
The word 'both'
-
Compound adjectives
-
The word 'there'
-
Order of adjectives
Furthermore, keeping pace with the design of the
experiment, for both groups, was allotted to do the exercises supplemented at
the end of each passage. As for the second-hour, for Group A it
was allotted to translate the passage in the classroom; and for Group B,
it was allotted to making discussions in the classroom for better style, via
comparisons held between the learners' performances. Such discussions were
carried out in the classroom by the students themselves, with the guidance of
the teacher.
8-1-4
Step No. 3: Achievement Test
Week 11:
Achievement test
In order to measure the ability, knowledge, and
performance of the learners as (Richard and Schmidt 2002) argue, during week
11, a test of achievement was brought out. Doubtless, here, in order to meet
the belief that " . . . a test is not only a means of measurement, but
also an instrument of learning," (Richard and Schmidt 2002) the test-construction
was deliberately designed according to:
1-
Test construction: The
test is constructed to measure the learners' ability to work on their own in
translation via an unseen passage.
2-
Test
Items: The test was constructed from only one question, (see Appendix 1),
selected out, not among of the passages which were given to students in
assignments or discussed at the classroom, but rather an unseen passage,
selected from the same course-book which was taught to them; Advanced
English for Translation
3-
Test
objectives: The an unseen passage given in the test was in order
to realize the following objectives:
-
General: To find
out the students ability to identify the unfamiliar problematic points and the
strategies they used to solve them.
-
Specific: To use
the results of the two groups to make comparison, in order to find out any
statistically significant differences in the results of the students as an
outcome of adopting the 'task-oriented approach' in TT
4-
Test
Validity:
It is the test itself that fulfils its objectives
(Ibrahim, 1989: 72). Validity is a psychometric value which reveals the range
of achieving a goal (Awda, 1999: 13). The researcher found out logical validity
of both types; surface and content validity, via presenting the initial form of
the test to a group of experts8 to assess the validity of the items.
This is, because the opinion of the experts is an indicator of surface
validity, since surface validity is reached through the experts' opinion
about the quality of the test in measuring the characteristics (Awda, 1999:
370). The researcher also verified the content validity by drawing a
test map so that the items will represent the content of the material and the
behavioral aims, because content validity depends on the ration of representing
the content of the material in the test items and representing the teaching
aims (Al-Rosan et al, 1995: 90).
5-
The Score
Scheme: The score marks were out of ten (…/10), divided as follows:
-
2/10 for the general
meaning,
-
2/10 for sentence building,
and
-
6/10 for solving the
problematic points.
-
6-
Final
Administration: One of the translation's two-hours-weekly was
allotted for the test administration. The two groups, A & B
of test-takers were tested at the same time.
7-
Duration
of the test: 90 minutes.
8-
Statistical
Methods:
The immediate surface results of the students'
achievement test have shown that:
-
From Group A,
following the 'teacher-directed approach', 42 out of 60 students passed
the exam successfully, and
-
From Group B,
following the 'task-oriented approach', 55 out of 60 students passed the
exam successfully.
It is obvious that the number of those students who
passed the exam is in favor of Group B, in other words, in favor of the 'task-oriented
approach'.
Furthermore, at the deep level, the results of the
t-test have shown the following statistic values:
Any
comparison between the achievement-test results of the 2 groups, as it
is manifested in Table No.8, can show a difference in the results of the 2
groups. More significant is the fact that the students' results, analyzed
by experts in statistics, have proved a significant statistical difference in
the in favor of Group B achievements, which can be attributed to the new
approach; namely the 'task-oriented approach', used in TT.
8-1-4
Step No. 5: Test Reliability
Analyzing
samples from the achievement test results have shown that the test can provide
a reasonable degree of consistency in results. And the correlations, which are
given in Table No. 8, manifest clearly that the significance of
correlation is at 0.01 levels. This, furthermore, means that the test, if
administratively repeated, can most likely manifest almost the same
results.
9-
Conclusions
To
conclude, using certain recent cognitive approaches in TT could be justified on
three grounds, namely, psychological, pedagogical, and statistical grounds:
- On psychological grounds, the use of the cognitive approach enables the
students to be self-confident enough to use their competence in finding their
own strategies to solve the problems encountered in translating a text.
- On pedagogical grounds, beside offering the opportunity to the teacher
to identify the mentally-skilled students in translation, the use of the
cognitive approach may help the teacher, on the one hand, to save time and
discuss more additional matters related to the translating process, and on the
other, to provide some different materials and leave the students to
experiment.
- On statistical grounds, the experiment has shown a statistically
significant difference in favor of using the cognitive Approach in TT.
10-
Suggestions
The carrying out of this study has experimentally and
statistically proved that using certain recent cognitive approaches in TT could
be of a great help to improve the students' achievement. So the following
suggestions could be of use in this respect:
1- To carry out similar studies to verify the efficiency of using the said
cognitive approaches in teaching other materials.
2- Providing the translation teachers, in the academic institutions, with
the latest cognitive approaches in teaching via training courses.
Notes:
[1] All the passages
(including problematic points indicated for translation) adopted for the
experiment syllabus were selected from (Chamberlin, Dennis & White, Gillian-1993)
2 Ibid p.20
3 Ibid p.25
4 Ibid p.30
5 Ibid p.35
6 Ibid p.40
7 Ibid p. 45
8 (the
names of the jury members are listed in Appendix No. 2)
9 The examinees were allowed to take
dictionaries with them to the examination hall, on the ground of that the
examination is of translation, not of reading comprehension.
References
-
Al-Rosan,
Salim Salama et al (1995) Principles of Measurement and Evaluation and Its
Educational and Humantarian Applications. Amman: Cooperation Publishing
Society
-
Awda,
Ahmed Sulaiman (1999) Measurement and Evaluation in Teaching. Irbid: Dar
Al-Amel
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Bell, T.
Roger (1991), Translation and Translating. Longman. London.
-
Butts, J.
Eugene (1974) Student-Centered, Teacher-Directed Learning Approach. Business Education Forum . London
-
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Chamberlin,
Dennis & White, Gillian (1993) Advanced English for Translation,
Cambridge University press. England.
-
Crystal.
David (2007) How Language Works. Penguin Books. Cambrighe University
Pres.
-
Dickinson,
L. (1988). Self-Instruction in Language Learning. Cambridge. Cambridge
University Press.
-
Grookes, G
and Gass, S. M. (1993a) Tasks and Language Learning: Integrating Theory and
Practice. Clevedon: Multilingual matters
-
Hughes, A.
(1999) Testing for Language Teachers. Cambridge. Cambridge University
Press.
-
Ibrahim,
Amir, et al. (1989) Principles of Measurement and Evaluation in Education,
Amman: Dar Amman (in Arabic)
-
Johnson,
Keith & Johnson, Helen (1999) Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied
Linguistic. Edited. Blackwell Publishers. USA.
-
Larson,
Mildred L. (1984) Meaning-based Translation: A Guide to Cross-language
Equivalence. University Press of America. Lanam. New York. London.
-
Nunan, D.
(1989) Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom. Cambridge.
Cambridge University Press.
-
Parbhu, N.
S. (1987) Second language Pedagogy: A Perspective. Oxford. Oxford
University Press.
-
Sheerin,
S. (1989). Self-access. Oxford. Oxford University Press.
-
Richards,
C. Jack & Schmidt, Richard (2002) Dictionary of Language & Applied
Linguistics. Pearson Education Limited. Longman. England.
-
Vandalin,
Deabold B. (1985) Approaches of Research in Educatin and Psychology,
translated by Mohammad Nabil et al., 3rd Cairo: Anglo-Egyptian
Library.
Appendix (1)
Achievement Test Construction
Q.0:
Taking into account:
- the
general meaning of the passage,
- the sentences' structure (Arabic sentence
structure), and
- giving as exact as possible the sense of the
expression which acceptably goes with context of the texts9 (consulting
the dictionary is allowed) of the problematic and confusing points in the
sentences written in italics, translate the following passage into Arabic:
It was
quite a large hole, the sort of thing an animal about the size of a fox
might have made.
James knelt down in front of it, and poked his
head and shoulders inside.
He crawled in.
He kept on crawling.
This isn't a hole, he thought excitedly. It's
a tunnel!
The
tunnel was damp and murky, and all around him there was the curious bittersweet
smell of fresh peach. The floor was soggy under his knees, the walls were wet
and sticky, and peach juice was dripping from the ceiling. James opened his
mouth and caught some of it on his tongue. It tasted delicious.
He was crawling uphill now, as
though the tunnel were leading straight towards the very centre of
gigantic fruit. Every few seconds he paused and took a bite out of the
wall. The peach flesh was sweet and juicy, and marvelously refreshing.
He crawled on for several more
yards, and then suddenly- bang- the top of his head bumped into
something extremely hard blocking his way. He glanced up. In front of him there
was a solid wall that seemed at first as though it were made of wood.
He touched it with his fingers. It certainly felt like wood, except that it was
very jagged and full of deep grooves.
'Good
heavens!' he said. 'I know what this is! I've come to the stone in the middle
of the peach!'
Then he noticed that there was a
small door cut into the face of the peach stone. He gave a push. It swung open.
He crawled through it, and before he had time to glance up and see where he
was, he heard a voice saying, 'Look who's here! And another one said,
'We've been waiting for you!'
James stopped and stared at the
speakers, his face white with horror. He started to stand up, but his
knees were shaking so much he had to sit down again on the floor.
From James and the
giant peach by Roald Dahl
Appendix (2)
The Jury
Members' Names
DR. Ali Hussein (Assist.
Prof.) college of Education/University of Mosel
2-
Dr. Chachan Jum'ah (Assist.
Prof.) School of Basic Education/ University of Duhok-Kirdistan Region-Iraq.
3-
Dr. Bushra Noori Al-Sa'doon
(Assist Prof.) College of Education/ Ebe University/ Yamen.
4-
Dr. Safa' Isa (Assist.
Prof.)/ The College of Basic education/ University of Meesan/ Iraq.
5-
Dr. 'Asim 'Abood (Assist.
Prof.)/ The College of Basic education/ University of Babil/ Iraq.
6-
Dr. Abdul Hameed Naseer
(Assist. Prof.)/ College of Languages/ University of Baghdad.
7-
Dr. Khalil Isma'eel (Assist.
Prof.)/College of Education/ University of Diyala.
8-
Dr. Ayad Hameed (Assist.
Prof.)/College of Education/ University of Diyala.
9-
Miss Lamyaa Rasheed (Assist.
Prof.)/College of Education/ University of Diyala.
أثر إستعمال الطريقة الإدراكية في إنجاز طلبة قسم اللغة الإنكليزية في درس
الترجمة
الملخص:Abstract in Arabic
أجري
هذا البحث الميداني التجريبي عام 2010 ابتداء من بداية شهر تشرين الأول و دام
ثلاثة شهور (11-12 أسبوعا).
افترض
الباحث فيه بأن اتباع أسلوب حديث يستند على مبادي معرفية و ادراكية في تدريس
الترجمة قد لا يشكل فرقا أساسيا في انجاز الطلبة.
و
أختير فيه طلبة قسم اللغة الانكليزية/ كلية اللغات/ جامعة بغداد، ليكونوا مجتمعا
لهذا البحث. و تبعا لذلك تم اختيار طلبة المرحلة الثانية للعام الدراسي 2009/2010
عينة محددة للبحث.
قسم
الباحث العينة المتكونة من (120) طالبا الى مجموعتين:
-
المجموعة
أ (60 طالبا)، و
-
المجموعة
ب (60 طالبا).
اتبع
الباحث مع المجموعة أ طريقة لتعليم الترجمة تسمى بلغة علم اللغة التطبيقي بـ "Teacher-controlled
Approach" "الطريقة الموجهة"،
و تمنح هذه الطريقة المدرس دورا يطغى كثيرا على دور الطالب في عملية
التعلم/التعليم، اذ يقوم المدرس بدور رئيس في تشخيص الصعوبات الترجمية في النص و
ايجاد الوسائل للتغلب عليها داخل الصف و و يدعو الطلبة بقيادته الى حل المعضلات
الترجمية.
و
استعمل، من ناحية أخرى، مع الجموعة ب، طريقة مغايرة حديثة تسمى "Task-oriented
Approach"، و هي طريقة مشتقة مما
يسمى اصطلاحا في علم اللغة التطبيقي بـ
"task-based teaching طريقة
المهام الموجهة"، و تستند هذه الطريقة أساسا على دور للطالب أكبر بكثير من
الدور الذي يقوم به المدرس في عملية التعلم/التعليم، بأن يكلف الطلبة بترجمة نص
معين، يأخذون فيه على عاتقهم (واجبا بيتيا و دون توجيه من المدرس) مهمة تشخيص
الصعوبات الترجمية في النص، و إيجاد الوسائل للتغلب عليها بأنفسهم. ثم يأتون
بانجازهم فيما بعد لمناقشته مع المدرس و الطلبة الآخرين في الصف.
و قبل
الشروع بخطوات التجربة، قام الباحث بالخطوة التجريبة الأولى لتسويغ تقسيم العينة
الى مجموعتين، و هي اجراء امتحان لاختبار المكافئات الفردية للطلبة بين
المجموعتين، فجاءت النتيجة بتساوي المجموعتين بخواصهما كعينة للبحث.
و
أعطيت العينة، بمجموعتيها، في الأسبوعين الأولين، بمعدل 4 وحدات تدريسية، معلومات
نظرية عامة عن الترجمة و احتياجاتها، و من هو المترجم الجيد. ثم شرع بعدها بتطبيق
طريقتي التدريس المذكورتين في أعلاه كلا على حدة مع إحدى المجموعتين.
و قد
أختير كتاب "Advanced English for
Translation" مقررا عمليا لدريس الترجمة
لكلا المجموعتين. و هكذا أعطيت المجموعتان الدروس ذاتها، كتدريب في الترجمة، لمدة
ثمانية اسابيع متتالية.
ثم تبع
ذلك تصميم امتحان للانجاز ، كانت مادة الامتحان فيه "قطعة غير منظورة unseen
passage" (ليست من ضمن النصوص
الترجمية التي تدرب الطلبة على ترجمتها أثناء مدة التدريب). و عرضت مادة الامتحان
على الخبراء لقياس صدقيتها و موثوقيتها، فتأيد ذلك. ثم أجري امتحان الانجاز.
·
كانت
النتائج الأفقية للامتحان لصالح المجموعة ب، و كالآتي:
-
المجموعة
ب (التي أتبعت معها الطريقة الجديدة في تدريس الترجمة)، نجح فيها 55 طالبا اجتازوا
الامتحان من مجموع 60،
-
المجموعة
أ (المجموعة التي اتبعت معها الطريقة التقليدية في تدريس الترجمة) اجتاز فيها
الامتحان 42 طالبا فقط من مجموع 60 .
·
أما
النتائج العمودية للامتحان فكانت هي الأخرى لصالح المجموعة ب، اذ بعد عرض درجات
الطلبة على المختصين بالقياس و التقويم، فقد أظهرت تلك الأرقام و المعادلات فرقا
لصالح الطريقة الجديدة يثبت جدواها للطلبة و لعملية التعليم /التعلم، و هي نتائج
تساعد على الوصول الى استنتاجات على ثلاث مستويات:
-
مستوى
سايكولوجي: وفحواه ذو شقين؛ شق يبين ان استعمال الطرق الادراكية الجديدة في تدريس
الترجمة يهئ للطلبة امكانية استعمال مهاراتهم الادراكية في تشخيص المشكلات التي
تواجههم عند الترجمة و محاولة ايجاد حلول لهذه المشكلات، و شق آخر يبين امكانية
تحويل عملة الترجمة عند الطالب الى عملية ابداعية.
-
مستوى
له علاقة بعملية التدريس: و فحواه ان استعمال الطرق الادراكية الحديثة في تدريس
الترجمة، أن تأثيره، اضافة الى تمكين المدرس من اكتشاف قابليات طلابه المبدعين في
درس الترجمة، قد يمتد الى توفير الوقت الكافي له لامداد طلبته بأكبر قدر ممكن من
التجارب الترجمية، طالما كان الطلبة يقومون بمهام الترجمة بأنفسهم.
-
مستوى
إحصائي: و فحواه، ان استعمال الطرق الادراكية الحديثة في تدريس الترجمة، قد أظهر
بدلائل صادقة يمكن التعويل عليها جدواه في امكانية تطوير قابليات الطلبة في درس
الترجمة.
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