Fatma Ben Slamia
Abstract
Every linguistic community is fated to be in contact with a second or a foreign language following the communicative needs of their speakers who are often bilingual, if not multilingual. For the majority of countries all over the world, this other than the native language is the English language. This paramount status assigned to English is perceptible in different sectors particularly the educational one. Indeed teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) is one priority and a major concern for students. One interesting area of intersection between English as a foreign language (EFL) and a given mother tongue in the educational field is the teaching of translation. In the presence of new technologies used in translation, human translation still remains an area of controversy in translation studies and teaching practices. Nevertheless, it has been considered as the ‘Cinderella’ in the TEFL (Campbell 1998), and relatively ignored by applied linguistics and translation studies.
This paper is at the core of this matter and seeks to give prominence to teaching translation. The focus will be on vocabulary and the role of translation courses as a viable context to promote English vocabulary learning. For this, a cognitive process of learning strategies through translation teaching is put forward by proposing four phases: recognition, production, learning and retrieval, respectively.
Key words: vocabulary learning, teaching translation, context, learning strategies.
1. Rationale and objectives
EFL has always been the focus of research for several linguists and psycholinguists. The principal aim is to demystify the “enigma” of learning a foreign language with its different linguistic system and a different culture. Various studies have always tried to identify learning barriers and implement solutions in order to facilitate learning. To a great extent, the learning of a foreign language is based on the learning of its lexis first. However, several studies have shown that there are problems with vocabulary learning when taught in isolation.
Then, what I am proposing in this paper is to consider the teaching of translation as a viable context to reinforce the learning of the foreign language vocabulary using some strategies and a defined process.
The aim behind this paper is:
• To enlarge the linguistic and lexical competence of bilingual learners.
• To highlight the effectiveness of translation as an academic subject in learning English vocabulary.
• To put forward a cognitive process for learning the target language vocabulary.
2. Theoretical background
2.1 Translation and vocabulary learning: The bridge between translation studies and psycholinguistics
Linguistics has always had the lion’s share in the minds of researchers and scholars contrary to translation. But recently, the literature has given interest to translation studies and translation theories which have started to explore the different problems that are likely to emerge during the transfer of a given text from the source language (Henceforth SL) to the target language (Henceforth TL). Yet, many aspects were ignored such as translation contribution to the development of national languages and its relation to meaning (Newmark 1985). In the early sixties, translation was always discussed in terms of translation methods and text types, while the link with linguistics was dimly established. Yet, in recent times, it has been recognized that translation is one aspect of applied linguistics and that it provided a powerful impetus for the development of the discipline of linguistics (Paulston 1992). The correlation between applied linguistics, foreign language teaching/learning and translation was already established first by Lado (1957) with his Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis. This paper could still create a link between translation and applied linguistics. Other disciplines have been allied with translation such as sociolinguistics, to see how to translate special dialects; or cross-cultural pragmatics where the focus is on the intention of the SL writer and the translator.
In second/foreign language learning, initial interest was in grammar and syntax; while in the last few decades the shift was towards the study of different aspects of vocabulary (Anderman & Rodgers 1996). Conversely, the recent theoretical works in psycholinguistics about the way we acquire L2 words was not considered in relation to translation, though “translation studies, still a young discipline, may benefit from the insights already gained in the field of L1 and L2 acquisition” (Anderman & Rodgers 1996: 53). Obviously, the word level is common between language learning and translation. In language learning, vocabulary as one language item is investigated to see how and what can facilitate its learning. Similarly, in translation, a word is the basic linguistic item with which we decode the meaning and guide the translation towards the nearest and best translation. In fact, it is argued that the EFL learner and the translator have much in common when it comes to dealing with words (Anderman & Rodgers 1996). More significantly, it is claimed that all translators are L2 learners, who seek to extend their knowledge of the languages with which they work, particularly in the area of vocabulary (Anderman & Rodgers 1996). This paper, mainly, seeks to establish this kind of relationship between the two disciplines.
2.2 Translation
Translation is a very inspiring and enriching subject for students. In general, Tunisian EFL Learners are first introduced to the course since the first year of graduate studies where they are presented with different text types to be translated from or into the SL. When students are in contact with a foreign language, the text becomes the mediator between the student translator and the target language. Translation is “the essential bilingual act, the moment when both languages are simultaneously in play” (Campbell 1998: 22), which evidently presupposes the co-existence of a native and a foreign linguistic competence. In order to be able to translate a given text, native speakers must have some background knowledge about the different levels of the TL system such as grammar, morphology and lexicology so that the transfer of words would not be erroneous. Campbell (1998) allocates a special interest to translation into the second language and confirms that any translator working into a second language is developing a path with respect to that language. This seems to be also the case for students who are required to translate, and gradually enlarge their vocabulary store.
2.3 Vocabulary learning/teaching
There is a distinction that is often made between grammar words and lexical words in language. This distinction is also known in the literature as function/empty words versus full/content words (McCarthy1991). The former set belongs to closed systems of the language since they include finite class of words such as pronouns, articles, auxiliary verbs, prepositions and conjunctions. Conversely, the second set belongs to open systems of the language and include nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. Learning EFL vocabulary, in this paper, has to do with the second type of words that is lexical words. Vocabulary studies have known some neglect in the past but fortunately, it has been reevaluated recently together with a change in the teaching methods from teacher-centered to learner-centered.
2.3.1 Neglect
Despite its importance, vocabulary has been neglected at a given period of time in both teaching and learning. Allen (1983) maintains that the programs designed by language teachers do not take into consideration the techniques that would help students learn vocabulary. Carter and McCarthy (1988) believe that vocabulary study has been neglected by linguists, applied linguists and language teachers. Carter, later, asserts that “for many years vocabulary has been the poor relation of language teaching” (1998: 184). This neglect was obviously in favor syntax and phonology studies. Moreover, vocabulary is left to be a less important element in learning a second language (Carter 1998). Allen (1983), on his part, claims that vocabulary learning is not a matter of matching up words across SL and TL. It is not a matter of equivalence only since such a matching is partly coupled with the semantic, connotational, pragmatic and cultural dimensions that a word may cover and which may be appropriate in one language and inappropriate in another. Vocabulary, undeniably, has a distinguished status in both teaching and learning a foreign language and should be granted a prominent position. Recently, more concern has been allocated to this issue.
2.3.2 Interest
An interest has been allocated to vocabulary in the field of lexicography and terminology. Recently, there has been a need to place lexis more centrally within language teaching (Hoey 1991), and efforts have been amplified in view of assigning prominence to lexis and word level. The study of vocabulary in applied linguistics is now flourishing (Read 2000). Lexis is seen as mediating and overlapping with different levels of the language system such as syntax and phonology. It might help learners assimilate complex structures and their meanings. It starts to have a priority over grammar and syntax since vocabulary is a substantial device for a learner to manipulate the TL being learnt. Additionally, researchers have proved that teaching lexis has changed its way and this interest must be backed up with some learning and teaching strategies.
Teaching technique-wise, they are important to the learning of vocabulary. Lewis (1993) confirms that students’ needs have joined with the theoretical insights of corpus linguistics and discourse analysis to emphasize the importance of vocabulary at all stages of learning. Widdowson (1983), on his part, contends that objectives can be established in terms of a set of lexical items or syntactic structures. The overall aim is to respond to the students’ needs. Indeed, vocabulary has an eminent place not only at the core of language but it also attracts the students’ interest. In this context, Jordan asserts that “most importantly students usually want to increase their store of vocabulary, regarding it as a yardstick of their language improvement” (1997: 149). The development of EFL vocabulary learning is possible through different approaches to teaching. The approach adapted in this paper is to learn vocabulary within a special environment or ‘context’ that is translation.
3. Translation, context and learning
In order to consolidate learning EFL vocabulary, some strategies may be performed. The proposed context in this study is the translation course. Learning words in context rather than in isolation proved to be more efficient in the literature of vocabulary learning.
3.1 Words in isolation
Early vocabulary works have speculated static and isolated approach to vocabulary learning and teaching, and made up for the ‘vocabulary-control movement’. Among them are: the teacher’s word book of 30,000 words developed in the united states by Edward L. Thorndike and Irving Lorge in 1944, and word lists with paired associates advocated by Michael West (1953) entitled ‘a General Service List of English Words’. All the above works are bilingual lists of L2 words together with their translations in L1. This method could be useful for beginners’ learners, and favoured rote learning. A direct and more practical method of English vocabulary learning can be adopted through the use of context. If words are not to be learned as discrete items then they will be learned in context (Carter 1998). Thus, context would be an appropriate physical environment in which vocabulary is eminently required.
3.2 Learning words in context
At an advanced level of foreign language learning, words are picked up from contexts, understood, and then learnt. When translating, words are presented within a context which limits their interpretations. As most words are learned from context, good vocabulary instruction should stimulate learning from context (Stahl 1999). Translating words within a linguistic and cultural context seems to enhance vocabulary learning.
Context in translation is directive to detect either the explicit or the implicit meaning of the word. Usually, we remember something about the words that we skip and this something could be where we saw it or something about the context where it appeared (Stahl 1999). Learners are likely to remember the contextual features of words then learn them inductively because recognizing a word presupposes knowing about how it functions in different contexts. Besides, it is argued that learning the vocabulary of a second language is also learning the meaning relationships between a word, and all the other words in English within the full context of cultural life (Cook 1991). Indeed, the translation act is context-bound, in that it provides an amount of knowledge via signs and words in order to allow learners to choose the right equivalents. The clues may be driven either from: the linguistic context loaded with linguistic triggers available in the text; or the physical context, i.e. cultural and pragmatic connotations associated with words.
The selected texts to be translated in classroom are of different genres (technical, literary, commercial, touristic, medical, commercial etc). Students may come across idiomatic expressions, phrasal verbs, vocabularies whose meanings they ignore. This becomes a problem because translation posits some awareness of both the target language and its culture. Usually, words carry within their folds cultural implications. When translating words, learners are supposed to show cultural sensitivity while looking for the appropriate equivalents of words or expressions and this is made possible through context.
Indeed when translating, learners are required to find out the TL equivalents. They would proceed either by checking bilingual dictionaries or by drawing them from their background knowledge or cultural schemata. Hence, “translation revitalizes the thought process by thinking out possibilities of interaction and meaning within a given text, to choose from the possibilities a solution that comes close to the atmosphere of the situation” (Biguenet and Schulte 1989: xii). Subsequently, learners are likely to grasp meanings of new words, use their own strategies to learn them, and the translation course becomes the favourable setting or ‘context’ where words’ learning is activated. The process is cognitive since it is basically relying on the mental abilities of learners. The technique used in this process was referred to in the literature as ‘mnemonic technique’ (Leontiev 1981), since it deeply involves memory. So learning words in context is intimately twined with memorising words’ meanings. When translating, tertiary level students often encounter new words associated with their denotations. They may learn those vocabularies using certain strategies and a specific process.
4. Translation, learning strategies and memory
4.1 Learning strategies
Students are often recommended to become independent and responsible for their own learning (Allen 1983). Moreover, “good learners rarely rely on list learning as a way of increasing their vocabulary; rather, they actively seek out new words and incorporate them into their personal word stock using a variety of learning techniques” (Meara 1996: 35). Rubin (1981) identifies two categories of learning strategies: cognitive and metacognitive. Learning vocabulary via translating texts is mostly part of the cognitive learning strategy through which they obtain knowledge and conceptual understanding. Cognitive strategies “operate directly on incoming information, manipulating it in ways that enhance learning” (O’Malley & Chamot 1990). This type of learning strategy is applied directly to the storage, retrieval and manipulation of language (Graham 1997: 42). This responsibility leads learners to adopt their own strategies in learning. Out of the six sub-categories identified by Rubin (1987) as cognitive, three can be relevant to learning vocabulary in a context of translation: inductive inferencing, practice and memorisation. They will be taken up and applied to the teaching of translation.
What follows is an account about the importance of memory in language learning.
4.2 Translation, memory and learning
Memory is a substantial component in the theory of learning a foreign language and deemed “central to the acquisition of linguistic skills” (Thompson 1981: 43). The problem lies not just in learning L2 words, but also remembering them (Cook 1991). Moreover, “it is difficult to think of any educational goal for which the ability to retain information is unimportant” (Thompson 1981: 43). When translating, new lexemes are presented to students and their linguistic competence about the TL is enriched. Their memory is activated in order to store vocabulary then retrieve them. Indeed, during the scene of transferring a given term from one language to another, the student is being the main actor where he/she plays the role of finding appropriate equivalents while memorizing them, which facilitates their learning. Therefore, I would argue that words are first understood, and then stored into one’s memory, retrieved again from the mental lexicon, and finally used in appropriate situations through a cognitive process. Leontiev backs up this argument by putting forward that:
Memorizing is linked to human activities aiming at the retention of a given material – and not mere storage but transfiguration of this material…in the retention chain the activity of the memory (mnemonic activity) is inseparable from the over-all material activity. (1981: 49)
This process is referred to by Aitchison (1996) as ‘word retrieval’. Indeed, vocabulary encountered in translation, both known and newly learned, may be taken up in their compositions or writing exams, thus promoting their chances of getting better grades and improving their communicative competence.
Translating is a practice for getting deeper into the core of the TL and a device for better understanding its vocabulary and structure. This comprehension is essential and stands as a pre-condition for memorization, since intelligibility is a first step to recall vocabulary, and learn them later. In order to be able to translate, students ought to read the text and decipher the meaning of its words. In translation, the reading skill is vital because it helps students to grasp the meaning of the text, and provides a linguistic and pragmatic context for words and sentences. This is a pre-condition for an adequate translation output.
The context, learning strategies and the role of memory in language learning have been highlighted in relation with translation teaching. In the following section, comes the cognitive process that will illustrate learning English vocabulary in translation courses.
4.3 The cognitive learning process
Cognitive strategies are enacted by the learner through a process that starts with a context, uses memory and ends up with vocabulary learning. When translating, students are required to transfer words, sentences and texts from the SL to the TL or vice versa. This tact of transferring words fosters interlingual communication between the two Languages and enhances the students’ conceptual grasp of the differences between languages. Students are required to translate what is in the text and not what is on the page. Accordingly, in translation, the ‘production’ of the TT cannot be performed at random, but must rather obey to linguistic rules and faithfulness to the content of the text. Translators, in general, re-examine words with respect to their semantic and cultural functions (Biguenet and Schulte 1989). The translation process ought to be qualitative rather than quantitative and calls upon some cultural sensitivity and linguistic awareness towards the TL since the linguistic items are intertwined with the cultural aspects of that language.
When translating, learners are often aware of the syntagmatic relations i.e. the interaction between words and their neighbours, and paradigmatic ones i.e. the interaction of words with their subordinates, superordinates and synonyms. Knowing a word in such a net of relations is enhancing for EFL vocabulary learning. Learners will be able to perceive the collocational and denotational setting of a word, since “two types of link seem to have priority in the mental lexicon: collocational link, on the one hand, and ties between co-ordinates (co-hyponyms) on the other” (Aitchison 1996:20). In fact, a word meaning varies according to the context and “any analysis of text that is looking at a word level needs to be done with an awareness of the complicated relationship that exists between words and meanings” (Carter et al 1997). At this level, the teacher’s role is to help learners differentiate between the possible ranges of denotations for a given word, and decide which one to opt for in a specific context. This is a kind of ‘semantic mapping’ with the teacher presenting a central concept and having students brainstorm or associate words that are related to that concept (Sthal 1999). This technique incites learners to work out the different alternatives and associate each word with its context. Clark (1993) devises this technique as a solution in lexical acquisition. In this case, learners– instead of receiving the information ready from the teacher- are likely to be motivated and make more efforts to produce an input and reproduce it in other courses. This pre-supposes the co-existence of a learning strategy and a process.
The cognitive process of learning vocabulary through teaching translation works through four phases as follows:
• First phase: Word recognition. This phase includes the stage of reading the source text and understanding the context + semantic analysis.
• Second phase: Word production. In this phase students are supposed to find equivalents and produce the target text.
• Third phase: Word learning. Where learners memorize EFL words and store them.
• Fourth phase: Word retrieval. Words are retrieved and either encountered in other courses or reproduced in courses other than translation.
This process underlines the multidisciplinary approach to translation where this discipline overlaps with other language skills and language items. It is made clearer with the following chart:
The Cognitive Process of learning the TL vocabulary through teaching translation
5. Conclusion
A ‘context’ and some ‘learning strategies’ have been proposed above to enhance vocabulary learning via a cognitive process. The overall aim is to show the multi-dimensional facet of translation: It reinforces the mastering of foreign language competence, stimulates students’ cultural awareness about the TL, and supports the learning of TL vocabulary. It is then a context of testing the communicative competence, namely the ability to use language appropriately while being faithful to the ST context through a process which relates closely theories of EFL learning to the practice of translation teaching.
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Fatma Ben Slamia, Assistant Professor in Linguistics, Faculty of Aarts and Humanities of Sousse, Tunisia.