To translate or not to translate: the added value of translation in second language teaching

Abstract

This thesis investigates the ongoing debate about the role of translation in second language teaching. In the past, scholars and teachers alike assumed that translation caused L1 interference, and therefore slows down and limits a learner’s progress in learning a second or foreign language. More recent research, however, has attempted to counter common conceptions regarding translation’s ineffectiveness as a language-learning and languageteaching tool. The recently developed task-based instruction, as described by Hummel (2014) and Norris (2011), aims at contextualized tasks instead of isolated exercises, which also include translation tasks. In a pilot study I investigated the value of translation tasks when Dutch secondary school students are learning the present perfect in English. Overall, the study showed that using translation tasks enhances the use and understanding of grammatical aspect (i.e. the present perfect), and although there appeared to be a discrepancy between HAVO and VWO scores, both translation groups improved in their use of the present perfect and its context as the study progressed