Unlock the power of English Translation in the Language Classroom Sally Parry IATEFL 2012

Unlock the power of English

Translation in the Language ClassroomSally Parry IATEFL 2012

Unlock the power of English

CONTENT

OVERVIEW

IDEAS

WORKSHOP

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L1 IN THE CLASSROOM – A SEPARATE ISSUE

COMPLETE BAN

TEACHING IN L1

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TRANSLATION 4

Once upon a time 4

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RATIONALE 5

• The prevailing orthodoxy

– Theories of SLA

• Teach students to communicate

–Think in English - speed

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- then another one 6Learning a Language

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BUT ALSO 7

• Commercial and practical

– Multilingual classes

– Native-speaker teachers

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TRANSLATION 8

Once upon a time 4

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… BUT OUT IN THE FOREST 9

libraryfairy.blogspot.com guardian.co.uk

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MAYBE…. 10

joelws.com

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Retrieving the bathwatersome of us never threw it out, just hid itthe students were drinking it anyway

Retrieving the babyActually helping the students to learn

Washing a non-existent baby in an empty metaphorical bath?

WHERE ARE WE NOW? 11

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WHY? 12

• Supported by research

• Use internal grammar machine more efficiently

• Translation in Language Teaching: – Guy Cook

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All thought is a form of translation

mentalesementalese

L2L2L1L1

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L 2 LEARNING IS MORE LIKE THIS? 14

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OR EVEN … 15

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IN THE MODERN WORLD 16

bbc.co.uk

• Realistic and practical aim• ELF

• Not necessarily slow

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SOMETIMES … 17

• Perhaps it’s a good idea to slow down?

• THINKING, FAST AND SLOW»DANIEL KAHNEMAN

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TWO SYSTEMS 18

• SLOW

• COGNITIVE WORK

• NOT AUTOMATIC

• FAST

• INTUITIVE

• GUT FEELING• SOMETIMES

BASED ON FALSE ASSUMPTIONS

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SUMMARY SO FAR 19

• TRANSLATION OFFERS A WAY TO

• ACCESS Student’s knowledge of L1• TEACH Skills

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IMPLICATIONS? 20

Higher status for the learner? Improved status for non-native speaker teachers?

Native speaker monoglots had better shape up!

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WHAT 21

META-LANGUAGE

WORDS

CHUNKS/COLLOCATIONS

IDIOMS

SENTENCES (MEANING/FUNCTION/FORM)

QUESTIONS

GRAMMAR EXPLANATIONS

TEXTS

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META-LANGUAGE PLUS 22

FROM READY FOR IELTS

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DICTIONARIES 23

• BI-LINGUAL

• AND MONO-LINGUAL

• EXAMPLE

SCREEN …………… TARPAULIN

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A TEXT – A TASK

24

TBL PROBLEMS– PREVENT AVOIDANCE OF TARGET LANGUAGE

– CHOICE OF TEXT– STUDENTS CREATE IN L1– GIVEN TEXT– E.G. FCE LEAFLET

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EXAMPLE 25

• IELTS TASK ONE– STUDENTS WRITE IN L1

• TRANSLATE

• RESPONSES

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All thought is a form of translation 26

?

= mentalesementalese

L2aL2aL2bL2b

L1cL1cL1dL1d

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EXAMPLE 27

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• IELTS TASK TWO

– ACCESS SYSTEM 2

• TRANSLATE THE QUESTION =

UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION

PLAN – TRANSLATE THE QUESTION – NEW PLAN

EXAMPLE 28

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• Encouraged wider vocabulary• to ‘traduce’ the question helps you understand it• Useful for other students but• Translating didn’t help him to understand because

in order to do the former you have to do the latter

RESPONSES 29

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AN EXPERIMENT 30

TRANSLATION Duff, A. OUP 1989

Unlock the power of EnglishTRANSLATION Duff, A. OUP 1989

Unlock the power of EnglishTRANSLATION Duff, A. OUP 1989

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A REAL INFORMATION GAP!

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TO SUMMARISE 34

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• DIFFERENT STUDENTS – DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES

• A VARIETY OF ACTIVITIES TO ENGAGE AND CHALLENGE

• AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH • JUDICIOUS AND TARGETED USE

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Unlock the power of English

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Unlock the power of English

• Questions

• Discussion starters

• Thank you

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Ready for IELTS» Sam McCarter Macmillan 2010

• Translation in Language Teaching» Guy Cook OUP 2010

• Thinking, Fast and Slow» Daniel Kahneman Allen Lane 2011

• Translation: Resource Books for Teachers» Alan Duff OUP 1990