ENHANCING STUDENTS’ PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION IN TRANSLATION TEACHING IN AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAM

Abstract

Teaching translation in Vietnam and some contexts tends to overemphasise linguistic issues in translation and lack focus on students’ translation process. Drawing on a functional approach to translation, this pedagogical study investigates students’ identification of translation problems (part of strategic competence) in a translation course in a tertiary English language program. The differences in students’ ability to identify translation problems were evaluated through a contrastive examination of a qualitative analysis of students’ written reflections on the translation tasks and their translation solutions both before and after the workshops. The study found that students diverted their attention from linguistic problems to other non-linguistic ones (extralinguistic issues related to extratextual features and general style conventions) after the workshops. This change led to some students’ attempts to avoid word-for-word translation and produce more idiomatic translation solutions as shown in the analysis of titles. Recommendations were made on the inclusion of text analysis and problem identification in developing students’ translation skills.