Theapplication Of Task-basedapproach To Translation Teaching

The task-based approach, which is based upon a great deal of research done by foreign language teaching researchers, has been one of the most effective language teaching methods since the 1980s. The core of task-based approach is"learning by doing". The learner-centeredness approach has been extensively adopted in foreign language teaching so far. It helps the teacher to develop students'comprehensive language competence instead of attaching too much importance to language teaching.In China, many current books and articles have been written on the application of task-based approach in the reading and writing teaching, while few of them have a systematic study of the application of task-based approach to translation teaching. What this thesis focuses on is to explore whether the task-based approach is more effective in its application to translation teaching than the traditional approach.The thesis begins with the introduction of the background and significance of the research, reviews the framework of task-base approach and previous researches on this approach and translation teaching, and then expounds relevant theories of Task-base approach. In chapter five, the author designs an experiment in Shandong Xiehe Vocational and Technical College. The participants in the experiment are102 seniors of English major, with 50 students in the experimental class taught by task-based approach and 52 students in the control class taught by traditional teaching method. The instruments utilized in this study are composed of four parts in general, including two translation tests, an experiment, one questionnaire (used both in pre-test and post-test) and an interview. After 16 weeks' classroom experiment, data from tests and questionnaires are collected. According to the analysis of the statistics processed by SPSS from the result of the experiment, the results show: (1) the students in experimental group get higher test scores than those in control group; (2) task-based approach is more effective in improving the students' interest, confidence and motivation in translation learning than the traditional PPP approach. In the end, the thesis presents the major findings and teaching implications of the teaching experiment, then points out the limitations of the present study and suggestions for the future research.The task-based approach will bring a new perspective to the reform of translation teaching. This process-oriented and learner-centeredness approach will solve some problems in the conventional translation classes.