A Reappraisal Of The Role Of Translation Method In College English Teaching In China

The beginning years of the 21st century witnesses a new round of efforts in China to innovate foreign language teaching for higher efficiency,which invites a more judicious understanding of the use of translation in foreign language teaching.In fact,foreign language teaching has always been developing side by side with the changing understanding of translation used in language education.Translation,as an effective method in aiding foreign language teaching,had been prosperous for centuries,but with the emergence of new teaching methods,namely, behavioral and structural methods,it was once out of favor of language teachers. However,demerits of the new methods are gradually recognized in a continual development by incorporating certain modern elements.And meanwhile,people have come to realize that there is no single best method which can meet the needs of all learners all the time.Recent years have seen a reappraisal of the role of translation method in foreign language teaching.The dissertation first gives an overall review to show a clear picture of translation in the development of foreign language(FLT).Translation method has been a controversial issue in FLT field.People enumerate its various disadvantages:it causes negative transfer;it inhibits thinking in the foreign language;it is not a communicative activity,etc.However,those who are strongly against it seem to base their opinion on a limited and partial understanding of translation,and fail to exploit its full potential in FLT.However,learners of a foreign language seem to use translation as a process or a learner-preferred strategy,because there is a fact worth noticing that learners do,and always will translate the foreign language into their tongue,no matter how often they are told not to,and no matter what teaching method they are subjected to.There are various advantages of using translation in FLT.For example,translation invites much speculation and discussion and is a kind of communicative activity;it exposes the learners to authentic texts of great variety,and so can improve learners' language competence;it is ideal for studying the language differences of the two systems and can help students understand clearly the languages,etc.The dissertation analyzes both the pros and cons on the basis of different theories,and discusses the reasons why translation can be seen as an effective means to achieve foreign language teaching and learning goals.In this dissertation,the concept of pedagogic translation is introduced to distinguish translation as a means to aid foreign language teaching from that as an end itself.And based on the distinction,the dissertation discusses the role translation method plays in College English teaching in China,especially in the teaching of reading,vocabulary,and writing.The dissertation provides some suggestions and opinions about the development of the students' translation competence based on the questionnaires to college teachers on English and non-English major students of Jiangsu University.In the final section of the dissertation,several types of techniques derived from pedagogic translation are presented,which suggests a trend in foreign language teaching of integrating translation method with other methodologies.In the end,the dissertation re-defines what we understand by translation in an EFL context,which should include the communicative nature of translation and encourage both students and teachers to correct their misconception that translation is merely a boring,pointless and uncommunicative text-based activity,and enable them to realize that translation functions as an accelerator in foreign language learning rather than an obstacle.Translation is thus redefined as a communicative process used in foreign language as a means of teaching,in which efforts are made to transfer the meanings of one language into an oral or written expression of another,which conveys an equivalent message.