Towards a reconsideration of the role of translation as a Fifth skill in the learning of vocabulary

Abstract

Recently, many researchers have questioned the outright dismissal of translation from the foreign language classroom and called for reassessing its role. Moreover, some scholars welcomed it as a fifth skill alongside reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This study argues for the rehabilitation of translation in the context of teaching and learning foreign languages. It attempts to reconsider the rejection of translation and also to provide more empirical support to the literature in favour of it. So, it was hypothesised that if translation (Arabic-English-Arabic) helped in promoting learning vocabulary as the other four skills do, it would be considered as a fifth skill. To check the hypothesis, this study used both quantitative and qualitative methods. First, questionnaires were administered to teachers of Translation Practice module and thirdyear Applied Language Studies students at the Department of Letters and English Language, University of Constantine 1 to probe their views regarding the use of translation in general and its usefulness in learning vocabulary -in particular. Second, it incorporated two experiments. The first experiment focused on quantitative analysis to investigate the extent to which translation can help in learning lexical items. The second experiment -a thinking-aloud protocols study- was used to gain an in-depth understanding of how translation may promote the learning of vocabulary. The results of the questionnaires showed that the majority of teachers and students believe that translation deserves to be integrated as a fifth skill acknowledging its role in promoting vocabulary learning. The results of experiment # 1 revealed that translation helped students in learning lexical items, especially after the in-class discussion. The analysis of the experiment # 2 showed that translation may serve the learning of vocabulary in many ways as the other four skills do. To sum up, the findings of this research lent more support to the stated hypothesis.