An investigation into self study of englishmajored students at thuongmai university in the subject of translation

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY - - GRADUATION PAPER TOPIC: “AN INVESTIGATION INTO SELF-STUDY OF ENGLISHMAJORED STUDENTS AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY IN THE SUBJECT OF TRANSLATION” Student’s name: Doan Ngoc Dieu Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong Class: K54N1 Student code: 18D170006 Hanoi, 2022 ABSTRACT Humans spend a lifetime studying and accumulating experiences in life And for students, just studying in school is not enough, self-study at home is also essential Selfstudy aids students in practicing their translation skills and strengthening their own knowledge when learning English in general and the translation course in particular However, how are students of the English Faculty of Thuongmai University doing self-study for the translation course? Are they using reasonable methods and sources of translation that are appropriate for their abilities? An investigation was conducted utilizing qualitative and quantitative approaches on 100 English-majored students who have been studying the subject of translation Students will demonstrate the efficiency of self-study for the subject of translation through the questions, as well as some obstacles that they face in memorizing language At the end of this investigation, more effective methods will be given to students to solve basically the obstacles they are experiencing Future translation-oriented students will have more suggestions to hone their translation skills i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to express my sincere and deep thanks to my advisor teacher, Ms Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong, who wholeheartedly guided, and always gave meticulous feedback in the fastest time to help me during the past time to be able to finish this thesis I also want to thank the teachers of Thuongmai University, especially the teachers of the English department, who have always enthusiastically supported and created conditions for me to successfully complete my university program During the process of writing the thesis, I have encountered many difficulties in terms of health and psychology, I always want to thank my family and friends who have always accompanied, supported, and encouraged me during this time past time Due to limited knowledge and reasoning ability, the thesis still has certain shortcomings I look forward to receiving the contributions of teachers and teachers to make my graduation thesis more complete I sincerely thank you! Hanoi, April 10th, 2022 Student Doan Ngoc Dieu ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vi CHAPTER OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 The previous studies 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research subjects 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Research methodology 1.6.1 Participants 1.6.2 Research Instruments and Materials 1.6.3 Data Gathering Procedure 1.6.4 Data Processing Method 1.7 Organization of study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Translation theory 2.1.1 Definition of translation 2.1.2 The source of materials for translation practice 2.2 Self-study concepts 10 2.2.1 Definition of self-study 10 2.2.2 The role of self-study 11 iii 2.2.3 Classification of factors influencing self-study 12 CHAPTER RESEARCH RESULTS 15 3.1 Research purposes 15 3.2 Research subject and research object 15 3.3 Research question 15 3.4 Research methodology 15 3.5 Data processing method 16 3.6 Research results 16 3.6.1 Results from the questionnaire 16 3.6.2 Results from interviews 29 3.7 Discussion 32 CHAPTER 4: SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 34 4.1 Suggestions for students 34 4.2 Suggestions for teachers 38 4.3 Recommendation for further studies 39 CONCLUSION i REFERENCE iii APPENDIX iv iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No Abbreviations English meaning SL Source Language TL Target Language VLU Van Lang University v LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Chart 3.1: Survey participants Chart 3.2: Gender Chart 3.3: Translating courses studied English-majored students Chart 3.4: Self-assessment of translation level Chart 3.5: Time to self-study translation of students Chart 3.6: Evaluation of the difficulty of self-studying translation Chart 3.7: Factors affecting self-study of translation Chart 3.8: Influence of specialized skills Chart 3.9: Influence of study environment Chart 3.10: Influence of the self-study method Chart 3.11: Influence of self-study time Chart 3.12: The influence of self-study consciousness Chart 3.13: The most influential cause of self-study Chart 3.14: The most effective method for self-study translation vi CHAPTER OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale The translation is interpreting the meaning of a text in one language and producing an equivalent text in another language to convey the same message In other words, translation is the act of translating a document from one language to another To be able to become a successful translator, it is imperative that learners have a certain understanding of context and word usage Meanwhile, the context is limitless, and the vocabulary is always so diverse that no class could possibly cover all Therefore, translation is a subject that necessitates a significant amount of time dedicated to selfstudy, self-practice, self-improvement, and self-conclusion of translation experiences At the English Faculty of Thuongmai University, translation accounts for about credits out of a total of 120 credits As a result, it is insufficient for students to just study and practice translation in class Students should self-study at home to strengthen their vocabulary and translation skills Are they, on the other hand, allocating time to practice translation properly? Are the methods they are using really effective? Is the material they are using suitable for their capacities? With the above questions and to better understand the practice of translation of English-majored students at Thuongmai University, the author has chosen the topic "An investigation into self-study of English-majored students at Thuongmai University in the subject of translation” In this investigation, the author frankly pointed out the reality of students' self-study to translate, identified the causes, and proposed solutions to help students practice translation easier and more effectively 1.2 The previous studies On the issue of self-study translation, the author summarized some previous studies that are related to this topic It includes both studies from universities in Vietnam and some from foreign universities Referring to many previous studies will help the author have more data and uncover more aspects of the research First of all, a study by Van Lang University titled “Using the internet for selfstudy to improve the translation for English-majored seniors at Van Lang University” was written by two students Nguyen Bao Vy and Ngo Thi Cam Thuy Seniors studying in the course of "22" of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Van Lang University (VLU) were chosen to become the scope of this study Narrowing the scope down to the seniors instead of the whole English-majored students studying at VLU Nowadays, with the rapid growth of the Internet, using the Internet for translation allows for quick and high-quality translation According to the author of this article, the majority of their friends have not utilized the translation tool, or if they have, they have used it poorly, lowering the quality of the translation The researcher also found out that the students tended to use bilingual dictionaries instead of monolingual ones Even though Google Translate does provide English definitions for an English word, the participants mostly paid attention to a word’s equivalents in Vietnamese Consequently, they chose vocabularies that cannot fully express the ideas of the source texts in their translated documents Some solutions are given such as encouraging students to use more internet tools to support their translation practices at home and read more in Vietnamese when they translate English texts into Vietnamese Besides, reading more in English can help them learn how native speakers use vocabulary, how they construct sentences to express their ideas, and how words go together In this study, the results of the research mainly detect errors when using Internet support, share the specifications and some of the scientific approaches, but there are two issues that were discovered: the impact of the Internet on the student’s concentration during the self-study process and the students’ reliance on the translation tools Secondly, a study of Kanjuruhan Malang, Indonesia, conducted by four students: Rizky Lutviana, Siti Mafulah, Sugeng Hariyanto, Faisal Rahutomo with the topic “What translation skills should be developed in Translation course?” This study concentrates on translation skills, especially for students who needed to learn the skill to translate text from the English language, and vice versa, they also needed to learn to translate idioms and tenses Moreover, other materials were also important for the students, such as subject matter, translation strategy, and translation method Besides, in the learning process of translation, students needed to learn skills to work both individually and with groups, skills to use the theory of translation in the analysis and skills to as resources such as textbooks To sum up, in this study, the author has only pointed out four basic skills that students need to pay attention to reading skills, dictionary usage skills, material selection skills, and teamwork skills These are all general skills of the subjects, not very specialized for the translation course in particular For a course that is diverse in specialized knowledge like translation, students need to have many other specialized skills in addition to the four above Thirdly, a study came from Changchun University of Science and Technology It was written by Liu Ziyu and Xiao Jing with the title “Study on the strategy of improving self-learning ability of college students” The research team chose Jilin Communications Vocational and Technical College as a research case in order to better understand the autonomous learning ability of higher vocational college students in China and to provide a reference for teaching reform in higher vocational colleges From 2016 to 2018, they conducted a follow-up survey on three-year college students majoring in logistics management from 2015 to 2017, with a total of 81 students surveyed The survey shows that the number of students actually studying in vocational colleges is not large, their learning power is not strong, and they have no interest in studying Instead, college students use cell phones to play games, watch TV shows, and movies Moreover, students rarely think independently when facing problems Instead, they turn to the teacher, hoping that the teacher can give a direct answer without selfdiscipline and inquiry They are not willing to make inferences about the problems encountered in their life and study Especially in China, children are the treasure of the family, everything is arranged by parents Children form the habit of relying on others The result is a lack of a sense of learning, thinking and innovation Students' selfmanagement and self-study ability is not strong Some students even show signs of not being able to manage time The ability to manage living space is not strong, and the ability to think independently is weak Their cooperation is poor with their classmates  Not good  Bad How much time you usually spend learning Translation by yourself per day?  Do not spend time on learning  Less than hours  From two to five hours  More than five hours In your opinion, is it too difficult to learn Translation?  Very difficult  Difficult  Normal  Not difficult Evaluate the influence on self-study of the subject of Translation according to the following factors: - Strongly disagree; - Disagree; - Normal; - Agree; - Strongly agree Accommodation Time arrangement Space Family and other relationships Materials Study methods Self-study consciousness About specialized skills: Vocabulary structure and are 5 sentence still weak leading to difficulty in selfstudy Limited background knowledge in the fields Not understanding translation strategies: title translation, proper name translation, translation syntax, About study environment: You assume individual selfstudy is more effective than group self-study You believe group learning is more effective because there is interaction and exchange Libraries, cafes are quiet places, nice spaces to study translation Self-study at home is still the most effective 10 About study methods: 5 You watch the news to improve your background knowledge to make it easier during the Translation process Review new words, sentence structure, translation strategies to remember longer Currently, there are not many effective methods and guides for self-study to translation 11 About study time: You like to study in the evening from am - 12 pm because the evening is usually quiet You like to study early in the morning from 4am - 6am because in the morning you feel very alert, more receptive to knowledge You like to study in the afternoon from 11:30 - 2:00 because the morning and evening are spent on other work Studying at school and getting a part-time job takes up a lot of time, so you don't have time for self-study Translation You don't have too much to do, but your time management is not good, so you can't arrange time for self-study 12 About self-study consciousness Translation is not an option you aim for later so you spend less time Your translation learning is affected because of distractions and interruptions by social networks: Facebook, Zalo, Instagram, Although you have studied the theory of translation, those are difficult to apply in practice when translating You have no interest in learning because translation is too dry and academic 13 14 Which reasons make you feel difficult to learn translation on your own?  Specialized skills  Study environment  Study methods  Study time  Self-study consciousness In your opinion, what is an interesting and effective way to self-study Translation?  Read newspapers, watch a lot of news, etc  Learn translation theory, read many specialized documents  Use mind maps to system new words and structure sentences  Read books, watch many cultural programs, etc  There are facilities to support the self-study process: right translation practice application 15 Do you recommend any other self-study methods of translation? (Let the survey takers answer for themselves)  VIETNAMESE QUESTIONNAIRE KHẢO SÁT VỀ VẤN ĐỀ TỰ HỌC MÔN BIÊN DỊCH Chào bạn! Mình Đồn Ngọc Diệu, sinh viên khoa Tiếng Anh, Đại học Thương Mại thực đề tài khóa luận "KHẢO SÁT VỀ VẤN ĐỀ TỰ HỌC MƠN BIÊN DỊCH" Sự đóng góp bạn việc làm khảo sát giúp thực hồn thành đề tài khóa luận tốt Vậy nên bạn dành chút thời gian để làm khảo sát nhé, xin cam đoan thơng tin bạn đưa bảo mật thông tin sử dụng cho khóa luận Xin chân thành cảm ơn! Câu 1: Bạn sinh viên năm mấy?  Năm  Năm hai  Năm ba  Năm tư Câu 2: Giới tính bạn là?  Nam  Nữ  Không muốn nêu cụ thể  Khác… Câu 3: Bạn học học phần môn biên dịch?  Lý thuyết dịch  Thực hành Biên dịch  Biên dịch nâng cao Câu 4: Đánh giá khả biên dịch bạn tại?  Rất tốt  Tốt  Bình thường  Khơng tốt  Kém Câu 5: Bạn dành bao nhiều thời gian tự học biên dịch ngày?  Không dành thời gian  < tiếng  tiếng đến tiếng  > tiếng Câu 6: Theo bạn, Biên dịch có khó để tự học?  Rất khó  Khó  Bình thường  Khơng khó Câu 7: Hãy đánh giá mức độ ảnh hưởng đến việc tự học học phần biên dịch theo yếu tố sau: Rất không Khơng ảnh Bình ảnh hưởng hưởng thường Nơi Sắp xếp thời gian Khơng gian Gia đình mối quan hệ khác Tài liệu học tập Phương pháp học tập Ý thức tự học Về khả chuyên môn Ảnh hưởng Rất ảnh hưởng Rất khơng Khơng đồng Bình đồng ý ý thường Rất khơng Khơng đồng Bình đồng ý ý thường Đồng ý Rất đồng ý Đồng ý Rất đồng ý Từ vựng, cấu trúc câu yếu nên gây khó Kiến thức cấc lĩnh vực hạn chế Chưa nắm rõ chiến lược dịch Về môi trường học: Bạn thấy việc tự học cá nhân hiệu Bạn thấy việc học theo nhóm hiệu Thư viện, quán cà phê nơi yên tĩnh, không gian đẹp để học biên dịch Tự học nhà hiệu Về phương pháp học: Bạn xem thời để trau dồi kiến thức giúp dễ dàng Rất không Không đồng Bình đồng ý ý thường Đồng ý Rất đồng ý trình Biên dịch Xem lại từ mới, cấu trúc câu, chiến lược dịch để nhớ lâu Hiện chưa có nhiều phương pháp, hướng dẫn tự học biên dịch hiệu Về thời gian học: Bạn thích học vào buổi tối từ 8h - 12h buổi tối Rất khơng Khơng đồng Bình đồng ý ý thường Đồng ý Rất đồng ý thường yên tĩnh Bạn thích học vào buổi sáng sớm từ 4h 6h buổi sáng bạn cảm thấy tỉnh táo , dễ tiếp thu kiến thức Bạn thích học vào buổi trưa từ 11h30 - 2h buổi sáng buổi tối bạn dành cho công việc khác Việc học trường làm thêm chiếm nhiều thời gian khiến bạn khơng cịn thời gian dành cho việc tự học Biên dịch Bạn không nhiều việc khả quản lý thời gian chưa tốt nên chưa xếp thời gian tự học Về ý thức tự học: Biên dịch lựa chọn bạn hướng đến sau Rất khơng Khơng đồng Bình đồng ý ý thường Đồng ý Rất đồng ý nên bạn dành thời gian Việc học biên dịch bạn bị ảnh hưởng không tập trung bị gián đoạn vởi mạng xã hội: Facebook, Zalo, Instagram, Mặc dù học học phần Lý thuyết dịch lý thuyết khó áp dụng vào thực tế dịch Bạn khơng có hứng thú học Biên dịch q khơ khan học thuật Câu 8: Đâu lý bạn thấy gây khó khăn tự học Biên dịch?  Chuyên môn  Môi trường học  Phương pháp học  Thời gian học  Ý thức thân  Khác Câu 9: Theo bạn, đâu cách tự học Biên dịch thú vị, hiệu quả?  Đọc báo, xem nhiều thời sự,  Học lý thuyết dịch, đọc nhiều tài liệu chuyên ngành  Đọc sách, xem nhiều chương trình văn hóa,  Có phương tiện hỗ trợ trình tự học: ứng dụng luyện dịch chuẩn,  Khác Câu 10: Bạn có đề xuất thêm phương pháp tự học biên dịch khác không?  Để người tham gia tự trả lời