Using portfolios to enhance efl students’translation competence at saigon university

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE - TRAN THI CUC USING PORTFOLIOS TO ENHANCE EFL STUDENTS’ TRANSLATION COMPETENCE AT SAIGON UNIVERSITY Major: English Language Students’ code: 1841900036 HO CHI MINH CITY, SEPTEMBER 2020 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE - USING PORTFOLIOS TO ENHANCE EFL STUDENTS’ TRANSLATION COMPETENCE AT SAIGON UNIVERSITY Submitted to the Faculty of English Language in partial fulfilment of the Master’s degree in English Language Course code: 8220201 By TRAN THI CUC Supervised by LE THI THANH, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, SEPTEMBER 2020 The thesis entitled USING PORTFOLIOS TO ENHANCE EFL STUDENTS’ TRANSLATION COMPETENCE AT SAIGON UNIVERSITY was successfully defended and approved on 22nd December 2020 at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH) Academic supervisor: Le Thi Thanh, Ph.D Examination Committee Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, Ph.D …………………………… Le Van Tuyen, Ph.D …………………………………… Reader Nguyen Dang Nguyen, Ph.D .………………………… Reader Nguyen Tien Hung, Ph.D …………………………… Member Le Thi Thuy Nhung, Ph.D .…………………………… Secretary Chair Member On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair (full name, title, signature) Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, Ph.D HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE HCMC, September 2020 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: Tran Thi Cuc Sex: Female Date of birth: April 10th, 1970 Place of birth: Đà Nẵng Major: English Language Student code: 1841900036 I Thesis title: USING PORTFOLIOS TO ENHANCE EFL STUDENTS’ TRANSLATION COMPETENCE AT SAIGON UNIVERSITY II Objectives and content: This study aims at enhancing the EFL students’ translation competence and improving students’ self-monitoring by using portfolios as a tool for learning and assessment combined with translation error analysis in a translation classroom of International Studies of International Relations Department at Saigon University This research alternative hypothesis was accepted and represented with the significant changes of the students’ self-monitoring and translation competence after the course III Starting date: March 30th, 2020 IV Completing date: September 30th, 2020 V Academic supervisor: Le Thi Thanh, Ph.D ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR Le Thi Thanh, Ph.D FACULTY DEAN Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, Ph.D CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: USING PORTFOLIOS TO ENHANCE EFL STUDENTS’ TRANSLATION COMPETENCE AT SAIGON UNIVERSITY In terms of the statement of the requirements for Thesis in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology Ho Chi Minh City, September 2020 TRAN THI CUC RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Tran Thi Cuc, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (English Language) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarians for the care, loan and reproduction for theses Ho Chi Minh City, September 2020 TRAN THI CUC ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the journey into discourse analysis and learning of portfolios in translation classrooms, I have finally ended up realizing that this thesis represents a path in which the wonder of learning and growing outbalanced occasional discouragement This was made possible by the precious contribution of many people to whom I am greatly indebted for having helped me to reach the final destination of my journey First, I am greatly grateful to my tireless supervisor, Ph.D Le Thi Thanh, for her patience, insightful advice and helpful guidance, as well as constant encouragement through the whole research process Under any circumstances, she always supports me with her warm dedication Thus, most importantly, her integrity, conscientiousness, strong and continuous commitment towards improvement is to me the most invaluable lesson I might have been taught as a researcher and a human being With her immense and expertise knowledge, such is a genius that she always inspires me with her enlightening discussions, and thought-provoking comments and questions Without her further deepened insights, this thesis would never have been completed I would like to express my profound gratitude to my lecturers at HUTECH who have given us the invaluable lectures and their devoting time to enrich my knowledge through this master course I would like to acknowledge the helpful staff of HUTECH Institution of Post-Graduate, and my enthusiastic students of International Studies in the translation classroom at Saigon University, who voluntarily participated in my investigation, collaborated with me with their participation and corporation Last but not least, I wish to express my acknowledgements for the support and overwhelming love of my family and friends, especially my 90-year-old mother, who are undoubtedly a source of my motivation, my happiness and my effort ABSTRACT Portfolios can be useful and effective media for teacher and students to identify the students’ progress and achievements during a translation course This paper aims at using portfolios to enhance translation competence in the translation classroom of EFL students of International Studies of International Relations at Saigon University The quasi-experimental research design was conducted in two classes of total sixty students in two classes of total sixty students whom the researcher was teaching translation One 30-student class was treated as the experimental group and the other 30-student class as the control group All of the participants at the intermediate level of English had not had any previous exposures to the use of portfolios Through the rubric evaluation, portfolio and the tests (pretest and post test), this study proved the accepted alternative hypothesis on using portfolio to improve EFL students’ self-monitor and enhance EFL students’ translation competence in a translation classroom of International Studies at Saigon University There was significant enhancement of students’ translation competence in the experimental group In the post test, the number of students with grade A and grade B increased while decreased with grade C and grade D It was shown that using portfolios can also help students with self-monitoring - their awareness of translation quality, identifying translation errors and translation error remedy-, and their translation competence Keywords: portfolios; translation competence; self-monitoring CONTENT LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .x LIST OF TABLES xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study .1 1.2 Statement of the problems 1.3 Aims and objectives of the study .6 1.4 Research questions .6 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Definition of key terms 10 1.8 Organization of the study 11 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .13 2.1 Concept of translation 13 2.1.1 Translation definition .13 2.1.2 Translation competence 15 2.1.3 Errors and Translation Errors 17 2.2 Concept of Portfolio 18 2.2.1 Definition and Types of portfolio .19 2.2.2 Advantages and challenges of portfolio 23 2.2.2.1 Advantages of portfolio .23 2.2.2.2 Challenges of portfolio 26 2.3 Self-monitoring .27 2.4 Johnson (2003)’s Basic Translation Course portfolio 28 2.5 Galán-Mañas (2016)’s learning portfolio in translator training .33 2.6 Popescu (2011)’s model of translation competence and linguistic competence 37 2.7 Previous studies 39 2.7.1 Previous studies on translation error analysis 39 2.7.2 Previous studies on the use of portfolios to enhance EFL students’ translation competence and to improve self-monitoring 41 2.7.3 Previous Vietnamese studies on translation error analysis and portfolios to improve self-monitoring and translation competence 43 2.8 Theoretical framework .46 2.9 Summary 47 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 49 3.1 Research design 49 3.2 Research site .51 3.3 Sample and sampling procedures .54 3.4 Research instruments 55 3.4.1 Rubric for the evaluation of the Basic Translation Course portfolio adapted from Galán-Mañas (2016) and Johnson (2003) .56 3.4.2 Portfolio 57 3.4.3 Test 59 3.5 Data collection procedures .61 3.6 Data analysis procedures 63 3.7 Validity and Reliability 67 3.8 Ethics 69 3.9 Summary 69 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 70 4.1 Introduction 70 4.2 Results 70 4.2.1 Hypothesis acceptance & Students’ self-monitoring improvement 70 4.2.2 Students’ translation competence enhancement .76 4.3 Discussions .85 4.4 Summary 87 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 89 5.1 Conclusion 89 5.2 Implications of the research .90 5.3 Limitation of the research .92 5.4 Recommendations for further research 92 REFERENCES 94 APPENDIX E The table of grading students’ translation tests and translations In terms of the grading scheme related to the regulations of credit-based training at university, learning performance was evaluated by instrument of a 10point scoring scheme and converted into letter-rate equivalents such as A = 8.5-10; B = 7.0-8.4; C = 5.5-6.9; D = 4.0-5.4; and F = 0-3.9 GRADE DESCRIPTION A 2-4 translation errors B 5-7 translation errors C 8-10 translations errors D 11-15 translations errors F More than 15 translation errors 122 APPENDIX F The extracts of the training syllabus of translation course in International Studies at International Relations Department of Saigon University HỌC PHẦN: KĨ NĂNG BIÊN PHIÊN DỊCH Thông tin học phần - Tên học phần: Kĩ Biên – Phiên dịch - Mã học phần: - Số tín chỉ: - Số tiết (lí thuyết, tập, thảo luận, thực hành/thí nghiệm/thực địa): 60 (45,15) - Trình độ đào tạo: đại học - Điều kiện để học học phần: + Địi hỏi học phần học trước: Khơng + Địi hỏi học phần học song hành: Không Bộ môn phụ trách giảng dạy: Quốc tế học Mô tả học phần Dịch thuật hoạt động đóng vai trị quan trong giới đại Nội dung học phần Kĩ biên dịch đưa vấn đề lí thuyết kĩ dịch hoạt động thực tiễn thực tư liệu liên quan đến lĩnh vực bao hàm bên Quốc tế học– Quan hệ Quốc tế văn hóa, lịch sử, trị, kinh tế,.v.v Mơn học trang bị cho người học kĩ cần thiết dịch thuật, giúp cho người học tránh lỗi thường gặp dịch văn hay phát biểu, hiểu sử dụng thuật ngữ, khái niệm Quốc tế học– Quan hệ Quốc tế, đồng thời áp dụng cấu trúc tương đối phức tạp vào biên dịch, giúp cho sinh viên có đủ khả để thực hoạt động dịch thuật, rèn luyện kĩ xử lí tài liệu để phục vụ cho việc học tập nghiên cứu bậc cao Mục tiêu học phần 4.1 Về kiến thức - Sau kết thúc khóa học, người học nắm kỹ dịch thuật bản, tích lũy khối lượng từ ngữ tiếng Việt tiếng Anh thường dùng lĩnh vực 123 Quốc tế học-– Quan hệ Quốc tế nguyên tắc hoạt động biên phiên dịch - Người học hiểu vai trị việc phân tích ngữ cảnh, ngữ pháp mối liên kết dạng thức dịch thuật, hình thành hồn thiện kĩ biên phiên dịch theo chủ điểm 4.2 Về kĩ - Làm quen sử dụng có hiệu mẫu câu tiếng Anh thông dụng dịch - Dịch cấu trúc cú pháp phức tạp - Nắm kĩ phân tích ngữ pháp, liên kết văn văn tiếng Anh tiếng Việt mức độ tương đối thành thạo - Tìm phương án dịch bảo đảm thích hợp cấp độ từ vựng ngữ pháp, văn lĩnh vực Quốc tế học – Quan hệ Quốc tế - Biết xử lí trường hợp dịch tương đối phức tạp 4.3 Về thái độ - Trong trình học tập, sinh viên phải tích cực tham gia chủ động rèn luyện kĩ học - Mơn học giúp sinh viên khơng cịn tâm lý bỡ ngỡ, ngần ngại phải dịch văn từ Việt sang Anh Anh sang Việt Nội dung kế hoạch dạy học học phần Nội dung chi tiết HP/MH Chapter Current Views on Translation & The Role of Main Factors in Translation 1.1 General Introduction 1.2 Current Views on Translation 1.3 The Role of Contextual Analysis in Translation 1.4 The Role of Grammatical Analysis in Translation 1.5 The Role of Cohesion Analysis in Translation Chapter Kinds of Translation and Evaluating a Translation 2.1 Kinds of Translation 2.2 Evaluating a Translation Chapter Problems related to the translation of International Studies Discourse 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Some Specific Problems of International Studies Translation 3.3 The Problem of Word Choice 3.4 The Problems of Ordering Elements and Transaltion 3.5 The Problem of Rendering Time Reference from Vietnamese into English 124 Chapter Practice of translation: English – Vietnamese Translation 4.1 International Cultural – Social Context 4.2 International Trading Context 4.3 International Polictical Context Chapter Practice of translation: Vietnamese-English Translation 5.1 International Cultural – Social Context 5.2 International Trading Context 5.3 International Polictical Context Chapter Practice of English-Vietnamese Interpretation 6.1 International Cultural – Social Context 6.2 International Trading Context 6.3 International Polictical Context 125 APPENDIX G Guidelines for Self-Reviews A Self-review in week Student ID: ……………………………………… Date: ……/………/2020 You should fill in your student ID and the date before you answer the following questions in this form of self-review 1 What you think about the difficulties you have been facing to during weeks? What activities makes you like the training course during weeks? What activities makes you dislike the training course during weeks? Do you think using portfolios and making commitments of the requirements can help you with producing translations? If yes, why and how? If no, why not? Do you feel familiar with participating in a portfolio-based translation course? If yes, how? If no, why not? Do you feel more confident in your translation quality? If yes, why? If no, why not? What challenges have you been confronting with when translating? Do you think using portfolios in a translation course can be overload? 126 B Self-review in week 12 Student ID: ……………………………………… Date: ……/………/2020 You should fill in your student ID and the date before you answer the following questions and explain your answer in this form of self-review Compared with the first and sixth weeks, you feel more confident in your translation quality? What you think about the use of portfolio in the Basic Translation Exercises course? Do you think this kind of portfolio can be useful for your learning translation and English language? What are challenges for you to take part in a portfolio-based translation course? What activities in class you tbink are unnecessary? After 12 weeks of the training course, what skills you think a translator need to acquire? How confident you feel after the course? 127 APPENDIX H Guidelines for the first report As a novice translator, what quality you think a translator should have? Do you know portfolios in teaching and learning English translation? What you think you can learn during and after this training course? Do you often revise your translation drafts? If yes, why? If no, why not? How often will you revise your original after receiving the feedback from teacher and/or classmate? 128 APPENDIX I The source text of pretest "Chợ" ngày khác Siêu thị TP Hồ Chí Minh đời năm 1993, Minimart đặt Trung Tâm Thương Mại Quốc Tế (ITC) Nhờ cách xếp khoa học, mặt hàng phong phú, khônggian mua bán lịch sự…Minimart thu hút đơng khách ngồi nước Sau Minimart, hàng loạt "Mart" khác đời đến tồn TP có 40 siêu thị Ở không bàn đến tiêu chuẩn, điều kiện, quy mô gọi siêu thị Nhưng với cách bán hàng tự chọn, người tiêu dùng chọn lựa hàng hóa thoải mái, khơng phải trả giá dấu hiệu không tốt cho việc kinh doanh chợ 129 APPENDIX J The source text of post test Nước Anh lần đầu có Bộ trưởng Bộ cô đơn TTO - Vương quốc Anh vừa bổ nhiệm chức vụ Bộ trưởng Bộ cô đơn - chức trách chuyên giải vấn đề liên quan tới tình trạng sống độc 1/10 cư dân nước Theo hãng tin Reuters, Bộ trưởng Thể thao, bà Tracey Crouch, kiêm nhiệm thêm chức trách với trách nhiệm bà Đảm nhiệm cương vị Bộ trưởng cô đơn, bà Tracey Crouch tiếp tục triển khai chiến lược nhằm giải vấn đề tiêu cực liên quan tới tình trạng sống đơn độc mà phần lớn người dân Anh trải qua, có vấn đề liên quan tới bệnh trí, chết sớm huyết áp cao Trong tuyên bố bổ nhiệm chức vụ Bộ trưởng mới, thủ tướng Anh Theresa May giải thích: "Chúng tơi làm tất có thể, tưởng nhớ tới nghị sĩ Jo, để chấm dứt tình trạng đơn Với q nhiều người, đơn thực tế buồn đời sống đại" Nữ nghị sĩ Jo Cox tham gia nhiều chiến dịch kêu gọi, vận động phủ giải vấn đề liên quan tới tình trạng đơn phần lớn người dân An, đáng kể người lớn tuổi Tuy nhiên nữ nghị sĩ Công đảng bị đối tượng cực đoan cánh hữu dùng súng sát hại năm 2016 tham gia chiến dịch vận động chống Brexit (Anh rời khỏi Liên minh châu Âu) … D KIM THOA https://tuoitre.vn/nuoc-anh-lan-dau-co-bo-truong-bo-co- don20180118093344184.htm 130 APPENDIX K SOME SAMPLE PIECES OF STUDENTS’ PORTFOLIOS 131 132 133 134 135 136