Khóa luận tốt nghiệp: Legal English-majored students’ perceptions of using online dictionaries in translation study at Hanoi Law University

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGHANOILAW UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THIEN HA AN 453218 LEGAL ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF USING ONLINE DICTIONARIES IN TRANSLATIO

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOILAW UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THIEN HA AN

453218

LEGAL ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’

PERCEPTIONS OF USING ONLINE

DICTIONARIES IN TRANSLATION STUDY AT

HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

GRADUATION THESIS

HANOI- 2024

‘MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOILAW UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THIEN HA AN

453218

LEGAL ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

OF USING ONLINE DICTIONARIES IN TRANSLATION

STUDY AT HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

NHAN THUC CUA SINH VIÊN CHUYEN NGÀNH TIENG ANH PHAP|

LY VE VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TU DIEN TRỰC TUYẾN TRONG VIỆC HỌC.

DỊCH THUẬT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC LUẬT HÀ NỘI

Major: Legal EnglishGRADUATION THESIS

SupervisorNhge Thanh Huong, M.A

HANOI -2024

STUDENT DECLARATIONThereby state that I: NGUYEN THIEN HA AN - 453218, bemg a candidatefor the degree of Bachelor of Arts accept the requirements of the Universityrelating to the retention and use of Bachelor's Graduation Paper deposited in theitbreny.

Interms of these conditions, Lagree that the origin of my paper deposited inthe Itbrany should be accessible for the purposes of study and research inaccordance with the normal conditions established by the Itbrartan for the care.loan or reproduction of the paper

May 25%, 2024

‘Supervisor's confirmation Researcher's signature

MA Nhac Thanh Huong ‘Nguyen Thien Ha An

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTFist and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratefiiiness to mywonderfil supervisor, Ms Nhac Thanh Huong for her tvaluable guidancetowards my graduation thesis with great patience, entiustasm, unwaveringadivice, profound msight, and expertence She has always been dedicated devotedand thoroughly mstructed me through all the stages of completing my thesis

My genuine appreciation goes to every member of the Thesis Committee fortheir fatr assessment and comprehensive review, as well as feworable feedback for

iy fidure research My sincere thanks also go to ail staffs and lecturers tn Faculty

of Legal Foreign Languages at Hanot Law University where tt has been my honorand pleasure to be educated for the past four years On top of that, with all theEnglish lessons and the department's extra-curriculum activities, I have theopportunity not only to widen my language knowledge but also better mp

‘personality and become the person Ï am today:

Last but not least, Lam mdebted spectal thanks to my fianily cd fiends, andthe vainable assistance of my classmates in class 4532, as well as other peers of

‘mine in the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages durmg the tmplementation of thestudy Special thanks also belong to all K45 and K46 Legal English-majoredstudents Without ail ofyou, this endeavor would not have been posstbie

ABSTRACTOnline dictionaries have become indispensable tools in the language leaming,process, especially in the field of translation study, providing users with access t0

an extensive collection of linguistic materials, Although the widespread adoptionand usage of online dictionaries have revolutionized the practice of translation,there has been little research conducted on students' perspectives regarding theutility of online dictionaries On that account, this study aims to investigate whatLegal English-majored students perceive about using online dictionaries intranslation study, the benefits and drawbacks of online dictionaries, and some

‘methods in enhancing the utility of online dictionaries

The research was implemented with the cooperation of 92 participants,together with 5 interviewees from Legal English majors at HLU, including K45and K46 The study was conducted by using a mixture of quantitative andqualitative methods with a survey questionnaire and an in-depth interview Thefindings reveal that most of the students fully perceived the importance of onlinedictionaries not only in language leaming but also in leaming translationFurthermore, the study also uncovered interesting information on students!perceptions of the benefits and drawbacks of online dictionaries, as well as

‘numerous methods perceived by them to improve the usage of online dictionaries

In the light of these findings, several practical recommendations for students,teachers, and the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages were drawn

TABLE OF CONTENTSSTUDENT DECLARATION

1 Rationale for the study

2 Aims for the study

3 Research questions

Scope of the study

5, Significance of the study

6 Organization of the study

DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 The concept of online dictionary

12 The purposes of online dictionary usage

1.3 The benefits and the drawbacks of using online dictionaries

14 Previous research on the perception of using online dictionaries intranslation stud!

15 Summary

2.3 Procedures of data collection

23.1 Data fiom quesfioimAdire se esesseseeeeeerreeeeoo

12 5 2 Toate fiom trtervtaw ssa ss seaecsee ase te eo e8,2.4 Data analysis

24.1 Quantitahive data analysts method 2.20

242 Qualitative data analysts method 2.202.8, Summary

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Legal English-majored students’ use of online dictionaries in

‘translation study

3.1.1 Students’ habits ofusing online dtcttonartes oosssesssnnsvnnnrinDD3.1.2 Students’ preferable online dicfioniaries «25,3.13 Students’ purposes of using online ảicRonaries 273.2 Legal English-majored students’ perceptions towards the benefits anddrawbacks of online dictionaries 303.2.1 Legal English-majored students’ perceptions towards the necessityand benefits of online đicfiowarlie seo 3)

312.2 Legal English-majored students’ perceptions towards the drawbacks3iAiiiäiHchlIBINBEussssssosonoeoeesodeesineesaaeserneao.ET83.3 The methods perceived by the Legal English-majored students for theimprovement of using online dictionaries in translation study.

3.4, Summary

CHAPTER 4, RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1, Suggestions for Legal English-majored students

4.2 Suggestions for lectures

4.3 Suggestions for the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages

4-4 Summary

CONCLUSION

1 Summary of the main findings

2 Limitations of the study

3 Suggestions for further research

REFERENCES

APPENDICE

APPENDIX I: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES

APPENDIX II: IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL English as a Foreign Language

FLFL Faculty of Legal Foreign LanguagesHLU Hanoi Law University

LIST OF FIGURES/TABLESList of figures:

Figure 1 Students’ frequency of using online dictionaries in translation study 22

Figure 2 Students’ preference of gadgets to use online dictionaries in translation

study 4

Figure 3 Number of online dictionaries in use of students for a word in

translation study 4Figure 4 Students’ preferences for bilingual online dictionaries (Vietnamese —English/ English — Vietnamese online dictionaries) 5Figure 5 Students’ preferences for monolingual online dictionaries (English ~English online dictionaries) 26Figure 6 Students’ preferences for online dictionary 26

List of tables:

Table 1 Students’ purposes of using online dictionaries in translation study 28

Table 2 Students’ perceptions towards the necessity and benefits of online

dictionaries 31

Table 3 Students’ perceptions towards the drawbacks of online dictionaries 34Table 4 The method perceived by Legal English-majored students to improveonline dictionary usage in translation study 36

1 Rationale for the study

Globalization has led to the rapid advancement of technology, which is nowcrucial to most aspects of life, including education Along with the development

of technology, digital tools have been created to assist the process of foreignlanguage leeming The rise of technological tools has "provide[d] newopportunities for self-directed leaming" (Godwin-Jones, 2011, p4) Universityinstructors and students can now accessa variety of online resources and materialsthat facilitate language proficiency development

Regarding translation study and practice, as technology has developed,online dictionaries have come into existenceand have become significantly crucial

‘among leamers and practitioners because of the ease of use, speedy search, and.powerful capabilities compared with traditional dictionaries Specifically, byusing online dictionaries, students find it more convenient to acquire new words,expand their vocabulary, improve their pronunciation, and make a list ofassociated terms, contributing to the advancement of their translation skills Inaddition, online dictionary tools provide leamers with more various contextswhich leads to better comprehension of language usage (Cérdenas-Claros &Gruba, 2009; Jones, 2003; Kaur & Hegelheimer, 2005) Also, the results of theprevious research (Chun, 2001, Lan, 2005; Elola, Rodriguez-Garcia, & Winfrey,2008) state that the advantages of using online dictionaries range from vocabularyacquisition in reading and writing tasks, which proves to be of great benefits toleamers Accordingly, it appears that the era of paper dictionaries ruling thereference world has progressively come to an end, and online dictionaries havetaken their place (Lan, 2005)

According to Nugroho et al (2019), translation is one of the fundamentalcourses in language study programs In addition, Ameilia (2023) indicates that thiscourse provides the ability to translate the source language into the target languageand students are required to improve their translation competence and theirvocabulary in order to enhance these skills Therefore, online dictionaries can act

as a tool to support the process of leaming translation and advance students’vocabulary Numerous studies on students’ perspectives on using onlinedictionaries in educational contexts have been camied out According to thefindings of major research, most students have positive attitudes about usingdlectronic dictionaries and find them beneficial and useful in facilitating their1eaming (Nesi, 2002; Boonmoh, 2003, Chatzidimou, 2007, Golonka et al., 2012).However, most of these studies are primarily concemed with the use of onlinedictionaries in language classrooms, namely vocabulary comprehension andacquisition (Chen, 2012, Barham, 2017; Knezevié et al, 2021), In the realm oftranslation, a fewer number of studies have shed light on students’ perspectives onusing online dictionaries Leand Dao (2019) seemto be one of the fewresearcherswho examine the perceptions and attitudes of English-majored students about theusage of online dictionaries in translation and interpreting Another research wascarried out by Dang (2022) about the usage of online dictionaries of English-majored students in translation study The study reveals that many students findonline dictionaries beneficial for their translation performance However, somestudents shared that they are concemed about the negative impacts of onlinedictionaries on their translation skills

‘At Hanoi Law University, translation is one of the mandatory courses forEnglish language majors However, no research has been conducted on the usage

of online dictionaries in translation study of Legal English-majored studentsHence, this study was carried out as an effort to uncover the perception of students

in using online dictionaries as well as to provide valuable insights into itsadvantages and disadvantages On that basis, recommendations for students whouse online dictionaries in translation study can be drawn.

2 Aims for the study

‘The study has three main aims as below

‘© Seeking the perceptions of Legal English-majored students towards the

utilization of online dictionaries in translation study at HLU

+ Investigating the benefits and drawbacks of using online dictionaries for

Legal English-majored students in translation study at HLU

+ Elucidating methods to enhance the effectiveness of online dictionaries

in translation study at HLU

‘© What are the benefits and drawbacks of using online dictionaries for

Legal English-majored students?

‘© How do Legal English-majored students enhance the usage of online

dictionaries in translation study?

4 Scope of the study

The study primarily concentrates on the perceptions of Legal majored students towards the utilization of online dictionaries in translation study

English-as well English-as the recommendations to maximize the effectiveness of these digital atHLU Therefore, the use of paper dictionary is beyond the scope of this study The

participants chosen are 92 students of K45 and K46 from the Faculty of LegalForeign Languages (FLFL) at HLU.

5 Significance of the study

‘The study aims to determine how Legal English-majored students perceivethe use of online dictionaries in translation study, as well as the benefits anddrawbacks associated with the use of online dictionaries Once completed, theresearcher hopes that this research will provide helpful information and assistLegal English-majored students to improve their translation abilities and acquireEnglish translation more effectively by using online dictionaries Furthermore, theresults of this study were expected to heighten students’ consciousness of the valueand the benefits of online dictionaries as a tool for language leaming throughoutthe translation process In addition, the researcher hopes that this study will be areliable and helpful resource for other researchers who are interested in the samesubject

6 Organization of the study

The study includes three main parts Introduction, Development, andConclusion

The Introduction consists of the Rationale, Aims, Research questions,Scope, and Organization of the study

‘The Development is separated into four main chapters as follows:

Chapter 1: Literature review lays out the specific theoretical background forresearch and reviews some previous studies related to the utilization of onlinedictionaries in translation study (of Legal English-majored students)

Chapter 2: Methodology provides details of the data collection instruments,procedure of data collection, and procedure of data analysis

Chapter 3: Results and Discussion indicates analytical results of the surveyand further interprets the data obtained

Chapter 4° Recommendations offers several suggestions based on the keyfindings of the study

‘The Conclusion provides a summary of the main findings, limitations of thestudy, and suggestions for further research

DEVELOPMENTCHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEWThis chapter aims to provide the theoretical background of the study whichconsists of the theories that are very crucial for properly defining the specificconcept or terms that would be conceming in research The terms will beunderstood from different points of researchers The theories are arranged anddiscussed in the following sections.

1.1 The concept of online dictionary

Dictionary is an indispensable means of reference for students leamingforeign languages in general and students leaming translation in particular (Lew,

2016, Kobayashi, 2006, Ramos, 205) There are various typologies fordictionaries Dictionaries can be divided into two major groups based on theirlanguage basis and their design (Tulgar, 2017)

The first category comprises two types of dictionaries, which are

‘monolingual dictionaries and bilingual dictionaries, and they are mostly used byleamers of translation study during their translation tasks (Mustika, 2021).According to Dang (2022, p 3), a monolingual dictionary is “a type of referencesource that explains a word in its language, helping the leamers to better use it in

a sentence and specific contexts” Asswachaipaisan (2014) indicates that the

‘monolingual dictionary is beneficial for leamers in finding relevant informationabout a particular word, such as giving examples of the use of the word in asentence or providing synonyms and antonyms On the other hand, a bilingualdictionary facilitates users to understand a word in the source language by givingthem its equivalents in the target language (Dang, 2022) With a bilingualdictionary, leamers can easily find a direct translation of a word in their nativelanguage However, Boxer (1980) as cited in Hayati & Fattahzadeh (2006)

believes that bilingual dictionaries tend to promote word-for-word translationequivalents, which may not be suitable in certain contexts, and it may lead toambiguity and misunderstanding This is further supported by Scholfield (2005).

‘Scholfield (2005) comments that leamers will not be proficient in English if theyconstantly translate into their native language

The second category includes paper dictionaries (found in hard copies) asopposed to electronic dictionaries which further be divided into online and offlinedictionaries (Altuwairesh, 2022) According to Ameilia (2023), a paper dictionary

is defined as an alphabetical list of words for any type of information printed on.paper In comparison, electronic dictionaries is a broadlly term of digital-mediadictionaries, which is often abbreviated as e-dicionaries (Lew & De Schryver,2014) According to Nesi (2000, p.839), the definition of electronic dictionary is

“any reference material stored in electronic form that provides information aboutthe spelling, meaning, or use of words” Furthermore, Nesi (2013) argues that anelectronic dictionary isa dictionary whose data is stored in computerized form andcan be accessed through various media Therefore, electronic dictionaries can beeasily accessed through the intemet and consulted on CD or DVD (or downloadedfor free) (Silberztein, 2016) It appears that there is a major difference in the wayinformation being accessed between paper and electronic dictionaries (Lew,2013)

Electronic dictionary has various types Yanti (2016) indicates that electronicdictionaries can be divided into two classifications, which are online and offlinedictionaries According to Omar and Dahan (2011), offline dictionary is in theform of a compact disc, and it can be used with a computer or personal dataassistant (PDA), comprising CD-ROM dictionaries, pocket electronic dictionaries,dictionaries used in Computer-Assisted Language leaming context and a smallhand-held calculator Meanwhile, online dictionary is directly used from the

7

intemet through a web browser It can also be available in the form of anapplication and can be used with or without an intemet connection (Sari, Amri,and Maizarah 2023), such as Google Translate, TFLAT dictionary, CambridgeDictionary, Macmillan English Dictionary, ete

Based on the explanation above, within the scope of this study, an onlinedictionary is defined as a kind of electronic dictionary that can be accessiblethrough the Internet Online dictionary can exist in the form ofa web browser or

an application Nowadays, online dictionaries have become an essential tool in notonly foreign language leaming but also translation study

12 The purposes of online dictionary usage

A dictionary can be used for a wide range of purposes (Nation, 2001) A

‘numerous of previous studies (Chun, 2001; Elola etal, 2008; Loucky, 2010) showthat online dictionaries make it easier for students to access and acquire lexical

‘meanings and forms in reading, waiting, listening, and speaking tasks, as well as

‘word pronunciations in listening and speaking Nation (2001) separates thesepurposes into two categories which are comprehension purpose and production

purpose

‘The comprehension purpose refers to the use of dictionary for listening,reading, or translating (A swachaipaisan, 2014) Students use dictionary to checkthe meaning of the words while they are doing these activities Non-experttranslators mostly use a bilingual dictionary for direct translation and readingcomprehension (Ramos, 2005) The study conducted by Hartmann (2001) as cited

in Asswachaipaisan (2014) also concludes that dictionaries are used in readingtasks more than in verbal activities

‘Regarding the production purpose, students usually use dictionaries to find

an unknown word and to check the spelling and pronunciation in speaking and

writing activities (A sswachaipaisan, 2014) Dictionary plays an important role as

a tool for usage in language leaming by assisting leamers in creating newvocabulary, finding unknown words, and practicing spelling (Ameilia, 2023)According to Pilslnyak et al (2021, p.70), usinga dictionary can help students “toexpand their vocabulary, find the meaning ofa word, to build an associative series

of terms, to improve the pronunciation, and to avoid monotony in leamingEnglish”

In conclusion, different individuals have different needs, preferences, andobjectives when it comes to utilizing online dictionaries Therefore, the types ofonline dictionaries and the purposes of usage are highly dependent on usersDifferent people use online dictionaries in diverse ways to facilitate their languageleaming process

1.3 The benefits and the drawbacks of using online dictionaries

‘The potential of online dictionaries is now widely recognized by researchers,practitioners, and leamers There are various benefits and drawbacks of usingelectronic dictionaries,

According to Le and Dao (2019), there are six benefits of using an onlinedictionary in translation study, including time-saving, convenience, informative,free-of-charge, reliable, and space-saving The first and the second benefits areviewed as two of the prominent strengths of using online dictionaries The study

‘byLeand Dao (2019) states that a few clicks is definitely more advantageous than.carrying a printed dictionary around This is also supported by Zarei and Gujjar(2012), who mention that one of the advantages of using electronic dictionaries isthat they are light, compact, and faster than paper dictionaries Similarly, thefindings ofthe research of Dang (2022) also find that convenience and time-savingare the benefits of using online dictionaries in translation study Due to the

inconvenience of carrying and hard to search, traditional printed dictionaryprogressively fades out of life (Schmitt, 2010) According to Li and Xu (2015),electronic dictionaries become more popular because of their readability and ease

of use Therefore, the consultation process is less time-consuming The findings

of these benefits are in line with Ameilia (2023), who implies that electronicdictionaries are more convenient, easy to use, and time-saving in translating andfinding the meaning ofa word due to the easily accessible through a cellphone andits easiness to camry to anywhere The researcher further indicates that electronicdictionaries become a choice for students who want easiness, and time moreefficient The study also indicates that online dictionaries are informative As theeconomy and technology develop, online dictionaries are becoming popular asanew technological tool for vocabulary acquisition This is due to the wayinformation is accessed According to Dziemianko (2010), when compared to theway headwords are presented in paper dictionaries, the way word entries arepresented on the computer is more appealing and less distracting In addition,online dictionaries are more informative Additionally, Lan (2005) indicates thatonline dictionaries provide a thorough look at various aspects of core vocabulary,such as grammar, style, diction, word formation, gender, social groups, andscientific forms They even include etymological information, synonymparagraphs, and regional notes Furthermore, due to a wide range of lexicalinformation, an online dictionary can assist students' vocabulary developmentmore effectively than a paper dictionary, including thesaurus, corpus, and Lexicalrelationship information available in a dictionary entry (Dang, 2022, Barham,2017; Ramos, 2005) Online dictionaries support students not only in improvingtheir vocabulary but also in increasing their level of grammar, practicingpronunciation, developing writing slalls, and more (Pikilnyak et al., 2021) Inaddition, while paper dictionaries mainly arrange entries around a single word,

19

online dictionaries enable users to access multi-words by consulting manycomponents of a multi-word (Lew, 2012) This is also supported by Dziemianko(2012), Dziemianko (2012, p.321) states that in terms of information presented tousers, paper dictionaries feature "a linear, non-hierarchical microstructure", butdlectronic dictionaries offer "a layered, hierarchical inner access structure"

‘Therefore, the electronic dictionaries are more dynamic and flexible

Although, online dictionaries have their potential, Le and Dao (2019) alsoreveal a few drawbacks of using online dictionaries in translation study The firstdrawback of using online đictionaries is that intemet access is required in order touse them The participants of the survey explain that "to some extent this could berather problematic in places of no intemet or weal intemet connection” Thisfinding is also supported by Ameilia (2023), and Wati (2020) Intemet connectionproblems would cause the electronic dictionary to lose its power The seconddrawbackis that online dictionaries are forbidden during exams Dang (2022) alsoindicates it as one of the drawbacks of using online dictionaries Regarding thedrawbacks of using online dictionaries in translation study, the distraction ofadvertisements and other websites is also viewed asa hindrance to students’ use.Another drawback of online dictionaries is that users cannot make notes orhighlight the important information ofa word, A number of students consider eyestrain as one of the drawbacks of online dictionaries Moreover, Dang (2022)demonstrates her result, adding that the over-reliance on online dictionaries isconsidered asa drawback of using online dictionaries Students may rely too much

on the electronic dictionary and not feel forced to acquire new words andexpressions because they believe their electronic dictionaries will do the workGiang, 2012) This leads to the laziness of students in leaming and remembering

, p.12) implies that the overdependence ondictionaries is “a general concem of dictionary use regardless 0 its design’

new words However, Dang (20:

”

14 Previous research on the perception of using online dictionaries in

‘translation study

In general, many studies have been conducted on second language learners"use of online dictionaries However, these studies mostly focus on the role ofonline dictionaries in language classrooms, particularly vocabularycomprehension and acquisition We can take as an example the different researchprojects and theoretical works carried out by Chun (2001), Jin & Deifell (2013),Dashtestani (2013), Elola et al (2008), and Barham (2017) On the other hand, asmaller number has shed light on translation students' online dictionary usageHowever, there have been several attempts such as the one carried out at aVietnamese university, where a researcher analyzed the use of dictionaries intranslation study on the part of English-majored students (Dang, 2022) Regardingthe usage of online dictionariesin translation study, other studies can be mentioned,such as the ones developed by Le and Dao (2019), Ameilia (2023), Sari, Amri,and Maizarah (2023)

Leand Dao (2019) investigate the perceptions of utilizing online dictionaries

in translation-interpretation The researchers adopt a mixed-methods approach toexamine students’ attitudes and perceptions towards the utilization of onlinedictionaries in translation and interpreting The results of the study indicate thatuniversity students whose major is translation and interpreting perceived onlinedictionaries as beneficial because of their fast speed and convenience However,there are several situations in which using online dictionaries could be limited,such as limited intemet access, not allowed during exams, eye strain, etc

Dang (2020) focuses on the use of online dictionaries of English-majoredstudents in translation study by adopting a quantitative research designParticularly, the study employsa cross-sectional design in which quantitative dataare gathered and subsequently analyzed statistically The study adapts the

2

questionnaire from the research by Le and Dao (2019) as they share similar aims

‘The findings show that English-majored students regularly use a variety of onlinedictionaries and consider them as an essential translation assistance toolNevertheless, some of the students express their concems about relying too much

on online dictionaries while translating Therefore, the researcher suggests somerecommendations to improve translation students’ skillsin dictionary consultationand use

Ameilia (2023) investigates how students perceive the use of electronicdictionaries in English translation leaming, and what are the advantages anddisadvantages of using electronic dictionaries in English translation leamingDifferent from the two previous studies, the method used in this study is qualitativedescriptive research with interviews According to the author, interviewing would

‘bring depth to the research because participants can choose their own wordsTherefore, it supports the researchers in developing a real sense of a person'sunderstanding ofa situation Based on the findings, the study reveals that students’perceptions consist of both positive and negative perceptions towards the use ofdlectronic dictionaries in English translation leaming Students mostly usedlectronic dictionaries to translate vocabulary or know the pronunciation of aword Furthermore, electronic dictionaries assist students in translating However,the study also shows that over-dependence on electronic dictionaries of studentswould lead to the laziness of new words memorizing Some of the populardlectronic dictionaries include Google Translate, DeepL Translation, and U-Dictionary The popularity of these electronic dictionaries is based on theconvenience, ease of use, and providing definitions, synonyms, and correctpronunciation of the text In addition, the researchers also give out somerecommendations for the students, lectures, and the next researcher

B

15 Summary

To sump, this chapter has provided a brief overview of key terms related tothe topic of the study, including the concept of online dictionaries, dictionaryusage, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of using online dictionaries, andprevious studies on the perceptions of using online dictionaries in translationstudy Such knowledge has laid the foundation for investigating the crucialinsights into the perceptions of using online dictionaries of Legal English-majoredstudents in the context of Hanoi Law University, Vietnam in the next chapter

1

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGYThis chapter presents a detailed description of the approach and proceduresused to conduct the survey The chapter comprises the information of participants,research instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis techniques Byproviding a clear and detailed description, this chapter also ensures the validityand reliability of the research findings

2.1 Participants

‘The anticipated participants of the present study were 120 Legal English—majored students from course 45 and course 46, randomly selected from theFaculty of Foreign Legal Languages at HLU Nevertheless, 92 of them actuallyengaged in the survey with their highly positive responses due to a diverse range

of extemal factors All participants speale Vietnamese as their first language andEnglish as their foreign language

A total of 92 participants were involved in the research, of whom there were

70 females with a position of 76.1%, and 21 male students comprising 22.8% Inaddition, only 01 student did not want to reveal hisfher gender which should berespected This is fairly suitable for the student's current sex ratio at HLU.Additionally, regarding the training program that the students belong to, themajority of the participants are from course 45 with 76 students accounting for82.6%, while the minority are from course 46 accounting for 17.4%

‘An explanation for selecting the target group is the appropriateness of theiracademic levels To make the matter clear, the students from K45 and K46 have

‘been exposed to a range of courses and leaming opportunities in the area oftranslation and interpreting, In particular, the students from K45 have finished allmodules of Legal Translation and Interpreting, including Legal Translation and.Interpreting 1, Legal Translation and Interpreting 2, Advanced Legal Translation

1

and Interpreting, whereas K46 students have completed four modules related totranslation and interpreting, which are Translation Theory, Translation 1,Translation 2 and Interpreting Accordingly, the students are assumed to haveexperience in using online dictionaries in translation classes The participants’insights and perspectives will be valuable in understanding the perception of LegalEnglish-majored students towards online dictionary usage as well as findingmethods to enhance online dictionary usage in translation study.

A paper survey questionnaire and an online survey questionnaire via GoogleForms were employed for data collection, including 39 different questions that

‘were divided into two primary parts The first part contains the information of theparticipants, while the latter is the main content of the questionnaire serving toanswer three research questions of the study In the first part, the researcher aims

to investigate personal information about the students’ genders and current schoolyear to their major The second part of the questionnaire is divided into threesubsections (see Appendix 1) including “Students’ self-assessment of using onlinedictionaries in translation study”, “Students” perceptions towards the benefits anddrawbacks of online dictionaries”, and “Recommendations to improve the usage

of online dictionaries in translation study” In detail, Multiple-choice and

five-16

criteria Likert scale items were used! in the research The five-criteria Likert scaleconsists of five description categories, namely (1) Strongly disagree/Never, (2)Disagree/Rarely, (3) Neutral/Sometimes, (4) Agree/Often, and (5) Stronglyagree/Always The researcher has executed a test of the validity of the surveyquestionnaire, the results of the dummy run were acceptable with Cronbach'sAlpha value (a> 0.8)

The researcher chose this data collecting method based on its severaladvantage Firstly, itis easier for researchers to clarify and analyze the collecteddata through the survey logically, given that conclusions for all respondents arederived based on average answers Moreover, using a survey questionnaire tocollect responses from students can save time and make the process more efficientLastly, using this method automates the insertion of questionnaire responses intospreadsheets, databases, or software packages, reducing the likelihood of humanerror and allowing for automatic data validation

However, thereare several drawbacks associated with employing this methodfor data collection One of the most significant disadvantages of using aquestionnaire is the limitation in the accuracy of the responses Unlike face-to-face or via phone interactions where questions can be fully explained, presentingquestions in written form may lead to different interpretations or even skewedresults of the same question Asa result, to some extent, the answers cannot beconcluded in a complete way

2.2.2 Interview

According to (Gill, P., Stewart, K., Treasure, E., Chadwick, B., 2008),qualitative methods, such as interviews, are considered to offer a more profoundunderstanding of social phenomena compared to purely quantitative approaches,such as questionnaires Therefore, interviews are deemed most suitable in

”

situations where little is already Inown about the study phenomenon or wherecomprehensive insights are required from individual participants Given theacknowledged limitations of a survey questionnaire method, a semi-structuredinterview was conducted In this type of interview, specific core questions aredetermined in advance, allowing the interviewer to delve into in-depthinformation.

‘The interviews serve two main purposes First of all, it aims to validate thedata collected Specifically, comparing the findings from the interviews with thosefrom the questionnaire ensures the reliability of the results Secondly, through theinterviews, the students’ perceptions of using online dictionaries in translationstudy are thoroughly analyzed This approach allows themto directly express theirfeelings, beliefs, and experiences on this specific matter

Regarding the in-depth interview, five questions were posed to fiveinterviewees to gather more information about their perception of using onlinedictionaries in translation study (for detailed interview questions, see Appendix 2)2.3 Procedures of data collection

Both survey questionnaire and interview were proceeded by the researcher tocollect students’ data with the approval and consent from the university as well asfrom the student themselves,

23.1, Data from questionnaire

After the survey questionnaire was designed with the adaptation from theprevious studies, the researcher developed two types of survey questionnaires,induding a paper survey and an online survey The researcher contacted the classmonitors of two dasses from K45 of FLFL to ask for the class timetable OnJanuary 31, 2024, the researcher went to class and directly handed out the papersurvey to the participants However, only 35 responses were received, The online

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survey was then carried out during the week of January 31 to February 8,

by sending out a Google Forms link to the remaining participants of K45 andparticipants of two classes from K46, who had not yet taken the survey After thisperiod, the link was closed to ensure that the registered data did not change Theresearcher then received 41 responses from K45 students and 16 responses fromK46 students through the online survey questionnaire Data from both types ofsurveys was gathered, compiled, and analyzed for data treatment purposes Asaresult, the researcher received the total responses of 02 students

23.2, Data from interview

Following the survey questionnaire, in-depth interviews were conducted togain a thorough grasp of the results of the survey The researcher contacted 10students with noticeable answers to confirm their agreement to take part in theinterviews However, only 05 out of 10 participants were willing to be involved in.the interview

In each interview, the researcher began witha brief explanation of the currentstudy and then asked the participants to be genuine throughout the process so as

to achieve the expected outcome Each interview lasted about 8 to 10 minutes and.was conducted via Microsoft team or in-person meeting It should be noted thateach interview was conducted in the student's native language (Vietnamese) toensure the accuracy of each and to create favorable conditions for these students

to express their opinions All of the responses were meticulously transcribed fromdetailed notes taken during the interview Additionally, to create an openatmosphere from the extemal context, the researcher kept the level of formality tothe least to help the interviewees feel comfortable and freely share their thoughtsduring the interview

Fr

2.4 Data analysis

Since the mixed approaches are used in this study paper, the best results areobtained by coding and interpreting from both qualitative and quantitative sourcesusing raw information gathered from the respondents

2.4.1 Quantitative data analysis method

The quantitative data of the survey questionnaire was analyzed with theassistance of Microsoft Office Excel and IBM SPSS software version 29 0.2.0 Toanalyze the questionnaire data, the data from both paper and online surveys wascompiled in Microsoft Office Excel Then, the collected data were illustrated bymeans of tables and charts, The main types of analysis used are SPSS FrequencyStatistics and SPSS Descriptive Statistics Additionally, the researcher adoptedthree main measures in this research including Mean, Range, and Standarddeviation (SD) In the results put forward from the SPSS Descriptive Statistics,the mean score (M) can be produced using the formula:

Mean (M) = (Maximum - Minimum)/n = (6-1)/5 = 0.8

‘Subsequently, the mean value of each item could be interpreted as follows:(0 - 180) neverfvery low, (181 - 260) raretyow, (261 - 340)sometimes/medium, (3.41 — 4.20) often/high, (4.21 — 5 00) always/very high.2.4.2 Qualitative data analysis method

The qualitative data of the in-depth interview was manually analyzed tosupport the researcher in interpreting and explaining the results obtained from thequestionnaire Before commencing the analysis process, the researchermeticulously transcribed all of the responses from detailed notes taleen during theinterview Based on the interview transcription, the researcher conducted ananalysis of the results in order to investigate the common tendency amongparticipants’ answers to each question

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2.5 Summary

“The researcher has given a thorough summary of the research design, thedata-gathering instruments, the samples of the study, and the procedures for datacollection and analysis throughout the chapter This information is essential since

it makes the research methods more understandable and makes easier to find outthe answers to the research questions, thereby achieving the aims of the study Inaddition, the findings from the analysis of the two datasets-the questionnaire andinterview-were compared and analyzed to see if the findings supported orcontradicted each other

a

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThis chapter discusses the results that were gathered from the surveyquestionnaire and the in-depth interviews The results will be taken intocomprehensive account with a view to giving answers to the offered research

questions

3.1 Legal English-majored students’ use of online dictionaries in translationstudy

3.11 Students’ habits of using online dictionaries

To begin with, the first six items examine the Legal English-majoredstudents’ habits of online dictionary usage in translation study The first questionaims at seeking the frequency of students using online dictionaries in translationstudy, which is illustrated in the pie chart below

Figure 1 Students’ frequency ofusing online dictionaries in translation study

It canbe seen from Figure | that the proportion of participants who chose theitems “often use online dictionaries in translation study” and “always use onlinedictionaries in translation study” accounted for the most significant, at 36.9% and34.8% respectively The rate of “Sometimes” made up a medium proportion of thefigure, which was 26.1% On the contrary, there were a few participants who

2

agreed to "rarely" use online dictionaries in translation study, with a recorded rate

of 2.2% This implies that most students use online dictionaries ona regular basis

‘when leaming translation

Figure 2 demonstrates the students’ preference for gadgets in using onlinedictionaries It can be seen that smartphone was the most popular device used foronline dictionaries, which accounted for 70.7%, followed by laptops with about28.3% However, there wasa slight number of participants who chose “Tablet” asthe most device being used, as their recorded percentage is 1.1% This is alsosupported by other researchers such as Le and Dao (2019) Clarifying this matter,one respondent shared

“Tusually use my phone to use online dictionaries It is small and portable

so 1 cam be able to assess the internet and use online dictionaries anytimeanywhere.” (Student 1)

Sharing a similar viewpoint, Student 3 responded as below

“Tpreper to use a smartphone than any other device I don't need to carrybully devices Itke laptops or tablets

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+§meplone cLay©p «Tabet 12-3 sa.

Figure 2 Students’ preference of Figure 3 Niwnber of onlinegadgets to use online dictionaries in dictionaries in use of students for a

transiation study word in translation study

Figure 3 shows the number of online dictionaries in use for checking a

‘word/term meaning According to Figure 3, when looking up an unknown word,about 55.4% of students tended to check 2 or 3 different online dictionaries toensure that the word was accurate, while 39.1% of them used only one onlinedictionary to check a word A small number of students used more than 4 onlinedictionaries when checking word, accounted for 5.5% Specifically, Student 4explained that

“Tuse more than one dictionary because tt can help me to choose the mostappropriate expressions Using more dictionaries can give me vartous examplesand contexts of how the word is used”

2

3.12 Students’ preferable online dictionaries

70285) 72703)

1048) 108)

Figure 4 Students’ preferences for bilingual online đictlonaries (Vietnamese —

English/ English ~ Vietnamese online dictionaries)

As illustrated in Figure 4, TFLAT dictionary tumed out to be the mostcommonly used bilingual online dictionary Around 78.3% of participantspreferred to use TFLAT dictionary The second-highest position belonged toGoogle Translate (72.8%) This is not in line with the findings of Le and Dao(2019), According to Le and Dao (2019), the most common online resource thatstudents relied on when leaming translation was Google Translate TFLATdictionary was only one of the two added dictionaries by students apart from theprovided ones in the study In the interview session, the researcher attempted tofurther explore the students’ preferred bilingual online dictionary Specifically,one respondent clarified as following

“For bilmgual dictionary, I mainly use TFLAT and Googie transiateHowever, Iprefer TFLAT more because it provides more information for me, ithesynonyms, cntonyms, and examples of word usage.” (Student 3)

The second most common bilingual online dictionaries were tratu soha vnand vi glosbe.con/en/viñn8ict with a percentage of 28.3%, followed by Lac Vietdictionary (7.6%), dict Jaban vn (5.4%), vdict com (4.3%) and 6 vndic net (2.2%)

”

In addition, one participant also added 2 dictionaries apart from the listed ones inthe questionnaire, namely ProDict and Trexdict These two dictionaries existunder the format of smartphone software and online websites

Figure 5 Students’ preferences for monolingual online dictionaries (English —

Engitsh online dictionaries)

In terms of monolingual online dictionaries, Figure 5 shows that mostparticipants preferred famous and trustworthy sources like Cambridge and Oxford,dictionaries which accounted for 88% and 83.7% respectively Interestingly, only12% of participants relied on Macmillan and only 5.4% of participants preferredMerriam-Webster, despite the reliability and trustworthiness of these twodictionaries

=Viebanese —Englisl English