(Luận văn thạc sĩ) the reality of assessing speaking skill of high school students at nguyen tat thanh gifted high school and recommendations

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ PHƯƠNG CHI TOWARDS DESIGNING A TRANSLATION SYLLABUS FOR THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANOI UNIVESITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY (Xây dựng chương trình dạy học môn dịch cho sinh viên hệ cử nhân chuyên tiếng Anh năm thứ Trường ĐH Kinh doanh Công nghệ Hà Nội) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD : English Teaching Methodology CODE : 60.14.10 HA NOI – 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ PHƯƠNG CHI TOWARDS DESIGNING A TRANSLATION SYLLABUS FOR THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANOI UNIVESITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY (Xây dựng chương trình dạy học môn dịch cho sinh viên hệ cử nhân chuyên ngành tiếng Anh năm thứ Trường ĐH Kinh doanh Công nghệ Hà Nội) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD : English Teaching Methodology CODE : 60.14.10 Supervisor: Đỗ Minh Hoàng, M.A HA NOI – 2010 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FLT Foreign Language Teaching HUBT Hanoi University of Business and Technology SL Source Language ST Source Text TBLT Task-Based Language Teaching TL Target Language TT Target Text v APPENDICES Appendix 1………………………………………………… i Appendix 2………………………………………………… v Appendix 3………………………………………………… v Appendix 4………………………………………………… iii Appendix 5………………………………………………….vi Appendix 6………………………………………………… x Appendix 7………………………………………………… xi Appendix 8………………………………………………… xiv Appendix 9………………………………………………… xviii Appendix 10………………………………………………… xix TABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATE‟S STATEMENT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv APPENDICES ……………………………………………………………………………………………… v PART A: INTRODUCTION .1 Rationale Aim of the study Research questions Scope of the study Significance of the study Content of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Syllabus in language teaching 1.1.1 Definition 1.1.2 Types of syllabuses 1.2 Translation 1.2.1 Definition of translation 1.2.2 Translation in teaching 1.2.2.1 Grammar-based syllabus 1.2.2.2 Task-based syllabus (Constructivism) 1.2.2.3 Topic-based syllabus 1.2.2.4 Text-based syllabus .10 1.2.2.5 Combined syllabus 10 1.2.2.6 Skills .11 1.2.2.7 Directionality 12 1.2.3 Types of translation in translation pedagogy .14 1.2.4 What is happening in other universities 14 1.2.4.1 General situation 14 1.2.4.2 Examples 15 1.2.4.3 Summary .19 1.3 Needs analysis 20 Chapter 2: Methodology 21 2.1 Data collection instruments 21 2.1.1 Structure of the questionnaire .21 2.1.2 Structure of Interviews with the teachers 22 2.2 Subjects of the study 22 2.3 Data collection procedures 22 2.3.1 Questionnaire .22 2.3.2 Interviews with the teachers 23 Chapter 3: Results and Discussion 24 3.1 Questionnaire 24 3.1.1 Learners‟ background 24 3.1.2 Target needs 24 3.1.3 Learning needs .28 3.2 Interviews 31 3.2.1 The teachers‟ background 31 3.2.2 The teachers‟ comments .31 3.2.3 Suggestions 32 3.3 Summary 32 Chapter 4: The proposed translation syllabus .34 4.1 Introduction 34 4.2 The aims and objectives of the translation course 34 4.3 Choosing the translation content 35 4.3.1 The integration of translation theory 35 4.3.1.1 Introduction to History of translation .35 4.3.1.2 Introduction to Translation 36 4.3.1.3 Translation Methods 36 4.3.1.4 Text analysis 36 4.3.2 Grading content 37 4.4 Tasks and activities in the year 37 4.5 A proposed translation syllabus for third-year English majors at Hanoi University of Business and Technology 38 4.6 Sample translation lesson (Appendix 8) 42 Part C: CONCLUSION 43 Summary .43 Recommendations for further research 44 References 45 PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale It is without doubt the economic changes all around the world have honestly affected the language translation service and these days translators are equally involved in every part of intercultural and business communication In a world globalization, today language translation service is becoming a more significant factor for concise transfer of ideas Translation has previously been regarded as an art or a craft; now translation scholars are happy to have their activity recognized as a science and admitted to the inner circle of scholarly pursuits as a branch of applied linguistics Educating English majors to fluently use the foreign language after an undergraduate course is a becoming an ever important task now in Vietnam when we integrate more deeply into the world‟s economy One of the jobs graduates can is to work as translators or interpreters in a professional manner How can educational institutions make sure that their graduates can adapt themselves to the market changes? Therefore, gaining an insight into target needs and learning needs so as to develop a translation syllabus is an urgent task I myself, as the researcher, would like to try to build up a translation syllabus which is helpful for teachers and meets with the desires of the learners In the process of teaching translation the students, it seems that our current syllabus does not quite meet the learners‟ needs and what the instructors want them to learn during the course There are different opinions among the teachers about the content of the course At least the syllabus should give teachers and learners a direction of what to be taught and how to be taught Both the teachers and students have complained about the time available for the learning of skills in the first and second years This is the time when acquisition of English skills is so important to be used as the foundation for the third year when more time is spent on translation practice As for the students, they are not proficient in the skills after the first two years This has led to the fact that they meet some difficulties in learning translation and interpreting Besides, it seems that theoretical backgrounds as well as the methodology have not been paid much attention to Another point is that the researcher sees that little time is spent on teaching students translation-related skills such as the use of computers as a tool for would-be translators and interpreters Ulrych (2005) in her paper asserts that technological aids improve translators‟ status and self image Aim of the study The study is aimed to identify the needs, wants and lacks of the third-year English majors and expectation of trainers or course designers so that the researcher can use them as the foundation for putting forward an appropriate syllabus including content, method of teaching, time To achieve the aim, a needs analysis was done to find out the target needs and learning needs of the students Research questions What are the learning needs of the third-year English majors? What are the target needs of the third-year English majors? How should the proposed syllabus meet these needs? Scope of the study The study is done based on the circumstance for third-year English majors at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT) Due to the size of the thesis, this is aimed at designing a written translation syllabus for them (an oral translation syllabus is therefore not within the scope of this thesis) Significance of the study This is aimed at making learning of translation more efficient in terms of learners‟ desires, trainers‟ objectives based on the learning needs and target needs Theoretically, this will help provide teachers with basic knowledge of syllabus design in general and translation syllabus design in particular Hopefully, this syllabus will give teachers as well as students the profile of what and how should be taught and learnt in order to achieve the course‟s objectives Content of the study Part A: Introduction is aimed at providing the background, rationale, the aims, research questions and significance of the study Part B: Development Chapter Literature Review reviews the literature of syllabus design, translation teaching and translation syllabus The first part is about syllabus design and types of syllabi which are used as a base for designing the proposed syllabus The second part taps into translation in terms of definition, types of translation syllabi, types of translation and the training situations in some European and Asian countries From the situation, the researcher may apply some good ways in designing the proposed syllabus The last part will provide some facts about The English Department, Hanoi University of Business and Technology Chapter 2: Methodology deals with methodologies of collecting data Chapter 3: Results and Discussion consists of an analysis of a post-course questionnaire, a semi-structured interview with the translation teachers Chapter 4: The Proposed Translation Syllabus is devoted to the proposed translation syllabus including the aims, objectives of the translation course, the translation content, tasks and activities, the proposed syllabus and a sample translation lesson Part C: Conclusion and Recommendations This chapter summarizes what has been done and arrive at recommendations for further research PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Syllabus in language teaching 1.1.1 Definition A syllabus can also be seen as a "summary of the content to which learners will be exposed" (Yalden 1987: 87) By looking at the syllabus, learners can know where they are during the course, and what they will have achieved Therefore, the syllabus is actually a very basic guide for them Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 80) define syllabus as follows: At its simplest level a syllabus can be described as a statement of what is to be learnt It reflects of language and linguistic performance There is another view further with the aim of a syllabus Breen (cited in Read 1984a: 1) asserts that syllabus can also be seen as "a plan of what is to be achieved through our teaching and our students' learning" I quite agree to this approach as teachers often base themselves on a certain syllabus to make their lectures detailed In Wilkins' (1981: 1) words, syllabuses are "specifications of the content of language teaching which have been submitted to some degree of structuring or ordering with the aim of making teaching and learning a more effective process.” If the above authors focus on the content factor in the process of syllabus design, some other authors tend to have a quite different point of view Candlin (cited in Nunan 1988: 46) wondered whether it is possible to distinguish the content from the method and evaluation The researcher thinks that it is better to combine all these factors to have a more comprehensive view to what teachers are to in class Breen (cited in Nunan 1988: 46) also has the same viewpoint which does not only mention the pedagogy in the syllabus but also certain assumptions about the psychological and social processes From my own teaching experience, syllabuses in Vietnam only reflect the pedagogy but not the others mentioned by Breen as they require experts with rich knowledge of psychology and social issues Dublin and Olshtain (1986: 28) offer a very comprehensive view on syllabus They hold that it should contain the following ingredients: What the learners are expected to know at the end of the course, or the course objectives ... go further in their work Once again Bermardini (2004: 28) claims that “translation skills are the very essence of the translation and translating professions: They are […] what, first and foremost,... course with professional orientation was the High Diploma in Translation and Interpretation offered by the Hong Kong Polytechnique Unlike the situation in China and Singapore, the course is much... translations carried out fall under this category Some common types of specialized translation and interpretation are financial translation and interpretation  legal translation and interpretation