An Investigation into Student and Teacher Attitudes towards Pedagogical Translation at Benghazi University

Abstract

This study investigates the attitudes of university lecturers and undergraduate students in regards to translation as a university subject and its role in enhancing students’ English as foreign language at Benghazi University. The study examines the skills and linguistic aspects that lecturers and students believe are developed through pedagogical translation. A student survey was implemented on 400 students to measure their attitudes. In addition, a semi-structured interview was conducted on 6 university lectures. A mixed-methods approach was adopted using both quantitative and qualitative research methods to gain richer data and improve the validity and reliability of the study. The findings of the study revealed that students and their lectures believe that translation has enhanced their English language in general. In addition, they believe that it has specifically developed their reading and writing more than their speaking and listening skills. Lectures and students reveal that pedagogical translation has improved their grammar and language use of vocabulary and collocations. Moreover, they consider that implementing contrastive analysis in pedagogical translation classes has raised students’ awareness of mother tongue interferences. Furthermore, students and their lecturers believe that several linguistic aspects were enhanced, such as cohesion, coherence, genres, registers, language dialects as well as form and meaning. Students and lecturers also believe that their cultural awareness was developed. In conclusion, students and lecturers believe that translation could be an effective tool in learning English as a foreign language. The study contributes to the literature of pedagogical translation and foreign language teaching and learning settings.