Following the Paths of Translation in Language Teaching: From Disregard in the Past Decades to Revival Towards the 21st Century

Abstract

The last two decades have witnessed a time of unprecedented growth of interest in translation practice in the language classroom. A brief overview of the historical origins of translation seems to be an indispensable requirement as we set up to develop a study on translation in language teaching. Outlining its development over time will also show how translation eventually got to have such a bad reputation within the language teaching community and how the traditional arguments against the use of translation in language teaching can all be refuted if classroom translation dresses a modern garb. Being anchored on theoretical grounds will, undoubtedly, help us gain a better understanding of the present situation and a better fit for envisaging future perspectives in translation spheres.