Should Dictionaries be Used in Translation Tests and Examinations?

Abdulmoneim Mahmoud

doi:10.5539/elt.v10n3p171

Abstract

Motivated by the conflicting views regarding the use of the dictionary in translation tests and examinations this study was intended to verify the dictionary-free vs dictionary-based translation hypotheses. The subjects were 135 Arabic-speaking male and female EFL third-year university students. Agroup consisting of 62 students translated a text from English to Arabic without a dictionary at the beginning of the semester and translated the same text with a dictionary at the end of the semester. Another group of 73 students translated a text from Arabic to English twice in the same way in the same semester. Both groups used electronic mobile dictionaries in the second translation. The lexical errors were detected and statistically analyzed. The t-tests revealed a highly significant difference in favor of dictionary-based translation. The errors committed in the dictionary-based translation were remarkably less than those committed in dictionary-free translation. Further research is needed to settle the dispute.

Highlights

A dictionary - monolingual or bilingual - is an important source of language learning
Motivated by the conflicting views regarding the use of the dictionary in translation tests and examinations this study was intended to verify the dictionary-free vs dictionary-based translation hypotheses
The supporters of the dictionary-free translation believe that the use of the dictionary is time consuming and that the university students should be linguistically competent enough to dispense with the dictionary

Summary

Introduction

A dictionary - monolingual or bilingual - is an important source of language learning. Language learners usually use dictionaries for both comprehension and production and in so doing they may learn some words either intentionally or incidentally, (De Ridder, 2002; Pulido, 2007) Another area where dictionaries are used is translation. Some of them believe that all types of dictionaries should be banned in translation tests and examinations while others allow them The former think that translation students majoring in the foreign language (e.g. English) should be linguistically competent enough to translate without a dictionary and that the use of the dictionary is time consuming in test situations where the students have to complete the task in a specific period of time. To the best of the knowledge of the researcher, very few systematic studies have so far been conducted in this area, especially in the Arab world

Related Studies

Data Collection and Analysis

Findings

Summary and Conclusion