The Effect of using the Connectivist Approach on Developing Secondary Stage Students’ Cross-cultural Awareness and Translation Performance

Abstract

The present study attempted to examine the effect of using the connectivist approach on developing secondary-stage students' cross-cultural awareness and translation performance. The study comprised thirty-two first-year secondary stage students enrolled in El-Jalawea Institute, Sohag Governorate. The study adopted the quasi-experimental design. Thirty-two participants were randomly assigned to one group, and they were taught through a suggested web-based program. Data were gathered and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative instruments. A pre-post online translation and cross-cultural awareness test, an online questionnaire, and a web-based training program/blog were used in the study. Findings indicated that participants showed significantly higher levels of translation performance samples in the areas of reading comprehension, writing fluency, Computer-assisted Translation (CAT) tool usage, text analysis, and terminology search. Findings also showed significantly higher levels of cross-cultural awareness in both cognitive and affective aspects compared to students' achievement before the treatment. Participants also showed evidence of transition from word-for-word to meaning-for-meaning translation. The development of the students' performance was demonstrated by multiple measures that imply that the suggested web-based program is effective for developing secondary-stage students' translation performance and cross-cultural awareness skills.