THE IMPACT OF TRANSLATION ON LANGUAGE LEARNING - AN INSIGHT FROM THE FUNCTIONAL APPROACH TO TRANSLATION

Translation or Grammar - Translation method (GTM) in its new form has made a comeback in language teaching after decades of neglect due to its limitations. This paper presents the impact of translation on students’ English learning in a tertiary English language program in Vietnam. The methodology was based on a contrastive examination of students’ written and spoken comments on the translation tasks and students’ translation solutions both before and after the translation workshops. The students demonstrated improved awareness of communicative contexts of texts or communicative language use and enhanced text comprehension. The study reinstates the enhanced role of translation in language teaching particularly when translation is defined from the functional approach to translation. GTM in its new form can still be relevant in Vietnam and other similar contexts.