The Effects of Word Translation on College Freshmen's Reading Comprehension and Word Retention

• Main Authors: Shun-ru Chan, 詹順如
• Other Authors: Ling-zu Yang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 1999
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/07495182656070741740

碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 87 === ABSTRACT The focuses of this study were on three aspects. The first aspect was to find out whether pre-reading keyword translation helped students retain words' meanings. The second aspect concerned whether the keyword translation also facilitated reading comprehension. The third aspect was about whether students' attitudes towards word translation were positive or negative. In addition, the study also discussed whether the correlation between the performances of vocabulary and that of reading comprehension was strong or not. It was anticipated that the results of this study could help language teachers and students know better about the advantages or disadvantages of Grammar Translation Method (G-T Method). The subjects of this study were 43 non-English majored freshmen at National Kaohsiung Normal University. They were randomly assigned into two groups, the experimental group (EG) and the control group (CG). Both groups were assigned an article whose readability was identical to that of Book Six of Senior English Textbook, but the EG was given word translation before reading the article. Fourty minutes later, both groups were given a quiz for 15 minutes. Afterwards, all subjects were given a questionnaire. The major findings of this study are as follows: (1) Subjects who were given pre-reading translation of words used in the assigned article (EG) performed significantly better than those who were given no pre-reading word translation (CG). (2) The EG did not do significantly better on reading comprehension questions than the CG. (3) Subjects in both groups showed positive attitudes towards pre-reading word translation. (4) Subjects who performed well on vocabulary test did not also performed well on reading comprehension. Finally, it is suggested that teachers give brief and specific pre-reading translation of keywords whose meanings cannot be guessed from the assigned articles. By doing so, students' affective filter could be lowered and their vocabulary knowledge could be enriched.