Raising Students' Awareness of Idiomatic English through Cross-Translation Practice

Abstract

本研究在了解大學生對中式英文的認知以及教師介入對英語慣用語學習的影響。作者根據語言重建模式及其他相關理論，發展交叉翻譯練習法來檢視學生對中式英文的注意和知覺的程度。結果顯示：一、學生的跨語言認知非常有限以至於無法判斷及解釋為何會在中式英文的產生，雖然在翻譯練習時他們都能注意到自己的翻譯和原文有相當的差異。二、學生指出選字的錯誤以及無法用英文思考是造成中式英文的原因，因此強烈需要教師的介入。本研究認為交叉翻譯練習可以作為英語慣用語教學的補充練習，以提升學生對中式英文的認知、加強字義的辨識、增加跨語言的知識及英文能力。

The present study investigated how college students became aware of their Chinglish and the role of teacher intervention in the learning of idiomatic English. According to a language-restructuring model based on the noticing hypothesis, cognitive comparison, and other related theories, cross-translation practice was developed to examine the students’ noticing and awareness levels. The results of this study indicated, first of all, that the students’ cross-linguistic awareness was too limited for them to judge or explain their unidiomatic output, although they noticed the discrepancy through cross-translation practice. Secondly, after the practice, the students identified choice of words and failure to think in English as the causes of their un-English expressions, and thus teachers intervention was strongly needed to explain the differences, especially at the lexical level. It was concluded that the cross-translation method could supplement the teaching of idiomatic English by raising the students’ awareness of unidiomatic English, refining word usage, and increasing cross-linguistic knowledge of English usage.