Reflexões sobre o papel da tradução (mental) no desenvolvimento da leitura em lingua estrangeira

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2000

RESUMO

In attempt to reflect about the relationship between translation and foreign language teaching/learning, this dissertation discusses the fact that foreign language learners and teachers alike recognize that some reliance on one s mother tongue in the form of translation is probably inevitable, especially when the learners are beginners. On the other hand, however, both parties also view translation as an undesirable crutch that interferes with the successful integration of textual meaning. Thinking about this state of affairs, the purpose of this study is to consider and discuss the relevancy of the role that translation as a mental reprocessing can play in the development of foreign language reading and to suggest that translation is not always an inefficient procedure to be discouraged at alI costs but, rather, an important developmental aspect of foreign language comprehension processes. This study looks at six students English readers reported use of mental translation, on different levels (basic, intermediate and advanced intermediate) while reading English texts. The students irom a private Institution of Higher Education in the state of São Paulo, were randomlyassigned to participate of the research. The findings were based on three types of data: (1) detailed observations of subjects reading behaviors in a "self-report" reading task interview designed to assess in which circumstantial moments translation is used and the reasons for it; (2) subjects responses to a questionnaire, (3) a text designed to assess reading and comprehension in foreign language. The questionnaire results indicate that vocabulary knowledge is the major difficulty in reading FL texts. Eight categories of strategies were extracted irom interview protocols, but as translation was the core of this work, it was discussed in greater length. Nested analyses revealed that translation as a reading strategy was used in different ways and purposes depending on the proficiency level of the readers. It was more productive in determining and consolidating discourse-level meaning during the readings than when readers attention was focused exclusively on word and phrase level detail. It was found that the effectiveness of translation increased when it was used in combination with others strategies rather than in isolation, but decreased when used in word-by-word fashion without integration of meaning. Finally, it is the intention ofthis study to show that translation can be viewed as a far-reaching reading ability and for this reason this activity can help readers to become more critical about their practice as interpreters and readers. Both translation and reading are creative practices par excellence

ASSUNTO(S)

leitura compreensão na leitura ensino tradução e interpretação introspecção

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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