towards an analysis of errors made by university students ... - DSpace

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CHAPTER b
RESEARCH
UNDERTAKEN
5.1. Procedure
To collect information about some problems
which
might be hampering comprehension of English technical texts
studied by EL I students, we decided to make use of translation
as one of the most usual
techniques employed in EL I Course,
Our choice of translation as the vehicle which might
give us the chance of finding out some sorts of problems faced
by EL I students was based on our colleagues'
and our own
experience with the rendered translations of some paragraphs,
as one of the parts in EL I monthly tests. Those paragraphs
were taken from texts already studied in class and
usually
displayed a different arrangement of clauses, or their structural
elements, so that the rendered translations did not result in a
mere copy of the translation made in class. Irrespective of the
fact that those short paragraphs had been extracted from texts
already studied in class, some kinds of errors still persisted.
In fact, translation in class has been preceded by some comments
on the text, however, those comments concern what the teacher
thinks to be difficult, either grammatical points or vocabulary,
or both; students, in turn, may have their doubts
clarified
while they work on the text in groups, or when their
teacher
checks the translation of the whole text.
Sometimes teachers include translation of unknown
passages in the monthly tests. As those passages have not been
studied.in class, students are allowed to consult dictionaries,
just as they do when they are working
on a new text in class.