investigating learners’ attitudes towards the effect of
TRANSCRIPT
People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
University Larbi Ben M’hidi Oum El Bouaghi
Faculty of Letters and Languages
Department of English
A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Letters and Languages Department of
English, in partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Master Degree in Language
Sciences and Teaching English as a Foreign language
Presented by:
BREK Bouchra
ZAOUIA Bouchra
Examiner 1: Pr. Merrouche Sara
Examiner 2: Mrs. Maamouri Hanane
Supervisor: Dr. MERABET Mohamed Hamza
2019/2020
Investigating Learners’ Attitudes towards the Effect of
Language Anxiety on Sight Translation Tasks
The Case Study of Third Year LMD Students of English at Larbi Ben
M’hidi University, Oum El Bouaghi
i
DEDICATIONS
In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful
We dedicate this work to our parents for their support and love. May god bless them.
To all those who contributed to the success of this research work.
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In the Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Most Gracious
First, Alhamdulillah who has given us guideness, protection, security, and health to
finish this work.
Second, we want to express our sincere gratitude to our supervisor Dr. Merabet
Hamza Mohamed for his time, support and advices to finish this work. In addition, we would
like to express our special thanks to the members of the jury
for their comments, critics and time spent in reading and evaluating the work.
Needless to say, we are grateful for all students of third year who answered our
questionnaire.
iii
Abstract:
Language anxiety is defined as being afraid, nervous, and embarrassed when learning a
foreign language. Previous studies have dealt with it in relation to consecutive interpreting
and simultaneous interpreting; yet, only few researches have focused on its effect on
students’ performance in sight translation tasks. Therefore, this thesis seeks to understand and
investigate learners’ perceptions towards the impact of language anxiety on sight translation
tasks. A modified version of Horwitz et al (1986) questionnaire provided quantitative data
from 55 third year didactics participants from the English department at Larbi Ben M’hidi
University. The findings indicated that the informants hold negative attitudes for the effect of
language anxiety on ST tasks. Moreover, the study revealed that the students feel anxious
more in translation module than in the other modules. The research also offers set of
strategies for teachers and learners to cope with language anxiety. As a result of this
investigation, recommendations were identified for future researches.
Key words: language anxiety, sight translation
iv
List of Abbreviations
CA: Communication apprehension
EFL: English as a foreign language
FL: Foreign language
FLA: Foreign language anxiety
FLCAS: Foreign language classroom anxiety scale
LMD: License master doctorate
OEB: Oum El Bouaghi
SL: Source language
ST: Sight translation
TA: Test anxiety
TL: Target language
v
List of Tables and Figures
Table 01: Learners’ gender……..............................................................................................29
Table 02: Learners’ age……………………………………………………...........................30
Table 03: Participants’ English level………………………………………………………...30
Figure 01: FLCAS model by Horwitz et al 1986…………………………………………....16
Figure02: Foreign language classroom anxiety scale (FLCAS)……………………….........17
Figure 03: Pie chart related to students' feeling of certainty about solving ST task…….…..31
Figure 04: Pie chart related to students' apprehensiveness of making mistakes in ST……...32
Figure 05: Pie chart related to students' feelings of fear when they do not understand the
content of the text…………………………..………………………………………………...32
Figure 06: Pie Chart related to students' willingness to take more ST course………………33
Figure 07: Pie Chart related to students' thoughts about unrelated things to ST……………34
Figure 08: Pie Chart related to students' thoughts about their classmates abilities compared to
them………….…………………………………………………………………………….....35
Figure 09: Pie Chart related to students' feelings of easiness during test in ST………….....36
Figure 10: Pie Chart related to students' nervousness in doing ST task without
preparation…………………………………………………………………………………...36
Figure 11: Pie Chart related to students' fear from failing in ST class……………………...37
Figure 12: Pie Chart related to students' level of anxiety that might lead them to forget words
they know…………………………………………………………………………………....38
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Figure 13: Pie Chart related to students' unwillingness to volunteer answers of the
instructor……………………………………………………………………………………...39
Figure 14: Pie chart related to students’ anxiety when they do not understand teachers’
correction……………………………………………………………………………………..40
Figure 15: Pie chart related to students’ anxiety in ST tasks even when they are
prepared………………………………………………………………………………………41
Figure 16: Pie chart related to students’ willingness to go to ST courses…………………..41
Figure 17: Pie chart related to students’ fear from teachers’ correction…………………….42
Figure 18: Pie chart related to students’ anxiety when they are going to be called to
translate…………………………………………………………………………………........43
Figure 19: Pie chart related to students feeling towards performing in front of their
classmates…………………………………………………………………………………….44
Figure 20: Pie chart related to students’ anxiety in ST course more than other courses……45
Figure 21: Pie chart related to students’ fear when they do not understand all the words in
the text………………………..………………………………………………………………46
Figure 22: Pie chart related to students’ anxiety when facing complicated sentences……...47
Figure 23: Pie chart related to students fear from laughing at their mistakes……………….48
Figure 24: Pie chart related to students’ fear of evaluation…………………………….........49
1
Table of Contents
Page
Dedication……………………………………………………………………………………...i
Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………………..ii
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………….iii
List of abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………….iv
List of tables and figures…………………………………………………………………...v-vi
General introduction………………………………………………………………………..04
Background and statement of the problem…………………………………………………..04
Aims of the study………………………………………………………………………........04
Research questions…………………………………………………………………………...05
Research hypotheses………………………………………………………………………....05
Significance of the study……………………………………………………………….........05
Methodology of research……………………………………………………………….........06
Population and research sampling……………………………………………………………06
Structure of the dissertation………………………………………………………………06-07
Chapter One: theoretical part: Language Anxiety in Sight Translation Tasks
Section One: Anxiety in EFL Class
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….........09
1.1- Definition of anxiety…………………………………………………………………09
1.2- Types of anxiety……………………………………………………………………...10
1.2.1- Trait and state anxiety……………………………………………………………...10-11
2
1.2.2- Situation specific anxiety……………………………………………………………...11
1.2.3- Facilitating and debilitating anxiety…………………………………………….....11-12
1.3- Manifestations of language anxiety……………………………………………….....12
1.4- Factors of anxiety………………………………………………………………….....13
1.4.1- Communication apprehension……………………………………………………........13
1.4.2- Test anxiety…………………………………………………………………………....13
1.4.3- Fear of negative evaluation……………………………………………………………14
1.5- Differences between first and second language anxiety……………………………...14
1.6- Instruments for measuring anxiety…………………………………………………...15
1.6.1 - Description of foreign language classroom anxiety scale (FLCAS)………………....15
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………....17
Section Two: Anxiety in Sight Translation Tasks
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..........19
2.1- Definition of sight translation…………………………………………………….19-20
2.2- Sight translation: mode of translation or interpretation?............................................21
2.3- Difference between sight translation and other modes of translation…………….21-22
2.4- Translation/ interpreting difficulties faced by EFL learners………………….......22-23
2.5- Anxiety in sight translation: previous studies……………………………………......24
2.6- Strategies of reducing sight translation anxiety……………………………………...25
2.6.1 - The role of teacher in reducing students’ anxiety during ST tasks………….............26
2.6.2- The role of students in reducing their anxiety during ST tasks……………………….26
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………............27
3
Chapter Two: Field Work
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….28
2.1. Research methodology…………………………………………………………..............28
2.2. Population of the study……………………………………………………………..........28
2.3. Description of student’s questionnaire……………………………………………..........29
2.3.1- Results description and analyses ………………………………………………….29-50
Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………..............51
Limitations of the study………………………………………………………………............51
Recommendations and further suggestions…………………………………………………..52
General conclusion……………………………………………………………………….....53
List of references……………………………………………………………………………54
Appendices …………………………………………………………………………….........58
Appendix 1: student’s questionnaire………………………………………………............58
Resumé ……………………………………………………………………………...............62
63.............…………………………………………………………………………………ملخص
4
General Introduction
Background and statement of the problem:
Many students enrolled in the English department of Larbi Ben M’hidi University of
Oum El Bouaghi get good marks in translation when it comes to written and theoretical based
tasks. Yet, when it comes to interpreting and sight translation, many students face serious
problems and their performance is questionable. In general, “sight translation is an oral
translation of a written text” as Gonzalez, Vasquez and Mikkelson (1991, p. 401) stated.
Also, Minyar Beloruchev (1999) defined sight translation as “a written translation activity”
(cited in Krapivkina, 2018, p. 696). Moreover, one of the difficulties that EFL learners face is
language anxiety. Different definitions of language anxiety have been provided by many
researchers. According to Macintrye and Gardner (1994) it is “the feeling of tension and
apprehension specifically in second Language contexts including speaking, listening, reading
and writing in foreign language classroom” (p.284). However; Horwitz, Horwitz and cope
(1986) explain language anxiety as “a distinctive complex of self perception, believes,
feelings and behaviors related to classroom language learning process” (cited in Zdena, 2016,
p.4). Therefore, the issue of this study concerns the negative effect of language anxiety on
student’s performance in sight translation tasks. In this respect knowing about that effect
between language anxiety and ST tasks from learners’ perspective is very necessary.
Aim of the study:
This study aims at:
Exploring the impact of language anxiety on sight translation tasks. More specifically,
the study is looking to demonstrate learner’s attitudes towards that phenomenon.
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Identifying some strategies that may reduce this problem in order to enhance students
learning achievement in ST.
Research questions:
To achieve the proposed aims, a set of research questions are constructed as follow:
Q1/ what are students’ attitudes towards the effect of language anxiety in ST tasks?
Q2/ what are the strategies that EFL teachers and learners should do to decrease language
anxiety during translation tasks?
Research hypotheses:
The hypotheses that will be tested in this research are:
H1/ Students hold negative perspective towards the impact of language anxiety in ST tasks.
H2/ Language anxiety has a negative effect on ST tasks.
H3/ Students and teachers should use a set of strategies to overcome that phenomenon.
Significance of the study:
Investigators’ personal experience with language anxiety has promoted this research.
Thus, this study will investigate the effect of language anxiety on sight translation tasks. So
far, most studies in the field of translation have focused on simultaneous and consecutive
translation. Hence, it is hopefully expected that the present investigation will make a major
contribution to research on the field of translation by shedding light on the type of sight
translation in particular. Also, it seeks to provide different strategies for language learners to
cope with their language anxiety. It is estimated that this study will contribute to a deeper
understanding of the problem under investigation.
6
Methodology of research:
The present study was conducted using a quantitative research method because in the
treatment of such topics we need to quantify attitudes from a large sample of students. Thus,
the research data in this thesis were drawn from a questionnaire which is a modified version
of the foreign language classroom anxiety scale (FLCAS) developed by Horwitz et al (1986).
After obtaining all the data required, it will be analyzed in a descriptive way in the practical
part.
Population and research sampling:
Third year LMD students of didactics in the department of English at Larbi Ben
M’hidi University were chosen as a case study to conduct this research. This population was
opted for since they have prior knowledge about translation and will deal with sight
translation tasks in the second semester. Therefore, we expect them to answer our
questionnaire appropriately.
Structure of the dissertation:
The present research includes a general introduction about the topic which contains
the statement of the problem, the aims of the study, the research questions and hypotheses,
the significance of the research and the methodology of research. Also, the thesis is divided
into two chapters; the first chapter tackles the theoretical side of the study whereas the second
represents the practical side.
Chapter one seeks to lay out the theoretical dimensions of the research, it is composed
of two sections. The first section is devoted to the first variable, Language anxiety in details
including: definition and types of anxiety, factors of anxiety, differences between first and
second language anxiety and instruments for measuring anxiety while the second section is
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concerned with the second variable which is sight translation tasks. It includes: definition of
sight translation, its types, and difficulties faced by EFL learners in translation and so on.
Chapter two describes the method that is used in this research. It analyses the data
gathered, addresses each of the research questions in turn, summarizes the main research
findings, and includes a discussion of the implication of the findings to future research into
sight translation.
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Chapter one: Theoretical Part
Section one: Anxiety in EFL Class
Introduction
1.1- Definition of anxiety
1.2- Types of anxiety
1.2.1. Trait and state anxiety
1.2.2. Situation specific anxiety
1.2.3. Facilitating and debilitating anxiety
1.3- Manifestations of language anxiety
1.4- Factors of anxiety
1.4.1. Communication apprehension
1.4.2. Test anxiety
1.4.3. Fear of negative evaluation
1.5- Differences between first and second language anxiety
1.6- Instruments for measuring anxiety
1.6.1. Description of foreign language classroom anxiety scale (FLCAS)
Conclusion
9
Chapter one: Theoretical Part
Section one: Anxiety in EFL Class
Introduction
Learning any language is no longer seen as mastering the basic forms and structures.
Nowadays in foreign language context, students learn a language for many concrete purposes
such as: school requirements and finding a job, moreover, they seek to be communicatively
competent. However, some students may feel anxious when they come to use the language
due to many factors. Many studies prove that students experience higher levels of anxiety in
foreign language classes than in math and history (Horwitz et al.1986, Macintrye and
Gardner.1989). Furthermore, this section will introduce an overview about language anxiety
with its definitions, its types and possible factors that lead to anxiety in learning. In addition,
it sheds the light on the difference between first and second languages anxiety with
mentioning the research tools that help in measuring anxiety level of EFL students.
1.1.Definition of anxiety
Anxiety refers to the negative vibes and feelings that cannot be seen or controlled by
students i.e. it is associated with feeling of nervousness, fear, threat, avoidance of classroom
participation while learning a FL as explained in (Zdena, 2016, p. 3). Researchers have
focused on the nature and the logical reasons behind this behavior in order to have better
understanding of the phenomena. In fact, language anxiety was defined by many researchers
and psychologists but the most prominent definition was given by Horwitz et al, (1986) as
follow “it is a distinct complex of self perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to
classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning
processes”(cited in Oteir & Al-otaibi, 2012, p. 312). According to Doubek and Anders
(2013), Anxiety can be defined as:
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A mental and physical state characterized by specific emotional, physical,
cognitive and behavioral symptoms. It is an adaptive reaction which
mobilizes the organism and helps it defend, attack, and avoid an anxiety
Stimulus. The stimulus can be a previous external or internal antecedent
trigger” (cited in Zdena, 2016, p. 3).
On that account, anxiety is seen as a response to any external or internal factor, i.e.
anxiety stimulus. However, Spielberger defined anxiety with simple words as “An unpleasant
emotional state or condition which is characterized by subjective feelings of tension,
apprehension, Nervousness, and worry” (spielberger, 1972, p.482).
1.2.Types of anxiety
Foreign language anxiety is a specific type of anxiety that is associated only with FL
contexts and it is related to the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing).
Furthermore, researchers studied the relationship between FLA and other anxieties. On this
basic, five main types have been identified: state anxiety, trait anxiety, situation specific
anxiety, facilitating anxiety, and debilitating anxiety.
1.2.1. State anxiety
State anxiety is “the apprehension that is experienced at a particular moment in time
as a response to a definite situation” (Ellis, 1994, cited in Alshahrani, 2016, p.67). That is to
say that it is a temporary emotional state that everyone may experience when they feel danger
in a specific situation. For instance, some students feel afraid of speaking in front of their
teachers and classmates even though they had background knowledge about the topic
presented. This type of anxiety goes away when the situation that is considered as a threat
goes away.
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1.2.2. Trait anxiety
It is a personality characteristic caused from fear, worries across many situations but
the level of that anxiety differ from one situation to another. According to Spielberger (1983)
“trait anxiety is defined as an individual tendency to be anxious in any situation” (cited in no
name, 2016, p. 30). Moreover, State anxiety and trait anxiety goes hand in hand, whenever
the level of trait anxiety is higher; the level of state anxiety is higher too. Moreover,
according to Brown (2000), Scovel (1978), and Baily &Nunan (1996) “people that are
generally with high tension of stress in many things are more related to trait anxiety” (p.250).
1.2.3. Situation-Specific Anxiety
Foreign language anxiety is distinct from trait and state anxiety and it is classified as
situation specific anxiety. “This type of anxiety is promoted by specific set of conditions for
example public speaking or participation in class” (Ellis, 2008, no page). That is to say that
people who have this type of anxiety may feel nervous in one situation but not in others.
1.2.4. Facilitating Anxiety
“Facilitating anxiety motivates the learner to fight the new learning task” (Scovel,
1978, p.139), i.e. this type of anxiety have a positive effect on student's learning achievement
in which it stimulates and activate his brain to work hard in order to accomplish the required
task and even to concentrate more rather than avoid doing tasks. In this respect, Scovel
(1978) suggests that facilitating anxiety pushes the learner to do his best in order to overcome
his lacks, and to limit the negative effects of anxiety that disturbs their learning (cited in
Abderrazzag, 2010, p.8).
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1.2.5. Debilitating Anxiety
“It is a type of anxiety that motivates the learner to flee the new learning task; it
stimulates the individual emotionally to adopt avoidance behavior” (Scovel, 1978, p.139). In
other words, this type of anxiety has a negative effect on learner's performance in which it
stimulates his brain to withdraw from doing the necessary tasks while learning. For example,
the learner runs away from doing an oral exam or presentation because of fear from teachers’
negative judgments.
1.3. Manifestations of foreign language anxiety:
Many people think that manifestations/symptoms of language anxiety while learning a
foreign language are Obvious and easy to know. However, it has received much attention by
researchers and foreign language teachers who have attempted to find out in what way
students suffer from such a problem using diaries, interviews and scales in their studies.
Hence, different views and categories of language anxiety were identified. Leary(1982)
identifies three main kinds of behavior associated with anxiety in social situations: Arousal-
mediated responses, disaffiliate behavior, image protection behavior (Cited in Jean T.
Stephenson Wilson, 2006, pp50-51).
The first behavior appear when the person becomes too active in which he fidgets and
squirms while seated, often feeling restless. The second behavior is when the person avoids
doing the necessary tasks and avoids preparing at home and even being unable to engage in
classroom activities and dialogues. The third behavior is exemplified by smiling and nodding
frequently, by seldom interrupting others, focusing on frequent communicative feedback like
(uh-huh) (Leary, 1982, cited in Young, 1991, pp. 429-430).
13
Furthermore, MacIntyre (1995) identified three components of language anxiety:
Cognitive, affective and behavioral. The first aspect (cognitive) increases in distracting self-
related cognition, expectations of failure and a decrease in cognitive processing ability (cited
in Belgin, 1999, p46), while the second aspect (affective) is associated with feelings of worry
and frightening. The third aspect (behavioral) is about being neutral and silent and avoid
engaging in any situation.
1.4. Factors of anxiety
In order to solve any problem, it is needed to know about its causes first. It is now
well established from a variety of studies that there is a positive correlation between language
speaking anxiety and communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative
evaluation (Horwitz et al, 1986, cited in kitano, 2001).
1.4.1. Communication apprehension
Communication apprehension is an important factor in language anxiety. According
to James Mc Croskey “it is the broad term that refers to an individual’s fear or anxiety
associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons”
(cited in Lahgui, 2017, p. 9). That is to say, a person who experiences CA is uncomfortable
when using TL. This may cause physical responses in any particular situation as sweating,
shaking, and being unable to recall pieces of information.
1.4.2. Test anxiety
Test anxiety is a “type of performance anxiety stemming from a fear of failure”
(Horwitz et al, 1986, p.127). Students usually experience anxiety when evaluation takes
place; the idea that they may have bad marks or fail in the test will affect their performance
for sure. Horwitz et al (1986) explained that TA threatens the language performance.
14
Undoubtedly, it makes the student loses his self confidence and keeps thinking that he will
fail the task or test (cited in Salhi, 2015, p. 15).
1.4.3. Fear of negative evaluation
As its name suggests, the student fears from his peers’ assessment, more specifically,
when they point to his mistakes or criticize him negatively. As a result, he will be
discouraged to learn, to participate, or to perform in any situation. “It is an extension of TA”
(cited in Salhi, 2015, p. 16), since test talking situations are evaluation situations. However,
unlike TA which is limited only to test talking situations, fear of negative evaluation may
occur in social evaluation situations (cited in Lahgui, 2017, p.10). Horwitz and Cope (1986)
gave a clear definition for that factor, they stated that it is “an apprehension about others’
evaluation, avoidance of evaluative situations, and the expectation that others would evaluate
oneself negatively” (cited in Lahgui, 2017, p.10).
1.5. Difference between first and second language anxiety
Whether we are speaking our mother language or a second language in public
situations, language anxiety is there. However, many scholars hold the view that both
anxieties differ. It is thought that the anxiety experienced when speaking the FL seems to be
more debilitating than the anxiety experienced when speaking the first language (cited in
Tanveer, 2007, p.3). For that reason, speaking a second language needs more efforts than the
first language. The speaker has to pay attention to grammatical structures, words
pronunciation, selection of vocabulary and so many complicated matters (cited in Salhi,
2015, p.8).
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1.6. Instruments for measuring language anxiety
There are several instruments to measure language anxiety. Zheng (2008) summarized
them into three ways: behavioral, observation, physiological assessment or participants’ self-
report. To begin with behavioral test, it focuses on observing the actions of a subject as
sweating and blushing. Second, physiological assessment that focuses on the techniques of
taking heart rates, blood pressure, and palm sweating of the subject in order to be correlated
with his emotional state. Last and not least, According to Zheng (2008) “participants’ self-
reports are usually used to examine anxiety in educational studies where participants are
asked to report their internal feelings and reactions (cited in Khiari, 2016, p.9).
Moreover, there are different scales to measure language anxiety, including: personal
report of communication apprehension (PRCA) by Mc Croskey in 1970, speaking anxiety
scale by Cleverger and Halvorsan in 1992, personal report of public speaking anxiety by Mc
Croskey in 1970, and the most commonly used one FLCAS foreign language classroom
anxiety scale by Horwitz et al in 1986 (cited in Khiari, 2016, p.10).
1.6.1. Description of foreign language classroom anxiety scale
Horwitz et al (1986) described FLCAS as “a self-report measure which assesses the
degree of anxiety, as evidence by negative performance expectancies and social comparison
psycho-physiological symptoms and avoidance behaviors” (cited in Boukeffa, 2018, p.13). It
is more useful than other scales because it considers the three factors of anxiety,
communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of peers’ and teachers’ assessment. It
contains 33 statements that reflect feelings about the English class, the subject should read
them carefully and indicate whether he strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly
disagree.
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.
Figure 01: FLCAS model by Horwitz et al 1986
Looking at figure 01, it is apparent that Horwitz model is related to the three anxiety
factors as mentioned before. It is composed of three categories; each category consists of a
number of items from the scale.
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Figure 02: foreign language classroom anxiety scale (FLCAS)
Conclusion
The elements discussed in this section reveal important pieces of information
concerning anxiety in EFL classrooms. EFL learners suffer from different types of language
anxiety, the reason behind each type differ from one learner to another because of learners
differences. Moreover, not all students have high levels of anxiety; they may know the degree
of their anxiety by answering the most common scale of FLCAS.
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Chapter one: Theoretical Part
Section two: Anxiety in Sight Translation Tasks
Introduction
2.1- Definition of sight translation
2.2- Sight translation: mode of translation or interpretation?
2.3- Difference between sight translation and other modes of translation
2.4- Translation/ interpreting difficulties faced by EFL learners
2.5- Anxiety in sight translation: previous studies
2.6- Strategies of reducing sight translation anxiety
2.6.1 - The role of teacher in reducing students anxiety during sight translation tasks
2.6.2- The role of students in reducing their anxiety during sight translation tasks
Conclusion
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Introduction
Students who learn English as a foreign language are more and more in need of
having translation module in their schedules. Sight translation is usually learned and
practiced as a mode of translation and interpretation with advanced-level students. Most of
English teachers are aware of sight translation benefits in developing student's reading and
speaking skills since it depends on reading the written text and then translating it orally. It
goes without saying that students will face many problems in doing this process; troubles in
pronunciation, in reading or speaking may be related to many factors among which we may
cite language anxiety. In this sense, this section is devoted to explore sight translation starting
with its definition and special reference to its process, then moving to discuss the difference
between ST and other modes of interpreting. In addition to tackling difficulties that students
may face while doing ST tasks, and finally suggesting some strategies that may help students
reduce their language anxiety while sight translating.
2.1- Definition of Sight translation
According to Gonzalez, Vasquez and Mickelson (2012), “Sight translation is the act
of oral translation of written text and it is a combination of translation and interpreting” (cited
in Fatollahi, 2016, p. 153), i.e. sight translation task is when the interpreter/student is given a
written word text (in source language) and asked to translate it orally (in target language), out
loud, and immediately.
“ST is the combination of written input and interpreting as oral output depending on
the context” (Setton & Mott, 2007& Agrifoglion, 2004), since it requires reading and
production synchronization. Moreover, since ST begins with reading the source text, students
must read as much as possible in many disciplines so not to have any problems while reading
the source text and to produce a successful ST.
20
Other definition is that of Weber (1990) “sight translation necessitates rapid analysis
of a text, swift information transmutation from one language to another while avoiding
transliteration or literal translation, and the techniques/approaches of public speaking (cited in
Lee, 2012, p.695). What is significant about this definition is that it captures a number of
important features of ST. It stresses the rapid analyses because time is of great importance
while sight translating. Furthermore, it highlights the problem of literal translation, also
known as word for word translation, i.e. translating each word separately without looking for
the whole meaning of the passage. This problem should be avoided in order to transmit the
message correctly.
In fact, this type of translation is used in our daily life activities: in courtrooms,
hospitals, conferences, business, in reading personal letters or medical reports for example
reading ordinance by pharmacist to patients. Also, this type of translation has been taught as a
separate course in most translation and interpretation programs in Europe for instance in
ESIT (école supérieure d'interprétes et de traducteurs, Université de la Sorbonne nouvelle
Paris 3). Sawyer (2004) refers to the fact that 30 to 50 percent of translation classes in Spain
are spent on ST and it becomes a branch of study.
ST process makes the interpreter/ student think about the equivalent words in target
language while reading the source text; so, he has to store some words in short term memory
but if the sentences are quite long, the interpreter/student has to make more efforts and with
more training this will be very beneficial in developing the four skills and also the mental
skills. This has been proved by Pratt (1991) who stated that “ST exercises contribute to
developing mental skills ;such as comprehension speed, memory, ability to perceive the
whole text, not its separate parts, ability to visualize key words, synthesizing skills, ability to
avoid using false cognates”(cited in Krapivkina, 2018, p.696).
21
2.2- ST: mode of translation or interpretation?
Since ST is the reformulation of verbal/oral output (target language) from the written
input (source language), it is considered by many researchers as a hybrid of translation and
interpretation. However, most of researchers see it to be closer to interpretation. According to
Dragsted & Hansen (2009) “… it still remain closer to interpreting than written translation
due to the linguistic interference resulting from accessibility to the source text, expectation of
speed delivery and the change in medium (written to spoken)” (cited in khoshsalighehh, M &
Baghi, H, 2019).
ST is the process of manipulating visual and oral modality and can be defined as “a
specific type of written translation as well as a variety of oral interpretation” (Lambert, 2004,
p.298). Thus, ST is in an area between translation and interpretation because translation is
the transformation of written text from one language to another and interpretation is the
translation of written text orally ( work with the two modes at one time).
2.3- Difference between ST and other modes of interpretation
Three types of interpretation have been used in different settings (conferences,
business, and courts): simultaneous interpretation, consecutive interpretation and Sight
translation; each mode work for special needs and require the use of different strategies
Simultaneous interpretation also known as conference interpreting and it is the
reproduction of the SL into TL by the interpreter as the same time as submitting the original
speech as it is explained in Shao Chuan Wu (2010):
Simultaneous interpretation is provided to the audience in real time as the
speakers deliver their speeches. So that conference delegates from different
cultures and languagç²²e backgrounds can communicate without delays.
Conference interpreters, who work behind the scene in a sound-proof booth,
22
are the core members of a team that facilitate this multilingual
communication process (p.2).
Consecutive interpretation is the reproduction of SL into TL after the speaker has
finished a part or the whole of the original speech. The interpreter may take notes and it is
almost used in legal setting like in victim, suspect, witness and police interviews. This is
explained in AIIC’s (2010) definition:
The interpreter providing consecutive interpreting sits at the same table
with the delegates or at the speakers’ platform and interprets a speech into
the target language after the speaker speaks. The length of the speeches
varies. For this purpose the interpreter may take notes (cited in Seyda, 2011,
p.11).
Some scholars advocate the idea that ST requires no memory efforts comparing to
other types of interpretation while others said that the interpreter may sight translate the
written text with short term memory effort especially when the sentences are too long or
when there is a syntactic difference between the SL and TL especially if the two languages do
not belong to the same route.
Another difference raised by many scholars is the nature of ST input (the written
document) and its’ possibility of interfering in translation. Agrifoglio (2004) noted that “the
two main differences between the input in ST and in interpreting from an oral source are
related to the opposition between oral and written language, and between the reading and
listening processes”. She argues that reading and listening processes are different because the
written text is more complex in various areas (syntax, lexis, style) than oral speech.
2.4- Sight translation/ interpreting difficulties faced by students
There is no doubt that students will face problems before, during, or after any
interpreting or translation task, because the interpreting process is not an easy matter. Only
23
one mistake may ruin the whole message, according to Skolastika (2017) "anxiety becomes
one of the factors determining the success of the interpreting course" (p. 50).
There are many problems that may affect ST performance including language
problems, cultural problems, and textual problems. Linguistic problems come first.
According to specialists in the field of translation, the translator does not share the sense of
linguistic forms, but he interprets (cited in Laura, 2016, p. 53). Since all what matter is to
transfer the source text from one language to another. EFL learners may have problems with
the language forms used. For instance, the language may be hard or full of figures of speech
that may cause a difficulty in finding equivalences of words in the target language.
Moreover, according to Ghazala (1995: 20) translating the cultural terms is one of the
most complicated issues in translation. He also argued that "if the translator ignores the
relationship between language and culture, he will face difficulties when translating (p.193),
(cited in Benaboud , 2019, p.12). That is to say, if the translator does not know both the
source and the target culture, he will misunderstand the message and transfer it wrongly
especially when the two cultures are totally different. The translator must identify first the
cultural elements and decode them then he can complete his translation task.
Textual problems are so common. These problems have to do with coherence and
cohesion. If the source text is coherent, it would be easy for the translator to understand it and
vice versa. When the translator has understanding problems, he will fail in transmitting the
message or his translation will lack coherence. Concerning cohesion, it is "related to the
organization of the text, the sequence of ideas in the text, and must observe the
morphological and syntactic standards" (cited in laura, 2016, p.55). In this respect, if the
source text is well organized and the flow between the ideas is untroubled, the translation will
24
be organized and untroubled as well. These problems will affect the EFL learners or any
translator negatively. As a consequence, they will be anxious and fail the task.
2.5- Anxiety in sight translation (previous studies):
After reviewing a good number of theses about sight translation, only few studies
investigated its relationship with language anxiety. This part presents these studies in brief as
following:
In the research of Hoorieh Baghi that is entitled: stress in written and sight translation
in training setting. The main purpose was to investigate stress in translation. Non random
sample of graduate and undergraduate students from the north eastern part of Iran were asked
to solve a written and a ST task from English to Persian. Blood pressure and heart rates were
measured before and while solving the tasks. Also, interviews took place after finishing the
tasks to enforce the results. The findings indicated that both written and ST are stressful but
ST is a more stressful task. Furthermore, it revealed that there is no significant difference
between males and females concerning blood pressure and heart rates and the interview data
confirmed these conclusions.
This study differs from the current study in the methodology used as well as the
choice of the sample. Yet, it has approximately the same aim.
Another interesting study is that of Karen Chung Chien Chang. It aimed at generating
a measure for helping translation and interpreting instructors to understand the challenges that
learners face when performing a ST task. The study involved two groups of participants
including 136 learners. The students were majoring in English and trained in translation for a
whole year. The first group was asked to fill a modified version of Lu and Liao’s
questionnaire in order to identify potential subscales. Then when the refined version with the
25
identified subscales was finalized, the questionnaire was administered to the second group to
make sure that the results from the administration of both questionnaires were consistent.
Then the researcher verified the reliability and validity of the final questionnaire.
This measurement tool may be of great help in conducting research about the same
subject, or in helping instructors in providing some strategies to help their learners in
overcoming their anxiety in ST. the current work also looks at identifying some techniques
and strategies for students and teachers in order to decrease the level of anxiety while sight
translating.
Last and not least, the findings of Amparo and Daniel’s work have revealed that fear
of public speaking is not related to interpreting/ translating. As it is known, fear of public
speaking or facing audience are factors of anxiety. Hence, it is clear that not all factors of
anxiety have the same effect on translation performance.
The results obtained from these studies helped in gaining insights about the effect of
anxiety on sight translation. More specifically, they shed light on the problems that students
and teachers face when learning and teaching translation. Moreover, they clarified that not all
the reasons of anxiety have an effect on translation performance.
2.6- Strategies to reduce learners’ anxiety in interpreting tasks
According to Skolastika (2017), students and teachers should help and understand
each other, so that the students can reduce their anxiety while joining interpreting
activity"(p.51). In other words, the teacher has to provide a good atmosphere for the learners
so that they can deal with their anxiety.
26
2.6.1- Teachers' role
The role of the teachers is to help students recognize their anxiety and provide them
with some strategies or try some techniques that will help them overcome their anxiety. As
Horwitz et al (1986) have explained, " educators have two options in dealing with anxious
students, the first one is educators can help them to learn how to overcome the existing
anxiety and the second is educators can make the learning situation less stressful" (cited in
Skolastika, 2017, p. 12), i.e. teachers should break the ice and avoid traditional methods in
teaching, for example, they can make tasks enjoyable so that the learners feel less anxious
and perform better.
2.6.2- Learners' role
Kondo and Young (2004) explained “five strategies to reduce students’ anxiety:
preparation, relaxation, positive thinking, peer seeking and resignation” (cited in Skolastika,
2017, p. 13).
Concerning the first strategy, it has to do with making efforts to control anxiety level
by improving learning strategies. In here, students may devote extra time for reading
passages so they get familiar with many words, this will raise their self confidence. Second
strategy is relaxation. According to Skolastika, it involves strategies to reduce the physical
symptoms of anxiety (p. 13), for instance, deep and slow breathing and visualization
technique in which the anxious learner will imagine that he/she is calm, confident, and
delivering the correct answer or message, then he/she will increase the chance of doing so.
Moving to positive thinking, it is approximately the same as visualization technique; the
learner needs to send positive vibes into the brain so he can deal with his/her nerves easily.
The forth strategy is peer seeking. In here, the learner needs to find a classmate that suffers
from the same problem so they can encourage each other to decrease their level of anxiety.
27
The last strategy is resignation or giving up. The learner will try to avoid the situation in
which he feels anxious by being inattentive, sleeping in class, talking to classmates or just by
thinking in other matters that are not related to the teachers' talk.
Conclusion
This chapter tackles the relationship between anxiety and sight translation. Since sight
translation is a complicated process, the translator or the student may face many difficulties
or problems while performing it. Some of these problems are discussed in the chapter among
which anxiety which is the main shared problem between all translators. Moreover, this
chapter contextualized the research by providing background information about the two
variables. The most striking observation to emerge from this chapter was that the relation
between language anxiety and sight translation is noticeable because each type of anxiety
affects ST performance differently. For instance facilitating anxiety motivates learners to do
their best to fulfill the task unlike debilitating anxiety which hinders their performance. The
next chapter, therefore, moves to discuss the association between the two variables in details.
Finally, we can say that solving the problem of language anxiety is not an easy task because it
needs great efforts from teachers and learners to cope such phenomenon.
28
Practical part: Findings and discussion
Introduction
This chapter provides detailed analyses for the data collected for this project. The data
were obtained from the students’ questionnaire. The chapter is divided into two sections. The
first one discusses the questionnaire description and findings and the second section provides
the discussion of the final results of the study and the recommendations along with the
limitations of the research.
Research methodology
In this study, a quantitative method has been used in order to determine learners’
perspective about the impact of language anxiety on ST tasks which is the major objective of
this study. As an instrument in gathering data, questionnaire can be very useful. Data were
analyzed by calculating the percentage of students answers (always, often, sometimes, rarely,
and never) in each item.
Population and sampling
Our population of this study is third year LMD English students at OEB University
who are about 157 students arranged in five groups. From this population, two groups where
randomly selected as a sample of this study, they contain 59 students, only 55 of them
answered the questionnaire and the rest were absent. In fact, the researchers opted for this
sample in particular because they have previous idea about ST process and they will be
practicing it in the second semester.
29
Description of the learners’ questionnaire:
The main objective of the questionnaire is to gather as many information as possible
about students attitudes towards language anxiety in ST tasks. It is a modified version of the
questionnaire developed by Horwitz et al (1986), it was submitted to third year LMD students
at OEB University to measure their anxiety with relationship to ST tasks in classroom. For
instance, the original statement was: it wouldn’t bother me at all to take more foreign
language classes. We made some changes to bring it to our context and the new statement is:
it wouldn’t bother me at all to take more sight translation courses.
It is composed of 27 questions arranged in three sections. The first section is named
personal information. It aims at providing data about students mainly about their age, gender
and English level. The second section is titled anxiety in sight translation tasks that aims at
reporting learners’ perceptions about anxiety. The third section is entitled strategies to reduce
ST anxiety. It consists of two parts in which students give their suggestions on how they can
reduce their anxiety by themselves and how teachers can help them in reducing it.
Section one: questionnaire’ results analyses and discussion
Results’ description and analyses:
Section one: personal information
Question one: gender
Gender Number Percentage
Males 9 16%
Females 46 84%
Table 01: learners’ gender
30
From the table above, we notice that most of the participants are females.
Question two: age
Age Number Percentage
From 19 to22 44 80%
From 23 to 36 11 20%
Table 02: learners’ age
We notice that the samples’ age varies from 19 to 36 years old. However, most of
them are between 19 and 22 years old.
Question three: English level
English level Number Percentage
Excellent 0 0
Good 15 27%
Average 39 71%
Poor 1 2%
Table 03: Participants’ English level
The table reveals that the majority of the participants have good and average level in
English. So, we can say that our sample is homogeneous since all the participants have
approximately the same level.
Section two: Anxiety in sight translation tasks
Statement one: I feel quite sure of myself when I am solving a sight translation task.
31
Figure 03: Pie chart related to students' feeling of certainty about solving ST task.
This question aims at identifying the feeling of students toward solving a ST task. An
important percentage (45%) of questioned students answered that they sometimes feel quite
sure of their selves when solving ST Task. 20% of students never feel sure of their answers
and 18%of them rarely when they feel sure of their answers and this can be related to their
lack of experience and practice of ST tasks. In addition, just few of students (2%) informed
that they feel sure but 15% opted for the option “often”. Further analysis of individual
answers shows that these participants are the same who have good level in English.
Statement two: I worry about making mistakes in sight translation
always
2%
often
15%
sometimes
45%
rarely
18%
never
20%
32
Figure 04: Pie chart related to students' apprehensiveness of making mistakes in ST.
From the chart above, we can see that the majority of students (67%) stated that they
always have worries about making mistakes in ST. 20% often worry about making mistakes
and this may be related to speaking anxiety or fear of negative evaluation from their teachers
and classmates. However, very few of them answered with “sometimes” and “rarely”. We
can say that their fear is justified because they think if they commit a mistake they
would be laughed at in the class.
Statement three: It frightens me when I don’t understand the content of the text I am
going to translate.
always
67%
often
20%
sometimes
7%
rarely
6%
never
0%
always
55%often
18%
sometimes
18%
rarely
9%
never
0%
33
Figure 05: Pie chart related to students' feelings of fear when they do not understand
the content of the text.
According to this chart, Most of students (55%) reported that they feel scared when
they do not understand the content of the text they are going to translate. 18% choose the
answer “often” and 18% choose “rarely”. The answers were expected because if they do not
understand the content how they are going to translate it correctly and this will increase their
level of anxiety and they become more frightened.
Statement four: It wouldn’t bother me at all to take more sight translation courses.
Figure 06: Pie Chart related to students' willingness to take more ST course.
The chart above reveals that 42% of students answered that taking more ST courses
would not sometimes bother them. 14% of them have no problem with taking extra ST
courses. Furthermore, 25% of the remaining participants said that taking more ST courses
would bother them rarely and 15% of students choose the option “never” i.e. they never
would take more ST courses.
always
14%
often
25%
sometimes
42%
rarely
4%never
15%
34
Statement five: During sight translation I find myself thinking about things that have
nothing to do with the course.
Figure 07: Pie Chart related to students' thoughts about unrelated things to ST.
This question aims to investigate the student's interest toward ST course. An
important percentage of students (40%) do not think about things that have no relationship
with the course, while 24%said “sometimes” and 24%said that they rarely have ideas that are
not related to ST course. Moreover, a small number of students said that they often think
about unrelated things in classroom (7%) and only 5% of the participants are always absent-
minded during the course (this can be related to personal issues).
Statement six: I keep thinking that the other students are better at sight translation
than me.
always
5%often
7%
sometimes
24%
rarely
24%
never
40%
35
Figure 08: Pie Chart related to students' thoughts about their classmates abilities
compared to them.
This question aims at investigating one of the reasons that led to poor performance of
students especially during ST course. 26%of students always think that other students are
better in ST than them. 29% answered “sometimes” and 16% choose the option “often”. Not
feeling equal with other classmates can negatively influence student's performance although
all the students have approximately the same level (from question three). On the other hand,
18% of students rarely think that other students are better in ST than them and surprisingly
11%never feel that and this may be related to their self confidence.
Statement seven: I am usually at ease during tests in sight translation.
always
26%
often
16%sometimes
29%
rarely
18%
never
11%
36
Figure 09: Pie Chart related to students' feelings of easiness during test in ST.
This question tested the ability of students to stay at ease during tests at ST. 42%of
students informed that sometimes feel at ease during tests which means sometimes they are
not. While 18% answered that they never feel at ease during tests and 24% answered
“rarely”, that is to say that tests of ST frighten learners more than daily tasks. As a
conclusion, learners fear of evaluation more than being anxious about making mistakes.
Statement eight: I start to panic when doing sight translation without preparation.
always
3%
often
13%
sometimes
42%
rarely
24%
never
18%
always
42%
often
31%
sometimes
14%
rarely
9%
never
4%
37
Figure 10: Pie Chart related to students' nervousness in doing ST task without
preparation.
The chart reported that 42% of respondents always panic when doing ST without
preparation. 31% often feel that and 14% answered “sometimes”. The process of ST itself is
translating without any previous preparation and this can be a problem for students who have
an average and poor level of English. 9% said “rarely” and 4% said “never”.
Statement nine: I worry about the consequences of failing my translation class.
Figure 11: Pie Chart related to students' fear from failing in ST class.
Most of students worry about success in their classes and having good marks more
than having knowledge and information. This explains why 52% of the sample always worry
about the consequences of failing more than doing ST tasks. 21% of students answered
“often” and 21% answered “sometimes”. Only 4% of them said that they rarely worry about
the consequences of failing the ST course.
Statement ten: In sight translation task, I can get so nervous that I forget words I know.
always
52%
often
21%
sometimes
21%
rarely
4%
never
2%
38
Figure 12: Pie Chart related to students' level of anxiety that might lead them to forget
words they know.
In this question, a considerable number of students 46% can get so nervous to the
point that they forget words they know. 20% said that this happen to them often and 25% said
“sometimes”. Only few students rarely get so nervous that they forgot words they know,
whereas the remaining participants i.e. (2%) never experience this. We deduce from this that
the majority of the participants are negatively affected by anxiety.
Statement eleven: It embarrasses me to volunteer answers to the instructor in sight
translation tasks.
always
46%
often
20%
sometimes
25%
rarely
7%
never
2%
39
Figure 13: Pie Chart related to students' unwillingness to volunteer answers of the
instructor.
In this question, Students express diverse of answers about feeling embarrassed to
volunteer answers to the instructor in ST tasks. 30% of students reported “sometimes”, while
only 5% said that they always feel embarrassed to volunteer. Where we notice 18% never
mind to volunteer answers followed by other 18% who rarely feels so. This problem may be
because of shyness, negative evaluation from teachers and classmates, and mispronunciation
of words.
Statement twelve: I get upset when I don’t understand what the teacher is correcting.
always
5%
often
24%
sometimes
35%
rarely
18%
never
18%
40
Figure 14: Pie chart related to students’ anxiety when they do not understand teachers’
correction.
Results in the pie chart above reveal that 31% of the participants sometimes get upset
when they do not understand the teachers' correction. Moreover, we find about 27% always
experience this feeling. Whereas 18% often worry about their inability to understand what the
teacher is correcting, 17% said "rarely" and finally 7% of them said "never". I.e. the students
are unaware of their mistakes and they fear that they cannot understand the teachers’
correction and their fault to correct it. As a consequence, the learner feels anxious and the
reaction or the response to the teacher would be unclear or incorrect too.
Statement thirteen: even if I am well prepared for sight translation tasks, I feel anxious.
always
27%
often
18%sometimes
31%
rarely
17%
never
7%
41
Figure 15: Pie chart related to students’ anxiety in ST tasks even when they are
prepared.
Results in the pie chart above reported that the majority of the informants often feel
anxious even when they are well prepared for the sight translation task, where we notice 27%
of them said that they always feel this. Then, 24% of the students sometimes worry about
this. Moreover, 16% said "rarely". Finally, only 2% expressed that they never had that
feeling. We notice that preparation has nothing to do with reducing language anxiety.
Statement fourteen: I feel like not going to my sight translation courses.
always
27%
often
31%
sometimes
24%
rarely
16%
never
2%
always
0%
often
16%
sometimes
29%rarely
29%
never
26%
42
Figure 16: Pie chart related to students’ willingness to go to ST courses.
Results in the pie chart above illustrates that 29% of the total participants sometimes
feel like not going to their ST course. Other 29% of the students rarely feel like this.
Followed by 26% of students who reported "never" and 16% who answered "often". Finally,
no one said "always". Consequently, we can deduce that students like ST courses.
Statement fifteen: I am afraid that my translation teacher is ready to correct
every mistake I make.
Figure 17: Pie chart related to students’ fear from teachers’ correction.
The pie chart shows that 27% of the informants always worry about the teachers'
correction for every mistake they make. Moreover, 26% of them sometimes have this feeling,
whereas 16% often worry about that. That is to say that the correction distracts the students
from answering and this may make them feel nervous, followed by other 16% of students
who rarely experience this. Finally, 15% said "never".
always
27%
often
16%sometimes
26%
rarely
16%
never
15%
43
Statement sixteen: I can feel my heart pounding when I am going to be called on in sight
translation course.
Figure 18: Pie chart related to students’ anxiety when they are going to be called to
translate.
This pie chart illustrates that around 55% of the informants feel their heart pounding
when called on to translate. Furthermore, we find about 18% often experience this. Then 15%
of them reported “sometimes” and 7% said “rarely”. Finally, only 5% said “never”. This way
of calling them randomly raises their anxiety. In order to decrease their level of anxiety, the
teacher may call them in a certain order that they are aware of.
Statement seventeen: I feel very awkward about doing sight translation in front of other
students.
always
55%often
18%
sometimes
15%
rarely
7%
never
5%
44
Figure 19: Pie chart related to students feeling towards performing in front of their
classmates.
According to this chart, most of the informants (27%) opted for the option “always”.
Whereas 24% of them reported “often”, followed by 18% who never experienced that
feeling of awkwardness about doing ST in front of their classmates, that is to say that they are
self confident. Then 16% expressed “rarely” and 15% said “sometimes”. We deduce from
this that the student feels uncomfortable when performing in front of an audience and this
may make him hesitate in answering or avoid answering at all.
Statement eighteen: I feel more tense and nervous in my sight translation course than in
my other courses.
always
27%
often
24%sometimes
15%
rarely
16%
never
18%
45
Figure 20: Pie chart related to students’ anxiety in ST course more than other courses.
Noticing the pie chart above, it shows that 27% of the participants sometimes feel
nervous in ST course more than any other courses. In addition, 26% of them said “rarely”,
22% reported “often”. Followed by 18% who always feel more tense in ST course, those
students may have problems with the module of translation itself or with the fact that it is
based more on practice and they are shy. Finally, 7% expressed “never”.
Statement nineteen: I get nervous when I don’t understand every word in the text I am
going to translate.
always
18%
often
22%
sometimes
27%
rarely
26%
never
7%
46
Figure 21: Pie chart related to students’ fear when they do not understand all the words
in the text.
The pie chart results display that more than half of the respondents (58%) reported
that they always feel nervous when they do not understand every word in the text to be
translated, followed by 20% of them who reported “often”. We can deduce from this that the
majority of the respondents need to know the meaning of each word in the text in order to
translate it and this is wrong. They have to deduce the meaning of hard words from the
context. Moreover, 15% of them said “sometimes”, 5% reported “rarely and 2% said “never”.
Statement twenty: when facing long and complicated English sentences during a sight
translation task, I become anxious.
always
58%
often
20%
sometimes
15%
rarely
5%
never
2%
47
Figure 22: Pie chart related to students’ anxiety when facing complicated sentences.
It is obvious from the pie chart above that 53% of the participants always feel anxious
when facing long and complicated sentences in the text to be translated, whereas 25% of the
students often worry about complex and compound sentences. Moreover, 20% reported
“sometimes”. Then 2% said “rarely” and no one said “never”. We can say that texts with
short and complete sentences would be helpful for them.
Statement twenty one: I am afraid that the other students will laugh at me when I make
mistakes.
always
53%often
25%
sometimes
20%
rarely
2%
never
0%
48
Figure 23: Pie chart related to students fear from laughing at their mistakes.
According to the results shown in the chart above, 47% of the respondents said
“never” that is to say that their classmates’ reaction or judgment won’t make them lose
concentration or confidence. Then, 13% of them reported that they rarely get afraid that their
friends will laugh at their mistakes. Other 13% expressed that sometimes they experience it.
A small percentage of informants chose “often”. Finally, 22% opted for “always” i.e. they
fear of negative judgments of their classmates and they need to get rid of that habit.
Statement twenty two: I will be anxious when knowing someone is going to evaluate my
ability in performing sight translation.
always
22%
often
5%
sometimes
13%rarely
13%
never
47%
49
Figure 24: Pie chart related to students’ fear of evaluation.
Noticing the chart above, we can see that approximately half of the informants get
anxious about the sight translation performance evaluation 24% opted for “often” and 22%
for “always”). Furthermore, 25% expressed “sometimes”. Then 20% never fear from the
evaluation and only 9% said “rarely”. We deduce that the fear of evaluation is one of the
main sources for anxiety.
Section three: Strategies to reduce sight translation anxiety
1. Teachers’ strategies to reduce students’ anxiety
In this section, students were given the opportunity to give comments and suggestions
about how teachers can help them in order to decrease their anxiety in sight translation tasks
and session. It aims to collect some ideas that may work as a solution for their problem. All
the students 100% have answered this question. The majority of respondents stated that the
teacher should provide them with more practice so that they get used to sight translation.
What is surprising is that almost half of those informants expressed a desire for having extra
sessions for practice if the official time is insufficient. Moreover, they reported that they need
more time for reading the source text as well as time for getting ready so that they will not
always
22%
often
24%sometimes
25%
rarely
9%
never
20%
50
panic. In addition, they reported that when they are performing the task, they lose
concentration easily. Therefore, they explained that the teacher should never interrupt them
during their performance by correcting their mistakes. They emphasized that the teachers’
comments should be in a positive manner so that they will not be discouraged. Another
suggestion was about the length and the language of the text. The majority of the respondents
preferred to start translating sentences or easy short texts then moving gradually to hard long
texts. Finally, approximately all the participants want to translate alone, that is to say that
they do not feel comfortable facing their classmates.
2. Students strategies to reduce their anxiety
In this question, students were asked to give some strategies that they may use to
reduce their anxiety in ST tasks. A common answer between most of students is practice and
self- confidence. Since anxiety is associated with bad feelings and emotions like threat and
fear, successful ST task performance depends on one’s self motivation and student's ability to
be positive in front of challenges. Other strategies that were mentioned by a lot of students
are well preparation, reading books and magazines which can help to minimize the chances
of not understanding words in source language while sight translating. Moreover, some
students said that reading and practicing ST tasks in home can lead them to succeed in doing
it in class by focusing on translating the whole meaning of the text rather than translating
word by word.
Conclusion:
Based on the main findings of students’ responses of 22 items that shed the light on
diverse of aspects related to students attitudes, feelings and behaviors toward language
anxiety and its impact on ST tasks performance, language anxiety has a negative influence on
their attitude and their performance. First, knowing students’ attitudes can help to diminish
51
the obstacles they go through when they come to translate; for instance, when a teacher of
translation understands that having no idea about the content of the text of certain field
(scientific text for example) will increase students’ level of anxiety, he automatically will
give them a brief summary or explain some related terminologies which can make them feel
more comfortable while translating. Second, most of students feel afraid from negative
evaluation of their classmates even though they are in the same level (average, question 3),
and also afraid from making mistakes (67% said always) which effect their performance
negatively .Moreover, according to students answers of questionnaire their level of anxiety
increase when they are going to be called in ST course, here the teacher may let them the
choice to volunteer, it would be better than calling them randomly to translate. In addition,
the results show that ST course would make them more anxious than other courses because
ST depends more on speaking in class than other modules and also students’ awareness of
their lack of speaking skills. Finally, most students said that they are suffering from anxiety
even when they are well prepared which means that it is not an easy matter and has a great
influence on their performance and level in English.
Limitations of the study:
Many limitations of this study are to be noted:
First, in order to investigate students’ opinions, a limited time has been given to them
to answer the questionnaire because of their schedule.
Second, a ST task with different criteria to asses was designed for third year LMD
Students to get their marks and to better understand how language anxiety is reflected
in their performance and marks later. However, and because of the spread of the
deadly global epidemic 'The Corona Virus, the study was stopped and the researchers
made changes into their research.
52
Third, many needed resources were inaccessible or paid.
Recommendations and further suggestions:
Based on the research findings and limitations, a number of recommendations are
made:
a. More research is needed to determine which factor of anxiety hinders ST performance
most.
b. The study should be repeated using another methodological tool rather than
questionnaires in order to confirm and validate the findings of the present research.
c. A third broad recommendation is that translation teachers should adopt some
techniques and strategies to diminish the amount of anxiety so that students have
positive perspective about translation in general.
d. Students should know that feeling anxious is normal and that they have to control
their anxiety in order to foster their ST performance.
53
General conclusion:
This study set out to better understand the learners’ perspective about the impact of
language anxiety on ST tasks. It also proposes a set of strategies that might help teachers and
students in overcoming language anxiety problem. The most obvious finding among those of
this study is that students hold negative attitudes towards language anxiety. In other words,
language anxiety hinders learners’ performance in ST tasks and this may affect their marks
negatively. The second major finding was that teachers should expose their students to more
practice on sight translation so that they can overcome their anxiety while performing such
activities. So, the more practice they get, the more easy the ST process will be. Another
interesting finding is that learners feel anxious more in ST course than in the other courses
due to the fact that ST course depends more on speaking skill while the other courses are
mainly lectures. Therefore, our research hypotheses are confirmed validating our assumptions
that there is a negative effect between the two variables and that the students hold negative
perception about the effect between them. However, these results may not be applicable to
the wider population because the present study was limited in several ways; the investigation
has only considered the context of students who are having a module of translation and are
not specialized in it. Moreover, it was not possible to assess learners’ performance in class to
validate the questionnaire’s findings, for this reason the results could not be generalized to all
situations and groups. So, further investigations and experimentations about the association
of anxiety and ST are strongly recommended.
54
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Appendices
Appendix 01:
Student’s questionnaire
Foreign language classroom anxiety scale
Dear students,
This questionnaire is an attempt for gathering the information needed for the
accomplishment of master’s dissertation. We direct this questionnaire in order to investigate
the effect of language anxiety on sight translation tasks from students’ perspective. We would
be very grateful if you could help us to accomplish our research by filling in the
questionnaire. Your answers are very important to the validity of our research. Thus, we hope
that you will give us your full attention.
Please, tick (√) the answer that corresponds to your choice.
Thanks for your collaboration
Larbi Ben M’hidi University, Oum El Bouaghi
Faculty of Letters and Languages
Department of English
Miss BREK Bouchra
Miss ZAOUIA Bouchra
59
Section one: Personal information:
Name: …………………………………………….
Gender: female male
Age: …………….
Your English level: excellent good average poor
Section two: anxiety in sight translation tasks:
Statements always often sometimes Rarely never
1. I feel quite sure of myself when I am solving a sight
translation task.
2. I worry about making mistakes in sight translation.
3. It frightens me when I don’t understand the content of
the text I am going to translate.
4. It wouldn’t bother me at all to take more sight
translation courses.
5. During sight translation, I find myself thinking about
things that have nothing to do with the course.
6. I keep thinking that the other students are better at sight
translation than me.
7. I am usually at ease during tests in sight translation.
8. I start to panic when doing sight translation without
preparation.
9. I worry about the consequences of failing my translation
class.
10. In sight translation task, I can get so nervous that I
forget words I know.
11. It embarrasses me to volunteer answers to the instructor
in sight translation tasks.
12. I get upset when I don’t understand what the teacher is
correcting.
13. Even if I am well prepared for sight translation tasks, I
60
feel anxious.
14. I feel like not going to my sight translation courses.
15. I am afraid that my translation teacher is ready to
correct every mistake I make.
16. I can feel my heart pounding when I am going to be
called on in sight translation course.
17. I feel very awkward about doing sight translation in
front of other students.
18. I feel more tense and nervous in my sight translation
course than in my other courses.
19. I get nervous when I don’t understand every word in the
text I am going to translate.
20. When facing long and complicated English sentences
during a sight translation task, I become anxious.
21. I am afraid that the other students will laugh at me when
I make mistakes.
22. I will be anxious when knowing someone is going to
evaluate my ability in performing sight translation.
Section three:strategies to reduce sight translation anxiety:
Please add comments and suggestions about how teachers can help you in order to
decrease your anxiety in sight translation course.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………..
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Provide some strategies that you may use to reduce your anxiety in sight translation
course.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
62
Resumé:
L'anxiété du langage est définie comme la peur, la nervosité et la gêne lors de
l'apprentissage d'une langue étrangère. Des études antérieures l'ont traité en relation
avec l'interprétation consécutive et l'interprétation simultanée; pourtant, seules
quelques recherches se sont concentrées sur son effet sur la performance des étudiants
dans les tâches de traduction à vue. Par conséquent, cette thèse cherche à comprendre et
à étudier les perceptions des apprenants à l'égard de l'impact de l'anxiété du langage
sur les tâches de traduction à vue. Une version modifiée du questionnaire de Horwitz et
al (1986) a fourni des données quantitatives de 55 participants de troisième année de
didactique au département d’anglais de l’Université Larbi Ben M’hidi. Les résultats
indiquent que les informateurs ont des attitudes négatives quant à l'effet de l'anxiété du
langage sur les tâches de traduction à vue. De plus, l'étude a révélé que les étudiants se
sentent plus anxieux dans le module de traduction que dans les autres modules. La
recherche propose également un ensemble de stratégies permettant aux enseignants et
aux apprenants de faire face à l'anxiété du langage. À la suite de cette enquête, des
recommandations ont été identifiées pour de futures recherches.
Mots clés: anxiété linguistique, traduction visuelle
63
الملخص
تعلم لغة ثانية. و قد تطرقت دراسات كثيرة إلى هذا اج أثناءبالخوف و التوتر و الإحر الشعوراللغوي بيعرف القلق
، ولكن القليل من ركز على تأثيره على أداء الطلاب في فوريةرجمة الشفوية المتتالية و الالمفهوم رابطة إياه بالت
. لذلك، تسعى هذه الأطروحة )الدراسة( إلى فهم و معرفة تأثير القلق اللغوي على أداء الطلاب في منظورةالترجمة ال
طالب 55( إلى 1986) Horwitzالخاص. وقد قدمت نسخة معدلة من إستيبان منظورهممن خلال منظورة الترجمة ال
ام البواقي. من خلال أجوبة الاستبيان بينت النتائج -ربي بن مهيديجامعة الع-في السنة الثالثة من قسم اللغة الانجليزية
ك، كشفت لضافة إلى ذلإ. بامنظورةأداءهم في الترجمة ال أن الطلاب اتخذوا موقفا سلبيا اتجاه القلق اللغوي و تأثيره على
يمية الأخرى. كما يقدم هذا البحث الدراسة إلى أن الطلاب يشعرون بمزيد من التوتر في مادة الترجمة مقارنة بالمواد التعل
د مجموعة من الإستراتيجيات للمعلمين و المتعلمين للتعامل مع القلق اللغوي. وأخيرا ونتيجة لهذا التحقيق، تم تحدي
.بحوث مستقبليةبعض التوصيات ل
منظورةالترجمة الكلمات مفتاحية: القلق اللغوي،