King Saud University

Deanship of Higher Studies

Department of English Language

Autonomous Learning in Teaching Translation:

A Comparative Study between Conventional Teaching
and Autonomous Learning

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics
in the Department of English at the College of Arts, King Saud University

Prepared by
Sarah Ahmad Al Shubaily

Supervised by
Prof. Mahmoud I. Saleh

1429 / 2008
 ‫جبيعخ انًهك ععٕد‬
‫عًبدح انذساعبد انعه‪ٛ‬ب‬
‫لغى انهغخ اإلَجه‪ٛ‬ض‪ٚ‬خ ٔ آداثٓب‬

‫دراست مقاروت بٍه انخذرٌس انخعهم انمسخقم فً حذرٌس انخزجمت‪:‬‬

‫انخقهٍذي و انخعهم انمسخقم فً حذرٌس انخزجمت‬

‫قذمج هذي انزسانت اسخكماال نمخطهباث انحصىل عهى درجت انماجسخٍز‬

‫فً عهم انهغىٌاث انخطبٍقٍت فً قسم انهغت اإلوجهٍزٌت ‪ ،‬كهٍت انآلداب ‪ ،‬جامعتانمهك سعىد‬

‫إعذاد‬
‫سارة أحمذ انشبٍهً‬

‫إشزاف ‪:‬‬
‫انذكخىر ‪ /‬محمىد انصانح‬

‫‪1429 / 2008‬‬
 :‫دراست مقاروت بٍه انخذرٌس انخعهم انمسخقم فً حذرٌس انخزجمت‬
‫انخقهٍذي و انخعهم انمسخقم فً حذرٌس انخزجمت‬

Autonomous Learning in Teaching Translation:

A Comparative Study between Conventional Teaching
and Autonomous Learning

Submitted by
Sarah Ahmad Al Shubaily

This dissertation was defended and accepted on 6/24/2008

Dissertation Committee:

________________________
Prof. Mahmoud I. Saleh

________________________
Dr. Shadiah Sheikh

________________________
Dr. Ahmad Al Banyan
 I

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate whether following the

autonomous learning approach in teaching translation gives better

results than the conventional method in the development of translation

skills, and the promotion of a positive attitude towards this method of

the students in the commercial translation course at the College of

Languages and Translation at King Saud University. The four main

aspects tested in this study were; (1) lexical accuracy, (2) structural

accuracy, (3) the overall accuracy of the students‟ translation, and (4)

their attitude towards autonomous learning. The subjects of the study

were sixty-seven female students at level eight attending the

commercial translation course, and were divided into a control group

(33 students) taught following the conventional method, and an

experimental group (34 students) taught following the autonomous

learning method. They were required to take a pretest before the

experiment, and two post-tests after it to measure performance

differences, and the experimental group only had to complete a

questionnaire and an interview at the end to measure their attitude

towards this method. The finding showed that there was no

significant difference between the scores of the two groups in the

 II

lexical and structural accuracy, but the experimental group

outperformed the control group in the overall accuracy at a 0.04 level.

In addition, the study found that the subjects had a positive attitude

towards autonomous learning.

 ‫‪III‬‬

‫مهخص انذراست‬

‫ْذفذ ْزِ انذساعخ إنٗ انًمبسَخ ث‪ ٍٛ‬رأث‪ٛ‬ش اعهٕة انزعهى انًغزمم ٔ انزذس‪ٚ‬ظ انزمه‪ٛ‬ذ٘ عهٗ‬

‫أداء انؽبنجبد ف‪ ٙ‬انزشجًخ نًعشفخ أ‪ًٓٚ‬ب أكثش فبعه‪ٛ‬خ ف‪ ٙ‬رؽٕ‪ٚ‬ش يٓبساد انزشجًخ‪ ٔ ,‬نًعشفخ‬

‫يٕلف انؽبنجبد يٍ ْزا األعهٕة ف‪ ٙ‬انزذس‪ٚ‬ظ ٔ رنك ف‪ ٙ‬يبدح انزشجًخ ف‪ ٙ‬انًجبالد انزجبس‪ٚ‬خ‬

‫ف‪ ٙ‬كه‪ٛ‬خ انهغبد ٔانزشجًخ ف‪ ٙ‬جبيعخ انًهك ععٕد‪ .‬سكضد انذساعخ عهٗ أسثعخ يحبٔس‪)1 ( :‬‬

‫انذلخ ف‪ ٙ‬اعزخذاو انًصؽهحبد‪ )2 ( ,‬انذلخ ف‪ ٙ‬رشك‪ٛ‬ت انجًم ٔ انُصٕص‪ )3 ( ,‬انذلخ انعبيخ‬

‫ف‪ ٙ‬انزشجًخ‪ )4( ٔ ,‬سدٔد فعم انؽبنجبد حٕل ْزِ انؽش‪ٚ‬مخ ف‪ ٙ‬انزذس‪ٚ‬ظ‪.‬‬

‫ؼجمذ ْزِ انذساعخ عهٗ عجع ٔ عزٌٕ يٍ ؼبنجبد يبدح انزشجًخ ف‪ ٙ‬انًجبالد انزجبس‪ٚ‬خ ف‪ٙ‬‬

‫انًغزٕٖ انثبيٍ ٔ لذ لغًٍ انٗ يجًٕعز‪ :ٍٛ‬انعبثؽخ ( ‪ 33‬ؼبنجخ) ٔ رى رذس‪ٚ‬غٍٓ ثبعزخذاو‬

‫األعهٕة انزمه‪ٛ‬ذ٘‪ ٔ ,‬انزجش‪ٚ‬ج‪ٛ‬خ ( ‪ 34‬ؼبنجخ) رى رذس‪ٚ‬غٍٓ عٍ ؼش‪ٚ‬ك انزعهى انًغزمم‪ .‬لجم‬

‫إجشاء انزجشثخ لبيذ انجبحثخ ثإعؽبء كهزب انًجًٕعز‪ ٍٛ‬ايزحبَبً لجه‪ٛ‬بً‪ ,‬ثى حعشد كهزب‬

‫انًجًٕعز‪ ٍٛ‬أ‪ٚ‬عبً ايزحبًَب ثعذ‪ًٚ‬ب ف‪َٓ ٙ‬ب‪ٚ‬خ انفزشح انزجش‪ٚ‬ج‪ٛ‬خ‪ .‬كًب لبيذ انجبحثخ أ‪ٚ‬عبً ثزٕص‪ٚ‬ع‬

‫اعزجبَخ ٔ إجشاء يمبثهخ يع ؼبنجبد انًجًٕعخ انعبثؽخ فمػ ٔ رنك نًعشفخ آسائٍٓ حٕل‬

‫انزعهى انًغزمم‪ ٔ .‬لذ أظٓشد انذساعخ أٌ انزعهى انًغزمم نى ‪ٚ‬كٍ نّ رأث‪ٛ‬ش رٔ دالنخ إحصبئ‪ٛ‬خ‬

‫عهٗ أداء انؽبنجبد ف‪ ٙ‬رشجًخ انًصؽهحبد ٔ رشك‪ٛ‬ت انجًم انغه‪ًٛ‬خ إال أٌ أداء انؽبنجبد‬

‫ف‪ ٙ‬فٓى انُض انًصذس كبٌ أفعم نذٖ ؼبنجبد انًجًٕعخ انزجش‪ٚ‬ج‪ٛ‬خ‪ ,‬كًب أٌ سدٔد فعم‬

‫انؽبنجبد حٕل انزعهى انًغزمم كبَذ إ‪ٚ‬جبث‪ٛ‬خ‪.‬‬

IV
 V

Acknowledgments

Thanks to almighty Allah that I was able to accomplish this

work. In the beginning, I would like to thank my supervisor Professor

Mahmoud I. Saleh, who has been the ideal thesis supervisor in being

so generous in giving advice and guidance to help me in the

completion of my work. For his support and encouragement I shall

always be indebted.

I would also extend my sincere thanks to the Deputy

Chairperson of the College of Languages and Translation, Mrs. Hoda

Al Helaisi for giving me the permission to carry out the experiment in

the college, and to all the faculty members in our College for their

moral support.

My appreciation and gratitude goes to a very special person,

Miss. Sharifah Al Zahrani, the teacher of the commercial translation

course at the College of Languages and Translation, who allowed me

to conduct the experiment in her classes and spared no effort to help

me throughout the data collection, and for her cooperation, helpful

advice and suggestions without which the completion of this thesis

would not have been possible. I would also like to thank the subjects
 VI

of this study for their cooperation especially Dareene Al Malki, for

her help.

Last but not least, my warmest thanks, appreciation, and

gratitude are due to my family and in-laws especially my mother. Her

encouragement, faithful heart, and invaluable advice inspired me to

accomplish this work, Dr. Fahad Al Abduljabbar and Dr. Latifah Al

Bassam who motivated me to pursue my postgraduate studies, my

sisters Mashael , Nourah and my sister in-law Amal AlAbduljabbar

who were the most supportive. Finally, I would like to express my

appreciation to my brothers Khalid, Abdallah and especially Fahad

who stood by my side and was always there to help.

 VII

Table of contents
Page

Abstract……………………………………………………….. I
Dedication……………………………………………………..IV
Acknowledgments……………………………………………..V

Table of contents………………………………………………VI
List of tables……………………………………………………X
List of figures…………………………………………………...XII
Chapter One 1
Introduction and Research Problem 1
1.1. Introduction 1
1.2. Significance of the study 3
1.3. Statement of the problem 5
1.4. Purpose of the study 8
1.5. Hypotheses of the study 11
1.6. Delimitation of the study 12
1.7. Definition of terms 13
Chapter Two 15
Review of Related Literature 15
2.1. Introduction 15
2.2. Theoretical Background 16
2.3. Translation Teaching 19
2.4. Studies on Autonomous Learning 24
2.4.1. Autonomous Learning and Language Skills 24
2.4.2. Autonomous Learning and Translator Training 31
2.4.3. Autonomous Learning and Learners‟ Attitudes 33
2.4.4. Autonomous Learning and Self-access Centers 38
2.5. Conclusion 42
Chapter Three 45
Methodology and Instruments 45
3. Methodology 45
3.1. Subjects 46
3.2. Instruments for data collection 47
3.2.1. Pre-test 48
3.2.2. Post-test 1 48
3.2.3. Post-test 2 49
3.2.4. Tests‟ reliability 50
 VIII

3.2.5. Tests‟ validity 50

3.2.3. Diaries 50
3.2.4. A questionnaire 51
3. 2. 4. 1. Questionnaire validity 52
3.2. 4. 2. Questionnaire reliability 52
3.2.5. Interviews 52
3.3. Treatment 53
3.4. Measurement 57
Chapter Four 59
Data Analysis and Results 59
4.1. Introduction 59
4.2. Results of the t-test and the analysis of variance of the two groups
in the pre- and post tests 60

4.2.1. Results of the control and experimental groups

in the pretest 60
4.2.2. Performance of the control group in
the pre and post-tests 63
4.2.3. Results of the experimental group
in the pre and post-tests 65
4.2.4. Results of the t-test and the analysis
of the scores of the two groups in the lexical accuracy
of the assigned texts in the post test 67
4.2.5. Results of the t-test and the analysis
of the scores of the two groups in the structural
accuracy of the assigned texts in the post test 69
4.2.6. Results of the t-test and the analysis
of the scores of the two groups in the overall accuracy
of the assigned texts in the post test 70
4.2.7. Results of the second post-test 72
4.3. Results of learners‟ questionnaire. 73
4.4. Diaries 80
4.5. Interviews 84
4.6. Discussion of results 87
CHAPTER FIVE 95
Summary, Implications and Suggestions for
Further Research 95
5.1. Summary 95
5.1.2. Summary of the main findings 96
5.2. Implications of the study 100
 IX

5.2.1. Theoretical implications 100

5.2.2. Pedagogical implications 101
5.3. Suggestions for further research 102

References 104-109

Appendixes 110-125
 X

List of Tables
Table (1) T-test experimental against control group English into
Arabic for the pre-test
61

Table (2) T-test experimental against control group Arabic into

English for the pre-test
63

Table (3) T-test control group English into Arabic for the pre- and
post-tests
64

Table (4) T-test control group Arabic into English for the pre- and
post-tests
64

Table (5) T-test experimental group English into Arabic for the pre-
and post-tests
65

Table (6) T-test experimental group Arabic into English for the pre-
and post-tests
65

Table (7) T-test experimental against control group English into

Arabic for the post-tests in the lexical accuracy
68

Table (8) T-test experimental against control group Arabic into

English for the post tests in the lexical accuracy
68

Table (9) T-test experimental against control group in English into

Arabic for the structural accuracy in the post-test
69
 XI

Table (10) T-test experimental against control group in Arabic into

English for the structural accuracy post tests
70

Table (11) T-test experimental against control group English into

Arabic for the post-test in the comprehension
71

Table (12) T-test experimental against control group Arabic into

English for the post-test in the comprehension
71
Table (13) T-test experimental against control group according to the
results of the second post-test
73
Table (14) Experimental group‟s responses to the questionnaire (items
related to the effects of autonomy on their performance)
74

Table (15) Experimental group‟s responses to questionnaire (in

relation to using the internet as a resource)
75
Table (16) Experimental group‟s responses to questionnaire (in
relation to the relevance of autonomy to their needs)
77
Table (17) Experimental groups‟ responses to questionnaire (in
relation to the teacher‟s role)
78
 XII

List of Figures
Figure (1) Results of the Experimental against Control group in the
English into Arabic for the pre-test
61

Figure (2) Results of Experimental against Control group in the

Arabic into English for the pre-test
62

Figure (3) Results of Experimental against Control group English into

Arabic and Arabic into English for the post-tests in the lexical
accuracy 68
Figure (4) Results of Experimental against Control group English
into Arabic and Arabic into English for the post-tests in the structural
accuracy 70

Figure (5) Results of Experimental against Control group English

into Arabic and Arabic into English for the post-tests in the
comprehension of the assigned texts
72
 1

CHAPTER ONE
Introduction and Problem

1.1. Introduction

Over the last two decades, there has been considerable interest

in learner autonomy as a necessary condition of effective learning. It

is seen as an issue principally of students taking greater control over

the content and methods of learning (Holec, as cited in Chan et al.,

2001). It grows out of the individual‟s acceptance of his or her own

responsibility for learning. The learner is perceived as a decision-

maker who has, or will develop, the capacity for choosing among

available tools and resources to create what is needed for the task at

hand.

Learner training is a concept that bears the same meaning as

learner autonomy. The main components incorporated in learner

training are: that learners establish what needs to be learnt, they use

the resources available to achieve these objectives, and they monitor

their learning progress. According to Fernandez-Toro (1999), a

complete learner training program must ensure that the learners are
 2

able to tackle each of these three aspects successfully, and as

autonomously as the particular circumstances of the course allow.

In the autonomous learning approach, the roles of both learners

and teachers are different from their roles in the conventional or

teacher-centred approaches. While in the latter teachers control all

aspects of teaching and learning, the former emphasizes that learners

take control of the learning process by having choices over what and

how to learn, and teachers are portrayed as helpers, facilitators,

resources, consultants, counsellors, coordinators, and advisors (Little,

1996; Chan et al., 2003).

It is worth noting, however, that one of the assumptions

associated with learner autonomy is that it is a Western educational

trend unsuited to Eastern contexts which have different educational

traditions (Chan, 2001; Schmenk, as cited in Ellili & Chaffin,2007).

Nevertheless, some scholars in the field of applied linguistics believe

that autonomy is valid for all learners, and that all language learners,

no matter what their culture is, are individuals with their own set of

needs and preferred learning styles. Therefore, educators need to

match the different aspects of autonomy with the characteristics and

needs of learners in specific contexts (Littlewood, 1999).

 3

The present study will try to examine the effects of

autonomous learning in the teaching of translation. Instead of relying

on teachers to overcome the problems associated with translation, the

students will be provided with some resource materials on translation,

and they will be required to refer to them, on their own, in order to

produce the proper translation of texts.

1.2. Significance of the study:

This study deals with a very important issue that is related to

the pedagogy of translation teaching, which is identifying the effects

of autonomous learning on the accuracy of English-Arabic translation.

The significance of this study, for researchers in the field of

applied linguistics and translation training, lies in the fact that it will

shed light on the important effects of autonomous learning on

translation teaching. To my knowledge, and as mentioned in the

review of related literature, the issue has not been explored in any

empirical study, especially in relation to English-Arabic translation.

This study also combines the investigation of the effects of

autonomous learning on lexical, structural, and overall accuracy on

the performance of translation students. Moreover, this study may

serve as a common basis for further research attempting to investigate

 4

the effects of autonomous learning but in different classroom settings,

or to investigate other aspects of autonomous learning using the same

methodological procedures implemented in this study to define and

analyze the effects under focus.

On the other hand, the results of the study will contribute to the

pedagogy of translator training by improving the current programs in

that it requires students to search for all the information they need. It

will also develop their ability to do research which is an important

skill for university students in general, and for translation trainees in

particular. In viewing the characteristics of most Saudi university

students, it is possible to state that they need to view themselves

undertaking more responsibility when selecting, analyzing, evaluating

and applying information for their purpose.

Despite the research that was conducted on the impact of

learner autonomy on learning foreign languages, it is still unclear

whether such an approach will have a positive influence on translation

students‟ performance, particularly when it comes to English-Arabic

translation.

This study is also significant to students for two reasons. First,

it involves how best to improve the performance of translation

 5

trainees: their lexical, structural, and overall accuracy. Hence, giving

the students responsibility for their learning in groups enables them to

develop effective independent learning strategies in all areas. Every

classroom activity from project work to writing portfolios and self-

assessment can be turned into an opportunity for enhancing our

students‟ lifelong learning skills. The same concept can be applied to

any learning environment.

The second significance of this study to students is that in

autonomous learning they have the chance to escape from canned

knowledge and discover thousands of information sources. As a

result, their education fulfils the need for interdisciplinary learning in

a multicultural world (Lee, 2002).

To my knowledge, there has not been any attempt to clarify

precisely the impact of autonomous learning on the accuracy of

students‟ translation. The study would therefore be of benefit not only

to students, but also to teachers and curriculum designers.

 6

1.3. Statement of the problem

Our students in Saudi Arabia in general, and at the university

level in particular, have been studying in teacher-centred classrooms

where teachers feed them all the information they need to know

throughout the different courses. They are seldom asked to do

research or obtain any knowledge they need on their own. Besides,

university students are supposed to be in a position to determine the

skills that they would like to acquire, and to know what would be

required from them after they leave the university as translators and

interpreters.

Almost all graduates of the College of Languages and

Translation, Department of European Languages and Translation at

King Saud University, get involved in translation tasks in their

professional careers. While the instruction and training those students

receive at this Department covers several fields of translation, the

approach used in training them is usually teacher-centred. Aside from

the focus and quantity of translation tasks which students carry out in

these courses, much of the work is done in the classroom with direct

instruction from teachers, and minimal reference to some materials

that are related to the field of translation or to the specialized subject

 7

of the text, which are mainly some articles from books or newspapers

that are usually used to help students identify correct equivalent

terminology and texts. However, the teachers are considered the

centre of the classroom, and they discuss the translation with their

students throughout the duration of their meeting.

To clarify the problems that the students of translation

encounter, the researcher conducted some interviews with 15 teachers

in the Department. Based on the teachers‟ responses, it was found that

the problems that students encounter during their training are mainly

in three areas: difficulty of the terminology in the texts, the structural

ambiguity found in texts of different genres, and the lack of

background knowledge about the topics dealt with in each field which

affects the overall accuracy of the translation. It was also found that

the teachers usually help students to identify the different elements of

the structures used in the assigned texts, give definitions and

equivalents for difficult terminology, and provide background

information about the topics presented in the texts. So, it is possible to

state that learners rely totally on their teachers to overcome the

difficulties of translation. Teaching translation in the Department can

be described as conventional and teacher-centred. Throughout the

 8

translation of texts, teachers usually help students and give them

direct instruction on how to go about the translation process.

Dictionaries of different types are not present in all translation classes,

and if students encounter any difficulties, the teachers help them and

provide answers to all their questions.

In his discussion of the problems of the teaching of translation

in some Arab universities, Bahumaid (1995) mentions two important

issues. First, that the standard of most Arab undergraduate students in

both native and foreign languages as they embark on the translation

course is unsatisfactory. Second, he mentioned that translation is not a

„lecture‟ course, it requires a considerable degree of „sensitivity‟ in

assessing alternative versions suggested by students while translating,

as well as „resourcefulness‟ in the utilization of translation techniques.

He also mentioned the importance of providing translation trainees

with samples of translated texts in different versions in order to

illustrate the techniques and procedures of translation. Some of his

ideas support the views of the teachers at the Department of European

Languages and Translation, College of Languages and Translation,

King Saud University. Bahumaid assumes that students‟ interaction,

 9

through extensive discussion with instructors and peers is possibly the

best solution to the translation problems.

1.4. Purpose of the study

This study will try to shed light on the problems

associated with translation skills. English and Arabic texts that are

specialized in certain fields may have some ambiguous words and

sentence structures and are usually written in different styles, and this

is where the difficulty comes when students attempt to translate them.

As a result, this will have an impact on the accuracy of their

translation. In this study, the effects of a different approach in training

students in translation will be examined.

The study aims at changing the students‟ traditional view of

learning to take more responsibility for their own learning, to

encourage them to think, and reflect critically on their learning habits.

The translation process requires more personal responsibility from the

learners. Therefore, the autonomous learning approach will overcome

the problems associated with translator training programs which do

not provide learners with training in translation of all sorts of

specialized texts that translators tackle in real life situations. By

providing resources in translation classrooms, students will be

 10

exposed to a wide range of texts, and will read a lot of material which

will improve their mastery of specialized terminology, their ability to

write proper structures in the source and the target language, and will

learn more about the variety of topics that are dealt with in each field

of translation. Finally, they will become ready to carry on with their

careers as translators.

The researcher has designed an experimental study where

students of a translation course will be the centre of their classroom.

The course will be based on the students themselves, with an

introduction of a pedagogy based on specific objectives, and a shift

away from the dominance of the teacher to a situation in which the

teacher acts as the supervisor of self-directed learning. Such a system

implies profound changes in the attitudes and habits of both teachers

and students. The former have to discard their traditional role as the

authority from whom all the knowledge flows, and develop instead an

aptitude for empathy, and act as listeners. The latter must no longer

hold a passive role they used to have in the old system, but, on the

contrary, must take charge of their own training. In other words, they

are expected to become capable of defining their needs, objectives,

 11

techniques, materials, and the system of the evaluation of their own

performance.

The objective of this study is to discover whether or not

autonomous learning, when used as a teaching method in translation

courses, gives better results than the conventional methods of teaching

in the development of translation skills of students attending

translation courses at the Department of European Languages and

translation at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud

University. More specifically, the study attempts to answer the

following questions:

1. How does the availability of resource materials help students

achieve overall accuracy by gaining background on the topics

of commercial texts?

2. Will students‟ abilities to resolve the ambiguity of unfamiliar

lexical items in commercial texts improve as they follow an

autonomous learning approach?

3. Will students‟ abilities to resolve the ambiguity of the structure

of commercial texts improve as they follow an autonomous

learning approach?
 12

4. How do students react to the utilization of autonomous learning

in their commercial translation course?

5. What recommendations can be made to improve the

performance of students in translating commercial texts?

1.5. Hypotheses of the study

This study is designed to test the following null hypotheses

which are drawn from the earlier mentioned questions:

1. The lexical accuracy of students‟ translation will not improve when

following the autonomous learning method in translation training.

2. The structural accuracy of students‟ translation will not improve

when following the autonomous learning method in translation

training.

3. The overall accuracy of students‟ translation will not improve when

following the autonomous learning method translation training.

4. Students do not support following the autonomous learning

approach in their translation training.

1.6. Delimitation of the study

The study will be conducted on female students at the

Department of European Languages and Translation at the College of

Languages and Translation, King Saud University in Riyadh. Two

 13

groups of students who are attending the commercial translation

course are going to be the subjects of this study.

Another limitation of the study is the time that will be spent to

complete the study: five to six weeks only, and this can be justified on

the grounds of two reasons: the first is that a longer period may

influence the performance of the students negatively. If they do not

achieve the anticipated goals of autonomous learning, they may

achieve low grades in their in-term exams and this will affect their

overall grades in the course. Another reason is that the students are

unfamiliar with the method, and they might reject or oppose it.

1.7. Definition of terms

Autonomous learning:

The ability to take control of one‟s own learning, which entails being

able to define one‟s learning aims, select the content and monitor the

progression of one‟s learning (Holec, 1981).

Bergen‟s definition: a readiness to take charge of one‟s own learning.

He added willingness and capacity, and also claims that this ability is

not innate, but training in that area is very important i.e., training

learners to take charge of their own learning (Dam, 1995).

 14

According to Little (1996), learner autonomy is often regarded as a

defining characteristic of all sustained learning that attains long term

success. The aim is to enable learners to transfer school knowledge

into action knowledge, and use it in their lives, prepare learners for a

lifelong learning process.

Self-directed learning: Teaching how to learn in second language

instruction (Wenden, 1998).

Autonomous learner: An active participant in the social processes of

classroom learning, someone who knows how to learn and can use

this knowledge in any learning situation she/he may encounter at any

stage of one‟s own learning (Dam et al, cited in Gardner & Miller,

1999).

Self-access: The integration of resources, people, management,

individualisation, needs analysis, learner reflection, counselling, and

learner training to provide a learning environment (Gardner & Miller,

1999).

Commercial translation: The translation of commercial (business)

texts. This category may include marketing and promotional materials

directed to consumers, or the translation of administrative texts.

 15

CHAPTER TWO
Review of Related Literature
2.1. Introduction

According to Yumuk (2002), in all formal educational contexts

in developing countries, recitation is a common teaching mode. The

classrooms are usually teacher-centred, and students receive their

knowledge from their teachers passively. Recitation-based teaching

mainly encourages learners to develop skills to master school

knowledge, which involves memorization of information learnt at

school rather than action knowledge, which encompasses critical

reflection on new information and its application to a wider context

(Holec, Tharp & Gallimore, as cited in Yumuk, 2002).

Vilmi 1995, (as cited in Hobrom, 2004) stated that cultural

awareness among students in different parts of the world is enhanced

by opportunities for interaction offered by online resources.

Moreover, in searching for and retrieving information online, students

have greater interaction with course materials, providing them with a

sense of ownership as well as enjoyment of the course content.

 16

2.2. Theoretical background

Vygotsky (1978) developed his theory of “the zone of proximal

development” in order to explain how we arrange the environment so

as to make it possible for the child to progress from one level to the

next. He defines “the zone of proximal development” as the distance

between the actual development level as determined by independent

problem solving and the level of potential development as determined

through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with

more capable peers. Therefore, it is possible to state that if a child

passes successfully through the zone of proximal development, then

he/she is able to become an autonomous learner.

In 1985, Burner illustrated how this process of development can

be transferred to more formal pedagogical contexts. He discussed the

gradual handing over of control to the learner, and how this is a

condition for successful learning. He adds that in order to gain the

psychological benefits of successful learning, the learner must

gradually assume control of the social interaction that gives outwards

form and substance to the learning process.

As for foreign language learning, Little (1996) assumes that the

aim of language learning is that the learner could acquire knowledge

 17

and skills that he can deploy independently of the immediate context

of learning. Language use depends on the capacity that the language

user is able to cope with unfamiliar situations and new discourse

types. Thus we must always think of learner autonomy in relation to

both to learning and using the target language. If the teachers‟ task is

to support learners in the “zone of proximal development,” at every

stage of the learning process we must think of the zone and the

gradual relinquishing of control to the learner simultaneously and

equally in terms of the skills and knowledge that underpin language

learning and the skills and knowledge that underpin language use.

To achieve successful learning, school knowledge must be

integrated with action knowledge, and this task requires more

responsibility and control from learners (Barnes, as cited in Yumuk,

2002), otherwise “learning becomes abstract and removed from reality

and as a result less likely to engage intrinsic motivational processes

since students are unable to make a meaningful connection between

what is learned and what is experienced in life outside.” (Condry, as

cited in Ushioda, 1996).

Action knowledge should play a central role in the theory of

learner autonomy. The outcome of developmental learning is

 18

autonomy, in the sense that it enables the child to operate

independently across a range of domestic and social contexts.

However, the growth of this autonomy, whether in speech or in

behaviour generally, requires not only the constant stimulus of

interaction with others, but also guidance and supervision (Little,

1996).

Wolff (1994) believes that learner autonomy can take language

learning beyond the communicative approach. He discussed the

different role that teachers can take in the language classroom; they no

longer control everything that happens in the classroom, and their

main function is to help learners develop their autonomy. This is done

by helping them choose appropriate and adequate learning materials,

by explaining learning strategies and techniques, and by helping them

improve their evaluation processes.

As a global concept of language learning, learner autonomy

goes far beyond communicative language learning. Developing

language awareness and focussing on language forms and functions

are of the same importance as project work. Promoting language

processing and language learning is as important as authentic

materials and authentic interaction. In a way, the concept of learner

 19

autonomy unites all the post-communicative approaches to language

learning (Wolff, 1994).

2.3. Translation teaching

In translating and interpreting, field can be a problem when

working from a source language such as English which has developed

a scientific and technical culture, and a wide variety of what Gregory

(as cited in Hatim & Mason, 1990) calls „marked fields of discourse‟

to reflect this „world experience‟. Translators working into target

languages in the developing world face the challenge of new

expressions in these fields (Hatim & Mason, 1990).

Snell-Hornby (1992) proposed a curriculum for translation

courses. Her model begins with preparatory language programme,

which is not part of the degree course itself, but rather represents a

transitional phase between school and university levels and should

ensure that anyone aiming to be a translator or interpreter must start

the training with adequate command of all languages concerned. The

next part of the curriculum is very essential and will concentrate on

areas such as the following: cultural studies, contrastive work with

texts, language for special purposes, and introductory courses in areas

like translation theory and translation methods. In the advanced part

 20

of the course, students will be specialized in either translating or

interpreting. The focus will be on intensive practical training allowing

for specializing in different fields, and these should be accompanied

by theoretical seminars on specialized areas, problems of translation

and relevant areas of linguistics.

Sainz (1992) presented a number of techniques for improving

translation skills. First is introducing passages where different texts

that deal with a new topic are given to learners. These texts are in both

source and target languages. At this point students will compare them,

and this will help them overcome some of the problems that are

related to vocabulary. The second technique is called back-translation

of the students‟ own work. After translating the text, students will

keep it for a certain period of time, and then they will translate it back

to its original source language. Finally, they will compare it with the

original text. The third technique is based on a comparison between

the translations of a text that was done by the students to published

translated versions of the texts taken from an official source. This

process will help make students aware of their mistakes as they

compare their texts to higher standard texts. The fourth technique is

called collaborative translation. In this case, students compare their

 21

translations with their colleagues in pairs or groups. The fifth

technique is reporting to a group or to the class. This technique

encompasses different activities. Students present articles on general

knowledge to the class in the source language, and as they do, they

must take notes in the target language; later, the students will report

back collectively in the target language. Finally, Sainz (1992) presents

the technique of transcribing and translating. As students listen to a

text, they must transcribe it. Then, they must translate what they have

transcribed.

Mok (1995) conducted a study that deals with the issue of

lexical equivalence in legal translation between English and Chinese.

It claims that the ability to match equivalent lexical items in English

and Chinese is one of the criteria, though not the only criteria for

producing a piece of good legal translation. She also adds that

specialized lexical items vary in their order of accessibility and hence

present themselves in varying degrees of difficulty to students,

depending on the knowledge and vocabulary gaps among different

students. Legal knowledge should as well as syntactical structures of

legal language should therefore be an integral part in the teaching of

legal translation.
 22

Trinh (1995) discussed the problems associated with

collocations in translation, and how interpreters and translators tend to

make errors in using the appropriate collocations while translating.

She claimed that the reason behind these errors was the lack of

knowledge of English collocations by the translators and interpreters

from Vietnamese into English. The errors are also related to both

lexical and grammatical collocations. The solution she suggested for

this problem is creating extensive matching collocations in source and

target languages as well as compiling workbooks and exercises in

each specific language so that students of translation will be taught

collocations according to their level of proficiency.

Hale (1996) presented trainee interpreters with dialogues that

illustrate a common, real life interpreting situations involving medical

and legal issues and terminology. Each involved both Spanish and

English languages. This material was designed to be used as a

resource in teaching interpreting. The situations occurred in offices of

medical practitioners and in legal contexts.

As for the teaching of commercial translation, Defeng (1999)

states that some of the problems in teaching commercial translation in

Hong Kong include: the unclear definition of commercial translation,

 23

the inadequate teaching and resource materials, the improper use of

assessment, the separation of theory and practice, and the inadequate

approach to translation teaching. According to him, the pedagogical

implications to solve those problems are to provide a pedagogical

definition of commercial translation, to develop the teaching and

reference materials, to follow an integrated approach to teaching

commercial translation, and to diversify the use of assessment.

Jarvella, et al. (2002), state that in translation, a range of types

of knowledge and competences are brought together. These include

knowledge in specific subject domain, theoretical and functional

knowledge about human language and its use, knowledge of the

source and target languages, and understanding the linguistic genre

being used. Moreover, Bell (as cited in Robert et al. 2002) believes

that competence in translation includes socio-linguistic ability to

understand and produce texts adequately in relation to the subject of,

participants in, and purpose of a communication.

Snel Trampus (2002) describes two approaches that are usually

followed in translation classrooms. These are norm-based, and the

other is the target audience-centred approach. In the former, students

are usually more sensitive to linguistic aspects. They deal with the
 24

micro-level of the text, and only in an advanced phase they become

able to grasp the text as an organic whole. For a translation problem

they give a tentative solution as a first hypothesis and then they ask

their colleagues or teachers for error elimination. On the other hand,

target audience-centred approach requires the translator‟s awareness

of the social and psychological contexts of both the target and source

languages.

2.4. Studies on autonomous learning

2.4.1. Autonomous learning and language skills

This section will provide some studies that showed the positive

effects of learner autonomy on second language learning. Some of

them dealt with different language skills such as listening, speaking,

writing, and the teaching of grammar. Other studies dealt with the

attitudes of learners towards taking charge of their own learning

processes, and their readiness for autonomous learning.

In the eighties, learner autonomy implementation started in the

language classrooms. Bertoldi, Kollar and Ricard (1988) describe a

three-step process of autonomization designed for adult students

within the framework of an intensive ESL program of the Canadian

federal government. The process begins by raising students' awareness

 25

of individual linguistic strengths and weaknesses. Next, students are

encouraged to set personal priorities for areas which require most

attention. Then, students take action in a variety of ways which suit

their learning styles and strategies. They also explained the way in

which the process is reinforced throughout the major components of

the program.

Cresswell (2000) conducted a study to determine the effects of

autonomy in teaching writing. He states that giving learners control

over the initiation of feedback and student self-monitoring are

valuable ways of increasing the element of autonomy in the learning

of writing. In order to overcome the problems that are associated with

learning writing skills, a three-stage programme of procedures was

applied, which involved (a) raising awareness of process and product,

(b) demonstrating annotations, and (c) evaluating annotations. The

programme was effective in developing responsible self-monitoring

so that students prepared in this way were found to be capable of

articulating their concerns in composing and in paying attention to

content and organization, while also using the self-monitoring

technique to learn language.

 26

Dias (2000) demonstrated introducing autonomous learning in

Japan. His study tested the effects of introducing information and

communication technology into selected oral English classes. The

students were attending a Japanese university specializing in health

and animal sciences, and were required to enroll in a course that had

speaking and listening skills as primary focus. The aim of that study

was to free the learners from dependence on teachers. The results

showed that the participants in the information and communication

technology classes made greater efforts to speak English with their

classmates and teachers. They were also more likely to anticipate a

need for English in their future lives.

Sullivan and Lindgren (2002) present the results of a study

carried out in Sweden to investigate the promotion of self-assessment

and reflection in the adult second language (L2) classroom. The

method that they proposed utilized the computer to record a writing

session, and later to replay the entire text production in retrospective

peer sessions. The method provides the students with an opportunity

to look into their own composing processes both linguistically and

holistically as they view and discuss the reasons behind the different

actions during the writing process. Results show that after using the
 27

method, all writers experienced useful, although different, insights

into their own writing behaviors. Furthermore, this method is not

restricted to an L2 environment, but is likely to be effective in other

learning situations where reflection is useful for the acquisition

process.

Hobrom (2004) investigated learner autonomy and online

resources for college-level students of Arabic. His study aimed to

answer three questions; how do college-level students perceive

themselves as autonomous learners? What is the value of online

resources as learning aids for the autonomous language learners?

What are the inherent features of online resources that empower the

autonomous learner? He collected his data through interviews with

students, their instructors, and journals written by the participants. The

participants were asked to express their views on autonomy, online

resources, and how they might have been empowered by using such

resources in their language learning experience. The findings of the

study suggested that the participants perceived themselves as

autonomous learners in two ways. One has to do with such

characteristics as taking more responsibility and being more

motivated. The other was about them as learners, such as

 28

improvement in their skills and being able to evaluate themselves. It

was also found that having multimedia-type materials online made the

learning experience interesting, engaging, and exciting for the

participants.

Chiu (2005) investigated the reactions of language learners in

response to teacher roles that were practiced to promote learner

autonomy. The study aimed at investigating the relationship of teacher

roles and learner autonomy in a cyber pedagogical context, a context

where the teacher and learners were L2 users of English with diverse

linguistic and cultural backgrounds and experiences. The data

consisted of email messages generated in a twenty-month period of

the cyber English class. The results showed that the teacher‟s teaching

roles became less active as the course progressed whereas the

counseling roles remained active throughout the instructional period.

Data analysis also called into question the universality of established

categories of teacher roles, suggesting that cultural context and

experience need to be taken into consideration. Moreover, the results

showed that teaching roles did not provide opportunities for

promoting learner autonomy, but counseling roles created a

 29

supportive learning environment for the learner to develop autonomy

in language learning.

Vickers and Ene (2006) explored the ability of the advanced

learners of English as a second language to make improvements in

grammatical accuracy by autonomously noticing and correcting their

own grammatical errors. In the recent literature in second language

acquisition, it is suggested that classroom tasks can be used to foster

autonomous language learning habits (Dam, 2000). Therefore, it is

important to consider classroom tasks that encourage autonomous

language learning behavior. Working with 13 advanced English, as a

second language composition students, the researchers engaged the

subjects in an explicit task in which they compared their own use of

grammatical form in their own written output to the use of

grammatical form as used in a text written by a native speaker. Based

on the comparison between their own written output and the native

speaker‟s text, subjects subsequently corrected their grammatical

errors. The results suggested that such a comparison task is beneficial

in allowing learners to make gains in grammatical accuracy.

Alsop (2006) states that extending more decision-making and

choice in the learning process to students is a central principle in

 30

theoretical formulations of learner autonomy. His study was

conducted in a Spanish course, and students completed three choice

plans or choice projects during the semester. Each one corresponded

to a three week cycle during which they selected the content and

materials to prepare for a culminating presentation to the class. The

presentation was required, but the manner in which it was developed

and executed was at the discretion of the learners. In addition, learners

participated in self-evaluation of their work. Although the participants

reported some difficulties adapting to this initiative, primarily a

discomfort with self-evaluation and tension between the choice and

the non-choice elements of the course, the overall response was

favorable. Particularly salient findings include participants‟ emphasis

on the increased activity, target language use, and role reversal

between student and teacher that choice added to the course. The

researcher suggests that the choice component, along with some other

aspects of the teacher‟s instruction did, in fact, assist learners in

engaging in numerous autonomous learning activities to varying

degrees.
 31

2.4.2. Autonomous learning and translator training

Yumuk (2002) investigated how an internet information

search based programme in an academic translation course in a

Turkish university can encourage learners who have a traditional view

of learning to take more responsibility for their own learning. The

programme was implemented to encourage students to use the internet

in order to select, analyze, evaluate and apply relevant information to

enhance the accuracy of their translations. The results indicate that the

programme had a significant impact on students, in that it promoted a

change in the view of learning towards more autonomy, and learners

began to view learning more meaningfully.

Frankenberg-Garcia (2005) states that, in addition to

dictionaries, grammar books and encyclopedias, it is also possible

nowadays for students to look things up on the internet. She

conducted an exploratory study on translation students at a Portuguese

university; the aim of that study was to investigate the ability of

students to use paper references as well as new technology combined

together as resources to help them in resolving the problems they

encounter while dealing with translation tasks; how they interacted

with dictionaries combined with corpora, search engines, term banks

 32

and other language references they chose to use. The findings of the

study indicated that while there was no clear competition between

paper and electronic references, there was a marked preference for

bilingual over monolingual support, for materials mediated by

terminologists and lexicographers over ones requiring more

autonomous user interpretation, and for more prestigious over less-

known resources. The study also emphasized that in addition to

training learners to use separate resources, it is important to teach

them how to integrate their skills at using them together, particularly

with respect to combining bilingual with monolingual research.

Monzo (2005) conducted a study to foster a certain degree of

autonomy in the documentation tasks on the part of the translator-to-

be by developing a textual information resource consisting of an on-

line database fed with original and translated legal documents and a

search engine through which the retrieval of documents was based on

textual classification criteria. He also suggested that this tool may also

be used in professional translation practice by real translators in order

to improve their efficiency. In the translation classroom, texts are used

so that trainees can learn those conventions applying to the original

texts they have to translate. Both the original system and the target
 33

system are observed so that, in an English-Spanish course, students

can learn how a sales agreement works both in English and Spanish.

This way of proceeding seeks to develop a writing competence in

translators so that they use the conventions which sound familiar to

their audience in their own texts. Though very roughly explained, this

is a well-known and widely-accepted methodology in translation

training (Baker, Borja Albi, Hurtado Albir, as cited in Monzo, 2005),

which may nevertheless need to be altered when working with texts

which are intended to be overt translations (Snell-Hornby, cited in

Monzo,2005).

2.4.3. Autonomous learning and learners’ attitudes

Kraus-Srebri , Brakus and Kentri (1981) carried out an

experiment in self–directed learning in which Bloom's Taxonomy of

Educational Objectives was used to establish six levels of cognitive

ability. For each level different learning tasks were prepared. Children

in four classes in a Belgrade school were each invited to select the task

that they individually felt to be the most appropriate and to complete it

together with others who had chosen the same task. During the

experimental lessons, pupils showed enthusiasm and an ability to

 34

select their own learning tasks, and to co–operate well in their

learning.

Takeda (2002) conducted a study to examine how the

experience of a self-directed learning (SDL) process has influenced

autonomous L2 learning behaviour and perceptions, by focusing on

learners‟ behavioural changes in frequency and total time spent in

learning Japanese outside the classroom, factors that were influential

in participants‟ achievement compared to their initially set goals, and

participants‟ perceptions of their future SDL extracurricular studies.

The study employed a survey and two interviews with students in

Japanese 201 at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. The findings

suggested that the implementation of the SDL process influenced

participants‟ behaviour as well as their attitude toward their future

SDL studies. Feasibility of topics, flexibility of objectives, motivation,

availability of materials, meeting with instructor, and time

management were the major factors that influenced participants‟

achievement of their SDL objectives.

Gan (2003) conducted a research to find out empirically about

perceptions and experiences in self-directed language learning

(SDLL) among university EFL students in two different social

 35

contexts: Mainland China and Hong Kong, and to provide empirical

grounding for the potential attitudinal and behavioural differences in

SDLL between successful and less successful language learners. The

survey study identified significant differences concerning the overall

patterns of SDLL attitudes, strategies and motivation between the

above mentioned two groups of subjects. The results revealed that the

different levels of success as EFL learners might be explained by a

complex and dynamic interplay of internal cognition and affect,

external incentives and social contexts. Most importantly, the

successful students, motivated by their enduring interest and

satisfying learning history in English, consciously chose to aim above

and beyond what was required by the university, whereas the less

successful students, frustrated and demotivated, were struggling to

meet the university English course requirement.

Ade-ojo (2005) reported a small-scale research on the

predisposition of adult ESOL learners in a further education college to

the components of autonomous learning. The research was based on

the perception that there is an untested assumption that all students

will react positively to the concept of autonomous learning and, by

implication, are positively predisposed to it. Using a questionnaire

 36

administered among 20 selected students and supplementing this with

a focus group discussion, the research sought to test this assumption in

the context of ESOL students. Towards achieving this, the research

sought the reaction of the subjects to various components of

autonomous learning. The findings indicate that students in this group

are to a large extent negatively predisposed to many of the

components of autonomous learning. It concludes with the injunction

that teachers should not assume that all students would be positively

predisposed towards autonomy because of a number of reasons,

ranging from the psychological to the historical. It suggests that a lot

of work needs to be done in order to bring these students around to

accepting the usefulness of autonomous learning.

The study conducted by Booth (2007) was an exploration of

adult undergraduate learners' experiences of becoming and being self-

directed in their learning. Sixteen adult undergraduate learners

enrolled in a university that educates and serves adult learners and

that, in its mission statement, describes its learners as self-directed.

The study gathered learners' own conceptualizations of self-directed

learning and analyzed the different meanings that they placed on their

experiences of becoming and being self-directed in their learning.

 37

Data was collected through interviews with students, and written

responses to a number of open-ended questions about themselves as

learners. Four dimensions of participants' experiences of becoming

and being self-directed in their learning emerged from the data, and

they are: responsible learning, "do-it-yourself" learning, integrative

learning, and mindful learning. The four dimensions reveal significant

differences in how participants experienced course content and

knowledge, the role of the university, their instructors, other students,

forms of feedback, and themselves as learners. The implications of the

study include the importance of surfacing and examining our

assumptions about adult learners, realizing the benefits of

epistemological development in adult learners, promoting the role of

the instructor-as-mentor, and taking a systems approach to

institutional change.

2.4.4. Autonomous learning and self-access centers

One of the components of autonomous learning is that learners

should refer to self-access centres or resources in order to obtain

information. Littlejohn (1985) states that learner-centred approaches

normally focus either on the design of syllabuses that relate

specifically to an analysis of students' needs or on the provision of

 38

classroom activities that encourage more student participation. He

argues that a truly learner-centred approach should instead be

concerned with allowing learners a greater role in the management of

their learning, by providing opportunities for learner choice in the

method and scope of study. Such opportunities could be introduced

into the traditional classroom with minimal problems, and some

suggestions for this are put forward. Learner choice as a more

fundamental aspect of a language course can be provided through the

establishment of self-access centers, and his work reports on

experiments conducted at the University College of Bahrain. Teachers'

and learners' attitudes to the centre are discussed, and it is suggested

that more needs to be done to guide both teachers' and learners'

expectations in order to make learner choices an active feature of

foreign language study.

Healey (1993) examined self-directed learning in a technology-

intensive language learning centre. She addressed the issues of

personal and environmental factors that influenced learner behavior,

the factors influencing learner choices, reasons for initial and

sustained engagement in learning, and the role of technology in self-

directed language learning. The results of the study showed that

 39

certain aspects of the Learning Centre and learner behavior in this

centre, enhanced motivation and the use of resources, while other

aspects created difficulties. In general, motivation was enhanced by a

supportive emotional climate, facilitators who took a proactive role,

collaborative activities and the use of technology. Learners‟

personality traits were also an influence: those who were relatively

autonomous did well with the human and other resources available.

However, problems arose due to lack of knowledge of self-directed

learning strategies, including decision-making, the need for technical

assistance with equipment and software in a busy environment, and

mismatches between learning style and material.

Thomson (1998) states that a curriculum within an institutional

setting has many limitations. Autonomous learning skills can assist

learners in overcoming these limitations (Thomson, 1995). Though it

might be difficult for teachers to shift their roles from “pedagogy,”

which means the art and science of teaching, to “andragogy” which

means the art and science of helping learners learn (Nunan, 1996). In

his discussion, Thomson asserted the importance of identifying

learning resources, making the learners aware of them, and making

the resources accessible through innovative curriculum arrangements.

 40

He believes that this will promote diverse usage of learning resources

and encourage a variety of interactions between the learners and

resources. This in turn is hoped to promote learner autonomy.

Yeung (1999) believes in the importance of the availability of

self-access centres (SAC) in language learning institutes. She asserts

that learners and teachers can make use of these centres in order to

reinforce course objectives at the individual level. This will bridge the

gap between independent language learning and total teacher control,

and may be particularly valuable for students whose past experiences

have led them to expect a great deal of teacher direction. She

investigated the issue by describing how self-access learning was

integrated as part of a class-taught course in Business English and

evaluated the effectiveness of this approach.

On the other hand, Detaramani (1999) states that the integration

of self-access approach to language learning requires learners to be

responsible, diligent, and motivated. The aim of his study was to

ascertain the needs of the learners and to investigate their attitudes and

motivation towards this mode of learning. To go about that, the

researcher utilized a questionnaire and the results revealed that

learners consider that the major roles of self-access centres are to help
 41

learners to learn English independently and equip them for their

studies and future careers. Moreover, they prefer multimedia materials

and facilities which focus on speaking, listening and English for the

work place. The interviews with learners showed that they had strong

extrinsic motivation to improve their English, yet they seemed to be

reluctant to use the self-access mode of language learning. It was also

found that students who are keen on using the self-access centre have

a stronger desire to improve their English, have intrinsic motivation

and more positive attitudes towards learning English.

 42

2.5. Conclusion

From the previous discussion and presentation of studies on

autonomous learning, it can be seen that most of them dealt with the

application of such an approach to teaching foreign languages and to

teaching skills. However, not much work has been done to explore the

effects of autonomous learning on the teaching of translation. To my

knowledge, there has not been an attempt to tackle this issue

especially in translation training except for the two studies by Monzo

(2005) and Yumuk (2002). However, the researcher was not able to

find studies on autonomous learning in translation teaching in the

context of English/Arabic translation training. Nor were there studies

that tackled the issue of autonomous learning in the Saudi educational

context.

Regarding the conventional methods of translation training

mentioned above, there are different teaching methods that are

followed. However, some of them focus on the importance of the

comparison between different versions of translated material, and

between source and target languages texts such as Sainz (1992) who

considers using this method as a very useful way in helping students

overcome vocabulary problems. On the other hand, introducing

 43

background information to learners was not taken into consideration

in Sainz‟s method. While Mok (1995) mentioned the importance of

providing background knowledge as an integral part of translator

training, his focus was on lexical equivalence only and not on the

structure of the texts. Moreover, the two approaches presented by

Snel-Trampus (2002) for translator training did not consider the

importance of background information, and proposed that trainees

should refer to peers or teachers only for error elimination.

These studies have some disadvantages in that none of them

designed an approach that combines the three areas that should

receive training in translation teaching: lexical equivalence,

background information on the topics in order to achieve overall

accuracy, and structural equivalence.

The aim of this study is to test the applicability of autonomous

learning to the training of translation students dealing with texts from

English into Arabic and vice versa. This will be done by providing

learners with the suitable resources that help them understand the

process of translation by focussing on three areas: lexical equivalence,

background information, and structural equivalence.

 44

The study also aims to measure the readiness of our students to

become autonomous learners and to find out their attitudes towards

their experience. It can be seen from the studies presented in the

review of literature that teachers should not assume that all students

are ready to become autonomous learners because of a number of

historical and psychological reasons, but more effort should be spent

in order to bring students to accept the usefulness of autonomous

learning (Ade-ojo, 2005; Gan, 2003). The researcher will also try to

focus on that particular issue by providing the subjects of the study

with detailed explanation of the method of learner autonomy and its

advantages.
 45

CHAPTER THREE
Methodology and Instruments

3. Methodology

As mentioned earlier, the aim of this study is to investigate the

effects of following the autonomous learning approach on the

accuracy of the students‟ translation of commercial texts. This was

done through a comparative study between conventional teaching and

autonomous learning in teaching commercial translation. The

researcher designed a quasi-experimental study, where both

quantitative and qualitative data were obtained and analyzed to find

answers for the questions of the present study.

A short-term fully controlled experimental design would be

suitable to measure individual well defined outcome effects, while a

longer-term non-experimental study using qualitative measures such

as observational procedures and think-aloud protocols would yield

important data related to effects on learning processes. A combination

of various data collection methods within one single study will help in

strengthening confidence levels about results (Felix, 2005).

Therefore, the design of this study involved the collection of both

quantitative data obtained through pre- and post-tests and

questionnaires to the subjects, and qualitative data obtained from

 46

diaries and interviews with the subjects as well in order to give

comprehensive answers to the questions of the study.

The basic difference between this approach and the traditional

practice that was followed is that the researcher provided resources

including: different kinds of dictionaries, some translated texts,

reading materials related to the topics of the course and a list of some

useful websites related to the field of commercial translation so that

the learners can refer to them in order to translate. The teacher‟s role

in that case was to supervise and guide students on how to

successfully make use of these resources, and not to give direct

answers or solutions to the problems of translation.

The next section will give details on the participants,

instruments for data collection, treatment, and methods of data

analysis.

3.1. Subjects

The participants of the study were (67) female students of the

commercial translation course at level eight in the Department of

European Languages and Translation at the College of Languages and

Translation at KSU. As mentioned earlier, the research design was

quasi-experimental since participants were two already existing intact

 47

groups i.e., not randomly selected by the researcher (Brown &

Rodgers, 2002). Their ages were between 21 and 23 years old, and

they have received training in translation through a number of

different courses of translation in different fields including; mass-

media translation, translation in natural sciences, translation in the

field of administration, translation in the field of medicine, military

translation, and literary translation. They were divided into two

groups: experimental and control. The experiment involving the

implementation of autonomous approach to commercial translation

training lasted for about five weeks.

3.2. Instruments for data collection

The researcher used five tools in conducting the study (1) a pre-

test and a post-test, which were translation tests of two paragraphs,

one in Arabic and the other in English taken from the same resource

in order to ensure that they are of the same level of difficulty, (2)

another post-test was administered at the end of the semester to

identify any possible long-term effects of following the autonomous

learning approach in translator training, (3) a questionnaire to measure

the students‟ attitude towards autonomous learning, (4) students‟

diaries reflecting on their experience which were obtained through

 48

forms that were given to students to fill out with their beliefs about the

problems they encountered, the progress they made, and their

suggestions for improving their performance, and (5) interviews that

were conducted five months after the experiment to find out the long

term effect of autonomous learning.

3.2.1. Pre-test

The pre-test was given to both groups to measure their

translation accuracy and their ability to select the appropriate

equivalent structures in the target language. In addition, it aimed at

defining the difficulties that students encountered at the beginning of

commercial translation training. It consisted of two paragraphs: the

first was in English and was about „commerce,‟ and the second was in

Arabic and was about „credit facilities.‟(See appendix 1)

3.2.2. Post-test 1

A post-test was administered after the treatment to measure the

performance of students in commercial translation in both groups. It

consisted of two paragraphs: one was in English about „liquidation‟,

and the other was in Arabic about „taxes.‟ They were both taken from

commercial texts (see appendix 2), and were administered

immediately after the last week of the intervention.

 49

The anticipated difference in the performance of the pre-test

and post-tests clarified the relative learning efficiency of the two

instructional methods.

3.2.3. Post-test 2

A second post-test was administered at the end of the semester

to measure the possible long-term effect of learning the skills of

commercial translation following the autonomous learning method

(see appendix 7). This test was the second in-term exam of the

commercial translation course, and was around the eleventh week of

the semester.

In grading the pre- and post-test 1, each text was given three

different scores; for lexical equivalence, for overall accuracy, and for

structural accuracy. The results were then analyzed to give accurate

measurement of the performance of the subjects, and to give clear

answers to the first three questions of the study. As for the second

post-test, it was corrected by the teacher of the course, and the results

were given to the researcher at the end of the semester.

3.2.4. Tests’ reliability

The reliability analysis of the pretest and the post-tests that was

calculated revealed a relationship between individual items in the

 50

scale. The researcher got an overall index of the repeatability or

internal consistency of the scale as a whole, since the Alpha

Cronbach's ranged from (0.7903 to 0.8652) which is considered

highly accepted.

3.2.5. Tests’ validity

To validate the tests, they were shown to some instructors who

are teaching translation courses and their insights were taken into

consideration in modifying the two passages.

3.2.3. Diaries

At the end of each lecture, students were given a form that has

open-ended questions about the difficulties they encountered in

translating commercial texts, the resources that they used while

translating the assigned texts, their evaluation of their performance,

their suggestions regarding possible ways to improve their proficiency

in translation, and comments on the method of teaching. (See

appendices 3 & 4) the responses of the subjects were summarized

according to the most repeated answers and are presented in the

results section in chapter four.

 51

3.2.4. A questionnaire

At the end of the treatment, the subjects of the experimental

group were given a questionnaire to express their impressions,

remarks, and attitudes towards the autonomous learning approach.

(See appendix 5). The questionnaire consisted of twenty-two items

that were grouped into four categories to find out the attitudes of the

subjects towards autonomous learning as follows; items 1 to 5 were

intended to target the perceptions of respondents to the effects of

autonomy on their performance, items 6 to 10 were about the use of

the internet as an important resource in autonomy, items 11-14 were

to find out the subjects‟ opinion about the relevance of autonomous

learning to their needs, and 15-22 were to know their perception of the

teacher‟s role. The responses of the questionnaire were analyzed and

the results are presented in chapter four.

3. 2. 4. 1. Questionnaire validity

To validate the questionnaire it was shown to colleagues in the

department and modifications were made to the items in order to meet

their comments.
 52

3.2. 4. 2. Questionnaire reliability

To define the internal homogeneity of the questionnaire, the

Pearson‟s correlation coefficient was calculated. It was revealed that

there was a linear association and the variables were perfectly related.

(Appendix 8) shows that all of the items were significant at 0.01 level.

This means that the questionnaire was suitable to achieve the research

objectives and questions. The Alpha Cronbach of the internal

consistency of the variables was also calculated, and the questionnaire

achieved 0.8439 which means that it had internal consistency (see

appendix 7)

3.2.5. Interviews

The researcher conducted interviews with eighteen students

who were subjects in the experimental group five months after the

experiment in order to find out the long term effects of autonomy on

their performance in translation. The interview consisted of eight

questions which were mainly to ask the subjects whether this method

was useful for the students or not, whether they have applied what

they have learned through the autonomous learning approach to other

courses or not, if they have used it in translating their graduation

 53

project, and to ask about their suggestions in order to make this

approach more useful for translator training (see appendix 6).

3.3. Treatment

The control group, consisting of 33 students, attended regular

classes in the commercial translation course, and were taught by the

traditional method i.e., teacher-centred. Their teacher gave them a

new text every week to work on during the class time, and continued

the unfinished sections of the texts as homework: during the

translation of each text, the teacher discussed the problematic

structures and guided the students throughout the whole translation

process, solving any problems, and directly correcting any mistakes.

The experimental group, consisting of 34 students, practiced

commercial translation following the autonomous learning approach.

This approach is learner-centred where learners dealt with the

difficulties of both concepts and structure on their own, and without

any direct intervention from the teacher. They went about that by

using resources that were provided in the classroom. These included:

books and text-books on English/Arabic translation that explained the

issues of difficulty in translation and training of translators, reading

materials on economics and business in the source and the target

 54

languages, magazines and newspapers that contain articles related to

business, commerce and economics, bilingual and specialized

dictionaries, lists of useful internet websites, and some translated texts

from and into Arabic and English. The students were asked to refer to

these resources to obtain any information they needed in order to help

them translate the assigned texts. During the class time, students were

divided into groups and worked on the assigned texts in the class

together using the resources available. Later, they were asked to

search the internet for texts about the same topics they tackled in class

in both English and Arabic, and use them to complete translating the

assigned texts. Then, they submitted those along with the diaries to

their teacher.

It is worth mentioning that students rejected this method of

teaching in the first two lectures, and they complained about how

difficult it was for them to go about translation without guidance from

their teacher. Therefore, the teacher explained, and illustrated clearly

for the students how to search the internet and what exactly to look for

during the searching process. Later, in the following lectures students

got familiar with the method and started to get used to it and actually

translated complete texts.

 55

Although both groups were dealing with the same texts every

week, the experimental group followed the autonomous learning

approach while translating. During their first meeting with the teacher,

she explained in detail the autonomous learning approach and its

principles, and clarified any misconceptions that students had about

that method of teaching. They were required to use the internet as a

resource to obtain information on the topics of the texts, although it

was not available in the classroom, but all students had internet access

at home. The teacher‟s role in the experimental group was no longer a

source of information, but an assistant in helping students understand

how to refer to materials and obtain any information that they needed.

At the end of translating a text, students were required to correct their

own mistakes if there were any. Finally, and before the midterm

exam, the teacher had to provide some explanations and corrections to

the student in order for the experiment not to affect the performance in

the course.

The post-test was administered after the end of the sixth week

of the intervention to compare the results of both the control and

experimental groups. Then, after the end of the experimental period,

 56

the questionnaire was administered to the subjects in order to find out

their attitudes towards this new approach to learning translation skills.

Finally, five months after the experiment, the researcher

conducted interviews with eighteen students that were subjects in the

experimental group. Eight questions were given to those students to

answer about the effects of autonomous learning on their performance

in other translation courses, and on their graduation project, where

student at level nine are supposed to translate one hundred pages of a

book of their choice under the supervision of a member of faculty in

the college. In working on the projects, students do most of the

translation work without guidance from teachers. Therefore, the

researcher interviewed them to ask about the usefulness of the

autonomous learning approach to them at this stage of their studies;

whether they were able to cope with the difficulties of translating the

projects or not. The researcher also asked them for their suggestions in

order to make use of this approach in the college. They all answered

the questions in a written form and submitted it to the researcher.

3.4. Measurement

The results of this study were based on a pre-test, and two post-

tests, a student questionnaire (testing student's attitudes towards

 57

autonomous learning), diaries, and interviews as instruments for data

collection.

In order to analyze the data collected, a t-test was used. The

study conclusions were based upon validated results of the research

instruments. The questionnaire scores were tallied and reviewed by

the researcher. More specifically for the obtained quantitative data,

the T-test was administered to compare the following:

1. The means of the pre-test for both groups.

2. The means of the pre-test and post-test for the experimental

group.

3. The means of the pre-test and post-test for the control group.

4. The means of the post-test for both groups in post-test 1.

5. The means of the post-test 2 for the experimental group.

The responses of the subjects to the questionnaire were

compiled and tallied, then were described in terms of frequencies and

percentages of each item in the scale to answer the last question of the

study.

The responses of the subjects to the diaries were summarized

according to the most repeated answers and presented in detail in

 58

chapter four. Moreover, their answers to the questions of the interview

were also summarized presented in detail in the same chapter.

 59

CHAPTER FOUR
Data Analysis and Results

4.1. Introduction
This chapter deals with the analysis and interpretation of the

data collected from the pretest, posttest, learners‟ questionnaires,

diaries, and interviews during the experiment period. The data

collected were very useful in finding answers to the four research

questions:

6. How does the availability of resource materials help students

achieve overall accuracy by gaining background knowledge on

the topics of commercial texts?

7. Will students‟ abilities to resolve the ambiguity of unfamiliar

lexical items in commercial texts improve as they follow an

autonomous learning approach?

8. Will students‟ abilities to resolve the ambiguity of the structure

of commercial texts improve as they follow an autonomous

learning approach?

9. How do students react to the utilization of autonomous learning

in their commercial translation course?

 60

The results of the pre- and post tests, the responses of the students

to the questionnaire, diaries and interviews are discussed under four

headings:

a) Results of the t-test and the analysis of variance of the two

groups in the pre- and post tests.

b) Results and description of the learners‟ questionnaire.

c) Results and description of the students‟ diaries.

d) Results and description of students‟ interviews.

4.2. Results of the t-test and the analysis of variance of the two

groups in the pre- and post tests

A t-test was used to compare the mean scores in the pre and

post-tests for each group. The analysis will be explained in the

following sections.

4.2.1. Results of the control and experimental groups in the

pretest

Table (1) and figure (1) revealed that the experimental

group‟s mean score in translating the text from English into Arabic in

the pretest was (4.191) whereas the control group‟s mean score in

translating the text from English into Arabic in the pretest was

(3.958). So, based on a t-value of (1.415), it is possible to state that

 61

the experimental group was slightly better than the control group

although there was no statistically significant difference.

Table (1)T-test experimental against control group English into Arabic for the
pre-test
Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N Mean T
Deviation tailed)
Experimental 34 1.4853 .22980 -
Overall accuracy 0.570
Control 34 1.5147 .19405 0.570
Experimental 34 1.3676 .37556
Lexical 0.555 0.581
Control 34 1.3235 .27198
Experimental 34 1.3382 .31910
Structural 2.700 0.009 **
Control 34 1.1471 .26197
Experimental 34 4.1912 .68551
Total 1.415 0.162
Control 34 3.9853 .49978

Figure (1) Results of the Experimental against Control group in the English into
Arabic for the pre-test

On the other hand, the scores of the pre-test in translating from

Arabic into English for the experimental and control groups were

(3.161) and (3.876), respectively. The t-value was (-3.002) and the
 62

significance was at the level of (0.004) which means that the control

group performed better than the experimental group in this part of the

pre-test.

Figure (2) Results of Experimental against Control group in the Arabic into
English for the pre-test

Table (2) T-test experimental against control group Arabic into English for the
pre-test
Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N Mean T
Deviation tailed)
Experimental 34 1.3529 0.37998 -
Overall accuracy 0.107
Control 34 1.5147 0.43494 1.633
Experimental 34 .6765 0.36685 -
Lexical 0.000 **
Control 34 1.0882 0.37881 4.553
Experimental 34 1.1324 0.30917 -
Structural 0.117
Control 34 1.2647 0.37407 1.590
Experimental 34 3.1618 0.94324 -
Total 0.004 **
Control 34 3.8676 0.99475 3.002
 63

When we look at the two groups‟ mean scores and t-values in

the pre-test, it is quite obvious that there was no significant difference

between the two groups in translating from English into Arabic.

However, the control group performed better in translation from

Arabic into English, as shown in Table (2) and figure (2).

4.2.2. Performance of the control group in the pre and post-tests

The performance of the control group has improved and this

can be seen in comparing the group‟s mean scores as follows; the

mean score of that group in the pre test from English into Arabic was

( 3.985) compared to a mean score (5.0074) in the post test with a t-

value (-5.311) and a significance level of (0.000) as shown in table

(3). This is, of course, a result of taking the commercial translation

course.

As from the Arabic into English test, the performance of the

control group has also improved and as table (4) shows, the mean

score of this group was (3.367) in the pre-test compared to (3.867) in

the post-test and the t-value was (2.034). This is also a result of taking

the course.
 64

Table (3) T-test control group English into Arabic for the pre- and post-tests
Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N Mean T
Deviation tailed)
pretest 34 3.9853 0.49978
Total - 5.311 0.000 **
posttest 34 5.0074 1.00470

Table (4) T-test control group Arabic into English for the pre- and post-tests
Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N Mean T
Deviation tailed)
pretest 34 3.3676 0.99475
Total 2.034 0.046 *
posttest 34 3.8676 1.03213

4.2.3. Results of the experimental group in the pre and post-tests

Table (5) shows that the mean score of the experimental group

in translating from English into Arabic was (4.191) in the pre-test, and

improved to (5.463) in the post-test, since the t-value was (-4.412) and

there was a significance level of (0.000), it can be stated that the

course taught following the autonomous learning approach helped

students improve considerably in commercial translation. On the other

hand, the mean score of the experimental group in translating from

Arabic into English in the pre-test was (3.161) and improved to

(3.617) in the post-test with a t-value of (-1.559) this slight

improvement is a result of training through the course.

 65

Table (5) T-test experimental group English into Arabic for the pre- and post-tests
Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N Mean T
Deviation tailed)
pretest 34 4.1912 0.68551
Total - 4.412 0.000 **
posttest 34 5.4632 1.53511

Table (6) T-test experimental group Arabic into English for the pre- and post-tests
Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N Mean t
Deviation tailed)
pretest 34 3.1618 0.943
Total -1.559 0.124
posttest 34 3.6176 1.420

Looking at the results of both groups, it can be seen that the

performance of both groups in the pre-test was better in translating

from English into Arabic than in translating from Arabic into English.

The fact that the subjects‟ mother tongue language is Arabic might

explain this result, because it is easy for the subjects to write the

translation of English texts in Arabic, rather than producing English

translation to Arabic source texts.

The next section will shed light on a detailed explanation of the

results in order to answer the first three questions of the study.

In grading the pre and post-test, the researcher divided the

marks on the three main areas of the study; overall accurauy, lexical

accuracy, and structure. In order to answer the questions of the

research, those three categories of grades were analyzed separately.

 66

Moreover, the tests had a part for translation from English into

Arabic, and another part for translating from Arabic into English.

These two parts had two different grades, and this was also taken into

account in analyzing the results.

4.2.4. Results of the t-test and the analysis of the scores of the two

groups in the lexical accuracy of the assigned texts in the post test

As shown in tables (7) and figure (3), the mean scores of the

experimental and the control groups in the lexical accuracy in

translation from English into Arabic were (1.691) and (1.632),

respectively. The t-value was (0.419) which means that there was no

significant difference between the two groups. The same applies to the

results of the translation from Arabic into English. The mean scores

were (0.867) for the experimental group, and (0.720) for the control

group, with a t-value of (1.108) and without any significant difference

as shown in table (9) and (10). The scores of the experimental group

were slightly better than those of the control group.

 67

Figure (3) Results of Experimental against Control group English into Arabic and
Arabic into English for the post-tests in the lexical accuracy

Table (7) T-test experimental against control group English into Arabic for the
post-tests in the lexical accuracy
Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N Mean T
Deviation tailed)
Experimental 34 1.6912 0.63978
Lexical 0.419 0.667
Control 34 1.6324 0.51211

Table (8) T-test experimental against control group Arabic into English for the
post tests in the lexical accuracy
Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N Mean T
Deviation tailed)
Experimental 34 0.8676 0.58139
Lexical 1.108 0.272
Control 34 0.7206 0.51036
 68

4.2.5. Results of the t-test and the analysis of the scores of the two

groups in the structural accuracy of the assigned texts in the post-

test

As shown in table (9) and figure (4), the mean scores of the

experimental group in the post-test from English into Arabic was

(1.816) compared to the mean score of the control group which is

(1.605). With a t-value of (1.923), it can be stated that there was no

significant difference in the performance of both groups in structural

accuracy from English into Arabic.

On the other hand, the mean scores of the translation from

Arabic into English in the structural accuracy were (1.205) for the

experimental group, and (1.147) for the control group. The t-value

was (0.550) and there was no significant difference between the two

groups‟ performance as shown in table (12).

Table (9) T-test experimental against control group in English into Arabic for the
structural accuracy in the post-test
Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N Mean T
Deviation tailed)
Experimental 34 1.8162 0.51238
Structural 1.923 0.059
Control 34 1.6059 0.37955
 69

Table (10) T-test experimental against control group in Arabic into English for
the structural accuracy post tests
Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N Mean T
Deviation tailed)
Experimental 34 1.2059 0.52394
Structural 0.550 0.584
Control 34 1.1471 0.33776

Figure (4) Results of Experimental against Control group English into Arabic and
Arabic into English for the post-tests in the structural accuracy

4.2.6. Results of the t-test and the analysis of the scores of the two

groups in the overall accuracy of the assigned texts in the post test

As shown in table (11 & 12) and figure (5), in the English into

Arabic translation test, the mean scores of the experimental and

control groups in the overall accuracy in the post-test were (1.9559)

and (1.742), respectively. The t-value was (2.084), and the results

showed a significant difference between the two groups at the level of

(0.041).
 70

In the Arabic into English part, the mean scores of the

experimental and control groups in the post test in the overall

accuracy were (1.544) and (1.500), respectively. The t-value was

(0.463) as seen in table (8). Although the experimental group scored

better, the difference was not at a statistical significance level. So,

there was no significant difference between the two groups in the

overall accuracy in translation from Arabic into English.

Table (11) T-test experimental against control group English into Arabic for the
post-test in the overall accuracy
Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N Mean T
Deviation tailed)
Experimental 34 1.9559 0.53112
Overall accuracy 2.084 0.041 *
Control 34 1.7426 0.27168

Table (12) T-test experimental against control group Arabic into English for the
post-test in the overall accuracy
Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N Mean T
Deviation tailed)
Experimental 34 1.5441 0.45004
Overall accuracy 0.463 0.645
Control 34 1.5000 0.32567
 71

Figure (5) Results of Experimental against Control group English into Arabic and
Arabic into English for the post-tests in the comprehension of the assigned texts

4.2.7. Results of the second post-test

As shown in table (13), the mean score of the experimental

group in the second post-test was (16.47) compared to the mean score

of the control group which is (16.17). With a t-value of (0.54), it can

be stated that there was no statistical significant difference in the

performance of both groups in that test although the experimental

group showed a slightly better performance.

Table (13) T-test experimental against control group according to the results of
the second post-test
Mean Std. Sig. (2-
Item Test N (out of T
25)
Deviation tailed)
Experimental 34 16.478 2.68
scores out of 25 0.543 0.589
Control 34 16.177 1.81
 72

4.3. Results of learners’ questionnaire.

The results of the questionnaire were used to answer the fourth

question of this study: How do students react to the utilization of

autonomous learning in their commercial translation course?

The first five questions of the questionnaire dealt with the

subjects‟ attitude towards autonomous learning in relation to its effect

on their performance in translation; whether it was useful or not.

Table (14) Experimental group’s responses to the questionnaire (items

related to the effects of autonomy on their performance)
Strongly Strongly Mean
Item Agree Disagree
agree Disagree (Out of 4)
1. Using resource materials
improved my7 25 0 2
3.088
understanding of the (20.6%) (73.5%) (0.0%) (5.9%)
structures of commercial text
2. Using resource materials
made me understand the 10 18 5 1
3.088
meanings of the terminology (29.4%) (52.9%) (14.7%) (2.9%)
of commercial texts
3. Using resource materials
developed my background 13 17 2 2
3.206
knowledge about the topics (38.2%) (50.0%) (5.9%) (5.9%)
of commercial texts
4. Using resource materials 3 22 7 2
helped me understand the 2.765
source texts better (8.8%) (64.7%) (20.6%) (5.9%)
5. Using resource materials 3 17 11 3
helped me write better 2.588
translated texts (8.8%) (50.0%) (32.4%) (8.8%)

In response to the first five items in the questionnaire, it can be

seen that 50% of the subjects agreed that autonomous learning helped
 73

them gain background knowledge, so item (3) has the highest mean

among the five questions which is (3.206) out of (4), then comes the

first and second items of the questionnaire with an equal mean of

(3.088), where the subjects also agreed that autonomous learning was

helpful in understanding the terminology and structure of commercial

texts. On the other hand, the fourth and fifth questions had lower

means, which are (2.765) and (2.588), respectively. This means that

the respondents‟ attitude was less positive in relation to the effect of

autonomy on understanding the source texts, and in producing better

translated texts.

The next five items in the questionnaire were about the

subjects‟ attitude towards the use of the internet as a resource in

autonomous learning in order to obtain the information they need for

translation. Table (15) presents the results of these items.

 74

Table (15) Experimental group’s responses to questionnaire (in relation to using

the internet as a resource)
Strongly Strongly Mean
Item Agree Disagree
agree Disagree (Out of 4)
6.It is useful to search the internet 9 10 10 5
for deeper terminology analysis of 2.677
the commercial texts (26.5%) (29.4%) (29.4%) (14.7%)
7.It is useful to search the internet 7 17 8 2
for deeper subject knowledge about 2.853
the commercial texts (20.6%) (50.0%) (23.5%) (5.9%)
8.It is useful to search the internet 5 10 11 8
2.353
for translated texts (14.7%) (29.4%) (32.4%) (23.5%)
9.Searching the internet for
translated texts helps in 8 17 5 4
2.853
understanding the structure of the (23.5%) (50.0%) (14.7%) (11.8%)
commercial texts
10.It is easy for me to do 5 12 11 6
information search when I translate 2.471
commercial texts (14.7%) (35.3%) (32.4%) (17.6%)

As the table shows, 50% of the subjects agreed that it is useful

to search the internet for deeper subject knowledge about the

commercial texts, and to understand the structure of commercial texts

with an equal mean of (2.853) out of (4), which was the highest

among all the five items. They also agree to some extent that the

internet is a useful resource for terminology analysis with a mean of

(29.4). However, 35.3% believe that searching the internet is easy,

and only 29.4% agreed that searching the internet for translated texts

was very useful.

 75

The next four items of items in the questionnaire intended to

measure the attitude of the subjects towards the relevance of

autonomous learning to their needs as translation trainees in the

current course and in other translation courses, as well as to their

future careers as translators.

Table (16) Experimental group’s responses to questionnaire ( in relation to the

relevance of autonomy to their needs)
Strongly Strongly Mean
Item Agree Disagree
agree Disagree (Out of 4)
11.Using resources of information 6 17 10 1
is a more meaningful method for 2.824
my own progress (17.6%) (50.0%) (29.4%) (2.9%)
12.Using resources of information 9 18 6 1
is relevant to my needs in this 3.029
course (26.5%) (52.9%) (17.6%) (2.9%)
13.I can transfer the knowledge I 9 18 4 3
developed in this course to other 2.971
academic courses (26.5%) (52.9%) (11.8%) (8.8%)
14.I can transfer the knowledge I7 22 4 1
developed in this course to real life 3.029
situations (20.6%) (64.7%) (11.8%) (2.9%)

The respondents showed a positive attitude towards the

fourteenth and twelfth items in the questionnaire; 64% of them agreed

that they can transfer the knowledge that they developed in this course

to real life situations, and 52.9% also agreed that following the

autonomous learning approach was relevant to their needs in this

course. Those results imply that the respondents had a positive

attitude towards autonomy in their learning. However, they did not

 76

consider what they have learned transferable to other academic

courses because only 52.9% with a mean of (2.97) of (4) agreed on

this item. Moreover, most of the subjects agreed that what they have

learned is meaningful for their own progress, but this item achieved

the least mean of all the other items in that category which is (2.82)

out of (4).

The last part of the questionnaire with eight items investigated

the subjects‟ perception of the role of their teacher in the classroom,

and how they perceive themselves as capable of taking charge of their

own learning and becoming more independent.

 77

Table (17) Experimental groups’ responses to questionnaire (in relation to the

teacher’s role)
Strongly Strongly Mean
Item Agree Disagree
agree Disagree (Out of 4)
15.I like the teacher explains what I 20 11 1 2
3.441
am learning (58.8%) (32.4%) (2.9%) (5.9%)
16.I like the teacher explains how i 18 12 2 2
3.353
am learning (52.9%) (35.3%) (5.9%) (5.9%)
17.I like the teacher corrects my 27 5 0 2
3.677
mistakes (79.4%) (14.7%) (0.0%) (5.9%)
18.I like the teacher to be the only 3 7 20 4
2.265
source of information (8.8%) (20.6%) (58.8%) (11.8%)
19.I can only learn through my 2 7 14 11
2.000
teacher (5.9%) (20.6%) (41.2%) (32.4%)
20.I learn better by working on my 6 10 9 9
2.382
own (17.6%) (29.4%) (26.5%) (26.5%)
21.learn better when my teacher 14 11 8 1
3.118
tells me how to learn on my own (41.2%) (32.4%) (23.5%) (2.9%)
22.I like to work in a group with my 15 7 4 8
2.853
class mates during classes (44.1%) (20.6%) (11.8%) (23.5%)

As shown in table (17), 79% of the respondents preferred the

teacher to correct their errors, 58.8% agreed that they like the teacher

to explain what they are learning. The subjects also showed a great

dependency on the teacher when 52.9% of them strongly agreed that

they like the teacher to explain how they are learning. Nevertheless,

41.2% of them strongly agreed that they learn better when the teacher

tells them how to learn on their own, which means that they have a
 78

tendency to accept the autonomous learning approach. While 44.1%

strongly agreed that they like to work in groups, 29.4% agreed that

they are capable of learning on their own. However, 58.8% of the

subjects disagreed that they like the teacher to be the only source of

information, and 41.2% also disagreed that they can only learn

through their teacher.

The responses to this part of the questionnaire suggest that the

students in this commercial course still consider the teacher as the

most important source of information in the classroom. Consequently,

they are able to take charge of their own learning and use different

resources, but they are not completely ready to do that on their own.

4.4. Diaries

The subjects submitted their diaries after each lecture when

they finished translating their assigned texts. They completed five sets

of diaries throughout the six weeks of the intervention. Those diaries

were analyzed, and it was revealed that their attitudes changed from

being totally against autonomous learning to total acceptance of that

approach in their translation training.

 79

When analyzing their first set of diaries, which they completed

after translating their first assignment about „the stock market,‟

students mentioned that the text was difficult because of its

terminology, structure, and because they lacked the sufficient

background knowledge about the topic. When asked how they

overcame those difficulties, they said that they referred to specialized

dictionaries and to the internet as resources to help them in translation.

However, they mentioned that it was a difficult task, and that they felt

lost and unable to do the search properly. Most of the subjects wrote

that they need to read more about the topic in order to understand it.

At that stage of the experiment, students were still unfamiliar with

autonomous learning and were expecting more help from their

teacher. One of them wrote:

“ it‟s a good method but we students need to get used to it, it‟s only a

matter of time.”

The second set of diaries was written in the classroom where

the internet as a resource was not available. The text was about

„liquidation‟ and was not as difficult as the first text. When they wrote

their diaries, the subjects said that the text was easy, that the

dictionaries were the only resource they used in order to find

 80

equivalents for the terminology in that text. They also wrote that they

need to read more about the commercial topic of liquidation. In the

comments section of the diaries, most of the students pointed out to

the usefulness of working together in groups in the classroom. Some

of their comments were:

“ we just need time .. we are learning, it‟s a going to be a useful

method.” This means that students started to accept autonomy. They

also said that it was useful for them to use resources.

The third set of diaries was around the third week of the

intervention when students had already finished two assignments

following the autonomous learning approach. They wrote things like:

“thank you because by this way you force me to read more about

business field” or “ I like this kind of homework because I saw

translations of a text…” another student wrote: “ I very benefit and

interested with this new method.” Those statements can lead us to

believe that after spending some time following this approach in

teaching translation, students started to see and feel its usefulness and

became aware of how beneficial it is for them to become independent

from their teachers.

 81

The fourth set of diaries was submitted after they finished their

fourth assignment which was about „taxes.‟ Most of them mentioned

that the text was manageable, that it was easy for them to use the

resources, and that they used the internet as a resource to help them

translate. At this point, students started writing more detailed diaries.

They wrote an outline of their work starting from the preparation

stage where they searched for texts and articles online, then the

planning stage where they looked for equivalents for terminology, and

finally the translation stage. It can be seen that their work became

more organized as they became more interested in autonomous

learning.

The fifth and last set of diaries was submitted after translating a

text about „privatization.‟ After four weeks of being taught through

autonomous learning, students began to grasp the principle of using

resources other than their teachers. They said that they know exactly

what they need to look for in order to understand the source text, they

became able to organize their work carefully, that they used the

resources properly, and that it was easy for them to find different

resources especially on the internet.

 82

Looking at those sets of diaries, it can be concluded that the

subjects of that study were very unfamiliar with autonomous learning

and were not able to accept this big shift in their instructional

tradition, where they used to rely on their teachers all the time.

However, after only two weeks of following the autonomous learning

approach, they developed a sense of responsibility towards their

learning, and they began to enjoy this new approach. Finally, towards

the end of the experiment, they had a clear positive attitude towards

autonomy. Therefore, it can be stated that autonomous learning is a

very good approach to teaching, but it requires some time for students

to get used to it and see clearly how much they can benefit from it.

Training and practice is very important for this approach to succeed.

4.5. Interviews

The interviews with eighteen students that make up 53% of the

subjects in the experimental group were conducted five months after

the experiment. In general, their responses proved that they made use

of autonomous learning in other academic courses and in working on

the graduation project, which means that after a longer period of

practice, students found this method very helpful and useful.

 83

When asked whether they think that autonomous learning was

useful or not, 100% of the students responded that it was very useful.

In addition, when they were asked why they think so, 16% of them

said that it helped them become independent from teacher, 55% stated

that it helped them learn how to search for the information they

needed to overcome the difficulties they encounter while translating,

11% asserted that it helped them remember and make use of the

information they learned in that course, and the remaining 11% stated

that it was useful to look for translated texts that were similar to those

which they are translating in the commercial translation course.

In response to the second question in the interview, which

aimed to find out which part of the translation process did the subjects

find the resources helpful, 45% answered that it was helpful in dealing

with the terminology, and in gaining background information. At this

point, it is worth mentioning that the results of the comprehension in

the pos-test support this finding, 27% replied that it was useful for all

aspects of translation including; terminology, structure, and

background information, 16% said that it was useful for gaining

background knowledge, and the remaining 11% found it useful for the

terminology.
 84

As for the third questions, when the subjects were asked

whether they applied the autonomous learning approach in other

courses of translation, 77% of them said that they did, and some of

them added that it had a positive effect on their results of these

courses.

Moreover, when asked about their use of this approach in

translating the graduation project, 77% of the subjects replied that

they made use of what they have learned in the course of commercial

translation upon working on the graduation project, and they added

that they mainly referred to online resources.

When asked about their suggestions for making this way of

learning better for students, 16% of the students suggested that the

college must provide a self-access center for the students to facilitate

their access for any resources they need. 11%, on the other hand,

suggested that they need more training time on the use of resources,

and 33% suggested that this approach should be applied starting from

the early levels of their translation training.

The researcher also asked the students about their opinion about

the most suitable level for applying this method of teaching in the

college. While, 33% of them suggested level five where they take
 85

their first translation course, 22% suggested level six, and only 33%

preferred to start following autonomous learning from level one, and

the remaining 10% suggested level three.

From the previous results, one can conclude that the students

had a clear positive attitude towards autonomous learning in the

teaching of translation. Therefore, we can say that the experiment

promoted a positive attitude of students towards being independent,

doing research, and being aware of different ways of overcoming the

difficulties associated with translation.

4.6. Discussion of results

The first finding in that study revealed that the experimental

group outperformed the control group in the overall accuracy part in

the English into Arabic text in the post-test. This difference in the

performance of students can be justified on the grounds that the

experimental group following the autonomous learning approach was

exposed to a number of texts about each topic in the course, and this

was a part of the teaching method that requires learners to search for

different texts about the topics of the course in source and target

languages. This method has improved their comprehension level and

raised their awareness and background knowledge of commercial

 86

topics. As for the Arabic into English part, there was no significant

difference between the two groups, although the scores of the

experimental group were slightly higher. This could be a result of the

source texts being in Arabic, which is a language understood clearly

by Arab translator trainees, and did not require them to search for as

many texts as they did in translating the English source texts.

As for lexical accuracy, autonomous learning did not seem to

improve the performance of the subjects of the study; the results did

not show a significant difference between the two groups. However,

this could be justified by the use of dictionaries which were available

for both groups throughout the course. With the availability of

dictionaries, lexical accuracy was not difficult to achieve for both

groups. Nevertheless, the experimental group had the advantage of

being exposed to the lexical items used in different contexts

throughout the experiment period.

The third finding of the study revealed that autonomous

learning did not improve the structural accuracy of the subjects. This

can be justified on the grounds that throughout their translation

training, students usually focus on the terminology more than any

other aspect of the source text; they believe that using the right lexical
 87

equivalent in translation is the key to produce accurate target texts.

Moreover, they refer mostly to dictionaries as the first resource for

any help in translating, and they ignore the structural aspect of the

texts, considering it less important.

Finally, the second post test results did not show a significant

difference between the performances of both groups. This test was

taken about three weeks after the intervention, and this period of time

is not enough for students to fully apply the autonomous learning

approach in their commercial translation training. Moreover, it was a

totally new approach to learning that the subjects of the study were

not used to at all; it was a big shift in their educational experience to

move from total dependence on the teacher to relying on research and

resources.

The findings of the study, based on the results of the tests,

showed that autonomous learning had a positive effect on the

performance of the subjects in that it improved their understanding,

and enhanced their background knowledge about the topics of

commercial translation, i.e., their overall accuracy. On the other hand,

students were unable to benefit from this approach to improve their

lexical and structural accuracy. However, as mentioned above, this

 88

new method of teaching requires more time and training in order to

become a fruitful way of learning; students cannot utilize the

autonomous learning properly from the first experience with that

method. Psychological factors, such as the anxiety that the subjects

felt in the beginning of the intervention may prove that fact as their

diaries showed and this will be explained later in that discussion.

On the basis of the findings above, the first null hypothesis and

the second null hypothesis can be accepted, and we can say that the

lexical accuracy of students‟ translation will not improve when

following the autonomous learning method in translation training, and

the structural accuracy of students‟ translation will not improve when

following the autonomous learning method in translation training.

In recalling the findings of Frankenberg-Garcia (2005), it can

be seen that this finding supports the fact that translation trainees

prefer materials mediated by terminologists and lexicographers over

ones requiring more autonomous user interpretation, and this raises

the issue of the need to train learners to use different kinds of paper

and electronic resources and to teach them how to integrate their skills

at using them together.

 89

The students in this study showed a great deal of interest in

searching for information to facilitate the translation of commercial

texts. As Defeng (1999) mentioned, the availability of resource

materials helps in improving the teaching of commercial translation.

The subjects also believe that it improved their translation skills, and

this supports the view of (Vilmi, 1995; Yumuk, 2002; and Hobrom,

2004) who stated that in searching and retrieving information online,

students have greater interaction with course materials, and learning

becomes more exciting and engaging for learners. This was reflected

in the results of the overall accuracy test where the experimental

group outperformed the control group in the post-test as a result of

being exposed to more course materials through searching for

different texts about the topics. Therefore, the third null hypothesis

can be rejected and we can say that the overall accuracy of students‟

translation will improve when following the autonomous learning

method translation training.

In general, it can be stated that although they had a positive

attitude towards the elements and requirements of autonomy in

translation training, the students still consider the direct explanation

and feedback from the teacher as the most reliable source of

 90

information and believe that the teacher is main authority in the

classroom; their responses to the questionnaire suggest that they like

following this approach in the course to some extent, they cannot go

about that without direct guidance from their instructor. This finding,

which was based on the responses of the subjects to the questionnaire,

supports the view of Chiu (2005) in that cultural factors and the

experience of students should be taken into consideration when

discussing autonomy. The finding also supports the view of Ade-ojo

(2005) who also adds the psychological factor. Our culture in Saudi

Arabia and our educational system do not give enough space for the

choice element to learners. The teacher is the main source of

information, recitation is a common mode of teaching, and there is no

encouragement for doing any research activities. Therefore, it will not

be easy for the subjects of this study to accept and react positively to

all components of autonomy, especially self evaluation.

To elaborate on this finding, the analysis of the diaries that

were written by the students proved that they accept that approach and

enjoy following it, they also believe that it is a very useful way of

learning. From their responses, one can conclude that the subjects had
 91

a positive attitude towards autonomous learning regardless of their

inability to apply it successfully as the results of their tests showed.

In addition, the responses of the interviews with the students

further support their positive attitude as they sensed its usefulness to

them as translator trainees, and facilitating the problems of translation

that they encountered in other translation courses and in the project.

It is worth mentioning in this discussion, that there is a long

term effect of autonomous learning in translator training. The

responses of the subjects to the interviews that took place five months

after the experiment proved the existence of that long term effect. The

students mentioned that they used this method of learning in other

translation courses following the semester in which the experiment

took place, and in translating their graduation project which made

working on this project enjoyable, and which helped them achieve

high scores in their work. Autonomous learning is an approach that

relies mainly on the students‟ abilities to access resources to obtain

knowledge, and this requires training and practice. Therefore, the

mastery of such skills cannot be obtained through a short period of

time. In the context of the present study, training was limited to five

weeks only which is not enough for students to become able to apply
 92

this method. However, after a longer period of time, they were able to

apply it and perceive its principles and benefits to their learning. Most

of them believe that it is a good way of learning, and they suggest that

it should be followed from the first translation course they take in the

college.

This leads to the rejection of the fourth null hypothesis of the

study, and it can be said that students do support following the

autonomous learning approach in their translation training.

Nevertheless, they are not completely ready to become autonomous

learners.

The use of technology can improve the outcomes of learning

(Becker as cited in Felix, 2005). In following the autonomous learning

approach, the students refer to the internet as the main resource to

help them in translation. They believe that the outcomes were

rewarding, and the process of online searching was very useful.

Rumberger (as cited in Felix, 2005), suggests that some skills

that involve training in student-centered classrooms, such as computer

assisted language learning, are best assessed through performance-

based measures carried out over extended periods of time. From this

point, one can conclude that autonomous learning, which falls under
 93

the same category of learner-centered approaches to teaching, with

longer periods of training might make a significant difference in the

performance of the students.

 94

CHAPTER FIVE

Summary, Implications and Suggestions for Further Research

5.1. Summary
This experimental study attempted to test four null hypotheses,

assuming that (1) the lexical accuracy of students‟ translation will not

improve when following the autonomous learning method in

translation training, (2) the structural accuracy of students‟ translation

will not improve when following the autonomous learning method in

translation training, (3) the overall accuracy of students‟ translation

will not improve when following the autonomous learning method

translation training., (4) students do not support following the

autonomous learning approach in their translation training.

Accordingly, a six week experiment was carried out in the first six

weeks of the commercial translation course at the College of

Languages and Translation, KSU. In this experiment, the subjects

(level eight English major female students at COLT) were divided

into two groups: the experimental group (34 students) in which the

treatments „autonomous learning‟ was implemented, and the control

group (33 students) in which no treatment was implemented. In this

experiment, a true experimental design of the type „pre-test post-test

control group‟ was adopted. During the experiment, the number of

 95

classes per course, number of classes per week, duration of each class,

syllabus, the texts to be translated, teacher, and skills taught were all

exactly the same in both groups.

In order to test the four null hypotheses of the study, five data

collection tools were used to collect data about the dependent

variables in each hypothesis. Consequently, pre-test, post-test, diaries,

questionnaire, and interviews were all used to gather information

about the performance of the subjects by the end of the experiment,

and their attitudes towards autonomous learning, respectively. The

data collected using these tools were described, sorted out, and

statistically analyzed using appropriate statistical procedures.

5.1.2. Summary of the main findings

Concerning the first and second null hypotheses, the descriptive

statistics calculated to describe the data (the subjects‟ scores in the

post-test) indicated that the mean difference between the experimental

and control groups was (0.667) from English into Arabic, and (0.272)

from Arabic into English translation regarding their performance in

the lexical accuracy, and the mean difference was (0.059) in the

English into Arabic, and (0.584) in the Arabic into English regarding

their performance in the structural accuracy in translation. The

 96

inferential statistics (t-test) computed to test the significance of this

mean difference implies that there was no significant difference at the

0.5 level between the two groups in these two areas. More

specifically, they showed that the performance of the experimental

group did not improve more than that of the control group in relation

to the structural and lexical accuracy. Taking into consideration those

results, it is justifiable to accept the first and second hypotheses that

(1) the lexical accuracy of students‟ translation will not improve when

following the autonomous learning method in translation training, (2)

the structural accuracy of students‟ translation will not improve when

following the autonomous learning method in translation training.

As for the third null hypothesis, the descriptive statistics

calculated to describe the data collected (the scores of the subjects in

the overall accuracy post-test) indicated that the mean difference

between the experimental and control groups in the English into

Arabic test was (0.041 *), and in the Arabic into English test

was(0.645). The inferential statistics (t-test) computed to test the

significance of this mean difference showed that English into Arabic

test results are significant at the 0.01 level in favour of the

experimental group. Therefore, one can conclude that it is justifiable

 97

to reject the third hypothesis that the overall accuracy of students‟

translation will not improve when following the autonomous learning

method translation training.

Concerning the fourth null hypothesis, the descriptive statistics

calculated to describe the data collected from the questionnaire

indicate that the majority of the subjects in the experimental group

had a positive attitude towards autonomous learning. This means that

they were in favour of this approach to learning, and believe that it

was a meaningful way of learning in order to overcome the difficulties

of translation. Moreover, the analysis of the qualitative data collected

to measure their attitudes towards autonomous learning further

support that finding. The responses of the subjects to the interview

questions, and their diaries showed that they do have a positive

attitude towards this approach to learning, and that they are very

interested in it. Consequently, it is justifiable to reject the fourth null

hypothesis that students do not support following the autonomous

learning approach in their translation training.

To sum up, the analysis of both the quantitative and qualitative

data that were used to test the first and second hypotheses of the study

revealed that:
 98

1. The lexical accuracy of students‟ translation will not improve when

following the autonomous learning method in translation training.

2. The structural accuracy of students‟ translation will not improve

when following the autonomous learning method in translation

training,

On the other hand, the statistical analysis of the data collected

to test the third and fourth hypotheses showed that they were

significant at the 0.5 level of probability, which leads us to reject

those hypotheses and say that:

3. The overall accuracy of students‟ translation will improve when

following the autonomous learning method translation training.

4. Students support following the autonomous learning approach in

their translation training.

5.2. Implications of the study

Taking into consideration the experimental design adopted in

this study and the significant findings resulting from the process of

data collection and analysis, this study can be said to have the

following theoretical and pedagogical implications.

 99

5.2.1. Theoretical implications

This study empirically illuminated an important aspect of

learner autonomy which is using resources in translation courses, and

this may direct language teachers and translator training researchers to

adopt this approach. The effects of autonomous learning were mostly

measured in language learning classrooms for different skills such as;

reading, writing, listening, or speaking, and only few studies

considered measuring its effects on translator training. So, it is hoped

that this study will pave the way for applied linguists, graduate

students, or teachers researching autonomous learning by highlighting

one way in which this method is effective in teaching translation.

5.2.2. Pedagogical implications

This study showed the important effects of autonomous

learning on students‟ attitudes, and, to some extent, on their

performance. Therefore, it is hoped that translation teachers will

attempt to implement this approach in their classrooms. Moreover,

 100

follow the main principle underlying this method of using resources to

broaden the knowledge of the translation students. In addition, this

study provides translation teachers with a practical example of

classroom-based research in which the students‟ abilities to become

less dependent on their teachers was investigated, and to be able to

use resources overcome and solve the problems they face in

translating technical texts. Moreover, translation teachers can

creatively research the effects of autonomous learning on other

translation courses whether oral or written using modified versions of

the model adopted in this study.

Hopefully, this study attracts teacher trainers‟ attention to train

teachers on how to change their roles from being the main authority,

and the only resource of knowledge to guides and facilitators of

learning. In the light of the significant findings of the study, teacher

trainers should include the notion of autonomous learning in their

program agenda. Moreover, they may use the aspects of autonomous

 101

learning adopted in this study such as; resources, diaries, and

questionnaires, as a guideline in training teachers to use autonomous

learning in their classes.

5.3. Suggestions for further research

It is hoped that this study will contribute to the current research

agenda in the field of applied linguistics, and more specifically,

educational linguistics. Below are several suggestions presented for

further research in issues related to this study:

1. It would be worthwhile to examine the effect of autonomous

learning on students‟ performance in different educational

settings, like written translation courses at levels five and six

where students begin their translation training.

2. It would be also worthwhile to examine the effects of

autonomous learning on the students‟ performance in different

educational settings like language skills courses like reading,

writing, listening and speaking.

 102

3. It might be rewarding to investigate the effects of autonomous

learning on different content courses at the College of

Languages and Translation such as; language and culture, and

problems of translation where students may utilize the

resources to obtain knowledge related to the contents of these

courses.

4. It might be also useful to examine the effects of autonomous

learning on the performance of students in oral interpretation

courses such as; consecutive translation, simultaneous

interpretation, and bilateral translation.

5. It might be useful to investigate the effects of autonomous

learning on the performance of students in grammar courses,

where a vast number of resources are available to help learners

better master grammatical rules.

 103

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 110

Appendix 1 (pre-test)

Name:…………………………………………………………
Group:………………………………………………………...
G.P.A. ………………………………………………………..

Translate the following texts.

Commerce: The term „commerce‟ means the exchange, or

trading, of goods and services. When trading takes place within the
boundary of a country it is called domestic commerce. Trading
between countries is called foreign or international trade.
Foreign commerce differs from domestic trade in that the
movement of goods across national borders usually involves: (1)
import and export duties, fees, and licenses; (2) payment in foreign
money; and (3) differences in language, laws, customs, and forms of
government.

ٔ‫الد اإلعزالف أ‬ٛٓ‫الد اإلئزًبٌ (رغ‬ٛٓ‫ش رغ‬ٛ‫ش رعج‬ٛ‫ش‬ٚ :)‫حسهٍالث اإلئخمان (انخسهٍف‬
ٌ‫ٍ عهٗ أ‬ٚ‫ع ثبنذ‬ٛ‫بد انج‬ٛ‫الد انًًُٕحخ يٍ لجم ثبئع إنٗ عًالئّ يثم ارفبل‬ٛٓ‫ف) إنٗ انزغ‬ٛ‫انزغه‬
‫خغشٔا‬ٚ ٌ‫ًكٍ أ‬ٚ ‫ ٔ نكٍ انعًالء‬.‫ع عهٗ انحغبة انًزجذد‬ٛ‫خ أٔ انج‬ٚٔ‫كٌٕ انذفع ثألغبغ يزغب‬ٚ
.‫ ثعط انحبالد‬ٙ‫غزٓبٌ ثٓب ف‬ٚ ‫ لذ ال‬ٙ‫بد انذفع َمذًا انز‬ًٛ‫حغ‬
٘‫ٍ انجبئع ٔ انشبس‬ٛ‫ٓب ث‬ٛ‫جبد انًزفك عه‬ٛ‫ عجبسح عٍ انزشر‬ْٙ ‫ف‬ٛ‫ ششٔغ انزغه‬:‫شزوط انخسهٍف‬
.‫ثخصٕص ٔلذ اعزحمبق انذفع عٍ انجعبئع انًشزشاح أٔ انخذيبد انًمذيخ‬
 111

Appendix 2 (post-test)
Name: ……………………………………………………
Group:……………………………………………………

Translate the following texts.

Liquidation
Liquidation means winding up the business, usually by selling the
assets, paying the liabilities, and distributing the remaining cash to the
owners. Liquidity ratio is computed by dividing the total of cash and
government securities owned by total current liabilities outstanding.

)‫ضزٌبت دائىت (حسم مه مبهغ انضزٌبت‬

ٍَٛ‫ لٕا‬ٙ‫جخ انذخم انًغزحمخ ثًٕجت ثُٕد ف‬ٚ‫ يجهغ ظش‬ٙ‫ط ف‬ٛ‫ش إنٗ رخف‬ٛ‫ش ْزا انزعج‬ٛ‫ش‬ٚ
ٙ‫ حبنخ االعزثًبس ف‬ٙ‫جخ انذائُخ ف‬ٚ‫ًكٍ اٌ رغًح انحكٕيخ ثٓزِ انعش‬ٚ ً‫ فًثال‬.‫جخ انذخم‬ٚ‫ظش‬
‫ع انحصٕل‬ٛ‫ ال رغزؽ‬ٙ‫ٕد رٔ٘ انذخم انًحذٔد ثغشض يغبعذح ْزِ انفئخ يٍ انُبط انز‬ٛ‫ث‬
.‫ انغٕق انحشح‬ٙ‫عهٗ عكٍ أجشح ف‬
 112

Appendix 3 (Diaries)
Commercial Translation

Name: _______________________________ G.P.A. _________

Date: ___________ lecture no.
________
Title of the text: ________________________________________
1. I like this text
because…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
……..................................
2. I don’t like this text
because…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
……..................................
3. The difficulties that I faced while translating this text
are……………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………….
4. The resources that I used for translating this text
are……………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………….
5. To be able to translate, I
need……………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………..
6.Comments:…………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
……………………………
 113

Appendix 4 (Diaries)

Name: …………………………………………………………….

Title of the text: …………………………………………………..

Homework diary:

1. The text was ( easy difficult

manageable)
2. The resources (easy to find difficult to find not
useful)
(if not useful, why?
.................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
.................................................)
3. The resources I used are: (website, link, author, copy of these
resources)
a………………………………………………………………………
…………………
b.
…………………………………………………………………………
…………….
c.
…………………………………………………………………………
…………….
d.
…………………………………………………………………………
…………….

4. From this text, I learned

…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………….
5. Outline of the framework:
a. preparation
…………………………………………………………………………
 114

…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………
b. Planning
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………….
c. Translation
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………….
d. Evaluation (on the next page.)
Self-evaluation Yes No
Preparation and planning:
1. I know exactly what I need to look for in order to understand
the source text.
2. I organize my work carefully.

Translation
1. I used the resources properly.
2. I checked some translated texts.
3. I edited my translation looking for the grammar, structure,
and punctuation.

Evaluation:
1. I discussed my translation with a partner .
her name is…………………………
her comments were
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………
she checked
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
………………………………
2. After I discussed my translation with my teacher, my mistakes are
as follows:
 115

number of mistakes type of mistakes

…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………….
 116

Appendix 5 (Questionnaire)

Dear respondent
This questionnaire is designed to find out the effects of the
autonomous learning approach on your performance as a student in
the course of commercial translation.
Whatever information you give in this questionnaire will be
confidential and you have the right to refuse to answer any of the
questions.
You can be sure that the goal of the research is to find ways of
helping learners like yourself to learn better.

I hope you will find some time to complete it.

Thank you.
Key to questionnaire:
1= strongly disagree
2= disagree
3= agree
4= strongly agree

1. Using resource materials improved my understanding of the

structures of commercial texts. (1 2 3 4)

2. Using resource materials made me understand the meanings

of the terminology of commercial texts. (1 2 3 4)

3. Using resource materials developed my background knowledge

about the topics of commercial texts. (1 2 3 4)

4. Using resource materials helped me understand the source

texts better. (1 2 3 4)

5. Using resource materials helped me write better translated

texts. (1 2 3 4)

6. It is useful to search the Internet for deeper terminology

analysis of the commercial texts. (1 2 3 4)

7. It is useful to search the Internet for deeper subject

 117

knowledge about the commercial texts. (1 2 3 4)

8. It is useful to search the Internet for translated texts. (1 2 3 4)

9. Searching the Internet for translated texts helps in

understanding the structure of the commercial texts.(1 2 3 4)

10. It is easy for me to do information search when

I translate a commercial text. (1 2 3 4)

11. Using resources of information is a more meaningful

method for my own progress. (1 2 3 4)

12. Using resources of information is relevant to my needs

in this course. (1 2 3 4)

13. I can transfer the knowledge I developed in this course

to other academic courses. (1 2 3 4)

14. I can transfer the knowledge I developed in

this course to real-life situations. (1 2 3 4)

15. I like it when the teacher explains what I am learning.

(1 2 3 4)

16. I like it when the teacher explains how I am learning.

(1 2 3 4)

17. I like it when the teacher corrects my mistakes. (1 2 3 4)

18. I consider my teacher to be the only source of information.

(1 2 3 4)

19. I can only learn through my teacher. (1 2 3 4)

20. I learn better by working on my own. (1 2 3 4)

 118

21. I learn better when my teacher tells me how to learn

on my own. (1 2 3 4)

22. I like to work in a group with my classmates during classes.

(1 2 3 4)
 119

Appendix 6 (Interview)

Interview:
Dear respondent,
In your commercial translation course, you have been
taught following the autonomous learning approach for the
first six weeks in that course. You were asked to look for
resources to help you in translation such as; articles,
websites….etc.
Please answer the following questions about that
experience.
1. Do you think that this way of learning was useful?
(why or why not)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…..
2. In which part of the translation process did you find
the resources helpful? (for example, background
knowledge, terminology, or structure)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…..
3. Did you apply what you have learned in that course to
other courses?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……
4. Did you apply what you have learned in that course
when translating the project? If so, what was the
title of your book? And which resources did you use?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……
5. Do have any suggestions to make this way of learning
better for students?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……
6. When do you think it is best to start applying this
approach to teaching i.e., at which level?
 120

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……

7. Is there anything that you would like to add?

Comments..
.....................................................
.....................................................
.....................................................
.....................................................
.....................................................
.....................................................
..................................................
8. What are your suggestions in order to make this way
of learning better for you?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……
 121

Appendix 7 (post-test 2)
122
 123

Appendix 8 (reliability of the questionnaire)

Correlation coefficient for the first five items and the
total items
Variable Correlation coefficient
0.840
Pearson Correlation
Using resource materials improved my understanding of the **
structures of commercial text Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 34
0.840
Pearson Correlation
Using resource materials made me understand the meanings of the **
terminology of commercial texts Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 34
0.721
Pearson Correlation
Using resource materials developed my background knowledge **
about the topics of commercial texts Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 34
0.819
Pearson Correlation
Using resource materials helped me understand the source texts **
better Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 34
0.776
Pearson Correlation
**
Using resource materials helped me write better translated texts
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 34
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
 124

Table no. (2)

Correlation coefficient for the second group of items and the total items
Variable Correlation coefficient
Pearson Correlation 0.806 **
It useful to search the internet for deeper terminology analysis of
the commercial texts Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.789 **
It is useful to search the internet for deeper subject knowledge
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
about the commercial texts
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.712 **
It is useful to search the internet for translated texts Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.719 **
Searching the internet for translated texts helps in understanding
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
the structure of the commercial texts
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.760 **
It is easy for me to do information search when I translated a
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
commercial texts
N 34
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table no. (3)

Correlation coefficient for the third group of items and the total items
Variable Correlation coefficient
Pearson Correlation 0.715 **
Using resources of information is a more meaningful method for
my own progress Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.786 **
Using resources of information is relevant of my needs in this
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
course
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.789 **
I can transfer the knowledge I developed in this course to other
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
academic courses
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.624 **
I can transfer the knowledge I developed in this course to real
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
life situations
N 34
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
 125

Table no. (4)

Correlation coefficient for the fourth group of items and the total items
Variable Correlation coefficient
Pearson Correlation 0.530 **
I like it when the teacher explains what I am learning Sig. (2-tailed) .001
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.587 **
I like it when the teacher explains how I am learning Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.594 **
I like it when the teacher corrects my mistakes Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.312
I like the teacher to be the only source of information Sig. (2-tailed) .072
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.200
I can only learn through my teacher Sig. (2-tailed) .257
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.518 **
I learn better by working on my own Sig. (2-tailed) .002
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.611 **
learn better when my teacher tells me how to learn on my
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
own
N 34
Pearson Correlation 0.551 **
I like to work in a group with my class mates during
Sig. (2-tailed) .001
classes
N 34
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table no. (5)

Alpha (Cronbach's) for internal consistency of the variables

No. of No. of Alpha

Pivot
cases variables (Cronbach's).

First ........................................... 34 5 0.8542

Second ........................................... 34 5 0.8109
Third ........................................... 34 4 0.7090
Fourth ........................................... 34 8 0.5347
Total variables 34 22 0.8439