Issues in EFL in Japan (Not currently being updated)

My name in James Hall and I teach an English Teaching Methodologies class for aspiring English teachers and advising 5 senior students (one is in the USA). This blog is will be used as a forum to discuss issued in EFL in Japan. This blog will also serve as a portal to the learners' blogs as I will periodically summarize the hot topics appearing in the learners' blogs. Please come join us!

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Why do students with six years of learning English need translating programs?

This week I had a frustrating experience. I teach a freshmen English class at a university other than Iwate University. The students in the class had an assignment due last week(May 11). We had read a story about coincidences and I asked them to write about a coincidence that had happened to them. I asked them to write about 100 words. I never count how many words a student writes but I usually set a word limit to ensure that students write more than a sentence. I was hoping that today (May 18) students would read some of their papers to each other because the topic was interesting. Whenever I give an assignment I am sure to use it somehow in the next class to motivate students to do the assignment. Well, last night, as I was going over the papers I realized that about half of the 20 students in the class had used a translating maching to write their papers. In other words, they had written some kind of essay in Japanese on their computer and had some program translate it all into English. Usually the English from translating programs is completely incomprehensible. I was shocked that so many students would hand me in something that was so ridiculously artificial.
These students are for the most part enthusiastic and I have enjoyed working with them so far. In fact, every week I look forward to the class. This class is not a remedial English class, and I think that every learner in that class has potential in English.
Can you tell me some possible reasons why students who have studied English for 6 years feel the need to use a translating program to write a simple paragraph in English? Also, if you were me, what would you tell the students?
Please respond by making a comment to this post. I will let you know what I told the students after reading your answers.

7 Comments:

  • At 1:49 pm, Blogger JH said…

    Happy Days,
    Thanks for your question. Translating programs are a little different from electronic dictionaries. With electronic dictionaries, usually you only look up one word. The problem I encountered was the students were using a teanslating program to translate an ENTIRE Japanese sentence or paragraph into English.

     
  • At 3:05 pm, Blogger Maruchan said…

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

     
  • At 3:09 pm, Blogger Maruchan said…

    I think it’s due to the current English education system in Japan; though we have learned English at least for six years, we are apt to study English for entrance exams. So, generally, our English communication abilities are lacking in experience.
    And even though we use Japanese-English dictionaries, we can’t find what we want to express. Therefore, these assignments aren’t “simple” paragraphs for Japanese students.
    However, the students may as well check the papers before they hand it in. Also, they should notice that these translating programs are imperfect. Anyway, I suggest why don’t you tell them the demerit of these programs?

     
  • At 2:21 am, Blogger fantasista said…

    I think they haven't had experiences of writing sentences in English so much. So they thought it takes many many times to write them in English ,and the writing homework was troublesome for them.
    They are also quite familiar with their computers, so they used 'translating programs', I think.

    If I were you, I'll tell them the following sentences.
    "I want to see your real thinking sentences in English. The sentences should be in writer's heart and idea. Please write your own sentences in English. If you cannnot write so many, that's OK.
    The best way to improve your English skills is anyway trying yourselves."

     
  • At 3:24 pm, Blogger patapata said…

    Hello! I'm PataPata. I was very shocked and surprised to read it.
    I guess students were very busy at other subjects. So someone find a translating program and then he or she taught some friends to use a translating program.
    I suppose that some students don't have confidence in their writing skill. So they used a taranslating program.
    I think it is the best way of writing by oneself. Even if students don't want to develop English skill, they should get down to writing. And it is good to use a translating program whether their grammar are correct.
    If I were you, I told the students not to be afraid of making mistakes.

     
  • At 12:31 pm, Blogger nyanmage said…

    I am one of person who afraid for making mistakes.
    Because if I make mistakes I fell very ashamed.
    I don't have faith speaking English very much.My pronunciation is not good, my grammar has many mistakes.
    This is same thing the students.

    But we know that we have to
    practice!
    please take long time to speak English.In fact we want to speak English more fluently.

     
  • At 6:15 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I think that they use translating programs because of the laziness that is inherent to human nature. Formulating sentences in a foreign language can be a difficult task even for people who have studied English for six years, as they may have never paid attention to the language beyond tests.

    When I write essays for my French class, I often make use of the online translating programs as well. Oftentimes it's because focusing on making grammatically correct sentences in French ruins my thought process for the rest of the essay. Instead of focusing on the nitpicky grammar errors, I have to try to see the big picture, which requires too much work, so I become dependent on translating programs.

     

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