Language Ability or Translation Ability: The Role and Status of Translation in Iranian Official ESP Textbooks

Translation is a widely appreciated tool in foreign language teaching; however, its role is surrounded by continuing controversy.  Translation as a key teaching and learning tool first came into use in Grammar translation method. However, its use has been frowned upon disapprovingly in the subsequent language teaching methods and approaches. In spite of perpetual debates over the use of translation in teaching English for general purposes, it is commonly used in teaching English for specific purposes (ESP) context. However, the issues concerning the role and status of translation in ESP textbooks published by Iran’s Organization for Researching and Composing University Textbooks in the Humanities (known as SAMT in Iran) have not been sufficiently elucidated. Therefore, this study aimed at examining the role and status of translation in Iranian official ESP textbooks. To this end, using a checklist developed by the current researchers, translation activities in 30 sampled textbooks were examined in order to see whether they were intended to serve developing, more, language ability or teaching translation ability. Further, the frequency and space allocation of translation activities were scrutinized. The results suggested that there are variations in terms of both frequency and space allocation of translation activities in ESP textbooks. Moreover, translation activities are at the service of teaching language ability in SAMT ESP textbooks to larger extent.

کلیدواژه ها:

ESP official textbooks ، translation ability ، language ability ، Translation activities