Investigating the Effect of Group Translation Activity on High School EFL Students with Different TL Proficiency

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of group translation activity on high school EFL students with different TL proficiency. For that purpose the study conducted an experiment with 60 high school students, using group translation as the classroom activity. In the group translation activity the students formed groups of six and cooperatively translated a cartoon written in Korean into English. In order to examine whether the activity affects students with different TL proficiency differently, the study divided the participants into three proficiency groups and their performances in the pre-test and post-test were compared. In order to measure whether students of different proficiency groups have different attitudes toward the activity their responses to five relevant items in a questionnaire were analyzed. For in-depth information about students' attitudes toward the activity an interview was also conducted with 12 participants. According to the result, group translation activity had different effects on students with different TL proficiencies, with a more positive effect on the lower-proficiency students. However, it was found that higher-proficiency students tended to have more positive attitudes toward the activity. Based on the result, the study concludes that group translation activity can be a useful means to teach beginner writing.