Teaching English Writing through Children’s Literature Translation

This paper suggests that children’s literature translation can help EFL learners improve their English writing skills. Traditional writing instruction in Korean university classrooms often focuses on grammatical accuracy and controlled composition. There is little room for creativity. In contrast to the conventional writing instruction, translating children’s stories can encourage students to engage with authentic and emotionally rich texts. For children's literature translation, they must choose words, sentence structure, and styles, enhancing their sensitivity to meaning and form. The paper presents an educational framework integrating translation tasks with process-oriented writing instruction. The approach not only connects reading and writing but also enhances learners' creative expression and cultural understanding. It is argued in this paper that English teachers can incorporate translation-based writing modules into university curricula to promote deeper linguistic and stylistic competence.