The Importance of Translation in EFL Teaching Experience: Translation and Second Language Acquisition

With the growing importance of learner-centered language teaching, it is argued that anything that helps the learner in his or her own learning process is surely an asset. Hence, researchers and practitioners are urged to investigate what is of assistance to learners in order to help them arrive at their objective in the most economic way. Translation as an aid to learning is likely to be favored by analytically oriented learners. This paper will discuss the purpose of translation in the language classroom to develop learners‘ mastery of English language, since the basic knowledge of translation techniques that learners gained in the classroom can serve as a solid ground for building up language skills. This paper then tries to answer the following question: Does translation promote foreign language learning and foreign language proficiency?