The Effects of Utilizing a Genre-based Method to Teach Translation Among English Majors in China

Abstract

A genre-based method informed by Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) has been proven effective in enhancing translation quality between different language pairs, but there has been limited research on its effectiveness in enhancing translation quality from Chinese into English. This research aimed to investigate the effects of utilizing a genre-based method to teach translation of non-literary texts from Chinese into English among English majors in China. A quasi-experimental design was adopted in this study and the sample was chosen based on intact groups. The Experimental Group (37 students) was taught using the genre-based method while the Control Group (37 students) followed the conventional method over a span of 12 weeks. A translation pre-test and a post-test were administered to both Groups prior to and after the pedagogical treatment. ANCOVA Test was employed to detect whether there was significant difference between the Experimental Group and the Control Group in their overall mean scores, mean score for delivery of ideational meaning, interpersonal meaning, textual meaning, as well as grammar and mechanics. The findings showed that the Experimental Group scored significantly higher than its counterparts in the five areas in translation. Therefore, it is suggested that the genre-based method be employed as an effective pedagogical tool to improve students’ translation performance in future translation classes.