Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Special Issue on CALL Number 9. July 2023                     Pp.189-201
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/call9.13

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  Affording Vietnamese EFL Students’ Critical Thinking in Video-Translation Tasks

 Do Minh Hung
Foreign Languages Faculty
Dong Thap University, Cao Lanh City, Vietnam
Email: dmhung@dthu.edu.vn

 

Received 04/13/2023                          Accepted: 07/04/2023                         Published: 07/24/2023

 

 Abstract:
Critical thinking plays a vital role in human life and is one of the core aims of educational systems worldwide. Thus, the present study explored strategies for providing opportunities for students to utilize and sharpen their critical thinking as much as possible while taking a translation course. To its end, the present study was guided by the significant question: How much do students’ necessary thinking skills appear to evolve over a translation course? Participants were 39 students of English as a foreign language (EFL) registering in a regular translation course. The present study applied reflective essays written individually as post-class assignments once per two weeks, and thus five reflections each participant had to write over the 10-week translation course attached with video-translation tasks. For measuring improvement in critical thinking manifested by participants over the course, the quantitative discrepancy between the first reflection as an outset point and the fifth reflection as the end point of the intervention course was computed. Obtained results are positive regarding students’ critical thinking manifested in wide discrepancies and linguistic acquisition laid out in creative English uses. Thereby, pedagogical implications and further research on relevant issues are addressed.
Keywords: action plan, critical thinking, EFL, L2, reflection, translanguaging, translation task

Cite as: Do, M. H. (2023). Affording Vietnamese EFL Students’ Critical Thinking in Video-Translation Tasks.  Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Special Issue on CALL (9)189-201.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/call9.13

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Received: 04/13/2023  
Accepted: 07/04/2023   
Published: 07/24/2023  
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9140-8404
https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/call9.13   

Dr. Do Minh Hung has been teaching English at Dong Thap University, Cao Lanh City, Dong Thap Province, Vietnam, for more than 20 years. He holds a doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics and has published several journal articles in the areas of English instruction and English-Vietnamese translation. ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9140-8404