A Topic-Chain Approach to Teaching English-Chinese Textual Translation Strategies

Abstract

This paper investigates the effectiveness of three approaches to teaching English-Chinese textual translation strategies to intermediate level EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. The learners were randomly assigned to one of three groups and taught using different methods, each with its own chain: Explicit-Method-Chain (EMC), Explicit-Task Method Chain (ETMC), or Implicit Task Method Chain (ITMC). This is a mixed methods study that employed quantitative and qualitative data in the formative stage, followed by a comparative analysis. The results show that all strategies are effective in teaching translational skills to intermediate level EFL learners but explicit task method chains are more effective than explicit method chains.