Reconsidering Translation and Mother Tongue in Teaching English

Translation has undergone a transformation in second and foreign language teaching, and thereby, has reappeared in classrooms in a different way in recent years. As opposed to the claims against the use of own language and translation in language classes, this study sets out to investigate whether there is a place for own-language use and translation in English language teaching from linguistic, humanistic, pedagogical and practical perspectives. It also explores the concept of translation as a fifth skill in language teaching by means of a newly coined term ‘pedagogical translation’. Based on structured interviews with nonnative language teachers in Austria and Turkey and questionnaires distributed to tertiary-level students at different levels of proficiency in the aforementioned countries, this study uses qualitative analysis and one-way ANOVA to understand the perceptions of teachers and learners. Considering the results, this study highlights the reconsideration of own language and translation in English language teaching, and at the same time, the possible renewal of translation as a pedagogical tool in language teaching within recent years.