ESP students‘ self-evaluation and attitude towards translation

Abstract

The article aims at examining students’ needs for using the mother tongue in learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and analyzing their self-evaluations of translating from the L1 into L2 and vice versa. With English becoming rather a second than foreign language in Lithuanian higher education, it was considered important to carry on the research on the learners’ perspective and attitude towards the necessity and scope of the mother tongue in studying ESP. The respondents are the students of four specializations, psychology (PS), social work (SW), sociocultural education (SCE) and internet management and communication (IMC), who study professional language at university level. The obtained results are processed statistically by a means of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and presented in charts. The findings demonstrate that all learners need some usage of the native language in ESP classes, but the amount of translation depends on students’ proficiency and specialization. The research findings also point to the students’ expressed need to develop skills in translating from their native language into English in ESP university courses.