基于眼动追踪的语块翻译教学研究

Research on Employing Lexical Chunk Instruction Method in Translation Teaching:An Eye-Tracking Approach

语块教学法在二语教学中得到了普遍重视。翻译教学中也应强化学生对语块的学习和掌握。为了更好地改进教学过程,该研究借助眼动追踪技术,针对语块的记忆方法、教学资源的分配方式以及教学活动的组织形式和优化等问题进行了实验研究。研究发现,语块认知、教学和使用的不同策略对学生的翻译认知活动具有重要影响;在较复杂语言环境下,基于语境的语块记忆方法可以有效降低认知负荷,提高翻译效率;在学生承受能力范围内,适当增加语块对应的语境学习量有利于降低翻译认知难度。实验结果支持在双语条件下仍要坚持先思考再学习的方法,这样可以降低认知负荷、提高翻译教学效率,优于直接学习记忆法。希望该研究能为翻译教学新方法的优化、翻译认知研究提供参考和启示。

The application of lexical chunk instruction in second language(L2)teaching has attracted the attention of researchers worldwide.However,its effective use in translation teaching remains unclear.There still lacks a survey that can systemically analyze and summarize the methods in implementing lexical chunk-based translation pedagogies.This study fills the gap by examining the effects of lexical chunk instruction on students’cognitive load and learning performance in translation through an eye-tracking approach.The eye-tracking data includes fixation time,fixation count and pause count.Besides,translation speed and accuracy rates were measured to access students’learning performance in this study.To begin with,a pilot study was carried out to compare the effectiveness of conventional learning method with that of context-based learning method in lexical chunk translation.50 college students were asked to memorize 20 lexical chunks.The experimental group was presented with bilingual short sentences which contain lexical chunks while the control group was presented with only bilingual lexical chunks.Both groups were required to take a sight translation test using eye-tracking approach after the experiment.Results identified the effectiveness of contextbased learning method and eye-tracking approach in lexical chunk-based translation teaching and research.Two control experiments were conducted to further investigate the effects of lexical chunk instruction on students’cognitive load and learning performance in memorization,content design and strategy choice.24 participants(undergraduate students of non-English majors)were randomly split into three groups,each group(N=8)attended a course which contains 8 lexical chunks with metaphorical meanings and bilingual example sentences.In the first experiment,the control group was provided with one bilingual example sentence while the two experimental groups were provided with two and three respectively.In the second experiment,the settings for the control group were the same as the first experiment.The experimental group 1 first learned English lexical chunks and sentences,and then checked Chinese versions.The experimental group 2 conducted the activity above in reverse order.All the groups participated in a sight translation test using eye-tracking approach after the experiment.All the students were exposed to experimental and non-experimental conditions by swapping roles in the two experiments.The findings are as follows:firstly,context-based lexical chunk learning is effective in reducing cognitive load and improving translation efficiency.Secondly,a larger context size of chunks can help reduce students’cognitive load in translation process.Thirdly,in the context of bilingual language learning,the method of thinking before learning is proved better in reducing cognitive load and improving translation proficiency,compared with the traditional direct learning method.This study has contributed to a better understanding of the integration of lexical chunk instruction method in translation teaching from the perspective of cognitive psychology.It is hoped that the results will serve as a useful reference for educators in optimizing translation teaching methods and provide empirical evidence for cognitive studies on the process of translation.