Ismail Khalil Alrefaai
The technological revolution in the fields of computer sciences and communication systems has changed the world into a global village; as all communication barriers have been broken and it has become easy to communicate with people worldwide. Consequently, learning a foreign language has become a necessity. Despite the fact that the issue of using translation in foreign language teaching remains a controversy, translation is still one of the suggested methods in learning and teaching a foreign language and it may play an important role in this field if used properly in the EFL classroom. In order to make the best use of translation in language learning and teaching, it is necessary to know when and how to use it. This article looks at the role of translation in language teaching methods, reasons for using and not using translation in the EFL classroom, usefulness of using translation and the situations where teachers may use translation in language learning and teaching. A specific explanation will be given concerning how often teachers use translation. Finally, certain guidelines will be suggested concerning the use of translation in the process of language teaching and learning.
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