Application of linearity and hierarchical dependency in vietnamese english translation by students at faculty of english language teacher education ulis vnu

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER APPLICATION OF LINEARITY AND HIERAR

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

APPLICATION OF LINEARITY AND

HIERARCHICAL DEPENDENCY IN

VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF ENGLISH

LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION, ULIS, VNU

S pe i o V Th Kim Li n M

S den Ng y n Th ng Course: QH2016.F1 E15

À NỘI – 2020

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI ỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

K O SƯ P ẠM TIẾNG N

K Ó LUẬN TỐT NG IỆP

ỨNG DỤNG TUYẾN TÍN VÀ S P ẾP TƯỞNG

C ÍN P Ụ TRONG I N D C V N N TIẾNG VIỆT S NG TIẾNG N C SIN VI N K O SƯ

P ẠM TIẾNG N TRƯỜNG ĐẠI ỌC NGOẠI

NGỮ- ĐẠI ỌC QUỐC GI À NỘI

Gi o i n h ng d n V Th Kim Li n M Sinh i n Ng y n Th ng

Khóa Q 2016.F1 E15

À NỘI – 2020

Secondly, on accomplishing my graduation paper, I would like to thank

my teacher turn to be mother of QH2016 students, Mrs Nguyen Mai Phuong for her helpful suggestions in time for unexpected obstacles

Besides, I owe a special debt to my beloved FELTE teachers for their teaching, affection and invaluable assistance bestowed upon me during the four-year course in the University of Languages and International Studies

This unprecedented opportunity allows me to express my genuine and profound appreciation to my dearest family who affectionately introduced me

to the world and my friends who boldly discovered the world with me

Last but not least, I cannot fully express my gratitude to all the people whose direct and indirect support assisted me in accomplishing this thesis in time None of those mentioned above is responsible for errors and shortcomings which are surely inevitable in my study Therefore, I highly appreciate all the recommendations and suggestions from the readers

ABSTRACT

The primary purpose of this graduation paper is to investigate application linearity and hierarchical dependency to Vietnamese- English translations of FELTE students

The paper aims at, first and foremost, presenting rationale, objectives, significance and background knowledge about translation, readability, translation quality assessment (TQA), linearity, thematic progression, hierarchical dependency and different approaches and methods for studying the effectiveness of applying linearity and hierarchical dependency in enhancing readability of Vietnamese- English translations of FELTE students before introducing and conducting an in-depth analysis of participants‟ opinions as well as comments on the systematic translation process created based on the linearity and hierarchical dependency background Significant findings are positive feedback of participating students when they apply the introduced translation technique to translating Vietnamese into English These findings are upheld by choices of the foreigners who favor the translations produced by students applying the translation process they have learnt On top of that, experts‟ views on advantages and limitations of the translation process are collected Eventually, it can be concluded that despite the limitations of time and effort taking, they are nowhere near as significant as the strengths of enhancing readability of translations This paper also recommends further research into application of linearity and hierarchical dependency to academic writing

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 An Overview of Kaplan‟s paper 6

2.2 Translation theory 7

2.2.1 Translation definition 8

2.2.4 Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) 10

2.3 Linearity 12

2.3.1 Definition of linearity 12

2.3.2 Thematic progression patterns 13

2.4 Hierarchical dependency 18

2.4.1 Definition 18

2.4.2 Coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions 19

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 20

3.1 Selection of subjects 20

3.1.1 Setting 20

3.1.2 Participants 20

3.2 Data collection 22

3.2.1 The questionnaire 24

3.2.3 Semi-structured individual interview 26

3.2.4 Procedures of data collection 27

3.3 Data Analysis 29

3.3.1 Data analysis procedure for qualitative method 29

3.3.2 Data analysis procedure for quatitative method 29

3.3.3 Analysis of Source Language Texts in accordance with J House‟s model 30

CHAPTER 4: FINDING AND DICUSSION 42

4.1.Comparison of Target Texts and Source Text 42

4.1.1 Text 1 42

4.1.2 Text 2 44

4.1.3 Text 3 45

4.2.Comparison of TT1 and TT2 47

4.3.Result of the questionnaire 49

4.4.Result of interview 51

4.4.1.Interview with foreigners 51

4.4.2.Interview with experts 52

4.5.Discussion of the findings 54

4.5.1.Opinions of respondents about effectiveness of this translation process in enhancing readability of the texts 55

4.5.2.Comments of experts on the translation technique 57

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 58

5.1 Summary of the findings 58

5.2 Limitation of the study 59

5.3 Suggestion for further research 59

REFERENCES 60 APPENDICES I

Appendix 1: Paper Test I Appendix 2: Detailed Lesson Plan III Appendix 3: Questionnaire XXVI Appendix 4: Interview with Foreigners XXVIII Appendix 5: Interview with experts XXXIV Appendix 6: Interview hand-out XXXIX

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Rhetorical pattern of different languages (Kaplan, 1966) 6 Figure 2.2 Thematic progression pattern visualization 18 Figure 4.1 Students' comparison between their translation (2) and

Figure 4.2 Students' comparison between the newly introduced

translation process and the translation methods and techniques they

used before

51

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 The unmarked Theme in different types of clause 15

Table 4.1 Findings from interview with foreigners 53 Table 4.2 Findings from interview with experts 54

introduced the new translation technique TT2 : Target Texts produced by students after they have

been introduced the new translation technique

T : Theme

R : Rheme TQA : Translation Quality Assessment

/ : Or

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study

In the proliferation of international integration and in the light of globalization which is a worldwide tendency and especially after Vietnam‟s open door policy, Vietnam has prioritized to join the exchange of international relations In that context, translation especially the one from Vietnamese into English- the most international language plays a vital role in enhancing mutual understanding and promoting the growth of multilateral relations among people and nations worldwide This stimulates aggregate demand for an immense number of skillful translators than ever before

In response to the necessity and popularity of translators in a variety of fields as well as the desire to train students with high command of skills, many Universities and Institutions have offered translation courses that have been on the increase in prevalence and drawn the participation and interests of students

at a wide range of ages Among those, the University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) is one of the leading institutions designing the courses of Translation for third year students in the Faculty of English and teacher education (FELTE) after two year honing their English proficiency These courses not only provide them with both general and in depth insight into Translation but also window opportunities to fulfill the requirements of the professions as qualified translators that satisfy the recent surge of customer demand

The translation courses in ULIS prepare students with a valid and thorough knowledge on translation included in three courses of basic translation practice, translation theory and advanced translation in which practical skills are the central focus of the three This approach, nevertheless, from my point of view do not always do wonder for the students since they are like a machine transferring the same idea orders as the source text with no concern to the culture differences underlying the languages Besides, the course of translation theory fails to provide students with any series of steps

they should follow to produce an accurate translation and more importantly raising its readability level that makes readers feel easier to understand and accept Thus, an effective and systematic process to produce a high qualified English translated product should be given priority for further research

As early as 1953, American anthologist R Benedict has suggested that the translators should concentrate more importance to cultural study to improve the “cultural awareness”, instead of “being diligent in language study” (Gaol, 2015) The different cultural thought patterns presenting in different culture is also demonstrated by Kaplan in 1966 This implies the importance of culture and its influences on idea development and relationship among the ideas in the languages that the translators should consider creating a translation with naturalness and smoothness to the readers

Underlying in his theory, Kaplan assumes that linearity and hierarchical dependency are two key properties of English language Nevertheless, on the way to create a natural translation, the ESL students have not yet made enough effort or spent sufficient time comprehending a translation process that includes the steps to produce a linearity and hierarchical dependency-rich product Consequently, these two sections should deserve more attention to be studied and discussed because of the great importance translation in Vietnam

in the period of integration and its necessity for FELTE Translation and Interpreting majored students in particular

In conclusion, from all the considered reasons, the author finds it

necessary and useful to conduct a study on “Application of linearity and hierarchical dependency in Vietnamese-English translation by students at faculty of English language teacher education, ULIS, VNU” The author

does hope that the Translation and Interpreting majors at FELTE and the writer herself would acquire in-depth insight into the linearity and hierarchical dependency in translation Vietnamese to English to express our ideas naturally and effectively

1.2 Research objectives

This study is targeted at presenting an investigation in the application of linearity and hierarchical dependency in V-E translations of FELTE students It aims:

- to provide a systematic and comprehensive overview of linearity and hierarchical dependency according to Kaplan‟s paper

- to convince the effectiveness of the translation techniques applying linearity and hierarchical dependency to of V-E translations of FELTE students

- to determine suitable situations to apply this translation technique

In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the author has to follow both qualitative and quantitative approaches, which are strategic methods in the study While the qualitative approach is exploited most of the time to convince the effectiveness of the translation techniques by comparing translations versions produced by FELTE students using Juliane House‟s TQA model as well as analyzing comments of experts and foreigners about the translations, the quantitative study is also useful to work out feelings of participating students about the translation process and the effectiveness when applying linearity and hierarchical dependency in the V-E translations in comparison with their previous translation methods

The research questions explored in this study are as follows:

1 What is the effectiveness of applying linearity and hierarchical dependency

to V-E translations of FELTE students?

2 What are some recommendations of experts for applying this translation technique in specific situations to make best use of it?

1.3 Scope of the study

Within the limited time and knowledge, the study mainly focuses on improving the readability of the translations using linearity and hierarchical dependency idea implied by Kaplan (1966) The author also introduces the use

of Thematic progression patterns and subordinate elements such as adverbial phrases, relative clauses and subordinate conjunctions as common methods to

improve linear and hierarchical idea development in V-E translations of FELTE students

The study includes in its scope the faculty of English Language and Education Teacher (FELTE) at the University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) which is a core University training translators nationwide There are 20 Vietnamese FELTE students involving in this study to attend 4 lessons designed by the author to have a sound grasp of linearity and hierarchical dependency as well as their application in V-E translation, complete paper tests and questionnaires before and after taking the lessons Besides, two natives of English and two experts who are professional translators are invited to individual interviews The former will point out the difference between translation versions before and after students have learnt the new translation process introduced by the author, particularly the flow of ideas cohesion and dependency between ideas in a passage, then verify the effectiveness of the new method in enhancing readability of translations Meanwhile, the latter is involved to individual interviews to search for their opinions on strength and limitations of the translation process Their recommendations are also asked about the suitable types of text to use this translation process

1.4 Significance of the study

In terms of theoretical significance, the study brings with it the task to verify the importance of linearity and hierarchical dependency in translating Vietnamese into English It is hoped to improve existing translation methods in order to satisfy the requirements of clients who demand for a natural and accurate translation

In terms of practical significance, this research gives out some implications for further studies studying the use of linearity and hierarchical dependency, particularly in producing a natural translation and writing a genuine English essays

1.5 Thesis Organization

The thesis is designed in the following five parts:

Chapter 1: Introduction introduces rationale for choosing the topic, objectives,

scopes, significance, methodology and organization of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review is the theoretical foundation of linearity and

hierarchical dependency on which the study is based and set up

Chapter 3: Methodology includes the setting, participants and research

instruments Additionally, this chapter also illustrates the data collection and data analysis in detail

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions provides major findings of students‟

feelings of the translation process through some comparisons Furthermore, experts‟ comments on advantages and disadvantages of the translation process are also collected, so that the author points out the effectiveness as well as limitations of the recommended translation technique

Chapter 5: Conclusion summarizes major findings of the study, gives

concluding remarks In addition, this chapter includes the limitations of the study, recommendation and directions for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter aims at reviewing related literature which is available in books, articles, handouts by lecturers, long essays and other research works that are related in a broad way or focus on the topic under research The review has been classified under the following subtopics

2 1 n O e iew of Kaplan’ pape

In 1966, Robert E Kaplan wrote an article “Cultural Thought Patterns in Inter-Cultural Education” which included a comparison of 600

paragraphs written in English by students from five major language families: English, Semitic, Oriental, Romance, and Russian Based on an analysis of these paragraphs, Kaplan was able to identify “five types of rhetorical tendencies within these groups” (Helal, 2013)

The author claims that there are underlying rhetorical patterns common

to all written languages Languages, however, differ in the frequency these patterns occur due to certain cultural preferences

Figure 2.1 Rhetorical pattern of different languages (Kaplan, 1966)

Kaplan indicates English by a straight line (figure 1) which means the sequence of thought process is “dominantly linear in its development”, to the point, and close to the main subject or topic of interest It is “the thought pattern which English speakers and readers appear to expect as an integral part

of their communication” (Kaplan, 1966)

…The linearity is well presented in the idea development of English texts For example, a paragraph begins with a general statement of its content, and then carefully develops that statement by a long series of rather specific illustrations While it is discursive, the paragraph is never digressive There is nothing in this paragraph that does not belong here; nothing that does not contribute significantly to the central idea The flow of ideas occurs in a straight line from the opening sentence to the last sentence (Kaplan, 1966)

The Oriental languages, on the other hand, are represented as a spiral (figure 1) that may be called “an approach by indirection” In this kind of

writing, the development of the paragraph may be aid o be “ ning and ning in a widening gy e ” “The ci cle o gy e n a o nd he bjec and how it from a variety of tangential views, but the subject is never looked a di ec ly” (Kaplan, 1966) In an Oriental languages‟ essay, ideas are

developed in terms of “what they are not, rather than in terms of what they

are” This idea development “strike the English reader as awkward and nnece a ily indi ec ” (Kaplan, 1966)

Explaining to this difference, Haywards maintains in his book “Insights into cultural divides” that the distinctions highlight the influence of different culture on the languages His study shows that Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese, and Thai students “approach a topic from a variety of viewpoints in order to examine it indirectly” as they believe it indicates to careful thinking The same thought is share by Asian who consider “circling around a topic is the polite” and “the direct approach as rude or abrupt” This, nevertheless, to a U.S trained tutor, might indicate “lack of focus or indecisiveness” (Hayward, 2004)

2.2 Translation theory

For years, there has been an endless discussion on theory of translation among scholars Each of them approaches translation studies from different

angles, and prove what they have considered reasonable Yet, their works

contain some points in common: definition of translation, translation methods,

translation equivalence and translation assessment, all of which will be discussed hereafter

2.2.1 Translation definition

The term translation itself has several meanings: it can refer to the general subject field, the product (the text that has been translated) or the process (the act of producing the translation, otherwise known as translating) The process of translation between two different written languages involves the translator changing an original written text (the source text or ST) in the original verbal language (the target language or TL) (Nhan, 2018)

Amira Osman (2017) and Foster (1958) share the same idea of translation definition that is an act transferring the text from one language (SL) into their equivalence in another language (TL) (Foster.M, 1958) This requires the translator to have good knowledge of both the SL and TL, in addition to “a high linguistic sensitivity” as he or she should “transmit the writer's intention, and opinions” in the translated product as faithfully and naturally as possible (Osman, 2017)

Unlike afore –mentioned scholars, Catford (1995) demonstrates translation is “a process and a product” On one hand, it is “an activity” of

“replacement” of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL) (Catfold.J, 1995) On the other hand, translation is a product since it provides readers with “other different cultures, societies and civilization life” when the translated texts reach them (Yowell, 1999)

2.2.2 Translation methods

There are various translation methods which can be seen in the form of

a flattened V Newmark‟s diagram as follows:

SL emphasis TL emphasis

Word-for-word translation Adaptation

Literal translation Free translation

Faithful translation Idiomatic translation

Semantic translation Communicative translation

Of the above eight methods, Newmark only consider semantic and communicative translation in accordance with two main aims of translation: accuracy and economy In other words, on translation theory, these two methods are also most frequently discussed

2.2.3 Translation equivalence

Translation equivalence is obviously a central yet a controversial issue

in translation theory (Nhan, 2018) Equivalence in translation can be defined as the relationship between texts in two different languages, not between the languages themselves Equivalence is the main criterion in translation quality assessment A translation is evaluated to be „good‟ if it can maintain a certain degree of equivalence to the ST

Koller discusses five factors playing “a relevant role in the specification

of equivalence types”: extra-linguistic content, connotations, usage norms, receiver and the formal-aesthetic features of the ST to answer the question of what exactly to be equivalent (Nhan, 2018) He describes five types of equivalence as follow:

- Denotative equivalence: is related to equivalence of the extra-linguistic

content of a text

- Connotative equivalence: is related to the lexical choices, especially

between near-synonyms

- Text-normative equivalence: is related to text types, with different

kinds of texts behaving in different ways

- Pragmatic equivalence (or communicative equivalence): is oriented

towards the receiver of the text or message

- Formal equivalence: is related to the form and aesthetics of the text; it

includes word plays and the individual stylistic features of the ST This exploits the formal possibilities of the TL or even create new forms if necessary

Kade (1968), on the other hand, emphasizes the directionality in translation which seems to imply the relations of equivalence do not really have to be one-way (Nhan, 2018) He proposed four types of quantitative equivalence:

- One to one: One SL item corresponds to one TL item

- One to several (or several to one): An item in one language

corresponds to several in the other language The translator will have to choose between the alternatives The result will be “choice-based equivalence”

- One to part: Only partial equivalents are available, resulting in

“approximate equivalence” Whichever choice is made, the equivalence will thus be only “approximate”

- One to none: No equivalence is available in the target language

2.2.4 Translation Quality Assessment (TQA)

For ages, there are various study on translation evaluation Among those, the most influential one is the viewpoint of Tida and Taber (1974) examining “what is a good translation?”, G Steiner (1975) offering his image

of the bad translator In contrast to the two views, Wilss (1982) and Newmark (1988) assumes that a comprehensive evaluation of a translation should fulfill five aspects: (i) a short analysis of the ST‟s intention and its functional aspect, (ii) an interpretation of the ST‟s purposes, the translator‟s method and the translation‟s readership, (iii) a selective comparison of the ST with its translated product, (iv) a translation assessment, (v) an assessment of the TT put in the TL culture or discipline Additionally, J House (1977, 1997) gives a model for translation quality assessment in which he starts with analysis ideational and interpersonal functional components of the texts

2.2.4.1 Juliane o e’ model

J House‟s approach to evaluating a translation is based on the register theory developed by Halliday et.al (1964) and Halliday (1978), pragmatic theory, notions developed by the Prague school of language and linguistics, stylistics and discourse analysis For the purpose of coming up with “a model for situational-functional text analysis and assessment of translation” (House, 2015), House (1977) constructing the following model:

A Dimensions of language user

“channel” or the medium that the addresser used to communicate (written or spoken) and the degree of participant between the addresser and addressees

On each of the above-mentioned three dimensions, J House distinguishes lexical, syntactic and textual means In particular, the lexical

means refer to the “choice and patterns” of lexical items used to make the text cohesive That can be collocations, co-occurrence, etc (Thuy, 2013) The syntactic means include the sentence structures which can be simple, compound or (and) complex ones; subordinate or coordinate relation between ideas, etc The textual means refer to the textual cohesion through theme-dynamics, clausal linkage and iconic linkage

2.2.4.2 Readability of translation

Readability is one of the main requirements that must be acquired in any translation work In other words, translators should ensure their translated products to be read and understood easily for target readers (Nababan, 1999)

Readability can be considered as “the easy indicator” (Savitri, 2018) that makes a written text “easier to read than others” (DuBay, 2004)

The most comprehensive definition of readability is stated by Edgar Dale and Jeanne Chall (1949): “All those elements” within a typical written text affecting “the success a group of readers have with it” “The success is the extent to which they understand it, read it at an optimal speed, and find it interesting.” (Dale, E and J S Chall, 1949)

2.3 Linearity

2.3.1 Definition of linearity

As an engineer and metrologist, Richard Hogan defines linearity is a feature of “a mathematical relationship or function” that can be graphically

illustrated as a “straight line” (Richard Hogan, 2019)

In terms of linguistics, Kaplan implies in his paper that English is a

„predominantly linear‟ language unlike the “broken or indirect structure” that,

in his opinion, identifies Romance, Oriental and Semitic language groups (Casas, 2008)

His underlying concept of linearity in English texts can be presented by the paragraph starting with “a topic statement, and then, by a series of subdivisions of that topic statement, and each supported by example and

illustrations, proceeds to develop that central idea” and all the other ideas in the whole essay are related to each other in a supportive relationship in a straight line of common logical thinking Contrarily, the “reverse procedure” is that a series of relating examples are stated before reaching “a single statement at the end of the paragraph” By that way, the paragraph is described as discursive rather than digressive The reason is that every idea in the paragraph is its belonging contributing significantly to the central idea The development of ideas from the opening statement to the last sentence is in shape of “a straight line” These two types of idea development represent the two common inductive and deductive reasoning which “the English reader expects to be an integral part of any formal communication” (Kaplan, 1966)

2.3.2 Thematic progression patterns

2.3.2.1 Theme and Rheme

Over the last few years, the term of Theme has been widely discussed and proved to be “a very important cohesive element at the level of texts” (Belmonte, 1998) M.A.K Halliday, an important linguistic contributor, claimed the Theme- Rheme structure is the “basic form of the organization of the clause as message” (Halliday, 1985)

Theme can be defined as “the point of departure of the message” (Halliday, 1985) and English speakers signal the Theme by putting it first and

“following by the remainder of the message” which is named as Rheme In other words, Rheme is the second part of the clause preceded by the Theme, and usually displays “unfamiliar information, or new knowledge” that is assumed new to the readers (Le, 2015) Theme and Rheme can be recognized

by looking at their “distinct positions” in a clause: “Theme occurs first, followed by Rheme” (Le, 2015)

2.3.2.2 Topical, textual and interpersonal Themes

In an English clause, the chosen topical Theme depends on “the choice

of mood” (Halliday, Halliday‟s introduction to functional grammar (4th ed.),

2014) They are either indicative or imperative in mood; if indicative, it is either declarative or interrogative; if interrogative, it is either “yes/no” interrogative or “WH-” interrogative (Jing, 2015) Topical Themes may be preceded by elements which are textual and/or interpersonal in function which are also considered as another types of Theme The textual Theme is any combination of continuative, structural and conjunctive (Halliday, 2014) The interpersonal Theme is any combination of vocative, modal, and mood-marking representing attitude of the writers (Halliday, Halliday‟s introduction

to functional grammar (4th ed.), 2014) Two types of Theme are considered in thematic status if preceding the topical Theme (Jing, 2015)

In a sentence, the topical Theme is an obligatory constituent, while the other two are optional Furthermore, more than one textual or interpersonal Theme, but only one topical Theme is contained in each sentence An example

for three kinds of Theme: topical, textual & interpersonal:

They find our case inconclusive Inevitably, as a result, it will need

reviewing

2.3.2.3 Unmarked and Marked Themes

In the declarative clause, the unmarked Theme is considered as the subject which is typically chosen as Theme if the writer does not want to emphasize something else special (Halliday, Halliday‟s introduction to functional grammar (4th ed.), 2014)

Table 2.1 The unmarked Theme in different types of clause

Interrogative Polar interrogative

clause

Do you want some drink?

WH- interrogative clause

Why didn‟t he want to go?

Halliday (2014) postulates “a cline of markedness”, capturing the likelihood of any of these elements put in “initial position in the clause” (Jing, 2015) “An adverbial group or prepositional phrase” are the most common form of marked Theme, while a complement is least likely, which is “a nominal group” that could have been “chosen as subject but was not” (Halliday, An Introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed.), 1994)

Regarding a complex clause, Halliday (1994) argues that the default order of this type of clause is independent clause followed by dependent clause If the dependent clause in initial position, it can be seen as a marked Theme (Halliday, An Introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed.), 1994)

Table 2.3 Common forms of marked Theme

Prepositional phrase On that fateful day he had an

accident

Dependent clause If our team wins, we will celebrate

2.3.2.4 Thematic progression pattern

Halliday (1994) proposes that “thematic principle lies behind the organization of paragraphs in written texts” (Daneš, 1974) in which the topic sentence of a paragraph is nothing other than its Theme He also demonstrates how Themes and Rhemes could be linked into thematic progression to produce coherent texts (Halliday, An Introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed.), 1994) Indeed, Danes (1974) prove that the Themes connect to the Themes and Rhemes of preceding clauses in various ways, picking up or repeating the important concepts and developing them further, whose connections form patterns of thematic progression (Daneš, 1974)

Thus, thematic progression concerns the development of ideas in the texts (Jing, 2015) More specifically, thematic progression concerns “where Themes come from” as well as how they relate to other Themes and Rhemes of the text Patterns of thematic progression are formed by a systematic relation between the “Theme-Rheme selections” and “experiential selections” in a text (Yang, 2008) (Ghadessy, 1995)

Daneš (1974) postulates the basic thematic progression patterns from

analysis of scientific and other professional texts is linear progression which

is a constant progression of the ideas Linear progression is where the Theme (T) relates to the Rheme (R) of the preceding utterance, in other words, the Rheme portion of each sentence becomes the Theme of the following clause

(Jing, 2015) in which R1 =T2, T1 ≠ T2, R1 ≠ R2, for example topical Themes

in bold and Rheme is italicized):

The vast majority of these activities required little or no literacy skills [1] In some senses, literacy skills were arguably less important in the

agricultural age than they are now [2]

Additionally, there are five more types of Theme-Rheme transition

patterns that will be exemplified in table below:

- Extended-Rheme-Theme pattern (R1 =T3, R1 ≠ T2, R2 ≠

T3):

The vast majority of these activities required little or no literacy skills [1] There are many exceptions, though [2] In some senses, literacy skills were arguably less important in the agricultural age than they are

- Extended-Theme-Theme pattern (T1 =T3, T1 ≠ T2, T2 ≠ T3):

Small children don’t take learning a language as hard work but as something to discover [1] This activity may even be one of their favorites [2] They can avoid the negative influence of their mother

tongue [3]

- Motivated-New-Theme pattern (T1 ≠ T2, R1 ≠ T2)

Almost all talents of art were discovered when they attended artistic hours at school [1] As people always say if you do not give it a try,

you would never know how it is [2]

- Unmotivated-New-Theme pattern (the paragraph is not coherent)

Almost all talents of art were discovered when they attended artistic hours at school [1] My students all looked beautiful and smart [2]

There are three ways are commonly used in order to maintain the thematic progression throughout the texts:

Table 2.2 Repetition types

Repetition types Example

Lexical repetition - The vast majority of these activities required little

or no literacy skills In some senses, literacy skills were arguably less important in the

agricultural age than they are now

Referential repetition - The vast majority of these activities required little

or no literacy skills In some senses, these abilities were arguably less important in the

agricultural age than they are now

very much

2.3.2.5 Thematic progression pattern visualization in comparison with Kaplan’ d awing

Figure 2.2 Thematic progression pattern visualization

Thematic progression pattern is in accordance with which Kaplan‟s illustration of Rhetorical pattern (figure 1) It suggests that coherence should be considered to the success of an V-E translation because of the difference in idea development of each language The coherence is not only the “local” one problems relating to mechanical and grammatical errors or cohesive devices despite but it also is the “global coherence” which looks at the coherence of a text as a whole This reaffirms the needs to be addressed in the systematic translation process that enables both students and readers to understand the translations

2.4 Hierarchical dependency

2.4.1 Definition

Barbero et al (1998) showed that the basic idea of dependency is that the

“syntactic structure of a sentence” is described in terms of “binary relations” (dependency relations) on pairs of words, a head (or “parent”), and a dependent (or “daughter”), respectively (Cristina Barbero, 1998)

Hierarchical dependency or subordination refers to “a complex use of

language” since it represents the “embedding of one clause within another” in a hierarchical relationship (Lehmann, 1988) (Quirk, 1972)

Subordination can be represented by relative clauses, complement clauses, and adverbial clauses introduced by subordinators such as because, although, if, before, since, and others are typically considered subordinate clauses (Schleppegrell, 1992) Similarly, conjunctions are also seen as subordinators or subordinate conjunctions

2.4.2 Coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions

- Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor/neither, either/or, so, yet and plus) are used to connect independent clauses or sentences, for example

“The weather was hot, so I went on my bike.” or coordinating parts of a

sentence which usually involve with ellipsis, for instance “We can't do anything but wait.”

- Subordinating conjunctions are used to connect a subordinate clause to

the main clause (subordinate clauses may involve ellipsis), for example “If you

try hard it might work.”

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the methodology and the procedures applied to achieve the objectives of this research The chapter sections include: setting, participant groups, development of the instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis procedures

3.1 Selection of subjects

3.1.1 Setting

The study is conducted at the faculty of English Language and Teacher Education (FELTE) in the University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS), Vietnam National University, Hanoi In the faculty, students majoring Translation and Interpreting attend three translation courses: translation practice, translation theory and advanced translation The objective of these courses is to provide students with necessary knowledge and translation skills

so that they can perform their work successfully as professional translators in the future To reach that end, during these courses, students get chances to practice translating with texts of popular issues relating to education, economics, history, culture, etc Most of the articles for translation practice, which are also of various forms such as poem, official note, newspaper articles, are up-to-date with a lot of useful words, phrases and structures

The participants in this three courses are juniors and seniors in English Translation and Interpreting Division at ULIS They are all taught by qualified Vietnamese teachers whose expertise is recognized through both domestic and international projects they had done The teacher would choose articles for translation practice that the students have to complete as their weekly assignments

3.1.2 Participants

As might be expected, the larger the sample, the more precise an estimate it will yield: but at the same time, the larger the sample, the more work it requires to process it In my paper, for the purposes of highlighting the differences between the traditional translation methods and the author‟s

method and prove effectiveness of the latter The participants of the study are

20 Translation and Interpreting majored FELTE students who have studied English as a foreign language since they were at primary schools, then passed the entrance exam with English marks fulfilling the university‟s requirement

On top of that, they have gained insight into translation theory as well as translation practice through the three translation courses offered by the Faculty

20 senior students will be selectively taught the new technique of applying linearity and hierarchical dependency in V-E translation They are involved in four lessons designed by the author:

- Activity 1: At the beginning of the lesson, 20 senior Vietnamese FELTE students are asked to complete a paper translation test consisting of three Vietnamese passages needed translating into English These texts are edited by the author to get information on translation methods that FELTE students commonly apply to produce translation works

- Activity 2: During the lesson, the author delivers a lecture on application of linearity and hierarchical dependency in V-E translation The lesson offers attendants general understanding on the importance of linear idea order and dependency in English texts as well as in V-E translation to make the translation more natural While acquiring theory of these terms, the students also have chance to practice what they have learnt by participating in relevant exercises of linking and linear idea development

- Activity 3: After the lesson, again, the 20 senior students are given the paper test containing the same passages as the test at the beginning of the lesson They should give answers by implementing what they have learnt This task is partially solved by the whole class with guidance of the author to save time

To fulfill the purpose of verifying the effectiveness of the author‟s translation process, the author conducts an interview with two native speakers

of English who may not know Vietnamese Of two foreigners, one is London

born person and the other is a native American They might not even know about the theory of linearity and thematic progression because these terms are not popular in Europe as well as the United States, therefore their answers are based on their feelings and intuition which makes them objective and reliable Both of the native subjects are qualified English language teachers They have spent a large amount of time with Vietnamese students so that they have an appreciation of how the culture can impact on a student‟s receptiveness and participation in class and the need to find a right way to help the students to have a sound grasp of English not as a language but a culture and a country They will evaluate the readability of the translations by answering the author‟s questions in an individual interview

Apart from the individual interview with the natives, the author also evaluate the translation quality based on Juliane House‟s translation quality assessment by analyzing lexical, syntactic and textual means of translations

Three experts who are professional translators in Vietnam are also invited to individual interviews They are high-ranking lecturer in the Faculty

of Graduate Studies (FGS) - ULIS that is one of the top faculties for foreign language education and linguistics studies at the graduate level in Vietnam and qualified teachers in the division of Translation and Interpreting in the Faculty

of English Language Teacher Education (FELTE) They are not only teachers

at the ULIS, but also experienced translators who themselves apply and have insight into different translation method and techniques to produce high quality translations That is why they will give treasured comments on the author‟s translation technique, specifically its strength, limitations and then give some recommendations on which suitable types of text to apply the translation process to take the best advantage of it

3.2 Data collection

3.2.1 Paper test

Paper test is an effective instrument to obtain detailed information on how the subjects do something This instrument is used to test participants‟

practical skills after learning theory Moreover, Analyzing the paper tests, the researchers can find out difficulties in theory application or its effectiveness when put into practice

In this study, the paper test consists of three short passages of different popular topics They are passages adapted from a newspapers article or a book that the translators commonly expose to Furthermore, the short passages are familiar to senior Translation and Interpreting majored FELTE students because the passages are similar to the tasks in Advanced Translation course taken by junior FELTE students in their second semester of their third year

Firstly, 20 copies of the paper test are distributed to the learners at the beginning of the first lesson The learners have 15 minutes to complete the test All the paper tests are collected by the author for the purpose of analyzing to find out frequency of the non-linearity and unnecessary coordinations in the English translated texts

After taking the test as a warm-up activity, the students are taught the new translation method applying linearity and hierarchical dependency through

a systematic translation process There is a series of four lessons:

Lesson 1: The author gives learners an overview of Kaplan‟s paper comparing rhetorical patterns of five different language families in which English language and Oriental Language (including Vietnamese) are carefully analyzed English, particularly is represented by a straight line (linearity) which means the ideas in a paragraph are organized in a logic sequence with a series of specific examples significantly contributing to the central idea In other words, “the flow of ideas occurs in a straight line from the opening sentence to the last sentence” (Kaplan, 1966) Meanwhile, Vietnamese in the family of Oriental language are indicated by a spiral which refer to indirection, repetitions and parallelism in the development of ideas Acknowledging this contrast differences and the significance of linearity and hierarchical dependency in English writing is essential for the translators because translation is not simply transmitting the language cover, but it must convey

accurate author‟s intentions in a natural way To reach that end, in this first lesson, the learners are introduced to three steps to rearrange ideas in Vietnamese texts to make them a linear order

Lesson 2: The learners are introduced to concept of Theme, Rheme and Thematic Progression (TP) patterns, then how to apply them into V-E translation Classification of Theme are also thoroughly delivered by the author

so that the learners can easily identify types of Theme as well as TP patterns used in the texts As the latter are different between English and Vietnamese, the students should pay attention to change TP patterns (if necessary) to ensure the linearity when translate Vietnamese texts into English

Lesson 3: The author begins with a brief introduction of hierarchical dependency through Kaplan‟s conclusion that “It is important to note that in English, the maturity of style is often gauged by degree of subordination rather than by coordination” (Kaplan,1966) The technique to improve dependency in V-E translation are presented At the end of the lesson, the author recommends

a comprehensive translation process which are taught step by step to the learners through the last three lessons

Lesson 4: It is time to practice The three texts in the initial test are analyzed and rearranged by both the author and learners Specifically, the author guides the learner to the right way, then they do every steps by themselves

At the end of the fourth lesson, the students are asked to complete the translation test employing the translation technique they have learnt

The paper test activity takes about 15 minutes During this time, they author is around to help, observe and note difficulties that are encountered by the students

3.2.1 Questionnaire

Questionnaire is seen as a popular means composed of a series of questions for the purpose of collecting large amount of information from a

large number of respondents This type of research instrument can be seen as

“a kind of written interview”, through which, the author can measure the respondents‟ opinions and their intentions toward a specific topic (McLeod, 2018)

The questionnaire consists of both open ended and close ended questions so that the author obtains both quantitative as well as qualitative data The close ended questions only allow the participants to choose among restricted “pre-decided categories” (McLeod, 2018) such as “yes” or “no” Additionally, the closed questions can provide “ordinal data” This type of question involves a “continuous rating scale” that the responses present degree

of emotions, attitudes or intentions of the subjects (McLeod, 2018) This type

of question enables the conductor to convert findings into quantitative data Nevertheless, the findings lack detail because the responses are settled, so the respondents cannot express their own views That is the reason why the study should present the subjects with both closed and open ended questions to encourage the subjects to “reflect their own feelings” and add more detail to the findings (McLeod, 2018)

In this study, the questionnaire is chosen as a useful research instrument

to study attendants‟ comments on the new translation technique they have learnt to find out its effectiveness in terms of translation readability improvement in comparison with the traditional one they commonly used Furthermore, the author also desires to discover shortcomings of this technique through studying the difficulties when the students apply it in their translations

Twenty copies of the questionnaire in English are given to the students after they spend time to look at both translation versions translated at the beginning of the first lesson and the one at the end of the fourth lesson The aims of the questions can be described as follow:

The first research question is about the students‟ response toward applying the translation process into V-E translation Their response is rated each statement in the scale of strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly

disagree Participants indicate their opinion by putting mark on the position on the scale that most represent their feelings

Question (1.1) is used to find out the students‟ opinions on the translation technique they have been taught to see if it helps them produce more natural translations in terms of flow of ideas within a paragraph

Question (1.2) is used to ask if applying this translation process produces a concise translation but still cover all the ideas, because the repeated ones are eliminated

Question (1.3) is designed to know if this translation process solves the problem that students are stuck in that is just changing words into another language without concerning underlying culture features

Question (1.4) is used to know students‟ feelings towards the translation process they have learnt about which type of texts are best suitable to apply it Question (2) and (3) are designed to get information about students‟ reference when comparing translation versions before and after they are introduced the new translation technique

Question (4) and (5) are used to know students‟ difficulties in applying the translation process as well as their recommendations to improve the drawbacks

3.2.3 Semi-structured individual interview

Individual interview is an effective tool to gather detailed information from the interviewees, dig deeply into the topic and understand thoroughly the answers provided (Margaret C Harrell, 2009) With this type of research instrument, the author can collect qualitative data from all the interviewees through pre-determined questions Meanwhile, follow-up questions offer researchers the opportunity to get comprehensive information from each respondent

In this study semi-structured individual interview is used twice The first one is with two natives of English They are given six translation passages

in which three of them marked (1) are the versions before they learnt the translation process and the three other versions marked (2) are done after they learnt Reading the passages, the natives make their choice of which one out of two in each couple is more natural (closest to your mother tongue) The two versions of translation in each couple may convey the same core meaning, but the respondents should focus on flow of ideas, cohesion, and dependency among the ideas The natives should give the reason for your choice, your comments and recommendations for improving readability of those translations

The second semi-structured individual interview is used in interview with the experts who are professional translators They are sent the brief of the author‟s thesis via email The author also brings hard copies of translations that done by FELTE students both before and after learning the translation process

as an evidence of its feasibility The experts can look at the handouts to make comments on the translation technique‟s strength as well as limitations And their recommendation on suitable situation to apply the translation process to make the best use of it

Questions in the interview which are prepared beforehand are both closed and open-ended prepared questions and lasts about fifteen minutes each The participants are interviewed in a friendly and natural setting in the most convenient place for the natives that could a cozy coffee shop In addition, all interviews are conducted in English to assure the authenticity and validity of the collected data The data are recorded with the permission from the respondents and note-taking is also deployed as another useful tool

3.2.4 Procedures of data collection

- Step 1: Contact participants

At this stage, the author talks to selected participants about the purposes and significance of the study Particularly, the students are notified how the

study would help them to acknowledge a new technique translating Vietnamese texts so as to improve their translation quality, specifically the readability of translation work Besides, for the foreigners and experts, the author also guarantees the confidentiality and anonymity of their involvement

in the study

- Step 2: Design collection schedule

The author designs a detailed timetable for data collection and depends on each due date in the schedule to gather the data

- Step 3: Facilitate the lesson and collect questionnaire, hard copies of

translation tasks and comments from participants via face-to-face collection

The author conducts the lesson on “the application of linearity and hierarchical dependency in V-E translation” At first, the students are given

a questionnaire and a paper test containing three passages to find out their traditional translation method, then they are taught the new method by the author At the end of the lesson, they translate the passages at the beginning of the lesson one more time and complete a questionnaire studying their view on what they have learnt The paper tests and the questionnaires are collected separately

- Step 4 Procedures of data analysis

Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used in analyzing the data For quantitative method, the author finds out the students‟ feelings about the translation process as well as the translated works they produce applying linearity and hierarchical dependency technique The qualitative method is deployed in examination of FELTE students‟ translations by analyzing V-E translations of students according to J House‟s model and comparison between the versions of translation before the student learn the translation process and the versions after they have learnt it to highlight the effectiveness of this translation technique

3.3 Data Analysis

3.3.1 Data analysis procedure for qualitative method

For the paper test:

- Step 1: The author reads translation copies from participants at least twice

and underlines all non-linear ideas and unnecessary repetitions found

- Step 2: At this stage, translations are assessed in accordance with TQA

model of Juliane House

- Step 3: The typical examples in each type are analyzed

- Step 4: The author draws comparison between TT1 (produced before

students learnt the translation technique) and TT2 (produced after they learnt the translation technique) to highlight effectiveness of applying linearity and hierarchical dependency in V-E translation among ULIS students

For the interview with foreigners and experts:

- Step 1: The author listens to the recording at least twice and note all their

choices, comments on each translation version translated by the students Those all would support the author‟s final conclusion

- Step 2: The author summarizes choices of the two native of English and

reasons for their choices in a table Another table drawn compares experts‟ points of view on the advantages and limitations of the translation process

as well as their recommendations to alleviate its disadvantages

3.3.2 Data analysis procedure for quantitative method

For the questionnaire among senior students:

- Step 1: The author reads questionnaires completed by participating students

at least twice, and then calculates their choices as well as their comments

on the translation process

- Step 2: Stacked column charts are created indicating respondents‟ feelings

of the translation process Particularly, their comparisons between this translation process and the translation techniques the used before; and the

target texts produced before and after they are introduced the translation process

3.3.3 Analysis of Source Language Texts in acco dance wi h J o e’ model

Text 1: “Qu B o hi m th t nghi p (BHTN) chi tr cho ng i lao ộng

ợc hình thành từ ba nguồn: Ng i lao ộng óng 1% tiền l ơng, tiền công của tháng óng BHTN Ng i sử dụng lao ộng óng 1% qu tiền l ơng, tiền công tháng óng BHTN của ng i lao ộng tham gia BHTN Nhà n ớc hỗ trợ

từ ngân sách bằng 1% qu tiền l ơng, tiền công tháng óng BHTN của những

ng i lao ộng tham gia BHTN.” (Hop, 2013)

The ST is extracted from the Decree No.127/2008/ND-CP issued to

“create a legal basis” to encourage workers to purchase Unemployment Insurance (UI) and “guide the implementation” of articles in the Social Insurance Law concerning Unemployment Insurance ( Vietname Law and Legal Forum, 2009) In particular, the Article 25, Chapter IV entitled

“Unemployment Insurance Fund” (UIF) states that the sources of the UIF are equally formed by three contributors: the State, enterprises and labors

themselves

A Dimensions of language user:

(1) Geographical Origin: non-marked, standard Vietnamese

(2) Social class: non-marked

(3) Time: non-marked, contemporary Vietnamese

B Dimensions of language use:

(1) Medium: simple, written to be read

Syntactic means:

a The absence of elliptical clauses, contractions, contact parentheses and comment parentheses and any kind of spoken language signals

b Long and carefully structured sentences Most of the sentences are either complex or compound or complex- compound

c Syntactic discontinuity: a typical feature of the written mode

Expanded post-nominal modification separates the head of the subject noun phrase and the corresponding finite verb:

“Qu B o hi m th t nghi p (BHTN) chi tr cho ng i lao ộng

a Frequent use of repetition of nouns to ensure precision of reference:

“tiền l ơng, tiền công của tháng óng BHTN”

b The text is emic There are no pronominal references to the addresser and the addressees; the text is determined through text-immanent criteria and is marked by an explicitness typical of the written mode

(2) Participation: Complex, there is participation of both addresser and

addressees

The text is a monologue with addressee being directly addressed and given instructions The addresser is the law-making body of the country, i.e the National Assembly of Vietnam The text is addressee-oriented but the addressees‟ potential reactions are not taken into account by the addresser The addressees have no choice to do as directed This dimension is manifested in the following means:

Syntactic means:

a Ample use of addressees: “ng i lao ộng”, “ng i sử dụng lao ộng”, “nhà n ớc”