A Study on the Performance Differences in Translating the Adjectives and Adverbs in the Same Form

Abstract

One of the essential elements of English teaching for a long time was translation, and a number of entrance exams of universities or colleges focused on translation of paragraphs or texts for decades. Despite its significance, it has been a significant missing part to measure English proficiency in the classroom because it is not a format for high-stakes tests in Korea. This paper aimed at examining the performance differences in translating the words with the same form as adjective and adverb used in the paired sentences into Korean. More specifically, this study examined the awareness of the differing meanings of the same form of the words used as both adjective and adverb through translation. A total of 54 high school second years participated in the study. The findings of their qualitative analysis highlighted that the participants performed differently in translating the words in the paired sentences. One of the findings was that the students translated the words “fast” and “high” most correctly for both adjective and adverb, while their translating performance was extremely poor at the words “pretty” and “well” in the paired sentences as adjective and adverb.