Translation of the Relative and Object Clause Sentences of ‘That’ and the Grammar Knowledge of the Korean EFL Learners

Abstract

Translating specific grammar knowledge is of great importance and effect as one of the activities to motivate the students to learn English grammar with more interest in the EFL classroom. However, the current practice of teaching and testing L2 grammar is manly through reading texts or passages rather than translating them. This study investigates how EFL college students perform translating specific grammar in the sentences. More specifically, it aims to investigate their achievement of translating relative clauses and object clauses. The data was composed of the translations drawn from 82 college students taking an English grammar course and their four formative grammar tests. The analyses of data revealed that the students’ translations were found to be similar in the two grammars. Despite the similar translation performance, the translation errors were found. One of the error types was that some students did not understand the sentential structure, but they comprehended the overall meanings of the sentences.