What role do translation equivalents play in expanding B1 learners' vocabulary

Translation equivalents play a significant role in expanding the vocabulary of B1 learners by serving as effective vocabulary learning tools. For B1-level learners, using translation equivalents positively impacts their vocabulary knowledge, often more effectively than strategies relying exclusively on the target language. Translation helps learners by linking new vocabulary with familiar words in their native language, facilitating faster comprehension and retention. It provides conceptual connections between the native and target languages, easing the learner’s access to meaning and usage of new words.

Research shows that learners at this proficiency level tend to acquire vocabulary more efficiently when translation is involved, as it aids in comprehension, productive vocabulary knowledge, and even speaking confidence. The translation of words or phrases between the learner’s first language and the second language supports lexical access and reinforces vocabulary learning through repeated exposure to concepts represented in both languages.

Moreover, translation equivalents have been found to influence the production of words, helping learners retrieve the dominant or core meanings linked to their known native language counterparts. This approach acts as a bridge in understanding polysemous words and other complex lexical items, supporting lexical processing and vocabulary acquisition at the intermediate B1 stage.

Overall, translation equivalents provide a dual-language scaffold that enhances vocabulary learning by connecting new target language vocabulary with existing knowledge in the first language. This interplay supports the expansion of B1 learners’ vocabularies both receptively and productively, making translation an important pedagogical tool for vocabulary development at this stage. ^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

References

• The Impact of Translation Equivalence on Tunisian EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Knowledge and Word-Learnability

• Students’ Translation Use in English Foreign Language (EFL) Learning

• The Correlation between Translation Equivalence, as a Vocabulary Learning Strategy, and Tunisian EFL Learners’ Speaking Anxiety

• The correlated influence of semantic types, L1 translation equivalents and language proficiency on EFL learners’ production of polysemous words

• An Investigation of the Relationship between L1 Lexical Translation Equivalence and L2 Vocabulary Acquisition

• Translation Equivalents Facilitate Lexical Access in Very Young Bilinguals.

• Word reading and translation in bilinguals: the impact of formal and informal translation expertise

• The consequences of language proficiency and difficulty of lexical access for translation performance and priming

• Translation Teaching: The Importance of the Translator’s Native Language

• The Simpsons: Translation and language teaching in an EFL class

• Cross-language activation and semantic judgements of translation ambiguous words among Chinese–English bilinguals

• Second Language Pedagogy and Translation: The Role Of Learners’ Own-Language and Explicit Instruction Revisited

• A study of L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition through different translation tasks

• Language Labs and Translation Booths: Simultaneous Interpretation as a Learner Task

• Translation as a Part of School Curriculum in Learning English Language

• Are Translation Equivalents Always Activated When Bilinguals Perform a Task in One of Their Languages? Behavioral and ERP Evidence of the Role of the Task

• Translation norms for English and Spanish: The role of lexical variables, word class, and L2 proficiency in negotiating translation ambiguity

• Cognates Facilitate Word Recognition in Young Spanish-English Bilinguals’ Test Performance.

• Repetition priming within and between languages in verb generation: Evidence for shared verb concepts

• A1–B2 vocabulary: insights and issues arising from the English Profile Wordlists project