Exploring Translation Students’ Dictionary Use, Preferences, and Attitudes in Translation Courses

Abstract

The study aimed to explore translation students’ dictionary use, and preferences in their translation courses. Moreover, it aimed to explore the students’ attitudes toward the dictionary while using it as a major tool in the translation process. To achieve the purpose of the study, a questionnaire was prepared in advance by the researcher. It consisted of 35 items. The quantitative method based on a questionnaire was used in this study. Data were collected by administrating the questionnaire to 84 students, who were purposefully chosen at Isra University in the first semester of the academic year 2023/2024. The results revealed that the participants agreed that they knew how to use an online and a book dictionary in their translation tasks and lessons. Moreover, the results indicated that the majority of them preferred using an online dictionary in their tasks because it was a quick and easy tool that students could deal with in a perfect way to look for difficult or unknown words. In addition, the analysis showed that the majority of the participants agreed that they had a positive attitude toward using different types of dictionaries because they were helpful in doing different tasks in their translation lessons. Finally, the study recommended that students should be provided with enough training and practice on how to use online as well as book dictionaries. In addition, students must be encouraged to depend on the context first to guess the meaning of the new words before they start looking for their meanings using different types of dictionaries.