TRANSLATION AS A LEARNING TOOL IN ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

The state-of-the-art teaching of languages is based on the communicative method which empha-sizes teaching English through English (Willis 1981). However, the idea of abandoning the native tongue is too stressful to many learners, who need a sense of security in the experience of learning a foreign language. In the past, the prevalence of grammar-translation method led to an extraordinary phenom-enon: students were unable to speak fluently after having studied the language for a long time. For this reason, translation has been defined as “uncommunicative, boring, pointless, difficult, and irrelevant ” (Duff, 1994). Recently there has been a revival of interest to translation due to the shift of its emphasis – to using a mother tongue as a resource for the promotion of language learning. Translation method develops three qualities essential to any language learning: accuracy, clarity, and flexibility (Duff 1994). Therefore, translation can serve as a tool for improving language skills. Goals of research The goals of the paper are, firstly, to examine students ’ perceptions of mother tongue application and mental translation in learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP), and secondly, to describ