English-majored Students’ Perceptions of the Translation Course at Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of the 'Translation' course at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry from the English-majored students' perspectives via in-depth interviews. From the interviews data of 12 students, a critical evaluation was carried on to find out students' perceptions on different aspects of the course, including how they felt about the translation course, the difficulties they encountered throughout the course, what they thought about the teaching activities applied in the course as well as their expectations to improve the course. This study discovered that the lack of vocabulary, weak grammar and sentence structures, and not understanding the implied meaning of different contexts were their biggest challenges. In most students’ opinions, they supposed that group work and e-portfolio were effective activities. The students were generally satisfied with the quality of the subject and suggested some viable recommendations to improve this course in the future.