A Corpus-based Instruction for Learning and Using Collocations in a Translation and Interpretation Program: Analyzing Trainee Students and Teachers’ Perceptions

This research investigated the perceptions of college students from a Translation/Interpretation Program at PUCV, Chile regarding the learning and using of collocations through the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the perceptions of teachers, translators and interpreters of collocational competence and a corpus-based instruction for using and translating collocations. A sample of 15 students participated in a corpus-based instruction to learn collocations through the corpus. Participants were required to complete a journal entry to reflect on their learning experience. In addition, students were asked to participate in a focus group once the intervention sessions were finished. Finally, two teachers, two translators, and one interpreter were interviewed to elicit their perceptions of collocational competence and a corpus-based instruction. The data collected were analyzed by means of Grounded Theory. Main findings show that the students perceived the learning and using of collocations through the Corpus of Contemporary American English as beneficial. Likewise, the teachers, translators and interpreters interviewed considered collocational competence and a corpus-based instruction to be significantly favorable. A more in-depth and extended study is advised to obtain more insight into the perceptions of using corpora for the teaching and learning collocations in the field of Translation/Interpretation.