15 translation. Newark 1988 shared his view about this problem. He said translation is actually
a difficult process and he defined it as an “endless” procedure, especially for linguistically
difficult passage because they can always be improved to get greater meaning. And for some students who were interviewed, they also concern about it. For them who had higher
translation competence will think they need to read the translation texts more than once to get better understanding while others think it isn‟t necessary. So when it comes to group
translation, in which students divide the text into several parts to be done by the members of the group, there will be a difference in meaning and also style of language. Furthermore, the
problem with style of language of each student can lead to another problem when the group needs to combine all the works from their members into one coherence text which also need
to have consistency in the style of language. This is one reason for students to choose working individually rather than doing in group translation. Other reason is that by doing
translation individually, students can be more focused since they don‟t need to discuss it with
their friend, and of course the assignment can finish faster. After all, despite the fact some students find that doing translation individually is
more advantageous for them, other interviewee still chose to work their translation assignment in group.
I prefer Group, because if the text is long, we can divide it into several parts, and it can save time, since in my experience usually the text is quite long 2 pages, but
sometimes I find difference in style of language, so after we compile the work, it will be checked together to make the translation consistent, and after that we read it.
Participant 4 It can be seen from the statement above that the differences in style of language also become
an important thing to consider in doing translation in group. Similar view about the style of language was shared by Participant 8
16 In my group usually the text is divided into several parts, and one member of the
group will need to get one part usually one paragraph to finish. But before submitting our work, the assignment will be compiled first and we read it first, so we
can correct the assignment first so that there are no different in language Participant 8
From the two statements above, we can see an inconsistency from the interviewee. Both of them think that by doing translation in group they can finish the assignment faster, but they
also mentioned that if they do translation in group, they need to rechecked and corrected the work before it was submitted to the teacher so that the translation are consistent between one
paragraph and another. This process will for sure spend much time because combining two or more language with different style is not easy. The time consuming problems because of
doing translation in group were actually discussed by Kaye 2009, but instead of seeing it as drawback of translation; he saw it as one advantage of doing translation in group. He
mentioned that translation in groups can encourage students to discuss the meaning and use of language at the deepest possible levels as they work through the process of understanding
and then looking for equivalents in another language. It can happen because just like what has been shared by the interviewee above, they need to recheck the work once again even after
the work has finished to ensure there are no language inconsistency and probably to find a better meaning for some difficult word.
On a similar study done by Barros 2011 which discussed collaborative learning in the translation classroom in Spain, from all the participants, 45,5 choose to do work individual
translation and only a few 6,3 choose to do translation in group, while the rest choose the combination of both individual and group work. The reasons given by the participants were
also similar to the study I did such as students can organize their time as they wish and also implement their own decision in doing translation. Other reasons includes to avoid conflicts
17 and arguments with other team members and to get more translation practice. This may
suggest that although many students think that doing group work assignment is helpful and advantageous, when it comes to translating a text, some students have different opinions and
attitude based on their own experiences.
2. Student’s participation during group work in Translation Class
Student‟s participation in group work had been highlighted by some researcher since it is considered to be one of the most serious problems in group work David 2009, Morgan 2002
and this section will discuss about student participation in Translation class. Some students who were interviewed stated that hisher friend work well and give contribution to their
group. As mentioned by Participant 10 and 5 They work well, if they have a good basic, they can finish the assignment well
Participant 10 They look happy to do something in group, because they can work together. Most of
my friend will choose to work in group because they can work with their friend. Participant 5
Both statements showed that students have positive contribution to their own group discussion in Translation class. The fact that students are able to work with their peer and
building their social skills while they are doing assignments made some students participate a lot and give considerable contribution to their group. In Translation class, students were
asked to do the translation assignment in group so that they can use their language at the deepest possible levels as they work through the process of understanding and then looking
for equivalents in another language Kaye 2009. Nevertheless, this did not happen to every student who took Translation class. Some students still did not take part in their group
discussion. As mentioned by Participant 1 and 3
18 Every students have differences in doing group work, there are student who are active
and there are also who only follow hisher friend. Participant 1 In my experience, in translation class, in my group there are 2 friends who are very
active while other is not Participant 3 From above statements, we can see that based on students experiences in doing group
work in Translation class, there were students who was actively involved and some others who were not giving contribution to the group. This is what is discussed by Davis 2009,
about the “free rider” problem and the sucker effect. The free rider problem, who had been mentioned earlier in this study, are defined as
students who are not performing well in group but still get benefits of the accomplishment of the remaining group members. While the sucker effect, as also mentioned by Kerr 1983, is
defined as more competent students who try to avoid being a “sucker”. They reduce their own input and contribution to the task and will even choose to fail as a group rather than be a
“sucker”. This happens a lot in group discussion, when there are more capable and competent students in group, and also some others who are not actively involved in the group.
Sometimes, the discussion will be dominated by one student and the objective of doing group work in which students were asked to discuss and work together to finish a certain problem
were not achieved. To solve this problem, some interviewee give suggestion about what is needed to be
considered by students when they are working in group with their friends It depends on each person. If someone has a big will, discipline and loyalty I’m sure
he will participate a lot in the group; they will realize their own responsibility. This is not individual work; this is a group work so I need to take part in doing the project.
Participant 6
19 She mentioned that if each student has realized what is their responsibility in doing group
work, they will automatically give contribution to hisher group. And sometimes, in each group, students need to appoint a leader, not to dominate the discussion but to give command
and also suggestion in finishing assignment to the rest of group members. When doing group activities, some students will be a kind of “lost” and don‟t know what to do, and this will be
covered by the presence of students who acted as “group leader”.
Conclusion
Translation which has become the basis of language teaching for a very long time has a different characteristic compared to other subjects in terms of learning language.
Translation also can be tricky since it actually combine many skills such as reading comprehension, grammar use, and translating itself. Kaye 2009 suggest that doing
translation in group can help learner to translate better, since it can encourage students to get better meaning, sharing ideas and discuss the use of language at the deepest possible levels as
they work through the process of understanding and then looking for equivalents in another language. This study aimed to find out students‟ perception toward group work in their
Translation classes. After doing interview to some students who take Indonesian to English Translation
class, there are some findings that are discussed in this study. Students give their perception toward group work which they refer as an activity that are done together to finish an
assignment or project, in which students can exchange their ideas and help one another to get a better result. Although sometimes they found some obstacles in doing group work they
suggest that group work is beneficial and helpful. But, although all students have same positive view about group work, when it comes to their Translation classes, students have
different opinions. Not all students prefer to work in group while they are doing their in-class
