Tarefas de tradução e processos cognitivos: uma análise sob a perspectiva das funções da hipótese da produção

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the cognitive process triggered during a translation task of an oral text through the bias of the Output Hypothesis (Swain, 1985). In other words, we sought to investigate whether, when performing a translation task, students engage in the cognitive processes described in the functions of the Output Hypothesis: noticing, hypothesis testing and metalinguistic reflection. Thus, the study also aims to scrutinize the following question: If translation constitutes language production, when producing in L2, will students trigger the cognitive processes described by Swain's hypothesis (1995)? To do so, in our methodology we propose conducting a translation task with the participation of eight students, from the first to third year of high school, in which they worked in pairs to translate a commercial, recorded in audio and later transcribed for the generation and qualitative analysis of data. In our analysis, we sought to investigate the cognitive processes triggered by students while carrying out the translation task in L2. The results indicated the occurrence of noticing, hypothesis testing and metalinguistic reflection. Qualitative data analysis also revealed the emergence of the hypothesis defined by Swain (1995) in a juxtaposed manner, without following a specific order, proving that with the task the functions described in the hypothesis emerged. In general, results corroborate with previous research of Lucindo (2006), Balboni (2007), Ellis (2003, 2020), Pym (2010), Silva (2020), Guará-Tavares and Sales (2025) among others, reinforcing translation as a pedagogical tool that benefits language learning.