Abstract
The present study explored the possibility of grading English texts based on the psychological processes a non-native English translator might go through by applying Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain. The researchers’ primary assumption was that the difficulty of English texts would increase as the translator’s performance proceeds from translating an English text that requires their only language Knowledge through the texts requiring increasing demands of their Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Aynthesis and Evaluation abilities. To the researchers, the quality of the translation performance could be assessed based on the type of psychological processing they conduct in translating a given text. To fulfil the ultimate purpose of the research, 30 undergraduate students majoring in English translation at Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch, Iran took part in this investigation in 2012. In addition to Comprehensive English Language Test (CELT), the participants were given a translation essay-type test that included six short English passages of 150 to 200 words. The texts were carefully graded based on the type of behavioural objectives (i.e., psychological processes) demanded of the translator and listed according to the hierarchy of Bloom’s cognitive domain. A non-parametric test of Kruskal Wallis proved that except for the fifth level, the Synthesis text, the trainee translators’ quality of performance was graded properly based on the difficulty levels expected and explored in Bloom’s levels of cognitive domain. The findings in this study are considerately practical in translation quality assessment, upgrading the reliability estimate of translation tests and teaching translation skills and strategies.
Highlights
Throughout history, written and spoken translators have played a crucial role in intercultural or cross-cultural communication, not least in providing access to important texts for scholarship and/or religious purposes
Bloom’s et al (1956) believed that evaluating educational objectives is a constant concern in curriculum development. They claimed that their cognitive taxonomy could be utilized as a constructive set of guidelines for measuring every class of objectives from the simpler to the more complex
The texts were graded for their difficulty levels as they became successively more difficult based on the six cognitive levels of Bloom’s hierarchy of cognitive domain
Summary
Throughout history, written and spoken translators have played a crucial role in intercultural or cross-cultural (the latter term would be my initial choice) communication, not least in providing access to important texts for scholarship and/or religious purposes. Very little is written on interpreting assessment This may be partly due to the relatively few formal courses in the field worldwide, to the limited research in the area, and to the intuitive nature of the oral translation test design and assessment criteria. There is some general agreement on the skills and abilities necessary for a student translator to succeed on an oral translation course or in the profession (Lambert, 1991), this is not based on any empirical data, but rather on intuitive judgments by translator trainers These competencies include: ‘good command of the relevant languages, speed of comprehension and production, good general knowledge of the world, good memory, test-taking strategies, and stress tolerance’ (1991:39). They claimed that their cognitive taxonomy could be utilized as a constructive set of guidelines for measuring every class of objectives from the simpler to the more complex
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