Investigating the Use of Thinking Aloud Protocols in Translation of Literary Texts

Abstract

Mental constructs and processes in general and translation processes in particular have been the focus of much research in the past three decades. Among the techniques used in studying such cognitive processes and strategies, the use of Thinking Aloud Protocols (TAPs), has extensively been proposed. Though much has been written on the use of TAPs in recognizing the mental processes translators experience, very little if any can be found to address the mechanisms and mental processes they undergo while translating a piece of literary text. Having this in mind, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the strategies senior translation students of Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas Branch apply while translating literary texts using Thinking Aloud Protocols. To achieve this end, 12 senior translation students of Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas Branch participated in the study. Participants were chosen according to the convenience sampling method. The subjects, then were asked to translate four literary texts and while translating verbalize whatever goes on in their mind within a TAP framework. The “think aloud protocols” were categorized based on the frequency table and the translations were analyzed qualitatively. The data was analyzed to reveal the strategies used by the respondents. In the analysis of the strategies, just the types of strategies were of importance to the researcher though the frequency of each strategy was also, collected and reported. Based on the findings, fourteen strategies were detected with Look-up was as the most frequent strategy used by the subjects in the study .Using imagery and Paraphrasing were the second and third most frequent strategies used by the subjects respectively. Switching to L1 while translation was found the lowest strategy as reported in TAPs by the subjects. Deductive reasoning strategies were the second lowest strategy reported. Such strategies as Resourcing and referencing, evaluating and monitoring, problem solving and co-text recourse stood in between.