The Relationship between Critical Thinking Ability of Iranian English Translation Students and Their Translation Ability

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between critical thinking and translation ability of Iranian English translation students. Moreover, the difference between critical thinking skills of males and females was explored. The participants of this study were 86 Iranian senior English translation students of Islamic Azad University, Islamshahr branch. For gathering data two kinds of instruments were used: a critical thinking questionnaire (The Persian version of CCTST- form B) and English to Persian translation test. The findings revealed no significant difference between critical thinking abilities of females and males. Thus it can be concluded that gender has no role in critical thinking abilities of the Iranian EFL learners. Furthermore, the results of this study indicated that learners with more critical abilities were more successful in translation performance. These findings highlight the importance of teaching thinking skills to our learners and Integrating problem solving activities that need critical thinking in our teaching and learning process.