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Article published In: FORUM
Vol. 17:2 (2019) ► pp.225–248

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Developing and validating involvement in translation scale and its relationship with translation ability

 | Quchan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Quchan, Iran
Published online: 3 December 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/forum.18015.mod
Abstract
The concept of involvement has not been touched by professionals in Translation Studies. The present study aimed to develop and validate a scale of involvement in translation and to examine its relationship with students’ translation ability. In so doing, altogether, a pool of 20 translation teachers and 120 translation students participated in the study. Initially, the researcher tried to elicit the most commonalities from translation teachers regarding students’ involvement in translation. Then, the reliability and validity of the designed scale were determined by means of Cronbach’ Alpha, Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. The validated scale was named Involvement in Translation Scale, including four underlying constructs. Finally, the results confirmed that there was a large, positive correlation between students’ scores on involvement in translation and their translation ability [r = .72, n = 40, p < .05]. Translation students are suggested to focus on those aspects of their translation that foster their immersion in translation practice.
Résumé
Élaboration et validation du questionnaire sur l’engagement dans la traduction et sa relation avec la capacité de traduction
Le concept d’engagement jusqu’à présent, n’a pas été étudié par les chercheurs en traduction. Le but de cette recherche est de compiler et valider un questionnaire sur l’engagement dans la traduction et d’examiner sa relation avec les capacités de traduction. 20 traducteurs et 120 étudiants en traduction ont participé à cette recherche. Au début, le chercheur a tenté d’extraire les sujets les plus importants concernant les facteurs impliqués pour l’engagement dans la traduction du point de vue des professeurs de traduction. Ensuite, la fiabilité et la validité du questionnaire ont été déterminées à l’aide du coefficient Alpha de Cronbach, de l’analyse factorielle et de la modélisation d’équations structurelles. Le questionnaire standardisé s’appelle “Engagement à la traduction” et comporte quatre composantes. Enfin, les résultats ont confirmé l’existence d’une forte corrélation positive entre le score obtenu lors de la participation de l’étudiant à la traduction et ses capacités de traduction [r = .72, n = 40, p < .05]. Nous proposons aux étudiants en traduction de se concentrer sur certains aspects de la traduction qui renforcent leur engagement dans la pratique de traduction.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Interdisciplinary approaches to Translation Studies
    • 2.2Research methods of mental processes in translation
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1The qualitative phase
    • 3.2The quantitative phase
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Factors gathered from interviews
    • 4.2Validation process
      • 4.2.1Phase I
      • 4.2.2Phase II
    • 4.3The relationship between ITS and translation ability
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • References
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