Abstract
This article reports on the pedagogical
effectiveness of using a translation memory tool,
e.g., Trados's WinAlign, to assist in the teaching
of the translation equivalence (TE) concept. Conventionally,
translation instructors taught the TE concept using
the prescriptive method of lecture and discussion
of relevant TE theories. As an alternative, this
study proposes the use of the descriptive method
to teach the TE concept. The author administered
an experimental technology-assisted translation
project by engaging a group of graduate students
in the editing of Trados's WinAlign-produced translation
alignments. The editing process allowed students
to identify various TE modes, such as strong TE,
fair TE, weak TE and very weak TE. At the end of
the translation project, students filled out a questionnaire.
Although using the Trados WinAlign tool as an aid
has demonstrated the pedagogical effectiveness to
facilitate student acquisition of the TE concept,
we still need to test the results of our research
on different groups of students to more convincingly
verify its benefits.
I.
Introduction
Translation
equivalence (TE) refers to the equivalent relationships
between target language (TL) and source language
(SL). This concept has been explored for decades
in the translation literature and has been discussed
as a crucial subject in teaching translation. It
has been found that trainee translators are prone
to produce inappropriate translations when they
do not have sufficient knowledge of the TE concept.
Translation instructors conventionally lecture on
the TE theories with supporting examples to teach
the TE concept. The author in this study proposes
the use of the TM technology, e.g., Trados WinAlign,
as an aid to teaching the TE concept. She engaged
a group of students in the editing of Trados's WinAlign-produced
SL - TL alignments that allowed students to identify
various TE modes.
1.1.
Research questions
In
this experimental project of teaching the TE concept
with a visual alignment tool as an aid, the author
raised the research hypothesis that this technology-assisted
translation method is beneficial to students in
three aspects. First, the process of editing a SL
- TL alignment provides students with empirical
experience and accordingly enhances the effectiveness
of learning the TE concept. Second, the variation
of the proportions of four TE modes across different
text types enables students to learn the dynamic
nature of the TE concept. Third, the Trados WinAlign-produced
alignment provides visual cues for a better understanding
of the TE concept, while student engagement in the
editing of alignments reduces learning anxiety.
The
above hypotheses led the author to raise some research
questions. She expects to find answers from the
findings of the students' questionnaires at the
end of this project.
- Is
this alternative approach to editing Trados WinAlign-produced
alignments less theoretical and is, therefore,
more convincing and effective than the conventional
theoretical approach?
- Does
editing Trados WinAlign-produced alignments enable
students to identify various modes of TE instead
of the dichotomous forms of TE?
- Does
editing Trados WinAlign-produced alignments help
students to learn that TE varies across text types
and to see the dynamic nature of TE?
- Does
the actual editing of SL - TL alignments make
one feel less pressure to learn the TE concept
than a study of complicated TE theories?
The
answers to these questions would help the author/researcher
understand the participants' thoughts and opinions
about the use of the TM technology to assist in
teaching the TE concept.
1.2.
The structure
Many
readers may have no clear idea about the conventional,
theoretical study of the TE concept, so the author
will introduce it in Section Two of this article.
After that, she will introduce Trados's WinAlign,
a TM tool, in Section Three. Section Four elaborates
on the methodology of this TE project. The components
to be discussed involve the subjects, the descriptive
method, the teaching procedures, and a questionnaire-based
survey. Section Five reports on the findings of
the questionnaire-based survey. Section Six discusses
the implications of the survey results. The conclusion
reiterates the viable function of using the TM technology
as an aid to teaching the TE concept and anticipates
that this study will bring new insights for the
emerging discipline of computer-assisted translation
instruction.
II.
The translation equivalence concept
The
TE concept, a vital component in the discussion
of the translation process, has been one of the
most problematic and controversial areas in translation
studies. Numerous scholars, including Eugene Nida
(1964), Roman Jakobson (1959), John C. Catford (1965),
Juliane House (1977), Peter Newmark (1988), Vinay
and Darbelnet (1995) addressed the subject of TE
using either the linguistic approach or the functional
approach. Their common approach was to set the rules
of TE and then to use samples drawn from texts to
support the rules. In other words, the focus of
their TE studies gave priority to theory over practice,
and to fixed norms over dynamic principles. The
following is a summary of their common features.
2.1. The dichotomous forms
of TE
The above-cited translation scholars tended to
discuss the TE theories in the dichotomous form.
Catford made a distinction between textual equivalence
and formal equivalence. The former refers to "any
TL text or portion of text which is observed on
a particular occasion to be the equivalent of a
given SL text or portion of text" and the latter
is "any TL category (unit, class, structure, element
of structure, etc.) which can be said to occupy,
as nearly as possible, the same place in the economy
of the TL as the given SL category occupied in the
SL" (1965: 27). Catford's TE theory is purely linguistic
and overlooks the extra-linguistic factors that
contribute to the production of functional equivalence
between SL and TL texts.
Eugene A. Nida also made a distinction between
two types of equivalence, formal and dynamic equivalence.
Formal equivalence "focuses attention on the message
itself in both form and content" (Nida, 1964:159).
In contrast, "dynamic equivalence is based on the
principle of equivalent effect, i.e., that the relationship
between receiver and message should aim at being
the same as that between the original receivers
and the SL message" (Nida, 1964: 159). To illustrate
the dynamic equivalence, Nida quoted J. B. Philips'
rendering of Romans 16:16, where the idea of "greeting
with a holy kiss" was translated as "giving one
another a hearty handshake all round" (Bassnett,
1991: 26). In addition, Nida cited one example from
a Biblical translation for the Eskimo's audience,
where the phrase "Lamb of God" was translated as
"Seal of God" because the lamb was not a symbol
of innocence in the Eskimo culture. (http://akasaka.cool.ne.jp/kakeru3/naganuma2.html).
Although Nida illustrated the dynamic TE concept
with extra-linguistic, culture-specific factors,
his theory remained inadequate because he extracted
all of his examples only from Biblical translations,
rather than from diverse text types.
Central to House's discussion of TE was the concept
of overt vs. covert translations. Overt translation
does not need to recreate a second original since
it preserves the original flavor in the TL text.
Overt translation produces the effect of what Nida
identified as the formal equivalence. House argued
that "in overt translation, the SL text was not
specifically addressed to a TL audience" (1977:
194). In contrast, covert translation implied "the
production of a text, which was functionally equivalent
to the SL text" (House, 1977: 194). House's theory
resembled Nida's theory and remained inadequate
because it was restricted to the dichotomous form.
Newmark examined the TE concept from perspectives
that swung "between literal and free, faithful and
beautiful, exact and natural translation, depending
on whether the bias was to be in favor of the author
or the reader, the source or the target language
of the text" (1988: 45). He clarified that "communicative
translation attempts to produce in its readers an
effect as close as possible to that produced in
the readers of the original" and that "semantic
translation attempts to render as closely as the
semantic and syntactic structure of the second language
allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original"
(1988: 39). All the above discussions of the TE
concept were rigid and inflexible since they reduced
the diversity of translation behavior to clear-cut
dichotomous forms.
2.2. The prescriptive study of the TE concept
To modify the inflexibility of TE dichotomy, some
scholars have expanded their study frameworks. For
example, Mona Baker (1992) offered "a more detailed
list of conditions upon which the concept of equivalence
can be defined" (http://accurapid.com/journal/14equiv.htm).
Putting together the linguistic and the communicative
approach, Baker addressed the TE concept at various
levels in relation to the translation process. As
she observed, the translator first took into consideration
equivalence at word level because the translator
started analyzing the SL text to seek direct equivalent
terms to replace original words as single units
in the TL text. Gradually, the translator noted
grammatical rules that could vary across languages
and added or omitted information in the TL text
to seek correspondence in the syntactic structure.
Exceeding the above linguistic components, Baker
noticed the textual equivalence that seeks contextual
correspondence and cohesion between SL and TL texts.
She also stressed cohesive ties and coherence of
the TL text. Finally, she raised pragmatic equivalence,
focusing on the clear presentation of the implied
meanings of the source message to make it comprehensible
to the TL audience.
Although Baker has used a more comprehensive way
to address the TE concept, her theory remained limited
because her prescriptive study imposed arbitrary
regulation without sufficient empirical basis. She
discussed the TE norms first and then used examples
to support the established norms. In addition, she
prescribed some TE norms and then applied them to
all text types.
As an alternative, this study neither adopts the
prescriptive method of studying TE nor restricts
the TE modes to the dichotomous forms. It makes
use of the empirical method by identifying varied
conditions for the production of TE in the real
alignment-editing environment. This study also inserts
varying degrees of TE between two poles of TE, ranging
from lexicon-level TE, syntax-level TE, through
context-level TE to culture/function-level TE. In
addition, this study proves that the impersonal
norm of TE is not universal to all text types; rather,
TE varies with different text types. While conventional
TE research moves from theory to practice, this
technology-assisted TE research moves from practice
to theory.
III. The TRADOS Winalign tool
Trados WinAlign, supported by Trados
6.5 Freelance, is a visual alignment tool., which
allows users to create a translation memory through
the use of available electronic translation materials
from previous projects. The program automatically
examines the source- and target-language texts to
determine which sentence pairs can be aligned. Alignments
in this case mean the result of making each translation
unit of the SL text correspond to an equivalent
unit of the TL text. The translation unit ranges
from one sentence to shorter sequence of sentences
or to paragraphs or chapters. The computing capability
of probability calculation of equivalences produces
the alignments between SL and TL texts. In other
words, in Trados WinAlign, an automated structural-semantic
recognition check procedure results in the production
of SL and TL alignments. On the Trados WinAlign
interface, the left column shows the SL text and
the right column shows the corresponding TL text.
In the case of English-to/from-Chinese
translations, the automatically-produced alignments
are usually inaccurate and need further editing.
Trados WinAlign provides the easy-to-use graphical
interface for the editor to undo and redo the inappropriate
alignments. The editor could use the function of
"split" to split a long TL sentence into two shorter
sentences to correspond to two short SL sentences.
At the same time, the editor could use the "join"
function to combine two or several shorter sentences
into one long sentence, so it corresponds to a long
SL sentence. In addition, the editor could directly
add or modify or delete lexical items on the Trados
WinAlign interface, so it is very convenient for
student editing.
Since the editing process allows
students to check whether a TL sentence appropriately
corresponds to a SL sentence at the semantic, syntactic
and pragmatic levels, students can learn the TE
concept and detect varied modes of TE in the actual
involvement. The author assumes that this method
makes the students learn the TE concept more effectively
and more impressively than the conventional theoretical
study. To investigate whether this assumption is
correct, the author tested a technology-assisted
translation project on a group of students. The
next section depicts how this project was undertaken.
IV. Methodology
This section illuminates some crucial
components of technology-assisted TE teaching. These
components involve the subjects, the descriptive
method, teaching procedures, four TE modes, the
mobile nature, and a questionnaire-based survey.
4.1. The subjects
A total of 13 participants in this TE project were
graduate students from the track of translation
and interpretation at National Kaohsiung First University
of Science and Technology (NKFUST) in Taiwan. Of
the 13 participants, there were 4 second-year students
and 9 first-year students. Nine of them were majors
in English and two were majors in business and translation
in colleges. Their average age was 26 with 2 students
over 30 and 11 students between 23 and 30. They
had studied English for more than twelve years and
their level of English was advanced. All of them
had taken a Translation Theories course before they
participated in this technology-assisted translation
project. However, this was the first time they had
the opportunity to learn the TE concept by using
the TM technology as an aid.
4.2. The descriptive method
This study employed the descriptive approach, so
it involved students in the learning of the TE concept
in the opposite direction from the conventional
prescriptive method. This alternative method does
not give much theoretical input. Rather, it asks
students to use Trados WinAlign, a visual alignment
tool, to produce SL - TL alignments and to edit
the inaccurate alignments. The focus is to infer
rules from the data. The instructor does not offer
the students preconceived generalized rules of TE.
Students need to detect various modes of TE by themselves.
This is the descriptive method of learning the TE
concept within an empirical and flexible framework.
4.3.
The teaching procedures
The teaching procedure began with the instructor's
introduction of how to use Trados WinAlign to align
the available SL and TL texts. Next, the instructor
showed students inappropriate TL and SL alignments
that were displayed on the Trados WinAlign interface
for editing. When the instructor used relevant examples
to edit the alignments, she identified varied modes
of TE. After that, the instructor used some example
sentences extracted from three text types to show
the changed distribution of the four TE modes across
the text types. This demonstrated the mobile nature
of TE.
Finally, students had a hands-on
experience with the editing of Trados WinAlign-produced
alignments. They had to detect the TE modes by empirically
editing inaccurate alignments and also had to observe
the changed proportions of the four TE modes using
different texts of the same three text types.
4.4. Four modes of TE
In the teaching procedure, the instructor identified
four TE modes through the editing of the SL - TL alignments.
She defined these TE modes as strong TE, fair TE,
weak TE and very weak TE.
4.4.1. Strong TE
By the author's definition, strong TE refers to
a pair of SL and TL sentences that carry the same
syntactic structure, transmitting the same message,
and share the same number of corresponding sentences.
Figure 1 shows one example of strong TE.
Figure 1: One Example of Strong TE
Figure 1 indicates that four English sentences correspond to
four Chinese sentences. Although the Chinese sentences
are more concise than the English ones, they are
structurally similar and transmit the same message.
We could identify this relation between SL and TL
as strong equivalence.
4.4.2. Fair TE
Fair TE refers to a pair of SL and TL sentences
that carry different syntactic structures, but transmit
the same message and have the same number of corresponding
sentences. Figure 2 shows one example of fair TE.
Figure 2: One Example
of Fair TE
Figure 2 indicates that
two Chinese sentences correspond to two English
sentences, but their structures are not same. The
adverbial phrase that marks time, 經過三十餘年的努力,is
located at the second clause of the Chinese sentence,
but its English translation after thirty years
of work is at the end of the English sentence.
Despite the slight difference in the structure,
the SL and TL sentences transmit the same message.
We could identify this as fair equivalence.
4.4.3.
Weak TE
Weak
TE refers to the corresponding units of TL and SL
sentences that carry different word order, have
a different number of sentences, but present a similar
message. Figure 3 shows one example of weak TE.
Figure
3: One Example of Weak TE
Figure 3 indicates that
three Chinese sentences correspond to two English
sentences. Their structures are different. The Chinese
phrase當伴手 (laden
with gifts) is not put at the end of the Chinese
sentence, but is placed at the end of the translated
English sentence. In spite of these differences,
the Chinese sentences and the translated English
sentences transmit the same message about the products
of I-Mei Company and customers' purchasing experience.
We could identify this relation as weak equivalence.
4.4.4.
Very weak TE
Very
weak TE refers to the cases in which, while carrying
out a similar textual function, neither SL and TL
passages are equivalent in the number of corresponding
sentences, word order, syntactic structures, or
even in the context. Figure 4 shows one example
of very weak TE.
Figure
4: One Example of Very Weak TE
Figure
4 reveals that three Chinese sentences correspond
to two English sentences. Their sentence structures
are different. For example, the clause 藉由贊助與活動推動,
located in the middle of the Chinese sentence, is
at the end of the translated English sentence. In
addition, the whole Chinese sentence 同時對於文化資產的保護更是基金會工作重點之一
is removed from the English translation. The message
concerning the prizes awarded by Cultural Construction
Council of Administrative Office is missing in the
English translation. Under the circumstances, we
define the relation as very weak equivalence.
4.5. The mobile nature of TE
Having identified the four TE modes,
the instructor used different text types to test
the mobile nature of TE. Different text types show
different patterns of TE mode distribution. For
example, we extracted an average of 15 sentences
respectively from one informative text type "Instructions
for the Use of Feria 3D" (a user's manual for a
hair-coloring product), one operative text type
"The Web-Page of Caesar Hotel" (an advertisement),
and one expressive text type Lord of Rings
(a novel). A comparison between each of these text
types leads to a finding that the informative text
type bears the highest percentage of fair TE (66%)
while the operative text type has the lowest percentage
of strong TE (7%). In addition, the operative text
type has the highest percentage of very weak TE
(40%) whereas the lowest percentage of very weak
TE lies with the informative text type (0%). The
hidden reason for this is that the advertisement
(the operative text type) contains metaphorical
descriptions, so that its translation displays a
higher percentage of very weak TE than the informative
text type (0%) and the expressive text type (6%).
In contrast, a user's manual (informative
text type) provides the literal description so that
its translation shows a higher percentage of strong
TE (34%) than the operative text type (7%) and the
expressive text type (27%). We summarize the statistics
of the different proportions of four TE modes in
Table 5.
Table 5: Proportions of Four
TE Modes in Three Text types
| |
Informative
Text type |
Operative
Text type |
Expressive
Text type |
|
Strong
TE |
34% |
7% |
27% |
|
Fair
TE |
66% |
27% |
40% |
|
Weak
TE |
0% |
26% |
27% |
|
Very
Weak TE |
0% |
40% |
6% |
The above table
indicates that not one text type presents only one
TE mode and the TE modes vary with different text
types. In addition, we found that the Chinese source
text of the hotel advertisement described the strengths
of the hotel to create a powerful appeal to the
Chinese audience. However, its English translation,
probably for the reason of the translator's limited
linguistic competence or for the purpose of adaptation,
has deleted some of the original message and has
toned down the metaphorical description. As a result,
the hotel advertisement presents a higher percentage
of very weak TE than other two text types.
At
the same time, we found that the proportions of
four TE modes underwent a change when we compared
different passages which we extracted from the same
text type. For example, two texts of the same operative
type show different patterns of the four TE modes.
This is because one advertisement is strongly factual
but the other advertisement likely pursues an emotional
appeal through the use of some rhetorical devices
or semiotic strategies. Due to the changed strategies
of description used in the same text type, the distribution
of the four TE modes within a text type is subject
to a modification. To justify this mobile feature,
we could use different passages or excerpts from
the same text types for a comparison.
In
the second test, we extracted 15 sentences from
a different informative text type, "User Guide for
the Air Cleaner," and from a different operative
text type, "ASUS Web-page." From the same expressive
text type, Lord of Rings, we quoted new 15
sentences. Table 6 shows the statistics of the distribution
of the four TE modes in these three text types.
Table
6: Proportions of Four TE Modes in Three Text
Types
| |
Informative
Text type |
Operative
Text type |
Expressive
Text type |
|
Strong
TE |
40% |
67% |
27% |
|
Fair
TE |
60% |
13% |
13% |
|
Weak
TE |
0% |
7% |
60% |
|
Poor
TE |
0% |
13% |
6% |
Table 6 shows different
distribution percentages of the four TE modes from
those of Table 5. The operative text type (The ASUS
Web-Page) has the highest percentage of strong TE
and the highest percentage of very weak TE. Furthermore,
Table 6 shows that one informative text type (User's
Guide for the Air Cleaner) has a lower percentage
of strong TE than the same informative text type
(Instructions for the Use of Feria 3D) in Table
5. The new passage extracted from the same novel
shows a lower percentage of strong TE than the passage
in Table 5. However, the new passage has a higher
percentage of weak TE. This phenomenon clearly revealed
that different passages or excerpts from the same
text type would lead to different distribution patterns
of the four TE modes. A comparison of Tables 5 and
6 allows students to detect the dynamic nature of
TE.
4.6.
A questionnaire-based survey
Having implemented the Trados WinAlign-assisted
project for four 3-hour sessions in sequence in
her translation class, the instructor/author conducted
a questionnaire-based survey. The author followed
the research hypothesis to design a questionnaire
that consisted of 15 Yes-No questions and two open-response
questions (see Appendix 5). The questions were evenly
distributed under three categories: the descriptive
study of TE, varied TE modes and their mobile nature,
and affective and cognitive impacts. All these questions
in the questionnaire attempt to elicit answers as
clues to verify the author's hypotheses.
V. Results
At the end of the Trados WinAlign-assisted
translation project, a total of 13 students filled
out the questionnaires. The instructor reminded
them that all answers were not related to the assessment
of their translation performance, so that they could
feel free to write their answers frankly.
5.1. Results of the "Yes-No" questionnaire
questions
We calculated the total number of
responses under each category and the total percentages.
Tables 7-10 show the results of student responses
to these questions.
Table 7: Statistics on Student Responses to the
Questions Concerning the Descriptive Study of TE
| |
Agree |
No
Attitude |
Disagree |
|
Resp. |
Percent |
Resp. |
Percent |
Resp. |
Percent |
|
1.
Less theoretical and more convincing |
7 |
53.89% |
5 |
37.61% |
1 |
7.07% |
|
2.
More useful than the theoretical approach |
11 |
84.61% |
2 |
15.38% |
0 |
0% |
|
3.
Less subjective than the theoretical study |
7 |
53.89% |
5 |
37.61% |
1 |
7.07% |
|
4.
More impressive to learn TE |
12 |
92.30% |
1 |
7.07% |
0 |
0% |
|
5.
Faster and easier to learn TE |
12 |
92.30% |
1 |
7.07% |
0 |
0% |
Table
7 indicates that student responses to Q4 and Q5
were more positive than the responses to Q1, Q2
and Q3.
Table 8: Statistics on Responses
to the Questions Concerning Varied TE Modes and
their Mobile Nature
| |
Agree |
No
Attitude |
Disagree |
|
Resp. |
Percent |
Resp. |
Percent |
Resp. |
Percent |
|
6.Varied TE modes to be identified |
12 |
92.30% |
1 |
7.07% |
0 |
0% |
|
7.TE variance across text
types |
12 |
92.30% |
1 |
7.07% |
0 |
0% |
|
8. Incomplete TE modes |
13 |
100% |
0 |
0% |
0 |
0% |
|
9.The mobile nature of TE
|
13 |
100% |
0 |
0% |
0 |
0% |
|
10. Relevance of rhetorical
strategies to the production of TE modes |
13 |
100% |
0 |
0% |
0 |
0% |
Table
8 shows that all students had one-hundred percent
positive responses to Q8, Q9 and Q10. In addition,
student responses to Q6 and Q7 were quite positive,
reaching the significant percentage of 92.3%.
Table 9: Statistics on Responses to the Questions
Concerning the Affective and Cognitive Impacts
| |
Agree |
No
Attitude |
Disagree |
|
Resp. |
Percent |
Resp. |
Percent |
Resp. |
Percent |
|
11.Less
pressure to grasp the TE concept through actual
editing. |
13 |
100% |
0 |
0% |
0 |
0% |
|
12.Less
anxious without the teacher's interference
|
5 |
37.61% |
7 |
53.89% |
1 |
7.07% |
|
13.
Internalizing TE in the process of thinking |
11 |
84.61% |
2 |
15.38% |
0 |
0% |
|
14.
Easy to grasp TE from the visual cues of
alignment lines |
10 |
70.76% |
3 |
23.07% |
0 |
0% |
|
15.
Less annoying and tedious to edit with the
visual effect |
9 |
69.15% |
4 |
30.76% |
0 |
0% |
Table 9 indicates that student
responses to Q11 presented the highest percentage,
while student responses to Q12 showed the lowest
percentage. Table 10 shows the students' overall
responses to this TE project based on the calculation
of the average percentages.
Table
10: Statistics on Students' Overall Responses
to This Project
|
Responses
Questions |
Agree |
No
Attitude |
Disagree |
|
Q1~Q15 |
82.05% |
11.17% |
6.78% |
Table
10 revealed that a majority of students, the significant
percentage of 82.05%, accepted the use of the Trados
WinAlign tool as an aid in the lerning of the TE
concept.
5.2.
Results of the "Open-Response" questions in the
questionnaire
There
were two open-response questions in the questionnaire.
We transcribed the written answers in a matrix under
the categories of learning experience and expectations
concerning the innovative teaching pedagogy. Table
11 summarizes the students' overall positive responses
to this survey.
Table 11: Statistics on Student
Written Answers to the "Open-response" Questions
|
Respondents
& Percentages |
Learning
Experience with the Trados WinAlign-assisted
Pedagogy |
Expectations
concerning the Trados WinAlign-assisted
Pedagogy |
|
1
Resp./7.07% |
Trados
WinAlign-assisted pedagogy is more practical
for students to learn the TE concept than
the teacher's lectures or reading the textbook.
|
The
instructor is expected to continue using Trados
WinAlign as an aid to the teaching of the
TE concept. |
|
4
Resp./30.76% |
Trados
WinAlign-assisted pedagogy brings a great
deal of fun to the learning of the TE concept.
|
The
technology-assisted teaching meets the market
needs in a technological world. |
|
4
Resp./30.76% |
The
Trados WinAlign-assisted pedagogy helps students
easily to grasp the TE concept through hands-on
practice. |
The
technology-assisted teaching helps students
learn the linguistic differences between SL
and TL through alignment editing practice.
|
|
1
Resp./7.07% |
Trados
WinAlign-assisted pedagogy provides a clear
and substantial way to learn the TE concept. |
The
instructor may use the Trados WinAlign tool
to teach some other translation theories. |
|
3
Resp./23.07% |
The
Trados WinAlign-assisted pedagogy is an effective
way to understand the complicated TE theories. |
The
technology-assisted teaching helps students
understand the TE concept and realize the
changed norms of TE through the repeated practice.
|
Table
11 clearly shows that all students made positive
comments on the use of Trados WinAlign to teach
the TE concept. They affirmed the pedagogical effectiveness
of the integration of technology into the translation
class for the purpose of teaching the translation
theory.
VI.
Discussion and implications
The
results of the questionnaire revealed the students'
positive attitude toward the implementation of the
technology-assisted translation pedagogy. Following
is a summary of the significant implications behind
the findings of this survey in the areas of "Yes-No"
questions and the "Open-Response" questions.
6.1. The technology-assisted approach to the teaching
of TE
The results of the second-part questionnaire
indicated that more than half of respondents agreed
that the innovative Trados WinAlign-assisted approach
was satisfactory and effective. However, we noted
that few students did not think that the editing
of Trados WinAlign-produced alignments was less
theoretical and accordingly more convincing. In
addition, these students did not think this technology-assisted
pedagogy was more objective than the conventional
theoretical study. These results implied that the
use of technology to teach the TE concept cannot
be regarded as a method of enhancing the validity
of the TE concept neither can it be accepted as
a more objective way of learning the TE concept.
However, we cannot overlook the fact that the students
had reached a consensus that the Trados WinAlign-assisted
pedagogy of teaching the TE concept was more effective
than the conventional prescriptive study.
6.2. The cognitive learning
of the TE concept
The result of student responses to the third-part
questionnaire showed that the overwhelming majority
of students (above 92.30%) agreed that the editing
of the Trados WinAlign-produced alignments not only
helped them learn the various modes of TE but also
enabled them to realize their mobile nature. In
addition, they noticed that the distribution patterns
of the four TE modes varied across different text
types. This clearly outlined that the realistic
editing environment provided students with a good
opportunity to observe the sophisticated TE concept.
Editing the inaccurate translation alignments allowed
students to develop the ability to solve problems.
The process of thinking about how to distinguish
varied TE modes has contributed to the cognitive
learning of the TE concept. We could describe this
kind of learning as the production of situated cognition.
Theorists like Brown Collins and Diguid have argued
for the importance in the learning of what has become
known as situated cognition (Butler-Pascoe &
Wiburg, 2003: 177). This claim echoed the underlying
theme of social constructivism, raised by Piaget
(1929, 1970, 1973), Vygotsky (1978) and Bruner (1990).
These theorists proposed that there was a need to
design a curriculum in which students were afforded
opportunities to construct their own meaning through
student-directed interaction rich in resources and
problems to solve. The technology-assisted teaching
we emphasized in this study relied on the students'
empirical experience and the situated learning environment
helped them to develop the cognitive ability. In
other words, students' actual engagement with the
editing of various sets of SL and TL alignments
helps them to integrate the knowledge of TE modes
into their own developing cognitive structure (Butler-Pascoe
& Wiburg, 2003: 177). This view conforms to
the function of process learning. In short, this
technology-assisted pedagogy relates student learning
experience to the actual environment and enhances
their cognitive integration.
6.3. Affective contribution
Of the five questions in the fourth part, only
less than half of the respondents (37.61%) agreed
that the process of editing the inaccurate alignments
made them feel less anxious when they had to monitor
and detect the TM modes without the teacher's interference.
One student even (7.07%) disagreed with this point.
This revealed that many students still needed immediate
and constant assistance from the instructor in the
editing process. In the technology-assisted learning
environment, the human element still plays a significant
role and we cannot overlook the instructor's role
in giving students immediate feedback.
With regard to the visual effect of linking lines,
more than half of students (70.76%) agreed that
they relied on the visual cues to help them grasp
the concept of equivalence between SL and TL sentences.
According to Buttler-Pascoe & Wiburg (2003),
everything students learn must "first come through
the senses because the initial stage of cognitive
processing requires perception" (167). The perception
acquired through the visual cue helps students to
easily move onto the phase of TE concept acquisition.
In this study, the visual cues of SL and TL alignments,
displayed in the window of Trados WinAlign, attracted
student attention and then motivated students to
edit them to seek varied modes of equivalence. The
visual cross-reference between SL and TL pairs enables
students to learn TE modes more substantially and
impressively. In short, many students have positive
responses to the visual impacts of editing the Trados
WinAlign-produced alignments.
6.4. The overall positive attitude towards
the technology-assisted TE pedagogy
Student reflections on the two open-response questions
doubtlessly revealed that students were enormously
satisfied with using the Trados WinAlign tool to
assist in the leaning of the TE concept. All students
were positive about the hands-on experience with
the editing task. They all agreed that this method
provided students with a clear, easy, effective,
and substantial way of learning the TE concept.
This ensured that the use of the translation technology
could facilitate student acquisition of the TE concept.
Although the use of the Trados WinAlign tool could
support the development of student cognitive ability
via discerning the TE phenomenon in the editing
process, the instructor must design some tasks that
initiate the problem-solving process and therefore
enhance the pedagogical effectiveness.
VII. Conclusion
Contrasting with the teaching of
Trados WinAlign simply for the input of technical
know-how, this Trados WinAlign-assisted pedagogy
method teaches students about the TE concept. Since
this study has confirmed the functional relevance
of the translation technology to the teaching of
the TE concept in the translation class, other translation
instructors can make further attempts at other functions
of the Trados WinAlign-assisted translation pedagogy.
References
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Nida, E. A. (1964) Toward a Science
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