Pre-service EFL Teachers’ Experiences of Translation Studies before and after a Translation Course

Abstract

Although studies on student experiences of translation are widespread in the field of translation studies, they still remain limited in the field of English language teaching. To fill a gap in this field of research, the present study focuses on the pre-service English language teachers’ experiences of translation as a practice and translation studies as a discipline at a state university. To this aim, an open-ended pre-test and an open-ended post-test questionnaire were designed to explore 40 senior ELT students’ individual views on translation studies before and after a compulsory translation course and thus offer theoretical solutions to their common translation problems. Firstly, all students were taught basic translation theories, test types, strategies, and approaches throughout the course. Later, their responses to both questionnaires which involved elements related to these theoretical and practical aspects were analyzed through thematic coding in a qualitative manner. These responses produced several thematic categories for each question in each questionnaire. According to the results of the analysis, pre-service English language teachers developed a positive experience of translation and translation studies after being introduced to the above-mentioned theoretical and practical points throughout the course. This can be associated with the fact that they largely benefited from these theories for translation tasks given in the course, which improved their overall translation competence. The present study also provided useful ideas for decision-makers in bachelor’s degree ELT programs and indicated the need for multidisciplinary cooperation between ELT and translation studies to increase the students’ academic level in both departments.