Testing Efficiency of the Methodology of Teaching Students Majoring in Philology to Translate Texts Using Cat-Tools: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The article describes the results of introducing the newly developed methodology of teaching students majoring in philology to translate social and political texts from English into Ukrainian with the help of one of the leading computer-assisted translation software tools (CAT-tools) -SDL Trados. The course "Modern Translation Technologies. CAT-tools" included four thematic blocks (translating files of various formats; creating and managing term bases; creating translation memories based on existing translations (alignment) and managing them; managing translation projects) and three sub-systems of exercises (preparatory exercises, exercises for developing skills in translation with the help of CAT-tools, exercises for developing abilities in translation with the help of CATtools). The pilot study was carried out in the form of natural vertical experimental teaching which lasted during the second semester of 2015/2016 academic year (March -May). The subjects included 12 fifth year students of the Department of English Translation Theory and Practice of the School of Foreign Languages of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University majoring in translation. The course was introduced to the students during three months (24 academic hours), two academic hours per week. The stages of the experimental teaching included the following: preparing the experiment, realising it, processing the results and interpreting them. The comparison of the students' average results obtained before and after the experimental teaching allows to state that there is a substantial increase in students' proficiency in translating social and political texts from English into Ukrainian with the help of CAT-tools while the increase in students' proficiency in translating similar texts from English into Ukrainian by hand is definitely low and can't be regarded even as a satisfactory one. The results of the experimental teaching show that the hypothesis preconceived at the very beginning of the study is confirmed.