Translation Curriculum Evaluation in Jordan: A New Perspective
BY ANJAD MAHASNEH
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Abstract
This study aims at drawing a clear picture of translator training in Jordan through the evaluation of translation programs at the Master's level. The framework of the Context, Input, Process, and Product components of the CIPP evaluation model developed by Daniel Stufflebeam in 1971 was used to evaluate the three translation Master's programs at Jordan, Petra, and Yarmouk universities in Jordan. The ultimate aim of this research is to develop a curriculum evaluation model in an effort to suggest relevant adaptations and to contribute to the improvement of translation curriculum and translator training in Jordan and anywhere else. This study addresses the current translation curriculum, program evaluation models and studies in the field of Translation Studies, teaching translation approaches and models, especially the ones specific to Arabic/English translation, the specificity of the Arabic language, and the problematic areas which might emerge when translating from Arabic into English and vice versa. The study revealed that translator training at the Master's level in the three programs investigated is productive to a good degree, but there are some drawbacks which needed to be addressed and improved to increase the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process in the programs in question. The researcher suggested two models after conducting his study, one adopted from the CIPP model and is concerned with
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evaluating translation programs and the other is a Master's program for teaching Arabic/English translation stemmed from the results of the survey.
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To: "Myself" ....who fought all the wars and won!!! .ُ هنا ولست,ُ هناك أنا من هناولست.أنا من هناك كنت..بأيهما نسيت,َتان ولي ُلغ...ِيَ اسمان يلتقيان ويفترقان ل َ ُ ِّ َأح ,ُ لم ُ الوالدة لكنها إن الهوية بنت َّ ال,ُ صاحبها في النهاية إبداع .د في داخلي خارجي...د أنا.وراثة ماض َالمتعد ُالمتجد ِّ ِّ لو لم أكن ...ِ َاية ِن َبي هناك غزال الك ير بت من هناك لدر ُ ُ قلبي على أن َّْ /ُ ً إذا لزم األمر ّا ْ نرجسي ُن َ وك ّى ذهبت فاحمل بالدك أن العالم َ ومنفىً هو...ُ الخارجي العالم َ منفىً هو َ َ ُّ الباطني بنفســــــــي..سـأصـنع نفســــي
...ن ُن وما سأكو ُأنا ما أكو
" طباق،"محمود درويش
I am from there, I am from here, but I am neither there nor here. I have two names which meet and part...I have two languages, but I have long forgotten which is the language of my dreams. What about identity? I asked. He said: It's self-defense...Identity is the child of birth, but at the end, it's self-invention, and not an inheritance of the past. I am multiple...Within me an ever new exterior. And I belong to the question of the victim. Were I not from there, I would have trained my heart to nurture there deers of metaphor...So carry your homeland wherever you go, and be a narcissist if need be. The outside world is exile, exile is the world inside..And what are you between the two? I am what I am and shall be... I shall choose my place by myself. (Mahmoud Darwish, Antithesis)
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Acknowledgements
This study would not have been possible without the support of many people. I am deeply grateful to my supervisor Prof. Marilyn Gaddisrose for her endless support and encouragement; she was abundantly helpful and offered invaluable assistance and guidance throughout my work in this dissertation. Big and special thanks for the light of my life and the stars who guided me to my future, my parents, who believed in me. Mum and Dad words cannot express how thankful I am to you. Also all my gratitude goes to my sister Amjaad and her husband and her kids, for their emotional support, understanding & endless love, through the duration of my studies in Canada and the USA. I would like also to thank Prof. Mary Yousef and Prof. Michael Pettid for being in my committee. I’ am also greatly indebted to my friend Moroug who helped me and encouraged me especially with the analysis and the data. I would also like to extend my deep appreciation to all my friends and colleagues in Canada, Jordan, and the US, especially Hala, Hallah, and Heba. And finally, warm thanks to Prof. Abdulla Shunnaq for reading my work and enlightening me with his appreciated suggestions.
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Table of Contents
List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... x Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Review of Literature ..................................................................................... 7 Overview ............................................................................................................................. 8 Chapter Two: Methodology and Material......................................................................... 42 Chapter Three: Results and Discussion ............................................................................ 57 Chapter Four: Translation Curriculum Evaluation Model .............................................. 145 Chapter Five: Translation Curriculum Model................................................................. 153 Conclusion and Recommendations ................................................................................. 183 Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 223
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List of Tables Table 1. Admitted Students Number and Gender Between 2000-2013............................ 73 Table 2. The Number of Graduates Between 2000-2012 ................................................. 74 Table 3. Instructors Experience and Specialization Jordan University Group ................. 75 Table 4. Number of admitted students between 2000-2013 ............................................. 79 Table 5. Number of graduates Yarmouk Group2000-2012 ............................................. 81 Table 6. Instructors at Master Program/Yarmouk Uni ..................................................... 82 Table 7. Students' number and gender since Petra Group 2005 ...................................... 87 Table 8. The number of graduates Petra group 2007-2012 .............................................. 88 Table 9. Faculty members at Master Program/Petra Uni ................................................. 90 Table 10.Translation Master programs in Jordan ............................................................. 91
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List of Figures Figure 1. Gabr's TQM Model ........................................................................................... 25 Figure 2. Gabr Program Design 2000 ............................................................................... 26 Figure 3. Formative and Summative Evaluation in the CIPP Model ............................... 34 Figure 4. Regional Map of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan ........................................ 58 Figure 5. Admission Distribution For The Years Between (2000-2013) ......................... 73 Figure 6. Students Total Percentage For The Years (2000-2013) .................................... 74 Figure 7. Graduates Distribution for the Years Between 2000-2012 ............................... 75 Figure 8 Admission Distribution for the years between (2000-2013) .............................. 80 Figure 9. Males and females total percentage for the years between (2000-2013) .......... 80 Figure 10. Graduates distribution for the years between 2000-2012 ................................ 82 Figure 11. Distribution for the faculty staff specialization ............................................... 83 Figure 12. Admission distribution for the years between (2005-2013) ............................ 88 Figure 13. Students total percentage for the years between (2000-2013)......................... 88 Figure 14. Graduates distribution for the years between 2007-2012 ............................... 89 Figure 15. Age distribution for Jordan University group ................................................ 94 Figure 16. students distribution according to current semester/Jordan Uni group .......... 95 Figure 17. Distribution of students according to their Major in Bachelor ....................... 95 Figure 18. Age Distribution for Yarmouk University group ........................................... 96 Figure 19. Current semester distribution for Yarmouk Uni group .................................. 97 Figure 20. Major in Bachelor distribution for Yarmouk Uni group ................................. 97 Figure 21. Age distribution for Petra University group .................................................... 98 Figure 22. Students distribution according to current semester Petra Uni group ............. 99 Figure 23. Distribution of students according to their Bachelor major ............................ 99 Figure 24. Gender distribution for the whole sample ..................................................... 100 Figure 25. Age distribution for the whole sample ......................................................... 101 Figure 26. Semester distribution for the whole sample ................................................. 101 Figure 27. Bachelor Major distribution for the whole sample ........................................ 102 Figure 28.Students overall perception on material/ resources/course content ................ 109 Figure 29. Students overall perception on methods/assignments/evaluation ................. 110 Figure 30. Students overall perception on translation courses ....................................... 111 Figure 31. Students' overall perception on teachers qualifications ................................. 112 Figure 32. Students' overall perception on Theory& practice ....................................... 113 Figure 33. Students' overall perception on program's objectives .................................... 114 Figure 34. Most preferred Topics to be translated ......................................................... 115 Figure 35. Steps of the Curriculum Evaluation using the Translation Curriculum Evaluation Model (TCEM) ............................................................................................. 146 Figure 36. Evaluation and Research Design /the TCEM Model .................................... 150 Figure 37. Translation Program Design & Development (Mahasneh 2013) ................. 175
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Summer, 2011 Two boys are walking down the street. The first boy says.” I’ve been really busy this summer. I’ve been teaching my dog to talk.” His friend responds, “Wow, I cannot wait to have a conversation with your dog.” The first boy shakes his head.” I said I ‘v been teaching him. I did not say he learned anything.”
“Translation, being a craft on the one hand, requires training, i.e. practice under supervision, and being a science on the other hand, has to be based on language theories. Therefore, any sound approach to translation teaching has to draw on proper training methodologies. Training focuses on the improvement of the knowledge, skills and abilities of the individual, and it is functional and relevant only when it is evaluated” (Gabr, 2001:1)
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Introduction
Problem in Context
1. Statement of the Problem Although translator training programs are widely spread because of the rising international trade, increased migration, globalization, the recognition of linguistic minorities, and the expansion of the mass media and technology, translation training in general and curriculum evaluation issues in particular have received little attention so far. The literature review on this topic reveals that only a few studies on translation curriculum design, planning and evaluation have been carried out (examples are Defeng Li 2000,2002,2007, Gabr 2001,2002, 2003 &2007, Youssef 2004, Kelly 2005 &2010, Kearns 2006, Zhaoguo 2008, Birjandi and Nosratinia 2009, Calvo 2009 &2011, Al Qinai 2011, Pham and Tran 2013,Atari 2012 & 2013, and Liu 2013). For this reason, there is a great need to conduct more studies on the design, planning, and evaluation of translation curricula.
Consequently the current study aims at proposing a model for curriculum evaluation using the framework of the CIPP Context, Input, Process, and Product model developed by Stufflebeam in 1971, in order to evaluate translator training programs in Jordan to know "whether certain teaching methods are effective or not, whether evaluation criteria
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are valid or not, whether classroom activities are communicative enough or not" (Almaaini 360). The proposed model will be applied in order to describe the current state of translation teaching in Jordan and might be later used to evaluate any translation program in the world in an attempt to enlarge the small reparatoir already exist in this topic. Jordan was selected because there is a great interest in translation studies there, a fact reflected by the big number of undergraduate and graduate programs in translation in relation to the small number of the population and the total area of Jordan, a fact acknowledged by Tawfiq Yousef "this obvious proliferation of translation programs and this rapidly growing number of translation graduates in a relatively small country like Jordan constitute a phenomenon worthy of investigation" (256). Another scholar who also acknowledged the growing interest in translation teaching in the many Arabic countries including Jordan is Omar Atari " the growing interest in translation within the Arab world has manifested in the emergence of translator training programs, both at graduate and undergraduate levels in several Arab universities (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan)" (180).
2. Objectives of the study - General objective Since the establishment of the Master’s translation program in Jordan in the late 80s, there has been no formal feedback on the performance of these programs, or evaluation. Therefore, the main purpose of the study is to draw a clear picture of translator training in Jordan through the evaluation of translation programs at the Master’s level. This will be accomplished by analyzing both translation syllabi and similar documents, and the
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perspectives of instructors on the effectiveness of the programs in relation to materials, assessment and teaching methods dimensions of the program and students’ perceptions on material and resources, objectives of the program, teaching methods, assignments, evaluations, environment of the program, students' attitudes towards translation courses, qualifications of teachers, and how much theories and practices should be included in the program using the framework of the Context, Input, Process, and Product components of the CIPP evaluation model developed by Daniel Stufflebeam 1971.
This study is not meant and will not be similar to an evaluation done by external evaluator for accreditation purposes for example. Rather, it is meant to describe and examine the present Master's translation programs in Jordan to better understand the current state of these programs and to give insights for the concerned stakeholders or researchers on how to use the outcomes of those programs to come up with any ramifications needed. It is hoped that this study will make a positive contribution to translation training in Jordan and anywhere else, and that the results of this study will be used as a ground floor or a feedback to the concerned parties if considered appropriate and helpful. The ultimate aim of this research is to develop a curriculum evaluation model in an effort to suggest relevant adaptations and to contribute to the improvement of translation curriculum and training in Jordan.
- Specific objectives 1. To investigate and describe the actual practices of students in English/Arabic Master’s translation programs in Jordan in three universities, Yarmouk, Jordan, and Petra Universities in studying and learning translation. 3
2. To Investigate and describe the actual practices of translation instructors in Yarmouk, Jordan, and Petra Universities. 3. To identify the differences, if there is any, between the learning objectives and the actual study practices between the three universities. 4. To develop a curriculum evaluation model to be used in translation studies based on the CIPP model. 5. To propose a framework for an ideal curriculum design at the Master's level for Arabic/ English translation.
3. Why this Study is Significant
I. It is a pioneering study that will provide the first overview of the current state of translation teaching in Jordan at the Master's level (kind of programs; admissions criteria; profile of students and teachers, including their age, gender, education, etc.; available resources such as laboratories, computer aids, libraries, translation software, etc.; the translation industry, i.e. Jordanian market demands);
II. It will propose a curriculum evaluation model to be used in any translation program in the world based on the framework of the CIPP Model, this model might be the first in the field;
III. It will propose a framework for an ideal curriculum design for Arabic/ English translation at the Master's level; and
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IV. It will be an interdisciplinary study establishing a very important link between; Translation Studies, Educational Studies, and Curriculum Studies.
4. Tools of the Study:
1. A questionnaire for students to determine the actual practices of learning translation in Yarmouk, Jordan, and Petra Universities.
2. Scheduled interviews for instructors to determine the actual practices of teaching translation in Yarmouk, Jordan, and Petra Universities.
5. Research Questions 1. What kind of educational setting do translation program in Jordan take place in?
2. What is the current status quo of translator training at the Master's level in Jordan?
3. Are the students satisfied about what they have learned in these programs?
4. To what degree do the current programs meet the needs and the expectations of the students?
6. Limitations of the Study
This study was conducted under a number of constraints, such as; time frame, the availability of the participants was another constraint, not all enrolled students were available at the time of conducting the study, some of them has already finished courses 5
and do not go to the university very often, some has personal reasons for not being there. All available students participated in the questionnaire except students who are in their first semester because their information and feedback about the program is not deep enough, alumni were excluded as well, because the universities involved in this study do not have their contact information anymore, and therefore there is no way they can participate. Some of the instructors who are teaching at the programs involved in the study were on a sabbatical leave as well, but all the available ones at the time of conducting the study were interviewed.
Furthermore, some resources were not available like the previous entrance examination material for the translation program at Jordan University, samples of exams and tests were also not available or accessed. Another source of limitation was relying mainly on students to get information about the programs in question, despite the fact that students are the most important stakeholders in the process of learning, other stakeholders view are important as well like future employers who were not involved because of time constraints. A final limitation might be the degree of truthfulness of the instructors interviewed related to sensitive questions about university policy or personal matters.
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Chapter One: Review of Literature
This chapter presents an overview of the current status of translation studies, it will present an overview of the field, problems, historical development, translation teaching approaches and designs, most important curriculum evaluation studies conducted for translator training in the world and in Jordan. It will also present; curriculum evaluation definition, importance, existing models, the CIPP model emergence, importance, and stages.
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Overview
Teaching translation is as old as translation itself, but it might have not been maybe in the same form we know and see today. Translation schools are very old, and maybe the oldest ones around the Middle Ages were: Baghdad school in Iraq and Toledo school in Spain. They included translation between Arabic, Greek, Latin and other languages. These schools had editors, revisers and specialists in different fields. Those agents might lack the methodology or the teaching approaches used in the modern schools of translation, but they were definitely working according to certain guidelines. Modern translation school within the Arab world were first established in the first half of the nineteenth century when the large Egyptian translation school, now known as Al-Alsun, was founded in 1835, while specialized translator training institutions in the West were first developed in the 1960s in Western Europe (Pym, 2009).
Although translator training is old, teaching translation as a discipline is relatively new and not well developed as other disciplines due to several factors: At first, translation started as sub-discipline most of the time inside language departments and linguistics. Second, there is no consensus on when actual translation practice should integrated in translation courses, and when and how much specialization there should be. Third, the role which examination should play in curriculums of translation programes is not defined yet. Fourth, the time to give theoretical frameworks for translation classes and whether it is important or not is not defined yet. Fifth, the objectives of the training are 8
different for each school. Sixth, there is no satisfactory answer to the question of the measurability of translation competence. Finally, there is a lack of publication material on translation teaching and a lack of adequate exchange of information between schools of translation (Snell-Hornby 1992).
Thereupon and as any other newly emerging discipline, translation studies is facing a number of problems which could be summarized in three major ones; the first might be the observed gap between skills acquired through the academic training in translation and the employers’ expectations from translators; a fact revealed by a study done in Canada by Donald Kiraly: “a survey of representatives of the Canadian translation industry on the threshold of the 21st century revealed a considerable gap between the needs of the translation services market and the level of professional translator competence acquired by students over the course of their studies” (1100). Furthermore, this gap is also acknowledged by students in translation studies as the empirical study of Defeng Li reveals “many students believe the current translation program does not reflect the market needs very well” (513).
The second problem is the quality of translation trainers, the need to recognize the specificity of teaching translation, and the importance of the development and application of the theory of translation a fact recognized by many scholars such as Kelly: 2005, Li:2000, Farghal 2009, and Gile:1995: Although many teachers of interpretation are themselves practicing interpreters, and most of them understandably prefer devote their time to their professional
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occupation rather than research, the situation is different in regards to written translation, with a number of full-time academics not engaged in the practice of professional translation doing translation research. In fact, many well-known personalities in the field of translation studies have this particular background (Gile 4).
Mohammad Farghal also admitted that at Arab universities is situation is somehow similar, translator trainers might not be competent enough, ever worse, their background is usually linguistic or literature:
Translation programs at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels have become a common feature of Arab universities and academic institutes. This recent development is due to the increasing demand for translation practitioners on the job market. Most of these institutions were caught off-guard in terms of the availability of competent translation trainers. As a result, the task of translation teaching was assigned to bilingual academic who specialize in literature and/ or linguistics. One can find translation trainers who neither have a sufficient theoretical background in Translation Studies (TS), nor interest or motivation to familiarize themselves with TS as an adequately established sub-discipline of applied linguistics. These academic believe that their formal training in literature and/ or linguistics is self-sufficient for teaching translation, which is, to them, a by-product of such training. (2009)
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The third problem, and what we are interested in this study is related to translation pedagogy, which includes problems in the methods of teaching translation, problems in testing translation, problems in designing translation curricula, and problems in evaluating translation teaching (Nicole Martinez Melis & Amparo Hurtado Albir 2001).
Despite the fact that translation plays an increasingly important role in our global society as cross-cultural bilingual communication vehicle among people, by enabling them to share ideas regardless of the different languages they are originally expressed in and the fact that there have been important developments in translation training since the middle of the twentieth century, there has been, little interest in the development of curriculum design and assessment tools that would allow scholars of translation studies to constantly oversee the pertinence of the training they are offering to future translators as stated by Aula.int: “Traditionally translators received unsystematic training based on, e.g. methods of trial and error, arbitrary teaching methods, translation activities connected primarily with foreign language acquisition, or on the study for a foreign language and culture without referring to systematic training approaches and without conducting a continuous evaluations to such approaches” (135). Furthermore, evaluation of translation teaching is also a neglected area as acknowledged by a number of scholars such as Kearns 2006 and Kelly 2008:
"Evaluation of (teaching) practice and continuing professional development has been practically ignored by Translation Studies as a discipline, and few if any specific resources are available". (Kelly 112)
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“It is again somewhat surprising that the recent growth in literature on translator training has tended to by-pass the issue of curriculum development. (Kearns 103)
In addition to neglecting the evaluation of translation teaching process, curriculum theory has been applied only recently to tertiary education according to Kelly: "Theory of curriculum has been amply applied to primary and secondary education, but much less so to tertiary education, and only recently has research incorporating insights from it begun to appear in translation studies" (87). As a result, translator training needs more studies to better design a proper curriculum for teaching translation.
Historical Development of Translation Teaching
There are different types of translation degrees and translation courses offered in foreign languages departments all over the world. Some translation programs are still part of foreign languages departments or English language departments, some exist alongside linguistics departments, and other translation programs stand on their own, “although the ideal maybe to have a full-fledged specialized translation department, many other practiced structures can be found. Despite those changes since 1990s there have been strong arguments in favor of moving translator training away from general modern-
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languages programmes, in many cases resulting in independent programmes exclusively for training of translators and/or interpreters” (Pym 4). Despite the existing different types of translation programs, there are two common types, according to Pym: full long term training (BA plus MA) and Master’s level programs:
Beyond Europe, the need to adapt to existing local structures, coupled with required language learning at university level, has led to a clear predominance of programmes at Masters level. These distinctions have far –reaching consequences for who is trained, what the training consists of, how translation competence is conceptualized and how the training process relates to professionalization. (Pym 4)
Furthermore, there are two different types of institutional translation programs according to Kelly. In her chapter “Curriculum” (2010) and in her book, A Handbook for Translator Trainers (2005), she describes two types of institutional translation programs: national contexts and traditions, those programs are either undergraduate or graduate, some of them are academic while others are vocational. Their aims vary from; generalist training, to specific. Their length also varies from one year courses to up to five years (2010:9).
Teaching Translation
The aim of this section is to provide a theoretical background in major works done on translation teaching, translation curriculum, translator training development and renewal.
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A number of approaches of teaching translation in the Western world has been listed and mentioned by many scholars in previous studies. One of the most recent examples is the ones listed by Kelly in her book in 2005. In this study those approaches will not be discussed because in most translation publications, the focus is always in studies and works conducted in the West and due to their irrelevance to the topic of this study, this study is concerned specifically with Arabic/English translation teaching. Therefore, most well known Arabic/English translation teaching approaches and designs will be discussed in chapter six, "Translation Curriculum Model," which will present in details the status quo of teaching translation and translation curriculum in the Arab world.
The second area to be covered is major works and studies on translation development and renewal in both the East and the West traditions. In this chapter, we will shed light on studies conducted on the West, on the East including, China, Iran, and the Arab World.
Current Curriculum Evaluation models in Translation Studies
Translation Studies as a discipline is a recent field as we have seen, it is still young and in its infancy, all other subfields related to it are still developing as well. Therefore curriculum and curriculum evaluation or program evaluation are recent and not fully discussed in translation studies comparing to curriculum studies in Educational Science for example. A fact recognized by many scholars such as Kearns who states that "it is again somewhat surprising that the recent growth in literature on translator training has
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tended to by-pass the issue of curriculum development. One recent publication on teaching translation (Colina 1993) neglects the issue of curriculum almost entirely" (103). A few studies have been conducted in this regard but no evaluation model per se was proposed, examples are Defeng Li 2000, Gabr 2001,2002,2003 &2007, Razmjou 2001, Kelly 2005 &2010, Kearns 2006, and Calvo 2009 &2011.
- Translation Development And Renewal Studies In the West
Elisa Calvo acknowledged the importance of studying curriculum research related to translation studies, she claimed that despite the fact that there was a number of scholars who discussed curriculum issues in the field but those scholars are not familiar with the state of art of the curriculum research (2011). Moreover, Calvo discussed the significance of the different translation competence models in shaping curriculum design after considering training and context needs which include students' and markets' needs. Despite the fact that she called for a reform in the traditional planning of curriculum towards a skills-based model, to move from theory to practicebased curriculum, she did not propose a curriculum evaluation model to evaluate the current translation curriculum to better understand the problematic areas on them in order to improve them to better serve both students' and markets' needs. Overall, her insights are valuable regarding taking both students' and markets' needs into account when designing a translation curriculum, she also highlighted the importance of providing students with all the necessary skills which empower them to work in the different fields.
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Moreover and in the same line, both Martinez Melis and Hurtado Albir listed three areas of evaluation in Translation Studies including, evaluation in Translation Teaching which has evaluation of "the study plan and the program " among other things. Additionally, both scholars urge for more studies and more research in translation teaching assessment, they call out: To research the current situation of assessment in translation teaching: to catalogue the existing bibliography, develop a database on current assessment practices in curricula translator training centers (tests, assessment criteria, programs, etc,), carry out surveys with teachers and students in order to know their views on assessment. To develop assessment procedures and instruments for each of the three functions by means of empirical experimental research, after a preliminary definition of competencies, objectives and progression. (285)
In like manner, Kearns called for curriculum renewal in Translation Studies, he even urged for the use of a "curriculum studies approach" borrowed from Educational Science and curriculum studies because curriculum evaluation is a well developed area in this field: To date there has been a paucity of research on the development of curriculum guidelines for translator training and thus studies which do exist generally pay scant attention to the existing discourse from the domain of curriculum studies, focusing attention instead more exclusively on research from TS and translator training. Thus, in the search for precedents and relevant studies in the field,
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attention may first be focused on the extensive literature on both the theory and practice of curriculum development and on studies which aim to develop curriculum guidelines for areas which might be considered to be related to translator training. (81)
Furthermore, his contribution to the renewal was in a form of instructions which should be taken into consideration when designing a translation curriculum such as; situational needs including, social, institutional, teachers, learners needs "acknowledging the importance of flexibility and heterogeneity in the renewal process by factoring in the situation in which translators are being trained as the basis for any needs analysis" (Kearns 148). He also discussed the significance of differentiating between academic and vocational training and the value of providing students trainees with transferable skills to empower them in their future jobs.
Likewise, in her book A Handbook for Translator Trainers, Kelly proposed a translation curriculum design where she placed "Quality Enhancement" or program evaluation as the final stage in this design, an evaluation which involved "the teaching and learning process as a whole" (145). In her view, program evaluation is needed to provide both students and teachers with the necessary feedback about their overall learning and teaching and it is effective in keeping the program in a good level " course or programmes assessment by all those involved (teachers, students, administrative staff, authorities and other stakeholders such as future employers) is an essential part of all
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course design and a key factor in achieving and maintaining high level of quality in teaching and learning" (146). For her, the best approach to get the needed results from such evaluation is by linking the assessment to the intended outcomes of the program in question. Additionally, she proposed several methods to conduct such evaluation such as; students questionnaires, self assessment, teaching portfolios, and peer assessment for teachers. Moreover, she urged the use of the theory of curriculum in higher education as a valuable instrument of improving all aspects of the program (2010).
- Translation Development And Renewal Studies In China And Vietnam
Defeng Li, is one of the major contributors to translator training and market needs studies in the field. His contribution was presented in a series of papers that included a project consisting of three stage conducted between 2000-2007 in Hong Kong. Throughout his papers, he acknowledged the fact that there are not enough studies on translation curriculum planning and design, he also acknowledged the divorce between translation in academia and the real translation market. Moreover, he agreed with other scholars that learner needs should be taken into consideration when designing translation curriculum. Consequently, he conducted his first research in 2000 to investigate the needs of the professional translators through a survey which has revealed that "translation programs must be responsive to social needs, if they are to survive and to thrive" (147). Then, he pursued his research to assess the needs of both students and professional translators. To accomplish this, he conducted another study in 2002 but this time to assess
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the needs of translation students. Then he compared the results with those of his earlier study on professional translators. The results were similar in the fact that, needs assessment is very important in curriculum planning and development. His last study was complementary to the previous ones but it targeted the administrators of translation and language service in Hong Kong in matters pertinent to the relationship between translator training and market demands.
We can say that Li’s contribution to the assessment of translator training is very valuable; in terms of the relation between market demands and actual practice in translation teaching, his project illustrated the points of view of the stakeholders in the field; professional translators, students, administrators, and future employers. He also called for renewing the current translation curriculum with another one that meets the stakeholders needs and expectations.
By the same token, Pham and Tran also acknowledged the importance of curriculum evaluation in tertiary education in general and in translation teaching in particular. They discussed the state of the art of translation teaching and translation market in Vietnam after the expanding of the translation market there because of modernization and globalization. Their results stem from a case study conducted in 2013 to investigate a number of issues "related to the tensions between the centralized and controlled curriculum, learner-centered education, the demands of a professional life as a translator as well as the issue of capacity building in response to the socialist-oriented market economy and the changing employment structures Vietnam" (7). After their study, they
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called for a reform of the current curriculum in the field to enrich the teaching and the learning process.
- Translation Development And Renewal Studies In Iran
In their evaluation study for the postgraduate English translation programs in Iran, both Birjandi and Nosratinia stated that there is no program evaluation that has a wellconstructed framework in the field. They used observation, interviews, and questionnaires within the framework of the CIPP model which they selected after reviewing more than 30 evaluation models. In their results they recommended that "programs should be revised and modified by the responsible authorities in such a way that the students having passed compulsory courses can attend required specialized translation courses such as Humanities, Economics, Sciences, and oral translation to be able to meet the different complicated needs of translation in actual fields in society" (56).
Another scholar who is also interested in translation curriculum evaluation is Leila Razmjou, who conducted a study on the BA English translation curriculum in Iran, " to identify the skills and content needed in a translation curriculum and how to develop them. It also suggests ways to promote translation student motivation. The findings can help curriculum developers prepare more systematic programs and thus train more competent translators" (1). She concluded by stating that the programs in question need
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substantive changes. In her study she used surveys but she did not follow a model or a design of evaluation.
- Translation Development And Renewal Studies In The Arab World & Jordan
Ahmad Al-Maaini is another scholar who also acknowledged the significance of evaluating translator training to bridge a number of gaps like; the gap between academic training and the real world needs, and the disagreement on defining translation or translator competence " in such a situation the need to evaluate our training practices becomes essential in order to assure quality and effectiveness in our translator-training programmes" (359). He suggested using the CIPP model in a form of series of questions which could be modified according to the evaluation context. Further, he agreed with Kearns on the need to differentiate between training and education to better design the curriculum in a way that meets the expected outcomes.
One of the pioneer scholars in the field of curriculum and program evaluation is the late Egyptian Mustafa Gabr, who was the first translation researcher who discussed and studied the importance of program evaluation as a key factor in improving the quality of translator training. He also discussed the idea of poorly-designed translation curricula and points out that until recently, translator training has received little attention. According to him, translators have been trained informally, with neither clearly-defined curricula nor proper training methodology "Students also have been trained informally, basically through trial and error, unstructured apprenticeship arrangements, or any of the various
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translating activities that accompany the study of a foreign language and culture within the Liberal Arts tradition" (Caminade and Pym 280).
His contribution came in a form of a series of papers published between 2001 and 2003. His vision of evaluation was developing over time, a fact proved by the topics discussed in his papers; he started by acknowledging the importance of conducting program evaluation on a regular basis, adopting Goldstein defining evaluation as "the systematic collection of descriptive and judgment information necessary to make effective training decisions related to the selection, adoption, value, and modification of various instructional activities" (2). He also listed the functions of an evaluation as follows: Determining whether the processes of learning and transfer of knowledge have been successful, i.e. whether the course is accomplishing its objectives; determining whether the objectives, course content and delivery are appropriate to the process of learning and skills transfer needs; identifying the strengths to be maintained and the weaknesses that need to be addressed, thus helping to improve the quality of current and future courses, and determining whether the course should be continued, revised or even discontinued. (2)
Moreover, he suggested almost the same methods of evaluation suggested by Kelly; getting feedback from students and instructors, and observation by independent evaluators. Gabr 's notion on evaluation evolved into a form of a model including two main phases; process initiation phase and curriculum development phase, the later
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includes two main stages; the pre-development stage which consists of indentifying markets' and students' needs and development stage which consists of defining instructional objectives, preparing materials, selecting teaching methods and techniques, and teachers. For him, evaluation is a systematic approach " It requires following carefully planned steps and making concerted efforts. It is a demanding task that necessitates teamwork, intensive research and considerable academic and professional background in pedagogy, training methodology, translating and course design and delivery" ( 2001 12).
Moreover, in his paper " Trial and Error or Experimentation or Both", he discussed a very significant topic in translator training, a topic that has been neglected for so long that is translator trainers and their training, he presented two arguments about whether trainers should be professionals or academic or both, and he concluded by claiming that translator trainers should have pedagogical, bilingual, and bicultural skills. His notion on teaching translation evaluation has evolved in a very clear way later on when he carried out a survey to investigate the actual practices of teaching and learning translation in national Egyptian universities at the undergraduate level in 2002, he used both questionnaires and interviews to collect the needed information from students and instructors in 13 universities, his findings were alarming, and his results showed that both learning and teaching of translation need a systematic change on the part of the teacher and the student. Moreover, Gabr stated that “translator training programmes have to develop in accordance with proper assessment of three linked needs: the needs of the
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market, the needs of translation departments and equally important the needs of students” (66).
To overcome these problematic areas, Gabr called for taking students', markets', and departments' needs into account when developing a translator training program. To achieve that he borrowed a Total Quality Management model from the management and business field and applied it to translator training to insure productivity and quality that indicated another development in his notion of program and/or curriculum evaluation. The TQM model which he developed is displayed below:
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Figure 1. Gabr's TQM Model
To conclude we can say that Gabr stressed the fact that "translation scene in most, if not all, Arab countries requires immediate intervention" (44). His contribution to this scene took the shape of a design for translation program development came after several attempts to design a curriculum evaluation model to evaluate translation programs
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adapted and modified from the TAM model he borrowed earlier from Business management:
Figure 2. Gabr Program Design 2000
Gabr's contribution in translator training curriculum and evaluation might be the first and the most influential in the field of Translation Studies, a fact recognized by many scholars in the field such as Kearns who stated that "Gabr's attempts are characterized by their interdisciplinarity and thus provide a useful orientation for future research directions" (2006 116). But still there is much to do in this venue, more studies and more models should be proposed by exploring other fields maybe like the curriculum studies.
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The last contribution to translation curriculum renewal and development is probably the only study about translation programs in Jordan conducted by Tawfiq Yousef in 2003, he published some of the results in a paper in 2004, the paper studied the relationship between translation programs, market needs and job opportunities in Jordan. Despite the significance of this study on portraying translator training in both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and connecting them with the job market for translators trainees, the paper is not spread and not accessible online (actually the researcher accessed it through the author since he is a faculty member in Jordan University, where part of this study was conducted). Moreover, according to Yousef, translation market in Jordan is nourished by trade, tourism, science and technology, communication, and tertiary education. Therefore, to increase the employment of translation trainees and to create more jobs, translation programs should adapt their curriculum according to the needs of these fields.
For Yousef, teaching translation in Jordan is not adequate because of a number of reasons including; the absence of admission examination for the undergraduate level, students with a GPA of 55% and more in high school can be admitted to the program. Therefore, their competence in both Arabic and English might not be sufficient for the program. The absence of a pre-test for admitted students to evaluate their level in English in the undergraduate level as well, those two aspects resulted into crowded classes and in a need to improve student proficiency in English which consume time and effort. The postgraduate level is generally speaking in a good condition according to Yousef,
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because of the entrance examination and passing the English TOFEL test as prerequisites to admission. Another reason why teaching translation in Jordan is not adequate is the small number of translation per se courses in the undergraduate level, where half of the courses are focused on general knowledge, the absence of on-the-job training to prepare translators for their work environment in both graduate and undergraduate levels, the lack of computer-related knowledge courses in both graduate and undergraduate levels, the absence of a national plan to regulate the translation activity in Jordan, the absence of a tool to predict the market needs, the insufficient power of JTA (Jordan Translator Association) to regulate translation teaching, training, and translation market in Jordan, and finally the tendency to teach translation in both directions; from and into the mother language (Yousef).
To solve this problematic situation, Yousef suggested a number of remedies to translator training in Jordan including diversification as the key factor in empowering the future translator by training them in the different fields of knowledge to make them ready to work in different domains and by reinforcing them with all the necessary skills which enable them of working as translators, editors, proof-readers among others. Other remedies included; adopting recent approaches and methodologies in teaching translation such as the text-based and culture-based approaches because of their effectiveness in the learning process, establishing a national plan of Arabization, empowering JTA to play a leading role in improving the situation of translators and translation institutions, evaluating the current translation curriculum and developing them to become more professional and up-to-date (263).
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In general, we can say that Yousef is a pioneer in this area, his contribution is necessary in describing the status quo of translation teaching in Jordan and in connecting it to the job market. Moreover, it is a cornerstone which paves the way to conduct more studies on translator training in Jordan.
To summarize, we can state that despite the positiviness and the importance of the previous studies in breaking ground for the forthcoming studies in the area of translator training evaluation and innovation by outlining the state of the art of teaching translation in different parts of the world nowadays and by acknowledging the urgent need to carry out a holistic reform to improve it. These studies did not follow a well-constructed model to carry out the needed evaluation, in most of the time, the work was based on observation, surveys, interviews which are useful tools of collecting data but they needed to be carried out within the framework of a well-designed and constructed model to insure program evaluation standards; utility, feasibility, propriety, accuracy, and accountability.
To conclude we can say that, due to the limited studies about evaluating translator training, the urgent need to conduct more studies in this regard to develop this area, and absence of a program evaluation model per se in the field, a study about translator training evaluation in the Jordanian context at the Master’s level will be conducted. The development achieved on the field of program evaluation in educational science will be applied to translation teaching and curriculum. By adapting the Context, Input, Process,
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and Product CIPP Model developed by Stufflebeam in the context of training translators to determine the current state of translation programs in Jordan in order to situate them in relation to translator training programs around the world and to improve any problematic areas that might emerge. This study will be innovative in the sense that, it is suggesting an evaluation model adapted from the CIPP model and tailored to fit translator training in Jordan and anywhere else.
Curriculum Evaluation
- Definition and Importance Program evaluation is not a recent phenomenon as some people mistakenly think, it dates back to 1900 to what was called “the age of reform” and continues to what we call nowadays “the age of professionalism” which started from 1973 until present (Madaus & al). Moreover, evaluation is "the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curriculum, and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participants' attitudes within the context of the particular institutions involved"(Brown 222).
Evaluation in general is the process of collecting data on a program to determine its effectiveness in order to decide whether to adopt, reject, or revise the program, as suggested by Tyler: The process of evaluation is essentially the process of determining to what extent the educational objectives are actually being realized by the program of 30
curriculum and instruction. However, since educational objectives are essentially changes in human beings, that is, the objectives aimed at are to produce certain desirable changes in the behavior patterns of the student, and then evaluation is the process of determining the degree to which these changes in behavior are actually taking place. (105-106)
But curriculum evaluation in particular is "the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curriculum, and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participants' attitudes within the context of the particular institutions involved" (Tyler 222). Moreover, Barnett and Coat claim that curriculum is the most significant topic in higher education and that little attention has been given to it. They express the importance of giving more attention to curriculum in higher education as a key element of its effectiveness, which is the core objective of this study, i.e. to make sure that the objectives of
the higher education for translation
programs have been met and that the curriculum is meeting students, markets' and teachers' needs, and to emphasize the role of curriculum theory in tertiary education in Translation Studies as a recently emerging phenomena.
Another definition of curriculum assessment is given by Wolf et al., who see it as “a process of gathering and analyzing information from multiple sources in order to improve student learning in sustainable ways” (3). They claimed that curriculum assessment can serve several major purposes: to identify aspects of a curriculum that are working and those that need to be changed; to demonstrate the effectiveness of the current program; to
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meet regular program review requirements; and to satisfy professional accreditations. In this study we are interested in demonstrating whether the current translation programs at the Master's level in Jordan are effective or not, illustrating the aspects which need more attention, and /or suggesting any modifications.
Due to the lack of consensus among scholars to define evaluation and for the purpose of this study, we will use the definition given by the Program Evaluation Standards which has been expanded in their third edition to include: The systematic investigation of the quality of programs, projects, subprograms, subprojects, and/or any of their components or elements, together or singly for purposes of decision making, judgments, conclusions, findings, new knowledge, organizational development, and capacity building in response to the needs of identified stakeholders leading to improvement and/or accountability in the users’ programs and systems ultimately contributing to organizational or social value. (Yarbrough et al xxv)
In the same token, the great need to systematize program quality for program developers, sponsors, and evaluators urged representatives from three US professional organizations to come together to form the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE) and to provide what called “Program Evaluation Standards” which are; evaluation utility, feasibility, propriety, accuracy, and accountability.
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Thus, program evaluation needs to be carried out within a well-constructed framework, no matter the context in which the program takes place. Evaluation should have objectives that are specific to the context, and the program delivery should be in line with those objectives and market conditions, expectations, and needs. In order to ensure this, the program should be evaluated regularly; a systematic and well-conducted evaluation will provide quality information about the current state of the program in question. That information is not necessarily negative; on the contrary, it might give great insights about the program leading to valuable revisions (Almaaini 2009).
Such information could be gathered through using formative or summative evaluation which have been identified by Scriven (1991). Formative evaluation is used before or during the implementation of a program to provide information on who needs the program, the extent of their need, and how those needs should be met. The purpose of the formative evaluation is to validate the goals of the instruction and to ensure that are being achieved. If necessary, instruction can be improved by identifying and remediating problematic aspects. Summative evaluation is used after the implementation of the program to evaluate its effectiveness through interviews, direct observations, and document analysis. Summative evaluation leads to decisions about the program development, including its modification or revision. Both formative and summative evaluation are used to improve the program in stake, the difference is only on their timing, the following figure illustrates the use of both formative and summative evaluation within the framework of the CIPP model:
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Formative Evaluation used before or during the implementation of a program to provide information on who needs the program, the extent of their need, and how those needs should be met. The purpose of the formative evaluation is to validate the goals of the instruction and to ensure that are being achieved. If necessary, instruction can be improved by identifying and remediating problematic aspects
Summative Evaluation used after the implementation of the program to evaluate its effectiveness through interviews, direct observations, and document analysis. Summative evaluation leads to decisions about the program development, including its modification or revision
• Context • Input • Process
• Product
Figure 3. Formative and Summative Evaluation in the CIPP Model
The Existing Program Evaluation Models in Curriculum Studies
Several categorizations of curriculum evaluation models have been existed in educational science, in this thesis and due to time constraints we will list only the models listed by Madaus et al (1983) according to theoretical assumptions; 1. Systems analysis, designed for economists, and managers through linear programming, planned variation, and cost benefit analysis. This model answers 34
typically this question, “Are the expected effects achieved? Can the effects be achieved more economically? What are the most efficient programs?”. The Main advocators of this model are Alice. M. Rivlin (1970), McLaughlin (1975), and House (1977). 2. Behavioural Objectives, designed for managers, psychologists through behaviour objectives and achievement tests. This model answers typically this question, “Are the student achieving the objectives? Is the teacher productive?”. Main advocators of this model are Tyler (1949 and 1967)) and Popham (1975). 3. Decision Making, Designed for decision makers and administrators, conducted through surveys, questionnaires, interviews and natural variation. This model answers this question “Is the program effective? What parts are effective?”. Major advocator is, Stufflebeam (1983, 2001, and 2002). 4. Goal Free, designed for consumers, conducted through bias control, logical analysis, and modus operandi. This model answers this question “What are all the effects?” Major advocator is Scriven (1975). 5. Art Criticism, designed for consumers and connoisseurs, conducted through critical review. This model answers this question “Would a critic approve this program?” Major advocator is, Eisner (1967). 6. Accreditation, designed for teachers and public, conducted through review by panel and self study. This model answers this question “How would professionals rate this program?” Major advocator is North Central Association (is a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states that is engaged in educational accreditation).
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6. Adversary, designed for jury, conducted through quasi-legal procedures. This model answers this question “What are the arguments for and against the program?” Major advocators are Levine (1973) and Wolf (1973). 7. Transaction, designed for client and practitioners, conducted through case studies, interviews and observations. This model answers this question “What does the program look like to different people?”. Major advocators are Stake (1976) and MacDonald (1975).
Despite the fact that program evaluation owns a long history and a huge repertoire of models and approaches designed by theorists depending on their philosophy, training, ideology, methodology and values among other things, only the framework of the Context Input Process and Product Model (CIPP) - which is a decision - oriented evaluation approach aims at helping stakeholders to make decisions about the program in question- has been used to conduct the evaluation needed in this study. Because this model rejects the notion that evaluation’s main task is to criticize and look for deficiencies. Instead, it uses evaluation as “a tool by which to help make programs work better for the people they are intended to serve” (Stufflebeam 118). Another reason for selecting this model is that it can be utilized for both formative and summative evaluation.
The CIPP Model was developed by Daniel Stufflebeam in the late 1960s to improve United States school systems, and since then it has been used in universities, government agencies, and institutions for evaluating products, projects, and programs in a variety of
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different fields. This model will be used because it rejects the notion that evaluation’s main task is to criticize and look for deficiencies. Instead, it uses evaluation to help the program, as Stufflebeam explains, as “a tool by which to help make programs work better for the people they are intended to serve” (118). Another reason for selecting this model is the fact that this model helps in evaluating the effectiveness of a program, as described by Birjandi and Nosratinia, who used this model to evaluate Masters Translation programs in Iran in 2009:
The CIPP model is designed to be used by external evaluators to collect the type of data about program effectiveness that can assist managers in making judgments about program worth. Ultimately, the evaluation report is used to supply decisionmakers with information about whether to continue, modify, or terminate all or part of an educational or training program. One of the additional strengths of the CIPP evaluation model is that it can be utilized for both formative and summative. (39)
In the same line, Ahmad Almaaini is also promoting the use of CIPP Model in evaluating translator training programs because of its new definition of evaluation as a way to help take the right decisions for improvements purposes, as emphasized by Stufflebeam himself: Evaluation is a systematic investigation of the merit and/or worth of a program...through a process of delineating, obtaining, reporting, and applying descriptive and judgmental information about some object’s merit and worth in
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order to guide decision making, support accountability, disseminate effective practices, and increase understanding of the involved phenomena. (280)
To summarize, we can say that programs are evaluated to answer different kinds of questions of different kinds of people who are interested on these programs. All the stakeholders involved have different questions; some want to know whether the curriculum implemented has achieved its aims and objectives; teachers want to know whether what they are doing in the classroom is effective; and the administration wants to know how to improve the curriculum product. In our case, the aim of the evaluation which has been carried out through this study was to know the current state of translation programs in Jordan at the Master's level.
Furthermore, we can say that because of adapting a new notion of evaluation as a tool to improve a program instead of criticizing it, helping in the evaluation of the effectiveness of a program, and because of its new perspective of defining evaluation as a tool to help taking the right decisions, the CIPP Model will be used as a multi-level system that guarantees the process for evaluation Master translation programs in Jordan.
Context, Input, Process, Product Model (CIPP Model)
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The CIPP Model is a Decision Making model applied to program evaluation that uses context evaluation, input evaluation, process evaluation, and product evaluation. These are types of what are typically viewed as separate forms of evaluation, but they can also be viewed as steps or stages in a comprehensive evaluation. What makes this model distinctive is its new definition of evaluation as a way to improve the programs that are being evaluated, as Stufflebeam has stated that: “The CIPP approach is based on the view that the most important purpose of evaluation is not to prove but to improve” (118).
The purpose of this model is to determine if a particular educational effort has resulted in a positive change in school, college, university, or training organisation. A major aspect of the Stufflebeam model is its emphasis on decision making or an act of making up one’s mind about the program introduced. This model consists of three steps: the first delineates what is to be evaluated and determines what information has to be collected; the second obtains or collects the information using selected techniques and methods; and the third provides the information (or makes it available) to interested parties. This model can be used before or during a project to decide whether to maintain, modify, or eliminate the new curriculum or program. Information is obtained by conducting the following four types of evaluation: context, input, process, and product or by using only one type of those evaluations, depending on the needs of the audience (Stufflebeam). Context evaluation is a basic kind of evaluation which aims at identifying what needs to be done, what context, the aims of the program, defines shortcomings and problems of the program, if the needs have been meet or not and why, it also provides a basis for adjusting or modifying goals or objectives of the program in question. The techniques
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used to collect data collected include observation, background statistics and/or interviews (Stufflebeam).
Input evaluation covers aspects such as; how should the evaluation be done, how to use resources to attain the program goals and objectives. It will also evaluate certain aspects of the curriculum in order to identify some of the potential obstacles and suggests some alternatives and solutions, techniques used to gather data might include pilot projects, deliberations and consultations (Stufflebeam).
Process evaluation includes examining the extent of the implementation of the program, feedback about any needed modification, whether the objectives and the outcomes of a program have been done? We can even draw a comparison between the actual implementation and quality of the effect, this evaluation provides information to external clients about the appropriateness of the program (Stufflebeam).
Product evaluation it measures the extent of the program attainments, identify broad effects of the program in order to decide to continue, determine or extend the program, and provide some modification to better meet the needs of the participants. This type of evaluation answers questions like what has been gained? what has been achieved? did it succeeded? (Stufflebeam). To conclude we can say that CIPP model is a decision making model which aims at positive change in the program in question, by delineating what to be evaluated and the object of evaluation, what are the information needed from this evaluation and from
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where to get it, the time and location of evaluation, obtaining and collecting these information by using specific procedures and methods like interviews, observation, questionnaires, tests, surveys, content analysis among others, and finally analyzing the gathered data to make the right decisions. Furthermore, this model can be used for internal evaluation, external evaluation and self-evaluation (Stufflebeam 2002).
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Chapter Two: Methodology and Material
This chapter presents the overall design of the study, research questions, description of the variables, participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis.
3.1 Overall Design of the Study The purpose of this study is to draw a clear picture of translation teaching in Jordan through an evaluation of translation programs at the Master’s degree level. The framework of CIPP (context, input, process, and product) evaluation model developed by Stufflebeam (1971) was used in the study. In this evaluation study, qualitative data was collected through; interviews with instructors currently working at translation programs, open-ended questions in the student questionnaire, and written documents in order to obtain more detailed information about translation programs. As for quantitative data, a questionnaire, that consists of 38 closed-ended items, was used to collect data from the students. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data collected through the questionnaire.
3.2 Research Questions 42
This study was guided by major research questions and related sub-questions which are listed below using the framework of the Context, Input, Process, and Product components of the CIPP evaluation model.
1) Context A. What kind of educational setting do translation programs take place in? B. What are the current translation programs in Jordan? 2) Input A. What are the students and instructors characteristics? B. What are the students’ and instructors’ perceptions of the objectives and content dimensions of their respective programs? C. Is the curriculum designed according to the objectives of the program?
3) Process A. What are the students’ overall perceptions on; 1.materials, resources, and course content, 2.teaching methods, assignments, and evaluation, 3.Students' attitudes towards translation courses, 4.Qualifications of teachers, 5. How much theories and practices should be included in the program, and 6. objectives of the program?
B. What are the most interesting topics to be translated in class according to the students? C. What are the instructors’ perceptions on the effectiveness of their programs in relation to materials, assessment, and teaching methods ? 43
D. According to the students, what are the main difficulties and obstacles facing translation teaching and marring its success? What are the obstacles preventing students of becoming professional translators after graduating from their program according to the instructors? What areas should translation classes focus on to face those obstacles and to improve students’ translation skills?
E. From the point of view of the instructors, what are the strengths of their programs? And does the nature of the department with which the translation program is affiliated have any effect on the program content?
F. To what extent are the instructors updated with the recent publications and research findings within the field? How do they contribute to the scholarly scene; i.e. what are their current publications, their philosophy of teaching, their successfulness in teaching, the influence of their research on teaching, and the involvement of their students on their own research?
G. According to the students, does the course description reflect the real material covered in the course?
4) Product
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A. Are there any significant differences among the students’ overall perceptions on; (1.materials, resources, and course content, 2.teaching Methods, Assignments, and Evaluation, 3.Students' Attitudes Towards Translation Courses, 4.Qualifications of Teachers, 5. How much theories and practices should be included in their programs, and 6. Objectives of the programs?) with respect to gender, age, current semester, majors or Bachelor’s degree, And university?
1. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to gender? 2. Is there a significant difference in the students’ responses to the six areas with respect to their age? 3.
Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their current semester in the program?
4. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their major in the Bachelor degree? 5. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their university?
B. What is the students’ overall degree of satisfaction about their translation programs?
C. To what degree do the current programs meet the needs and expectations of the students? 45
D. What are the instructors’ and the students’ suggestions to improve teaching translation in their programs?
E. Is there any correspondence between the benefits gained by the students and their overall level of satisfaction?
F. Is there a relation between what students learn in their programs through the courses offered in the curriculum and the requirements/needs of future translation jobs ?
3.3 Description of the Variables The variables in this study are categorized into two, independent variables and dependent variables. 3.3.1. Independent variables There are five independent variables in this study: a. Gender: It is a categorical variable with two levels (1= Male, 2= Female). b. Age: It is categorical variable with four levels (1=22-25, 2= 26-30, 3= 30-35, 4= 35-45). c. Current semester of enrollment in the program: It is a categorical variable with three levels. (1=2, 2=3, 3=4, 4= 5). d. Major in the Bachelor’s degree: It is a categorical variable with four levels (1=Translation, 2= English Literature, 3= Linguistics, 4= others).
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e. University: it is a categorical variable with 3 levels (1= University of Jordan, 2= Yarmouk University, 3= Petra University).
3.3.2 Dependent Variables Usually in descriptive studies, there is no dependent variables, but in one section of this study there will be dependent variables for the part related to research question number (To what degree do the current programs meet the needs and the expectations of the students) as follows: - The degree of satisfaction of the students about their programs. - The degree of the successfulness of the program as seen by students and instructors.
3.4 Participants The target population of this study consisted of students from all Master translation programs in Jordan, which are three; Master of Translation in the Translation Department at Yarmouk University, Master of Translation in the English Department at Petra University, and Master of Translation in the English Department at the University of Jordan. The researcher has gathered data on the questionnaire from students at the Master’s degree level in Jordan only. In order to determine the sample, the researcher requested the permission from the administration of the universities concerned and a list of all the courses and levels have been obtained from the registrar's office., The researcher contacted the instructors of the those courses to kindly have their approval to distribute the questionnaire to their students. The sample was composed of 60 students in total, with 20 students from each university, 24 of whom are males and 36 are females. It
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excluded students who are enrolled in the first semester in their programs. For the interviews, eight full time instructors have been visited in their offices and the researcher conducted interviews with them.
3.5 Data Collection Method In this evaluation study, the triangulation method was used. Triangulation is "combining qualitative and quantitative methods in studying the same research phenomenon...triangulation aims to reveal complementarity, convergence and dissonance among the findings" (Ashatu 2-3). Moreover, there are five different types of triangulation; methodological triangulation, investigator triangulation, theoretical triangulation, analysis triangulation, and data triangulation. When a researcher employs more than one type of triangulation in a single study, we can say that he/she has employed a multiple triangulation (Ashatu). In this study we are using two types of triangulation; the between-method or cross-method of methodological triangulation because we are collecting quantitative and qualitative data for the same phenomena to insure validity. The analysis-triangulation is also implemented because we are using two methods of data analysis; descriptive and content analysis, for the same study in order to insure validation, reliability, and completeness of purposes.
Moreover, this study combined both quantitative and qualitative methods to gain their benefits and minimize their drawbacks Their use here should be seen as complementary because it allows cross-checking, which means it determines the accuracy of the results by checking them with various sources. Qualitative data will be collected through
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interviews with instructors currently working at translation programs, open-ended questions in the student questionnaire, and written documents. As for quantitative data, a questionnaire consisting of 38 closed-end items was used to collect data from the students. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data collected through the questionnaire, whereas the content analysis was used to analyze written documents, openended questions in the questionnaire, and open-ended questions in the interviews.
Since describing the current state of translation programs in Jordan was the most important part of this evaluation study, the cross-sectional survey method was chosen from the other types of descriptive research methods because it was deemed the most efficient. Cross-sectional surveys are studies that aim at determining the frequency or level of a particular attribute or phenomena, in a defined population at a particular point in time. In cross-sectional studies, the purpose of the research is descriptive, generally in the form of a survey. There is usually no hypothesis, but the aim is to describe a subgroup within the population with respect to a set of factors. In addition, a cross-sectional study lets researchers find the prevalence of the outcome of interest, for subgroups within the population at a given time-point (Levin 2006). More specifically, a self-reported questionnaire consisting of three parts and 38 closed-items was used to gather data from the students. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data collected through the questionnaire. As for qualitative source of data, along with written documents, eight instructors were interviewed individually so as to comprehend their perceptions on the effectiveness of the program implemented. Qualitative data are collected to provide information about the environment, the research site, organizational structure, goals, and
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the objectives of the institutions where the study was carried out. The following documents have been reviewed: university booklets, advertising, and brochures, official web sites, class lists, course plans, student lists, instructors’ CVs, and other relevant sources. Content analysis was used as a primary method of data analysis. It is defined by deby Elo and Kyngäs as: A method of analyzing written, verbal or visual communication messages, it is a systematic and objective means of describing and quantifying phenomena. It is also known as a method of analyzing documents. The aim is to attain a condensed and broad description of the phenomenon, and the outcome of the analysis is concepts or categories describing the phenomenon. (107-108)
Furthermore, content analysis is used because it works with methodology with either qualitative or quantitative data, in two different approaches; inductive and deductive. Deductive content analysis is used when we have a previous knowledge about the topic in question and when the purpose of the study is a theory testing. We move from the specific to the general, so that particular instances are observed and then combined into a larger whole or a general statement. An inductive approach is used when we have a theory or model which we are building on and therefore we move from the general to the specific (Elo and Kyngäs). In brief, both qualitative and quantitative data are used in this evaluation study.
3.6 Data Collection Instruments
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Questionnaires, interview schedule, and written documents are used to collect data in this study. 3.6.1 Questionnaire The researcher designed a self reported questionnaire consisting of 3 parts (See Appendix 1). Along with gathering students’ demographic information, the questionnaire served the purpose of finding out the degree of satisfaction of students in translation programs at the Master’s level and their perceptions on materials and program objectives, teaching methods and assessment, translation courses, qualification of teachers, and how much theories and practice should be included in their programs. The third part was in the form of open-ended questions concerning students’ own perceptions on the difficulties that faced them in translation courses as well as the benefits they gained from these courses. The open-ended questions also explored their own perception about what a good translation class should be, the topics typically translated in these courses, the obstacles facing effective translation teaching, and any suggestions for the improvement of teaching translation in their programs.
Part 1 (Demographic Information): This part of the questionnaire aimed to obtain information on the students’ age, gender, major in Bachelor, and current semester in the program.
Part 2 (the degree of students' satisfaction): This part was designed to find out the students’ degree of satisfaction and their perceptions on materials and program objectives, teaching methods and assessment, translation courses, qualification of
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teachers, and the amount of theories and practice in their programs. It consists of five point scale items. The values ranged from 1-5 indicating 5 for No Opinion, 4 for Strongly Disagree, 3 for Disagree, 2 for Agree and 1 for Strongly Agree.
Part 3 (Students’ overall open-ended perceptions): The third part is open-ended questions concerning students own perceptions on difficulties facing them in translation courses, the benefits they gained from these courses, their own perception about what a good translation class should be, subjects to be translated in these courses, obstacles facing effective translation teaching, and any suggestions for the improvement of teaching translation at their program.
3.7 Validity of the Research Instruments
Validity is key to effective research and is a requirement for both qualitative and quantitative research. Therefore, after the researcher developed the questionnaire, it was examined by Professor Marilyn Gaddisrose from the Translation Department at Binghamton University and one expert in curriculum and instruction from the Department of Educational Sciences at Binghamton University, Professor Pamela Sandoval, whose input ensures the questionnaire suitable content and face validity. Having made all necessary rewritings on the questionnaire, a pilot testing to increase the reliability, validity, and practicality of the questionnaire was carried out with fight students, who were not included in the sampling. The reason behind conducting the pilot
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study was to see whether the instrument was in the appropriate length and format, the items were understandable, and the wording was clear. After implementing the pilot study, little adaptations on the questionnaire were carried out, questions that were regarded or seen as repetitive were removed or reworked to make them clearer and more precise.
3.7.2 Interview Schedule An interview schedule was used to get in-depth data about the instructors’ perceptions on the current programs, as they provide valuable information in gathering more detailed data in the sense that they give the respondents an opportunity to express their points of view freely. Note taking technique was used during the interviews which were conducted individually in addition to the sheet including the biographical and close-end questions which were filled by the interviewees. During the interviews, the instructors were asked about the objectives of the program and to what extent those objectives were met along with their opinions regarding the teaching methods and materials and the assessment dimensions of the program.
In the development process of interview questions, the same expert in curriculum and instruction field, Professor Sandoval, was consulted. Prior to the administration of the interviews, the questions were tested on two instructors to see whether the questions were understandable and clear. Before conducting the interviews with the respondents, some adaptations related to the length and the wording of the questions were made in light of the pilot study. After the planning for the interview, the researcher conducted the
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interviews with the available instructors. The main aim was to find out the instructors’ points of view regarding the program and to help complement unclear points from the students’ questionnaire. The interview schedule consisted of three sections, biographical and background questions, open-ended questions, and close-ended questions related to the programs. (See Appendix 2)
3.7.3 Written Documents Written documents were reviewed to provide information about the environment, the research site, organizational structure, goals, and the objectives of the institutions where the study was carried out. The following documents were reviewed: university booklets, university advertisement handouts and brochures, university’s official web sites, instructors’ CVs, syllabuses of the courses offered, curriculums for the three programs, course descriptions, degree guidelines, and class lists.
3.8 Data Collection Procedure Before conducting the study, an exempt approval was taken from the Human Subjects Research Review Committee at Binghamton University in June, 2013. (See Appendix 3) The director of the research sent an email to the Heads of the three departments where the researcher was planning to conduct the study to encourage them to co-operate with the researcher and the study. Afterwards, the researcher explained the details of the study to the administration of the three institutions to get the necessary permissions for conducting the study. Afterwards, the classes were determined for each level and the researcher informed the instructors of the study. The questionnaire was administered to a total of
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sixty students in the summer semester of the academic year 2012/2013. A consent form was read by the researcher to the student population (See Appendix 4). The students were provided with information about the study and how to fill in the questionnaire. The researcher emphasized the fact that there were not right or wrong answers, requesting sincere answers, promising confidentiality, and thanking them for time and effort. There was no problem during the administration of the study. The students were told that it would take approximately 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire.
As for the instructors’ perceptions of the programs, eight instructors were interviewed. The schedules were set up at the convenience of the interviewees. After giving the respondents the background information about the study, the researcher assured the interviewees of confidentiality as no authorized persons would have access to their answers. As a technique to record the answers, the interviewees filled out the first two sections of the questions then the interviewer chose to write down the responses of the third section of the questions immediately. Each interview took approximately thirty minutes and at the end of the interview, the researcher thanked them again for their contribution in the study 3.9 Data Analysis The data collected through the questionnaire was compiled and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences [SPSS] 16.0 program was employed to analyze the data. Subsequently, the data was analyzed through both descriptive and ANOVA statistics. To begin with, the researcher used descriptive statistics to describe the identified features of the data in the study. The frequencies, means, percentages, and standard deviations for
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the items were demonstrated. In order to calculate descriptive statistics, questionnaire items were grouped in accordance with independent variables, and also descriptive categories were developed from the data itself for the sections. When any effects were found to be statistically significant at the .05 alpha level, univariate analysis of variance ANOVA was conducted to find the factors contributing to the multivariate significance.
The analysis for the interviews involved descriptive data and note-taking technique. All the answers of the interviewees were analyzed by categorizing the points that came out from the statements for each question. In addition, thematic analysis and grouping of the answers from different interviewees to the same or similar questions were employed for the analysis of interviews. The content analysis method was carried out. Answers from different interviewees to common questions or perspectives on central issues were categorized under four subheadings. These subheadings were formed with regard to objectives, content, methods and materials, and assessment dimensions of the program. First, the statements to the interview were grouped under each related subheading. The statements which presented a different point were listed one by one. The similar statements were listed below the related sub-heading and also the frequencies for the repeated ideas were obtained.
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Chapter Three: Results and Discussion
Introduction: This chapter presents; the findings, discussion, implications, and summary of the study. It is divided into two main sections, the first one is the results and the second is the discussion and the recommendations.
The main purpose of the study was to draw a clear picture of translator training in Jordan through the evaluation of translation programs at the Master degree level, using the framework of the Context, Input, Process, and Product components of the CIPP evaluation model developed by Daniel Stufflebeam in 1971. The research questions were displayed under the four parts of the CIPP model (Context, Input, Process, and Product), The results of this study will be discussed under the same parts, along with the major research questions and related sub-questions.
Section One: Results and Outcomes
1) Context Evaluation involves studying the environment of the program. Its purpose is to define the relevant environment, to portray the desired and the actual conditions pertaining to that environment, and to focus on diagnosing everything related to the context of the programs such as; information on the geography, political and the education system in Jordan. 57
The research questions about the context component of the evaluation are:
A. What kind of educational setting do Translation Programs take place in ?
A.1- A Brief Description of Jordan Jordan is a small country, (approximately 90,210 square kilometers) and occupies a strategic geopolitical location in the heart of the Middle East and the Arab world. It is bordered by Syria from the north, Saudi Arabia from the south, from the east by Iraq, and Palestine from the west, as we see in the following map:
Figure 4. Regional Map of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Jordan is a constitutional monarchy with two legislative houses, Senate and House of Representatives. The head of the state is King Abdulla II. The official language is
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Arabic. English is the second language and is spoken at every level throughout the country (Abu-Al-Heija 2012).The official religion is Islam. Today, Jordan’s population is almost 6,180,000 million and is growing at a rate of 2.8 % per year. It is expected to increase to 7.2 % per year by 2020 (United Nations 2003). Jordan is one of the most liberal Arab countries politically. The overwhelming majority of the people are Arabs, principally Jordanians and Palestinians.
A.2 - Historical Overview Jordan was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1918 and later a mandate of the United Kingdom until its independence in 1946 (Salibi 1993). In 1948, the British mandate in Palestine came to an end. The Jews immediately proclaimed the birth of their state, and the first Arab-Israeli War took place. As a result, approximately 450,000 Palestinian refugees settled in the East Bank of Jordan (Salibi 1993). Jordan is the only Arab country to grant wide-scale citizenship to Palestinian refugees (Robins 2004).
In 1949, Transjordan was renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. After King Abdullah’s death, his son Talal became the king of Jordan 1952. Due to Talal’s illness , his son Hussein assumed power in 1952. King Hussein died in 1999 after ruling Jordan for 48 years. The history of Jordan was largely shaped by King Hussein. He was succeeded by his son king Abdulla II who continued to carry out his policies. Upon ascending the throne in 1999, King Abdullah II faced many challenges,
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including debt, unemployment, and poverty. To solve these issues, he launched an ambitious plan for economic and educational reform.
A. 3 - Economic Background Jordan is a small country with a limited resource base. It is considered one of the poorest countries in the Middle East. Jordan’s economy focuses on its natural resources of phosphates, potash, and fertilizer derivatives as well as tourism and foreign aid (Robins 2004). Furthermore, Jordan's geographical location in a very heated area in the Middle East makes it affected by any events that take place in the region, “Jordan lies in the heartland of the Arab world. It is both geographically and demographically small, making it a weak country with limited resources. Yet as it is a front line party to the Arab-Israeli conflict" (Milton-Edwards 1). First, Jordan was affected by the Palestinian- Israeli War, and consequently more than two million Palestinian have fled to Jordan. Then, and as a supporter of Iraq, Jordan was among the few countries deeply affected by the invasion of Kuwait in 1991, and its aftermath. With the UN economic sanctions against Iraq and the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 more than two million people immigrated from Kuwait and Iraq to Jordan between 1991 and 2003 (Robins 2004). This has put additional burdens on the Jordanian's economy, infrastructure and all services, including the educational system.
In brief, due to its location, limited resources, the global economic crisis, population inflammation caused by millions of immigrants to Jordan, and its
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dependence on the foreign aids especially from the United States, Jordan considers education a main priority.
The changes in economics, politics, gender, and religion are the reasons King Hussein began to view education as a vehicle to transform Jordan into a modern society. Jordanians consider higher education a priority for two reasons. First, it offers citizens an opportunity to increase their income and social mobility and second to facilitate their advancement in an unstable world, especially in the Middle East where countries face the problem of massive immigration and refugees due to regional wars. Likewise, citizens of Jordan believe that those who have received degrees are encouraged to motivate others to do the same (Bataeineh 57).
A.4 - Overview of Education and Higher Education in Jordan The Jordanian government estimated that the country’s literacy rate in 2003 was 90.1 percent (UN development report 2003). Women's education has improved remarkably in Jordan compared to other Arab countries, as stated by al-Saleem et al Said: "Jordan has scored the highest percentage among Arab countries in general and with girls education in particular... It is worth noting that Jordan ranks 93 among 174 countries in the area of developing countries according to the United Nations’ development report’ (2009). Higher education in Jordan commenced with the establishment of the Teachers House 'Dar Al-Mu'allimin' in 1958. This two-year College aimed at, preparing
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qualified teachers to work at the schools which belong to the Ministry of Higher Education. Since then, these teachers’ houses have succeeded, multiplied and became known as 'Teachers Institutes" then developed to become 'Community Colleges' in the seventies. University education commenced with the establishment of the University of Jordan in 1962, followed by the establishment of al-Ahliyya Amman University in 1989 as the first private university in Jordan (Abu-A-Heija 2012).
During the last two decades, higher education in Jordan has increased to include a number of institutions, enrolled students, faculty members, administrative and academic members. The number of public universities as a result has reached 10, besides the 19 universities that are private and 51 community colleges (Abu-A-Heija 44). Those universities needed to be controlled by a governmental institution, therefore the Jordanian Council of Higher Education was established in 1982. The Council formed the core for the Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research, which was established in 1985. The Ministry and the Council undertook the mission of applying the government’s educational policies at post-secondary level, and of legislating up-to-date laws on higher education.
Overall, we can say that in Jordan, higher education plays a key role in the process of the comprehensive development in the economy because the government believes that educating larger numbers of people will lead to greater economic growth. Higher education in Jordan witnessed a significant progress in spite of the limited financial and human resources in the Kingdom. Higher education lies within the
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priorities of the state because of the role it plays in promoting the economic, social and knowledge level of the Jordanian citizen.
A.5 - The Philosophy, the Goals and the Objectives of Education in Jordan The philosophy of education in the kingdom stems out of the Jordanian constitution, the Islamic Arab civilization, the principles of the great Arab Revolt and the Jordanian national experience (Mohe 2006). Furthermore, the educational cycles are divided into three stages as follows: 1. The pre-school (kindergarten) a free, noncompulsory stage of maximum two-year duration. Children from the age of three and up can be admitted to kindergartens based on the parents’ decision since it is not a mandatory stage in the Jordanian education system, 2. The basic education cycle of ten-year duration, a free, compulsory stage of ten years, from the first grade to the tenth grade. The subject matter is unified across the kingdom and students are evaluated annually. Based on academic achievements, students in the eighth, ninth, and tenth grades are assigned to one of the following streams in the next stage; a scientific, literary, or vocational stream. If the student elects to end his or her education at this stage, a certificate would be issued for the purpose of employment. However, it would not qualify the student for entrance to a college or university. 3. Secondary education, a two-year stage that ends with sitting for the general certificate examination called the Tawjihi. According to the grade on the Tawjihi, the student may qualify for different colleges and universities (Mohe 2006).
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A. 6 - Objectives of Higher Education:
1. Preparing qualified and specialized human resources in various fields of knowledge that meet society’s needs. 2. Fostering Islamic faith and its spiritual and moral values and promoting national belonging. 3. Observing and promoting democracy to ensure the freedom of academic work, freedom of speech, respect for different opinions, team spirit, assuming responsibility and utilizing scientific critical thinking. 4. Providing psychological and social environmental academic research that supports innovation, excellence, creativity and refinement of talents. 5. Promoting the appreciation of the national heritage, national culture and international cultures, and attending to the general education of the students. 6. Adopting Arabic to be the language of science and education in higher-education levels, and encouraging scientific writing in Arabic and translation from and into it, and adopting English as a supporting language. 7. Contributing to promoting knowledge in the fields of science, literature, arts and others. 8. Promoting students’ conversance in at least one foreign language in their fields of specialization and equipping them with the appropriate skills to use information technology in such fields. 9. Promoting, supporting and elevating scientific research, especially the applied scientific research oriented to serve and develop society
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10. Building a scientific, technical national nucleus capable of developing the scientific research and producing technology. 11. Establishing a solid institutional relationship between the public/private sectors and higher-education institutions in order to utilize the qualifications in these institutions in developing these sectors through consultations and applied scientific research. 12. Consolidating scientific, cultural, artistic and technical collaboration in the field of higher education and scientific research with other countries international organizations and Arab, Islamic and foreign institutions, and advancing such fields to cope with modern and advanced trends ) Mohe.gov.jo).
To conclude we can say that education is one of the top priorities of the Jordanian government and people. Jordanians believe strongly in education and feel that it is the key to unlock future success: “Education is a key factor in encouraging investment in Jordan's economy since it is the primary mechanism for upgrading labor market quality" (Toukan 18). The education system in Jordan is one of the best systems in the Middle East. It is ranked 18th in the world and first in the Arab world according to UNESCO.
Consequently, there are 10 public universities and 19 private universities in Jordan which offer three university levels of study: Bachelor, Master and Doctorate. The Bachelor’s degree normally takes four years to complete for almost all of the majors 65
except Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Engineering, which last five years, and Medicine, which lasts six The Bachelor’s degree requires a total of 126-164 credit hours, depending on the field of study. The Master’s degree is awarded after one to two additional years of study following a Bachelor’s degree, and can include either course work or a thesis, whereas a doctorate is awarded after three to five years of further study and the submission of an original dissertation.
B. What are the Current Translation Programs in Jordan? In the Jordanian context, teaching translation is a recent activity. In February 1982, a diploma program in Arabic/English/Arabic translation was established in the Language Centre at Jordan University. Each student should study 45 credit hours of theoretical and practical courses to earn a "high diploma" in Translation. In 1990, the program was transferred to the Department of English. In 1992, Department of English started the M.A. program in Arabic/English translation. A similar program was also established in 1984/85 in the Language Centre in Yarmouk University; a postgraduate diploma degree was awarded to successful candidates. Two years later, the program was promoted to an M.A. Degree in Translation. In September 1992, the program was transferred to the Department of English, then in 2010 it was transferred again to the Translation Department which has been established in 2008/2009 as Shunnaq explains: The translation and interpretation situation in Jordan has never been adequate. Further, the cultural movement in this country has not yet been 66
established very well because Jordan is still a young country. It was established in 1921. Until 1993, there wasn’t even an association for the Jordanian translators and interpreters to encourage them to promote the translation movement in this country. Translation and interpretation have been randomly practiced by individual translators and interpreters or commercial offices of translation and interpreting. That is why we could not find sufficient official records that could reflect the quantity and the quality of the translated or interpreted works. (4-5)
Presently there are eleven Bachelor’s programs, three Master’s programs in English/Arabic Translation in the Jordanian universities, and one Master’s program in French/Arabic Translation. Five of these universities have a translation department, while the other four offer translation programs within their English departments. The French/Arabic Translation Program is part of the French department at the University of Jordan, and will not be included in our study, because it is a very recent program established in the academic year 2012/2013 and therefore has no graduates. There are currently thirteen students enrolled in this program including seven females and six males (The study plan of this program is on Appendix 5) .
In order to establish a Master’s program in Jordan, the accredited university whether private or public needs to meet certain conditions and requirements related to the number of full time instructors, number of admitted students compared to the
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available professors, and the available learning and teaching resources like books, journals, laps, etc.. (A full list of the requirements will be in (Appendix 6).
This study is only concerned with the English/Arabic Translation Master's programs which are the following; Master of Translation in the English Department at the University of Jordan, Master of Translation in the Translation Department at Yarmouk University, and Master of Translation in the English Department at Petra University. The next section will illustrate the context of the programs; an overview about the universities where the programs are located in general, the departments which host the program, the establishment of the programs, programs' aims and objectives, programs' admission requirements, programs' duration, programs' content, i.e. study plans, curriculums, course descriptions, facilities, and instructors and students characteristics.
Current Translation programs at the Master’s level in Jordan
1. Master’s Program in Translation at the English Department, the University of Jordan 1.1- Program Overview The University of Jordan is a state-supported university located in the capital city of Amman. It was established in 1962 as the largest and oldest institution of higher education in Jordan. It has the highest admission averages in the country, and it
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is one of the premier universities in Jordan and the Arab World. It has around 31,000 undergraduate students, 4100 graduate students, 1086 faculty members, 63 different programs, 30 doctoral programs, 81 Master's programs, 16 programs in Higher Specialization in Medicine, 3 professional Diploma programs and 6 interdisciplinary Master's programs ( Ju.edu.jo 2013).
The English Language and Literature Department which host the Translation program offers different programs; a BA in English Literature and Linguistics, an MA in Linguistics, an MA in Translation, and a PhD in English Literature. The Translation Program aims at developing the students' skills in English-Arabic-English translation by focusing on "theories of translation and methods of research in translation, written translation in the fields of economics, politics, administration and media, legal and literary translation, consecutive and simultaneous translation". There were no specific aims or objectives for the Master’s Program. The only aim mentioned by the English Department was a general one for all the programs offered including the Translation Program: "The Department aims at enabling students to understand and comprehend the universal issues and how to use English language in different aspects...The department foresees that one of its major roles is to help support the nation with individuals who are loyal to their society, open to the universe, and who values justice and tolerance in order to participate in cultural and civilizations dialogues. (Ju.edu.jo 2013). The job prospects are written translation in various types of business, consecutive and simultaneous translation in conferences and symposiums, Teaching, Media and journalism.
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1.2 - Admission Requirements and Duration The admission requirements for the translation program are as follows; 1.Having a Bachelor’s degree with a “good” rating (or equivalent) as a minimum from a university recognized by the University of Jordan. 2. The applicant should prove that his study in the Bachelor’s stage was regular. 3. Attaching a certificate which proves that the student has passed the TOEFL or the national exam (or an equivalent exam). 4. In case of availability of seats in any Master’s program, a maximum of (20%) of the total number of seats can be admitted in the program on the condition the applicants have: a. A high diploma with a minimum “very good” rating. b. A Bachelor’s degree with a mediocre rating (or equivalent) on the condition the student studies (9) hours from the Master’s program study plan of the program he/she got admitted to in the first semester of enrollment. The courses shall be clearly determined by the department and are hence the same for all students admitted in that program. The student shall pass the three courses with a minimum passing grade of (C+) for each course, and a GPA not less than (3.00) points. Accordingly, the student becomes a regular student, and these courses are credited from the study plan courses. If the student does not fully meet this condition, he/she is dismissed from the university. 5. Students who have got a Bachelor’s degree by affiliation are allowed to apply for the Master’s programs in case they meet the following conditions: a. Studying a qualifying program whose number of hours is not less than (30) accredited hours from the bachelor’s level in the official universities only. b. The accredited courses in the qualifying program shall be related to the student’s specialization, and shall be from the pure specialization courses in the similar bachelor’s
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program in the official university. c. Passing the qualifying program courses with a GPA not less than 70% or equivalent at the University of Jordan (2.57/4).
Additionally, the University of Jordan has a special condition which Yarmouk and Petra universities do not have, which requires the candidates for the M.A Program to pass an entrance examination in translation from Arabic into English and from English into Arabic administered by the department. Furthermore, the maximum duration for obtaining the master’s degree is six semesters, which could be extended for two more semesters upon the approval of dean of the faculty and the recommendation of the department and faculty committees. For this purpose, the summer course is considered an extension for the second semester and does not need to be extended (Jordan University Master degree regulations 2011).
1.3 - Study Plan and Curriculum Equally important is the program's content which includes two tracks, each student has to choose only one of them. The first one is the Comprehensive Exam/ or Non-Thesis Track, where students have to study (33) credits hours as follows; 1. (24 credit hours) of obligatory courses as follows; research methods in translation, contrastive textology, theories of translation, mass media translation, simultaneous translation, literary translation, business translation, and
consecutive translation. 2. (9 credit hours) of
elective courses to be chosen from the following; English language variation, lexicology and dictionaries, political and diplomatic translation, translation in the field of economics and development, legal translation, translation in the field of science and technology,
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machine translation, and translation criticism. and 3. passing a comprehensive exam. The second track is the thesis track where students have also to study (33) credits hours divided on a different way as follows; 1. (18 credit hours) of obligatory courses as follows; research methods in translation, contrastive textology, theories of translation, mass media translation, simultaneous translation, and literary translation. 2. (6 credit hours) of elective courses to be chosen from the following; English language variation, lexicology and dictionaries, political and diplomatic translation, translation in the field of economics and development, legal translation, translation in the field of science and technology, machine translation, and translation criticism. 3. (9) credit hours for thesis.
As we have seen, the courses are almost the same in both tracks, with only two differences; the first is the number of obligatory or elective courses, the second is (9) credits which go toward the thesis. A full description of all the courses will be in (Appendix 7). It is worth noting that since the Master’s courses are offered through the English department, then the facilities of the department are used, especially the Language lab for the both consecutive and simultaneous interpretation courses.
1.4 - Students' Characteristics in the Program Students characteristics; this section will include updated information gathered through qualitative and quantitative data. I will discuss their total number and gender, in addition to the total number of graduates since 2000. The number of current students registered at the Master' program in the University of Jordan for the academic year 2012/2013 is 33 students, includes 10 males, 23 females, it was very close for the past
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twelve years since 2000 as shown in the following table. Noting that female students were always more than males in the program as we see in the following table: Table 1. Admitted Students Number and Gender Between 2000-2013 Academic year 2000/2001 2001/2002 2002/2003 2003/2004 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013
Females
Males
Total
19 23 24 16 14 16 25 34 34 17 11 14 23
9 11 11 14 10 13 10 12 11 6 6 7 10
28 34 35 30 24 29 35 46 45 23 17 21 33
50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Total
Figure 5. Admission Distribution For The Years Between (2000-2013)
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300 250 200 150
281
100 130
50 0 Females
Males
Figure 6. Students Total Percentage For The Years (2000-2013)
Furthermore, around 134 students have been graduated from the Master’s program at the University of Jordan between the academic years 2000 and 2012 as shown on the table below, a chart showing the distribution of the graduates between the academic years is also provided. Table 2. The Number of Graduates Between 2000-2012 Academic Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Total
Graduates number 11 10 12 14 13 6 11 9 22 12 5 4 5 134 74
25 20 15 graduates
10 5 0
Figure 7. Graduates Distribution for the Years Between 2000-2012
1.5 - Instructors' Characteristics in the Program This section will include information about the current instructors who teach at the program; their number, qualifications, academic rank, years of experience among others will be included. Currently, there is forty faculty members at the English Department in the University of Jordan, six of them teach translation courses to the students registered at the Master of Translation Program, all of the six are full professors, none of them has translation as his specialization, their full information is illustrated in the following table:
Table 3. Instructors Experience and Specialization Jordan University Group No 1 2 3 4
Academic Rank Full Professor Full Professor Full Professor Full Professor
Specialization in PhD English and comparative literature Linguistics Linguistics Computational Linguistics 75
Years of experience in teaching 35 30 22 18
5 6
Full Professor Full Professor
Applied Linguistics Modern English Novel
18 35
2. Master of Translation in the Translation Department / Yarmouk University
2.1 - Program Overview Yarmouk University is a state-supported university, located in Irbid in northern Jordan, established in 1976 by a Royal Decree. It has around 31000 undergraduate students, 9100 graduate students, 1500 faculty members, 13 faculties, 56 bachelor programs, 63 Master's programs,19 PhD programs, and 11 centers for research (yu.edu.jo 2013).
The Translation program started as we stated earlier at the language center, then transferred to the English department, then in 2010/2011 to the Translation department which was established in the academic year 2008/2009. It is the first in the Jordanian public universities. The program offers a BA and an MA in translation as well. The main objective of the department is to provide its students with the knowledge and training in translation in order to enable them either to pursue higher education or seek translation careers in private and public sectors inside and outside Jordan.
Moreover, the department aims at providing its students with knowledge and training in translation to enable them either to pursue higher education or seek translation careers in private and public sectors inside and outside Jordan, supplying the local and the Arab world market with qualified translators and interpreters in the
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different fields of knowledge, equipping the market with qualified translators in the different fields of translation including, oral and written translation and conferences, providing the market with qualified translation instructors to work at different the translation programs in the Jordanian universities (undergraduate programs), and finally to encourage the movement of translation from Arabic into foreign languages and vice versa. The department also plans on establishing a translation unit to serve the Jordanian market by translating major and important work between Arabic and English. The job prospects for the graduates include but not are limited to written translators, conference interpreters, teachers, and free-lance translators among others.
2. 2 - Admission Requirements and Duration In order to be admitted to the program, students submit a special form for admission to the deanship of academics research and graduate studies. They must have obtained a bachelor’s degree or equivalent from a recognized university, college or institute with a grade that is not below “good” or equivalent. A merit-based selection of students for admission to the Master’s degree program shall be made according to the sequence of their cumulative average in the Bachelor’s degree. There is no entrance examination for the translation program, but all the students must pass the TOFEL exam and get not less than 500 as per departmental regulations and before finishing their first year. The study plan includes remedial and additional courses as prescribed by the department and based on the student’s record, his major in the bachelor‘s degree, and his study plan there. A load of (6-18) credit hours will be prescribed and selected from a list of remedial courses (Yarmouk Master's degree
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regulations 2011). Taken into consideration that maximum duration for obtaining the Master's degree shall be (6) regular semesters, starting the day of enrollment. In some exceptional and justifiable cases, the Dean may extend this limitation for (2 regular semesters), taken into account that postponed and summer semesters are not considered within the maximum duration.
2. 3 - Study Plan and Curriculum As a matter of fact, the study plan for the Master’s in Translation at Yarmouk university is somehow similar to that of Jordan University, where obtaining a Master’s degree in translation requires a minimum of (33) credit hours in one of two tracks: Thesis Track and Comprehensive Examination Track. Thesis Track includes; 1. (15 obligatory credit hours) as follows; research methodology, theories of translation, translation of general texts from English into Arabic, translation of general texts from Arabic into English, and oral interpreting. 2. (9 elective credit hours) to be chosen from the following courses; semantics and pragmatics, contrastive linguistics, discourse analysis, technical translation, literary translation, terminology and Arabicization, advanced writing in Arabic, legal translation, media translation, readings in Arabic linguistics, special topic in translation, and research in translation. 3. presentation and successful defending of a thesis (9 credit hours).
The comprehensive examination track includes (33) credit hours as well, distributed as follows; 1. (24 obligatory credit hours) as follows; research methodology, theories of translation, trans. of general texts from English into Arabic,
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trans of general texts from Arabic into English, oral interpreting, advanced writing in Arabic, and readings in Arabic linguistics. 2. (9 elective credit hours) to be chosen from the following courses; contrastive linguistics, discourse analysis, technical translation, literary translation, terminology and Arabicization, legal translation, media translation, special topic in translation, and research in translation. 3. Passing a comprehensive Examination, a full description of all the courses will be in (Appendix 8). Furthermore, and since the Master Translation courses at Yarmouk university are offered through the Translation program, accordingly the department's facilities and labs are used.
2. 4 - Students' Characteristics in the program The number of the registered students currently at the Master Translation Program in Yarmouk university for the academic year 2012/2013 is 48 students, including 5 males students and 43 females students. The number of students has increased recently since 2006 as we will see in the following tables and figures: Table 4. Number of admitted students between 2000-2013 Academic year 2000/2001 2001/2002 2002/2003 2003/2004 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011
Females
Males
Total
12 8 11 9 12 14 18 22 18 0 20
5 5 7 8 9 7 11 8 12 14 21
17 13 18 15 21 21 29 30 30 14 41
79
13 43
2011/2012 2012/2013
14 5
27 48
Figure 8 Admission Distribution for the years between (2000-2013)
250
200
150
100
50
0 Females
Males
Figure 9. Males and females total percentage for the years between (2000-2013)
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Furthermore, around 206 students have been graduated from the Master program at Yarmouk University between the academic years 2000 and 2012 as shown on the table below, a chart showing the distribution of the graduates between the academic years 2000-2012 is also provided: Table 5. Number of graduates Yarmouk Group2000-2012 Academic year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Total
Graduates number 15 18 13 16 18 21 12 15 16 8 17 12 25 206
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30 25 20 15 Graduates number 10 5
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
0
Figure 10. Graduates distribution for the years between 2000-2012
2. 5 - Instructors' Characteristics in the Program Currently, there is nine faculty staff at the Translation department in Yarmouk University, three of them full professors, one associate professor, and one assistant professor. Three of them has Linguistics as their specialization, and another two are specialized both in Translation and Linguistics, their full information is illustrated in the following table. It is worth mentioning that the translation department is a new established department, furthermore the department has granted four scholarships to four students to go abroad and pursue their PhD in Translation in order to come back and teach at the department when they finish. Table 6. Instructors at Master Program/Yarmouk Uni No 1. 2. 3. 4.
Academic Rank Full Professor Full Professor Full Professor Assistant
Specialization in PhD Linguistics and Translation Linguistics and Translation Linguistics Linguistics 82
Years of experience in teaching 20 20 20 8
5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Professor Assistant Professor Full Time Lecturer Full Time Lecturer Full Time Lecturer Full Time Lecturer
Translation
15
Translation
3
Translation
3
Translation
3
Linguistics
3
4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Translation
Linguistics
Translation & Linguistics
Figure 11. Distribution for the faculty staff specialization
3. Master of Translation in the English department / Petra University
3. 1 - Program Overview
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Petra University is a private university located in the western part of the capital city Amman, established in 1991. It has 5 colleges, 20 undergraduate programs, 6 graduate programs, 6000 students, and 243 faculty members.
The Art and Science - English Department which host the Master Translation program was established in the academic year 1991/1992, it offers the following programs; a BA in English language and literature, a BA in English language / Translation and an MA program in Translation which was started in 2005. The program aims at developing the skills of translation students (written and oral) from English to Arabic and vice versa to meet the need for translators in various fields not only in Jordan but also in the region, such as the media, governmental and nongovernmental bodies, as well as in local, national, regional and international organizations and academic institution. In addition to this, the program has the following objectives (which are included in a separate brochure about the program both in English and in Arabic) ; equip students with sound knowledge and training to qualify as translators and interpreters, both academically and professionally, provide students with an understanding of the challenges facing professional translators or interpreters, and with adequate strategies to overcome such challenges, prepare qualified translators and interpreters who can meet the demand of the labor market, promote research in the field of translation and/or interpretation, and finally prepare students to pursue further graduate studies to meet the growing demand of academic institutions in Jordan and the Arab World for qualified teaching staff. Job prospects
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for the graduates include but not limited to; specialised translator and interpreters at private companies, local or international institutions, among others.
3. 2 - Admission Requirements and Duration In order to be admitted to this program, students should; be competent in Arabic, should have a TOFEL score of at least (550) or its equivalent, should hold a BA degree in Translation or a related field of study from an accredited university with a GPA of "good" or equivalent, have been classified as a full-time regular student during his/her past study for the bachelor degree, a student is not permitted to register for two different Master programs simultaneously during any stage of his/her study, if a student is suspended from any Master Program, he/she cannot reinstated in the same program again. Applicants who have a GPA of "Fair" will be placed on academic probation. He/she has to study (3) courses on the study plan and score an average of not less than (70%), or its equivalent, and a cumulative GPA of not less than (75%), or its equivalent, to be admitted to the program. The student who fails to remove the academic probation will be dismissed or she/he has to re-register. The courses successfully completed will be credited to the students' record (Petra University Master's in Translation Brochure, 2013). The minimum period of study for the Master program is three semesters, while the maximum period is six semesters, postponed semesters do not count for the maximum period of study, same as in Yarmouk and Jordan Universities.
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3. 3 - Study plan and Curriculum Moreover, the study plan for the Master program in Translation at Petra university has two options as it is the case in both Jordan and Yarmouk universities' programs: Thesis Track and Comprehensive Examination Track. The Thesis Track includes (33) credits which include; 1. (18 Obligatory credit hours) as follows; methods of research in translation, theories of translation, written translation into Arabic, written translation into English, contrastive linguistics, and simultaneous translation. 2. (6 elective credit hours) to be chosen from the following courses; semantics and pragmatics, literary translation, analysis and criticism of translated texts, scientific and technical translation, economic and business translation, conference translation, lexicology and lexicography, machine translation, legal and court translation, political and journalistic translation. 3. A (9 credit hours) for the thesis.
The comprehensive examination track includes (33) credit hours, distributed as follows; 1. (24 obligatory credit hours) as follows; methods of research in translation, theories of translation, written translation into Arabic, written translation into English, contrastive linguistics, analysis and criticism of translated texts, semantics and pragmatics, and simultaneous translation. 2. (9 elective credit hours) to be chosen from the following courses; literary translation, scientific and technical translation, economic
and
business
translation,
conference
translation,
lexicology and
lexicography, machine translation, legal and court translation, political and journalistic translation 3. Passing a comprehensive Examination. A full description of all the courses will be in (Appendix 9). Furthermore, the translation courses offered at the
86
English Department which host the Master Translation Program at Petra university are carried out in the department's facilities and labs.
3. 4 - Students' Characteristics in the Program To begin with, the number of current students registered at the Master program in the Petra University for the academic year 2012/2013 is 42 students, including 16 males students and 26 females students. Noting that females students were always more than males in the program (same case as in Yarmouk and Jordan universities) as we see in the following tables and charts:
Table 7. Students' number and gender since Petra Group 2005 Academic year 2005/2006 2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013
Females
Males
Total
10 14 7 9 7 12 9 5
4 8 4 4 5 5 7 4
14 22 11 13 12 17 16 9
87
25 20 15 10 5 0
Figure 12. Admission distribution for the years between (2005-2013)
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Feamles
Males
Figure 13. Students total percentage for the years between (2000-2013)
Furthermore, around 59 students have been graduated from the Master program in Petra University between the academic years 2007 and 2012 as shown on the table below, a chart showing the distribution of the graduates between the academic years 2005-2012 is also provided: Table 8. The number of graduates Petra group 2007-2012 Academic year 2007 2008 2009
Graduates number 2 23 12 88
9 10 3 59
2010 2011 2012 Total
25
20
15 Graduates number 10
5
0 2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Figure 14. Graduates distribution for the years between 2007-2012
3. 5 - Instructors' Characteristics in the program Currently, there are seventeen faculty members at the English department in Petra University, four of them teach translation courses to the students registered at the Master Translation Program, two of the four are full professors, none of them has translation as his only specialization, their full information is illustrated in the following table:
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Table 9. Faculty members at Master Program/Petra Uni No
Academic Rank
Specialization in PhD
1 2 3 4
Full Professor Full Professor Assistant Professor Associate Professor
Linguistics and Translation Linguistics and Translation Linguistics and Translation English Language and Translation
experience in teaching 20 15 9 15
To conclude we can say that, there are three English/Arabic Master programs in Jordan, two are located in public universities and the third is located in a private university. Only one is affiliated with a Translation department which is the one in Yarmouk university, the other two are part of the English departments. Moreover, the three programs share almost the same admission requirements, with one exception in the University of Jordan, where they require the candidates to pass an entrance examination in translation between Arabic and English. The duration of the programs is also the same which ranges between 3-6 semesters with the possibility of extending for two more semesters. The three programs share the same main objective which is to provide the local and the Arabic market with professional translators and interpreters. The only difference is that the Master program in Translation at Petra University has set forth his own overview, objectives, requirements, and tracks in a very clear way presented in a form of brochure printed in both Arabic and English to help marketing the program in a better way, a fact which might be related to the private universities policies and marketing, which is not the case in the public universities where the administration does not have to market the program at all. Taking to consideration the fact that the two Master Translation programs in Yarmouk and Jordan Universities are old 90
comparing with the one at Petra university which is relatively recent, established in 2005.
Likewise is the study plan for the three programs which is similar in demanding the students to register (33) credits hours in order to obtain the Master degree with having also two options; Thesis and Comprehensive Examination. The three programs also share two things, first they have the same credits division for the Comprehensive examination Track, where students have to study (24) obligatory credit hours and (9) elective credit hours, second they all require (9) credit hours to write, present and defend a thesis. While Jordan and Petra universities share the same division of credit hours for the Thesis Track, where both require students to study (18) obligatory credit hours, (6) elective, Yarmouk requires (15) obligatory credit hours, (9) elective credit hours.
Table 10.Translation Master programs in Jordan University of Jordan
Yramouk University
Petra University
Public
Public
Private
Name
Master Program in Translation
Master Program in Translation
Master Program in Translation
The English language and Literature Department
The Translation department
The Art and Science - English Department
Department Duration
6 -8 semesters
6 -8 semesters
6 -8 semesters
Type y
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Admission requirements
Entrance Examination
Aims of the program
Year of establishment No3 of credits Track options No# of instructors No# of Students No# of graduates
University of Jordan
Yramouk University
Petra University
1. Having a bachelor’s degree with a “good” rating (or equivalent) as a minimum from a university recognized by the University of Jordan. 2. The applicant should prove that his study in the bachelor’s stage was regular. 3. Attaching a certificate which proves that the student has passed the TOEFL or the national exam (or an equivalent exam).
students submit a special form for admission to the deanship of academics research and graduate studies. They must have obtained a bachelor’s degree or equivalent thereto from a recognized university, college or institute with a grading not below “good” or equivalent thereto. A merit-based selection of students for admission to the master’s degree program shall be made according to the sequence of their cumulative average in the bachelor’s degree. There is no entrance examination for the translation program, but all the students must pass the TOFEL exam and get not less than 500 as per departmental regulations and before finishing their first year. No
students should; be competent in Arabic, should have a TOFEL score of at least (550) or its equivalent, should hold a BA degree in Translation or a related field of study from an accredited university with a GPA of "good" or equivalent, have been classified as a full-time regular student during his/her past study for the bachelor degree
1. Developing the students' skills in English-Arabic-English translation by focuses on "theories of translation and methods of research in translation, written translation in the fields of economics, politics, administration and media, legal and literary translation, consecutive and simultaneous translation". 2. Enabling students to understand and comprehend the universal issues and how to use English language in different aspects to help support the nation with individuals who are loyal to their society, open to the universe, and who values justice and tolerance in order to participate in cultural and civilizations dialogues.
1. To provide its students with knowledge and training in translation to enable them either to pursue higher education or seek translation careers in private and public sectors inside and outside Jordan. 2. To providing the local and the Arab World market with qualified translators and interpreters in the different fields of knowledge. 3. To provide the market with qualified translators in the different fields of translation including, oral and written translation and conferences 4. To provide the market with qualified translation instructors to work at different the translation programs in the Jordanian universities (undergraduate programs) 5. To encourage the movement of translation from Arabic into foreign languages and vice versa.
1982
1984
1. Developing the skills of translation students (written and oral) from English to Arabic and vice versa to meet the need for translators in various fields not only in Jordan but also in the region. 2. Equip students with sound knowledge and training to qualify as translators and interpreters, both academically and professionally. 3. Provide students with an understanding of the challenges facing professional translators or interpreters, and with adequate strategies to overcome such challenges. 4. Prepare qualified translators and interpreters who can meet the demand of the labor market. 5. Promote research in the field of translation and/or interpretation. 6. Prepare students to pursue further graduate studies to meet the growing demand of academic institutions in Jordan and the Arab World for qualified teaching staff. 2005
33
3333
Thesis or Comprehensive Exam
Thesis or Comprehensive Exam
Thesis or Comprehensive Exam
6
9
4
Currently Registered 33
43
42
134
206
59
Yes
No
2) Input Evaluation: The research question and sub-questions about the input component of the evaluation were: A. What are the students’ and instructors’ characteristics? 92
A. 1. Students and Instructors Characteristics in the three programs This section will include information about students who participated in this study such as; their number, gender, age, current semesters in the programs, and their bachelor degree information. And information about the instructors who participated on this study and being interviewed by the researcher. Information like; their number, qualifications, academic rank, years of experience among others will be included. The information will be divided on three groups representing the three universities participated in this study.
1. Master of Translation at the English Department / University of Jordan
1. 1 - Students Characteristics First, the number of the students who participated in this study from the Master program at the University of Jordan was 20 students, 6 males and 14 females. Equally important is their age, current semester, and their major in bachelor which is shown in the following tables because it might affect their responses to the questionnaire as we will see later when we discuss that. Moreover, I have gathered the students into; four groups according to their age following the information they provided on the first part of the questionnaire; group one (students between 22-25), group two (students between 26-30), group three (students between 30-35), and group four (students between 35-45), four groups according to their current semester in the program starting from the second semester since I have excluded the students who were at their
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first semester for lack of background about the programs; group one (second semester students), group two (Third semester students), group three (Fourth semester students) and group four ( Fifth semester students), and finally four groups according to their bachelor major in bachelor; Group one (Major in Translation), group two (Major in English Literature), group three (Major in Linguistics), and group four (Major in all others fields of knowledge). All theses information is displayed on the following charts and tables:
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 22-25
25-35
30-35
35-45
Figure 15. Age distribution for Jordan University group
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16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 2
4
5
Figure 16. students distribution according to current semester/Jordan Uni group
16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Translation
English Literature
Linguistics
Other
Figure 17. Distribution of students according to their Major in Bachelor
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1. 2 - Instructors' Characteristics The instructors who participated in this study from Jordan university were (three) full professors, majored in English and comparative literature, Linguistics, and Applied Linguistics, and their experience ranged between 18-35 years.
2. Master of Translation at the Translation Department / Yarmouk University The number of the students who participated in this study from Yarmouk university is also 20 students, 5 males and 15 females. Information regarding their age, current semester, and their major in bachelor is shown in the following tables because it might affect their responses to the questionnaire as we have said earlier. Moreover, and as I have did with the Jordan university sample, Yarmouk sample has been gathered under the same groups; four groups of age, four groups according to current semester, and four groups according to their bachelor majors as shown on the following tables and charts: 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 22-25
26-30
30-35
35-45
Figure 18. Age Distribution for Yarmouk University group 96
18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 2
3
4
5
Figure 19. Current semester distribution for Yarmouk Uni group
18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Translation
English Literature
Linguistics
Others
Figure 20. Major in Bachelor distribution for Yarmouk Uni group
2. 1 - Instructors' Characteristics 97
The number of instructors who participated in this study from Yarmouk university was three professors; two are full professors and one is assistant professor, specialized in Linguistics, and Translation, and their experience ranged between 16-26 years.
3. Master of Translation in the English department / Petra University
3. 1 - Students' Characteristics The number of the students who participated in this study from the Master program at Petra University is also 20 students including13 males and 7 females. Petra university sample has been also gathered under the same groups; four groups of age, four groups according to current semester, and four groups according to their bachelor majors as shown on the following tables and charts:
12 10 8 6 4 2 0 22-25
25-30
30-35
35-45
Figure 21. Age distribution for Petra University group
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8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Figure 22. Students distribution according to current semester Petra Uni group
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Translation
English Literature
Linguistics
Others
Figure 23. Distribution of students according to their Bachelor major
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3. 2 - Instructors' Characteristics Two full professors, majored in Linguistics and Translation, and their experience ranged between 15-20 years, participated in this study from Petra university.
- The Overall Sample from the Three Universities Overall, 60 students participated in this study from the three programs in Jordan, Yarmouk, and Petra universities including 24 males students and 36 females students. Most of them were in their second semester and aged between 22-25, with English Literature as the main major in bachelor. Furthermore, the following charts represent their gender, age, current semester, and major in bachelor:
40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Males
Females
Figure 24. Gender distribution for the whole sample
100
35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 22-25
26-30
30-35
35-45
Figure 25. Age distribution for the whole sample
40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Second
Third
Fourth
Figure 26. Semester distribution for the whole sample
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Fifth
45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Translation
English Literature
Linguistics
Others
Figure 27. Bachelor Major distribution for the whole sample
Moreover, eight faculty members from the three programs have participated in the study, three of them were from Jordan university, three were from Yarmouk, and two were from Petra university. Only three out of the eight hold a PhD in Translation, the other five are majored either in English Literature or Linguistics. Only one was an assistant professor the rest were full professors. Additionally, all of them have worked as a professors for more than fifteen years, 5/8 are members of Translation associations, four of the five are members of JTA (the Jordanian Translation Association).
To conclude, we can say that we have fully described the input of the three programs, everything related to them such as; students' number and gender among others, faculty members qualifications and experience. Next section will answer the
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questions related to the students and instructors perceptions of objectives and content of the programs.
2. B. What are the students’ and instructors’ perceptions on the objectives and content dimensions of the program? Students' and instructors' perceptions on the objectives and course contents of the three programs will be discussed here. The students' questionnaire included (two) items discussing the students satisfaction with the objectives of the problems and (four) items on their attitudes towards course content. Instructors' interview questions included (three) questions related on their perceptions on course content. Students' perceptions will be discussed first, followed by instructors' perceptions after that.
B.1 - Students' Perceptions I. Items related to the objectives of the programs: (Item # 4) The instructional material is selected in a way that meets the objectives of the course. 78.3% of the respondents agree with the statement, making up the majority of the sample, 16.7% of them disagree with it, while 5% did not state their opinions regard this matter. This means that the relationship between the objectives of the programs and the material used is congruent to a good degree but might need some modification to better meet the expectations of the students specially at Jordan and
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Petra universities as we will see later when we discuss the differences among the three groups.
(Item # 12) The objectives of the program have been met. The majority of the students70% agree with this statement, 25% do not agree, and 5% has no opinion on this matter. Despite the fact that the most students agreed on the fact that their programs has succeeded in achieving the outlined objectives, there is still a need to work more on this aspect to make the objectives more feasible.
II.
Items related to course content of the programs: (Item # 1) The content of the course is good enough to help me become a skilled translator. 80% of the students agreed on this statement, while 20% disagree with it. This means that the course content is designed in a good way that helps the students to acquire the necessary skills to become good translators, but still there is a need to improve it in a way that provide the trainees with more practice and more skills.
(Item # 8) Translation courses enable me to better understand the culture of the target language. 85% of the students agreed that this statement is true, 13.3% disagree with it, while 1.7% has no opinion about it. This indicates that translation courses are very helpful in introducing the target culture to the students, but there might be a need
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to give the students a real experience in the target culture either by having target culture teachers or by sending the trainees abroad for summer time to practice translation in a real life situation.
(Item # 14) There is a strong and accumulative relation between the courses included in the curriculum. 70% of the students agreed on this, 25% did not agree, and 5% had no opinion about it. This means that the curriculum for the three programs should be revised, modified, and changed in order for the courses to be more congruent and connected together to better serve the students.
(Item # 16) There is a strong relation between the topics covered in the courses and the dissertations' topics written by the students. Only 63.4% of students agreed on this, while 23.3 % disagreed, 13.3 had no opinion. This indicates that students are not happy with the topic covered on their courses, they would like to have more topics covered so they can use them to write their dissertations.
B.2 - Instructors' perceptions Instructors’ perceptions include three general areas; B.2.1 Questions related directly to the course content 3/8 of the respondents stated that their course content is primarily practice, while 5/8 stated that it is both theoretical and practical. 6/8 stated that they would
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like to know their students level before they start a certain course in order to be able to adapt the course content according to the student’s level while two of them did not show any interest in knowing that. Additionally, 4/8 of them indicated that the content of their courses is based explicitly on a theory of translation, in contrast to 3/8 who indicated that the content of their courses is based implicitly on a theory of translation, and 3/8 stated that the content of their courses is not based neither explicitly nor implicitly on a theory of translation. Half of the respondents pointed out that they illustrate theoretical content with practical applications, the other half are using it less frequently in their classes. This demonstrates that there is no agreement among the instructors about how much theory and practice should be used in teaching translation which is the case among translation scholars elsewhere.
B. 2. 2. Questions related to the relation between course content and the translation market. The majority of the instructors stated that it is very important to maintain a link between training the translators and translation market. Furthermore, 6/8 indicated that they give their students a real sense of the market through the content of their courses. Very surprisingly, two of them indicated that despite the fact that it is very important to have this link but there is actually no link between their programs and the translation market and that they do not refer to it, to avoid conflict of interest. This might proves that there is no real link between their
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programs and the real market needs. This shows that there is a need to modify the content of the translation programs to better meet the real market needs in Jordan.
B. 2. 3. Questions related to the topics of the texts used in; classroom, exams, graded assignments and whether they are pre-determined or not? All of the instructors stated that they are the ones who choose the texts to be used in classroom, 7/8 indicated that they also choose texts for exams, and 5/8 choose the texts for graded assignments, while 3/8 stated that the text for graded assignments are required by the program and 1/8 stated that texts for exams are required by the department too. Additionally, two thirds of the instructors stated that they use pre-determined texts for exercises and for exams. This shows that the teaching method used is the teacher-centered one, where the teacher decides everything in the learning process. More flexible methods like the studentcentered learning approach should be adopted to give the students the opportunity to participate more effectively in the classroom.
2. C. Is the curriculum designed according to the objectives of the program? 68.4% of the students agreed on this statement, 23.4% disagreed, and 8.3% had no opinion on it. This shows that there is a thorny problem concerning the relationship between the content of the curriculum and the objectives of the programs, because in general the three groups are not satisfied in a high percentage. In the light of these results, there is an urgent need for a modification
107
in the curriculum and the objectives of the three programs, to meet the needs and the expectations of the students.
3) Process Evaluation: The research question and sub-questions about the process component of the evaluation were: A. What are the students’ overall perceptions on; 1.materials, resources, and course content, 2.teaching methods, assignments, and evaluation, 3.students' attitudes towards translation courses, 4.qualifications of teachers, 5. how much theories and practices should be included in the program, and 6. objectives of the program?
A.1. Students' Overall Perception on Material, Resources, and Course Content: 60.1% of the students were satisfied with what their programs offer to them in this area, 31.2 % were dissatisfied, 8.7% had no opinion on this matter. Generally speaking we can say that the students are not pleased about the material and the resources used as well as the course content of their programs, this is a very dangerous indication which needs to be taken into consideration and studied further by the programs' stakeholders to make the necessary amendments to improve the programs.
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70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Satisfied
Dissatisfied
No Opnion
Figure 28.Students overall perception on material/ resources/course content
A.2. Students' Overall Perception on Teaching Methodologies, Assignments and Evaluation: 64.1% of the students were satisfied with the teaching methodologies, assignments and evaluation in their programs, 30% were dissatisfied, and 5.9% had no opinion about this. In like manner, this area need more attention from the organizers of the three programs, to better select the methodologies and evaluation techniques used to meet the skills required for translators trainees because if 30% of the students are not satisfied, then there is a problem in this area and this problem needs to be fixed.
109
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Satisfied
Dissatisfied
No Opnion
Figure 29. Students overall perception on methods/assignments/evaluation
A.3. Students' Overall Perception on Translation Courses 71% of the students were satisfied with the translation courses offered at their programs, 22.6% were dissatisfied, and 5.4% had no opinion on this matter. It is very clear that most students are relatively pleased with the translation courses they are taking during their studies, but some modification might be needed such as, adding more practical courses.
110
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Satisfied
Dissatisfied
No Opnion
Figure 30. Students overall perception on translation courses
A.4. Students' overall perception on qualification of teachers: 76.7% of the students were satisfied with their teachers, 18.3% were dissatisfied, and 5% had no opinion. Although most of the students agreed on this, but they have a common problem among them, which is the fact that most of the instructors are not specialized in translation, their background most of the time is English Literature or /and linguistics, and have not worked as translators or have no real experience in translating.
111
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Satisfied
Dissatisfied
No Opnion
Figure 31. Students' overall perception on teachers qualifications
A.5. Students' overall perception on how much theory and practice should the program offer: Only 55% of the students were satisfied with the amount of theory and practice offered by the program, 39.1% were dissatisfied, and 5.9 had no opinion. It is very obvious that the amount of theory and practice which should be included in teaching translation is a common problem between the translation schools all over the world; furthermore, a consensus about this topic should be created in order to meet the desired goals of any translation program.
112
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Satisfied
Dissatisfied
No Opnion
Figure 32. Students' overall perception on Theory& practice
A. 6. Students' Overall Perception on the Objectives of the Program 72.2% of the students agreed that the objectives of the program have been met and that the curriculum and the instructional materials are designed and selected according to the objectives, 21.7% disagreed, and 6.1% had no opinion on this. We can conclude from these results that relatively speaking, the objectives of the program are congruent with the curriculum and the material selected, but there is still a need to improve this by revising the objectives, the curriculum and the material selected for the three programs at stake to better meet the needs of the students and to have more successful programs.
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80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Satisfied
Dissatisfied
No Opnion
Figure 33. Students' overall perception on program's objectives
B. What are the most interesting topics to be translated in class according to the students? The majority of the students 76.6 % preferred to have different topics to be translated in their courses, 18.3% preferred; press-reports, media, political, and diplomatic topics, while 5.1% preferred legal texts to be translated.
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Different Topics
Press,Media, Political Topics
Legal Topics
5% 18%
77%
Figure 34. Most preferred Topics to be translated
C. What are the instructors’ perceptions on the effectiveness of the programs in relation to materials, assessment and teaching methods dimensions of the program?
Regarding the type of the material used 4/8 of the instructors stated that they use newspapers articles, 3/8 use mainly literature, 3/8 use different types of materials, 4/8 use specialized documents like legal provision, manual, Ads, among other. Furthermore, half of them rely on discussion with students and translation practice as the main activities in translation classes, 2/8 rely on students’ presentations, 2/8 rely on different types of activities.
Half of the instructors use books on translation theory and teach translation theory as a very important element in teaching translation, the other half is divided
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into two groups, one believes that students should study theories outside classrooms, and the other believes that translation theories are not important so they do not use it at all.
Giving lectures to present the course content is apparently not the most preferred medium of instruction by the instructors; half of them do not use it very often, i.e. around (25%) of the time, in contrast to only three who used very often, i.e. around (75%) of the time by, one of them does not use it at all. Group-work seems to be the most preferred medium of teaching, used by 7/8 of the instructors. Additionally, practical work is also preferred as a medium of teaching, it is used by 5/8 of the instructors, while two of them indicated that it is not applicable to their classes, and one stated that he never use it in his classes.
Almost all the instructors evaluate their students at least three times during the course time by using; exams, graded assignments, and presentations to assess students’ progress. More than half of them give their students the chance to choose the method of assessment but they choose the time of the assessment. Moreover all of them agree that correct target language grammar, understanding of the source text, expression and style are the most important areas to be evaluated. After the assessment, more than half of the instructors mark and correct errors, give grades and return translation work to the students, then find out the best answers through class discussions, and finally provide them with sample answers. Additionally, half of them provide the students with a standard-corrected version of the assignments,
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the other half never do. With regard to the students’ background and performance, around half of the instructors stated that generally speaking students do not have the necessary background for the course they are taken and that their competence in both the source and the target languages is not adequate enough. On the top of that, the number of the students in each class is relatively high, between 10-35 which does not give the students enough time to fully participate and engaged effectively in the course.
D. According to the students what are the main difficulties and obstacles facing a good translation teaching? What are the obstacles preventing students to become professional after graduating from the program according to the instructors? What areas should translation classes focus on to face those obstacles and to improve students’ translation skills?
D.1 - Difficulties according to the Students According to 36.7% of the students, lack of professional teachers and updated translation tools is the major difficulty facing them, 25% of them pointed out that inappropriate evaluation methods and incompetent grading system is one of the difficulties facing them, in contrast to 15% of them who mentioned that lack of practice is another difficulty, 11% considered language and cultural in competencies as another important difficulty, 12.3% specified the big number of students in each class is another difficulty.
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D.2 - Obstacles according to the instructors: Most of the instructors believe that foreign language fluency, lack of translation experience, and lack of knowledge in special field are the main obstacles which limit students’ chances of becoming professional translators. Those obstacles could be avoided according to half of the instructors by focusing on translating various kinds of texts during the program and by focusing on foreign language fluency and mother language education according to the rest of the instructors.
E. From the point of view of the instructors what are the strengths of the programs? And does the nature of the department to which the translation program is affiliated have any effect on the program content? Surprisingly, two professors did not answer this question; one indicated that there is no strength in his program, for the rest of them the following aspects are most common strengths; good curriculum which includes both theoretical and practical aspects of translation, qualified staff, and good university with good reputation. On the other hand, all the instructors agree on the fact that the nature of the department which hosts the translation program has a great effect on the translation program as a whole, and therefore they all call for having independent translation departments standing on their own.
F. To what extent are the instructors updated with the recent publications on the field, what are their current publications, their philosophy of teaching, their
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successfulness in teaching, the influence of their research on teaching, and the involvement of their students on their own research? Half of the instructors are up to date with what is being published on the field of translation, two thirds are involved currently in different types of research, all of those use the findings of their research to enrich the content of their courses by discussing the results with their students and by applying the outcomes to their classes, but only one of them involve his students in his own research. In regard to their philosophy of teaching, they have different views on this, some of them promote student-centered approach and stated that the teaching-learning process is a human interaction process based on; respect, understanding, and love.
Others give more importance to the grading system, work-group, and classdiscussions as their preferred approaches of teaching. Further, three ways of measuring the instructors’ success in teaching are the most common ways as indicated by the instructors; the feedback they get from their students, the evaluation performed by their universities at the end of each semester, their students’ performance especially in the comprehensive exam and writing theses. Furthermore, two more ways were also indicated by some of the instructors; the number of students enrolled in their classes and the students’ involvement in classes discussions.
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G. According to the students, does the course description reflect the real material covered in the course? 78.3% of the students agreed that the course description reflects the real material covered in the course, 20% disagree with this, and 1.7% have no opinion about this matter. This means that the material covered during certain course should be worked out to better reflect the courses description, because some students are misled or miss guided by the course title or the course description in the curriculum.
4) Product Evaluation: The research question and sub-questions about the product component of the evaluation were:
A. Are there any significant differences among the students’ overall perceptions on; (1. materials, resources, and course content, 2. teaching methods, assignments, and evaluation, 3. students' attitudes towards translation courses, 4. qualifications of teachers, 5. how much theories and practices should be included in the program, and 6. objectives of the program?) with respect to gender, age, current semester, major in bachelor, and university?
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A.1. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to Gender?
Materials, Resources, and Course Content The overall satisfaction of the student on this area was; 60.1%, in contrast to 31.2% were dissatisfied and 8.7% who had no opinion about this. When studied the differences between the males and females responses, we found out that there is a significant difference between both. Males students were more satisfied with materials, resources, and course content with a percentage of 66.9%, whereas females students were only 55.1% satisfied on this area. Teaching Methods, Assessment, and Evaluation Males were more satisfied about teaching methods, assignment and evaluation (68.9%), in contrast to females who were only (61.9%) satisfied about this area. Translation Courses Males were more satisfied than females on this area with a 73.3% in contrast to 69.4%. Qualification of Teachers Moreover, males were more satisfied with the qualifications of teachers (79.2%) than females (75%). How much theories and practice should be included in their programs As we mentioned earlier, students overall satisfaction about the amount of theory and practice which should be provided through translation teaching is
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not very high, only 55% were satisfied comparing to 39% who were not satisfied. After studied the differences between males and females responses, we found out that females were less satisfied with this area (52.8%) than males (58.3%). Objectives of the program Overall students were relatively satisfied with the degree of the attainment of the objectives of their programs. Apparently; females were slightly more satisfied (73.1%) than males (70.8%). Overall Satisfaction about translation programs Generally speaking, students were not very satisfied about the overall of their programs, but males were more satisfied (62.5%) as opposed to females (56.9%).
A.2. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their Age?
Materials, Resources, and Course Content As we mentioned before, student participant were divided into four groups according to their age, when studied the differences between these groups. The third group (students between 30-35) was the most satisfied group (83.3%) in contrast to the other three groups who were significantly less satisfied. Both group one (students between 22-25) and group four (students between 35-45)
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were equal on their degree of satisfaction (60%), while the second group ( students between 26-30) was the least satisfied among the four groups (54.6%). Teaching Methods, Assignment, and Evaluation Likewise, the third group according to age (students between 30-35) were the most satisfied as well when they have been asked about the teaching methodologies, assignment and evaluation approaches used in their programs (85%). The least satisfied was the fourth group (students between 35-45) with only 48.5%. The first and the second groups were very similar, 64% and 66.7% respectively. Translation Courses Moreover, the third group ( students between 30-35) was again? the most satisfied group when we asked them about translation courses, the second group ( students between 26-30) came second with a 72%, then the first group (students between 22-25) 68%, unlike the fourth group ( students between 3545) who came last with only 60%. Qualification of Teachers Same as before, the third group ( students between 30-35) was fully satisfied about teacher qualification 100%, comes next the first group (students between 22-25) with a 78.8%, then the second group (students between 26-30) with a 72.2%, the least satisfied group was the fourth group ( students between 35-45) with only 60%.
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How much theories and practice should be included in their programs Somehow surprisingly, the first group (students between 22-25) was the least pleased group about the theory and practice included in its program with a 45%. Then comes the fourth group (students between 35-45) 50%, followed by the second group (students between 26-30) 66.6%. Finally the third group (students between 30-35) was the most satisfied among the four groups with a 87.5%.
Objectives of the program Once more, the third group ( students between 30-35) ranked as the most pleased group with the attainment of its program objectives 91.2%, followed by the second group (students between 26-30) 75.9%, then the first group (students between 22-25) with 69.7%. The least pleased group was again the fourth group (students between 35-45) with only 60% satisfaction.
Overall Satisfaction about Translation Programs The most satisfied group among the four was group three (students who aged between 30-35) they were 87.5% satisfied, while the least satisfied was group four (students who aged between 35-45). They were only 30% satisfied.
A.3. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their Current Semester in the program?
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Materials, Resources, and Course Content The fifth semester group was the most dissatisfied group about material, resources, and course content, with a majority of 83.3%. In the contrary of the fourth semester group who was the most satisfied group with 70%, followed by the second semester group 63.6% and the third semester group 52.2%.
Teaching Methods, Assessment, and Evaluation The fifth semester group was less satisfied about teaching methodologies, assessment and evaluation approaches used, only 42.8% in contrast with the other three groups (second, third, and fourth semesters) 64.6%, 69.2%, and 70% respectively. Translation Courses The first three groups (second, third, and fourth semesters) were very similar on their degree of satisfaction about the translation courses offered on their programs with a 72%, the least satisfied group was the fifth semester group with only 40%. Qualification of Teachers Students on their third semester were the most pleased about their qualification of teachers 85.8%, then second semester students 81.6%, followed by the fourth semester students 63.7, unlike the fifth semester students who were the least satisfied 50% only.
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How much theories and practice should be included in their programs The fourth semester group was the most satisfied group with a percentage of 68.2% about the amount of the theory and practice used on their program, the fourth group (students on the fifth semester) was the least satisfied group with only 25%, the first group (second semester students) was 56.5% satisfied compared to 42.9% satisfaction for the second group (third semester students).
Objectives of the program Whereas the first three groups; (second, third, and fourth semesters) were very similar on their responses to this area with a percentage of 72%, the fourth group (Students on their fifth semester) was the least satisfied group with only 41.6%. Overall Satisfaction about Translation Programs As we saw before with other areas studied in this research, there are some significant differences among the students' responses. The Second semester group was the most satisfied group about its programs as a whole with a (67.1%), comes next the fourth semester group (54.5%), then the third semester group (42.95), the least satisfied group is the fifth semester group which included students who have finished the course loud of their studies with only (40%).
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A.4. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their Major In Bachelor? Materials, Resources, and Course Content Students' majors in Bachelor were divided into four groups; Translation, English Literature, Linguistics, and Other Majors which includes all other fields of knowledge. Students who hold a bachelor in Linguistics were the most satisfied among the other groups when asked about the materials and resources of their program with a percentage of 75%, followed by the students whose Bachelor was Translation with a 68.3%, then students whose bachelor was English Literature, the last group which includes students whose majors are all other fields of knowledge was the least satisfied on this area, by only 37.5%. Teaching Methods, Assignment, and Evaluation Linguistics bachelor group was the most satisfied group with the teaching methodologies and assignment approaches with a percentage of 85%, followed by students majored in Translation with a 75.7%, then comes the English literature group with a percentage of 64%, the least satisfied group was the "Other fields majors" with only 48%. Translation Courses Once more, the Linguistic group was the most satisfied group about translation courses 90%, second place was for the Translation group with 76%, followed by the English Literature group with a 73%, Other majors group came last with only 50% of students satisfied about this area.
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Qualification of Teachers Others majors group was the least satisfied group about the qualification of their teachers with only 25%, while the Linguistics group was fully satisfied with 100%, followed by English Literature and Translation groups 85% and 80% respectively. How much of theories and practice should be included in their programs The most satisfied group was the Translation group with a percentage of 75%, followed by the English Literature group with a 55%, then the Linguistics group with a 50%, the Other majors group was the least satisfied group among all with only 37.5%. Objectives of the program Both Translation group and Linguistics group were similar on their degree of satisfaction about the attainment of their program objectives with a 83.3%, followed by the English Literature group with a 73.3%, while the Other majors group came last again with only 66.6%. Overall Satisfaction about Translation Programs As a matter of fact students majors' groups have significant differences among them when it comes to their overall satisfaction about their programs, they were in the following order respectively; Translation group was the most satisfied group (90%), English Literature group (60%), Linguistics group (50%), and finally the least satisfied group was the Other majors group with only (18.7%).
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A.5. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their University?
Materials, Resources, and Course Content Three universities have participated on this study; Jordan, Yarmouk, and Petra Universities. Both, Petra and Jordan universities groups were 62% satisfied about the material used in their programs in contrast to Yarmouk university group who was the least satisfied with only 55%. Teaching Methods, Assessment, and Evaluation Petra University group was more satisfied on this area (69%) than the other two universities groups who were similar on their degree of satisfaction on this matter with only 62%. Translation Courses Yarmouk university group was the most satisfied group with the translation courses offered at their program with 77%, followed by Petra group 71% in contrast with Jordan University group who was the least satisfied group with only 65%. Qualification of Teachers Once more, Yarmouk university group was the most satisfied group about the qualifications of their teachers 80%, followed by both Jordan and Petra universities groups with a 75%. How much theories and practice should be included in their programs
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There was a significant difference between the three universities groups concerning this area, while Jordan university group was the most satisfied group with a percentage of 70%, both Petra and Yarmouk groups were less satisfied, 52% and 42% respectively. Objectives of the program Yarmouk university group was relatively very satisfied with the attainments of their program's objectives 78%, whereas Petra university group were 71% satisfied and Jordan University group was the least satisfied with only 66.%. Overall Satisfaction about Translation Programs Jordan University group was more satisfied with his overall program with (62.5%) as opposed to the Yarmouk and Petra universities groups who were only (55%) satisfied. Moreover, Yarmouk university group the most dissatisfied group, 40% of its students were dissatisfied with the overall of their program, compared to 32.5% dissatisfied and 25% of Jordan university and Petra university groups respectively.
B. What is the students’ overall degree of satisfaction about their translation programs? 61.6 % of the students were satisfied with their programs as a whole, 26.6 % are dissatisfied, and 11.7% have no opinion about this. This percentage is relatively close to the students' degree of satisfaction about the knowledge gained at the end of their programs which was 56.6% satisfied, and 38.3% dissatisfied. In conclusion, there is a need to revise the three programs to
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improve them in a way that satisfies the students and improves their qualifications as future translators.
C. To what degree do the current programs meet the needs and expectations of the students? Around half of the students were satisfied with the knowledge they gained through their programs and were satisfied with their programs as a whole, they listed five general benefits they have gained through their studies; enriching language proficiency in both source and target languages, enriching the theoretical aspect of translation, learning new translation skills, strategies, methods and techniques, improving research skills and learning how to find new learning resources, and finally enhancing legal, diplomatic, political translation skills among others. Despite all benefits, the fact that only half of the students are satisfied with their needs, expectations and their achievements, is a critical indicator that there something wrong need to be modified and improved at those programs.
D. What are the instructors’ and the students’ suggestions to improve teaching translation in their programs? The instructors suggested a number of solutions to improve the status-quo of their translation programs including and not limited; conducting an entrance examination, hire more teaching staff specialized in translation studies, providing more translation labs, and more up to date learning resources, having
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field training for the students, having a independent translation departments not affiliated with any other field, having a stronger link between theory and practice of translation, and giving more attention to text selections. On the other hand the students' suggestions were somehow similar to those of the instructors, including having and using up to date resources, methods, technologies, data bases, and translation tools, increasing the number of specialized and professional professors, evaluating the current curriculum, by modify, add, delete any problematic area, and finally, increasing the practical courses and having a field training as part of their programs.
E. Is there any correspondence between the benefits gained by the students and their overall level of satisfaction? The relation between the benefits gained during the program and the level of satisfaction is a positive correlation, the more benefits the students gain, the more satisfied the students are and vice versa. Consequently, the organizers of the translation program should maximize the students benefits in order to make them more satisfied and pleased of what they gain during their studies.
F. Is there a relation between what students learn in their programs through the courses offered in the curriculum and translation future job needs? Around 58.3% of students agreed that what they have learnt through their studies is relevant to the future job needs, 31.7% disagreed with this statement,
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and 10% have no opinion on it. This result is connected to what the instructors indicated before about not fully linked the course content with the market needs, a fact that need to be taken into consideration and corrected in order to provide both the students with the required skills and the market with the professional translators.
Section Two: Discussion The purpose of this study was to investigate the current translation programs in Jordan at the Master’s level, using the framework of the Context, Input, Process, and Product components of the CIPP evaluation model developed by Daniel Stufflebeam 1971, as a pioneer study in this area, to better understand the statusquo of these programs and to indicate the strengths and the weaknesses if there is any in order to meet the needs and the expectations of the stakeholders especially the students and the market. The ultimate aim of this research was to develop a curriculum evaluation model to serve both translation curriculum/training in Jordan and anywhere else by suggesting any relevant adaptations through interviewing and questioning both students and instructors in Jordan. Furthermore, we have grouped the research questions under four areas according to the CIPP model; context, input, process, and product as follows:
1) Context A. What kind of educational setting do Translation Programs take place in ?
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Jordan is a newly established country with limited resources, the main investment for the Jordanian government is the education to help Jordan to become a modern society and have a better economic situation. Furthermore, higher education is very developed in Jordan; a fact reflected on the number of universities in the country comparing to its small size. Those universities offer different degrees at the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral levels .
B. What are the current Translation Programs in Jordan? Currently, there are eleven Bachelor’s programs and four Master’s programs specialized in English/ Arabic or/and French/Arabic Translation. This study is only concerned with the three Master programs in English/Arabic translation. Two out of the three programs are parts of English departments while only one is part of the Translation department. The three programs share almost the same admission requirements with one difference of the Translation program at Jordan university which requires students to pass an entrance examination in English/Arabic translation. The duration and the curriculum of three programs are also somehow similar. The number of admitted students in the three programs is different, so is the number of graduates. The relation between the number of the admitted and the graduated students in both Yarmouk and Petra universities is positively correlated, the more admitted students, the more graduates, while surprisingly enough it is not the case with Jordan university, where 400 students have been admitted to the translation program since 2000 until now, and only 134 students have been
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graduated since then. While for example; 324 students have been admitted to the translation program at Yarmouk university, 206 have been graduated. This means that there is a significant problem here, taking into consideration that the maximum duration of the three programs is 6 semesters with the possibility of two more extended semesters, summer is not included, then each student would need around 3-4 years maximum to graduate.
Following this further, the number of instructors in the three programs is compatible with the rules of the Ministry of Higher Education in Jordan which requires to have at least four faculty members of whom two are full professors for accrediting any Master program in the Kingdome. The only problem regarding instructors is their specialization. For example none of the instructors who teach at the Master program in Jordan University has a degree in Translation. Instructors in both Yarmouk and Petra university are divided between having Translation degrees and others degrees like Linguistics and/or English literature, a problem acknowledged by both students and instructors themselves as we have seen.
2) Input D. What are the students and instructors characteristics? As we have mentioned before, 60 students participated in this study from the three programs, 24 males and 36 females, most of them aged between 22-25, are in their second semester, and have English Literature as their major in bachelor. Eight
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faculty members also participated in this study, three hold degrees in Translation per se and all of them have been working for more than 15 years.
E. What are the students’ and instructors’ perceptions of the objectives and content dimensions of the program? When studied the students' perceptions on the objectives of the programs, 74% of them were satisfied about the attainments of them and the relation between them and the instructional material. This demonstrates that generally speaking this area is good but need more attention and more focus, such as studying the objectives of each program and comparing them with the students’ performance at the end of their studies in order to revise them in a way that better meet the expectations of the students and the market needs. Same could be apply to the students' perceptions and satisfaction of the course content, a revision of some courses is needed specially the practical ones and more topics should be included in these courses to give the students more options when selecting a topic for their theses.
Instructors' responses were dissimilar when asked about course content, especially when they have been asked about theory and practice, therefore a consensus among the instructors should be made on this regard to avoid discrepancy. A stronger link between course content and translation market is also needed to better serve both students and future employers. Moreover a studentcentered approach should be adopted to avoid having the instructors as the main actor in class.
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F. Is the curriculum designed according to the objectives of the program? There was a low satisfaction about this statement, apparently students call for a modification on their current curriculum in order to be congruent with the objectives and the goals of their problem which could be done through a reform process to the current curriculum by involving both students and future employers and having their view on this. 3) Process A. What are the students’ overall perceptions on; 1.Materials, Resources, and Course Content, 2.Teaching Methods, Assignments, and Evaluation, 3.Students' Attitudes Towards Translation Courses, 4.Qualifications of Teachers, 5. How Much Theories and practices should be included in the program, and 6. Objectives of the Program?
There was a significant overall dissatisfaction on the above six areas when students were asked about them, which might lead us to conclude that a comprehensive reform to all the aspects of the three programs is needed urgently to detect the problematic areas and fix them to improve the programs at stake.
B. What are the most interesting topics to be translated in class according to the students?
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Generally speaking students prefer all types of texts to be translated in class to have a wider job spectrum in the future, a point which should be taken into consideration by instructors.
C. What are the instructors’ perceptions on the effectiveness of the programs in relation to materials, assessment and teaching methods dimensions of the program? Overall, we can say that there is no consensus among the instructors on any area on their programs especially the above mentioned areas, a very critical point which should be studied further to solve, because it might lead to indescrepencies on the teaching methods used for the different courses offered by each program.
D. According to the students what are the main difficulties and obstacles facing a good translation teaching? What are the obstacles preventing students to become professional after graduating from the program according to the instructors? What areas should translation classes focus on to face those obstacles and to improve students’ translation skills? When asked about main difficulties facing a good translation teaching students listed three main obstacles including; lack of professional teachers, inappropriate evaluation methods, and lack of practice. Three very important aspects highlighted before by the students, and therefore constitute major hurdles to be tackled. On the other hand, the instructors indicated; foreign language fluency, lack of experience, and lack of knowledge in special fields as the main obstacles facing students from
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becoming professional translators which could be tacked by improving foreign language fluency and translating different texts in classes.
E. From the point of view of the instructors what are the strengths of the programs? And does the nature of the department to which the translation program is affiliated have any effect on the program content? In general most instructors are considering their programs' curriculum very adequate and even more they consider it one of the strengths of their programs which includes and not limited to, good university reputation and qualified staff. Furthermore, all of them agree that the nature of the hosting department affect the translation program. F. To what extent are the instructors updated with the recent publications on the field, what are their current publications, their philosophy of teaching, their successfulness in teaching, the influence of their research on teaching, and the involvement of their students on their own research? The instructors responses demonstrated that overall they are updated with the recent publications on the field, they are working currently on research, and they use the outcomes of their research in their classes.
G. According to the students, does the course description reflect the real material covered in the course?
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The percentage of the students who agreed with this statement shows that this statement is true but still there should be some refinement of the course description to fully reflect the material used or vice versa.
4) Product A. Are there any significant differences among the students’ overall perceptions on; (1.materials, resources, and course content, 2.teaching methods, assignments, and evaluation, 3.students' attitudes towards translation courses, 4.qualifications of teachers, 5. how much theories and practices should be included in the program, and 6. objectives of the program?) with respect to gender, age, current semester, major in bachelor, and university?
1. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to gender? There was a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on all the above six areas in relation to gender, apparently males were more satisfied than females on this area for no obvious reason.
2. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their age? There was a significant correlation between age and the students' overall satisfaction on all the six areas mentioned before, group three(students between
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30-35) was the most satisfied group among the four groups of age and group four (students between 35-45) was the least satisfied groups.
3. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their current semester in the program? There was a strong association between the students' satisfaction on the six areas and their current semester, where the fifth semester group was the least satisfied group, a result which could be explained by the fact that the students on this group have already finished all the course load, they are more capable of measuring the knowledge they have gained through their studies, they are able to judge their programs and their instructors.
4. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their major in Bachelor? Generally speaking, there is a unexplainable strong association between the students' overall satisfaction and their major in bachelor, as we have seen students were grouped into four groups according to their majors in bachelor, the Linguistic group was the most satisfied group about the first four areas (materials, resources, and course content, teaching methods, assignments, and evaluation, students' attitudes towards translation courses, and qualifications of teachers), it also shared the same degree of satisfaction on the objectives of the program with the Translation group. The least satisfied group on the six areas was the Other majors group, which could be justified by taking into consideration the fact that
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those students came from different backgrounds in their majors, their background in translation might be very limited or even not existed at all, consequently they would not be satisfied simply because they do not have the ability to judge their programs reasonably.
5. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their University? When studies the difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their University, various differences were found, but overall, Jordan university group was the most satisfied group as opposed to Yarmouk university group who was the most dissatisfied group. Different factors could have caused these discrepancies between the three groups such as, the content of the program, instructors, material used among others.
B. What is the students’ overall degree of satisfaction about their translation programs? The percentage of the students who are dissatisfied with their programs is relatively high, 26.6%, compared to only 61.6% who are satisfied. A remarkable fact that has to be studied further to be corrected and improved.
C. To what degree do the current programs meet the needs and expectations of the students?
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If the students were only 61.6%satisfied with their overall programs this definitely means that their program do not meet their needs and expectations on the desired degree as well, because the relation between students' overall satisfaction on the programs and whether the programs meet their needs is positively correlated, the more the satisfaction is the more the programs meet the students needs.
D. What are the instructors’ and the students’ suggestions to improve teaching translation in their programs? Many suggestions on how to improve the programs were provided by both the students and the instructors among which are; having more specialized staff, more labs and translation tools, having a consensus over some issues like theories, practice, and teaching methods, having a field training for students. The most valuable suggestion given by the students was the call for evaluating the current curriculum, modifying, changing, deleting, and adding to it.
E. Is there any correspondence between the benefits gained by the students and their overall level of satisfaction? Again, there is a strong association and positive relation between what students' have gained through their studies and their satisfaction.
F. Is there a relation between what students learn in their programs through the courses offered in the curriculum and translation future job needs?
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There was relatively low agreement percentage on this statement, which means that a stronger link between courses offered in the curriculum and translation future jobs demands should be maintained and highlighted.
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Chapter Four: Translation Curriculum Evaluation Model
Introduction: This chapter will presents a tentative evaluation model called the Translation Curriculum Evaluation Model (TCEM) model adopted from the CIPP model.
The framework of the CIPP model has been used in this study after adding, modifying and changing some elements to better suit translation programs context and to create a new curriculum evaluation model for translation studies to conduct the evaluation intended in this study, this model is discussed in more details below.
Translation Curriculum Evaluation Model (TCEM) The proposed model for Translation curriculum evaluation is a tentative model suggested by the researcher based on the four stages of the CIPP model of Stufflebeam, modified and adapted in a way that conforms with the translation program context, the four stages representing the evaluation process are illustrated in the following figure:
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Depict
What is to be evaluated and determine what information need to be collected: " Translation Programs in X "
Examine
&
Release the Information
Supply
Gather
The information using selected techniques and methods: Questionnaire to the students, interview with instructors, written documents etc.
The information (in the form of tables, graphs, figures, or any other form) to the interested parties. Information is obtained by conducting the following 4 types of evaluation: context, input, process and product: The overall study and Analysis
Describe the outcomes of the data, to decide whether to maintain, modify or eliminate the curriculum or the program The Results, Outcomes and Recommendations
Figure 35. Steps of the Curriculum Evaluation using the Translation Curriculum Evaluation Model (TCEM)
The TCEM model consists of a series of questions that cover everything related to the program(s) in question, they are suggested to better evaluate all the curriculum aspects, 146
those questions could be modified to better suit any other evaluation context, the questions used for this study were the following: 1) Context A. What kind of educational setting do Translation Programs take place in ? B. What are the current Translation Programs in question? 2) Input A. What are the students and instructors characteristics? B. What are the students’ and instructors’ perceptions of the objectives and content dimensions of the program? C. Is the curriculum designed according to the objectives of the program? 3) Process A. What are the students’ overall perceptions on; 1.materials, resources, and course content, 2.teaching methods, assignments, and evaluation, 3.students' attitudes towards translation courses, 4.qualifications of teachers, 5. how much theories and practices should be included in the program, and 6. objectives of the program?
B. What are the most interesting topics to be translated in class according to the students?
C. What are the instructors’ perceptions on the effectiveness of the programs in relation to materials, assessment and teaching methods dimensions of the program?
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D. According to the students what are the main difficulties and obstacles facing a good translation teaching? What are the obstacles preventing students to become professional after graduating from the program according to the instructors? What areas should translation classes focus on to face those obstacles and to improve students’ translation skills?
E. From the point of view of the instructors what are the strengths of the programs? And does the nature of the department to which the translation program is affiliated have any effect on the program content?
F. To what extent are the instructors updated with the recent publications on the field, what are their current publications, their philosophy of teaching, their successfulness in teaching, the influence of their research on teaching, and the involvement of their students on their own research?
G. According to the students, does the course description reflect the real material covered in the course?
4) Product A. Are there any significant differences among the students’ overall perceptions on; (1.materials, resources, and course content, 2.teaching methods, assignments, and evaluation, 3.students' attitudes towards translation courses, 4.qualifications of teachers, 5. how much theories and practices should be included in the program,
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and 6. objectives of the program?) with respect to gender, age, current semester, major in bachelor, and university? 1. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to gender? 2. Is there a significant difference in the six areas with respect to their age? 3. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their current semester in the program? 4. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their major in Bachelor? 5. Is there a significant difference among the students' overall satisfaction on the six areas with respect to their University?
B. What is the students’ overall degree of satisfaction about their translation programs? C. To what degree do the current programs meet the needs and expectations of the students? D. What are the instructors’ and the students’ suggestions to improve teaching translation in their programs? E. Is there any correspondence between the benefits gained by the students and their overall level of satisfaction? F. Is there a relation between what students learn in their programs through the courses offered in the curriculum and translation future job needs?
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As we have seen the questions are sub grouped under the four parts; context, input, process, and product , these stages and their objectives are illustrated in the figure below:
Context Evaluation
Input Evaluation
Process Evaluation
Product Evaluation
A descriptive analysis of the current programs with particular focus on: Setting, educational system, establishment, facilities, duration and development of each program. Objectives /entrance criteria/requirements, pre-requisites. Number of students/alumni and instructors. The detailed curriculum of each program.
A detailed description of: The students and instructors who participated in the study. evaluation methods/method of instruction, learning resources, list of textbooks. Students' & instructors' perceptions on the objectives & content of the programs. Whether the curriculum designed according to the objectives of the programs.
Data obtained from the questionnaire and the interviews about: Students' overall perceptions on the6 areas related to their programs. Most interesting topics to be translated. Instructors' perceptions on the effectiveness of the program in relation to materials, assessment and teaching dimensions of the programs. Main difficulties& solutions for both students & instructors. Strengths of the programs according to the instructors. Instructors publications/research/philosophy of teaching. According to the students does course description reflects real material . Data obtained from the questionnaire and the interviews about: Significant differences in the 6 areas related to the programs with respect to gender, age, current semester in the program, major in bachelor, and university of the students. Students' overall degree of satisfaction about their programs. Degree of programs 'attainment with needs and expectations. How to improve teaching translation. Correspondence between the benefits gained by the students and overall level of satisfaction. The relation between the curriculum and translation future job needs.
Figure 36. Evaluation and Research Design /the TCEM Model
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To recapitulate, we can state that the proposed design TCEM adopted from the CIPP model has been used to evaluate Master translation programs in Jordan. This design is still under experiment, it should be tested in more studies to demonstrate its validity and reliability in the field of translation studies, any suggested modification are possible and needed.
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Chapter Five: Translation Curriculum Model
I. The Current State of Affaire of Translating and Translating Teaching in the Arab World Since the beginning of the 21st century there has been a great need for translating in the Arab world, it is more or less a self-evident need, due to the rapid scientific advances and technologies and the urgent need to translate them into Arabic, the importance of translating the true values of the Arabic and Islamic cultures to the West especially after 9/11 and the War against Terrorism, the international trade movements and globalization, the emerging of international organizations, and the need for exchanging information between countries because of the development of diplomatic and cultural relations among them.
Furthermore and despite the fact that translation was a very widely spread activity during the glorious Arab empire in the medieval period, where translators used to render other civilizations knowledge and science from/into Arabic in the significant centers for translations established at that time, Baghdad and Toledo (Faiq). Nowadays, the translation movement in the Arab world has faltered, the aggregate total of translated books from the Al-Ma’moon era to the present day amounts to
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10,000 books, which is equivalent to what Spain translates in a single year (the 2003 Arab development report), the average number of books translated per 1 million people in the Arab world was less than one book for every million Arabs, while in Hungary the ratio was 519 per million and in Spain, 920 per million (ibid), there is an imbalance between need and production, there is no equilibrium in the selection of the subject-matter.
Translation movement has not attracted equal attention in all Arab countries, existent translations are made by free-lancers or self-employed individuals translators, private companies, and private publishers, there are no active associations for Arab translators and there is no cooperation between translators in the Arab world, no shared policy, and no common strategies. In Jordan for example, there is only one association for translators, and it is still not active enough compared to the Canadian translation associations, for example, the translations produced do not fairly represent the kinds of translating most needed, there is not enough translation teaching research material,(Shaheen), the importance of translation is not socially acknowledged.
The socio-economic status of translators in the Arab world is not defined yet, there is very little political promotion to translation comparing with what is happening in the West, there is no independent documentations exist, there is a problem in teaching translation in the Arab world universities, (Faiq), integrating technology into translation teaching is hard because technology is very expensive,
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available machine translation for Arabic is frustrating, awkward and unreliable, there is not enough translation of the true Arabic culture and values, tolerant principles of religion, mater pieces in arts and humanities (Gabr), there are misconceptions about the true nature of translation, there is an absence of a common ideology for translator training among translation teachers, and there are mismatches between markets' needs and expectations and translator training in academia (Atari).
Suggested remedies for those problematic areas in translation teaching might include; promoting the process of Arabisation of all disciplines in university education, support all kinds of translation institutions, governmental and private ones, formulate a translation plan at the country level to suite national needs and means, cooperate between similar institutions in the Arab world and with other international organizations (Shaheen), improve the status of translation and translators, publish more translations and more books in different fields, implement policies which encourage translation projects.
Funding translation CAT tools, databases, terminology projects, translation memories, machine translation and any related technologies needed for translation (Faiq), initiate pedagogy and training methodology research, call for establishing Arab Translators Association (Gabr), establishing a national vocational center to train professional translators in each Arabic country, establishing a well-defined frame of reference for translator training, and a clear cut standards for designing translation courses, training the trainers, having a clear course description of
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translation courses, setting translation tests and assessments should follow a systematic and objective approach by stating the error scale and grading scales in advance (Atari).
II. Translation Teaching at Arab Universities Modern Arab colleges and universities are young. Three quarters of the Arab universities were established in the last 25 years of the 20th century. This is important, because higher education institutions, universities in particular, take a long time to consolidate their role in the dissemination and the production of knowledge. The quality of education in the Arab universities is affected by many factors; the lack of a clear vision, a lack of autonomy, as they fall under the direct control of the ruling regimes. This poses many problems such as overcrowded universities, the miserable state of university libraries, old and insufficient laboratories that cannot accommodate the increasing numbers of students, and classes that are over-crowded, thus creating a great distance between students and instructors. Moreover, the instructors earn meager salaries and therefore cannot devote themselves fully to teaching or research (the 2003 Arab development report).
Since Arab universities are young, consequently translation teaching and translator training is young as well in those universities and its status is not fully and clearly defined yet, a fact acknowledged by a number of Arab translation scholars (Gabr 2000, Abdellah 2004, Atawneh and Alaqra 2007, Shunnaq 2008, Alaoui 2009, Farghal 2009, Walid 2011 and El karnichi 2012) who also stated that there is an 156
urgent need to assess the current state of teaching translation which is characterised as follows; the instructors are not able to train students to be professional translators, the objectives of the programs are not clear enough, the objectives of each course are not well defined for the students, the material selection is subjective and not efficient in the teaching process, the instructors have no specific methodology or approach in teaching translation, the process of translation, problems, errors, and strategies are not explained clearly to the students, the students know nothing about the correcting and grading process used by their instructors, the instructors are subjective and authoritative, students receive little or no feedback on their assignments or on their exams and papers, therefore they make no noticeable progress in their translation learning process, the evaluation of the students’ performance is subjective and not efficient, the physical environment of the classrooms is not helpful in regards to the learning process, there are not enough teaching and learning resources available for the students, there is not any kind of training inside or outside the university, to give the students the chance to practice what they have learned in class: Translation programs at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels have become a common feature of Arab universities and academic institutes. This recent development is due to the increasing demand for translation practitioners on the job market. Most of these institutions were caught off-guard in terms of the availability of competent translation trainers. As a result, the task of translation teaching was assigned to bilingual academic who specialize in literature and/ or linguistics. One can find translation trainers who neither have a sufficient theoretical background in Translation Studies (TS), nor interest or motivation to
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familiarize themselves with TS as an adequately established sub-discipline of applied linguistics. These academic believe that their formal training in literature and / or linguistics is self-sufficient for teaching translation, which is, to them, a by-product of such training.(Farghal 2009)
Adding to what have been discussed earlier about the problematic situation of teaching translation at Arab universities, the fact that Arabic and English are two remote and different languages and cultures which constitutes additional burden on translator training, as we will see in the next section.
III. Why teaching Arabic/English translation might be problematic Arabic belongs to the Semitic group of languages, whereas English is a West Germanic language. Arabic culture and English or Western cultures are also different in many ways. Linguistic differences might raise different types of problems when translating from Arabic into English or vice versa, especially in translating number and gender, relative nouns/ pronouns/clauses, as well as in cases of monitoring and managing, lexical non-equivalence, cultural-bound expressions, emotiveness, repetition, redundancy, euphemism, translatability, synonymy (Shunnaq 39), connectivity,
punctuation,
paragraph
organisation,
argumentation.
A
brief
introduction to some of those problems with some examples will be illustrated below;
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1. Emotiveness, or emotive meaning are part of the connotative meaning of a concept or a word, and the meaning therefore differs from person to person and from one language to another, and consequently from culture to culture. Emotive expressions might in some cases depend on the context, text type, and the intention of the speaker. They might also be used to emotionally impact the addressee or to reveal the speaker’s reaction or feelings towards the subject matter. The expressions of emotiveness can also be positive or negative.
Emotive expressions stir up strong feelings such as: love, hate, joy, pleasure, fear, and grief. Furthermore, the attitudes connotative meaning reveal about an object or an event may be favorable or unfavorable, and they can be used to express emotions (expressive function), to affect the addressee (appellative function), or to establish some contact with the addressee (phatic function) (Volek). Shunnaq argues that “an emotive meaning is a function of responses, i.e. certain words tend to produce emotive responses showing that there is emotive meaning.” (39), in this regard Charles Stevenson defines emotiveness as follows: The emotive meaning of a word or a phrase is a strong and persistent tendency, built up in the course of linguistic history, to give direct expression to certain of the speakers’ feelings or emotions or attitudes; it is also a tendency to evoke corresponding feelings, emotions or attitudes in those to whom the speakers’ remarks are addressed. (21-23)
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Another definition of emotiveness is that of Jacobson in which he relates emotiveness to expressivity; for him emotiveness is the “direct expression of the speaker’s attitude toward what he is speaking about” (cited by Volek 5). Basil Hatim also relates emotiveness to text type or genre “like all other facets of texture, the expression of emotiveness is closely bound up with semiotics categories such as text type, discourse and genre as well as with the hierarchy organization of texts or the way they are put together” (108).
Translation is concerned with giving an equivalent in another language for a particular word, phrase or text. One of the problems which might emerge is the difficulty of translating emotive expressions to affect the audience emotionally, in order to gain their support or influence them. In the case of English translation of Arabic poetry, what is important for the translator is that he or she must be aware that what may be considered a highly emotive text in Arabic will not necessarily be highly emotive in English and vice versa. The emotive meaning of a lexical item refers to the emotional response which the lexical item is supposed to evoke in the text’s receiver. This response is relative because it depends on three agents, the author who is the text producer and who invokes emotive pictures; the translator as a mediator who gives his own reading of the original text; and the reader who also has his own reading and his own response to the translation according to his age, experience, knowledge and general background about the subject. The response of the reader as well as the response of the translator could be neutral, positive or negative: “we not only understand the reference of words, we also react to them
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emotionally, sometimes strongly, sometimes weakly sometimes affirmatively, sometimes negatively” (Nida 91). The audience’s response might sometimes depend on the intention of the text producer, the emotionality and the experience of the text receiver, and the context of the situation (Shunnaq 1993).
Different scholars who have studied emotive expressions have divided them differently. Bronislava Volek has divided emotive expressions into the following categories: phonetic/phonological, morphological, lexical units, syntactical, intonational, and the use of direct address (1987). Shamma as cited in Shunnaq has also followed Volek’s division (1999:19). While Shunnaq divides emotive expression into two types: negative and positive, and traces the main sources of emotive expressions to figures of speech and cultural expressions (1993, 1999, and 2006). Figures of speech include metaphor, euphemism, and dysphemism, and personification among others, which in addition to their denotative meanings carry emotive overtones. This discussion will be restrained to the following linguistic expressions and figures of speech: rhetorical questions, repetitions, metaphor, personification, and expressions and words of direct emotiveness such as proper names which are full of emotive expressions. The following are examples of emotive phrases: "“ "إنني العاشق واألرض الحبيبةIt is I who am the lover and the land is my beloved”. The beloved here is the homeland; the land is described as a beloved woman metaphorically. Euphemism refers to the way in which something is said pleasantly, while dysphemism refers to something said unpleasantly or offensively. The former is associated with positive emotiveness, while the latter is associated
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with negative emotiveness. Consider this verse of the Holy Qur’an: "الذين تتوفهم "“ المالئكة طيبين يقولون سالم عليكم ادخلو الجنة بما كنتم تعملونThose whose lives the angels take while they are in pious state (i.e. pure from all evil, and worshiping none but Allah alone) saying (to them): Salamun Alaikum (peace be upon you) enter you paradise, because of that (the good) which you used to do (in the world).” The word death is avoided here and the phrase “those whose lives the angles take in”
is
employed instead, in order to imply comfort and purity because “death” in Qur’an is associated with “wrong doers”. Another example of euphemism is "انتقل الى جوار "ربه
“he moved to his Lord’s neighborhood instead of saying he died”.
Personification is giving the attributes of humans to nonliving things, to show intimacy and kindness, as shown in the following example:
""العيون الخائفة
“frightened eyes”, "“ "وتسقط أدمع القمرthe moon’s tears fall down” (Shunnaq).
2. Connectivity systems between Arabic and English are quite different, connectivity in Arabic include "basic logical relations, cause, result, and time, function as tracing the development of an argument, relating a sequence of events, marking an opposition, and signaling a conclusion" such as, WA (and), FA (then), THMA (then), (Shaheen 74). 3. Punctuation, the English punctuation systems is different from its Arabic counterpart, which will impose some problems when translating between both languages.
4. Paragraph organisation is also another obstacle when translating between Arabic and English, "Arab students' style of writing is characterized by the use of 162
long sentences, and the different use of "and"...because paragraph development in Arabic is based on a complex series of Parallel constructions, Arabic has more syntactic markers for coordination than English has, typical of Semitic languages" (Shaheen 78).
5. Argumentation methods used in Arabic and English are different, in English it is something like the exposition of a situation, followed by evidence, and substantiation, while an Arabic version might be two topics sentences which may be loosely connected, some part of the evidence may sound repetitious, and Arabic opts for direct argumentation while English opts for counter- argument (Shahhen).
IV. Controversial Issues in Translation Teaching Translation as a profession or as an activity is very old one, but translation teaching in institutions or universities is a recent phenomena, it has started only 60 years ago, and the discipline has been known as Translation Studies for more than three decades now since Holmes' paper in 1972 " it is well known that translation and interpretation are among the few activities that date back to Babel, if not the Garden of Eden..the institutionalization of translation and interpretation is much younger than the activity itself, and it is meaningful that the academic recognition of translation is a topic for twenty-first-century handbooks" (Lambert 7).
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Furthermore and despite the fact that there has been a number of translation programs in the world, “In the past few years there has been a mushrooming of translation schools, post graduate and doctorate courses that focus on translation training” (Carrové 1), there has been no consensus among translation scholars upon a bunch of cornerstones in the field such as; what does translation include, what do we mean by translation/translating, how much theory and linguistics to include in teaching translation, how to combine theory with practice, what are the proper approaches/methods for teaching translation, what is translation/ translator competence, how we can measure it, should translation teaching be vocational or educational, issues like the use of technologies in translation and in translation teaching, market and students needs, and last but not least a sound and coherent pedagogical framework for teaching translation. this problematic situation is acknowledged by Holmes who states that: "Translator training has raised a number of questions that fairly cry for answers: questions that have to do primarily with teaching methods, testing techniques, and curriculum planning. It is obvious that the search for well-founded, reliable answers to these questions constitute a major area (and for the time being, at least, the major area) of research in applied translation studies" (77).
In the same token, another important aspect addressed by many scholars, is the market or the situational needs, "any discussion of what elements can be included in institutional training needs to take into consideration the particular circumstances of the country concerned" (Keith 68). Furthermore, scholar Omar Atari states that
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"mismatches between actual translation teaching and expectations and demands of job market are very high and expressed in three areas; text materials, norms and conventions on quality assessment and skills of editing and revising" (108). Another important issue at stake here is the definition and the measurement of the translation competence which presents the core of translation assessment but which will not be covered in this discussion due to time and irrelevance constraints.
Moreover, there is no consensus among translation scholars in the West or in the Arab world about whether translator training should be academic or vocational, vocational training will focus mainly in translation skills and will prepare trainees to be professional translators only, while academic training will provide trainees with a wide range of skills which qualify them to be able to work in different fields other than translation, such as editing, proof reading (Kearns too, agree on this idea). But surprisingly, Atari claims that translation teaching in the Arab world is neither "training" nor "education" (107).
V. A suggested Curriculum for Translator Training at the Master level
It is now evident that there is a great need to evaluate traditional models of translation teaching and renew them because of the increasing demand for translation degrees on the job market "over the last decades increasing mobility and globalization have inflated the demand for translation and interpreting services and
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an urgent need to train future translators and interpreters has been felt in a great number of countries" (Kim 102) and because there is no universal consensus on how the teaching of translation should be carried out, despite the shift that has happened in the field from teacher-centered approaches to learner-centered ones with two major emerging approaches; the social constructivist-approach of Kiraly 2000 which considers the teacher as a facilitator who guides students through their journey of learning to become more empowered to learn- and the objectives-based instruction of Hurtado Albir 1999 and Gonzalez Davies 2004 which focuses on a well-defined objectives syllabi (Kim).
To answer the repeated calls for Curriculum Renewal spreading lately in the translation studies filed in general and in the translator training area in particular, a number of new emerging curriculum designs came to the surface in an attempt to fill in the gap claimed by translation scholars and researchers "In fact, many translation courses are/have been designed as on a "hit or miss" basis and most are or less sophisticated applications of error-analysis, unaware of any academic approach. Realization of this widespread problem in translation pedagogy has derived into an awareness that this area is both lacking in good translator-training methodologies, approaches and guidelines" (Carrové 1). The following concerns were shared among those models and designs; the importance of taking market and students needs into consideration before designing the programs, integrating technologies and CAT tools into translator training as possible, selecting various teaching methods and approaches from the existed ones in the field, giving a special attention to trainers
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and teachers as an essential factor of the success of any translation programs, state clear-cut and well-defined objectives and outcomes of the program in question, giving a special attention for evaluation and quality enhancement, and borrow curriculum approaches from curriculum studies (Educational Science) as a discipline with a long history.
In the same line, a number of Arab translation scholars start looking into translation teaching existed models, acknowledging the fact that the current state of translation programs is problematic and that there is an urgent need for evaluating them to come up with a Renewed translation curriculum which satisfies students and market needs, and which takes into consideration the particularity of the Arabic language. This reform movement was initiated by one of the major contributors to translator training curriculum evaluation in the Middle East, the late Egyptian scholar; Mustafa Gabr has discussed the problematic situation of translation curricula and points out that until recently, translator training has received little attention as we have discussed earlier in the Literature Review. He carried out a survey to investigate the actual practices of teaching and learning translation in national Egyptian universities, and his results showed that both learning and teaching of translation need a systematic change on the part of the teacher and the student. Moreover, Gabr stated that “translator training programmes have to develop in accordance with proper assessment of three linked needs: the needs of the market, the needs of translation departments and equally important the needs of students” (66).
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Gabr proposed a Total Quality Management (TQM) model for program design and development borrowed from human resource development and management and later modified to fit translator training context. This model consists of two major stages, the pre-development stage and the development stage with the implementation stage in the middle. This model focuses in three types of needs; market, department and students’ needs which includes defining instructional objectives, preparing materials, selecting teachers, developing lesson plans.
The reform movement in translator training at the Arab universities which was initiated by Gabr, then continues with contributions from a number of devoted scholars such as; Abdellah Antar 2004, Mohammed Abu-Risha 2005 and Omar Atari 2012 who then proceeded by suggesting more models.
Atari acknowledged the fact that teaching translation in the Arab universities is overshadowed by a number of impediments such as, " the misconceptions about the true nature of translation, the absence of a common ideology for translator training among translation teachers, presumptuous assumptions about trainees' bilingual competence, and mismatches between workplace expectations and translator training in academia" (104). Consequently, he suggested a number of remedies for changing this problematic situation which are; shedding more light on translation trainees and translation teachers - who should be "translation-proper specialist" instead of being specialists in linguistics or literature and should have "professional translation practice" - and by giving more attention for adopting a well-defined and an agreed-
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upon ideology for teaching taking into consideration social, market, and specific institutional program’s needs.
Correspondingly and to accomplish his suggestions, Atari proposed two modules, one for training the trainers and another for training the trainees. The former's objective is to train the trainers in order to be able to " possess and employ an unanimously approved and agreed frame of reference (i.e. ideology) for their training of trainee translators" (119), the latter's objective is to train trainees to be able to " read and write English and Arabic texts of all types and registers as competent bilinguals" (122). Additionally, he suggested a literature review to be consulted and read by both trainees and trainers.
Equally important is a model suggested by Mohammed Abu-Risha 2005 - a Jordanian professional translator and trainer - in a paper presented at a translation conference at Yarmouk University, in Jordan 2005 and published in July 2011 at the "TranslationDirectory.com". This model is a series of recommendations to be taken into consideration when planning for a translation curriculum at any Jordanian university and/or any Arab university planning for an English/Arabic translation program. What is particular about this model is the fact that it is derived from an authentic personal experience which makes it very practical and applicable. AbuRisha walks us through the process of planning this course design illustrating the current problems faced by trainers and trainees along with their remedies in a very detailed description for every aspect in the process. Moreover, he divided the
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curriculum into five levels or components which include; vocabulary level, grammar level, language level, the text and culture. Then he added three specialized and detailed courses to the design, one for management, one for law, and one for politics. Moreover, he did not forget to give a special attention to; technological aspect and theories of translation as essential parts of the design, theories like discourse analysis, contrastive textology among others. Finally, he added a section called "potential source of assistance" where he emphasized the importance of having contributions and fund from resources other than universities.
By the same token, the last model is Abdellah's model 2004, which he considers it as an elective model because; it benefited from previous models and because it gives a special attention to "learners, linguistic, and professional needs" (140). This model could be included under the umbrella of process-oriented approaches because it focuses on the process of translation while paving the way to translator trainees to acquire all the basic skills they will need in order to become good translators, by focusing on four skills; reading comprehension, researching skills, analytical skills, and production skills in the five units course design, which should be covered in 5 sessions, 3 hours each, with the aim that student think about translating before doing it. These sessions will normally begin by a simple theoretical discussion for one hour, includes explaining some terminologies, followed by graded exercises done in pairs or small groups and a discussion followed by a take home assignment to do more practice. The units are; unit one "words, a world of words", unit two “going to
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the market", unit three "planning tress", unit four “give us the tools and we will do the job", and unit five “revision" (Abdellah).
Additionally, Abdellah's model is accompanied by a teachers' kit and a "resources manual for students" including six appendices coving " a list of common semantic fields in English, a list of common proverbs and expressions, and their equivalences in Arabic, a list of internet site for researching purposes, a glossary of the main translation theory concepts covered in the course, dictionary entries, explanatory notes and punctuation guide, a list of the resources and references used in the course, and a list of suggested further readings in English-Arabic translation for students" (147-148).
For the most part, the above models are quite interesting and useful. Gabr's model is more focused towards "translation competence", it covers all stages during the learning and teaching process, including the importance of training trainers, stating assessment and grading systems, evaluating the whole program during and after implementation for any possible modifications and/or changes. The only drawback of this model might be the difficulty of obtaining information about market needs which is a fact recognized by a various scholars, "it is very difficult to obtain reliable data on the prospective qualitative and quantitative development of the labor market, i.e. on the number of the required junior personnel, on the presumable demand for certain foreign language combinations and expert subjects, etc." (Wilss 118), especially in the Arab world where there is no specific pre-determined market for
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future translators, not as the case in Canada for example, where translation trainees are trained in a special ideology to work later at the governmental sector, and mainly at the " Translation Bureau", where all government documents are being translated between English and French, the two official languages in the country.
Moreover, and despite the fact that Atari's model is well articulated and clearly defined one, it lacks an essential aspect, the core of translator training which is "translation competence", the author never mentioned in his in his general objective nor in the specific ones that students will learn how to translate and that they will be able at the end of this course, to translate texts competently from English to Arabic and vice versa. Generally speaking, the model explains all the basic phases that translator trainees should go through, from reading and writing fluently in both English and Arabic, to be able to analyze different registers in both languages as well. All in all, his model provides a useful orientation for future research directions in the Arab world.
By and large, Abu-Risha's design is also clearly outlined, giving specific details to the differences between Arabic and English as two distant languages and cultures. This model needs to be published and distributed to the concerned stakeholders especially at universities, in order to take it in consideration before planning a translation curriculum.
In a word, we can say that Abdellah's model is a quite interesting, because it focuses on the process of translation from A to Z and it gives the students the ability
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to learn and consult with their peers while doing their translation. Furthermore and despite the fact that this model is short in time and might not be enough for trainees to grasp all needed skills, it could be prolonged and extended to give the trainees the chance to learn more skills and do more exercises and more practice. The most significant feature on this model is the ability to measure it successfulness as Abdellah did, he gave his trainees a translation test before and after implementing it, then he measured their performance, very surprisingly, their performance has increased significantly after the implementation of this course design.
To summarize, we can say that the above discussed models are successful and serious attempt for renewing and improving translation curriculum at Arab universities. But more studies and more research on those models are needed to come up with a Renewed Tailored made curriculum for English and Arabic translation teaching.
Consequently, the following tentative model is a personal attempt from the researcher to come up with a curriculum design, benefiting from the previous and existed models in the field, especially the ones related to English and Arabic translation. A tentative design for the curriculum planning is suggested, bearing in mind the difficulty of obtaining useful and sufficient information about the market needs in the Arab world.
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Our model is tailored made to the Jordanian context but it is flexible and could be modified to fit any other Arab country. A collaborative effort between the universities which offer translation programs in Jordan is needed, combined with the collaboration of other stakeholders like; the Civil Service Bureau, Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Tourism, Higher Education Accreditation Commission (HEAC), translation private companies and agents, Jordan Translation Association, and any interested party willing to fund translation teaching and training in Jordan.
This model is designed for a Master Program which should be a part of an independent translation department by itself, not under any other department or discipline such as linguistics or literature
because " Lodging the program in
department has the drawback that the relationship of the host department to the program could easily become vexed, or, at best, ambiguous... In short, a program in Translation studies is far better off if it can be independent of an umbrella that may not be entirely benign" (ATA 36-37). It is also important, to give the program the needed autonomy to empower both the trainers and the trainees, and to emphasis the importance of translation as an independent profession and discipline "If translation is ever to become a profession in the full sense of the word, translators will need something other than the current mixture of intuition and practice to enable them to reflect on what they do and how they do it. They will need, above all, to acquire a sound knowledge of the raw material with which they work: to understand what language is and how it comes to function for its uses" (Baker 4).
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Pre-development stage Development stage
1. General holistic conferences for stakeholders (Students, universities' professors and program planners, press & media, translation agencies and companies. 2. Identify social and market needs through conducting a survey during the conference for all the interested parties. 3. Identify students' needs through conducting a survey for current and graduated students from existed translation programs. 4. Identify trainers and programs planners' needs through conducting a survey for them.
5. Define the aim of the program by putting all the relevant all the stakeholders' needs together. 6. Identify the program objectives. 7. Design the course content and select the appropriate material based on the information attained from the current students and graduates in other programs. 8. Set an entrance examination. 9. Select specialized trainers. 10. Select teaching methods and approaches based on the admitted students' profiles. 11. Set assessment methods and grading system.
Post-development stage
12.
Implementation
13. Hold post-test to measure the successfulness of the program. 14. Sustain periodical assessment and evaluation for the program to leave the door open for future modification and/or changes.
Figure 37. Translation Program Design & Development (Mahasneh 2013)
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VI. Tentative Translation Curriculum for a Master degree in Arabic / English Translation i. General information: The program is intended to develop students' skills in English/Arabic- translation in different fields like economics, politics, administration, literature, law and media among others, as it also provides advanced training in related fields like terminology and translation CAT tools. This program consists of obligatory and elective courses, followed by three options; a basic research option, an applied research option, a comprehensive exam. ii.
Objectives of the program 1. Providing the students with the necessary linguistic skills both in English and Arabic; reading, comprehension, and writing. 2. Providing the students with the necessary translation skills both in English and Arabic. 3. Give the students the ability to analyze texts in English and Arabic, destructor them into segments, search about the necessary items and then translate them. 4. Give the students the chance to work with texts with different genres in order to provide them the necessary skills needed for their future jobs in the different fields. 5. Provide the students with the necessary skills of research and the necessary approaches of teaching in order to be ready to pursue their higher studies or starting their careers as teachers.
176
6. Provide the local and international market with skilled nad professional translators. iii. Duration of the Program: All degree requirements must be completed within four years not including any qualifying program.
iv. Minimum standards: The passing grade in all courses is B-. Students who fail two courses (equivalent to 6 credits) must withdraw from the program.
v. Admission Requirements: 1- A bachelor's degree or its equivalent from an accredited university in Translation, or an equivalent. Applicants who do not have a bachelor degree in Translation may in suitable cases be recommended by the Translation Department for admission to a qualifying program.
2. A 3.3 GPA at minimum is required. 3- Two letters of recommendation. 4- Personal statement (1-2 pages) describing reasons for pursuing the Master program. 5- A writing sample such as a paper or a translation.
177
vi. Admission Procedure: Interested students can complete an on-line application or in person application and must also assemble all relevant documentation and forward it to the director of the Translation Department. Applications for admission will be reviewed by the Graduate Studies Committee of the Translation Department, and must also meet the general requirements of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies of the University.
vii. Entrance Examination: Applicants for the M.A Program must pass an entrance examination in translation from Arabic into English and from English into Arabic administered by the Translation Department. Successful candidates will be interviewed by the Graduate Studies Committee for a final decision of their admission. viii. Qualifying Program: Those students whose first degree is not in Translation will be required to do a qualifying program of one or two semesters according to their needs, to bring them up to the level expected of graduates with a bachelor degree in Translation.
ix.
The Study Plan (all students in the three tacks of the program - whether basic research option or applied research option, or comprehensive exam option- should complete the courses below) : Studying ( 33) Credit Hours as follows: 178
1. Obligatory courses: (24) Credit Hours: S. No.
Course Title
Credit hrs.
1.
Research Methods and Academic Writing in Translation
3
2.
Contrastive Textology
3
3.
Theories of Translation
3
4.
Discourse Analysis, Semantics and Pragmatics
3
5.
Translation History
3
6.
Lexicology, Terminology and Dictionaries
3
7.
CAT Tools, Translation Memories and Computerized 3 Translation Translation Workshop from Arabic into English and vice 3 versa 2. Elective Courses: Studying (9) Credit Hours from the
8.
Cours e No.
following: S. No.
x.
Course Title
Credit hrs.
1.
Business Translation
3
2.
Political and Diplomatic Translation
3
3.
Translation in the Field of Economics and Development
3
4.
Legal Translation
3
5.
Consecutive & Simultaneous Interpretation
3
6.
Literary Translation
3
Additional requirement: Students may choose one of three options: a basic research option (thesis) or an applied research option (commented translation), or a comprehensive exam option. 179
Cou rse No.
The student's choice must be approved by the department after he/she finishes all the required credits. 1. Basic research option/ Thesis
The thesis should consist of an original work on any translation topic, including a discussion of the relevant translation theories and approaches and a bibliography of the consulted works. The thesis should be written according to the rules established at the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies of the University. An oral defense is required for this option.
2. Applied research option/ commented translation A commented translation of not less than 7000 words ( around 28 pages, double spaced, 12 font Times New Roman) of a text not previously published in translation from any genre. There must be an introduction describing the text, the motivation for translating it and the translation approach used before the translation. The relevant theoretical and methodological background used by the student, long with a bibliography of the consulted works should be included after the translation, an oral defense is required for this option.
3. Comprehensive Exam: A two parts exam consists of;
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1- A Take home section; 3-4 Questions on the different topics of the field to choose one of them to write an essay of not less than 5000 words with a bibliography of the consulted works. 2- A Practical exam; 5 different texts to choose two of them to be translated, one from English into Arabic and another from Arabic into English in 3 hours duration, the students will have access to a computer connected to a network and to different types of dictionaries.
By and large we can say that despite the fact the institutionalization of translation teaching is a recent phenomena in the field of Translation Studies, there has been some major designs and approaches which worth studying and investigating. But they are though not sufficient to meet all needs of the students, departments and most importantly, the market.
Moreover, and in a nutshell translation teaching in the Arab world is a more recent activity, the existed programs need evaluation and reassessment by conducting more studies and more research to better understand their current status to conduct a Comprehensive Holistic Renewal reform in order to come up with a renewed curriculum a fact that has been recognized and acknowledged by people working on the field. To conclude, we can say that the translation curriculum design and development model suggested by the author is a modest contribution to improve the current state
181
of teaching translation in Jordan and in the Arab world, it is a tentative model which can be later modified or changed to meet the stakeholders needs.
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Conclusion and Recommendations
The aim of this study was to describe the current status of translation teaching at the Master's level in Jordan, by evaluating the existed programs, interviewing the instructors, surveying the registered students, and analyzing the available documents. The evaluation is important; to better understand how effective the programs are, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of these programs, and to have a clear and a comprehensive picture of what is really going on, on these programs. This study was purely descriptive and did not aim in any way to assess the worth or merit of the programs in question, assess the achievements of the objectives, prove the success or failure of the programs, but it was intended for gathering and reporting useful information to the concerned parties that could help in decision making regarding these programs "curriculum process evaluation intends to delineate, obtain and provide useful information about what is going in the classrooms so that decision alternatives can be made to maintain or to modify or even eliminate the instructional strategies" (Stufflebeam 20).
This research present a reliable empirical study about translation teaching in the Jordanian context at this time of growing interest in translator training in the world in general and in the Arab World in specific, in an attempt to arouse the attention in the academic field and the Ministry of Higher Education and all the involved stakeholders to improve translator training in Jordan to provide the market with qualified future translators. 183
As mentioned earlier, the three programs have set a number of objectives to be achieved through the journey of learning by its students, despite the fact that each program has its own specific objectives, the three programs share the main objective. It is to provide the students with the necessary translation skills in both Arabic and English to prepare them to work as professional translators in both the Jordanian and the Arab world markets, and/or to teach translation at undergraduate programs, pursue their higher education in translation, and conduct research and translation tasks in the field. Generally speaking the three programs have succeeded in achieving good results in a good degree, but very clearly there are some problematic areas which should be investigated further to be tackled in order to completely and fully achieve the outlined objectives to meet the needs and the expectations of both the students and their future employers. Those problematic areas include issues like instructors' qualifications, the amount of theory and the practice in the curriculum, the need for field training, the big number of students in each classes, and teaching methods and translation tools.
The research has revealed that 26.6 of the students are not satisfied with their programs, only 61.6% are satisfied, which means that the current programs do not fully meet the needs and the expectations of the students. Consequently, the programs in questions needed some revisions to improve them.
The study revealed that students are not satisfied to a good degree with their instructors, they lack expertise and their background is not translation in 90% of the cases. Therefore there is a need to train translator trainers, increase their number and their
184
background, training, and experience should be with mainly with the translation field, translator trainers should have "Sound knowledge of the SL and the TL, translation theory, transfer procedures, cognition and methodology" (Gerding-Salas 3).
Moreover, there are discrepancies among instructors' views on the effectiveness of the programs and on matters related to materials, assessment, and methodologies of teaching. Moreover, students were not fully satisfied with teaching methods and materials used. A similar result was found out in the study conducted by Gabr in 2002 when he investigated translation teaching at the national Egyptian universities "The study showed that the students are not satisfied with the adequacy of the content of the translation classes that they attended. It also showed that translation teachers do not follow a systematic approach in developing their instructional objectives and selecting class material" (10).
A number of factors have influenced the students' responses in this study such as; gender where male students were more satisfied than female students about the different aspects of the programs, worth mentioning that the number of male students is less than the number of female students. Age affects students responses as well, the older the students the more they are aware of the content of their programs and the deeper their views and responses are. Another variable affecting students responses is their current semester in the program, the more advance they are the more aware and the more sophisticated their opinions are. Apparently and for no obvious reasons, the major of the students affect as well their responses, students having Linguistics as their major in
185
Bachelor degree are more satisfied with their programs than the other students, while students who have "other majors" are the less satisfied. The reason might be that their background and their language proficiency is not deep as students who have a degree on linguistics, translation, or English literature.
In matters of differences among universities, Jordan university students were the most satisfied ones despite the obvious problem of graduated students which is not compatible with the number of admitted students. Petra university students came second, while Yarmouk's students were the least satisfied. Dissimilarity between universities might be due to differences of curriculum, teaching methods, instructors background, etc.
Furthermore, the results of the study revealed that there is a lack of literature on translation curriculum, curriculum evaluation, translator training, and
program
evaluation, consequently more studies in these areas are needed.
Another important insight from this study is the urgent need to evaluate the current translation curriculum in the world to detect any problematic areas and to suggest the needed remedies: A tertiary program in translation can be evaluated by examining to what extent it meets both the market needs and students’ needs. One way to evaluate the program is to conduct surveys and interviews with new graduates who work professionally as translators, and identify the skills and knowledge they have learnt in the program that they think are still useful for them, as well as those that need developing
186
further. Program designers and administrators also need to maintain frequent contacts with translation agencies, professional organizations, and employers in an attempt to identify the emerging needs in the market. Evaluation tasks should not only be carried out by the program designer or the instructor but should also be conducted in collaboration with the graduate students, translation agencies and employers. (Pham & Tran 16)
The present practices carried out in the existed programs required an immediate action to improve them which can be achieved through a holistic reform for the current translation curriculum to increase their productivity and their performance to the desired level: A reform of the curriculum is needed; this should extend the conventional aims of tertiary education, which are still theory-oriented and scholastically-driven, to include the development of graduate knowledge, skills and attributes for the world of work. Integrating employment skills into translation programs is the necessary step towards a more responsive translation curriculum in the contemporary context of Vietnam. This process would add value to and enrich the learning experience and professional capacity of all students majoring in translation. Such a reform is critical to prepare graduates for more productive workforce and more engaged citizenship. (Pham & Tran 16)
Consequently and to conduct the needed evaluation and the desired reform in the field of translator training, a well-defined and well-constructed model for translation
187
curriculum renewal is needed. Moreover, the process of designing this model could follow a multidisciplinary approach, a cooperation with different fields especially curriculum studies to construct the most valuable model because this process should be systematic one as Gabr stated "developing a translator training program is a creative task that must be approached systematically. It requires following carefully planned steps and making concerted efforts. It is a demanding task that necessitates teamwork, intensive research and considerable academic and professional background in pedagogy, training methodology, translating and course design and delivery" ( 12). To construct this model there is an urgent need for a cooperation among schools and departments of translator training in Jordan, the Arab World and anywhere else.
As we have seen in chapter five, Arabic language is a very special language which might entail some difficulties when translating it or vice versa, issues like emotiveness, cultural non equivalence should be taken into consideration and a good command of both English and Arabic is needed for translator trainees.
Despite the fact that translator training is a recent and there is still an need for more well defined designs and approaches for teaching translation as stated by AlQinai " As translator training courses have existed only for a few decades, an ideal methodology for the training of translators and translation teachers has not yet been properly developed. In other words, there seems to be a lack of educators in these institutions who can do research on their groups and assess the ever-changing knowledge and skills needed by their students, in an attempt to create an environment that fosters a professional competence based on reality" (35). There have been a number of suggested designs for 188
teaching translation into and from Arabic, these designs are good ones, but there is still a room for new designs to better serve the context of Arabic/English translation in the Arab World.
The awaiting teaching approaches and methods to come should shift from teachercentered to student-centered. These new designs should focus on diversification as the key approach for teaching translation to empower translators to enable them to work in different fields " Future training programs should be organized around a hybrid methodology, an eclectic approach that would provide the translator with a multicomponent competence involving linguistic, social, cultural, cognitive and professional skills with the ultimate objective of meeting market demand" (AlQinai 35). In the same token, the teaching translation model proposed by the researcher is a tentative design where the students responses in this study were taken into consideration to include all the needed topics and courses but it is open for modifications and alterations. Moreover, the program evaluation model adopted from the CIPP model is a result of a successful attempt of cooperation with other disciplines especially with a long history field like curriculum studies, more cooperation is needed to develop curriculum evaluation in Translation Studies as a new emerging area in the field.
Recommendations As the study showed that there is a need to reform and update the current curriculum and updating the existing teaching content and method, studying the translation market, having specialized teaching staff, increasing the support for translator training both at the
189
local and the international level. Yousef claimed that to "improve the translation situation in Jordan and to make translation programmes respond more positively to market needs, it is necessary to revise translators' training and translation curricula with a view to adopting the most effective pedagogic approaches. An effective translation programme should be more job oriented than academic or theoretical. its aim should be to graduate good translators rather than teachers of foreign languages" (260).
Needs Analysis is a very important concept which should be emphasised in this study, because in order for any program to succeed and achieve its goals and objectives, three types of needs should be taken into consideration; market needs, students needs and department needs. Market needs might be the most important ones in designing any translation program and future jobs should be the motivation behind the selection which types of skills and performance students should learn and acquire during their studies and training " in order to put together an effective training program for preparing, or creating, an efficient translator, one must consider the demands of the market" (Gabr 3).
Integrating technologies and computer-based translation tools is a crucial element in teaching translation in this changing world, it saves time and energy and open wide doors for the translator trainees in learning new approaches and techniques in translating " an adequate program must include the use of computers, word-processing software and communications equipment" (Gabr 4). Translator trainees should be introduced to the target language and culture by having a real life experience through having the chance to travel there for training during summer
190
time for instance "students who study translation without experiencing the foreign language culture at first hand will be disadvantaged and liable to making various kinds of translation slips, and thereby unlikely to do their job properly and adequately" ( Yousef 261)
Moreover, translator trainees should be introduced to on-the-job training to be prepared to deal with real life situations after graduating because "the importance of incorporating real-world criteria within a curriculum for translator training and education cannot be underestimated" (Ulrych 252). students and departmental needs are very important as well in defining the objectives of the program in question, whether administrators are preparing the students for vocational or academic jobs after graduation and whether students are looking for professional translators jobs or editing or teaching ones.
A need for cooperation among schools and departments of translator training in Jordan at the undergraduate and graduate levels to better train the translator trainees and to provide with market with qualified future translators. Create a strong and a solid link between what students learn at undergraduate and graduate programs to make it a continuous learning process. This study was limited only with current students at the Master's level, more studies to include alumni and future employees should be conducted as well. As well as conducting an evaluation study for undergrad program in Jordan to have a better idea about translation teaching in Jordan, conducting an evaluation study for undergraduate and graduate program for all translation programs in the Arab World, and
191
studying the history of translator training and teaching in the Arab World in the modern history.
Moreover, there should be a curriculum committee to approve and review all issues related to curriculum and program requirements such as, designing translation courses, outlining clear course descriptions of the translation courses, translation activities, translation tests and assessment methods, translation workshops and training, and the use of translation CAT tools among others.
Another important recommendation is to conduct a pre and a post test for students, the pre-test is helpful in determining the level of the students and their overall knowledge and background about translation, the post-test will measure their performance and how much they have benefited from the program and how much they have learned.
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Appendices
- Appendix 1 Part one: Questionnaire Form Questionnaire for the Students
The Degree of Satisfaction of Students in Translation Programs at the Master Level in Jordan
This questionnaire is part of study undertaken for the purpose of obtaining a PhD degree about the “Translation Teaching in the Jordanian Context: Curriculum Evaluation in Translator Education”. The study is being taken in three universities, Yarmouk, Petra, and The University of Jordan where they have translation programs at the Master level. I would like to ask you some questions about whether you are satisfied or not with the material and the translation courses you studied. It was also hoped to see whether you think those courses gave you the skill you needed to take translation jobs. It will take between 15-20 minutes only to complete the questionnaire. Please do not feel obliged to answer a question if you do not wish to, though I assure you that your response will be completely anonymous and will only be used for the purpose of this academic research.
Please do not hesitate to ask any question and feel free to add you.
Researcher: Anjad Mahasneh Supervisor: Prof. Marlyin Gaddisrose For correspondence: E-mail:
[email protected] Phone: 0795190974 001-607-429-8787
193
1. What are some of the difficulties facing you in this course of translation?
2. What are the benefits you have gained from this course?
3. What do you think the translation class should do?
4. What subjects do you consider suitable to be translated in the class? (e.g., press reports, literary texts, general, etc. )
5. What are the obstacles, in your opinion, to good translation teaching?
6. Aside from the mentioned in the questionnaire, suggest any points for the improvement of teaching translation courses.
194
Part two of the questionnaire No.
The Question
1. 2. 3.
4. 5.
Stron gly Agree
The content of the course is good enough to help me become a skilled translator The methods adopted in teaching the course are efficient and really help students Course activities are very well planned to help students to become good translators The instructional materials is selected in a way that meets the objectives of the course The criteria adopted in teaching translation courses depend on translation theory
6.
I am satisfied with the number of translation courses offered in my Dept.
7.
I feel that my instructors are qualified and competent enough to teach the translation course
8.
Translation courses enable me to better understand the culture of the target language.
9.
I think the examination system in translation sessions is adequate 10. I think the time allocated for the translation class is sufficient 11. The course description reflects the real material covered in the course 12. The objectives of the program have been meet. 13. Teachers use updated and electronic teaching methods 14. There is a strong and accumulative relation between the courses included in the curriculum 15. The
courses
included
in
the
195
Agree
Disagr ee
Strongl y Disagre e
No Opinio n
curriculum are relevant to the future job needs 16. There is a strong relation between the topic covered in the courses and the dissertations' topics written by the students 17. The curriculum is designed according to the objectives of the program 18. The classroom environment is very supportive for learning 19. Teaching and learning process are being evaluated continuously to insure their quality 20. E-Journals, Data bases and Up-todate publications in the translation field are available through the University library 21. Students are satisfied with the knowledge attained at the end of the program 22. Overall students are satisfied with the program as a whole 23. The theory included in teaching is quiet enough. 24. The teaching material selected is relevant and appropriate to the course in question 25. The practice in translation classes is quiet enough 26. Students are satisfied with learning resources
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- Appendix 2 Part one: Interview Questions for the lecturers
Translation Teaching In The Jordanian Context: Curriculum Evaluation In Translator Education
This interview is part of study undertaken for the purpose of obtaining a PhD degree about the “Translation Teaching in the Jordanian Context: Curriculum Evaluation in Translator Education”. The study is being taken at translation programs at the Master level in Jordan. I would like to ask you some questions about assessment methods, texts used in class, programs, courses, students, teaching strategies, training and experience in teaching, education. It will take between 20-30 minutes only to complete the interview. Please do not feel obliged to answer a question if you do not wish to, though I assure you that your response will be completely anonymous and will only be used for the purpose of this academic research.
Please do not hesitate to ask any question and feel free to add any comment you feel important.
Researcher: Anjad Mahasneh Supervisor: Prof. Marlyin Gaddisrose For correspondence: E-mail:
[email protected] Phone: 0795190974 001-607-429-8787
197
1. What is the most significant piece of scholarship that you have read in the last year?
2. Describe your current research.
3. Tell us how your research has influenced your teaching. In what ways have you been able to bring the insights of your research to your courses at the graduate level?
4. How would you involve graduate students in your research?
5. What is your philosophy of teaching?
6. How do you know you've been successful in teaching?
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Part two of the questionnaire I.
Part One: Biographical and Background Questions
1. Do you have a university degree in translation? ( ) Yes ( ) No 2. What is your highest level of education, no matter what discipline, including translation? ( ) Bachelor ( ) Master ( ) Doctorate / Ph.D. ( ) Other (specify): 3. In what discipline did you graduate? 4. What status do you have at the university where you have given your course? ( ) Assistant Lecturer ( ) Lecturer ( ) Assistant Professor ( ) Associate Professor ( ) Professor (Full Professor) ( ) Other (specify): 5. How many years have you been teaching full time, if any? ( ) Less than two years ( ) Two to five years ( ) Five to ten years ( ) From ten to fifteen years ( ) Fifteen years and over 6. Are you a member of a recognized professional association (eg.: The Jordanian Translators' Association (JTA), World Association of Arab Translators & Linguists (WATA), International Federation of Translators (FIT)? ( ) Yes. � Which one ( for how long)? ( ) No 7. Do you have a background in Teaching ? (This may include workshops, refresher courses, university courses, etc.). ( ) Yes. Which one? ( ) No. II.
Part Two: Close-Ended Questions related to the program i.
Methodology
8. In your opinion, to what extent is it important to maintain a link between the training of translators and the translation market? 199
( ( ( ( (
) Very important ) Important ) Somewhat important ) Not very important ) Not important
9. According to you, teacher training for a translation trainer, is: ( ) Very important. ( ) Important. ( ) Large enough. ( ) Not very important. ( ) Not important. ( ) Desirable. 10. Depending on the course you are teaching, or have taught before, answer the following questions marking an X in the figure corresponding to your answer. 1 Never (0% of cases) 2 Not very often (25% of cases or less) 3 Regularly (about 50% of cases) 4 Often (about 75% of cases) 5 Always (100% of the time or almost) 6 Not applicable 10- I present the course content in the form of lectures. 1( ) 2( ) 3( ) 4( ) 5( ) Not very often Never Regularly Often Always
6( ) Not applicable
11- I spent some time working in the classroom learning through practical work. 1( ) 2( ) 3( ) 4( ) 5( ) 6( ) Not very often Never Regularly Often Always Not applicable 12- In class, I plan some time for group work for my students. 1( ) 2( ) 3( ) 4( ) 5( ) 6( ) Not very often Never Regularly Often Always Not applicable 13. Once the students have done their exercises and their graded assignments at home or in the classroom, we do correction or revision group. 1( ) 2( ) 3( ) 4( ) 5( ) 6( ) Not very often Never Regularly Often Always Not applicable 14. As part of the review group exercises and graded assignments, I present the group with a standard (a "corrected") of the work expected. 1( ) 2( ) 3( ) 4( ) 5( ) 6( ) Not very often Never Regularly Often Always Not applicable 15. On which activity do you rely mostly in translation class? ① Discussion with students ② Translation practice ③ Presentation by student 200
④ Evaluation and advice on students' translation ⑤ Others ( ) 16. What's your reaction to students' translation? (multiple answers) ① Give grades and return translation works to students. ② Mark and correct errors. ③ Provide sample answers. ④ Find out the best answers through class discussion. ⑤ Others ( ) 17. What do you think of using books on translation theory in class? ①I use books on translation theory now and teaching translation theory is very important. ② I do not use books on translation theory now but I am contemplating for future use. ③ I do not believe books on translation theory are helpful for translation classes. ④ Students need to study translation theory outside classroom. ii.
Course Content and Material
18. I try to give students a real sense of the translation market ( ) Yes. ( ) No. Why? 17. The topic of the texts used in the classroom for years are: ( ) Imposed by the program. ( ) Imposed by the limitations of textbooks. ( ) Left to my choice. 18. The topic of the texts used in the classroom for graded assignments is required by the program. ( ) Yes ( ) No 19. The subject of the texts used in class for exams is required by the program. ( ) Yes ( ) No 20. The texts used for the exercises are selected according to a predetermined sequence. ( ) Yes. ( ) No. 21. The texts used for testing are selected according to a predetermined sequence. ( ) Yes. ( ) No. 22. The course content is primarily: ( ) Practice. ( ) Theoretical. ( ) Theoretical and practical. 23. Before the course begins, I want to know what students know. ( ) Yes ( ) No 201
24. Knowing their prior knowledge, I adapt the course content. ( ) Yes ( ) No 25. The content of my course is explicitly based on a theory of translation. ( ) Yes. Which one? ( ) No. ( ) Not applicable 26. The content of my course is based implicitly on a theory of translation. ( ) Yes. Which one? ( ) No. ( ) Not applicable 27. I illustrate the theoretical content of the course with practical applications. 1( ) 2( ) 3( ) 4( ) 5( ) 6( ) Not very often Never Regularly Often Always Not applicable 28. What kind of materials do you use in translation class? (multiple answers) ① Newspaper article ② Speech ③ Literature ④ Specialized documents (legal provision, manual, Ads, etc.) ⑤ Others ( ) iii.
Students' Assessment
29. I assess the progress of students with exams. ( ) Yes ( ) No 30. I assess students' progress using graded assignments. ( ) Yes ( ) No 31. Students can choose from various methods and instruments to assess their progress (eg.: Through presentations, essays). ( ) Yes. Which? ( ) No 32. Students can choose when their progress will be assessed. ( ) Yes ( ) No 33. I think, in general, students have the background knowledge necessary for the course. ( ) Yes ( ) No 34. I think, in general, students have the appropriate level of competence in the target language for training in professional translation. ( ) Yes ( ) No 35. I think, in general, students have the appropriate level of competence in the language of departure for training in professional translation. ( ) Yes ( ) No 202
36. How often do you evaluate students' translation? ( ) times per semester 37. Please write down three important areas for evaluation and their percentages. (Please refer to the following examples or write down your own category if any. You can use empty space for more than 4 categories.) 1) ______________ _____% 2) ______________ _____% 3) ______________ _____% (Examples) ① Correct TL grammar ② Correct TL expression ③ TT style ④ Overall logic in TT ⑤ Understanding of ST ⑥ Appropriate use of TL terminology ⑦ Translation speed (pages) ⑧ Spelling and spaces ⑨ Omitting information in SL ⑩ Excessive free translation or literal translation iv.
General Questions about the Program
38. The strengths of the program are: 39. The points on which we should work, if necessary, to improve the program are: 40. The nature of the department to which my program is affiliated has an effect on the program content. ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) I do not know. Explain: 41. In the course by which I respond to this questionnaire, the class included: ( ) Less than 10 students. ( ) Between 10 and 20 students. ( ) Between 21 and 30 students. ( ) Between 31 and 40 students. ( ) Between 41 and 50 students. ( ) More than 50 students. 42. To me, this number was: ( ) Too low. ( ) Appropriate. ( ) Too high. Why ? 43. What is the biggest obstacle to become professional translators for students after graduating from your program? ① Foreign language fluency ② Lack of translation experience ③ Lack of interest in translation ④ Lack of understanding of translators in society ⑤ Lack of knowledge in special fields 203
⑥ Others (
)
44. What is the area that translation classes at school should focus on? ① B language fluency ② Translation technique ③ Opportunities to translate various texts 45. What is the area that needs most training and education to improve students' translation skill? ① Translation theory education ② Mother language education ③ Foreign language education ④ Education in special fields
204
- Appendix 3 Date: June 25, 2013 To: Anjad Mahasneh, Translation Studies From: Anne M. Casella, CIP Administrator Human Subjects Research Review Committee Subject:
Human Subjects Research Approval Protocol Number: 2304-13 Protocol title: Translation Training In the Jordanian Context: Curriculum Evaluation in Translator Education
Your project identified above was reviewed by the HSRRC and has received an Exempt approval pursuant to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regulations, 45 CFR 46.101(b)(2) . An exempt status signifies that you will not be required to submit a Continuing Review application as long as your project involving human subjects remains unchanged. If your project undergoes any changes these changes must be reported to our office prior to implementation. Please complete the modification form found at the following link: http://research.binghamton.edu/Compliance/humansubjects/COEUS_Docs.php Principal Investigators or any individual involved in the research must report any problems involving the conduct of the study or subject participation. Any problems involving recruitment and consent processes or any deviations from the approved protocolshould be reported in writing within five (5) business days as outlined in Binghamton University, Human Subjects Research Review Office, Policy and Procedures IX.F.1 Unanticipated Problems/adverse events/complaints. We require that the Unanticipated Problems/adverse events/complaints form be submitted to our office, found at the following link:http://research.binghamton.edu/Compliance/humansubjects/COEUS_Docs.php University policy requires you to maintain as a part of your records, any documents pertaining to the use of human subjects in your research. This includes any information or materials conveyed to, and received from, the subjects, as well as any executed consent forms, data and analysis results. These records must be maintained for at least six years after project completion or termination. If this is a funded project, you should be aware that these records are subject to inspection and review by authorized representative of the University, State and Federal governments. Please notify this office when your project is complete by completing and forwarding to our office the Protocol closure form found at the following link: http://research.binghamton.edu/Compliance/humansubjects/COEUS_Docs.php Upo n notification we will close the above referenced file. Any reactivation of the project will require a new application. 205
- Appendix 4 ORAL CONSENT
Hello, I am Anjad Mahasneh, a PhD candidate in the Comparative literature and Translation studies department at Binghamton University. This questionnaire is part of study undertaken for the purpose of obtaining a PhD degree about the “Translation Teaching in the Jordanian Context: Curriculum Evaluation in Translator Education”. The study is concerned with translation programs at the Master level in Jordan.
You are being contacted because you are part of the translation programs at the Master level. If you decide to participate, please do not feel obliged to answer any question if you do not wish to and you may stop at any time, though I assure you that your response will be completely anonymous and will only be used for the purpose of this academic research.
If you agree I would like to ask you some questions about whether you are satisfied or not with the material and the translation courses you studied/teach. It will take between 15-20 minutes only to complete the questionnaire/ to conduct the interview.
Please do not hesitate to ask any question and feel free to add anything you feel important.
If you have any additional questions later, we will be happy to answer them, you can contact me at :
[email protected], Phone: 0795190974,or 001-607-429-8787 or contact my Supervisor: Prof. Marlyin Gaddisrose at:
[email protected].
If at any time you have questions concerning your rights as a research subject you may call Binghamton University's Human Subject's Research Review Committee at (607) 777-3818. Do you have any questions about the research project? May I proceed. 206
- Appendix 5 Study Plan M. A. Degree In Translation French Arabic (Thesis Track) I.
GENERAL REGULATIONS: 1- This plan conforms to the valid regulations and policies of the graduate studies program. 2- Students with the following bachelor’s degrees can be admitted into the M. A. program: a- French Language and Literature. b- Modern Languages (French/German). c- Modern Languages (with a Major in French). d- Translation (with a Major in French).
II.
SPECIFIC REGULATIONS: Students have to pass the TCF (Test de connaissance de français), level B2 or the DELF (Diplôme d’études en langue française), level B2.
III.
THE STUDY PLAN : Students have to take 33 credit hours as follows: 1- Compulsory courses: 15 credit hours
Course No. 2202711 2202712 2202731 2202732 2202733
Course Title Analysis of French Texts General Translation Theories of Translation Methodology of Research in the Field of Translation Lexicology and Lexicography
Credit hrs. 3 3 3 3
Pre-requisite
3
2- Elective Courses: Studying 9 credit hours from the following:
Course No. 2202713 2202714 2202715 2202716
Course Title Translation in Economics and Business Translation of Political and Diplomatic Texts Translation of Legal Texts Translation of Literary Texts 207
Credit hrs. 3 3 3 3
Pre-requisite
2202717 2202718 2202719 2202720 2202734
Translation in Mass Media Translation of Scientific and Technical Texts Initiation to Consecutive Interpretation Initiation to Simultaneous Interpretation Computer Assisted Translation
3 3 3 3 3
3- Thesis (9 credit hours) (2202799) M. A. Degree in Translation French Arabic Course Descriptions
2202711 Analysis of French Texts This course aims at giving the students the necessary tools for the analysis of French texts concerning cohesion and coherence. The course enhances the strategies of reading, understanding and analyzing written texts in French, along with developing summarizing techniques. 2202712 General Translation In this course, students put into practice their theoretical knowledge in translation. They will have to translate general texts from French into Arabic and from Arabic into French. They will learn to analyze a text in order to choose the appropriate approach of translating it, and they will learn about lexical relations. They will also learn to compare Arabic and French texts from both a syntactic and stylistic point of view. In this course, students will also practice the oral translation of a written text. 2202713 Translation in Economics and Business This course is intended to provide students with the proper strategies needed to overcome problems in translating texts related to economics and development such as development plans, industrial and agricultural development, transfer of technology and proper management of resources. Texts in the field of business administration, finance and banking will also be translated. Translation will be from French into Arabic and vice versa. 2202714 Translation of Political and Diplomatic Texts This course aims at refining students’ skills in translating political and diplomatic texts. Students will be trained in the translation of a variety of texts and terms relating to international relations, bilateral and multilateral agreements, international charters and conventions, political legislation and diplomatic notes. Translation will be from French into Arabic and vice versa. 208
2202715 Translation of Legal Texts This course aims at exploring some of the problems of legal translation. In addition to mastering a substantial number of legal terms and expressions in both French and Arabic, students will be trained to appreciate the intricacies of legal phraseology, subtlety and accuracy. They will be asked to translate a variety of legal texts from Arabic into French and vice versa. 2202716 Translation of Literary Texts This course aims at exploring some of the problems of literary translation such as: denotation and connotation, simile and metaphor, cultural implications of texts, understatement and overstatement and flowery language. Students will be required to translate a variety of literary texts, ancient and modern, in order to acquire the skill of effective idiomatic translation from Arabic into French and from French into Arabic. 2202717 Translation in Mass Media This course is designed to introduce students to the most effective translation strategies in the field of mass communication. Students will be asked to tackle a wide range of massmedia texts including press reports, interviews, political analyses, news bulletins, public speeches, etc. Special emphasis will be placed on the characteristics of the language of media, abbreviations and acronyms, political and diplomatic language, objective and sensational reporting, etc. Students will be trained to translate from Arabic into French and vice versa. 2202718 Translation of Scientific and Technical Texts This course aims at familiarizing students with the terminology and the style of technical and scientific texts (e. g., Medicine, Pharmacy). Special emphasis will be placed on the specific use of words and the Greek etymology of scientific terminology in French. Students will be trained to translate such texts from Arabic into French and vice versa. 2202719 Initiation to Consecutive Interpretation This course focuses on the necessary skills for consecutive translation such as listening comprehension, taking notes and the capacity to work quickly and efficiently. Students will learn to give the semantic and pragmatic equivalent in spoken Arabic of an oral text in French and vice versa. 2202720 Initiation to Simultaneous Interpretation The course will focus on the phases of the Simultaneous Translation (ST) process: listening; information processing in terms of memory and attention; comprehending, transcoding and generating output texts; psycholinguistic aspects of ST. Students’ ability will be developed to cope with tension, pressure and noise, to make inferences, and to
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monitor and correct outputs. Training in both Arabic and French will be done in the ST Lab. 2202731 Theories of Translation This course aims at introducing students to the contemporary theories of translation in general and to the interpretive theory of ESIT in particular. Through an analytical and critical presentation, the course introduces students to various theoretical approaches in Translation Studies, highlights the similarities and differences between these approaches, and sheds some light on the major concepts and problems in translation theory, such as the role of the translator, the source and target audiences or text receivers, the translated text, controversial translation concepts and ways of dealing with translation problems. 2202732 Methodology of Research in the Field of Translation This course aims to initiate students to scientific research and to different methods used in research in the field of translation. It introduces the principal concepts associated to scientific research: process of scientific research, strategies, qualitative and quantitative methods …. etc. Students will be required to conduct research projects in the field of translation and discuss it in class. 2202733 Lexicology and Lexicography The two disciplines aim to provide students with a framework for the study of French lexica in a lexicological perspective as much as in a lexicographical dimension. Lexicology studies vocabulary, in the broad sense of the term, in texts in general, while lexicography follows the description of words in dictionaries. The goal of the course is to grant students the skills in the two constituting domains designating the linguistic study of the lexicon. Particular attention will be accorded to lexical semantics, to morphology and to the diversity of dictionaries from the viewpoint of their objectives and contents. 2202734 Computer Assisted Translation This is a hands-on introduction to IT knowledge and resources that enable a translator to operate successfully in the industry. The concepts it covers are: machine translation, translation memory, terminology management, database repository, It will outline the major translation processes (e.g., source text assessment and preparation, glossarization, research, target text drafting, editing, proofreading, and formatting). It will review some computer-assisted translation tools available on the market .
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Appendix 6 أسس استحداث تخصصات في برامج الدراسات العليا /الماجستير أوال :تقدم الجامعة طلب ترخيص التخصص بحد أقصى في نهاية شهر ( )4من كل عام وذلك بتنسيب من مجلس أمناء الجامعة. ثانيا :تحول الطلبات إلى هيئة اعتماد مؤسسات التعليم العالي لبيان الرأي في أهلية أعضاء هيئة التدريس بعد دراستها من قبل خبراء في نفس التخصص. ثالثا :ترفق الجامعة في الطلب البيانات التالية: .1مبررات االستحداث وأهدافه وفق دراسة حاجات سوق العمل. .2توفير ( )4أعضاء هيئة تدريس منهم اثنان (( )2برتبة أستاذ )1( ،برتبة أستاذ مشارك )1( ،برتبة أستاذ مساعد) ،على أن ترفق السيّر الذاتية ،الرتبة األكاديمية والجهة المانحة للرتبة مع تعبئة النموذج المخصص لذلك. .3خطة إيفاد أوائل الطلبة مع جدول يبين أسماء الطلبة وتخصصاتهم والجامعات الموفد إليها. .4الخطة الدراسية المفصلة للتخصص. .5تقرير عن البحث العلمي الذي أنجز في القسم األكاديمي المنوي توطين البرنامج فيه في مجال البرنامج المطروح. .6عقد اتفاقيات تعاون وتشارك مع جامعات عالمية مرموقة لرفد البرنامج المنوي استحداثه بكفاءات وخبرات دولية متميزة. .7توفير البنية التحتية الالزمة من تجهيزات ومختبرات ،وكتب ،ومراجع ودوريات. .8يكون برنامج الدراسات العليا في الجامعات األردنية امتداداً لبرنامج بكالوريوس قائم في نفس التخصص وتكون الدراسة باالنتظام . .9ينظر في إمكانية فتح برامج دكتوراه في تخصصات محددة بعد مضي ( )5سنوات على استحداث برنامج الماجستير وبعد إجراء تقييم لمستوى البرنامج ونجاحه. رابعا :تقوم اللجنة األكاديمية لمجلس التعليم ال عالي بدراسة تقارير هيئة االعتماد إلصدار التوصيات المناسبة بخصوصه. خامسا :يصدر مجلس التعليم العالي قرار الترخيص في ضوء استكمال الجامعة للمتطلبات المذكورة أعاله وبموعد أقصاه نهاية شهر ( )6من كل عام. سادسا :يتم قبول الطلبة في البرنامج بعد اعتماده اعتماداً خاصا ً من هيئة اعتماد مؤسسات التعليم العالي. 211
Appendix 7 Jordan University Master in Translation Course Description M.A. IN TRANSLATION COURSE DESCRIPTION
2201724 English Language Variation 3 Credit Hours This course is meant to expose students to the different varieties of English and to acquaint them with the outstanding characteristics of such varieties. Students are required to study authentic spoken and written material representing such varieties: i.e. formal vs. informal; standard vs substandard; spoken vs. written; commoncore language vs. specialized use; etc. 2201760 Research Methods in Translation 3 Credit Hours The course looks at current research methods in translation. It's main objective is to offer guidance and training to the students in the preparation of appropriate research proposals, especially for am MA thesis. Topics include the layout of a research report, hypothesis statement, sampling, data gathering and analysis. Students are also expected to produce a short research paper applying the methods and skills they have learnt.
2201726 Contrastive Textology 3 Credit Hours This course aims at acquainting the students with the emergence of contrastive textology and discourse analysis. It includes: Components of contrastive textology, text types, standards of textuality (cohesion, coherence, informatively, intentionality...), paragraph structure, text pragmatics, foregrounding devices, and implications to the teaching of translation from English into Arabic and vice versa.
2201736 Theories of Translation 3 Credit Hours A detailed study of the various approaches to translation coupled with a fairly adequate amount of translation practice. The course will include: the process of translation, the linguistics of translation, equivalences, communicative and semantic translation, techniques of translation, transliteration, and language varieties in translation.
2201737 Lexicology and Dictionaries 3 Credit Hours This course aims at familiarizing the students with the developing field of lexicology. It covers topics such as lexical sets, lexical selection, lexical relations and componential features of lexical items. The course offers systematic training in the use of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries. The problems of translating lexical relations and collocations will also be investigated in this course. Training will be in both Arabic and English. 212
2201738 Mass Media Translation 3 Credit Hours The course is designed to introduce students to the most effective translation strategies in the filed of mass communication. Students will be asked to tackle a wide range of mass-media texts including press reports, interviews, political analyses, news bulletins, public speeches, etc. Special emphasis will be placed on the characteristics of the language of media, abbreviations and acronyms, political and diplomatic language, objective and sensational reporting and the use of high or low semantic content words. Students will be trained to translate from Arabic into English and vice versa. 2201739 Simultaneous Translation 3 Credit Hours The course will focus on the phases of the S.T. process: listening; information processing in terms of memory and attention; comprehending, transcoding and generating output texts; psycholinguistic aspects of ST. Students’ ability will be developed to cope with tension, pressure and noise, to make inferences, and to monitor and correct outputs. Training in both Arabic and English will be done in the S.T. Lab. 2201741 Literary Translation 3 Credit Hours This course aims at exploring some of the problems of literary translation such as: denotation and connotation, simile and metaphor, cultural implications of texts, understatement and overstatement; verbiage and flowery language. Students will be required to translate a variety of literary texts, ancient and modern, in order that they may acquire the skill of effective, idiomatic translation from Arabic into English and from English into Arabic.. 2201742 Political and Diplomatic Translation 3 Credit Hours The course aims at refining translation skills from Arabic into English and vice versa in the domain of politics and diplomacy. Students will be trained, at the theoretical and practical levels, in the translation of a variety of texts and terms relating to politics, international relations, bilateral and multilateral agreements, international charters and conventions, political legislation and diplomatic notes.
2201743 Translation in the Field of Economics and Development 3Credit Hours This course is intended to provide students with the proper strategies needed to overcome problems in translating texts related to economics and development. Texts include: government publications (development plans, reports, studies, projections, bulletins), contracts, agreements and relevant mass-media material. Certain publications by local, Arab and international agencies will also be dealt with, particularly those focusing on third world economic problems, population, urban planning, industrial and agricultural development, transfer of technology, proper management of resources. Translation will be from Arabic into English and vice versa.
2201744
Legal Translation
3 Credit Hours 213
This course aims at exploring some of the problems of legal translation. In addition to mastering a substantial number of legal terms and expressions in both English and Arabic, students will be trained to appreciate the intricacies of legal phraseology, subtlety and accuracy. They will be asked to translate a variety of legal texts from Arabic into English and vice versa.
2201745 Business Translation 3 Credit Hours This course is designed to develop translation skills in the fields of business management, finance and banking. Students will be trained in the translation of reports, correspondence, contracts, financial statements, tenders, planning, from English into Arabic and vice versa. 2201746 Consecutive Translation 3 Credit Hours This course aims at training translation learners in on-site translation by requiring them to interpret (translate) a spoken text after hearing it in appropriate language chunks. The students will also be trained to deal with the basic problems and psychological constraints associated with this type of translation. Training will be from Arabic into English and vice versa.
2201747 Translation in the Field of Science and Technology 3Credit Hours This course aims at giving the students basic competence in using idioms and terminology when dealing with texts in the areas of science and technology. Students will be familiarized with the principles of the identification and the formation of neologisms and scientific/technological terminology. Special emphasis will be placed on paying due regard for longer units of meaning and the cohesion of the conceptual structures in the texts selected for practical training such as computer science, information technology or other branches of scientific / technological knowledge.
2201748 Machine Translation 3 Credit Hours This course introduces students to the history, the nature, the problems and the applications of machine translation. Special emphasis is laid on the contrastive, structural analysis of source and target language and how to resolve such problems (phonological, syntactic, lexical, etc.). In addition, students will be familiarized with the notion of context and the rhetorical dimension of texts.
2201749 Translation Criticism 3 Credit Hours This course deals with the extent to which translation theory is applied in published translated texts. Students will be trained in analyzing/ assessing critically various aspects of translation observed in SL and TL texts such as synonyms, antonyms, lexical universals, conceptual terminology, semantic fields, phatic and evaluative language, lexical/syntactic accuracy… etc. Students will also be trained to propose
214
appropriate translation methods in relation to source text writer’s intention and translator’s interpretation of the text.
2201705 English Syntax 3 Credit Hours A detailed study of the syntax of English within certain linguistic frameworks, in particular the transformational and functional frameworks. Major syntactic processes and categories will be emphasized, viz., complementation, nominalization, predication, subordination, conjoining, raising, negation, modality, tense, aspect, substitution, ellipsis, etc.
215
Appendix 8 Yarmouk University Master in Translation Course Description MA Program in Translation Course Description E 611 A Research Methodology (3 credit hours) The course intends to make graduate students knowledgeable and effective in the use of any research or library, a resource which should be of use to them through their scholarly career. Attention is given to research translation methodology and critical problems with an eye to improving the translation abilities in the techniques of research. Attention is also given to such other areas of professional expertise as descriptive and analytical bibliography; note-taking; the editing and rewriting of manuscripts; documenting a research paper, literature reviewing; and the evolving uses of the library in graduate study. E 623: Semantics and Pragmatics (3 credit hours) This course takes E 417 as the point of departure and investigates other areas of meaning such as componential analysis, semantic field, semantic relations, etc. It also introduces other notions such as deixis, conversational implicature, presupposition, speech acts and conversational structure. E 624 Contrastive Linguistics (3 credit hours) After an introduction to the basic ideas of contrastive analysis, the course concentrates on a comparison of English and Arabic in its different varieties. All levels of analysis, phonetic, phonological, lexical’-syntactic, and semantic are considered. The emphasis being on those areas where there are significant differences between the two languages ‘ Attention will also be given to the limits of contrastive analysis in explaining language learning difficulties. E 626 Discourse Analysis (3 credit hours) The course introduces the basic notions of discourse processing, such as textuality, production and reception, cohesion, coherence, intention, acceptance, situationality, rhetorical stance, register, and genre/text type. These notions are deployed to refine the awareness of translation trainees for the overall aspects of texts. The course combines theory with practice via intensive class work in analyzing the translating a range of authentic texts, political, social, economic, and religious. It also engages participants in simultaneous interpreting workshops in the laboratory, both from English into Arabic and from Arabic into English. E 669 Theories of Translation (3 credit hours) This course examines the aims, doctrines, principles, and methods of translation and interpretation. Attention is also devoted to the social functions and norms of translations, and to the implications of Psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic research. 216
E 670 Technical Translation (3 credit hours) This course features the translation from English into Arabic of a variety of special-purpose texts for an audience of specialists. Student translators are to become conversant with the formal, functional, conceptual, and stylistic features of discourse genres and technical texts in general or in certain fields. E 671 Translation of general texts from English into Arabic (3 credit hours) This course involves written translation of a variety of texts for general audiences from English into Arabic. Special emphasis is to be placed on idioms, collocations, and formulaic expressions. The course also emphasizes the more global discourse-level choices made by a translator. E 672 Translation of general texts from Arabic into English (3 credit hours) The course involves written translation from Arabic into English of a variety of general texts in the areas of literature, civilization and thought, economics, economics, politics, commerce, agriculture, medicine, law, etc. It aims at enabling the students to advanced idiomatic translations of various Arabic texts. E 675 Literary Translation (3 credit hours) This course aims at introducing the student to the theory and practice of literary translation. Issues such as the need for translation, the truly qualified translator, and basic aspects of a good translation of a literary work will be tackled. The translatability of literary types will be addressed on both theoretical and practical levels. Special cultural, linguistic and technical problems which often face the translator of literature will be discussed, and solutions to such problems ought to be suggested. E 676 Oral Interpreting (3 credit hours) This course offers general training in interpreting. It engages participants in simultaneous interpreting workshops in the laboratory between English and Arabic. The material includes social, political, economic, religions texts and others. E 681 Terminology and Arabicization (3 credit hours) An advanced course in the study of terminology and lexicography. It is an introduction to and a discussion of the nature of concepts and lexicography, their significance to translators, their characteristics and descriptions. This is also a study on the assignment of a concept to a term and the term to a concept, the nature and the structure of terms and the comparison of the concept in the source and target languages. The role of the dictionaries will be highlighted. Further, methods of creating new terms in Arabic (i.e. al-istinbat, al-ishtiqaq, al-naht and al-ta'rib) will be discussed. E 684 A Advanced Writing in Arabic (3 credit hours) ( This course aims at exposing the students to different styles of Arabic writing, grammar and practicing writing. Focus will be on text as a communicative, coherent unit.
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E 686: Legal Translation (3 credit hours) This course is intended to focus on selected Arabic and English texts covering a wide variety of legal documents such as texts of Islamic court documents, civil judicial documents, civil status documents, contracts, international organizations documents, among others. Further, the course covers theoretical topics on legal translation and legal terminology that interest the legal translator. E 687 Media Translation (3 credit hours) ( Practical translation of films news reports, editorials, radio and television materials, and/or translation of plays to be acted in different languages.
E 692 A
Readings in Arabic linguistics
(3 credit hours)
This course is intended to familiarize students with the linguistic studies (early as well as contemporary) done on Arabic). Students are required to read, analyze and evaluate various works on Arabic linguistics in light of the different theories and approaches in modern linguistics, and the contribution of Arab grammarians. Course requirements: Examination + a major paper. E 693 A Special Topic in Translation (3 credit hours) This course is meant to focus on a selected topic or area pertinent to translation. E 695 Research in Translation (3 credit hours) This course aims at training MA translation students on writing research projects which highlight translation problems at both theoretical and practical levels. The students would be asked to translate a published work or part of it from English into Arabic or vice versa. The project tackles main translation problems the student encounters while translating the said work.
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Appendix 9 Petra University Master in Translation Course Description
403701 Written Translation into Arabic This course covers the translation of authentic texts from English into Arabic . The texts are to be chosen from a variety of disciplines such as economics, administration, law, politics, journalism etc. The texts are supposed to reflect a variety of stylistic features, and various degrees of difficulty. Special attention will be given to such variables as the nature of texts, register, and the purpose behind the translation. 49 702 Written Translation into English. This course aims at training students to translate Arabic texts into English. The texts will cover a variety of disciplines, specifying areas of convergence and divergence between both languages whether lexical, structural, stylistic, or cultural. Different aspects of both languages will be highlighted while translating. 403703 Contrastive Linguistics This course is concerned with comparing and contrasting linguistic aspects, including sounds and grammatical structures in English and Arabic. from various linguistic perspectives in both linguistic systems. The course aims at providing the students with a general background as to the main areas of difference in both languages, upon which the translating process is carried out. It is hoped that such a linguistic background would prove to be useful to the student and learner of translation. 403704 Simultaneous Translation This course is concerned with training students how to translate simultaneously after some preparation in consecutive translation . Special attention will be given to the main linguistic features of the spoken medium that have to be taken into consideration when carrying out simultaneous interpretation. Students will be required to translate from various authentic texts and tapes (science, law, economics, politics, etc) from English into Arabic and from Arabic into English.
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403705 Theories of Translation
This course covers a variety of theoretical issues in relation to translation, including a wide perspective or insight into translation studies both past and present. The theoretical topics will be supported by practical implications and applications from various translation domains. The topics include: the history of translation ; the notion of equivalence at Yarious levels and from various perspectives (lexical equivalence , grammatical equivalence semantic equivalence, pragmatic equivalence , stylistic equivalence , textual equivalence, politeness equivalence, connotative equivalence); translation typology (simultaneous translation, literary translation, legal translation, religious translation, business translation; and scientific and technica l translation, sourceoriented and target-oriented types etc); monitoring & managing in translation ; translation & relevance; translation & ideology; translation and context; translation strategies; translation shifts; the relation between translation and gender studies; translation & deconstruction ; translation & postcolonial studies; translation & text linguistics (thematization, cohesion, coherence, intentionality and intertextuality); functional theories of translation; system theories of translation; translat ion ethics .
403706 Analysis and Criticism of Translated texts This course is concerned with the analysis and evaluation of translated texts at various lexical , structural, textual and stylistic levels including certain devices such as cohesion, coherence, information organization, ambiguity, and inter-textuality , as well as such issues as similarities and differences at the lexical, structural, cultural, and stylistic levels, in order to grasp the semantic and pragmatic purport of a text before embarking on translating it. Such a multi-level analysis on the part of students would enable them not only to understand the Source Language (SL) message in a better way but also to express it successfully in the Target Language (TL) wording and style, and opt for better translations. This v..rill enable students to specify flaws in previous translations of certain texts. 403707 Methods of Research in Translation This course is intended to enhance students' abilities in dealing with certain translation capabilities and translation projects. Students may be encouraged to promote their experience and insights in a certain domain of translation that is of most interest to them. Such an Endeavour will be carried out under the supervision of the tutor in charge of the course. 403711 Scientific and Technical Translation This course aims at further improving the student's skills in written translation in the domain of science and technology. Special attention will be given to the discoursal features of this register and its relevant genres as to their specialized terminology, simple structures and style, information-based meaning, etc. Authentic texts will be chosen from various relevant scientific and technical disciplines, to be translated mainly from English 220
into Arabic, and occasionally from Arabic into English. Special attention will be given to the problem of translating or finding equivalents for new scientific and technical terminology. 403712 Literary Translation his course tackles the translation of authentic literary texts both from English into Arabic, and from Arabic into English . The texts will cover the main literary genres (poetry, prose, drama, as well as literary criticism) with special focus on the distinctive stylistic and textual features of each genre, and the problems involved in translating them. 40 713 Economic and Business Translation This course is concerned with training students how to translate business and economic texts. It focuses on the special distinctive features of this register and how to translate such texts in relation to register specific features and text types. Students will also be required to improve their knowledge of the specialized terminology of these disciplines. 403714 Conference Translation This course focuses on the basic skills required for conference translation including a very good command of specialized terminolog y in a number of domains, speedy mental processing, active memory , concentration on the input, and suitable techniques of formulating the output. Students will be expected to translate simultaneously from English into Arabic, and from Arabic into English, in various domains and disciplines. 403715 Lexicology and lexicography This course tackles the importance of lexicology and lexicography for translation covering differences in the structure of the vocabularies of both languages (Arabic and English) . The course also offers some details about lexicography, the history of dictionaries and their development. Such knowledge is believed to be essential for students of translation. 4 3716 Semantics and pragmatics This course is intended to provide the students with a wide knowledge as to varieties of meaning (literal, literary, stylistic, figurative, ironical, connotative, denotative, social, personal, cultural, lexical, structural, semantic, contextual, pragmatic etc...) It will also tackle various pragmatic issues in relation to the meaning and analysis of texts to be translated. Such semantic and pragmatic knowledge is believed to enable students to be more capable and efficient in understanding texts and performing translation tasks. 403719 Machine Translation The aim of this course is to acquaint students with this type of translation which is performed by computers, and highlight the recent developments in the use of machine translation , and the programmes used for carrying out such translations. Students will be trained to make use of machine translation in their work . 403720 Legal and Court Translation The aim of this course is to acquaint students with legal translation, paying special attention to the specialized vocabulary as well as linguistic and stylistic features of this 221
register. The course is also concerned with the main skills needed for court translation , special jargon , and the main types of translation that are used in courts (consecutive translation, simultaneous translation, at-sight translation, besides written translation). 03721 Political and Journalistic Translation This course aims at acquainting students with the main features of political language, its specialized terminology , and the translation strategie s used in translating them. The journal istic stylistic and formal features are also emphasized. 403798 Comprehensive Examination 403799 Thesis
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Works Cited
I.
Teaching Translation
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II.
Translation Curriculum Evaluation
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III.
Educational Science and Curriculum Evaluation Models
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Krippendorff, Klaus. Content Analysis: An Introduction to its Methodology. SAGE Publications, Incorporated, 2012. print.
Levine, M. Communication strategies in evaluation. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1982.print.
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IV.
General References
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Bataeineh, Marzoq F. "Historical Investigation On The Establishment And Development Of Higher Education In Jordan". Diss. Northern Illinois University, 2008.Print.
De Waard, Jan, and A. Eugene. "Nida. 1986." From One Language to Another: Functional Equivalence in Bible Translating. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Hatim, Basil. Communication Across Cultures: Translation Theory and Contrastive Text Linguistics. University of Exeter Press Exeter, 1997. Print.
Hinchcliffe, Peter and Beverley Milton Edwards. Jordan : A Hashemite Legacy. New York,: Routldge, 2001.print. Holmes, James S. Translated Ü: Papers on Literary Translation and Translation Studies. No. 7. Rodopi, 1988.
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Volek, Bronislava. Emotive Signs in Language and Semantic Functioning of Derived Nouns in Russian. 24 Vol. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1987. Web.
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Oh father! Father! I am Yusif My brothers neither love me, nor want me in their midst. Oh father, they assault me, they stone me and with insults they shower me. My brothers wish me dead, so they give their false eulogies. They shut your door before me, and from your field I was expelled. grapevines,
They poisoned
my
oh father! When the passing breeze, jested with my hair, they all became envious, outraged at you and me. What have I done to them, father, and what loss have I caused?
. َبي ٌ يا أ َنا يوسف أ َ ، إخوتي ال يحبونني،يا أبي . َبي ال يريدونني بينهم يا أ مونني دون ُيعت َ ُوير َّعلي بالحصى والكالم ِ َ لكي أموت َن أ ِيدونني ير ُوني يمدح َ دوا باب بيتك دوني ُوهم أوص وهم طردوني من الحقل ِ َبي ُوا عنبي يا أ َّم هم سم َ ُوا ُلعبي يا أبي َّم وهم حط ِي ُ والعب شعر َّسيم َّ الن حين مر ُوا عليَّ وثاروا غاروا وثار ،عليك َ ُ لهم يا أبي؟ فماذا صنعت ،َّْ على كتفي َّت الفراشات حط ،ُ ومالت عليَّ السَّنابل َّت ُ حط ْر َّي والط َّْ على راحتي َْ ،َبي َنا يا أ ُ أ لت فماذا فع ? َنا ولماذا أ
،ًا يوسُف َ سم َنت أ ُ َّيتني َ ُونيَ في ُو أوقع هم ُو ; ِّئب واتهموا الذ َّ َ .. ُ من إخوتي ُ أرحم ِّئب والذ What then did I do wrong, father and why َ ُ على أحد ْت َي أبتي! هل جن me? ُْ :ِّي ُ إن لت عندما ق You're the one who named me Yusif! َ ،ًا كوكب عشر د َيت رأ َأح ُ َ هم لي رأيت،َ والشَّمس والقمر ُُ They pushed me down the well and then ساجدين؟ they blamed the wolf. Butterflies rest on my shoulder, wheat bows toward me and birds hover above my ،ِّ ُب الج hands.
Oh, father! The wolf is more merciful than my brothers. Did I wrong anyone when I told about my dream? Of eleven planets, I dreamt, and of the sun and the moon all kneeling before me
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