Effect of Content Schema, Vocabulary Knowledge, and Reading Comprehension on Translation Performance

Indonesian EFL Journal: Journal of ELT, Linguistics, and Literature Available online at:http://ejournal.kopertais4.or.id/mataraman/index.php/efi ||Volume||3||Issue||1||Pages|| 22-39 ||2017|| |P-ISSN: 2460-0938; E-ISSN: 2460-2604| EFFECT OF CONTENT SCHEMA, VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE, AND READING COMPREHENSION ON TRANSLATION PERFORMANCE Reza Kafipour; Naghmeh Jahansooz ; Department of English, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; Department of Translation Studies, Marvdasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, Iran Sadra Road, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; Marvdasht, Provinsi Fars, Iran Article History: Received: October 15, 2016 Revised: November 17, 2016 Accepted: May 17, 2017 Corresponding Author: Abstract: Schemata refer to all kinds of knowledge which are gained throughout the lifetime. Few studies have attempted to integrate schema theory with vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, which are two other crucial factors in translation and learning. Thus, the present research aimed at delineating the potential effect of these three factors on translation performance of Iranian undergraduate students majoring in translator training. To this end, 172 Iranian undergraduate students majoring in translator training were selected based on two-step cluster sampling. To collect data, the participants answered a set of 6 open-ended questions to measure the students‟ content schema along with a vocabulary size test, reading comprehension test, and translation task. To analyze data, Pearson correlation coefficient as well as stepwise multiple regressions were conducted through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17. Data analysis indicated that the independent variables significantly correlated with translation performance. In addition, multiple regressions analysis specified reading comprehension as the main contributing variable and content schema as the second in students‟ translation performance. It also showed that vocabulary knowledge could not be a predicting factor in translation performance of the learners; the reason may be related to the crucial role of the dictionary in the translation task. The results highlighted the role of content schema in translation performance of the learners. Keywords – Content schema, Schema theory, Translation performance, Vocabulary knowledge Reza Kafipour Indonesian EFL Journal: Journal of ELT, Linguistics, and Literature,Volume 3, Issue 1, July 2017 P a g e | 23 INTRODUCTION Translation can be viewed as a process that incorporates both “psychology and cognitive sciences” (Munday, 2001, p. 183). This viewpoint has resulted in “mental processes”, not the texts, receiving more attention in “cognitive-linguistic analysis” (Hatim&Munday, 2004, p. 57). In addition, translator should understand the whole text in context (2016:91). In conjunction with this vision, many studies have been done by focusing on cognitive and “psycholinguistic approaches” while taking “translation didactics and pedagogy” into account (Kostopoulou, 2007).Translation process would encompass “inferencing”, a “cognitive activity” which is fundamental in all kinds of communication including “reading or translation” (Hatim&Munday, 2004, p. 57). In relation to text processing and reading comprehension, some “global patterns” can be specified like scripts, frames, plans, and schemata (Beaugrande& Dressler, 1981, p. 90). On the other hand, the translator‟s task is to parallel “the world as presented to us by the text („the text world‟) with the world as we know it (the real world)” (Bell, 1993, p. 166). Moreover, this would require the translator‟s inferencing from the text, interpreting it, and making predictions all of which highlight the role of the translator‟s schemata, especially content schema. In general, schema is defined “as the organized background knowledge” that influences interpreting a text (Brown & Yule, 1983, p. 248). Schemata are considered as an individual‟s “information structure” that can be changed by receiving new data (Roy, 2005). Different scholars have categorized schema in various ways. The related category to the current study is content schema, which is defined as a representation of one‟s world knowledge or possessing background knowledge about a text‟s content area (Carrell &Eisterhold, 1983) although part of formal schema, vocabulary knowledge, is also taken into account in this study. It has been observed that Iranian students, even after passing 12 credit-bearing courses in reading comprehension, are not able to perform well in translation. Inappropriate translation may be due to lack of enough background knowledge or content schema (Kim, 2006). Small vocabulary pool could be another reason, which should be taken into serious consideration (Yazdi&Kafipour, 2014). Although many elements including grammar can contribute to a good communication (Khojasteh&Reinders, 2013) the role of vocabulary cannot be over emphasized. However, it should be mentioned that vocabulary as an important part of language learning has been derelict so far in Iranian context; not enough attention has been paid to vocabulary as the most important part of communication and vocabulary related variables such as vocabulary level, vocabulary size Reza Kafipour Indonesian EFL Journal: Journal of ELT, Linguistics, and Literature,Volume 3, Issue 1, July 2017 P a g e | 24 and vocabulary learning strategies (GaniHamzah, Kafipour, & Abdullah 2009). Target language vocabulary plays the most significant role in reading comprehension; even at the time of guessing the meaning of an unfamiliar word, a learner with small vocabulary size would guess based on the “form of the word,” and not the context that may lead to erroneous results (Laufer, 1996). Moreover, the crucial role of form of the word is clearly highlighted since inaccurate guessing would lead to a completely different translation. To the best of researchers, few studies tried to investigate all these variables in one piece of research. All of the above has motivated the authors to conduct the present study. The present study attempts to explore how content schemata can affect students‟ performance in translation. In addition, what is of vital importance in the process of translation would be how students make inferences from source text (ST) to convert it into target text (TT); and this will include the role of reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge (part of formal schema) in translation as well. Translation and comprehension, possibly, have been tied since Catford‟s proposition of theory of meaning (Bialystok, 1991, p. 145). This study, therefore, aims at identifying the correlation and variance contribution between content schema, reading comprehension, and vocabulary knowledge as independent variables and students‟ performance in translation as the dependent variable. Based on the above, the following questions can be raised for the f (...truncated)