The Impact of the MA Translation Studies Program on the Students’ Translation Ability

Abstract

This study sought to evaluate the graduate program of Translation Studies in terms of training expert translators in the field of humanities and social sciences. In so doing, 87 students studying in the first and third semesters from Islamic Azad University at Central Tehran, South Tehran, and Science and Research Center were selected and they participated in the study. Accordingly, the students were first homogenized based on their general English Proficiency and then took a translation ability test consisting of four different texts. The translations were scored according to Hurtodo’s rubric by three raters who enjoyed inter-rater consistency. Based on the statistical analysis of the gathered data, it was concluded that the third-semester students showed higher mean scores on the four types of the translation texts all of which were statistically significant. Thus the null hypothesis of this study stating that the MA Translation Studies program had no significant effect on the students’ translation ability was rejected.