Investigating the Necessity of Teaching Translation Theories to BA Students of Translation Studies from Teachers’ Point of View

This case study aimed to investigate the necessity of teaching translation theories to BA students of translation studies from the Iranian EFL teachers’ perspective. BA Translation courses at Iranian Universities are generally practice –based. They lack meaningful teaching of translation theories and concepts. The main aim of this study was to show the possible outcomes of incorporating theories of translation in BA translation classrooms. To this end, the researcher selected ۶۲ translation trainers from seven universities of Iran based on their major and the study’s purpose. This study followed a quantitative-qualitative design. The participants filled out an online questionnaire which was sent to them by email. The researcher designed the questionnaire based on literature review. Two professional instructors in this field validated the questionnaire before being sent to the participants. It contained two main parts. One part included ten items on the implications of translation theories, and one part for any general comments the professionals may want to add to each item. The answers to the items of part one ranged from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Strongly agree was graded five. Strongly disagree was graded one. To analyze the data, the SPSS program was applied. Descriptive statistics including frequency, percent, mean and standard deviation were used. The findings of the study showed the gap in the translation training program in Iranian universities that it does not meet the needs for theoretical knowledge of students. The findings indicated that most translator trainers have a generally positive attitude and are aware of the importance of translation theories. Finally, the researcher presented some suggestions for the improvement of the translation teaching programs in Iranian universities.

Keywords:

translation theories , translation teachers’ attitude , translation theories teaching