A Roadmap of Taiwan’s T&I Examinations for the MA-level Program: Examiners’ and Examinees’ Reception

[[abstract]]中文摘要 近年來隨著全球化趨勢的推波助瀾，翻譯產業及人才需求大增，國內外學校也紛紛設立翻譯系所培養相關人才。為了招募具有翻譯實力的學生，各校翻譯所入學考試扮演著十分重要的角色。然而檢視目前各類研究及論文，尚未有針對入學考試所做的深入分析及探討，有鑑於此，本研究以2009年至2013年間，台灣五所翻譯研究所或碩士班之入學考試題目為分析材料，透過網路調查和發放問卷，將五校五年來之考題，以橫向及縱向方式做整體及個別的比較，並加上出題教師與考生對現行入學考之問卷結果，回答以下三個研究問題：1) 各校入學考試設計之差異？ 2) 由2009年至2013年，各校入學考試的演變？ 3)出題老師與考生對於入學考試設計接受度之不同？ 本研究援用口筆譯領域的個人特質理論(Liu 1997; Feng 2001)，翻譯考試範疇理論(Douglas 2000) 加上翻譯評量相關學說(Pym 1992; Williams 2004)為研究理論框架，進一步闡釋考題內容、譯者特質以及翻譯評量三者之間的密切關係。研究結果顯示，近年來各校入學考題目或平均字數都有逐漸下降的趨勢，從2009年平均4題、882字下降至2013年的3 6題、656字。此現象表示比起翻譯時間管理，出題教師們更重視學生翻譯的品質與技巧，以及他們在語言、知識、認知和個人特質的均衡發展。此外，57% 受試學生認為要真正測試出一個人的翻譯能力，考試項目如翻譯、寫作與重述缺一不可。但對照各校現今所採用的題型，僅有國立高雄第一科技大學考試三者兼具，在此同時，卻有高達九成的出題教師認為目前入學考制度足以充分測試學生翻譯能力，凸顯出題教師與考生對於入學考設計認知上之龐大差異。綜合言之，由於口筆譯考試相關研究的稀少性，故本實證研究無論對出題老師或考生而言，皆具有實質及學術上之參考價值。[[abstract]]Abstract In recent years there has been a great demand for translation and interpreting (T&I) talents and professionals in the push of globalization and T&I institutes and departments mushroom in Taiwan and abroad To recruit students who have the potential for T&I each university tries to have the entrance examination paper designed carefully However not a lot of research has paid attention to the topic of T&I entrance examination so this thesis will make up for the inadequacy by investigating the examination questions of five graduate schools/programs in Taiwan from 2009 to 2013 both synchronically and diachronically A web survey is conducted to identify the differences in the T&I entrance examination design among Taiwan’s five graduate programs and the evolutionary development in the T&I entrance examinations over the past five years Furthermore a questionnaire is administered to understand examiners’ and examinees’ receptions Drawing on the theories of personal traits of translators and interpreters (Liu 1997; Feng 2001) the testing language for specific purposes (Douglas 2000) and translation evaluation (Pym 1992; Williams 2004) as the theoretical framework this research explores the interactive relations among the examination content personal traits of translators/interpreters and translation evaluation The findings show that the total number of questions and word count are on the decline from 2009 to 2013 dropping from 4 questions and 882 words in 2009 to 3 6 and 656 in 2013 The results indicate that examiners emphasize more the translation quality and skills and less the time management In addition 57% of respondents think that to truly measure the examinee’s translation competence the skills of translation writing and paraphrasing are three indispensable test items However only NKFUST’s examination includes the three items On the other hand over 90% of examiners agree that current examination system is adequate to measure students’ translation skills signifying that there is a huge difference between the receptions of examinees and examiners In short due to the scarcity of the research on T&I entrance examination this empirical study takes on both pragmatic and academic significance and gives valuable guidance to examiners and examinee