The effectiveness of a composite translator training model for Syrian translation masters students

This thesis tests whether a translation training programme, combining the theoreticalprinciples adopted in Hervey and Higgins' Thinking Translation series and in Bolanos'dynamic translation model, helps to improve Arab MA translation students' performance inEnglish-to-Arabic translation. The course materials used were taken from Thinking ArabicTranslation and Supplement to Thinking Arabic Translation. The experimental group wereMA translation students at the Higher Institute of Translation and Interpretation, Universityof Damascus, while MA translation students at the University of Petra (Amman) were used asa control group. Both groups of students were given an initial translation exam. TheUniversity of Damascus students (but not the University of Petra) students were then given a20-hour one-month translation training programme. At the end of this period, both theDamascus students and the University of Petra students were given a final translation exam.All errors made by both groups of students in the initial exam were precisely analysed, usingHervey and Higgins' matrices-level-rank model, as were all errors made by both groups ofstudents in the final exam. The results showed that while University of Petra students had notimproved between the initial exam and the final exam, University of Damascus students hadmade a significant improvement. These results corroborate the view that the theoreticalprinciples developed by Hervey and Higgins, as operationalised for Arabic/Englishtranslation in Thinking Arabic Translation and Supplement to Thinking Arabic Translation,help to improve students' English/Arabic translation performance