What Does The Translation Test Measure?

The present study adopts simultaneous introspection and immediate retrospection to investigate test takers’ test-taking processes in CET-4 passage translation test. The purpose is to fully understuand what the CET-4 translation test actually measures by addressing the following three research questions: 1) What strategies do test takers employ in completing the CET-4 translation test? 2) What are the linguistic knowledge tested by the CET-4 translation test? 3) Are there any differences between high language proficiency group and low language proficiency group in terms of strategy use and linguistic knowledge? In order to answer the questions above, six college students who are in the first year are chosen as subjects and they are divided into high and low language proficiency group according to their translation ability and overall language proficiency. The researcher concludes the strategy use and linguistic knowledge through coding and analyzing the data related to test-taking process.The findings from verbal protocols are as follows: The strategy use includes vocabulary strategies, translation strategies, test management strategies and test wiseness strategies. First, vocabulary strategies includes explanation, finding equivalent words as substitute, literal translation, combination of word(s) and leaving it empty. When facing the unfamiliar words, the high group will try the best to find other equivalent words mpre frequently whlile the low group gives up in most cases. Second, there are fourteen types of translation strategies in total, mainly including cognitive strategies, meta-cognitive strategies and affective strategies. As a whole, the translation strategies used by the high group outnumber those used by the low group. In terms of cognitive strategies, the high group is more likely to use identifying problems, editing, revisiting, decision-making and finalizing. In terms of meta-cognitive strategies, the high group uses more questioning, planning, and monitoring. The low group does not use monitoring at all. In terms of affective strategies, the high group uses more hesitation than the low group. Third, in terms of the test management strategies, both groups do the translation test word by word and sentene by sentence and they both intergrate the English words into one sentence without changing the word order. However, the high group will avoid repeating the same words or phrases and pay more attention to the verb voice. Besides, the high group is more likely to have an overview of the translation tast before translating and check the translated text out after translationg.The linguistic knowledge includes vocabulary, grammar, spelling and semantics. For vocabulary, the test takers mention the vocabulary issue most frequently; they all try their best to translate the Chinese into English even if they cannot use the most appropriate word sometimes. For grammar, this translation test mainly measures the plural form, passive voice, conjunction and article. For spelling, the test takers will spell the words based on its pronounciation; test takers would like to spell it if they are not sure about the word they have written. For semantics, test takers will align the word’s meaning to the sentential context. Both groups address the vocabulary issue very frequently, but the high group pays more attention to grammar and semantics while the low group focuses more on spelling.