The Role of Critical Thinking in the Undergraduate Translation Training Programs

Linking critical thinking to translation training programs has not happened before. But as Rainbolt and Dwyer (2012) mention characteristics of a critical thinker, we find that translators should become good critical thinkers because they need to recognize bias and prejudice in the text, evaluate arguments, know the power of history, recognize their own ignorance, make precise distinctions and not jump to conclusions. This study measured the extent the translation programs train good critical thinkers. Three groups of males and females are participated in this study. The first group included eighty students of translation and architecture who just registered in the program and did not receive the training. The second one included those at the end of the first year and the third one is the students of the second year. The findings are presented and some suggestions are made. This study emphasizes that the environment should be organized in such a way that makes learners actively engaged in classroom learning and, on the other hand, curriculum and classroom teaching should include effective use of critical thinking activities.