An Analysis into Metalanguage of English Morphosyntax in English Persian Translation Process: A Mixed Methods Study

This study aimed to investigate the contribution of English Persian translation students metalinguistic knowledge of English to their translation performance. To that end, a sequential mixed method research design (i.e., QUAN → QUAL) was employed. For this purpose, 39 senior students that were majoring in English translation were selected through convenience sampling. In the quantitative phase, a metalinguistic knowledge test (MLKT) and a translation test (TT) were administered to the participants in order to measure their metalanguage of English and English Persian translation performance, respectively. Then, the participants were divided into two groups based on the median (i.e., high metalanguage and low metalanguage). Finally, for the purpose of confirming the quantitative results, the two groups were asked to verbalize their thoughts about the translation work, while translating twenty five English sentences into Persian. The independent samples t test indicated that there was a significant difference between the high and low metalanguage groups in TT performance. However, the results of four regression analyses showed that MLKT could not predict any variance of TT. Finally, the analysis of TAP data manifested the lack of explicit knowledge of English morphosyntax on the part of both high and low metalanguage groups. The findings of this study are discussed and implications are offered for translation trainers and researchers.