The Washback Effects of CATTI on English Majors-from the Respect of Testing

1. Introduction

Nowadays, with the increasing demand fortranslation talents, more and more people choose to take translation examinations, among which China Accreditation for Translators and Interpreters (CATTI) enjoys high popularity and wide recognition. According to the related data, the passing rate of which reaches only around 13％. In order to improve such a situation, this essay is going to analyze washback effects of CATTI on English major students, from the aspect of testing. Effective approaches will then be put forward to improve their translation abilities and passing rate of CATTI in further study.

Taking CATTI III for example, this paper mainly analyses its positive and negative washback effects on English majors in details, so that English majors could find some effective approaches to solve difficulties in translation and improve their translation abilities. In addition, in the analysis of applying and passing rate, questionnaire and interview are required, taking Guilin University of Technology as an example and then analyzing the related data.

2. Brief Introduction and Analysis of CATTI

CATTI is one of China’s translation tests and is divided into three levels. This essay will take the third level as the analysis objective. CATTI enjoys high popularity and wide recognition in the field of translating, so more and more people choose to take this exam, especially English majors. But according to the related data, until the end of the year 2014, there had been over 370,000 applying for CATTI, with 50,000 passing it. Generally speaking, its passing rate of CATTI III is only around 13%. Reasons will be analyzed in the following part, from the applying rate, passing rate and the score levels, taking English majors in Guilin University of Technology for example. At the same time, previous exam paper will be analyzed to examine its validity and difficulty, from the point of testing.

2.1 The Applying Rate and Passing Rate

Using questionnaire is a direct way to collect original figures and data in the empirical study. There are 50 English majors in Guilin University of Technology are involved in the questionnaire and then invited to have an interview. They are English majors of grade 2015, 2016, 2017, and all of them have prepared for CATTI III. The applying rate in Guilin University is about 62%, while passing rate 16%. Some students of grade 2017 have prepared for it, but not having applied for this test. This is because they have experienced the difficulties of this test and regard their preparations not full, so that they plan to apply for CATTI the next year. The rest of these students have at least taken the exam once. The comprehensive part is easy to handle, but the translation part is such a big hurdle for them that makes a low passing rate.

2.2 The Score Levels

Students who have applied for this exam, their scores are almost between 50-69 points. 38.9% are among 50-59 scores, and 61.11% are among 60-69. The majority of these students who didn’t pass the exam meet difficulty in the translation part, and two or three more scores may help them pass it. According to the interview, there are two big problems for students. The first one is the appearance of new words, which takes much time to consult the dictionary, while the testing time is limited within 3 hours. So that some of them may fail to complete the later part. The second one is that some of them cannot translate fluently and natively. One sentence may be revised at least twice.

2.3 The Analysis of CATTI Previous Exam Paper

2.3.1 Validity

From the point of testing, validity refers to the examination of the theory fragment from some aspects. Taking one of the CATTI’s exam paper for example, from the aspect of vocabulary, “to protect the fragile ecosystem from industrial fishing”, most students may translate into“工業捕魚”. But after thinking carefully, there is no other way for fishing, such as agricultural fishing. So students should be aware of incorrect translation by themselves by ruminating over. The right translation is“捕魚業”.

2.3.2 Difficulty

Nord states that translation problems and translation difficulties are two different concepts. The former is “an objective transfer task, which every translator has to solve during a particular translation process”. However, translation difficulties are subjective and influenced by individual translators and different working conditions. Translation problems are divided into four categories: 1) pragmatic translation problems (PTP); 2)convention-related translation problems (CTP); 3) linguistic translation problems (LTP); 4)text-specific translation problems (TTP). According to the related data above, from the low passing rate and the analysis of previous exams, the difficulty of this test is obviously over that of the translation of CET-4 and CET-6. But a great deal of translation practice and full preparation for this test will promise a good result for students.

3. The Introduction to Washback Effects

3.1 The Definition of Washback Effects

It is generally acknowledged that tests have some effects on teaching and learning, which is defined as “washback”.According to Buck: There is a natural tendency for both teachers and students to tailor their classroom activities to the demand of the test, especially when the test is very important to the future of the students, and passing rate is used as a measure of teacher success. This influence of the test on the classroom is, of, course, very important; this washback effect can be either beneficial or harmful.

3.2 The Classification of Washback Effects

In this paper, washback effects are classified in four different methods. There are positive washback effects and negative washback effects from the aspect of its property, strong and weak washback in terms of its strength, overt and convert washback in terms of its existence, intended and unintended washback in terms of the impact of tests. The positive and negative washback effects of CATTI on English majors are mainly discussed in this essay from different respects.

For positive washback, Messick states that “there should be little if any difference between activities involved in learning the language and activities involved in preparing for the tests”. For negative washback, it will exert harmful effects on learning to some extent. Negative washback is opposite to positive washback, and its actual effects are against to expected results. Some scholars reckon that some tests are contrary to the objective of education and study, which will undoubtedly have the negative washback.

4. The Washback Effects of CATTI on English Majors

As mentioned above, washback effects can be classified into four different groups. Because positive and negative washback effects are closer to students’ daily study and able to provide more practical improvements in the process of translating, the paper will then mainly discuss positive washback and negative washback.

4.1 Positive Washback Effects

4.1.1 The Improvement of Students’ Translation Abilities

The good combination of translation skills and translation practice will make a qualified translator. The translation ability is largely dependent on every day’s learning, including vocabulary, grammar and so on, which is a process of accumulating knowledge. The translation ability can’t be improved within one week. According to our survey, 84% students will spend at least three months to prepare for CATTI, which is a good beginning to study the translation.

4.1.2 Better Knowledge of Difficult Points and Important Points

CATTI previous exam papers have been analyzed from the testing aspect to test its validity and difficulty, so that it can provide some values for students to catch its difficult and important points.

4.2 Negative Washback Effects

4.2.1 The Low Passing Rate

Due to the difficulties of CATTI’s translation part, the final scores are not in line with students’ expected results, leading to the low passing rate, not only in regions, but in our whole nation. To some extent, it may frustrate students’ confidence.

4.2.2 The Unbalanced Attention of Skills and Practice

During the process of preparing CATTI, many students lose the balance of skills and practice. Some may pay major attention to read many skill-related books or learn some professional theories, while ignore the importance of putting theory into practice. Students can learn some theories at the beginning to have a common knowledge of translation, and later keep doing some translation every day and make some conclusions. The goal to take this exam should be clear: to improve or test translation abilities instead of only pursuing this certificate.

5. Suggestions to English Majors

5.1 Vocabulary

Due to the analysis of students’ score levels above, new words is a huge hurdle. To form the habit of reciting words, so that it can save much time in the test. In addition, memorizing classic sentences and paragraphs is also an effective approach to expand vocabularies. At the same time, the rare meaning of frequent words shouldn’t be neglected.

5.2 Expanding Knowledge Coverage

The passages in CATTI boast a wide coverage, which requires students to go on an overall preparation for the test. For example, the exam paper of CATTI III in 2019 is about Ebola virus. The previous knowledge about its background can not only establish the confidence, but saves much time when taking the exam. Therefore, it is better to read various books to improve the reading speed and knowledge coverage.

6. Conclusion

With increasing number of people applying for CATTI, the competition is rather fierce. From the analysis above, CATTI is proved to boast high quality. At the same time, it also exerts washback effects on English majors, both positive and negative. Students can benefit a lot in the process of preparing it, especially the improvement of translation ability. But in face of its negative washback effects, students ought to find effective ways to solve them.

參考文獻：

[1]蔡晨藝.初探專業口譯能力評估的有效性[D].上海外國語大學, 2011.

[2]陳曉扣.論語言測試的反撥作用[J].解放軍外國語學院學報,2007 (3).

【作者簡介】杜雅琳，桂林理工大學外國語學院本科學生。