An Experimental Study On Translation Meta-competence From The Perspective Of Meta-cognitive Regulation

Translation competence has long been one of the most important concerns in the study of translation cognitive process.The related researches mainly focus on the connotation of translation competence and translator trai ning,in which synchronic or diachronic empirical-experimental studies are carried out to compare and analyze the performance of translators with different translation experience,so as to enrich the content of translation expertise and the models of trans lator training.Among these researches,the translator 's meta-cognitive activities have received more and more attention,which reveals the close relationship between meta-cognition and translation competence as well as the role of meta-cognition in the development of translation competence.However,it is still at a preliminary stage to explore translation competence from the perspective of meta-cognition.In terms of the research content,the relationship between the elements of meta-cognition and those of translation competence needs to be further explored;and in terms of the research methods,the factors of experimental design,research tools,data analysis have yet to be further supplemented and improved with the development of interdisciplinary research.This study analyzes the internal elements of meta-cognition,re-examines the essential connotation of translation competence from the perspective of meta-cognitive regulation,and proposes the concept of translation meta-competence based on the meta-cognitive process of translation problem-solving.At the same time,the study carries out an experimental research and triangulates the experimental data to explain the position and function of translation meta-competence in the interpreting cognitive process from the perspective of meta-cognitive regulation.This study is intended to answer the following three questions:1.What is translation meta-competence? How does translation meta-competence make interpreting in translation problem-solving process?2.How does meta-cognitive regulation affect translation meta-competence from the perspective of meta-cognitive regulation process? Specifically,how does meta-cognitive regulation affect translation meta-competence in the three cognitive levels of thinking mode,information-processing mode,and translation cognitive unit?3.How does meta-cognitive regulation affect the position and function of translation meta-competence in the interpreting cognitive process? Specifically,due to the influence of meta-cognitive regulation,what changes have occurred to translation meta-competence in the interpreting cognitive process? And how does this change affect the outcome of translation — the translation quality,other translation sub-competences,and the interpreting cognitive process?This study holds that during the translation problem-solving process translation meta-competence is the essential manifestation of translation competence under the control of meta-cognitive regulation during the dynamic processing of t ranslation problems.Based on the Revised Hierarchical Model and the Interpreting Triangle Model,this study constructs a matrix model of deverbalization.It is believed that the ultimate goal of the translation problem-solving process is to interpret,and translation meta-competence has an important role in promoting interpreting in this process.In order to further explain the important position and function of translation meta-competence in the interpreting cognitive process,this study carries out an experimental study comparing the control group with the experimental group.In the experiment,the experimental group was repeatedly subjected to the stimulation of meta-cognitive regulation.Simultaneously,research methods such as think-aloud,screen recording,questionnaires,and interviews were adopted to collect the meta-cognitive regulation data of the control group and the experimental group.Through the triangulation of research methods and that of research data,the translation cognitive process of the two groups in the same period was compared horizontally,and the translation cognitive process of each group in each period was traced longitudinally.Finally,the trends of the pre-test,mid-test and post-test were compared between the two groups.This study analyzes the experimental data from both the process and the results.Based on the process data,the study analyzes the way meta-cognitive regulation affects translation meta-competence,and explores the internal connection between meta-cognitive regulation and translation meta-competence from the three cognitive levels of thinking mode,information-processing mode and translation cognitive unit,in which levels the changes of meta-cognitive regulation data are more obvious.Based on the result data,this study analyzes the changes of translation meta-competence influenced by meta-cognitive regulation,as well as the influences of translation meta-competence on the result of translation activities —translation quality,other translation sub-competences within the framework of translation competence — instrumental competence and psychological factors,and the interpreting cognitive process.Based on the theoretical discussion of translation meta-competence,and combined with the analysis of process data and result data,this study draws the following conclusions:First of all,in the translation cognitive process,translation meta-competence is the essence of translation competence under the control of meta-cognitive regulation.Translation meta-competence includes orienting sub-competence,analyzing sub-competence and evaluating sub-competence.Under the control of orienting,planning,monitoring,and evaluating of translation meta-cognitive regulation,translation meta-competence helps translators identify problems,analyze problems,and solve problems based on their bilingual competence.Meanwhile,translation meta-competence activates and coordinates other translation sub-competences to solve translation problems,helps to understand the source text and e xpress the target text for well interpreting,and plans the entire translation process.Secondly,the meta-cognitive regulation data of the experimental group mainly changes in the three cognitive levels of thinking mode,information-processing mode and translation cognitive unit.Specifically,the enhanced awareness of meta-cognitive regulation promotes translation thinking mode diversified,promotes the information-processing mode dominated by top-down and parallel processing,and promotes translation cognitive units sentence-oriented purposefully.Finally,influenced by meta-cognitive regulation,during the interpreting cognitive process,translation meta-competence has been improved,which is characterized by active orientation,integration of internal support and external support,and rational assessment on translation quality.The improvement of translation meta-competence exerts different degrees of influence on translation quality,other translation sub-competences,and interpreting cognitive process.First,translation meta-competence has contributed to the overall improvement of translation quality to a certain extent.Thereinto,the impact on translation quality is greatly affected in the aspect of the appropriateness in terms of the translation 's purpose and target audience,the appropriateness in terms of the genre 's conventions,cohesion,coherence,and same clarity.Second,within the framework of translation competence,translation meta-competence mainly affects instrumental sub-competence and the psychological factors including attention,preciseness,and self-confidence.Thirdly,from the perspective of the interpreting cognitive process,in the process of translating English into Chinese,all of the student translators would experience the interpreting process from the representation of vague translation to deverbalization.The matrix model of deverbalization has been well confirmed in this experimental study.In the interpreting process,translation meta-competence influences students' dependence on the representation of vague translation through orienting sub-competence,analyzing sub-competence and evaluating sub-competence,which in turn affects the final interpreting result.In summary,based on the theory of meta-cognitive regulation and the research of translation competence,this study puts forward the concept of translation meta-competence.This study theoretically expounds the connotation of translation meta-competence and its interpreting cognitive process;and carries out an experiment to collect data from multiple perspectives,digging deep into the ways and results of the impact of meta-cognitive regulation on translation meta-competence,as well as the impact of translation meta-competence on translation quality,other translation sub-competences,and interpreting process.This study attempts to understand the concept of translation meta-competence from multiple perspectives based on the upper-level meta-cognition — meta-cognitive regulation that influences translation meta-competence and the underlying cognitive process — interpreting cognitive process that is influenced by translation meta-competence.The results enrich and develop the theoretical and empirical research on translation competence and translation cognitive process.