A Study On Computerized Test System Of Chinese-English Translation

In foreign language learning and teaching, translation, together with listening, speaking, reading and writing, is generally considered as an indispensable part of integrated language skills. Therefore, traditionally, in China, teachers of English as a foreign language would undoubtedly take translation from Chinese to English or from English to Chinese as an important part in their teaching as well as the language test. Although translation is seldom used as a test item in the modern international or national language tests, it is still regarded as such an important part of language competence that the book College English Curriculum Requirements has laid down the specific requirements for the students' ability of translation at different levels. In daily teaching and classroom tests, teachers still use translation as a common and convenient way to test students' command of English language, namely, translation from English to Chinese to see the students' understanding of the English, and translation from Chinese to English to see the students' proficiency in using English. This kind of translation test is convenient to design; yet scoring it is time-consuming as well as energy-consuming. Few researches have been done in solving this problem.The author of this thesis has started her study with this knotty problem and made an attempt at setting up a test system of Chinese-English translation by resorting to computer, the carrier of Information Age, as the medium of the test. The test system is built upon the application of database on web, integrating multiple functions such as test-designing, test-taking, test-grading and test-analysis into one. The test content is based on translation from Chinese to English, with the test item assuming the form of gap-filling the incomplete English sentence with the guidance of the given Chinese. The purpose of setting up the test system is to provide the language teachers like the author with an effective and efficient way of testing translation for the sake of saving teachers' time and energy.The Computerized Test System of C-E Translation is composed of two kernel parts: one is the computerization of the medium of the test; the other is theconstruction of the test content for Chinese-English translation.The hard core of the computerization of the test system is Database, specifically, the database software MS-SQL SERVER produced by Microsoft Corp., which make use of the relation database to support the application on web. In essence, this test system is a web-based system of the application of the database. It works simply according to the following rationale: by means of IE Explorer (Internet Explorer), the user first sends out the request of reading from or writing into the database to the IIS (Internet Information System); then IIS gives an order to ASP (Active Server Page) to carry out the client's request. ASP then retrieves the data from the database, conveys it to IIS, and IIS presents it to the user.Another kernel part of the computerized test system is the construction of the test content for Chinese-English translation. The system attempts to incorporate a series of translation test which fall into five essential categories with different focuses: Translation Test for Sentence Structure, Translation Test for Vocabulary, Translation Test for Idioms, and Translation Test for Translation Skills, and Synthetic Translation Test. The five categories are put in the sequence according to the degree of demand. Knowledge about syntax is the basis for students' language competence. After achieving adequate knowledge in syntax, broadening vocabulary is necessary for the students to improve and enrich their expression in English. On the basis of syntax and vocabulary, the students are qualified to learn and master the translation skills so as to deal with the translation of text and discourse, which is the advanced level of translation.Since the expected subjects of the test system are the second year college students of non-English major, the trial test is of the first category— Translation Test for Sentence Structure. It includes five kinds of simple sentences (SV, SVO, SVoO, SVC, and SVOC), three types of subordinate clauses (nominal clause, relative clause and adverbial clause) and compound sentences as well. There are two purposes in implementing the trial test: one is to find out the correlation between the result of the trial test and that of the Band-4 test so as to verify the validity of the trial test; the other purpose is to provide the experimental material for the computerized test systemin order to check whether the test system works or not. The research findings indicate that the correlation between the trial test and the Band-4 test is positive and the computerized test system functions well in every step.The significance of this study lies in the fact that it not only reasons the necessity of translation test in theory, but more importantly, sets up the Computerized Test System of C-E Translation in practice to show its feasibility, and conducts the trial test and compares the result with Band-4 test to verify its validity. The study, in fact, yields a workable computerized test system for the language teachers to detect students' language ability efficiently and effectively. Meanwhile, the study also points out that the test system is still on the first step of exploration. It calls for improvement in respect of accommodating the test items pool large enough to allow a large number of testees to take the test simultaneously or in respect of the grading the topic-given writing task (in which the key vocabulary and structures are given). An open system as it is, the Computerized Test System of C-E Translation is bound to have an optimistic prospect with more modification or improvement.