Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica, 10, 2 (2018) 55–67

DOI: 110.2478/ausp-2018-0013

Reading Strategies, Reading Comprehension, and

Translation
Gabriella KOVÁCS
Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania (Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
Department of Applied Linguistics
[email protected]

Abstract. Translators and language teachers are cultural and intercultural

mediators, facilitators of intercultural transfers and border crossings between
cultures. The abilities to understand, interpret, and produce written texts
appropriately play an essential role in these professions. In the process of
translation, source-language texts have to be understood and translated
using the most appropriate target-language equivalents. Reading skills and
awareness of reading strategies are equally essential for language teachers,
who are expected to guide language learners in developing these skills. In this
study, we intend to examine the reading habits and reading strategies used by
a group of Hungarian translator and teacher trainees when dealing with texts
written in English. Their reading comprehension performance will be assessed
with a test and compared with their ability to translate English texts into
Hungarian. Based on the literature and our personal experience in language
teaching, teacher training, and translator training, we assume that students
preparing for the above mentioned professions have a well-developed reading
strategy awareness and that their reading comprehension skills in English
strongly influence the ability to translate texts into their native language.

Keywords: reading comprehension skills, reading strategies, translation,

translator training, teacher training.

Introduction
Language teacher and translator trainees study to equip themselves with the
skills, strategies, and experience necessary for their future profession. Ideally, they
choose this domain because they are interested in and open to other cultures and
languages, and they plan to help others in crossing the borders between cultures.
The subjects of this study are translation and interpretation students at Sapientia
Hungarian University of Transylvania, Faculty of Technical and Human Sciences,
and most of them take part in a teacher training programme as well. One of the

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56 Gabriella KOVÁCS

entrance exam criteria is that their level of English should be B2 or above, but
in our experience not all of them meet this requirement. Nevertheless, they are
accepted if there are available places. Therefore, in the training process, we have
to take into consideration the fact that some of them may face difficulties resulting
from their inadequate language skills, including reading comprehension.
Reading is one of the important skills that teacher and translator trainees will need
in their future profession. If they become translators, they will have to comprehend
the source-language texts well enough to be able to translate them using the most
appropriate target-language equivalents. If they become teachers, reading skills and
awareness of reading strategies are equally essential because they will be expected
to guide language learners in developing these skills and strategies.
In this study, we present a survey of the reading habits of our target group and
their reading strategy awareness when reading academic materials or textbooks
written in English. Their reading strategies were assessed with an instrument
developed by Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002). We also measured their reading
comprehension level and translation skills with a test. Correlation was measured
between their reading comprehension level and their ability to translate English
texts into Hungarian. According to Pham (2017), the relations between reading
comprehension and translation were examined in other studies as well, and in
most cases a significant correlation was found between them. The purpose of this
study is to assess and examine our students’ possible needs and weaknesses and
to take in consideration any such factors in future curriculum design.

Reading comprehension, reading strategies, and

translation
Reading comprehension is one of the essential skills that language learners have
to develop. In the history of language teaching, there have been several attempts
to categorize and describe the language skills necessary for communication.
Bárdos (2005), for example, proposed a model which includes six skills divided
into three levels, where each level includes the previous ones: the level of
understanding (listening and reading comprehension), the level of conveying a
message or communicating (writing and speaking), and the level of mediation
(translation and interpretation). As this model suggests, reading is an essential
skill, necessary for the development and practice of the other skills. However,
as Hinkel pinpoints it, today, when the dominant idea is integrated language
teaching based on communication-oriented principles, “after decades of research
in language teaching and learning, it seems clear that, in many cases and for
many purposes, the separation of the four macro skills is likely to be less effective
than integrated instruction simply because, in reality, communication does not

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 Reading Strategies, Reading Comprehension, and Translation 57

take place in terms of discrete linguistic skills” (2010: n. p.). Therefore, ideally,
reading is developed together with the other skills, but reading skills and strategy
awareness may be more important for students such as translators, whose future
profession will consist mainly of working with written texts.
Reading comprehension is a complex process and may be influenced by
several factors. According to Bárdos (2000), reading cannot be regarded simply as
a mechanical, automated process of recognizing certain signs and the meaning of
the different words. It is a more complex endeavour, involving interpretation, the
attempt to reveal the communicative function of the text, namely the intention
of the writer. He believes that we may consider four levels regarding reading in
a foreign language: the level of physically recognizing the letters; recognizing,
decoding the meaning of the word; the level of understanding the meaning of the
word, considering the grammatical aspects as well; the level of text interpretation,
including reaction. However, the understanding of a text may also depend on the
reader’s language proficiency, cultural competence, background knowledge, and
area of interest.
Grabe (2014) proposes a set of principles and several instructional approaches
that may be useful in developing second-language reading skills. Among other
principles, he suggests that the curriculum should be based on the needs of the
students and the objectives of the teaching process, using plentiful, effective,
varied, and interesting reading resources and teaching materials. He proposes
the following developmental goals: promoting word recognition skills, building
an abundant recognition vocabulary, practising comprehension skills, building
awareness of discourse structure, promoting strategic reading, practising reading
fluency, developing extensive reading, developing motivation, and combining
language learning with content learning.
In the process of translation, when a message has to be conveyed from the
source language into the target language, advanced reading skills are essential.
As Newmark recommends, the work of translating a text starts with its analysis,
first of all, with a careful reading. “You begin the job by reading the original for
two purposes: first, to understand what it is about; second, to analyse it from a
translator’s point of view, which is not the same as a linguist’s or a literary critic’s.
You have to determine its intention and the way it is written for the purpose of
selecting a suitable translation method and identifying particular and recurrent
problems” (1988: 11). He states that both general reading and close reading are
necessary in order to understand a text appropriately. The general approach helps
the reader to discover the main concepts, the essential ideas of the text, and for
this it may be necessary to find and consult other sources of information as well.
Close reading means that any challenging words, terms, or expressions have to
be looked up and their meaning must be clarified. Therefore, reading a text with
the purpose of translating is not an easy task. “You can compare the translating

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58 Gabriella KOVÁCS

activity to an iceberg: the tip is the translation – what is visible, what is written
on the page – the iceberg, the activity, is all the work you do, often ten times as
much again, much of which you do not even use” (Newmark 1988: 12).
Rainer Schulte, a professor of translation studies who has made a significant
contribution to the art of translation, writes in an essay about translation and
reading that translators develop…

reading techniques that are distinctly different from those of a critic and
scholar. First of all, we are dealing with a level of intensity. Translators
look at each word through the lens of a magnifying glass. […] Reading
is a continuous process of translation, and the way the translator looks
at every word and investigates its rhythmic power and its semantic
possibilities reaffirms that the act of reading, seen through the translator’s
eyes, is dynamic and not static. The writer creates the text and the reader as
translator is involved in a constant process of re-creating the text.1

Reading habits, language proficiency, reading skills, and awareness of strategies

may all be developed and further shaped in the process of translator and teacher
training, but for this it is necessary to examine the needs and the level of the
target group.

The instruments of the survey

The first part of the survey consisted of a questionnaire in which we requested
general information about the students’ age, gender, year of study, their self-rated
level of English, whether they studied other foreign languages, how and where
they had learned English (school, private language school, by themselves, with
a private tutor), whether living in a bilingual region (Hungarian–Romanian) had
helped them in learning a third language (English), which task would be the most
difficult for them at an English language examination (reading comprehension,
writing, use of English, listening comprehension, or speaking), and, given that they
still had to improve their English, which language learning activity they considered
the most useful in preparing them for their future career (grammar, vocabulary,
reading, listening, speaking, writing, or translation activities). Related to reading,
we asked the following: how difficult it is for them to comprehend texts written
in English compared to texts written in their native language, Hungarian, how
frequently they use libraries, and what types of texts they usually read in English.
The second part of the questionnaire consisted of the Survey of Reading
Strategies (SORS), an instrument designed by Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002),
1 http://translation.utdallas.edu/essays/reading_essay1.html

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 Reading Strategies, Reading Comprehension, and Translation 59

intended to survey students’ perceived use and awareness of reading strategies

mainly when reading textbooks or academic texts related to their studies. The
reliability and validity of this instrument was tested and demonstrated by its
authors. An advantage of SORS is that it may also help students develop a
better awareness of their reading strategies and realize if there are any strategies
which they have not used before but could be helpful in improving their
reading efficiency. SORS consists of thirty questions, which can be answered
by using a five-point scale ranging from “I never do this” to “I always do this”.
The frequency of the use of a certain strategy is shown by the chosen number
– the higher it is, the more frequently the respective strategy is used by the
student. The instrument measures three different categories. Global Reading
Strategies (GLOB) are planned, intentional techniques, measured with thirteen
items. Problem-Solving Strategies (PROB) refer to procedures and actions used
by readers while working with a text, measured with eight items. Support
Strategies (SUP) are actions which may help the reader in comprehending the
text, measured with nine items.
Reading comprehension was measured with the help of two tasks taken from a
B2-level ECL sample test.2 At this level, candidates are expected to demonstrate
their ability to understand specific information and to recognize the purpose
and tone of texts taken from different sources such as newspapers, magazines,
reports, regulations, or formal letters.3 In the first task, students had to read a
gapped text and find the right part to each blank space from a given list, where
more possible parts were given than they needed. In the second task, they had
to read a text and answer ten questions using maximum seven words in each
answer. The maximum score for the test was 25 points. In ECL exams, each skill
(reading, writing, listening, and speaking) is allocated 25 points; hence, the total
score achievable is 100. The exam is considered successful if candidates reach
a minimum of 60% overall in the four skills.4 Our purpose with this task was to
measure whether our students’ reading skills correspond to the expected B2 level
and to examine whether their performance in these tasks correlate with their
performance in translation.
In order to assess our students’ translation skills, they were asked to translate
three paragraphs (consisting of approximately 200 words) from the second text
of the reading comprehension text. Their performance was scored using a 1-to-
10 scale.

2 http://eclexam.eu/files/ReadingB2.pdf
3 http://eclexam.eu/parts-of-the-exam/
4 http://eclexam.eu/exam-assessment/

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60 Gabriella KOVÁCS

Results
The questionnaire and test were completed by 57 translation and interpretation
students at Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Faculty of Technical
and Human Sciences, most of whom take part in a teacher training programme as
well (20 first-year students, 22 second-year students, and 15 third-year students).
40% of the students study not only English but other foreign languages as well
(German or Danish), and they have all studied Romanian, the official language
of the country. When they graduated from high school, they all had to take an
examination in Romanian and another foreign language they had studied,
in our target group’s case, mainly English. Therefore, they may be considered
experienced language learners, aware of their language proficiency and of their
strengths and weaknesses. They have studied these languages mainly at school or
at university, but the majority also mentions other ways such as with the help of
a private tutor, individual studies, or with the help of television, the Internet, and
videogames. Regarding their self-rated level of English, 31.5% of the respondents
master the language on advanced (C1) level, 31.5% on upper-intermediate (B2)
level, 33.5% on intermediate (B1) level, and 3.5% on pre-intermediate (A2) level.
According to the answers, 36% are not at the ideal level for their studies.

Figure 1. Respondents’ self-rated level of English

To the question “Which task do you find the most difficult in a language
exam?”, 38.5% of the respondents chose listening comprehension, 35% writing,
17.5% speaking, and only 9% chose reading comprehension.

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 Reading Strategies, Reading Comprehension, and Translation 61

Figure 2. The most difficult task in a language exam

This confirms our experience that reading activities are fairly popular among
students, and when their language skills are assessed the majority of the students
achieve higher scores in reading comprehension and speaking than in listening
comprehension and writing. However, the majority (83%) of the students declared
that they found it more difficult to understand texts written in English than in
Hungarian, 5% stated that they found it significantly more difficult, and only
12% claimed that they understood texts written in English almost as easily as in
their native language, which would be the ideal and expected performance in the
case of a teacher or translator.

Figure 3. Understanding EN vs HU texts

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62 Gabriella KOVÁCS

To the question “How often do you use the library?”, 40.5% answered “never”,
54.5% “occasionally”, and only 5% answered “regularly”, which may raise
further questions about the quality of library services regarding the availability
of the necessary materials our students need for their studies but also about
students’ preference for online sources. Their limited interest and motivation in
consulting a wider recommended literature regarding a certain subject besides
the course materials received from their teachers may be another problem.

Figure 4. Frequency of visits to the library

Figure 5. What do they read in English?

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 Reading Strategies, Reading Comprehension, and Translation 63

The answers to the next question related to the type of texts they read in
English may also explain why they do not use the library regularly. 84% of the
respondents read for entertainment (38.5% prefer literature, mainly novels and
short stories, and 45.5% read online and print media), while only 16% of them
read academic texts written in English (articles, essays, textbooks, monographs).
The students had to choose two language learning activities from a list of
seven (grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, listening comprehension,
speaking, writing, translation), which they found most useful in preparing for
their future career.

Figure 6. Useful activities for future career

These choices may be influenced by the activities they are most frequently
required to do in their training process, namely translation exercises and glossary-
building activities. The most rarely chosen activity was reading, which may result
from the fact that they feel confident in comprehending written texts. This would
confirm their answers to a previous question, where only a few students labelled
reading comprehension as the most difficult task in a language examination.
The next set of 30 questions measured students’ perceived use and awareness
of reading strategies when reading textbooks or academic texts related to their
studies. The score averages were interpreted for each category separately and for
the whole instrument according to the levels suggested by the authors (Mokhtari
and Sheorey 2002) who developed the instrument: High = mean of 3.5 or higher,
Moderate = mean of 2.5 to 3.4, and Low = mean of 2.5 or lower.
The thirteen items measuring Global Reading Strategies (GLOB) are the
following: I have a purpose in mind when I read; I think about what I know to
help me understand what I read; I take an overall view of the text to see what

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64 Gabriella KOVÁCS

it is about before I read it; I think about whether the content of the text fits my
reading purpose; I review the text first by noting its characteristics like length
and organisation; when reading, I decide what to read closely and what to ignore;
I use tables, figures, and pictures in text to increase my understanding; I use
context clues to help me better understand what I am reading; I use typographical
features like bold face and italics to identify key information; I critically analyse
and evaluate the information presented in the text; I check my understanding
when I come across new information; I try to guess what the content of the text is
about when I read; I check to see if my guesses about the text are right or wrong.
The results show that all students are aware of the usefulness and importance
of these strategies, and they use most of them as often as necessary in order to
comprehend academic texts and school materials more efficiently. None of them
showed a lack of awareness of these techniques.

Table 1. Global Reading Strategies

Mean Number of students %
High 23 40.35%
Medium 34 59.65%
Low 0 0%

The eight items measuring Problem-Solving Strategies (PROB) are the following:
I read slowly and carefully to make sure I understand what I am reading; I try to
get back on track when I lose concentration; I adjust my reading speed according
to what I am reading; when text becomes difficult, I pay close attention to what
I am reading; I stop from time to time and think about what I am reading; I
try to picture or visualize information to help remember what I read; when text
becomes difficult, I reread it to increase my understanding; when I read, I guess
the meaning of unknown words or phrases. According to the answers given, 80%
of the respondents are aware of using these techniques while reading academic
texts or school materials, and they use them frequently.

Table 2. Problem-Solving Strategies

Mean Number of students %
High 46 80.70%
Medium 10 17.54%
Low 1 1.75%

The nine items measuring Support Strategies (SUP) are the following: I take notes
while reading to help me understand what I read; when text becomes difficult, I
read aloud to help me understand what I read; I underline or circle information in
the text to help me remember it; I use reference materials (e.g. a dictionary) to help

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 Reading Strategies, Reading Comprehension, and Translation 65

me understand when I read; I paraphrase (restate ideas in my own words) to better

understand what I read; I go back and forth in the text to find relationships among
ideas in it; I ask myself questions I like to have answered in the text; when reading
I translate from English into my native language; when reading I think about
information in both English and my mother tongue. Based on the answers, students
seem to find Support Strategies less important than the other two categories. The
reason for this may be that they are experienced readers, and therefore they do not
need to use these strategies as frequently as the ones from the previous categories.

Table 3. Support Strategies

Mean Number of students %
High 22 38.60%
Medium 27 47.37%
Low 8 14.04%

The score averages for the whole instrument and group means for the three
strategies show that our students possess the necessary reading strategies for
efficient comprehension of textbooks or academic texts related to their studies.

Table 4. The score averages for the whole instrument

Mean Number of students %
High 29 50.88%
Medium 28 49.12%
Low 0 0.00%

Table 5. The group’s means for the three strategies and the overall mean
GLOB PROB SUP Overall
3.39 3.94 3.21 3.49

After the questionnaire was completed, the questions from the Survey of Reading
Strategies (SORS) were discussed with the students in order to increase their
awareness of reading strategies and their understanding of the reading process.
They were encouraged to use any of the techniques which they had not used before
and would consider useful in order to comprehend texts more efficiently.
In the reading comprehension test, only 8 students (4.5%) did not reach the
minimum of 60%, which means that the scores of the majority correspond to the
required B2 level. However, for most students, the first task, where they had to
read a gapped text and find the right part to each blank space from a given list,
proved less difficult than the second one, where they had to read a text and answer
ten questions using maximum seven words in each answer. While 23 students
managed to answer all the questions correctly in the first task, only 8 were awarded

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66 Gabriella KOVÁCS

a maximum score for the second task. Most of the unacceptable answers indicate
that students failed to understand and interpret correctly certain parts of the text.
The translation task was rated on a 1-to-10 scale. 8 students received 10 points, but
translations awarded with 8 or 9 points were also acceptable, without considerable
misinterpretations of the source text. Therefore, it can be said that a total of 32
students (56.2%) produced acceptable translations. Translations awarded only
with 6 or 7 points (19 students, 33.3%) contained misinterpretations of certain
phrases or sentences, which slightly affected the overall meaning of the passage.
The 6 students (10.5%) who received less than 6 points produced unacceptable
translations containing several misinterpreted phrases and sentences, which
significantly altered the overall message and meaning of the target text.

Figure 7. Translations

The unacceptable translations and misinterpretations were often the result of

the lack of comprehension of the source language text.
A moderate correlation (r = 0.626) was found between students’ scores achieved
in the reading comprehension task and the translation task. This confirms our
assumption based on experience that students’ reading comprehension skills in
English influence the ability to translate texts into Hungarian, and it confirms
that reading comprehension influences translation performance.

Conclusions
In conclusion, we can say that the analysis revealed or confirmed some potential
problems which should be addressed in the curricular or extracurricular teaching–

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 Reading Strategies, Reading Comprehension, and Translation 67

learning process and curriculum development. These are the following: some of
the students must be helped and encouraged to improve their language skills
and reach a performance level which is adequate for a translator or language
teacher; students should be encouraged to use the library more often and read
more academic texts related to their studies (such as articles, essays, textbooks,
monographs), which may help them in preparing for their future career; students
must be aware of the importance of reading comprehension skills and strategies
in translation and language teaching, and these skills must be further developed
if necessary; the set of questions from the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS)
can be used to increase students’ awareness of reading strategies and their
understanding of the reading process.

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