Author(s)

Huifang Xuan, Qingxin Chen

Corresponding Author

Qingxin Chen

Abstract

This study focuses on the effect of coherence and cohesion on the Chinese students’ translation performance. An experiment was conducted to find out the correlation of the usage of cohesive devices and translation quality. Thirty MTI students participated in this study. Based on twenty students’ translation quality, these students were divided into two groups: high-score group and low-score group. Data collection and data analysis were carried out to find out the differences and similarities of the usage of cohesive devices between the two groups. The results showed that there was a correlation between the usage of cohesive devices and the translation quality. The High-score students were more capable of using cohesive devices effectively to achieve textual coherence in their translations. Based on the experiment, similarities of the two groups were found in the usage of such cohesive devices as ellipsis, reiteration and collocation, while there is a significant difference of the two groups in the usage of reference and conjunction. The implication of the study is that teachers can exploit cohesive devices effectively during their translation classes to improve the translation quality.

Keywords

Cohesive devices, Translation quality, Correlation