Document Type : Research

Authors

• Irandokht Tuluie Heris ¹
• Hossein Sarkar Hassan Khan ²

¹ MA in Translation Studies in German, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Tehran

² Assistant Professor, German Literature, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Tehran.Iran.

Abstract

Master’s degree examination is a life-changing exam in Iran by which candidates are evaluated based on their qualifications. In fact, the exam must be regarded as a touchstone of quality for students who will be permitted to further their studies in their fields only when they can pass it; therefore, the exam must follow certain standards so that equity is ensured for all participants and objectivity is reduced to minimum. The present paper defines factors of objectivity, reliability and validity of Master's degree entrance exam for German-to-Persian translation students. Studying these factors shows that translation questions, given their subjective nature, are not suitable for Master’s degree exam and often degraded to evaluate just participants’ vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension skills. More importantly, translation questions must be used for testing one’s translation skills and consequently cannot be used to evaluate language knowledge.

Keywords

• Standardized Exams
• Translation
• Entrance Exam
• Master’s Degree
• German

Main Subjects

• Linguistics and Ancient Languages