Need Analysis for Online-based Translation as a Profession Course:

A Study at Translation Study Program of University of Sumatera

Utara

Rudy Sofyan

, Silvana Sinar

and Bahagia Tarigan

Linguistics Department, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jalan Abdul Hakim Kompleks USU, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: Course Development, Need Analysis, Online-Based Learning, Translation as a Profession.

Abstract: Technology development greatly affects the learning system in universities, especially the development of

information and communication technology. Therefore, more and more teaching and learning process uses

online services. Nevertheless, the materials presented in the “Translation as a Profession (TAP)” course at

the Translation Study Program, University of Sumatera Utara (TSP-USU), are still conventional and offline;

thus it needs to cope with such technology development to keep updating the teaching content and process.

For that purpose, a research on developing the course materials of TAP is required. This study aims at

developing course materials for TAP corresponding to the needs of the students of TSP-USU. This study

uses a research and development design to develop effective course materials. The data were the opinions

from the respondents collected through questionnaires, interviews and documents. The respondents were the

alumni and lecturers of TSP-USU. The findings show that: (i) the offline materials do not meet the students’

need; and (ii) the materials need an online learning system. In conclusion, the TAP materials should be

revised. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the TAP course needs to be developed by designing an

interactive online learning system providing a chance for online discussion and assignments.

1 INTRODUCTION

Translation studies (TS), the term first proposed by

Holmes (1972;2004), is a field of science that

continues to develop up to the present day as an

independent discipline (Munday, 2012). Due to its

development, translation is no longer merely a field

of study, but has spread to the world of

professionalism. This is a major contribution from

Halliday who wants to bridge between linguistic

theories and professional practice in translation

(Yallop, 1987). Thus, translation has become a

profession that can be used as a source of living.

Translation that has so far been considered to be

simply a transfer from the source language (SL) to

the target language (TL) and that anyone who can

speak in two different languages can simply be

regarded as a translator are false assumptions

because translation process is not that simple.

Gouadec (2007) asserts that a translator must have

excellent competence in the languages involved, the

field translated, and the applicable technology such

as the use of software in translation. In addition,

Sofyan (2016) argues that a skill in online resources

management is very helpful in the professional

practice of translation.

Nevertheless, the facts mentioned above have not

been yet completed when a translator wants to go

directly to entrepreneurship in the field of

translation. As an entreprneur, a translator should

have managerial skills in the field of translation

including the determination of rates, the distribution

of time required for translation projects, the scope of

the translation work, and the personnel involved.

Considering the development of translation as

both a discipline and a profession, TSP-USU offers a

course named Translation as a Profession (TAP)

whose general objective is to prepare its graduates to

become not only scientists but also entrepreneurs in

the translation field. In its implementation, this

course provides learners with the skills necessary to

run a successful business as an independent

translation service provider through the creation of a

satisfactory work environment and a client-friendly

working relationship, based on the acceptance of

ethical behavior and awareness of commercial

Sofyan, R., Sinar, S. and Tarigan, B.

Need Analysis for Online-based Translation as a Profession Course: A Study at Translation Study Program of University of Sumatera Utara.

DOI: 10.5220/0010071312671272

In Proceedings of the International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches (ICOSTEERR 2018) - Research in Industry 4.0, pages

1267-1272

ISBN: 978-989-758-449-7

1267

practices both related to texts and clients. Based on

the purpose of this course, learners are required to be

able to perform basic business practices with regard

to translation services.

However, the materials presented in the

“Translation as a Profession (TAP)” are still old-

fashioned in the sense that they are still offline

delivered in a conventional way of teaching.

Therefore, they need to cope with technology

development to keep updating the teaching content

and process. For that purpose, a research on

developing the course materials of TAP is required.

Such needs are motivated by the fact that nowadays

technology development greatly affects the learning

system in universities, especially the development of

information and communication technology. It is

also obviously seen that more and more teaching and

learning process uses online services.

Online learning is an internet-based learning

using web-based applications or software in

managing online learning activities. Such definition

is in line with several points to perform effective

online learning suggested by Agarwal (2010) that

include: (i) the source of the materials or programs

provided comes from the internet; (ii) the online

resources are used to teach learning materials and to

give online-based quizzes; (iii) the internet

connection is certainly not disrupted when the

learning process takes place; (iv) the learners are

divided into groups where at least one of the group

members is proficient in computer operation and

online resources utilization; (v) the learners are

expected to be able to search for online resources

related to the subject and related quizzes; (vi) the

teachers should always be in the classroom to assist

students who have not been able to use online

resources appropriately; and (vii) the learners are

required to collect their tasks electronically to the

teacher’s email.

Studies on learning material development have

been done by previous researchers. Rosa, Refnaldi

and Hafizh (2013), for example, did a study on the

students’ needs of multimedia based learning on

Semantics and Pragmatics course at Universitas

Negeri Padang. They found that the appropriate

materials of Semantics and Pragmatics course

should have interesting designs meeting the needs of

the students and the lecturers and supported by

technology development. The appropriate materials

should cover two components: printed materials to

be used in the classroom and materials in the form of

computer software to be used as the materials of

independent study outside the classroom.

Furthermore,Shi (2010) did a study on developing e-

learning materials for software development course.

She found that e-learning materials are effective and

significant because they proposed the redesign of the

curriculum in order to produce student-centered

learning. In addition, such redesign represented a

transition from a passive model of learning to a

constructivist model.

In relation to the rationale elaborated above, this

study is aimed at developing course materials for

TAP corresponding to the needs of the students of

the TSP-USU. Through this study, it is expected that

the TAP course would meet the students’ needs

considering the technology development in

education system.

2 RESEARCH METHOD

This study uses a research and development design

(Gall, Gall, and Borg, 2003) to develop effective

TAP course materials to be used by the students of

TSP-USU.

2.1 Data and Respondents

The data of this study were the results of the

questionnaires distributed to the students of TSP-

USU, the results of observation of the learning

materials used by the TAP lecturers, and the results

of document analysis of textbooks used in teaching

TAP. The respondents were 24 students of TSP-

USU who have taken the TAP course and 3 TAP

lecturers of TSP-USU.

2.2 Research Instruments

The instruments used in this study were

questionnaire, observation and document analysis.

The questionnaires were distributed to the students

of TSP-USU who have studied this course. The

questionnaires were intended to collect the data

related to the current TAP teaching materials and the

expected appropriate TAP teaching materials. The

observation was done several times to see the types

of teaching materials, the feasibility of teaching

materials, and the appropriateness of the teaching

materials with the course objectives. The documents

analyzed were textbooks or course books used by

the lecturers.

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3 DISCUSSION

3.1 TAP Materials

To reveal the TAP materials which are considered

important by the students, 26 items related to the

topics/sub-topics of TAP materials are presented to

the respondents. Based on the data analysis, 10

topics/sub-topics of TAP materials which are

considered important by the respondents are

presented in Table 1.

Table 1: 10 important topics/sub-topics of TAP materials.

No Items Evaluated

Not

important

Not really

important

Important

Very

important

Score

1 Translation services 0 1 14 9 80

2 Translator trainin

0 5 7 12 79

3 Translation as a profession 0 1 17 6 77

4 Translation project management 0 3 14 7 76

5 The overview of current

translation market

2 2 12 8 74

6 Online resources management 2 5 6 11 74

7 Translation internship 1 4 15 4 70

8 Translation marketin

32145 69

9 Job dele

ation in

rou

07143 68

10 CAT tools and MT em

ment 4569 68

The results presented in Table 1 show that the

topic of TAP Materials considered most important

by the respondents is translation services (score: 80).

In its professional practice, translation is a matter of

providing services to public in the form of

transferring the text from the SL to the TL;

therefore, knowledge of giving the best translation

service to clients is extremely required. This

supports Schopp (2007) arguing that translation

services really raise the profile of the translation

industry; in other words, the success of translation

industry much depends on the translation services

provided. This suggests that a TAP course should

give more emphasis on the materials related to kinds

of translation services in order to produce graduates

ready to get involved in translation industries.

Translation services could refer to Biel (2011)

stating that translation services includes text

processing, technical services and consulting

services. In addition, Table 1 shows that the topics

regarding translator training (79) and translation as a

profession (77) are also important because both

prepare the students to become professional

translators. This implies that professionalism is

closely related to expertise requiring a well-trained

translator.

The results presented in Table 1 are in contrast

with the ones presented in Table 2 containing the

topics/sub-topics materials frequently given to the

students of TSP-USU.

Table 2: 10 frequent topics/sub-topics of TAP materials.

No Items Evaluated None Insufficient Sufficient

Very

Sufficient

Score

1 Translation internshi

0 0 20 4 76

2 Translation as an industr

1 1 22 0 69

3 Discussin

the translation draft in

rou

1 4 16 3 69

4 Job delegation in group 1 6 14 3 67

5 Translator training 1 5 16 2 67

6 Translation ethics 1 3 20 0 67

7 Translation services 1 6 14 3 67

8 Translation clients 1 6 15 2 66

9 Translation as a

rofession 2 4 17 1 65

10 SWOT analysis for translators 1 7 15 1 64

The results presented in Table 2 show that

translation internship has been the most frequent

topic (score: 76) provided to the students indicating

its very important role in the previous TAP

Need Analysis for Online-based Translation as a Profession Course: A Study at Translation Study Program of University of Sumatera Utara

1269

materials. In contrast, based on its degree of

importance, the topic on translation internship

occupies only the seventh place. Moreover, the

topics regarding translation as an industry (69) and

discussing the translation draft in group (69), that

occupy the second and the third place at the degree

of frequency, do not belong to the ten important

topics needed by the respondents. This finding

implies that the TAP materials provided do not yet

meet the students’ needs. The comparison between

the topics which are considered important (degree of

importance) and the topics which are frequently

given to the students (degree of frequency) is

presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Comparison of ‘degree of importance’ and ‘degree of frequency’.

No Degree of Frequency Degree of Importance

1 Translation internshi

Translation services

2 Translation as an industr

Translator trainin

3 Discussin

the translation draft in

rou

Translation as a

rofession

4 Job delegation in group Translation project management

5 Translator training The overview of current translation market

6 Translation ethics Online resources management

7 Translation services Translation internship

8 Translation clients Translation marketing

9 Translation as a

rofession Job dele

ation in

rou

10 SWOT anal

sis for translators CAT tools and MT em

ment

Based on the results of data analysis presented in

Table 3, there is incompatibility between the degree

of importance and the degree of frequency of TAP

materials provided to the students. The topics

concerning translation as an industry, discussing the

translation draft in group, translation ethics,

translation clients and SWOT analysis for translators

are those that belong to the ten frequent TAP

materials provided to TSP-USU students, but they

are considered less important by the respondents

since they are not found in the ten important topics

of TAP materials. Even though they are closely

related to the issue of TAP, they are considered less

important by the respondents to prepare the TSP-

USU graduates to become professional translators.

Similarly, several topics considered important to be

included in the TAP materials are not found in the

top ten frequent TAP materials provided. This

finding strengthen the need to revise the current

TAP materials at TSP-USU.

On the other hand, several topics which are

considered important are less frequently given to the

students. CAT tools and MT employment, for

example, is one of the topics that need to be

frequently given because most of today’s translation

practices employ such tools or machines for

effective and effecient translation process. CAT

tools and MT make the translation task easier and

save time consumption to finish translation projects.

Doherty (2016) argues that technological

developments such as CAT tools have created an

increase in productivity and consistency in

translation. In addition, the use of MT such as

Google Translate has assisted humans in the pre-

drafting and drafting phases of translation process

(Rosa, Sinar, Ibrahim-Bell, and Setia, 2018; Sofyan

and Tarigan, 2017; Sofyan et al., 2016).

The results presented in Table 3 also suggests

that, corresponding to the degree of frequency and

the degree of importance of the topics, the

appropriate TAP materials to be provided should

include the topics on: (i) translation internship, (ii)

translation services, (iii) translator training, (iv) job

delegation in group, and (v) translation as a

profession. Such topics are selected because they are

belong to the top ten TAP materials which are both

frequent and important. Other topics that are

advisable to be included in the TAP materials are: (i)

translation project management, (ii) the overview of

current translation market, (iii) online resources

management, (iv) translation marketing, (v) CAT

tools and MT employment, (vi) translation as an

industry, (vii) discussing the translation draft in

group, (viii) translation ethics, (ix) translation

clients, and (x) SWOT analysis for translators.

3.2 TAP Learning Media

To reveal kinds of media considered important by

students, 5 items regarding kinds of media used in

learning the TAP materials are presented to the

respondents. The degree of importance of these 5

items is presented in Table 4 below.

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Table 4. Kinds of media based on their degree of importance

No Items Evaluated

Not

important

Not really

important

Important

Very

important

Score

1 Learning materials are presented

digitally in the form of online-based

learning materials

0 0 6 18 90

2 Learning materials are presented

digitally in the form of power-point

resentation

0 0 9 15 87

3 Learning materials are presented

orally in the form of online based

recordin

3 6 9 6 66

4 Learning materials are presented

orally in the form of audio-visual

recordin

5 7 6 6 61

5 Learning materials are presented in

written form as a course boo

6 15 3 0 45

The results of data analysis presented in Table 4

show the students’ obvious needs of having online-

based learning materials (Score: 90), or the materials

following technology advancement. Online-based

learning materials provide richer resources for the

students to explore TAP materials instead of having

only one or two course books or textbooks provided

by the lecturers. This supports Wasim, Sharma,

Khan, and Siddiqui (2014) who found that web

based learning or online-based learning offers huge

opportunities for learning and access to a vast

amount of knowledge and information (2014).

Responding to the students’ needs of CAT tools and

MT employment to be included in the TAP

materials, online-based learning materials can serve

as the best solution. By having online learning

materials, the students have more time to understand

and practice the CAT tools and MT compared to a

very limited time in a classroom meeting. This

finding is in line with the research findings of

Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, and Jones (2010)

that found positive significant difference of online

learning compared to conventional learning.

Although many studies found the effectiveness

of implementing online learning, several other

researchers (cf. Nguyen, 2015; Jabeen and Thomas,

2015) found it ineffective. They found that

traditional face-to-face learning or learning with an

instructor is more effective. The ineffectiveness of

online learning found by Jabeen and Thomas (2015)

who investigated the effectiveness of online learning

in teaching speaking was mainly caused by the

teacher’s limited access to applicable speech

practice tools online. Their findings imply that

online learning requires lecturers with good digital

literacy because, without which, online learning for

TAP course at TSP-USU will never be implemented.

4 CONCLUSIONS AND

SUGGESTIONS

Based on the research findings, it is concluded that

the current TAP materials do not meet the students’

needs. Several topics considered important are still

missing and need to be included in the newly

developed TAP materials. Besides, the TAP

materials need to be designed into online-based

learning materials. Therefore, developing online-

based TAP materials for the students of TSP-USU is

urgently and importantly required. Nevertheless, the

findings of this study have a weakness due to the

absence of stakeholders as the research respondents.

For that reason, it is suggested for other researchers

to involve stakeholders as the respondents for better

findings.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of

Research, Technology and Higher Education of the

Republic of Indonesia for funding this research

under the 2018 PTUPT DRPM DIKTI Research

Grant. The authors also thank the Research Institute

of the University of Sumatera Utara for assisting the

authors.

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