THE CORRELATION BETWEEN READING COMPREHENSION

AND TRANSLATION ABILITY: A Correlational Study on Fourth Year

Students at English Department of UNP

Elsa Fadica Rahemi1, Jufri2, Havid Ardi3

Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris
FBS Universitas Negeri Padang
Email: elsafadica@gmail.com

Abstract
The purpose of this research was to reveal the correlation between
reading comprehension and translation ability of fourth year students in
English department of UNP. The population and samples of this research
was the fourth year students who took translation subject in the seventh
semester of academic year 2012 in English Department of UNP. The
instrument of this research was a reading comprehension test and
translation test. The result of this research showed that the r-calculated
calculated
(0,677) > r-table
table (0,355). The hypothesis was tested by using t-test
test formula
and found that t-observed
observed (4,952) > t-table (1,699) with df= n-22 (29) in the
level of significance 0,05. In short, the research hypothesis which stated
state
that there wass a significant correlation between students’ Reading
Comprehension and their Translation Ability was accepted.

Kata kunci : Correlation, Translation, Translation ability, Reading

Comprehension

A. Introduction
In learning English, there are four basic skills that must be mastered by the
students. Those are listening, reading, writing and speaking. However, there is
another skill whose role in teaching and learning English as foreignforeign language
cannot be ignored.
That skill is translation which is defined as a process of replacing the
textual material in one language (the source language/SL)
language/SL) by equivalent textual
material in another language (the target language/TL).
language/TL) According to Newmark
(1988), translation from L1 to L2 and L2 to L1 in the advanced or final stage of
foreign language teaching is recognized as the fifth skill since it has the special
purpose of demonstrating the learner's knowledge of the foreign language, either
as a form of control or to exercise their intelligence in order to develop their
competence. Because of the importance of translation for foreign language
learner,
earner, English Department of State University of Padang (UNP) puts translation
as one of the subjects in the curriculum.

1
Writer, English Department student graduated on March 2013
2
First Supervisor, lecturer of FBS Universitas Negeri Padang
3
Second Supervisor, Lecturer of FBS Universitas Negeri Padang
 Thhe Correlation between Reading and – Elsa Fadica R., Jufri, Havid Ardi

Basically, translation is a process of rendering meaning from source

language to the target language. According to Bell (1991), translation
transl is the
replacement of a representation of a text in one language (SL) by a representation
of an equivalent text in a second language (TL). Likewise, Tawbi (1994) explains
that translation is a process of conveying message from source language to the
target language. Based on Larson (1998), translation consists of transferring the
meaning of the source language into the receptor language. Furthermore, Nida and
Taber (2003) defines translation as a process of reproducing the receptor language
the closestt natural equivalent of the source language message.
message
According to Newmark (1988), the work of translation is started by
reading the original text in order to get understanding and ends with re-writing
re it
in the target language. Moreover, he explained that translation involves four
processes: comprehension of the vocabulary of the original source-language
source text;
comprehension of the meaning of the original source-language
source language message;
reformulation of the message in the target-language;
target language; and judgment of the
adequacycy of the target-language
target language text. It means that, after reading and
comprehending the text, the translator then both reformulate the meaning into the
target language equivalently and insert that meaning into an appropriate target-
target
language sentence structure to t convey the meaning.
Beside in translation, comprehension process also happens in reading
because comprehension
omprehension is the main goal of reading that refers to the process of
understanding what is being read. According to Mc Whorter (1994), (1994)
comprehension
omprehension is the the main goal of reading that refers to the process of
understanding what is being read. Readers usually make use of background
knowledge, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, experience with text and other
strategies to help them understand written text.
Grabebe (2009) explains that reading is a receptive skill where the reader is
expected to decode the visual form of the text into comprehension messages in the
brain. To get the comprehension, the reader needs to understand vocabulary and
see the relationship among
among the word concept, organize ideas, recognize the
writer’s purpose, make judgment and evaluating.
It seems that the comprehension process happens in translation same as the
comprehension process happens in reading. It is supported by Macizo and Bajo
(2004),
04), they say that language comprehension includes a set of processes going
from speech processing (segmentation and classification of the incoming input),
lexical access (recognition of isolated words and access to information associated
with them), and sentential
entential processing (extraction and combination of syntactic
information to obtain a sentence interpretation), to discourse processing
(integration and interpretation of successive sentences to arrive at a global mental
representation) and all of these comprehension
comprehension processes are involved during both
reading and translation. So, in both translation and reading, comprehension of the
text is needed to reformulate the message to the target language. Those similarity
shows that there is a relationship between translation and reading.
In English department, the students’ ability in translation is good enough.
Among 173 students who took Translation subjects in their seventh semester
(Juli-Desember
Desember 2011), 17% got mark A, 76% got mark B, 5% got mark C, 1% got

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markk D, and 1% got mark E. Likewise, students’ reading ability is as good as their
translation ability. Among 126 students who took Reading 3 subjects in their
fourth semester (January-Jun
June 2010), 11% got mark A, 72% got mark B, 9% got
mark C, 6% got mark D, and 2% got mark E. Relating to the theory proposed by
Macizo and Bajo (2004) that says that comprehension process occurs in
translation is same as comprehension process occurs in reading, the students’
score in both subjects should be equal. If student get good mark in translation,
they will also get good mark in reading, and vise versa.
Dealing with the discussion above, it is assumed that there is a correlation
between students’ reading comprehension and their translation ability. It is
predicted that, the
he students who are good in comprehending the texts will be able
to translate well. With regard to the assumption above, the goal of this research is
to investigate the correlation between students’ reading comprehension and their
translating ability.

B. Research
esearch Methodology
In relation to the aim of the study, this research used the correlational
method. As stated by Gay (2009), a correlational research involves collecting data
to determine whether, and to what degree, a relationship exists between two or
more variables. Because the purpose of the study is to find out the correlation
between students’ reading comprehension and their translation ability, the variable
in this research are the reading comprehension and translation ability. The result
of correlation
ation coefficient indicates the degree of the relationship between two
variables.
The data were collected through reading comprehension and translation
test. The allocated time of each test was 60 minutes. First, the students were given
reading comprehension on test in the form of multiple choices (a, b, c, and d) that
consisted of six texts and 25 questions. Then, they were given translation ability
test where they have to translate a text into Indonesian. The text for this test was
taken from the first text in the reading comprehension test that has been conducted
before. After the students finished doing the test, the paper was collected and
analyzed to get the score of each test. Then, the scores were used as data.
In order to see whether there was correlation
correlation between students’ reading
comprehension and their translation abilities, Pearson Product Moment
Correlation Formula was used. The formula is presented below:
∑∑
∑  

rxy =
∑ 
 ∑ 

∑   ∑  
∑ 
 

rxy : the correlation coefficient between X and Y

X : score of reading comprehension
Y : score of translation ability
ΣX : sum of the reading comprehension score
ΣY : sum of the translation ability score
ΣXY : sum of the reading comprehension score times the translation
ability score

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N : the number of the sample

If rxy is higher than r-table
table at the level of significance (0,05), it indicates
that there is a significance correlation between the students reading
comprehension and their translation ability.
In order to draw conclusion whether the null hypothesis
hypothesis (Ho) or research
hypothesis (H1) was accepted, t-test
test formula presented by Sugiyono (2010) was
used to examine statistical significance of coefficient correlation. The formula is
presented below:

t = r 
 
t = the significant of coefficient correlation
r = coefficient correlation
n = number of sample
The decision was determined at the level of significance of (0,05). The
research hypothesis (H1) was accepted if t-calculated
calculated is greater than t-table.
t
Meanwhile the research hypothesis (H1) will be rejected and the null hypothesis
(Ho) will be accepted if the t-table
t is greater than t-calculated.
C. Discussion
There were two points discussed here; students’ Reading Comprehension
(X), and students’ Translation Ability (Y).
1. Students’ Reading Comprehension
Comp
Students’ reading comprehension was measured through Reading
Comprehension Test. The test was given in a form of multiple choices (a, b, c, and
d) that consisted of six texts and 25 questions. It was tested to 31 fourth year
students who took Translation
Translation subject in 2012. The results of the students’ answer
were transferred to quantitative data. The data description can be accumulated as
follow:
Table 1. Data Description of Students’ Reading Comprehension
The Lowest Score 60
The Highest Score 92
Mean 84,4
Median 76
Mode 76
Std Deviation 8,226

From the data above, the frequency distribution can be written in the
following table:
Table 2. The Frequency Distribution of Students’ Reading Comprehension
No Class Interval F
1 87-92 2
2 81-86 2
3 75-80 12
4 69-74 6
5 63-68 5

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6 57-62 4

The description of the data can be seen on the diagram below:

Diagram 1. The Frequency Distribution of the Students’ Reading Comprehension

12
10
8
Frequency

6
4
2
0
87-92 81
81-86 75-80 69-74 63-68 57--62
Class Interval

The diagram above shows different scores of reading comprehension

obtained by the students. There were four students who obtained the score within
the range 57-62,
62, five students who obtained the score within the range 63-68,
63 and
six students who obtained the score within the range 69-74.
69 74. The most students, 12
students, obtained
btained the score within the range 75-80.
75 80. Finally, two students obtained
the score within the range 81-86
81 and also within the range 87-92.
To test the normality of the data distribution, Liliefors formula was used. It
compared L observed (Lo) in the research
research and L table in Liliefors value in the
level of significance 0,05. The distribution is considered to be normal if Lo is
lower than Ltable. The following table describes the result of the test of normality:
Table 3. Liliefors Data of Reading Comprehension
Variable Lo Ltable Explanation
X -
-0,149 0,159 Normal

The table above shows that Lo is lower than Ltable in the level of
significance 0,05. It means that the data distribution was normal.

2. Students’ Translation Ability

The students’ translation ability was measured through English-Indonesia
English
Translation Test. The text for this test was about false teeth taken from the first
text in the reading comprehension test that has been conducted before. It was also
tested to 31 students.
The students’ scores were given by three raters. In order to make sure that
each rater had the same criteria in giving scores, they were given a translation
scoring rubric adopted from the criteria of good translation proposed by some
experts, such as; Larson (1998), Mossoud (in Abdellah,
Abd llah, 2002), and Machali
(2000).

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Firstly, each sample of the sentences was checked based on the criteria; a
nearly perfect translation, a very good translation, a good translation, a fair
translation, and a poor translation.
translation. The indicators of a nearly perfect translation
are sounds like a native language, no grammatical error, no distortion of meaning
or meaning ambiguity, no incorrect choice of terms. No grammatical error, no
distortion of meaning, there is no rigid word for word translation but there is still a
very few incorrect choice of terms are the indicators of a very good translation.
For a good translation the indicators are no distortion of meaning, there is a few of
incorrect choice of terms, there is also a rigid
rigid word for word translation but is not
relatively more than 15% of the whole text so that does not sound a translation,
grammatical errors are found but not more than 15% of the whole text.
Then, the indicators of a fair translation are sounds a translation, there are
some rigid word for word translation but they are not more than 25% of the whole
text, there are some grammatical errors but not more than 25% of the whole text,
some incorrect choice of terms and unclear meaning are found. Finally, sounds a
pure translation, there are many rigid word for word translation, distortions of
meaning and incorrect choice of term are more than 25% of the whole text are the
indicators for a poor translation.
transla
The rater could score the sample in the range of scores which was started
from 1 for the poor quality until 4 for the best one. After analyzing the students’
translation product, the results of their score were transferred to quantitative data.
The data description can be accumulated as follow:
Table 4. Data Description of Students’ Translation Ability
The Lowest Score 56
The Highest Score 88
Mean 67,9
Median 65
Mode 65
Std Deviation 8,792

From the data above, the frequency distribution can be written in the following
table:
Table 5. The Frequency Distribution of Students’ Translation Ability
No Class Interval f
1 83-88 2
2 77-82 3
3 71-76 6
4 65-70 10
5 59-64 6
6 53-58 4

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The description of the data can be seen on the diagram below:

Diagram 2. The Frequency Distribution of the Students’ Translation Ability

10
8
Frequency

6
4
2
0
83-88 77--82 71-76 65-70 59-64 53-58
Class Interval

The diagram above shows different scores of translation ability obtained

by the students. There were four students who obtained the score within the range
53-58 and six students who obtained the score within the range 59-64.59 64. The most
students, 10 students, obtained the score within the range 65-70.
65 70. There were six
students obtained the score within the range 71-76,
71 76, three students obtained the
score within the range 77-82 and finallyy there were two students obtained the
score within the range 83-88.
88.
To test the normality of the data distribution, Liliefors formula was used. It
compared L observed (Lo) in the research and L table in Liliefors value in the
level of significance 0,05. The
The distribution is considered to be normal if Lo is
lower than Ltable.
The following table describes the result of the test of normality:

Table 6. Liliefors Data of Reading Comprehension

Variable Lo Ltabel Explanation
X -
-0,340 0,159 Normal
The table above shows that Lo is lower than Ltabel in the level of
significance 0,05. It means that the data distribution was normal.
To prove if there was correlation between students’ reading
comprehension and their translation ability method used was Pearson Product Prod
Moment formula. The result of the calculation showed that the value of coefficient
correlation between students’ reading comprehension and their translation ability
was 0,677. Based on the research finding above, it can be concluded that the
students’ reading comprehension has positive correlation with their translation
ability since the r-calculated
calculated (0,677) is higher than r-table
r (0,355).
The hypothesis was tested by using t-test
t test formula. It was used for testing
the statistical significance of the coefficient
coefficient correlation obtained. The result of this

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calculation shows that t-observed

t observed found was 4,952, it is higher than t-table
t 1,699
with df= n-22 (29) in the level of significance 0.05.05. It means that the research
hypothesis is accepted and Ho is rejected.
From the result of the data analysis, it is found that there is a significant
correlation between students’ Reading Comprehension and their Translation
Ability of the fourth year students in English Department of UNP. It means that
the high scores of students’
students’ Reading Comprehension tend to be followed by the
high scores of their Translation Ability. On the other hand, the low scores of their
Reading Comprehension tend to be followed by the low scores of their
Translation Ability.
It is support by El Shafey (cited in Abdellah, 2002) who said that
translators should be aware of the fact that incorrect comprehension of a text
considerably decreases the quality of the translation. It means, comprehension of
the text is important in order to make a good translation.
translation. Related to chapter II,
Newmark (1988) states that, translation involves four processes: comprehension
of the vocabulary of the original source-language
source language text; comprehension of the
meaning of the original source-language
source language message; reformulation of the message
mes in
the target-language;
language; and judgment of the adequacy of the target-
target-language text. It
means that, after reading and comprehending the text, the translator then both
reformulate the meaning into the target language equivalently and insert that
meaning into
nto an appropriate target-language
target language sentence structure to convey the
meaning.
D. Conclusions and Suggestions
The finding shows that there is a positive correlation between students’
Reading Comprehension and their Translation Ability. It is proven by the value of
coefficient correlation between students’ reading comprehension and their
translation ability (0,677) is higher than r-table
r table (0,355). Meanwhile, the result of
hypothesis testing shows that t-observed
t observed found 4,952 is higher than t-table
t 1,699
with df= n-2 (29) in the level of significance 0.05. 0 05. Therefore, Ho is rejected and
H1 is accepted. The result then implies that there is a tendency that the higher the
score of students’ Reading Comprehension is, the higher their Translation Ability
score will be.
Related to the result of this research,
research, some suggestions are proposed; first,
the
he students should be motivated to learn Reading because the lecture would
contribute to the Translation
Tran ability of the students; second, the
he lecturers of both
Reading and Translation should be cooperated in such a way especially in
selecting learning materials, so that both subjects would support each other;
finally, ass the matter of fact, this research involved in small number of population
and sample, so it would be better better for subsequent researcher to involve more
population and samples with better instrument to optimize the objectivity of the
research.

Catatan: This article is compiled based on the writer’s thesis with her Advisor
A I
Drs. Jufri, M.Pd.
d. and Advisor II Havid Ardi, S.Pd., M.Hum.

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Journal of English Language Teaching,

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