Measuring Progress in Reading Comprehension Skills in Foreign-Language Teaching for Translators. An Assessmentbased Experience

Abstract

In this article we will present the first results of foreign-language acquisition verification tests performed by students of the Translation and Interpreting degree programme taught at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting (FTI) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), which provide data on the level of their reading comprehension skills in their first and second foreign languages. The tests are chiefly intended to check whether pre-established language levels for the subjects that are part of the syllabus match those actually attained by students upon completion of the subjects in question. We will describe the test process, including the characteristics of the tests and how they are carried out, the characteristics of the sample studied, the instrument used, the results obtained and the trends observed. The ultimate purpose of the tests is to improve the training students receive, as the results obtained will serve as a basis for changing or correcting the different subjects’ initial and final reading comprehension skill levels and/or the approach taken by teaching staff, thus enabling us to better define progress in the acquisition of foreign-language reading comprehension skills.