A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF RELATIVIZATION IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC WITH REFERENCE TO TRANSLATION PEDAGOGY

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This thesis presents a theoretical overview of relativization in English, relativization in Arabic, and contrasts between them. It also investigates the problems encountered by fourth-year English department students of El-Mergib University in Libya in translating relative clauses from English into Arabic and vice versa. Despite the fact that some studies have been conducted that include relativization in English and Arabic, none of them could be considered comprehensive. Therefore, this thesis presents a detailed discussion of relativization in both languages and examines translation between them. It can also be considered as an attempt to suggest a link between contrastive linguistics and translation studies.

It also aims to persuade the officials of the University of El-Mergib to revise the teaching programme at the department of English and/or to establish a new programme in which translation is taught as a separate course. This is shown in the remedial solutions suggested in the conclusion chapter of this thesis.

The thesis comprises seven chapters. Chapter One is an introduction to the study. Chapter Two reviews the relevant literature on contrastive studies and relativization in the world’s languages with an emphasis on English-Arabic relativization. Chapter Three presents a theoretical discussion of translation theories, pedagogy, and assessment. Chapter Four gives a theoretical background to relativization in English, relativization in Arabic, and a contrastive study between them. Chapter Five presents the research methodology and design. Chapter Six presents the quantitative and qualitative data analysis. This chapter is the empirical part of the research. It focuses on the description of students’ errors. Chapter Seven (the last one) deals with the conclusion, presents some remedial solutions, gives some recommendations for the University of El-Mergib to overcome the students’ difficulties in translating relative clauses from English into Arabic and vice versa, and suggests some topics for further research.