Enhancing Students’ Critical Thinking through Translation Practice: A Narrative Review

Abstract

This paper delves into one of the primary challenges in higher education, which revolves around the methods employed by educators to cultivate enhanced critical thinking skills in students. While certain majors such as philosophy, logic, and literary criticism inherently demand higher levels of critical thinking, there exists a pressing need to investigate the efficacy of practical exercises like translation in fostering critical thinking abilities among university students (Ghazala, 2008; Beylard-Ozeroff, Lev?, & Popovi?, 1998). In this context, this narrative review embarks on an exploration of the intricate relationship between critical thinking and translation. While previous research has predominantly concentrated on the influence of critical thinking on translation quality, this study takes a novel perspective by assessing whether engagement in translation activities can indeed augment the critical thinking capabilities of students. Through an extensive literature review, this study examines existing research that elucidates the correlation between critical thinking and translation skills. Furthermore, it scrutinizes the fundamental constituents of critical thinking and the cognitive processes intricately involved in translation. The findings from this investigation unveil a positive connection between the practice of translation and the enhancement of critical thinking skills among students. Consequently, this narrative review not only contributes valuable insights but also underscores the potential educational advantages of incorporating translation exercises into curricula as a means to foster critical thinking.