The 9th International Conference on English Language Teaching (ELT) In China (ELT2020)

615 / 2020-03-20 22:37:17

An Eye-tracking Study on Cognitive Load in E-C Sight Translation of Metaphor

eye-tracking; cognitive load; sight translation; metaphor

Teaching of Translation and Interpreting > Teaching of Translation and Interpreting

This paper aims to study on the cognitive load in in E-C sight translation of metaphor by means of EyeLink 1000 plus desktop. The eye-movement data of7 participants were collected by eye-tracking technology, including Total Fixation Time, First Pass Fixation Time and Total Fixation Number, in the process of E-C sight translation, in order to analyze and discuss how the cognitive load is distributed between metaphorical and literal phrases, what differences exist between the cognitive load of various categories of metaphorical phrases and what influence can different strategies of metaphor translation have on the cognitive load. The results are as follows: (1) The cognitive load of sight translating metaphorical phrases from English to Chinese is larger than that of literal phrases. (2) There are significant differences of cognitive load across each category of metaphorical phrases, especially between natural phenomenon metaphorical phrases and construction metaphorical phrases or journey metaphorical phrases. (3) In terms of different strategies adopted by participants, there are no marked differences between M-M procedure and M-P procedure.