The study of eye movements using eye tracking technology has become an important method in a number of areas within translation studies (TS) (see, for example, Doherty & Kruger 2018; Hvelplund 2014; Kruger 2019; O’Brien 2009; Walker & Federici 2018). It has been used extensively in translation process research (TPR) to study the cognitive processes involved in translation and post-editing, as well as in studies on the translator’s workspace (see Ergonomics and translation workplaces) and to a lesser extent in other processes like interpreting. The past two decades have seen a rapid and accelerating growth in the use of eye tracking in TPR but also in studies that focus on the processing and reception of translation products. In Audiovisual translation (AVT), subtitling has been studied using eye tracking since the 1980s and as AVT has developed a stronger identity, eye tracking has become one of the most important methods for investigating how viewers process text in multimodal contexts. With a growing number of articles, chapters and volumes on the use of eye tracking in TS, the methodology has become more robust and current trends focus on establishing conversations with neighbouring fields like psychology, cognitive science, and linguistics. Eye tracking is a powerful tool in the hands of TS scholars and, if used responsibly, it can provide sound empirical evidence and allow researchers to test hypotheses and theories about processes during the production and reception of translation that have previously relied predominantly on philosophical approaches and textual evidence.

References

Alves, Fabio

2015 “Translation process research at the interface.” In Psycholinguistic and cognitive inquiries into translation and interpreting, ed. by Aline Ferreira, and John W. Schwieter, 17–25. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Chen, Sijia

2018 “A pen-eye-voice approach towards the process of note-taking and consecutive interpreting: An experimental design.” International Journal of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies 6 (2): 1–8.

Chen, Sijia, Jan-Louis Kruger, and Stephen Doherty

2021 "Reading patterns and cognitive processing in an eye-tracking study of note-reading in consecutive interpreting." Interpreting 23v(1): 76–102.

Doherty, Stephen, and Jan-Louis Kruger

2018 “The development of eye tracking in empirical research on subtitling and captioning.” In Seeing into Screens: Eye tracking and the moving image, ed. by Tessa Dwyer, Claire Perkins, Sean Redmond, and Jodi Sita, 46–64. London: Bloomsbury.

Hvelplund, Kristian Tangsaard

2014 “Eye tracking and the translation process: reflections on the analysis and interpretation of eye-tracking data.” MonTi: Monografías de Traducción e Interpretación, special issue on Minding Translation/Con la traducción en mente, 201–223.

Jakobsen, Arnt Lykke, and Kristian T. Jensen

2008 “Eye movement behaviour across four different types of reading task.” In Looking at eyes, ed. by Susanne Göpferich, Arnt Lykke Jakobsen, and Inger M. Mees, 103–124. Frederiksberg: Samfundlitteratur.

Just, Marcel Adam, and Patricia A. Carpenter

1980 “A theory of reading: From eye fixations to comprehension.” Psychological Review 87 (4): 329–354.

Lacruz, Isabel

2017 “Cognitive Effort in Translation, Editing, and Post‐editing.” In The handbook of translation and cognition, ed. by John W. Schwieter, and Aline Ferreira, 386–401. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Liao, Sixin, Lili Yu, Erik D. Reichle, and Jan-Louis Kruger

2020 "Using eye movements to study the reading of subtitles in video." Scientific Studies of Reading. Advanced online publication.

Liversedge, Simon P., Ian D. Gilchrist, and Stefan Everling

(eds) 2013 The Oxford Handbook of Eye Movements. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Martínez-Gómez, Pascual, Dan Han, Michael Carl, and Akiko Aizawa

2018 “Recognition and characterization of translator attributes using sequences of fixations and keystrokes.” In Eye Tracking and Multidisciplinary Studies on Translation, ed. by Callum Walker, and Federico M. Federici, 97–120. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Moorkens, Joost

2018 “Eye tracking as a measure of cognitive effort for post-editing of machine translation.” In Eye Tracking and Multidisciplinary Studies on Translation, ed. by Callum Walker and Federico M. Federici, 55–69. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

O’Brien, Sharon

2009 “Eye tracking in translation process research: methodological challenges and solutions.” In Methodology, technology and innovation in translation process research, ed. by Inger M. Mees, Fabio Alves, and Susanne Göpferich, 251–266. Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur.

Rayner, Keith

1998 “Eye movements in reading and information processing: 20 years of research.” Psychological bulletin 124 (3): 372–422.

Rayner, Keith, Arnold D. Well, and Alexander Pollatsek

1980 “Asymmetry of the effective visual field in reading.” Attention, Perception & Psychophysics 27 (6): 537–544.

Seeber, Killian G.

2017 “Multimodal Processing in Simultaneous Interpreting.” In The handbook of translation and cognition, ed. by John W. Schwieter, and Aline Ferreira, 461–475. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Teixeira, Carlos S., and Sharon O’Brien

2018 “Overcoming methodological challenges of eye tracking in the translation workplace.” In Eye Tracking and Multidisciplinary Studies on Translation, ed. by Callum Walker, and Federico M. Federici, 33–54. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Further essential reading

Chmiel, Agnieszka, Przemyslaw Janikowski, and Agnieszka Lijewska

2020 “Multimodal processing in simultaneous interpreting with text: Interpreters focus more on the visual than the auditory modality.” Target 32 (1): 37–58.

Holmqvist, Kenneth, Marcus Nyström, Richard Andersson, Richard Dewhurst, Halszka Jarodzka, and Joost van de Weijer

2011 Eye Tracking: A Comprehensive Guide to Methods and Measures. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kruger, Jan-Louis

2019 “Eye tracking in audiovisual translation research.” In Routledge Handbook of Audiovisual Translation, ed. by Luis Perez-Gonzalez, 366–382. London: Routledge.

Rayner, Keith

2009 “Eye movements in reading: Models and data.” Journal of eye movement research 2 (5): 1–10.

Walker, Callum, and Federico M. Federici

(eds) 2018 Eye tracking and multidisciplinary studies on translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.