Teaching Translation For English Majors In China's Universities

Translation competence (henceforth TC) developing is a challenging task. Very fortunately, the rapid development of TC studies and its correspondent models, one of the frontier areas in translation studies both at home and abroad, provides a tremendous opportunity for this and many other new investigations into students' TC developing. Moreover, nowadays it has become a commonplace in educational psychology that knowledge is constructed by learners, rather than being simply transmitted to them by their teachers. The learning process is the growth of personal knowledge. Learners construct knowledge through the interaction between new information and their preexisting experience. Learners' comprehensive context knowledge represented in different forms will be involved in the process. As a result, the traditional objectivist paradigm which has been occupying the dominant position for many years begins to lose the upper hand, while the newly pervasive constructivist paradigm shows its great vitality.Undoubtedly, the different nature and characteristics of these two main pedagogic paradigms predetermines their different functions in the process of teaching practice. How to collate and stipulate these two paradigms in a proper way and to deal with them with appropriate stress during the course of teaching translation for English majors in China's universities will greatly influence the optimization of translation teaching process, the improvement of translation teaching effect, and the development of translation teaching theory. It is worthy of note that, in recent years, along with the reform and opening-up policy going one step further, China has increased exchanges with many more foreign countries. More and more talents in foreign languages, especially qualified translators, are in great demand. However,it is really a pity that there are not so many translation schools in China to meet the urgent needs of society. So it is natural for foreign language colleges or departments of non-foreign language universities in China to share the task of potential capable and qualified translator training.The relevant research review both at home and abroad shows that no previous researches have ever attempted to establish a new method for students'TC developing based on the existing research achievements of TC studies and integrating the useful ingredients of the two main pedagogic paradigms mentioned above as well. The present dissertation, therefore, is of great necessity.Generally, the present dissertation aims at a tentative exploration into teaching translation for English majors in China's universities. To be more specific, on the one hand, the present dissertation makes a tentative exploration into a workable definition and the components of no-title passage translation competence on the basis of the research findings of the Spanish PACTE's empirical TC study; on the other hand, the present dissertation, greatly enlightened by a new trend in scientific research, namely, understanding com-plicated matters by drawing support from several theoretical systems or adopting a complex approach covering simple methods in the study of human beings and their real and mental world, tentatively establishes a new teaching approach to English majors' no-title passage translation competence developing in China's universities by integrating the merits of the two main pedagogic paradigms, namely, the objectivist paradigm and the constructivist paradigm.The standing point of the present dissertation lies in the following three aspects:(1) A text is made up of one or more than one no-title passages. Very interestingly, the translation part of TEM8 paper only consists of two no-title passage translations, each of which has about 150-200 English words or 200 Chinese characters or so. It is clear that no-title passage translation is, compared with text translation, the right material to be used for teaching translation. After all, the title is very helpful for translators to determine the theme and authorial intention of the text. In this sense, it goes without doubt that no-title passages, of which a text is made up, sound much more difficult to be understood and translated than the text itself.In other words, as long as the students can do no-title passage translation well, they can do text translation well, too. However, this is not developed adequately in the translation class for English majors in China's universities. (2) No-title passage translation competence developing must depend on the scientific understanding of the components of no-title passage translation competence. It is clear that the research achievements of TC studies, one of the frontier areas in translation studies both at home and abroad, make it possible and feasible. (3) No-title passage translation competence developing should be based on the establishment of an applicable and efficient theoretic approach to teaching translation. A new trend in scientific research, namely, understanding complicated matters by drawing support from several theoretical systems or adopting a complex approach covering simple methods in the study of human beings and their real and mental world, provides the present dissertation with enlightenment and guidance in its tentative establishment of a new approach to teaching translation for English majors in China's universities. It should be pointed out here that after analyzing advantages and disadvantages of the two main pedagogic paradigms, i.e. the objectivist paradigm and the constructivist paradigm, the present dissertation identifies their mutual complementarities and the necessity and possibility of a synthesis of them. As far as the present dissertation is concerned, it clearly can be seen that the first aspect highlights the importance and necessity and the last two aspects give more attention to its possibility and feasibility. Moreover, the third aspect reflects a new perspective of scientific research, which is the theoretical value of the present dissertation.This doctoral dissertation branches into six chapters. Chapter 1 presents a general introduction to the present dissertation. Chapters 2 and 3 lay the foundation for the present dissertation with a critical literature review, making an analytical comparison of the nature, characteristics, functions and identifying the necessity and possibility of a synthesis of the two main pervasive pedagogic paradigms, i.e. the objectivist paradigm and the con-structivist paradigm. Chapter 4 provides assistance for the present dissertation, making good use of the existing research achievements of TC studies to explore no-title passage translation competence. Chapter 5, greatly enlightened by the new trend in scientific research, namely, understanding complicated matters by drawing support from several theoretical systems or adopting a complex approach covering simple methods in the study of human beings and their real and mental world, formulates a tentative synthetic new approach to teaching translation for English majors in China's universities. Chapter 6 offers conclusions. Methodologically, the present dissertation is mainly qualitative, synthesizing theoretical speculation (a new teaching method establishment) and empirical study (teaching experiment).As clearly can be seen from above, one focus of the present dissertation is on the estab-lishment of a more efficient and more comprehensive new approach to teaching translation to develop English majors' no-title passage translation competence in China's universities. Since the two main pervasive paradigms, the merits of which are to be integrated, are the objectivist paradigm and the constructivist paradigm, the name of the new teaching approach is Objectivist-Constructivist Theoretic Approach (OCTA for short). For the convenience of expression, the present dissertation, borrowing the theoretical framework proposed by Richards & Rodgers (1986) for analyzing instructional systems in the field of foreign language teaching, divides the OCTA model into the following three aspects: Theoretical Foundation, Instructional Design and Pedagogic Procedures.To be more specific, "Theoretical Foundation", the most fundamental level, refers to theories of translation studies and theories of learning & teaching that serve as the source of principles and practices implemented in teaching translation for English majors in China's universities. "Instructional Design" is the link between "Theoretical Foundation" and "Pedagogic Procedures". At the level of "Instructional Design", the use of certain types of teaching activities as a consequence of its theoretical assumptions about translation and learning will be seen. "Pedagogic Procedures" is the level at which how the OCTA model realizes its "Theoretical Foundation" and "Instructional Design" in classroom behavior is described. It is worthy of note that, all in all, the interplay among these three aspects in the OCTA model can be seen as follows:"Instructional Design" is a consequence of "Theoretical Foundation",while "Pedagogic Procedures" is a realization and feedback of both "Theoretical Foundation" and "Instructional Design" in the actual pedagogic practice, namely, teaching translation for English majors in China's universities in the present dissertation.A survey shows that translation, to almost all the fresh English majors in China's universities, is only regarded as an effective way to help them learn English. All of them have very little translation knowledge. They have not received any formal translation training before they begin to have translation class as English majors. In order to make some (certainly not all) of these no-title passage translation "novices" into no-title passage translation "experts" as quickly and effectively as possible in such a very short time (54 weeks in all, but two class hours per week), it is believed in the present dissertation that the whole process for teaching translation for English majors in China's universities should by nature be regarded as one that students develop their no-title passage translation competence within the theoretical framework of the OCTA model, which can be divided into two closely related stages:1. Memorization of the knowledge related to no-title passage translation competence,developing.2. Application of the knowledge related.to no-title passage translation competence developing. The former is conducted in such a translation course type as Translation Introductory Lecture which is very workable at the primary learning stage, in which the objectivist paradigm is employed and knowledge related to no-title passage translation competence developing such as basic translation principles, translation professionalization, translation instruments, translation strategies, learning strategies of objectivism and constructivism, is transmitted to the students. The latter is conducted in such a translation course type as Translation Project Workshop which is very workable at the advanced learning stage. In such a translation classroom, the constructivist paradigm is employed and students are guided to experience the process of no-title passage translation competence developing through doing the real practice materials (such as the translation part of TEM8) in the learning-centered classroom.Following this, the present dissertation finds it possible for students to develop their no-title passage translation competence as quickly as they can based on the knowledge they have accumulated in the primary learning stage. In this sense, it may be possible for some (certainly not all) to become self-confident autonomous learners with the very sense of responsibility towards their future translation work after graduation.In response to the research questions, the major conclusions read as follows:1. What are the workable definition as well as the components of no-title passage translation competence?Conceptual studies in this doctoral dissertation reveals that (1) In a broad sense, the present dissertation adopts PACTE's TC model, that is, no-title passage translation competence is made up of such 6 sub-competences as bilingual sub-competence, extra-linguistic sub-competence, knowledge about translation sub-competence, instrumental sub-competence, strategic sub-competence and psycho-physiological components, among which strategic sub-competence is essential because it affects all the others and causes inter-relations among them by controlling the translation process (PACTE,2005:03). (2) In a narrow sense, the present dissertation adopts PACTE's TC model but takes only three sub-competences from it, i.e. the strategic, instrumental and knowledge about translation, because of the fact that any bilingual has knowledge of two languages and may have extra-linguistic knowledge, and that teaching time distribution is not suitable for the full development of all the 6 sub-competences in translation classroom.More importantly, the present dissertation holds that strategic sub-competence, the essential one, can be explicitly further divided into such five sub-sub-competences that are closely interrelated, multi-layered, convertible and dynamic as competence to determine the authorial intention and passage underlying theme, competence to construct a cognitive framework, competence to reveal the implied meaning of the original text, competence to conduct the diction in the target language, competence to make the target text coherent and cohesive. Of these five sub-sub-competences, the second occupies the most important position. This is proved by the results from the empirical study in Chapter 4. It should be pointed out that in the actual course of no-title passage translation competence developing, all the sub-competences and sub-sub-competences are developed hand in hand constantly.2. Theoretically, why is the OCTA model more efficient for English majors'no-title passage translation competence developing in China's universities?According to the present research, there are two main reasons as follows:Firstly, the OCTA model is a two-dimensional new model for translation teaching, which draws upon the rich nutrition from the two main pedagogic paradigms, i.e. the objectivist paradigm and the constructivist paradigm. It is worthy of note that in this new model, knowledge transmission, the key notion of the objectivist paradigm, to some extent, can solve the main problems that the constructivist paradigm faces, while learning in real-life or real-life-like situations, the key notion of the objectivist paradigm, to some extent, can solve the main problems that the objectivist paradigm faces. In this sense, within the framework of the OCTA model, both the objectivist paradigm and the constructivist paradigm can be enriched and complemented tentatively. As mentioned above, the objectivist paradigm is characterized by knowledge transmission, suitable for the novice students at the primary learning stage, while the constructivist paradigm is characterized by learning in real-life or real-life-like situations, suitable for the students at the advanced learning stage. Since any process of competence developing can be made up of two stages: the primary learning stage and the advanced learning stage, there is no exception for no-title passage translation competence developing.Secondly, the OCTA model proves to be a workable translation teaching approach in the current Chinese translation teaching context. (1) The objectivist paradigm still occupies the dominant position. Both teachers and students get accustomed to it. In addition, at the primary learning stage, what the students will meet with are predominantly well-structured questions. (2) Compared with the objectivist paradigm, the constructivist paradigm is much more workable for ill-structured questions. As to no-title passage translation competence developing, the usual prerequisites to the effective application of the constructivist paradigm are:(â…°) Teachers are participants of formal translation teaching training and have professional translation experiences. (â…±) Students have grasped enough knowledge related to no-title passage translation competence developing. (â…²) Both teachers and students should be competent enough to make use of the constructivist paradigm, which to some extent can be dealt with in advance at the primary learning stage. What is worth noting is that, as opposed to the objectivist paradigm, the constructivist paradigm does not work well without more teaching time and high quality teaching resources though it proves much better in teaching effect, which sounds a great challenge in the current Chinese translation teaching context. According to the present dissertation, a new approach to teaching translation for English majors in China's universities should be established on the basis of integrating the merits of the two main pedagogic paradigms mentioned above for a more efficient account for no-title passage translation competence developing.3. From an empirical perspective, to what degree is the OCTA model more efficient for English.majors' no-title passage translation competence developing?Heavily based on data analyses and accompanying discussions (see Chapter 5 for further information), such a conclusion is drawn in the present dissertation as follows:in the current Chinese translation teaching context, the OCTA model proves much more efficient than both the objectivist paradigm and the constructivist paradigm. To be more specific, at the end of their first year translation teaching program (Month 8 of Tuition), English majors taught in the OCTA model have their no-title passage translation competence improved more remarkably than those taught either in the objectivist paradigm or in the constructivist paradigm. Moreover, granting that all the sub-competences interact with each other in any translation and the improvement of any one may lead to the improvement of the others, the present dissertation infers that all the other sub-competences, i.e. bilingual sub-competence, extra-linguistic sub-competence and psycho-physiological components, excluded from this study, can be improved, too. It is believed in the present dissertation that the whole process for teaching translation for English majors in China's universities should by nature be regarded as one that students develop their no-title passage translation competence within the theoretical framework of the OCTA model.In conclusion, the rapid development of TC studies both at home and abroad provides a fresh impetus for China's translation teaching studies, and translation teaching studies in China begin to step into a new stage, with its focus shifting from related knowledge transmission and translation technique explanation to students'TC developing. In the present dissertation, the tentative exploration into the definition and components of no-title passage translation competence as well can be regarded as the enrichment and supplement to the existing research achievements of TC studies. And the tentative establishment of the new OCTA model, to some extent, can resolve the main problems that the two main pedagogic paradigms, i.e. the objectivist paradigm and the constructivist paradigm, have confronted with. Evidently, the attempted integration of the two main existing teaching paradigms can be regarded as a proof of the validity of the complex approach covering simple methods. Furthermore, the OCTA model can be extended further to other translation teaching projects. It is believed that the present dissertation will initiate a dialogue towards innovation for teaching translation for English majors in China's universities.