Translation Teachers’ Practical Knowledge About Instruction Of Written Translation:a Case Study

For quite a long time the majority of translation teachers(teachers of courses aimed at developing students’ translation or interpreting competence in BTI or MTI programs)in China will have been those who have ever taught or majored in a foreign language.Constrained by the disciplinary background and working experience,they can’t always measure up to the teaching requirements of translation major.So how to promote those teachers’ professional development is top on the agenda of building up a qualified team of translation teachers.Practical knowledge is believed to be the knowledge base of teachers’ professional development.As there has been little systematic study on teachers’ practical knowledge in the subject area of translation,to explore it is of both theoretical and pragmatic significance.The author conducted a multiple-case study investigating the practical knowledge of three instructors teaching written translation by collecting data through classroom observation,interview of teachers and students,questionnaire-survey among students,and review of other materials.Five research questions are addressed:1)What are the contents of the three instructors’ practical knowledge about instruction of written translation? 2)What elements of practical knowledge dominate their decision-making in teaching written translation? 3)What are the sources of their practical knowledge? 4)When they begin to teach written translation,how is their new practical knowledge generated? 5)Are there any common features in their thoughts and behaviors in constructing practical knowledge? If yes,what are they?Main findings of this research are as follows:First,five major categories of the three instructors’ practical knowledge about written translation instruction are identified,namely,knowledge about the subject,knowledge about the course,pedagogical content knowledge,knowledge about students and knowledge about self.Knowledge about the subject includes teachers’ conception of translation as a discipline,conception of the course-related translation activity,definition of the course-related translator competence,and priority resolution of the course-related sub-translator competences.Knowledge about the course pertains to positioning of the course by teachers,identification of course objectives and key contents,practical principles in organizing the course,practical rules in developing,selecting and applying course resources.Pedagogical content knowledge involves teachers’ knowledge of providing guidance in translation learning,conducting a class,developing supportive instructional activities,deciding the way ofdoing homework,evaluating students’ translations,explaining and commentating on translation exercises.Knowledge about students concerns how teachers characterize their students and conceptualize the teacher-student relationship and the status of students in classroom instruction.Knowledge about self is teachers’ conception of their interactive relations with written translation instruction and self-evaluation.Second,the teachers’ conception of the course-related translation activity and their knowledge of students dominate their decision-making in teaching written translation.Third,the sources of the three teachers’ practical knowledge are mainly their personal learning experience,apprenticeship of observation,education in a normal institution,observation of classroom instruction,exchange of teaching experience,their own teaching experience,their interactive experience with students,and educational as well as pedagogical theories.Fourth,when they begin to teach written translation,the newly generated practical knowledge of the three teachers is mainly their pedagogical content knowledge,and its generation is of a process,triggered up by a problematic situation,backed up with development of their subject expertise,in which the three teachers,through reflection in action,put into use the practical knowledge they obtain from their in-service experience,experience in the class,educational as well as pedagogical theories until they identify it as a “true” belief by assessing the effect of applying it.Fifth,the three teachers share common features in thoughts and behaviors in constructing their practical knowledge about instruction of written translation.These features include: an explicit career objective,passion for translation and translation instruction,awareness of lifelong learning,awareness of updating teaching,a student-centered teaching concept and the initiative of mobilizing their own advantages to conduct classroom instruction.Besides,this study also finds three subject-related features of the practical knowledge about instruction of written translation.First,part of student training is aimed at increasing their professionalism as a translator.Second,evaluating students’ translations,explaining and commentating on the translation exercise are the major tasks of translation courses,supplemented with other activities deemed by the teacher as supportive for translation learning.Third,translating experience is an important means through which teachers involve themselves in teaching written translation.The ways of involvement include teachers obtaining their teaching materials from theirfirst-hand translating experience,teachers evaluating students’ translations by their translating experience-based assessing ability,and teachers explaining and commentating on the translation exercise by the knowledge they obtain from their reflections over and summary of their personal translating practice.Another byproduct of this study is that command of subject expertise of a teacher determines whether he or she is able to put the practical knowledge in mind into real action.This study could help translation teachers gain a better understanding of written translation instruction,provide theoretical grounds for the professional development of translation teachers,and encourage more translation teachers to embark on a self-development journey.Meanwhile,it advances the research on teachers’ practical knowledge to a new subject content area,tentatively investigates the relations among all different elements of teachers’ practical knowledge and demonstrates by taking translation teachers as an example that command of subject expertise of a teacher is an important factor that determines whether he or she is able to put his or her practical knowledge in mind into real action.Therefore,it’s fair to say that this study also contributes to the theoretical exploration on teachers’ practical knowledge.