The Application Of Peer Review To Translation Teaching Of English Majors

In recent years, with the increasing demands for translation professionals in thesociety, the problem of translation teaching gradually attracts academic attention. It iscommonly recognized that translation teaching is an important part of languageteaching. However, in China, many English teachers find it tedious and unrewardingto mark students’ translation work. Considering the limited time allocated to teachingtranslation and heavy task for English major students, the author puts forward analternative approach of facilitating students’ translation competence by peer reviewactivity. Meanwhile, four theories are applied to support this activity, which areCollaborative Learning Theory, Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD),Second Language Acquisition Theory as well as Gagne’s Conditions of Learning andInformation Processing Mode.The research aims to explore the validity and feasibility of peer review intranslation teaching to English majors. Four research questions are presented in thisstudy:1) What are students’ attitudes towards peer review in the translation classes?2)How does the activity of peer review influence students’ translating proficiency?3)Compared with the traditional means of teacher review, can students make moreprogress in their translation through the application of peer review activity?Two English teaching classes of sophomore (N=61) in Qilu Normal Universityof English major were involved in this study. The two classes were instructed by theresearcher and randomly assigned as the Experimental Class (EC) and ControlledClass (CC).The students from the Experimental Class received peer response inwritten or oral forms through the activity of peer review, whereas the Controlled Classfollowed the traditional means of teacher review and was required to make specificcorrections out of the class, as was done in the traditional practices. The instrumentsadopted in this teaching experiment mainly included three parts, namely, the twotranslation competence tests(pre-test and post-test), one questionnaire which can be used both in Pre-test and Post-test stage, and the interview conducted in theexperimental class. Translation competence was examined at the beginning and theend of the research which lasted l8weeks.The results of the questionnaire revealed that most students in the ExperimentalClass were satisfied with peer review activity in their translation classes. Studentsregarded peer review as a useful and helpful way to enhance their translationcompetence. Besides, the findings of the research demonstrate that peer review has apositive effect on English majors’ translation performance. Furthermore, an analysisof the two translation competence tests(pre-test and post-test) showed that studentsfrom the Experimental class made more progress than those from the Controlled class.It also indicates that peer review plays a complementary role compared with thetraditional means of teacher review, which can help students to foster learnerautonomy and promote their translation skills as well as improve their communicativecompetence.At last, some possible solutions are put forward for further study. We can drawthe conclusion that the adoption of peer review in the translation classes for ChineseEnglish majors is both feasible and beneficial. Consequently, pedagogicalimplications are provided for the theory and practice of teaching and learning Englishtranslation.