Developed to provide proficiency in language translation whilst encouraging agency and reflexivity, this technique sees students locate and translate a source text from their language of study into English; as well as produce a written (reflexive) commentary on the task. Students are encouraged to choose a 500-700 word document or extract that aligns with their personal or academic interests. Source texts can be from fields as diverse as fiction, science, history, journalism, health etc. In addition to the translation, students submit drafts of their work and a commentary detailing the strategic approach adopted to produce the final translation; information on the text's target audience; issues that arose while completing the translation; and other salient themes discussed in class. The original source text, a workshopped draft, final draft, and commentary are submitted together. This technique is best suited to 3rd year classes where students are expected to have higher level critical thinking and translation skills. This assessment has been run with great success in FREN3310, with direct transferability within Languages and Cultures. However, this technique is also readily appropriated outside of language translation to broader traditions using qualitative data analysis, as in semiotic, conversation, or thematic analyses using a stimulus piece.
Details
- CLASS SIZE
- 20-40
- CLASS LEVEL
- Third year
- ASSESSMENT SECURITY
- Medium security
- TIME REQUIREMENTS
- Medium time
- GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES
- In-depth knowledge in the field(s) studied, Effective communication skills, Independence and creativity
- FEATURES
- Authentic
- TAGS
- scaffolded, personalised learning, reflective/reflexive, critical reflection, translation
Advantages
Supports student diversity through a personalised learning pedagogy as students can choose their own source texts for translation. Scaffolded assessment in which students are required to provide a commentary on their strategic choices (for a major essay or project for example) could be used across disciplines that seek to foster critical judgement and reflexivity.
Challenges
For those students engaged with specialist texts, the task may be made more challenging with the inclusion of specialist terminology. This can be a welcome challenge for diligent students, but is also easily managed by the inclusion approval requirement for source texts prior to commencing the task.
How it supports academic integrity
Students are required to provide evidence of originality though drafts and commentary (discussed in dedicated workshops). This regular and continued monitoring serves as a deterrent for academic misconduct. Students are also required to complete most of their translation in dedicated class time; hence their work is observed (and therefore outsourced work is more easily identifiable).
Authentic learning characteristics
engagement, authenticity and student ownership
Dr Amy Hubbell
a.hubbell@uq.edu.au
Amy is a specialist in Francophone autobiographies of exile and trauma. She is author of Hoarding Memory: Covering the Wounds of the Algerian War (U of Nebraska P, 2020), Remembering French Algeria: Pieds-Noirs, Identity and Exile (U of Nebraska P, 2015), and A la recherche d'un emploi: Business French in a Communicative Context (Hackett, 2017). She has co-edited several volumes including Places of Traumatic Memory - a Global Context (Palgrave Macmillan 2020), The Unspeakable: Representations of Trauma in Francophone Literature and Art (2013), and Textual and Visual Selves: Photography, Film and Comic Art in French Autobiography (U of Nebraska P, 2011). She is currently working on her new project, Terrorism Testimony: French Narratives of Survival. Find out more