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TIPTON, REBECCA. THE ROUTLEDGE GUIDE TO TEACHING ETHICS
IN TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING EDUCATION. LONDON/NEW
YORK, ROUTLEDGE, 2024, 221 PP., ISBN 978-0-367-56581-7.
With The Routledge Guide to Teaching Ethics in Translation and
Interpreting Education, Rebecca Tipton provides teachers of translation and
interpreting (TI) with a thoughtful anchor and a set of practical ideas to support
a pedagogically committed approach to ethics. In its breadth and scope, this
excellent book is a must-read for translation and interpreting educators,
wherever they work and whatever curriculum they teach. The author makes
clear the importance of ethics education in an integrated approach and does
not limit herself to the necessary conceptual reflection, but offers suggestions
for practical activities and case examples for the development of ethics-based
curricula and ethics education in different fields of TI, as well as addressing
pressing issues such as ethics in machine translation, post-editing and
research. These suggestions are framed in such a way that they can be
developed and adapted to specific and diverse teaching contexts, and this is
one of the book’s strengths. Thus, it is extremely useful and transferable
because, in addition to offering reflections on current approaches to ethics
education in TI, encouraging a critical approach to pedagogical frameworks
and their capacity to promote ethics education, it presents open-ended
proposals for all of us to use or adapt in our reflection and training action,
which are provided in three essential ways as suitable in each chapter:
prompts for reflection, addressed to educators; points for discussion, that can
be used in the classroom, and task suggestions, which could be implemented
as they are or adapted as appropriate to our teaching.
Though in recent years there has been a growing interest in ethical
issues in TI education (Baker & Maier, 2011; Greenall et al., 2019; Koskinen
& Pokorn, 2020), there is not much research to date on ethics in the context
of teaching and learning in TI programmes (Johnston, 2018) and even less
research on what happens afterwards in the professional real world (Carreira,
2024), where there are many bad practices that could also be reported and
prevented through TI training imbued with comprehensive ethics. At the same
time, as Tipton notes (p. 3-4), “although the concept of ethical competence is
gaining increasing prominence, inter alia in frameworks such as the European
Masters in Translation competence framework, it remains under-theorised
and under-investigated”. For all these reasons, this monograph is an
unavoidable and essential point of reference for self-reflection and revision of
the teaching practice of educators, for the development of the teaching of
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ethics in TI training and for the incorporation of ethics in the training of
translators and interpreters.
Tipton bases the book on three fundamental principles. First, the fact
that meaningful ethics education should go beyond teaching that merely
raises awareness of issues and learning that is primarily oriented towards
speculative thinking. It has to focus on what students do: that is, how students
learn to cultivate ethical thinking and ethical responsibility, whether in relation
to translation or interpreting, academic research, interpersonal relationships
or responsibility to the profession and society at large. Crucially, this requires
and depends on “ethical work” being a constant feature of the curriculum. And
this feeds back into the second fundamental principle that this book promotes:
an understanding that embedding the habit of critical thinking and extending
ethical engagement beyond the curriculum requires an integrated approach,
in the content taught, the practical tasks and all interaction in the classroom.
These two tenets intertwine to understand the importance of the third
of the fundamental principles underlying the book’s approach: aim. Ethical
education is not only oriented towards practice-based problem solving, but in
an essential way it must also encompass the moral development of students,
in line with a central purpose of education in its broadest sense. This, Tipton
(p. 2) states, “brings the focus back to how students learn and the need to
factor variability in ethical maturity into the planning phase. It also underscores
the need to maintain a healthy level of criticality towards outcomes-based
approaches to learning, which may not always be suitable for achieving some
aspects of ethical development”. I consider this aspect to be particularly
important at the present time, when technologisation and the often uncritical
fascination with the use of technologies applied to TI can supposedly help to
optimise results and streamline processes, and the humanistic and
communicative essence of the TI profession is in danger of being overlooked,
as well as not helping the assumption of a professional identity, together with
the responsibility it implies and the labour rights it deserves. Training from a
holistic and comprehensive ethical approach as Tipton postulates is not only
necessary but urgent and that is why this book is basic for the whole
community of TI educators, to promote in them the (self)reflexivity on which
the author rightly insists, as a concept that runs through the book since it is
the key to the development of the ethical perspective.
After the introduction, the book is organised into five chapters ranging
from teaching to research. Chapter 1, “Ethics teaching and teaching ethics”,
is divided into two parts. The first explores how theories of translation and
interpreting contribute to shaping ethics education in TI programmes, their
interrelationships and the issues they raise for teaching, learning and
assessment (Floros, 2011; Monzó-Nebot & Wallace, 2020) and what aspects
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of moral philosophy might contribute. For this second aspect, the author
suggests the convenience of a collaborative approach in which the areas of
TI and Philosophy team up, as it would help to foster synergies between moral
philosophy and TI theories. Guidance is also provided on developing an
integrated plan to ethics education, breaking down ethics teaching into
practical components, from awareness-raising to engagement beyond the
curriculum.
The second section of this first chapter focuses on ethical and moral
issues related to teaching practice. It has two main aims: firstly, to provide a
context and scope for structured individual reflection on what it means to
educate in the context of neoliberal capitalism, encouraging critical evaluation
of teaching practice. It seems important to me to highlight how the author
alludes to the relevance of inclusion in evaluation. Sometimes we only
become aware of the adaptations that some students need because of
declared specific circumstances. But the reality of our classrooms is becoming
more and more diverse and the well-being of the student body is a factor that
we should never forget. Secondly, based on social responsibility as an ethical
framework, the author stresses the importance of helping educators to
respond coherently to moral values for greater equity, equality, diversity and
inclusion in teaching and learning in higher education by promoting an
intersectional approach, that is, one that takes into account aspects of ethical
identity, culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social class, health, etc.
For identities are not monolithic, but rather points of intersection of various
axes that shape us. Here, it would have been appreciated if the origin of the
intersectional perspective, that comes from critical feminist pedagogy, had
been alluded to by referring to the work of Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989, 2017).
Chapter 2, “Ethics and the translation curriculum (I)”, is the first of two
chapters exploring ethics in the translation curriculum (the second, Chapter 3,
focuses on technologies). This chapter encourages reflection on the
development of ethical responsibility through critical engagement with
competence-based concepts and learning outcomes. It develops suggestions
for enhancing ethical sensitivity by focusing on pre-translation activities
designed to enable students to experience first-hand the vulnerability of being
a translated subject, to reflect on reading as an ethical activity and its
implications for translation, and to identify ethical issues in different types of
text. The fields of literary and commercial translation are discussed as settings
for exploring different types of classroom activities (individual and group) to
develop ethical sensitivity and ethical reasoning skills. Attention is also given
to the ethical challenges posed by transcreative approaches. I find it
particularly important that in this chapter Tipton draws attention to the fact that
a competency-based translation curriculum has the potential to systematise
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learning and skills development in a way that helps to foster integrity and depth
at the individual level by creating reliable routines of research and revision,
building confidence and (in principle) enhancing the reliability and quality of
the final translated output, but that “however, its instrumentalist orientation can
mask numerous issues relevant to student learning. One student’s idea of
thoroughness, for instance, may be far removed from another’s, and not
simply for reasons of personal effort. Differences in literacy development,
including digital literacies, also play a part, as do highly situated tasks for
which students often lack relevant external points of reference” (p. 44). Hence,
the importance of promoting situated learning, following for example Kiraly
(1995) or Ehrensberger-Dow & Massey (2013).
Chapter 3, “Ethics and the translation curriculum (II): Technologies in
focus”, focuses on technologies, including those used to aid the translation
process and those used to disseminate translated products in the digital
environment. Emphasis is placed on the importance of cultivating digital
reflexivity to encourage systematic thinking. The chapter highlights the
importance of developing effective digital ethics practices in the deployment
of technologies and in monitoring their impact on translators’ work and
remuneration. It explores various facets of machine translation and its ethical
implications, from text preparation to assessments of its use in situations
where people experience particular vulnerabilities (e.g. health and refugee
services). It also examines the potential of collaborative practice and
technologies used to support translation in crisis situations, extending the
discussion to volunteer translation work in activities designed to support
access to education, as an example. The activities invite students to reflect on
the possibilities of platforms and the ethical implications of professionals and
non-professionals working together in certain crisis situations. Finally, the
chapter explores the potential of Wikipedia as a resource and learning
environment. The activities facilitate engagement with Wikipedia's “neutral
point of view” policy and the implications of that policy for translation practice.
The proposed activity suggestions are designed to raise students' awareness
of the importance of digital ethics in the development of professional
responsibility (Mitchell-Schuitevoerder, 2020), the social consequences of
particular computer-assisted translation solutions and the ethical implications
of engaging in various forms of online collaborative translation. Thus, at a
broader level, the chapter encourages approaches to teaching and learning
that reflect on the implications of technology for intercultural encounters and
the ways in which the “other” is perceived through and as a consequence of
human-machine interactions. It also examines changing attitudes to
computer-assisted translation among the general population and the
implications for the professional translator's self-concept. Digital reflexivity is
seen as a critical disposition for translation practice and is promoted as a
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supporting skill in the development of ethical responsibility. It would have been
appreciated, when addressing digital ethic awareness and copyright issues,
to relate it to the importance of information competence in TI, which should
always include training on ethics in all information management (Paradowska,
2021).
Chapter 4, “Ethics and the interpreting curriculum”, is devoted to ethics
training in the interpreting curriculum in all its forms, addressing both dialogue
interpreting and conference interpreting. It should be noted that Tipton is also
co-author of Dialogue Interpreting: A Guide to Interpreting in Public Services
and the Community (Tipton & Furmanek, 2016). The chapter emphasises an
integrated and contextualised approach to teaching ethics (following Biagini,
Boyd & Monacelli, 2017) with practice at its core. It examines a wide range of
pedagogical approaches to the development of ethical decision-making and
responsibility-taking in the interpreting curriculum. In relation to the training of
dialogue interpreters, the chapter highlights the potential of the Demand
Control Schema put forward by Dean and Pollard (2013) to develop the ethical
decision-making of spoken language interpreters, rather than the use of
hypothetical questions about what the learner might do in certain situations. It
also shows how role-playing and dramaturgical approaches can complement
students’ learning, which is often anchored around scripted role-plays,
opening up new possibilities for classroom participation and the development
of ethical responsibility. With regard to conference interpreting, the chapter
suggests ways of incorporating academic research into materials
development and classroom activities to address the specific challenges of
decision-making, particularly in political and institutional contexts. The
benefits and limitations of case-based learning in the ethical training of
interpreters are discussed. At last, the chapter explores different
conceptualisations of interpreter agency through social justice and activist
paradigms and their potential to enhance interpreter decision-making in
relation to their wider social role, inviting critical reflection on the relationship
between activism and professional ethics.
Finally, Chapter 5, “Teaching research ethics”, focuses on teaching
research ethics in TI education. It highlights the influence of the biomedical
sciences on the development of research ethics in the humanities and social
sciences and encourages educators to situate reflection on research ethics in
their local institutional contexts. It supports the systematic examination of
concepts such as integrity and risk throughout the research process, from
design to data collection and storage, and highlights the influence of different
moral philosophical perspectives on research ethics. Particular attention is
paid to the emerging interest in an “ethics of care” in academic research. A
significant part of the chapter is devoted to practical suggestions for
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developing skills in dealing with the ethical dimensions of common data
collection methods in qualitative research. It also emphasises the importance
of experiential learning and of providing students with problem-solving
opportunities in exercises based on published research results and/or
simulated activities (e.g. interviews and focus groups), rather than relying only
on the supervisor-supervisee relationship for ethics-related development.
Attention is also drawn to the importance of accounting for ethics in the writing
of academic research, i.e. not only stating that the project has received
institutional ethical approval. In my opinion, it is important for the author to
recall in her argument that much of the available literature on research ethics
reflects the influence of the Western liberal tradition, so that we do not forget
to go beyond.
Throughout all the monograph, Tipton intersperses proposals for
teaching approaches, applied suggestions for encouraging critical reading
and discussion in the classroom, reference to examples from various TI
specialties, ideas for possible classroom activities, or guidance for
encouraging teacher reflection integrated into curriculum design and teacher
development, with the intention of applicability running from beginning to end.
This is a highlight of the book, as the author has made an effort to underline
the importance of ethics but also how to bring it into the classroom. All in all,
it shows us that there are no excuses for not doing so.
No summary or review can do justice to the richness of this book for
educational reflection and implementation. It must be read and reread. It
should be kept on the table at all times. For among the many other things
merely outlined here, this book, of enormous value, reminds us that the
training of translators and interpreters is aimed at educating people and
professionals, part of an increasingly vulnerable global citizenry in which
ethical values need to be at the heart of any education that claims to be
responsible.
REFERENCES
Baker, M., & Maier, C. (2011). Ethics in interpreter & translator training: Critical
perspectives. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 5(1), 1–14.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2011.10798809
Biagini, M., Boyd, S. & Monacelli, C. (Eds.). (2017). The changing role of the
interpreter: Contextualising norms, ethics and quality standards (pp.
122–145). Routledge.
Carreira, O. (2024). Bad business practices in the language services industry.
Translation Spaces, Online First 23 September 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.23044.car
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Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A
black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and
antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1, 139–167.
Crenshaw, K. (2017). On intersectionality: Essential writings. The New Press.
Dean, R. K., & Pollard, R. Q. Jr. (2013). The demand control schema:
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competence: Translators’ self-concepts and the translation of titles.
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demands: Mapping non-professional interpreting and translation,
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[DORA SALES SALVADOR]
