Exploring Effective Translation Teaching in the Classroom: A Case Study

Abstract

This study follows on from previous survey and focus group research to explore effective teaching process in a translation classroom in Australian universities through a case study method. The data analysis draws on Kiraly’s (2000) social constructivist theory in translation teaching and focuses on the teaching process aiming to discover how effective translation teachers conduct teaching in the classroom in four aspects, namely classroom management, classroom pedagogy, classroom communication, and teacher roles. The results suggest that effective translation teachers are able to control the whole learning process, facilitate independent learning, guide students to be more critical about translation, give both positive and negative feedback for students to reflect on, and be supportive, patient and encouraging to students for better classroom communication and learning outcomes. This study can be applied by other translation teachers in their own classroom context to achieve teaching effectiveness.