Publication type: Book part
Type of review: Editorial review
Title: Collaborative feedback flows and how we can learn from them : investigating a synergetic learning experience in translator education
Authors: Massey, Gary
Brändli, Barbara
Published in: Towards authentic experiential learning in translator education
Editors of the parent work: Kiraly, Don
Page(s): 177
Pages to: 199
Issue Date: 2016
Publisher / Ed. Institution: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Publisher / Ed. Institution: Göttingen
ISBN: 978-3-8471-0495-7
Language: English
Subjects: Feedback; Action research; Collaborative learning; Translation pedagogy
Subject (DDC): 418.02: Translating and interpreting
Abstract: Translation expertise appears to be achieved largely through a combination of proceduralisation and metacognitive self-regulation, emerging over time under conditions of deliberate practice involving well-defined tasks of appropriate difficulty and the decisive impact of informative feedback (Shreve 2006). The deliberate and now widespread practice of authentic, collaborative projects in translator education is designed to expose students to the processes, actors and factors of the situated translation event (cf. Chesterman 2013), fostering learner autonomy, self-awareness and empowerment (Kiraly 2012). The multiple and variable roles required of the participants in such social-constructivist frameworks indicate the complex and fluid relationship that exists between pre-professionalism and professional expertise. In the co-emergent setting of project-based collaboration in the translation classroom (cf. Kiraly 2013), role distinctions between experts, teaching professionals and pre-professional learners are inevitably blurred, and the feedback flows generated amongst and between them remain intransparent. In particular, the precise nature, forms and sources of effective feedback are unclear and largely under-explored in translation pedagogy research. For a number of years, teachers at our institute have been conducting authentic team translation projects with pre-professional student learners, frequently with the active involvement of clients. Along lines proposed by Kiraly (2012) and inspired by action research approaches, we have accompanied some of these with qualitative studies in order to learn more about participant actions, reactions and interactions in collaborative, co-emergent learning scenarios. In this chapter, we consider the benefits and caveats of our investigations by presenting the design and findings of one such study and by considering its implications for teaching, research and follow-up projects. Analysing data gathered from self- and peer assessment questionnaires, group discussions, teacher observations and product evaluations, together with learning journals focussing on feedback effects during the process of the translation event, we report on the progress of pre-professional MA translation students as they work on a real-world translation commission using state-of-the-art CAT tools. In addition to providing differentiated insights into student competence development, our results indicate some complementary learning effects on the teacher and the client. They also show the effectiveness of feedback foci (i.e. the particular topic or interest of an interaction), modes and sources for the process and the product of the translation project, with peer feedback scoring especially high for the process and with both client and peer feedback being judged most effective for the product. Finally, learners’ participation in the research itself appears to be a strong motivational factor, suggesting that a more active future role in data analysis and interpretation could reinforce the autonomy, empowerment and metacognition needed to grow translation expertise.
URI: https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/4895
Fulltext version: Published version
License (according to publishing contract): Licence according to publishing contract
Departement: Applied Linguistics
Organisational Unit: Institute of Translation and Interpreting (IUED)
Appears in collections:Publikationen Angewandte Linguistik

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Massey, G., & Brändli, B. (2016). Collaborative feedback flows and how we can learn from them : investigating a synergetic learning experience in translator education. In D. Kiraly (Ed.), Towards authentic experiential learning in translator education (pp. 177–199). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Massey, G. and Brändli, B. (2016) ‘Collaborative feedback flows and how we can learn from them : investigating a synergetic learning experience in translator education’, in D. Kiraly (ed.) Towards authentic experiential learning in translator education. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 177–199.
G. Massey and B. Brändli, “Collaborative feedback flows and how we can learn from them : investigating a synergetic learning experience in translator education,” in Towards authentic experiential learning in translator education, D. Kiraly, Ed. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016, pp. 177–199.
MASSEY, Gary und Barbara BRÄNDLI, 2016. Collaborative feedback flows and how we can learn from them : investigating a synergetic learning experience in translator education. In: Don KIRALY (Hrsg.), Towards authentic experiential learning in translator education. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. S. 177–199. ISBN 978-3-8471-0495-7
Massey, Gary, and Barbara Brändli. 2016. “Collaborative Feedback Flows and How We Can Learn from Them : Investigating a Synergetic Learning Experience in Translator Education.” In Towards Authentic Experiential Learning in Translator Education, edited by Don Kiraly, 177–99. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Massey, Gary, and Barbara Brändli. “Collaborative Feedback Flows and How We Can Learn from Them : Investigating a Synergetic Learning Experience in Translator Education.” Towards Authentic Experiential Learning in Translator Education, edited by Don Kiraly, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016, pp. 177–99.


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