Current State and Difficulties in Chinese MTI Teachers’ Professional Development

Abstract

Teacher development plays a pivotal role in the program of Master of Translation and Interpretation (MTI) but there was inadequate research on their current state and needs in China. This research aimed to investigate their current state in teaching, academic research and translation practice and present a detailed description of their age, professional title and academic qualifications. A mixed methodology design was adopted to ensure reliability and validity of data by means of triangulation. The sample in this study was 514 teachers from 32 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China. They were surveyed via quantitative questionnaires and online interviews. The findings were as follows.1：Despite reasonable age structure, around 50% of them had less than three years’ teaching practice in MTI. 2: There was an increase in the figure for MTI teachers with doctoral degree but they felt it difficult to offer learners professional guidance. 3: A large percentage of MTI teachers were in a comparatively slow stream of promotion in the title of professional post. 4: The percentage of the academic achievements associated with translation in all the research projects and papers was small. 5: A majority of these university teachers worked as part-time translators. 6: About half of them were not very content with the effectiveness in their staff training program. Therefore, it is recommended that more chances be offered for the MTI teachers to conduct translation practice in the professional sector and more researches be needed to meticulously understand their requirement in terms of career development with a view to bridging the gap between the resources in the teacher training and their actual needs.