Metacognition and self-assessment in specialized translation education: task awareness and metacognitive bundling

Abstract

ABSTRACTCognitive translation processes incorporate metacognitive activity due to the association with problem-solving behaviour, including the ability to recognize problems, propose solutions, and evaluate the effectiveness of solutions. Previous research has emphasized these aspects of the translation process in general texts; however, specialized translation merits investigation for insights into metacognitive activity of translators given the particular challenges that accompany texts in specialized areas. Medical translation, for instance, presents a unique set of problems given the domain-specific nature of the translation task. This study presents a qualitative analysis of a corpus comprising two different translation tasks, each with an accompanying reflective self-assessment, in order to identify indicators of task awareness, problem recognition, and solution evaluation. The results suggest that metacognitive activity is present in both translation tasks, but the type of behaviour changes over the course of an eight-week period that includes training in medical translation. This change over time points to the potential for developing metacognitive abilities during translation coursework and identifies specific aspects for potential future investigation related to specialized translation pedagogy.