Reinventing Translation: Toward a Common Language for Scholar-Practitioners

Abstract

Translation starts in one language, and converts to a second. But it doesn't change the languages or the people who "speak" them. We propose – instead of translation – the joint development of theory and practice that becomes a common language – a common language of a community of scholar-practitioners. This paper describes the work of two scholar-practitioners committed to addressing a pressing problem of practice: the educational attainment and skills required for positive outcomes in the 21st century workplace. This paper considers the original design and implementation of an innovative, theory-based workplace learning initiative (Books@Work) and, arising from this work, proposes a research methodology that integrates theory and practice in a complex, emergent form of engaged scholarship. The authors propose a single lens to join theory and practice in a seamless partnership between scholars and practitioners – and program participants themselves – engaged in a joint effort to solve practice problems and to shape a more integrated, reformulated, view of scholar-practice.