Translation pedagogy in higher education

Abstract

Social changes, most notably the greater mobility of people and goods on a global scale together with the increasing use of several languages in various domains of institutional life, have boosted the demand for translation services and increased the need to train future professionals in today’s multilingual language industry. Consequently, translation pedagogy in higher education has expanded considerably and is now a burgeoning area of scholarly inquiry. Together with translation aids, translation policy, and translation criticism, translation pedagogy belongs to the applied branch of the discipline of translation studies. In this chapter we outline each of these arenas of applied research in turn and then focus on those that are germane to translation pedagogy in higher education, which comprises teaching methods, testing techniques, and curriculum planning. Firstly, we examine the findings obtained from studies undertaken in the domain of curriculum planning. Secondly, we analyze the results of research carried out in teaching and testing techniques. Thirdly, we deal with ongoing debates on key issues and topics in translation pedagogy. Finally, we offer our recommendations for good practice with the intent to voice our informed opinion while fully respecting and valuing diversity, as much in research as in classroom practices.