Yet Another Call for Innovation in Translation Classroom Teaching Techniques: Prerequisites to Innovation?
In the last thirty years, many authors interested in the teaching of translation have come up with innovative ideas for translation classroom instruction. However, teaching techniques in practical translation classes are characterized by the use of traditional approaches (lecture method, group translation, and the ‘Read and translate’ method). In this article, we insist on the need to bring some innovation to the translation classroom and on the need to establish an interdisciplinary link between translation studies and educational sciences. However, we consider that for innovation to have a real impact on the way translation is taught, innovative endeavors have to be based on shared knowledge and not on subjective considerations. Thus, we have established five preconditions to prepare the discipline for innovation in the translation classroom: 1. basic pedagogical training for translation instructors; 2. consideration of the metacognitive aspects of learning; 3. students’ involvement in classroom activities; 4. valorization of learner’s presence in the classroom; 5. exploration of the potentialities of competence-based learning techniques. It will be increasingly illogical to keep training future translators with 50-year-old methodologies.