Poster 2:

A collaborative approach to teaching translation: case study of a metaphor translation workshop

Juliette Rutherford, Heriot-Watt University
Khadidja Merackchi, Heriot-Watt University
He Sui, Swansea University

Until now, the collaborative learning (CL) approach to teaching translation has mainly been tested in long-term projects (Zwischenberger 2020). This research project was designed to test the benefits of CL in a single-day workshop that could be easily adapted as a classroom activity.

We recruited 21 participants from local universities and professional translation networks in the UK, for the English<>French and English<>Chinese language combinations. We identified 5 domains where the potential benefits of CL would be measured: Knowledge, Learning, Engagement, Social skills and Belonging. We were particularly interested in the community building aspect, included in the domain of Belonging (Strahm 2007, Wilson-Medhurst 2016).

The Knowledge domain was measured by objective assessment. The remaining domains were measured through a detailed participant survey comparing individual learning activities with CL activities. Analysis of the survey results indicates that greater benefit was perceived from the CL activities for every single question, with an average perceived difference in benefit of 20%, and 30% in the category of Belonging. These findings were confirmed by a follow-up focus group, in which participants strongly emphasised the benefits of collaborative over individual learning activities.