New Trends in Translation and Interpretation Teaching/Training

The aim of this paper is to discuss four aspects of translation and interpreting teaching, namely the pedagogical approach (i.e., objectivism vs. constructivism), translation ability and interpreter performance as well as translation and interpreting theory and practical classroom activities. The methodology is mostly descriptive and constructive in the sense that the paper “constructs” translation ability and interpreter performance and describes relevant teaching approaches to be adopted. One of the findings of the paper is that translation and interpreting teaching should either validate or change traditional pedagogical methods by new and more effective ones. Another finding of the paper is that translation and interpreting teaching should indicate clear-cut learning objectives, design adequate curricular materials and shed light on professional ethics and policies.


Introduction
Translation studies and interpreting are two dynamic areas of study that require a constant review of the approaches adopted in the various schools. It is a truism that the theoretical underpinnings of both disciplines started to emerge in the last century, especially at the end of World War II. Indeed, in the field of translation studies, for example, translators such as Cicero and Horace, the founders of this profession in the western world, did not publish any substantial literature on translation theory and pedagogy apart from their insistence on literal translation and/or sense for sense translation in fragments of texts. Translation theory proper emerged in the twentieth century and took successively a philosophical approach, a linguistic approach and a cultural turn. As far as interpreting is concerned, it emerged at the end of World War II with the birth of AIIC (Association Internationale des Interprètes de Conférence-International Association of Conference Interpreters).
The aim of this paper is to discuss the New Trends in Translation and Interpreting Teaching. In other words, how do we teach translation and interpreting and what content do we put in these disciplines?
This is an important question because people inside and outside the profession need to know how translation and interpreting competences are developed and transmitted. In stressing the need to ensure proper translation pedagogy, Kiraly makes the following point: Indeed, there is a need to discuss traditional pedagogical models in translation studies in order to propose improvements in the way this profession is taught in schools. Furthermore, Kiraly notes that throughout the 1990s, a growing number of translator trainers have addressed the "pedagogical gap" in translation skill instruction, reflected in "the lack of clear objectives, curricular materials, and teaching methods" (1995, p. 5). This justifies his claim that "Every educational method must be based on an epistemology: a theory, understanding or set of beliefs about what it means to know, and hence to learn." (Kiraly,op. cit.,p. 4) Therefore, there is a need for a translation and interpreting epistemology. This issue will be addressed in the rest of the paper.
Another issue that is equally important to this discussion is the definition of the concepts of translation ability and interpreter competence. We cannot continue talking about translation studies and interpreter performance if we do not indicate clearly the competences that a translator or an interpreter needs to develop.
Regarding the first issue raised in this paper, i.e., translation pedagogy, two approaches will be discussed, namely the classical objectivist approach to teaching and learning and the constructivist approach to education. These are two contrastive approaches that can be instrumental in teaching translation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 2, No. 2, 2020 7 Published by SCHOLINK INC.
In discussing the second issue raised so far, i.e., translation ability and interpreter competence, the concept of translation ability will be presented in the form of a construct with rubrics. In other words, this paper makes an effort to demonstrate that translation ability encompasses a set of competences including writing skills, topical skills, aptitudes in reading comprehension, etc. These various skills are rubrics of the construct that is translation ability.
The third issue discussed in this paper is related to translation theory and practise in classrooms. This issue is equally important because translation or interpreting cannot be taught without any reference to theoretical aspects. In focusing on translation theory, Angelelli and Jacobson point out that: Most of the discussions around theory have focused on quality in theoretical terms, particularly in translation studies. Many of the established theoretical frameworks referred to in the translation literature are based on dichotomies or continua that distinguish between translations that closely adhere to the original linguistic code and more liberal translations that achieve a structure that is less subservient to that of the source text. (2009, p. 1) Theoretical aspects of translation studies cannot be ignored because they not only enable translators to understand the various ideas and theories developed in this field by various authors but they also guide translators in the practise of the profession. As far as practical aspects of translation studies are concerned, it is important for translation instructors to choose practical exercises that will expose students to various translation difficulties. That is what Shreve underlines in the following quotation: A set of activities should be developed around each translation task in order to emphasize the procedural aspect of translation; to bring to the foreground the pragmatic, functional, and textual considerations neglected by beginners; to guide students through the translation process; and to help them attend to relevant information. (1997, pp. 120-136) These four issues, namely translation pedagogy and ability as well as translation and interpretation theory and practise, are the pillars on which this discussion of new trends in translation and interpreting teaching will be based.

The Constructivist Approach
The approach adopted in this paper is both descriptive and constructive. The constructive approach "constructs" the concept of translation ability which is a set of competences including writing competence, reading comprehension skill, topical competence, etc. Let us figure out a translation studies syllabus that envisages several rubrics or units including a specialised knowledge unit, a fundamental knowledge unit, a research methodology unit and a general culture unit. Every unit comprises several courses meant to develop specific skills. Altogether these units form a construct. The paper also advocates the social constructivist approach to translator education in classrooms. These concepts will be discussed in another section of this paper.

The Descriptive Approach
The descriptive approach describes relevant translation theories and interpreting techniques applied in some schools. Furthermore, there will be a description of practical exercises that students need to do to be exposed to concrete translation and interpreting tasks.

Result
1) The constructivist approach is the order of the day however the teacher should not step aside and let students do whatever they want.
2) Translation ability is a construct that can be broken into several constituents comprising (1) comprehension of the source-language text; (2) translation techniques; and (3) writing in the target language.
3) Translation theory should be part of the content of translation syllabi and prominent translators including Catford, Mounin and Nida need to be taught in translation schools.

4)
Practical exercises, which should expose students to various translation problems, should be done in the classroom.

5)
The assessment of interpreting performance is an area of research that is still in its infancy. Given the categories of errors established in interpreters' performance, namely (1) omission of a word or phrase; (2) addition of a word or phrase; (3) substitution of a word or phrase; (4) elaborating one's own personal views instead of interpreting a word or phrase; and (5) use of an incorrect word or phrase (one that does not exist in the target language), several interpreting aspects including fidelity, accuracy, conduit, intelligibility, informativeness, terminology, psychological test, ability to handle stress, etc., are recommended. These can be used to construct the concept of "interpreter performance".

Exploring the Applicability of the Concepts of Objectivism and Constructivism
In explaining the concept of objectivism, George Lakoff notes that: Objectivism is a view of the nature of knowledge and what it means to know something. In this view, the mind is an instantiation of a computer, manipulating symbols in the same way (or analogously, at least) as a computer […] Knowledge, therefore, is some entity existing independently of the mind, which is transferred "inside the mind." Cognition is the rule-based manipulation of the symbols via processes that will be ultimately describable through the language of mathematics and/or logic. Thus, this school of thought believes that the external world is mind independent (i.e., the same for everyone).
(1987, p. 20) It emerges from this quotation that knowledge exists outside the mind which acquires it through a cognitive process. If this process is effective, an individual or a group of people successfully acquires knowledge. In commenting the process of knowledge acquisition, Kiraly comments that: From this viewpoint, meaning is believed to exist objectively in the real world independently of the observer, and the goal of learning is to come to know these objective meanings. In the objectivist classroom then, the teacher is privy in some sense to the right answers, that is, to truth, and the learners are there to find out what those answers are. (2003, p. 5) This concept of objectivism is in contrast with the definition of constructivism given by Kiraly: The two primary strains (around which are clustered numerous variants) are "radical constructivism," which derives primarily from Piaget's developmental psychology, and "social constructivism," which draws considerable inspiration from the work of Lev Vygostky, but also from John Dewey (1938) and Richard Rorty (1979). These two poles of the continuum share the fundamental idea that people construct their understandings of the world rather than reflect nature in their minds. In the Piagetian tradition, perhaps most vociferously defended by Ernst von Glasersfeld (1988), the "radical" variant focuses on the individual mind as the constructor of meaning and knowledge, whereas the "social" variant emphasizes the role of interaction between members of a community in coming to understand the world. (Ibid: 9) The constructivist approach postulates that the interaction between people is the best way to learn. In a constructivist classroom, the teacher puts students in the right condition to learn, and then he steps aside and lets them discover the truth themselves. Students construct knowledge themselves. They do not turn to a teacher who is there to impart knowledge to them. Emphasis is laid on students' personal work in a constructivist classroom.
Translation teachers are at liberty to choose one of these two educational approaches. However, though Kiraly believes in the constructivist approach, he does not recommend that a teacher should step aside and let students do their own work: As a strong believer in social constructivism, I personally place great emphasis on working as a privileged member of the group along with the students, assuming a role much like that of a project coordinator working with a team of translators. My tasks may include: overall responsibility for project management; serving as a native speaker informant (as my students always translate out of their mother tongue into English); functioning as a mediator to facilitate negotiations between the students and the client; and also "reflecting in action" to model my own professional translation behavior as I work with small groups within the class to deal with translation problems as they arise. Rather than being a "guide on the side" (the controversial role often adopted by and attributed to constructivist teachers), I see myself more as a traveling assistant, moving from one nucleus of action and potential learning to another within the group to provide guidance, support and encouragement. (Ibid: 21) The point that Kiraly makes in the statement above is that even in a constructivist classroom, he does not step aside and let students do whatever they want. Though he encourages students to work in small groups and share knowledge in the classroom, he moves from one group to another to facilitate the work and assist students in solving concrete translation problems as they occur.
Furthermore, the author stresses that although the constructivist approach is the order of the day, the objectivist approach is still practised: Over the past decade there has been a massive movement in many educational domains, from social studies to mathematics, from composition to distance learning, and from elementary school to teacher education programs, to devise and justify teaching methods on the basis of social constructivist principles. Nevertheless, while constructivism today is often portrayed as the dominant paradigm in contemporary educational philosophy and teacher training programs, didactic practice reflecting an objectivist viewpoint continues to persist in the classroom. (Ibid: 11) The aim of this paper is not to take side but to throw light on existing methods and to encourage translation teachers to choose the approach that turns out to be the better in classrooms.
Equally important in translation studies is the concept of translation ability.

Investigating the Construct of "Translation Ability" and the Potential Use of Rubrics
In this section, an attempt will be made to define translation competence and its components. Up to now, no definition of translation ability is universally accepted within the academic field of translation studies. Angelelli notes that translation ability is a construct. In a bid to shed light on this concept, the author makes the following point: One of the first and most important steps in designing an assessment instrument is the definition of the construct. A construct consists of a clearly spelled out definition of exactly what a test designer understands to be involved in a given skill or ability. This task not only involves naming the ability, knowledge, or behavior that is being assessed but also involves breaking that knowledge, ability or behavior into the elements that formulate a construct (Fulcher, 2003) and can be captured and measured by a rubric. Currently, there is no one definition of translation competence and its components that is universally accepted within the academic field of translation studies (Arango-Keith & Koby, 2003).
Neither is there a rubric that can capture different levels of competency in translation. Instead, there is a continuing debate about how to define translation competence and exactly how its constituent elements are to be conceptualized, broken down, interconnected and measured. (Angelelli & Jacobson, 2009, p. 13) The point that Angelelli and Jacobson make in the quotation above is that to measure a translator's professional ability in translating from one specific language into another, we need to first define the exact skills and sub-skills that constitute a translator's professional ability.  (Beeby, 1996, p. 91 in Faber, 1998). Another author that explains the concept of competence is Orozco: Transfer of competence is seen as being informed by four other competences: communicative competence in two languages, extra-linguistic competence (i.e., world and specialist knowledge), psycho-physiological competence (i.e., using various cognitive, psychomotor and attitudinal resources), and instrumental-professional competence (i.e., the ability to use the tools and apply the norms of the profession). The final element in this model is strategic competence in which all these processes are used in finding and solving problems in the translation process (Orozco, 2000, p. 200).
Angelelli and Jacobson conclude that the standout feature of Orozco's model is the emphasis placed on tools and processes for problem-solving. Competent translators need to be able to find and solve problems in their own translations and processes. It is also important that they are familiar with the tools and standards of their trade. The strategic use of software, on-line residing tools, and more traditional items like dictionaries, are an important part of any translator's work Another aspect that needs to be taught in translation classes is translation theory.

Relevant Translation Theories [That Are] worth Discussing in Classrooms
In 1975 (1995) established a framework to refer to two types of translations, using adequacy to refer to a translation that closely adheres to the "norms" of the source culture, and acceptability to refer to translations that respond to the norms of the target culture. Venuti (1995)  In teaching translation today, there is a need to discuss the theoretical background so that students can understand the concepts as well as the philosophies governing their future profession.
Further, Angelelli and Jacobson underscore that later researchers, including Hatim and Mason, Hickey and Baker turned to disciplines such as theoretical linguistics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and discourse analysis to inform models of translation and description of translation quality. However, House was one of the first scholars to focus specifically on translation assessment, basing her work on pragmatics. She posits the existence of two types of translation, which she refers to as covert and overt.
An overt translation is realized as a way of providing the target world a glimpse into the source world, or of "eavesdropping" on another culture or discourse community, and retains the integrity of the original socio-cultural context. It is obviously and overtly a translation. A covert translation, on the other hand, is used "to recreate an equivalent speech event" which meets the expectations and rules of the target discourse community (House, 1998, p. 65).
Angelelli and Jacobson note that the pioneering work of these translation scholars recognizes the varied contexts in which translation is carried out, and moves away from more traditional views of translation The fourth pillar that deserves attention in translation teaching is related to practical exercises which should expose students to various translation problems.

Practical Translation Exercises Recommended in Classrooms
Translation teachers should take stock of the errors and the mistakes that their students make quite often and should devise practical activities and exercises to correct these mistakes. Colina (2003, p. 47) insists that "Courses appropriate for these activities would be designed to introduce students to various approaches to translation and to a variety of translation tasks.'' Further, she indicates that "a set of activities should be developed around each translation task in order to emphasize the procedural aspect of translation; to bring to the foreground the pragmatic, functional, and textual considerations neglected by beginners; to guide students through the translation process." (Ibid) She stresses that: "Furthermore, translation activities allow the teacher to focus on particular aspects of translational competence that have been identified by research as requiring pedagogical intervention. (Ibid) Students need to be guided in the translation process. That is the message emerging from Colina's quotation. In a translation assignment, various translation aspects including grammar, language, theory, textual features and syntax can be revealed and discussed with them.
In the following section, translation will not be the only area of focus because this paper deals with interpreting as well.

New Trends in Interpreting and Interpreting Teaching
Pochhacker defines interpreting as follows: "Within the conceptual structure of Translation, interpreting can be distinguished from other types of translational activity most succinctly by its immediacy: in principle, interpreting is performed 'here and now' for the benefit of people who want to engage in communication across barriers of language and culture. (2004, p. 10) This definition of "interpreting" underlines the key aspect of immediacy and stresses that it is done "here and now". However, it does not say anything about the oral aspect of the activity. In another attempt, Pochhacker defines interpreting as "a form of translation in which a first and final rendition in another language is produced on the basis of a one-time presentation of an utterance in a source language." (2004, p. 11) This second definition accounts for the oral dimension of interpreting.
From another perspective, Angelelli and Jacobson note that the theory of interpreting focused primarily on issues pertaining to fidelity and accuracy.
Theoretical developments in simultaneous interpreting have primarily been driven by translation practices that focus on fidelity and accuracy. Interpreting practitioners have also played a key role in establishing models of interpreting based on the concept of "conduit" according to which interpreters are to remain neutral, detached, and faithful to the original (op. cit. 12).
These two authors indicate that community interpreting eventually adopted these theories, although research indicates that such theories do not accurately reflect how mediated interaction actually takes place. Quite often, interpreters' performance becomes an issue because everybody expects them to produce quality interpreting. In connection with this, Jacobson indicates, in a paper entitled "Moving beyond words in assessing mediated interaction -Measuring interactional competence in healthcare settings", that: The assessment of interpreting performance is an area of research that is still in its infancy. It is an essential area of study for a number of reasons: understanding how "quality" is determined in interpreting can provide the linguist with rich information about language structure, language processes, and, most relevant to this chapter, language use. Delving into the testing and assessment of an individual's capacity to perform in interpreting is therefore a worthwhile endeavour for generating scientific knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself. In addition, interpreter performance assessment has obvious practical applications; it is of great significance to applied linguists who specialize in interpreting pedagogy and credentialing professional interpreters. (Angelelli & Jacobson,op. cit.: 49) In trying to show concrete interpreting challenges, Jacobson points out that globalisation causes millions of people to migrate all over the world for educational and professional reasons. In the US, for example, 50 million immigrants do not speak the language of their healthcare provider; therefore, they depend on community interpreters to communicate with their doctors.
According to her, five categories of errors were established in the interpreters' performance, namely: (1) omission of a word or phrase; (2) addition of a word or phrase; (3) substitution of a word or phrase; (4) elaborating one's own personal views instead of interpreting a word or phrase; and (5) use of an incorrect word or phrase (one that does not exist in the target language). (Jacobson,op. cit. 51) It is clear that the unit of analysis is the word although interpreting is much more complex. A written assessment was also conducted to check whether the interpreters were using the proper medical terminology. Jacobson notes that the lexico-semantic analyses, which are conducted at the expense of all other aspects of language, and in the complete absence of variables at the interactional level, leave one to doubt whether the research has demonstrated anything of substance regarding mediated interaction. These shortcomings in assessing healthcare interpreting must be addressed, and point to the need for future research that is informed by other areas of investigation, including interactional sociolinguistics and conversation analysis. "In other words, cross-pollination among disciplines is essential if equal healthcare access for language-minority populations is to be achieved." (Ibid: 52) Jacobson recommends the implementation of a rubric to ensure a comprehensive performance-based assessment. There is equally a need for healthcare interpreters to develop their knowledge and terminology in the medical areas in which they work. A comprehensive assessment instrument for measuring the construct of interpreter competence must clearly include "accuracy" as one of the multiple traits to be evaluated, considering such sub-competencies as inclusion of significant content; correct use of medical and other terminology; language accommodation (including accommodation to language variety and register); unambiguous use of terminology; avoiding the use of false cognates; avoiding literal renderings resulting in gibberish; among others (Jacobson, 2007). Jacobson also stresses that adhering to a particular code of conduct is part of professionalism.
In another paper entitled "Revisiting Carroll's scales", Elisabeth Tiselius presents an assessment of interpreters based on scales developed by Carroll in 1966 for machine translation. An important point made in the paper is the agreement reached on the grading of intelligibility and informativeness in interpreting. However, intelligibility does not mean accuracy and informativeness may not be a synonym for faithfulness. In conclusion, as Vuorikoski (2002)  To find out if consecutive interpreting skills can predict simultaneous interpreting skills, Rejškova compared student performance on the end-of-course examination in the introductory consecutive course with performance on a battery of six tests, which she designed in order to assess aptitude for simultaneous interpreting. These tests included: 1) Shadowing (Lambert, 1992): Students listened to a short speech in a foreign language and simultaneously repeated verbatim what they heard.
2) "Personalized" cloze test: Students listened to a short piece of text in which the speaker provided some basic details about himself. Students repeated the text verbatim in the foreign language and replaced all personal information-name, age, nationality, etc.-with information about themselves.
3) Interpreting from a foreign language into the mother tongue of a simple text designed specifically for the aptitude test.

4)
Interpreting from a foreign language into the mother tongue of a specifically designed procedural text.

5)
Interpreting from a foreign language into the mother tongue of a fairy tale with a twist.
6) Interpreting from a foreign language into the mother tongue of an authentic conference speech with high redundancy.
Comparison of exam grades and these simultaneous interpreting exercises correlated only weakly (r = .498). Rejškova concluded that performance in consecutive interpreting is not a reliable predictor of future performance in simultaneous interpreting and that aptitude for simultaneous performance must be tested separately.
From another perspective, a psychological approach to measuring aptitude was adopted by Gerver, Longley, Long, and Lambert (1989). In 1977, the authors set out to "evaluate objective tests which were intended to assess interpreting candidates' ability to grasp rapidly and convey the meaning of spoken discourse" (1989, p. 724 2) Text memory test: A speech of 1000 words was read aloud, students were told to listen and, once it was over, instructed to write an information summary.
3) Cloze test: The task was to restore words that were missing from taped speeches.

4) Error detection test:
Students were asked to correct an auditory text with around 50 intentional lexical, syntactic and pronunciation errors.
The second group consisted of sub-skills based tests: 1) Synonyms production test: Students were asked to write as many synonyms as possible for four words.
2) Expressional fluency test: Students had to rewrite sentences according to specified criteria. In discussing new trends in translation teaching, four aspects were dealt with, namely the definition of translation ability, the adoption of translation pedagogy as well as translation theory and practise.
If we were to adopt the same approach, we would start the discussion on interpreting pedagogy by developing the construct of "interpreter performance".
So far several interpreting aspects including fidelity, accuracy, conduit, intelligibility, informativeness, terminology, psychological test, ability to handle stress, etc. have been revealed. These can be used to construct the concept of "interpreter performance". In other words, the various skills mentioned so far can serve as rubrics to develop the construct of "interpreter performance". Therefore, a professional interpreter is somebody who is able to convey a message produced in a language A to language B speakers while respecting professional aspects such as fidelity, accuracy, terminology, intelligibility, etc.
Regarding interpreting pedagogy, the concepts of objectivism and constructivism can be applied in classrooms. Since interpreters work in team, team work can be experienced in the classroom by means of constructivist arrangements.
Another issue of importance to this discussion is related to practical activities and exercises. So far a number of activities have been listed while presenting the syllabi of the Prague Institute of Translation Studies and London Polytechnic.
A fair amount of interpreting theory is also needed to enable students become familiar with the ideas and the philosophical reasoning of prominent interpreting scholars.
Last but not least is the need for translators' and interpreters' associations to develop rules and policies that should govern the practise of their profession to avoid a situation where some employers blatantly exploit them. Issues of concern to professional translators and interpreters include the number of professionals that should work in a conference team or in an organisation's linguistic division, the number of working hours per day and per interpreter during conference periods, the daily and monthly rates applicable for conference translators and interpreters, etc.

Enticing Students to Join the Profession
To entice students, it could be exciting to inform them that from 7 January 2019 and from 1 July 2019 respectively, the following rates are applicable for translators and interpreters in the world.   Subject: Revised rates for short-term conference interpreters, effective 1 July 2019. Please find below the revised rates for short-term conference interpreters, as provided in Annex E to the CEB/AIIC Agreement which entered into force on 1 January 2019.

Conclusion
This discussion of new trends in translation and interpreting teaching/training has dealt with four main issues, namely translation ability and interpreter performance, translation and interpreting theory and practise as well as translation and interpreting pedagogy.
Policy issues and issues pertaining to translators and interpreters rates have been raised as well.
Given that the translation environment keeps on changing due to new information and communication technologies, translators need to cope with these ICTs otherwise they may be phased out.
At the global level, the prospects for translators and interpreters are still favourable because translation and interpreting represent the linguistic building block of globalisation which has opened up many new avenues of communication and exchange between nations and individuals.