1st Edition

Translation and Language Education Pedagogic Approaches Explored

By Sara Laviosa Copyright 2014
    186 Pages
    by Routledge

    186 Pages
    by Routledge

    The revival of translation as a means of learning and teaching a foreign language and as a skill in its own right is occurring at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in universities.

    In this book, Sara Laviosa proposes a translation-based pedagogy that is grounded in theory and has been applied in real educational contexts. This volume draws on the convergence between the view of language and translation embraced by ecologically-oriented educationalists and the theoretical underpinnings of the holistic approach to translating culture. It puts forward a holistic pedagogy that harmonizes the teaching of language and translation in the same learning environment.

    The author examines the changing nature of the role of pedagogic translation starting with the Grammar Translation Method and concluding with the more recent ecological approaches to Foreign Language Education.

    Translation and Language Education analyses current research into the revival of translation in language teaching and is vital reading for translators, language teachers and postgraduate students working in the areas of Translation Studies and Applied Linguistics.

    1. Historical Overview 2. The Revival of Translation 3. Ecological Approaches 4. Kramsch's Multilingual Language Pedagogy 5. Tymoczko's Holistic Cultural Translation 6. Holistic Pedagogic Translation 7. In the Italian Language Classroom 8. In the English Language Classroom 9. Conclusion. Appendices.

    Biography

    Sara Laviosa is Senior Lecturer in English Language and Translation at the University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’. Her recent publications include Linking Wor(l)ds: Contrastive Analysis and Translation, with Richard D.G. Braithwaite (Liguori, 2014). She is also Guest Editor of the Special Issue of The Interpreter and Translator Trainer (Volume 8, Number 1, 2014), Translation in the Language Classroom: Theory, Research and Practice.

    ‘Sara Laviosa has opened a dialogue between translation and foreign language education. Drawing on the insights from Kramsch’s ecological approach to foreign language teaching and from Tymoczko’s holistic approach to translation studies, Sara proposes a holistic pedagogy which aims to harmonize these theories in the same learning environment. This book is a praiseworthy attempt to bring together scholars who are working with both languages and cultures.’  - Zhang Meifang, University of Macau, China

    'Laviosa provides us with a comprehensive, rigorous and challenging book at the interface of translation and language pedagogy. She reviews the past to lead us into present and future ecological, holistic grounds. She discusses some of the most exciting research voices and puts their theories to work. Indeed, this book is a must to empower translation/language teachers and students.' - María Calzada Pérez, Universitat Jaume I, Spain

    'This book is an exciting and welcome addition to the emerging pedagogical field of translation in language education. A far cry from the original grammar translation method in language teaching, Laviosa takes as her starting point that translation as an integral part of language teaching does not only benefit a new generation of translators, but is a crucial part of developing linguistic skills as well as being ‘a means of getting a look into another culture’s head’, as one of her students put it.

    In this authoritative and readable account Laviosa develops an interdisciplinary theoretical framework drawing on the concepts of ‘holistic cultural translation’ and ‘symbolic competence’ embedded in recent thinking in the fields of translation and language pedagogy theory. Theory and practice merge seamlessly as she illustrates her framework with case studies of translated texts and pedagogical examples. This books is an indispensable contribution for the development of the language professionals of the future.'  - Dr Gerdi Quist, University College London, UK

    'Translation and Language Education offers a fresh perspective on the potential synergies between language teaching and translation...her methodology would be a valuable source of inspiration for specialist seminars at any one of the numerous postgraduate translation courses to have opened in French universities in recent years.' - Susan Pickford, Université Paris-Sorbonne, Cercles

    'Any reader concerned with – or fascinated by – the idea of interdisciplinarity in Translation Studies is bound to appreciate Translation and Language Education, a book which describes translators as ‘creators’, ‘responsible meaning makers’ able to bring about social change, ‘artisans’ and ‘stand-ins’ who are ‘tolerant of their own inadequacy’.' - Blanca Arias Badia, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

    'Translation and Language Education is substantiated by Laviosa’s invaluably extensive knowledge and personal experience in the field of translation studies. Overall, the contents and findings of the book are a valid and helpful instrument for all those who wish to update and expand their pedagogic competence. At the same time the volume provides compelling and stimulating reflections to widen foreign language teaching strategies related to translation pedagogy. By skillfully applying Kramsch’s and Tymoczko’s theories, Laviosa creates a teaching method which stimulates the learners’ open-mindedness in the respect of cultural varieties beyond language and translation' - Valeria Petrocchi, Scuola Superiore Mediatori Linguistici, Rome, Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts

    '...a much welcomed contribution to a field traditionally characterized by anecdotal evidence and a dearth of methodological resources. Also, it has great potential to open new trajectories of exploration of the role translation can plan in the development of all-round language competence. - Costanza Peverati, Rassengna di Linguistica Inglese