大學翻譯教學建構式評量之研究

Abstract

三十年來，隨著翻譯專業人才的需求大增，台灣的翻譯教學呈現蓬勃發展的趨勢。各大學相繼成立翻譯系所，英語相關科系紛紛開設翻譯課程，顯見翻譯教學逐漸獲得重視。課堂評量（classroom assessment）在翻譯教學實踐中扮演重要的角色，不僅可檢驗教學成效，亦可協助教師評估學生的學習成果。由於課堂評量與課程設計密切相關，取決於不同的課程目標和教學內容，加上學生的語言能力各異，評量的形式和方法也各具特色。翻譯較其他語言能力訓練的課程特殊，涉及兩種語言的轉換能力，課堂活動以實作演練為主。翻譯也需考慮文本功能、溝通目的和讀者期待等因素，但部分翻譯課程的評量為檢測學生的語言能力，在文本選擇和活動設計上都偏離翻譯的本質，無法反映翻譯實務所需的技巧，更缺乏客觀可信的評量標準，這些翻譯評量相關議題都有待進一步的檢視探究。 在研究方面，由於翻譯教學的重要性增加，研究的主題漸趨豐富多元，在教學方法、學習型態、課程設計等方面都取得可觀的成績；翻譯評量的研究多數集中在評量標準、評分方法和錯誤分析等主題，以學生的翻譯作品為研究對象，內容傾向教師的教學經驗分享，關於評量的設計、形式、方法以及與教學的關係等主題的文獻相對較少，本研究希望能填補這方面的空缺，以國內的大學翻譯教師為研究對象，並採用問卷調查、訪談、課堂觀察等方法蒐集資料，針對不同類型的資料進行量化和質性的分析，希望客觀呈現翻譯教師的評量實務，提出評量的分析和改進的建議，也做為翻譯教學和研究的參考文獻。 本研究以「建構論」（constructivism）為理論基礎，探討國內現行的大學翻譯教師的評量實務，以檢視評量是否符合建構論的教學和評量原則，也就是以學生為中心，營造合作學習的環境，讓學生經由互動和討論完成翻譯任務，並提供必要的指導，協助學生建構翻譯的知識和技能；除此之外，本研究也透過訪談等資料的蒐集，分析評量的工具、方法、實施的過程和問題，討論教師能否從評量的結果中，了解學生翻譯學習和實作（知識建構）的過程，並調整下個階段的教 學方法，以提升教學和學習的成效。 根據資料分析的結果，大學翻譯教師的評量實務符合建構論的教學原則。在練習文本的蒐集方面，多數教師選擇結構完整的真實文本，或專業譯者實際翻譯的文本，並要求學生經由角色扮演的活動，合作完成篇章翻譯的任務；教師規劃的課堂活動包括實作練習、譯文分享和譯文改正等，讓學生經由互動和討論完成作業，相互觀摩和評論彼此的譯文，共同協商翻譯的問題和解決的方法，並從中反思自己的翻譯過程；在作業檢討方面，教師以「合作學習」為原則，運用師生問答、分組討論、分組報告、同儕互評和檢討授權等多種方式檢討作業，教師可挪用學生的意見，在小組討論或報告時提供鷹架支持，在學生習得基礎的知識和技能時，授權給學生主導檢討的活動，達成自主學習的目標。 在建構論的評量原則方面，部分教師的評量符合信實度的「可信性」原則，教師可透過師生問答、分組討論、課堂練習等，長期參與學生的學習活動，並持續觀察學生的表現；教師也安排數週的協同教學，邀請專業譯者到課堂授課，並與學生進行晤談，讓學生理解作業批閱的訊息，並提供學習上的指導和建議。至於建構式評量的另一原則－真實性，教師選擇真實的文本做為評量素材，也將實務工作融入評量活動中，因此評量可培養學生職場所需的知識、技巧和其他相關能力。另一方面，教師的評量普遍未能符合信實度的「可轉移性」、「可靠性」和「可確認性」原則，教師未能詳實記錄評量的情境，也未考慮評量在其他情境是否適用，教師未能記錄評量的情境和過程，無法證明評量在其他情境是否適用，以及評量的結果是否一致；對於評量資料的來源，教師未寫成書面的記錄，因此無從得知教師對於評量資料的詮釋，也無法判斷訊息的詮釋能否符合整體的評量結果。

The last three decades has seen such a growing demand for translation professionals, and translator training and translation courses have been on the rise in the departments of English and graduate institutes in universities and colleges in Taiwan. There has been a growing recognition that translator training is very important in higher education institutes. Classroom assessment has played a prominent role in the practice of translation teaching, and has not only examined teaching effects but also assisted teachers in evaluating their students’learning effects. Because classroom assessment, dependent on the differences of course objectives, course content and students’ competence, is closely related to curricular design, classroom assessment has been growing diverse in terms of form and method. Compared to language learning courses, translation courses are more special in feature and requirement for basic reading and writing competence and are practice-oriented since they involve the transfer competence, the ability to complete the transfer process from SL to TL. Some other factors, including textual functions, communicative purposes and readers’ expectations, also need to be considered in translation. Some translation assessments focus on evaluating students’ linguistic competence with exercises in the form of sentence or paragraph translation. These courses deviate from the specialties of translation in text selection and activity design and fail to reflect the skills required for translation practice and lack objective and reliable assessment criteria. These issues of translation assessment are in need of further examination and research. Since translation teaching is growing more important and research topics are becoming more diverse, research findings have been achieved in teaching methods, learning style and curricular design. The research on translation assessment, mainly about assessment criteria, scoring criteria and error analysis, is on students’ translation products and mostly teaching experiences. The research on the design, form and method of assessment and its relation with teaching has been rarely conducted or published. This research is aimed at exploring the practice of assessment designed by translation teachers. With translation teachers in Taiwan as the research subject, the researcher gathered the data through surveys, interviews and class observations. The data was later processed in quantitative and qualitative analysis with an aim of presenting translation teachers’ practice of assessment, propose the analysis and suggestion on assessments and give reference to translation teaching and research. On the basis of constructivism as theoretical framework, this research explores the current assessments by translation teachers in universities in Taiwan to examine if assessments conform to teaching principles of constructivism. According to these principles, the classroom is student-centered environment for collaborative learning which let students complete translation tasks through interaction and discussion and provide necessary instruction to assist students in constructing knowledge and skills of translation. In addition, this research, through interviews and surveys, analyzes the tools, methods, process and problems of assessments, discusses if teachers are able to understand students’ translation learning and knowledge constructing process and adjust teaching method to enhance teaching and learning effects. According to the result of data analysis, translation teachers’ assessments meet constructivist principles. In text collection, most teachers choose authentic texts or translation texts by professional translators, have students do role-play activities and collaborate to complete translation task. The class activities designed by teachers are exercises, practices, translation text presentation and revision, which enable students to complete assignments through interaction and discussion, read and comment on their classmates’ translations and reflect their own translation process. In group presentation, the topics are translation concepts, translation process and translation revision. Group presentations have students complete tasks in cooperation, review or comment on other classmates’ translation and negotiate translation problems and solutions to them. In assignment correction, teachers, on the basis of collaborative learning, review and correct assignments with many methods, such as question and answer, group discussion, group presentation, peer review and empowerment. Teachers can appropriate students’ opinions and offer scaffolding to students in group discussion or presentation. When students are acquiring basic knowledge and skills, teachers empower students to hold assignment correction and achieve the goal of automatic learning. In terms of the principles of constructivist assessment, some assessments conform to credibility, one component of the principle of trustworthiness. Teachers participate in students’ learning and observe their performance through question-and-answer conversation with their students, group discussion and class exercises. They also arrange team teaching and invite professional translators to give lectures; sometimes they have interviews with their students and enable them to understand marking and corrections in the assignments and provide instructions and advice. In terms of authenticity, the other principle of constructive assessment, teachers choose authentic texts to be materials for assessment and involve practical work in assessment activities that help to develop the knowledge, skills and other relevant activities required in translation market. On the other hand, teachers’ assessments generally fail to conform with transferability, dependability and confirmability, the components of the principle of trustworthiness. Teachers never keep a record of situations and processes of assessments, which makes it hard to prove that assessments are applicable to other situations and that the results of assessments remain consistent. As to the sources of assessment-related data, teachers never keep a written record, which makes it hard to understand the interpretations of the data by teachers and assemble the interpretations into structurally coherent and corroborating wholes.