Applying curriculum mapping and constructive alignment to a translator study programme: A case study of translation theory classes at undergraduate level in Sweden

Giada Brighi

doi:10.4312/stridon.5.1.69-91

Authors

Giada Brighi Stockholm University, Sweden

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/stridon.5.1.69-91

Keywords:

translation theory teaching , translator training, translator education, curriculum mapping, constructive alignment

Abstract

In translator education, the longstanding divide between theory and practice continues to shape pedagogical discourse. Translation study programmes are generally highly practice-oriented, with theoretical components occupying marginal positions, despite translation scholars advocating for the benefits of learning translation theory. Empirical studies have shown that theoretical modules often become less appreciated after attending such programmes, suggesting that universities have yet to find effective ways of teaching them. Teachers’ perception of student disengagement within the context of translation theory courses at Stockholm University prompted the present investigation. This study examines undergraduate translation theory modules at the Institute for Interpreting and Translation Studies, employing curriculum mapping to analyse the programme at a macro level and constructive alignment to assess the internal coherence of individual modules. The aim is to identify potential misalignments and areas in need of pedagogical revision. Despite the apparently aligned structure on the macro level, the micro level analysis shows that there is a lack of alignment in how the intended learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, and assessment tasks are formulated. Based on the findings, the paper offers suggestions for improvement and proposes avenues for further research.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Agost, Rosa, and Pilar Ordóñez López. 2015. “Translation Theory. Myths, Prejudices and Realities.” Babel 61 (3): 361–80. https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.61.3.03ago.

Baker, Mona, and Carol Maier. 2011. “Ethics in Interpreter & Translator Training: Critical Perspectives.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 5 (1): 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2011.10798809.

Bartrina, Francesca. 2005. “Theory and Translator Training.” In Training for the New Millennium: Pedagogies for Translation and Interpreting, edited by Martha Tennent, 177–89. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.60.15bar.

Biggs, John. 2003. Teaching for Quality Learning at University. Ballmoor: Open University Press.

Biggs, John. 2014. “Constructive Alignment in University Teaching.” HERDSA Review of Higher Education 1 (1): 5–22.

Biggs, John, and Catherine Tang. 2011. Teaching for Quality Learning at University. Maidenhead: Society for Research into Higher Education, Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education.

Chesterman, Andrew. 1997. Memes of Translation. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.22.

Chesterman, Andrew. 2000. “Teaching Strategies for Emancipatory Translation.” In Developing Translation Competence, edited by Christina Schäffner and Beverly Adab, 77. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.38.09che.

Chesterman, Andrew, and Emma Wagner. 2002. Can Theory Help Translators? A Dialogue between the Ivory Tower and the Wordface. Manchester: St Jerome.

Cooper, Beverley, Bronwen Cowie, and Jane Furness. 2024. “Curriculum Mapping as a Boundary Encounter: Meeting the Demands of Multiple Agendas.” Educational Research for Policy and Practice 23 (2): 229–50. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-021-09299-5.

Di Mango, Daniela. 2018. The Role of Theory in Translator Training. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto.

Englund Dimitrova, Birgitta. 2002. “Training and Educating the Trainers: A Key Issue in Translators’ Training.” In Teaching Translation and Interpreting 4: Building Bridges, edited by Eva Hung, 73–82. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.42.11eng.

Gile, Daniel. 2010. “Why Translation Studies Matters: A Pragmatist’s Viewpoint.” In Why Translation Studies Matters, edited by Daniel Gile, Gyde Hansen, and Nike K. Pokorn, 251–62. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. doi:10.1075/btl.88.21gil.

Girard, Marie-Hélène, and Noelle Peach. 2024. “‘Translating’ Legal Translation Training Theory into Practice: The McGill University Experience.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 18 (2): 174–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2024.2344288.

González-Davies, Maria, and Vanessa Enríquez-Raído. 2016. “Situated Learning in Translator and Interpreter Training: Bridging Research and Good Practice.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 10 (1): 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2016.1154339.

Harden, R. M. 2001. “AMEE Guide No. 21: Curriculum Mapping: A Tool for Transparent and Authentic Teaching and Learning.” Medical Teacher 23 (2): 123–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/01421590120036547.

Holmes, James S. 1988. “The Name and Nature of Translation Studies.” In Translated! Papers on Literary Translation and Translation Studies, edited by Raymond Van den Broeck, 67–80. Amsterdam: Rodopi. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004486669_008.

Kamenická, Renata. 2011. “Teaching Translation Theory: The Challenges of Theory Framing.” In Theories and Practice: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on English and American Studies, September 7– 8, 2010, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Czech Republic, edited by Roman Trušník, Katarína Nemčoková, and Gregory J. Bell, 127–36. Zlín: Univerzita Tomáše Bati ve Zlíně.

Katan, David. 2009. “Translation Theory and Professional Practice: A Global Survey of the Great Divide.” HERMES 42: 111–53. https://doi.org/10.7146/hjlcb.v22i42.96849.

Kearns, John. 2008. “The Academic and the Vocational in Translator Education.” In Translator and Interpreter Training: Issues, Methods and Debates, edited by John Kearns, 184–214. London: Continuum.

Kelly, Dorothy. 2005. A Handbook for Translator Trainers. Manchester: St Jerome.

Kelly, Dorothy, and Anne Martin. 2019. “Training and Education, Curriculum.” In Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, edited by Mona Baker and Gabriela Saldanha, 3rd ed., 591–96. London and New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315678627-126.

Kiraly, Don. 2000. A Social Constructivist Approach to Translator Education. Empowerment from Theory to Practice. Manchester: St Jerome.

Kizeweter, Magdalena. 2013. “Students’ Views and Expectations Regarding the Content and Form of Practical Translation Classes: The Results of a Questionnaire.” In Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Advances and Perspectives, edited by Łukasz Bogucki, 77–91. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.

Koskinen, Kaisa. 2012. “Public Translation Studies in the Classroom.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 6 (1): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2012.10798827.

Laviosa, Sara, and Gaetano Falco. 2022. “Translation Pedagogy in Higher Education.” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Methodology, edited by Federico Zanettin and Christopher Rundle, 476–91. London and New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315158945-33.

Leal, Alice. 2014. Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full? Reflections on Translation Theory and Practice in Brazil. Berlin: Frank & Timme.

Li, Defeng. 2002. “Translator Training: What Translation Students Have to Say.” Meta 47 (4): 513–31. https://doi.org/doi:10.7202/008034ar.

Loughlin, Colin, Simon Lygo-Baker, and Åsa Lindberg-Sand. 2021. “Reclaiming Constructive Alignment.” European Journal of Higher Education 11 (2): 119–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2020.1816197.

Malmkjær, Kirsten. 2004. “Introduction. Translation Studies as an Academic Discipline.” In Translation in Undergraduate Degree Programmes, edited by Kirsten Malmkjaer, 1–7. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.59.01mal.

Marczak, Mariusz, and Oleksandr Bondarenko. 2022. “Translator Education in Poland and Ukraine: Does the Academia vs Industry Gap Persist?” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 16 (1): 115–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2021.1891516.

Meister, Lova. 2017. “Threshold Concepts and Ways of Thinking and Practising: The Potential of a Framework for Understanding in Translation Didactics.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 11 (1): 20–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2016.1198181.

Ordóñez-López, Pilar, and Rosa Agost. 2015. “An Empirical Study of Students’ Views on Theoretical Subjects: The Role of Theory in Translation Degrees at Spanish Universities.” In Handbook of Research on Teaching Method in Language Translation and Interpretation, edited by Ying Cui and Wei Zhao, 324–45. Hershey: IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-6615-3.ch017.

Ordóñez López, Pilar, and Rosa Agost. 2022. “Future Translators’ Views on Translation Theory: A Qualitative Approach.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 16 (2): 158–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2021.2001189.

Orlando, Marc. 2019. “Training and Educating Interpreter and Translator Trainers as Practitioners-Researchers-Teachers.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 13 (3): 216–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2019.1656407.

Pezza Cintrão, Heloísa. 2010. “Magnifying Glasses Modifying Maps: A Role for Translation Theory in Introductory Courses.” In Why Translation Studies Matters, edited by Daniel Gile, Gyde Hansen, and Nike K. Pokorn, 165–82. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.88.15cin.

Pym, Anthony, and Esther Torres-Simón. 2016. “Designing a Course in Translation Studies to Respond to Students’ Questions.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 10 (2): 183–203. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2016.1198179.

Risku, Hanna. 2016. “Situated Learning in Translation Research Training: Academic Research as a Reflection of Practice.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 10 (1): 12–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2016.1154340.

Scarpa, Federica, Maria Teresa Musacchio, and Giuseppe Palumbo. 2009. “A Foot in Both Camps: Redressing the Balance between the ‘Pure’ and Applied Branches of Translation Studies.” Translation & Interpreting 1 (2): 32–43.

Shih, Claire Y. 2011. “Learning from Writing Reflective Learning Journals in a Theory-Based Translation Module: Students’ Perspectives.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 5 (2): 309–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2011.10798823.

Siever, Holger. 2022. “Übersetzungsunterricht im Zeichen der Komplexität.” In Re-Thinking Translator Education: In Honour of Don Kiraly’s Social Constructivist Approach, edited by Katja Abels, Silvia Hansen-Schirra, Katharina Oster, Moritz J. Schaeffer, Sarah Signer, and Marcus Wiedmann, 43–58. Berlin: Frank & Timme. https://doi.org/10.57088/978-3-7329-9133-4_3.

Stockholms universitet – Kandidatprogram i språk och översättning. Accessed April 11, 2025. https://www.su.se/sok-kurser-och-program/h%C3%B6vka-1.717987?open-collapse-boxes=program-detail.

Vandepitte, Sonia. 2013. “Research Competences in Translation Studies.” Babel 59 (2): 125–48. https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.59.2.01van.

Veiga Díaz, María Teresa, and Marta García González. 2016. “Constructively Aligned Assessment: An Integral Approach to Translation Teaching and Learning.” Meta 61 (2): 276–98. https://doi.org/10.7202/1037760ar.

Venuti, Lawrence, ed. 2016. Teaching Translation. London and New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315623139.