CTTS researcher Dr. Lucía Pintado Gutiérrez recently participated in the Translation and Language Teaching conference (TLT 2017) hosted by The Department of Translation Studies at the Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor, Slovenia from 7 – 8 September.

Below is the abstract for her conference presentation, entitled:

Mapping Translation in Language Teaching. Demystifying the Construct.

The reintroduction of translation in the foreign language classroom in recent decades has generated a considerable level of interest among teachers and scholars. A renewed focus on translation as a skill in language teaching has simultaneously originated from and resulted in the publication of theoretical and empirical studies as well as monographs which recognise ‘pedagogical translation’ as a beneficial and increasingly accepted practice. However, the conceptual and terminological inconsistencies in academic works show that this area needs further research. Indeed, the boundaries between the general idea of using translation in the language classroom, and other types of specific practice that deal with translation tasks (also known as ‘pedagogical translation’) or code-switching remain unclear. I suggest revisiting current trends and outcomes in the field of translation on language pedagogy and in particular that of mediation (CEFR 2001, Working group 2014-2016) to glean an adequate insight into how translation in the classroom is evolving.