Key Assessment Strategy principles: Holistic design, ILO alignment, constructive and actionable; inclusivity embedded; opportunities to apply learning, produced for a wider audience, creativity and agency, has value beyond the classroom, dialogue and critical thinking
What is the assessment approach?
In The Translation Industry, students on the online MA Translation programme research an aspect of the industry, posing their own research questions based on a set of tasks that they do together in the first six weeks of the teaching block. They first present their initial findings via a recorded presentation posted to the whole group and then in a 2,000-word essay. In the unit this is then followed by practical work towards setting up as a translator, building up a portfolio that comprises a reflective log, SWOT analysis and action plan and other artefacts such as a social media profile, CV and pricing structure.
“This is your career, you’re doing it.”
– Christophe Fricker
How is feedback given?
In addition to receiving tutor feedback on their work, students engage in peer feedback, commenting on their coursemates’ research findings as part of a learning group. It is made clear that these are part of students’ networking experience, mirroring activities they will carry out in their professional practice.
How is this approach different? What are some of the design features?
Students engage in six weeks of intense research into the translation industry to gain a sense of what they are particularly interested in.
“Some students really want to be subtitlers. Some want to be literary translators. Some want to have a consultancy or do marketing or business development. It’s a very diverse group.”
– Christophe Fricker
They then select one aspect of what they have researched to become the focus of their essay, drawing on industry sources, and placing them in an academic framing to create a systematic, research-based analysis that signposts their career development.
“One student wrote their essay on why subtitlers are never credited. In the seemingly endless four minutes of credits at the end of a film, why are their names usually missing?”
– Christophe Fricker
The second assessment, the reflective log, is essentially a business plan. Students reflect on how their understanding of translation has changed in the process of their research. Next, they carry out a structured competition analysis, covering what they think is their immediate competitors, which is usually freelance translators, but it can be aspects of large, global language service providers, to see how they frame their services, how they describe their clients, and what they say about the value of their work. They then set career goals as part of an action plan. This must include any supporting documents they consider relevant to achieving their goals – typically a CV, professional network profile page or description of services. While these artefacts are not graded, students do receive extensive feedback on them.
“Because students’ needs differ so much, we’ve tried to strike a balance between making assessment compulsory and making it relevant. There’s often a tension, but I think we’ve worked it out.”
– Christophe Fricker
What was the rationale for this approach? What problems or challenges was it trying to address?
In recent years, advances in technology have transformed the nature of the work translators do, and this has prompted changes in assessment across the programme.
“If we don’t reflect changes in the profession, we condemn ourselves to oblivion.”
– Christophe Fricker
Translation no longer follows the traditional model of a single translator translating one text from one language to another, for a single client, to be used once in a single context.
“It’s a high-tech, connected, networked, multidisciplinary profession. It’s a multi-role, project-led profession. All of that must be reflected. Trained linguists can work as subtitlers, terminologists, user experience testers, language consultants. It’s a lovely moment when students realise that.”
– Christophe Fricker
“In most units the reflexive element is very strong. I tell them it’s like a little retreat. ‘You’re in a fast-paced professional environment. When do you ever get the time to think whether something worked or not?’ We build these retreat phases into assessment by saying, ‘Do the work, analyse it and reflect on it.’”
– Christophe Fricker
How does this approach reflect the strategic priorities of Integrated Assessment Design, Designed for All and Authentic Assessment?
Integrated Assessment Design
During the unit, students are supported in combining their research, reflections and artefacts into an integrated and meaningful experience. Developing their skills in independent research and reflective practice supports students in other areas of the programme, notably their dissertation. The unit also prepares students for their career in translation, helping them realise how they can apply practical skills and experience from across the programme.
“Students draw connections. They’ll look at a job ad and say, ‘Oh yeah, we did a project like that in one of the other units. I’ve already worked in that capacity through this programme. What I’ve done on the programme is exactly what they’re asking for. I’ve worked for a client who I call my tutor.”
– Christophe Fricker
Designed for All
By reflecting on the work they have already done, are currently doing, or are planning to do in the translation industry, students can bring their own lives and experiences into the assessment. Students have considerable choice over the artefacts they include in their portfolio, allowing them both to play to their strengths and to personalise the learning outcomes to suit their career path.
“Students get a sense of achievement. They learn to have the confidence to do it.”
– Christophe Fricker
Authentic Assessment
Both assessments enable students to apply theory to practice, addressing contemporary challenges in the translation industry and in planning their careers within it, while the artefacts they create as part of their business plans – their CV and profile – are by their nature designed for a wider audience, and have value beyond the classroom.
Though students are not assessed collaboratively, the process of peer discussion and feedback in the unit challenges students to think about the purpose of their learning for the discipline, society and for themselves, and think critically about the industry. Students have agency in making decisions about their research and business plan and engage in these assessments as insiders and participants in their discipline.
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