Translation teaching research in the Chinese Mainland (1978–2018): Theory, method and development

Abstract

Since the institutional translation teaching began in 1978, we can notice that translation teaching in the Chinese Mainland has undergone five distinctive stages: intuition-guided, contrast-oriented, equivalence-oriented, function-oriented and cognition-oriented. In each stage, distinct teaching approaches have been applied according to the specific teaching objectives, teaching materials, assessments and the demands of students as well as the qualities of teachers, and the teaching approaches evolved from the earlier personal experience and reflection-based teaching to the structural approach, the constructive approach and the holistic approach, crystallizing the teaching philosophy from experientialism, structuralism to constructivism and holism. In line with translation teaching practice, translation teaching researches have also developed and displayed the following features in terms of research methods: experience-based elicitation, dialectics-based deduction, experiment-based induction, interdisciplinary integration. In view of the development of translation studies and the variety of translation practice, this chapter surveys some major streams of research on translation teaching in China, providing critical comments on the previous research and outlining some future trends for translation teaching research in China. Translation teaching research informs the training of all-round translators and interpreters as well as contributes to the growth of translation studies as a discipline.