Self-assessment Activities of Translation: A Case Study of Undergraduate, Master and Doctoral Students

Self-assessment (SA), an important metacognitive strategy and a main type of classroom assessment, plays a crucial role in promoting EFL learning. However, the current SA research in EFL teaching is mostly classroom-based, focusing on speaking, reading and writing skills, so it is impossible for them to reveal how SA interacts with learners. To this end, this study used the method of case study to profile the SA activities of learners at varied proficiency levels. Three undergraduates, one MA student and one doctoral student are enrolled to find out whether their performance and perceptions differ on such SA activities. Semi-structured interviews are main source of data. The results show that there are significant differences in performance and perceptions on self-assessment across grades, mainly reflecting on the degree of clarity in describing their own translation strengths and weaknesses, and the relevance and feasibility of the obtained feedback. These findings point out that SA ability and translation ability are synergistic, and the improvement of the former requires systematic training and continuous practices. It is suggested that SA training should be carried out under the guidance of metacognitive theory, so as to improve learners' translation performance and cultivate their metacognitive awareness.