From hermeneutics to the translation classroom: a social constructivist approach to effective learning

This article compares the social constructivist approach to effective learning with several other trends currently popular in the education community and seeks to evaluate these in the context of translator training. After a discussion of transmissionist concepts of learning which tend to view knowledge as a rule-based static entity existing independently of the mind and which can be transmitted to the passive learner, we survey the relevance of various contemporary theoretical and practical approaches to learning which seek to emphasise learner autonomy and empowerment - including social constructivism, enactivism, collaborative learning and situatedness. We then measure the viability of the social constructivist approach against the specific requirements of the translation classroom via a case study of a 'live' translation class. The article then concludes with several tentative suggestions towards an educational philosophy for the translation classroom.