ClassrooM – First results oF an eMPiriCal investigation
4. the researCh
4.4 d ata analysis and discussion
4.4.5 The trainer’s reflections on project work
– textmorecoherent;unityofstyleandtone(7.9%)
– donothavetotakeresponsibilityforothers(6.7%)
– noconflict,tensionorfight(3%)
– faster(3%).
Themostfrequentlynamedadvantagesofindividualworkareallrelatedtoindependence.They
reflectstudents’recognitionthatitiseasiertoorganiseworkiftheydonothavetoadjustto
others.The“fullresponsibilityononlyoneperson”categorydeservesfurtherattention.Inthelit- eratureonprojectworkitisoftensuggestedthatprojectshelpstudentslearntotakeresponsibil- ity.ourdatasuggeststhatmanystudentsinoursampledoalreadyknowhowtotakeresponsi-bilityforthemselves.Whattheyarenotcomfortablewith,istakingresponsibilityforothers.
Thesefindings,again,suggestthatgroupworkshouldbelearnedandpractised.never-theless,wemustnotethatindividualworkwillalwayshaveitsadvantagesovergroupwork
(andviceversa)–beingabletonametheadvantagesofoneandtheotherdoesnotnecessarily
suggestpreference,itsimplyindicatessoundreflectiononbehalfofthestudents.
4.4.5 The trainer’s reflections on project work
Inthepasttwoyears,wemadeimportantobservationsthatcouldnothavebeencollected
byanyothermeansthanpersonalparticipationintheprojects.Fromtheperspectiveofthe
trainer,projectsintranslationoffertheopportunitytostudentstotranslatelonger(oftencom-plete)authentictexts,whichresultsinthestudentsfacingproblemstheyhavenotfacedbefore
(e.g.terminology,coherence,time-management).Projectsalsohelpinmakingstudentsmore
autonomousandindependent.Similarly,theymakestudentsrealisetheimportanceoftransla-tor’scompetencesinadditiontotranslationcompetences.Finally,weagreewithstudentson
thepointthattheycanlearna lotfromeachother.
our notes from the discussions in the project closing classroom sessions suggest that
projectworkisgenerallywellreceivedwellbythestudentsanditisa positiveexperiencefor
mostofthem.assomeofthestudentsstated,itmightverywellbethemostpositiveand
memorableexperienceoftheircourses.nevertheless,someproblemsemergedwithinthetwo
yearsthatneedaddressing,aswell.Thesourcetext(itsdifficultyanditslength)andthetim-ingoftheprojectarecrucialfactors:weshouldavoidoverchallengingstudentsasmuchas
underchallengingthem.Inotherwords,thedifficultyofthetaskshouldbematchedtowhat
Vygotskycallsthestudents’zoneofproximaldevelopment(Vygotsky1978).Thisiseasiersaid
thandoneasitvariesfromgrouptogroupwhatcountsasa difficulttextandhowmuchtime
isneededforstudentstotranslateit.
Thebiggestchallengeswefacedduringtheimplementationoftheprojectwererelatedto
thecompositionoftheteamsandtheallocationoftheroleswithintheteams.groupdynamics
andthesuccessoftheachievementoftheteamsdependslargelyontheircomposition,which,
accordingtoourexperience,worksbestwhentheteamisheterogeneous.Cohen(1994)states
thata grouptaskhastwocharacteristics,onebeingthattheresourcesarenotpossessedbyone
singleperson,thesuccessofachievementdependingoneverygroupmember’scontribution.
Theotheristhattheinterdependencebetweenthegroupmembersisreciprocal,thatis,each
studentisdependentonthecontributionsofallothers.Whenstudentsformteamsthemselves,
theytendtofollowthewell-knownprincipleofsocialpsychology,“birdsofa featherflock
together”(aronson2008,Forgas1989,McPhersonetal.2001)thatis,theytendtoformrela-tivelyhomogeneousgroups.Thishasseveraldrawbacks:ontheonehand,somegroups(with
weakerstudents)aredoomedtofail,whichevokesnegativefeelingsinitself.also,ifthereare
no“moreproficient”studentsinthegroup,thereisnochancetolearnfromeachother,either.
asa result,projectworklosesoneofitsmainadvantages.Inaddition,ifstudentsformgroups
spontaneously,theyaremorelikelytochoosetheirfriendsandacquaintances,thustheymiss
thechancetolearntocooperatewithsomeonetheyhardlyknow.Therefore,itmightseem
a betterideaifthetrainerselectsthemembersofeachteam,takingintoconsiderationthe
personalitytraitsoftheteammembers(ifpossible),inadditiontotheircompetences.
Theallocationofroleswithintheteamsandtheunevendistributionoftheworkload
provedtobeanevenmoredifficultproblem.Theautonomyandresponsibility(andconse-quentlythemotivation)oftheteammembersaremoreeffectiveiftheycanallocatetheroles
amongthemselves,providedtheyareawareoftheirownandeachother’sstrengthsandweak-nesses,aswellastheworkloadassumedbyeachrole.Wehavefoundthatinspiteoftheclear
anddetailedwritteninstructionsandverbalbriefing,studentswerenotalwaysabletoestimate
theweightandquantityoftheworkattachedtoeachrole.Itmustbehighlightedthatthe
rolesinourprojectsystemdonotrequirethesameamountofwork.Whiletheproofreader
andtheeditorareusuallyoverburdened,thelanguagetechnologisthashardlyanythingtodo,
mostlybecausestudentscarryouttechnologyrelatedtasksaspartofthetranslationprocess
andnothingisleftforthetechnologist.Theprojectmanagerhasa hardtaskbutitismore
psychologicallythanprofessionallychallenging,anditisnottime-consumingincontrastto
theroleoftheproofreader.Theterminologist’sworkloadishighlydependentonthesource
textand,partly,onthetranslatorsinthegroup(sometranslatorsseemtohaveproblemswith
delegatingthetaskofterminologicalsearchtocolleagues).allthissuggeststhattheamount
ofthesourcetextthata particulargroupmemberhastotranslatemustvarywiththeroleac-ceptedtoavoida disproportionateworkload.
Furthermore,theattitudeoftheteammembershasa greatimpactonthequantityofthe
workload.Ifteammembersrecognisetheimportanceofcooperationandimplementthe‘one
forall,allforone’principle,thatis,theyhelptheirteammembersinneed,theresultissuc-cessfulandcooperativeteamwork.
Twoimportantconclusionscanbedrawnfromourexperienceswithprojectroles.First,
itmightbenecessarytothinkthroughrolesandgroupsizeinordertocreatea projectdesign
witha roleconfigurationthatisfaironstudentswithrespecttoworkload.Second,theorienta- tionlessonmustbeextremelywell-designed,andampletimehastobedevotedtothediscus-sionofthepossiblepitfallsrelatedtotheallocationoftheroles,ontheonehand,andtoraising
students’awarenessofresponsibilityissuesandeffectivecommunicationwithinthegroups,on
theother.Inotherwords,studentsmustbemadeawarethattheultimategoalistheproduc-tionofa homogenousandmarketabletargettextforwhichtheteammembersaremutually
responsible:thesuccessorfailureoftheindividualisthesuccessorfailureoftheteam.
Conflictswithinthegroupsraisethequestionwhethertrainersshouldinterveneinsocial
processeswhenconflictsemerge.Theteacher’s(orthetrainer’s)roleisfundamentallydiffer-entinautonomouslearning,cooperativelearningandprojectworkthaninthetraditional
dorkaBaloghandMártaLesznyák
classroom(Kagan2001,M.nádasdi2003,Horváth2007b).Thetraineractsmoreasa facili- tatorwhoensuresthatprojectworkoccursasplanned.a cornerstoneofprojectworkandco-operativelearningis,however,thatstudentssolveproblems(bothprofessionalandsocial)on
theirown.Thiscreatesa dilemmafortheteachersandtrainers:theymustdecidewhentoin- terferewithgroupwork.Storiesofpeersdoinglousywork,sabotagingwork,notkeepingdead-linesetc.doturnupinquestionnaire-answers(seethesocialchallengesofteamwork,above).
aboutonegroupperyearisaffectedbyextremeinstancesofuncooperation.nevertheless,
studentsnevercomplainwhilestillintheprocessoftranslating,probablybecauseofsolidar-ity.This,however,meansthatthetrainerhasa hardtimefindingoutwhetherthereisa social
conflictinthegroup.(Itisinterestingthatstudentsturntothetrainerswhentheyhavetask-relatedquestions–2-3timespertrainer/peryear).Whatisclear,however,isthat,contraryto
whatwecanreadintheliterature(Kagan2001,aronson2012),insuchextremecases,the
groupsinoursamplecouldnothandlenoncompliantindividuals,theycouldnottamethem
orhelptheminanyotherways–atleast,notintheframeworkofa 5-week-longproject.
5. ConClusion
Bothourexperiencesandtheanswersonthequestionnairesreturnedbythestudentslend
supporttomostofthearguments(listedunderpoint1.)thatadvocatetheprojectmethod,
whilesheddinglightonsomenewaspectsaswell.Wefoundthatprojectworknarrowsthe
gapbetweentrainingandtheindustrybyprovidingstudentswitha holisticapproachand
makingthemrealisetheimportanceoftranslatorcompetences(theabilitytoproducea target
languagetextfroma sourcelanguagetextaccordingtocertainrequirements[Koller1992]),in
additiontotranslationcompetences(competencesneededtobeabletotranslatea textfrom
thesourcelanguagetothetargetlanguage).
ourfirstresearchquestionfocusedonidentifyingsomeoftheconditionsnecessaryfor
theefficientuseofprojectworkintranslationtraining.Basedonthequestionnairedataand
theexperiencesgainedinthetwoinstitutionsoverthepasttwoyears,wefindthatthesuccess
andtheefficiencyofprojectworkisgreatlyinfluencedbythecleardefinitionofthetasksand
a suitablequantityofavailabletime,therefore,itiscrucialthattrainersdevoteenoughtime
toplanningthesewhenpreparingfortheproject.
Thesecondandthethirdresearchquestion(theroleandtheimportanceofprojectwork
intranslationtraining,itsadvantages,disadvantagesandchallenges)arecloselyrelated,there-fore,answerstothesequestionswillbepresentedsimultaneously,below.
Students’responsessuggestthatmostofthemconsiderprojectworkasusefulastraditional
individualwork.Learningtocooperate,learningfrompeersandhelpingeachotherarehigh-lightedasmajoradvantagesofprojectwork.Somestudentsstressthatprojectworkisfaster
andleadstoincreasedquality.Thegreatestchallengesofprojectworkaretimemanagement
andcooperation.Mostofthetimethesechallengessimplypresentedthemselvesastasksthat
thegroupcouldsolve,ifandwhenrequired,however,thesechallengesturnedintohindrances
thatimpededefficientgroupwork.Carelessness,nocommunication,disrespectingdeadlines
areexamplesofdisruptivebehaviourthatcanendangerthesuccessofprojectwork,evenif
theyarefarfrombeingtypical.
onthewhole,theadvantagesofprojectworkclearlyoutweighitspossibledisadvantages.
Themostpowerfulargumentforitsuseintranslatortrainingisthatteamworkandcoop-erationarebecomingcommonrequirementsoftheprofession.Project-basedlearningoffers
excellentopportunitiestopreparefortheserequirements.