Facilitating Peer-Based Learning Through Collaborative Translation

Students in CHIN 494 have native or near-native proficiency in Mandarin Chinese, and generally have some previous knowledge of Classical Chinese. Through this course, students further develop their knowledge of grammatical points in Classical Chinese and traditional Chinese cultural elements. The goals of this learning activity are to facilitate students’ learning by:

• Improving students’ understanding of Classical Chinese and ability to decode passages
• Giving students an opportunity to engage thoroughly in peer review work
• Adding variation to the traditional methods of instruction found in language courses

Through this activity, students will:

• Engage with Classical Chinese text in depth through translation and reviewing peers’ translations
• Develop their critical feedback skills by providing constructive commentary about a translation’s strengths and weaknesses

Description

Students select a topic for the first translation activity by joining self sign-up groups on Canvas. They then translate the Classical Chinese passage and post their translation into a document on Microsoft Teams for feedback from peers.

Delivery

Can be done synchronous or asynchronous

Prep Work

1. Select a group of topics and corresponding Classical Chinese passages that are approximately the same length (around 10 lines).
2. Create self sign-up groups on Canvas for each topic.
3. Create a team on Microsoft Teams for the course.
4. Provide instructions and guidelines for the activity to students.
5. Have students download Microsoft Teams and create UBC Microsoft accounts.
6. Familiarize students with the Microsoft Teams functions used for the activity (ex: through a demonstration or tutorial).

Method

1. Students sign up for their preferred topic by joining the corresponding group on Canvas.
2. Once in the Canvas group, students access the link to the passage and translate it.
3. Students post their first translation into a document on Teams.

Considerations

Teams does not allow disabling editing on documents, so students may continue editing documents to post their first translation after the deadline has passed. The version history of the document can provide information about whether students completed their work before the deadline.

Description

Students are to provide feedback to each other about each other’s translations: what had been done well, and areas where it could be improved. They also provide an alternative translation of the passage for the documents they peer review. After receiving feedback from their peers, students translate their original passage a second time.

Delivery

Asynchronous

Prep Work

Prepare instructions on constructive feedback for students to refer to, with guidelines for the length of comments (ex: number of words)

Method

1. Students are provided with instructions for critical commentary.
2. Students comment on two other translations with commentary and come up with their own alternative translations.
3. Students complete a second translation of their chosen passage, taking commentary from their peers into consideration.

Grading

While the assignment is collaborative, it is part of a larger capstone project, in which students’ work will eventually be individually graded. Assessing a translation is different from grading papers, as papers have an argument and format, so the diverse peer feedback students receive here helps students to determine which format and argument work best for their capstone project.

Potential Modifications

• The last step (retranslation) could be replaced with a critical self-reflection – this could prevent students from viewing the work as repetitive and make grading faster for the instructor.
• Providing more samples on critical commentary for students to refer to can ensure that students can give helpful and constructive feedback to peers about where a translation had been done well and where it could be improved.
• The activity could be extended in the future: this course happened during the summer, but conducting it over a winter term could allow for two or three rounds of the exercise.