Assessment methodGroup Translation Exercise

Designed with the needs of final year students in mind, this technique yields potentially publishable output in the form of a piece of collaboratively-edited writing. A un/near-finished piece of text is provided to the class, and in small teams students are allotted sections of the document on which to work collaboratively. The work that may be required could take many forms including language translation, manuscript editing, or fact-checking. In the School of Languages and Cultures (FREN3310) this technique has been successfully run with a focus on translation. Each team submits one coherent translation and receives a group mark. This can be a time intensive task for staff who need to source a stimulus text (something without a strict deadline or certification requirement) and edit the final version if it is to be published. Despite this, this authentic assessment provides quality teaching and learning by affording students an opportunity to complete a task with clear application beyond the classroom. This typically results in increased student engagement leading to a higher calibre of work and better learning outcomes. This assessment works best in 3rd year classes as students must have a certain level of disciplinary proficiency to complete the task.