INSTRUMENTS FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT TRANSLATION COMPETENCE

Abstract

The paper summarizes the main drawbacks of traditional restricted examinations as a method of evaluating student translation competence. It demonstrates how such examination conditions limit the evaluation of student translation competence to the analysis of linguistic errors and explains why this kind of evaluation does not provide an adequate assessment of the textual element of bilingual subcompetence, as well as for the instrumental and strategic translation subcompetences. It then proceeds to demonstrate how additional instruments, such as a peer translation commentary and a take-home translation complemented by a translation diary may be used to cover the full range of subcompetences targeted by a course in technical and scientific translation.