Didactics of Translation: Text in Context

The sequencing of elements within the curriculum

Concerning the sequencing of elements within the curriculum, Chau (1984: 73) describes the work of Reiss (1976: 330 - 36) as being the most elaborate and systematic as far as syllabus design is concerned since it seeks to achieve three well-defined goals while using didactic principles which govern the sequencing of elements. These principles first move from the general to the particular (i.e. establishing competence before training in performance) and second, from the simple to the difficult. The three goals, which in fact represent three stages in the learning process and are put forward by general teaching theory, are: the preparation stage, the development stage and the independent application stage. In the first stage, the focus is laid on general linguistic training (introduction to lexical meaning and semantic fields, SL and TL receptive and reproductive stylistic training, introduction to general linguistics and comparative linguistics, introduction to textual science: textlinguistics). In the second

stage, the main stress is on the development of translational competence which would subsequently allow the student to deal with a translation task more consciously and rationally by invoking the most suitable and efficient methods of translating. This stage will include dictionary use, introduction to contrastive grammar and comparative stylistics with reference to a particular language pair, introduction to psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and pragmatics and finally introduction to the history and theory of translation. In the third stage, the techniques of translation learnt in the second stage are practised using translation exercises of various sorts. The ultimate aim is to achieve “independent performance”. The elements making up this stage are:

1. 
   comparing translations
   
2. 
   translation criticism
   
3. 
   translation practice
   

Reiss maintains that after these three basic stages, another “development stage” concerning career-oriented training could be initiated. She also suggests that all along the period of training, there should be instruction in cultural studies and specialized subjects.

4.