A bicycle made for two: 'Tandem translation' as a response to changing student cohorts in advanced Chinese classes

Abstract

As universities internationalise, changes in student cohorts in tertiary language courses require creative rethinking of established pedagogical practices. This contribution presents a case study of the genesis, design, and implementation in a distance mode translation unit of 'tandem translation', a constructivist peer learning activity which pairs L1 Chinese speakers and L2 Chinese learners in collaborative and reflective tasks to produce joint translations of source texts in Chinese and English. Preliminary evaluation of student perceptions of the activity, as revealed by thematic analysis of 29 reflective student commentaries, suggests that it can enhance learning outcomes and language awareness, strengthen task engagement, and facilitate further linguistic and intercultural interchange. A model of the tandem translation process is proposed. The potential for connection between language departments and the multilingual resources of university communities is emphasised.