The power of social constructivism in teaching translation

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a suggested social constructivist program to develop translation proficiency and raise awareness of using translation strategies among fourth year English majors at College of Education. The study had a one group pretest-posttest design (n=40). The materials and tools of the study included a training social constructivist program in translation strategies, a pre-post translation strategy test for measuring awareness of translation strategies and a pre-post translation test for measuring translation proficiency. Results indicated that the suggested program was effective in improving translation proficiency of fourth year English majors, there was an increase in the awareness of translation strategies and there was a positive correlation between students' translation proficiency and their awareness of translation strategies. In the light of the results, it was recommended that pre-service, as well as in-service English teachers should be trained in social constructivist approach, a real shift from individual to collaborative learning should take place, the role of the teacher, in translation classes should be changed from a lecturer to a co-learner, Learners should have the chance of self-evaluation, and translation courses should integrate both translation theories with translation practices.