The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2020 - 17

psychological distance between the
instructor and students.
■	

■	

Voice recordings, since being able
to hear the instructor's voice makes
students feel more connected and
helps to humanize the virtual learning
experience.8 Recordings reinforce
the presence of an instructor in a
virtual classroom. Podcasts can also be
very effective in a virtual course,
as they help reduce students'
feelings of isolation and promote a
social presence.
More visual elements such as colors,
images, and photographs of the
instructor in an academic environment
that emphasize their expressiveness,
accessibility, and dedication.

BUILDING A SHARED COMMUNITY
OF PRACTICE
Discussion Forums: Online discussion
forums help reduce students' sense of
isolation and provide a space for sharing
achievements, fears, and frustrations
about the course in general or about a
particular activity, thus creating a sense
of community. For the forum to become
the center of the community of practice,
instructors might:
■	

Provide specific guidelines on the use
of the forum, such as instructions to:
	

Address others by name.

	

Justify their opinions and expand
general statements.

	

Always treat others with respect,
especially when expressing an
opposing opinion.

	

Remember that in an online course,
relationships with others are built
through language, so the details of
the communication in the forums
must be handled carefully.

	

Quote or reference other
students' ideas.

	

Read all the comments before
adding one's own so as to
contribute positively to the
discussion and avoid the repetition
of ideas already expressed.

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■	

Build discussions around
students' own interests, concerns,
and experiences.

■	

Recognize and reinforce student
contributions, identify areas of
agreement and disagreement, and seek
a way to achieve consensus, learning,
and understanding.

■	

Evaluate the effectiveness of the
discussion process.9

Instructors themselves must model the
form of communication desired in the
forum. They should emphasize that their
opinion isn't the only correct one. This
will encourage students to offer their own
opinions and not just try to guess the
answer that the instructor wants to hear.
Peer Review: Peer review and mentoring
activities are very effective in improving
both group dynamics and each student's
translation strategies and techniques. They
allow students to reflect on their own
translation process, learn different ways to
solve translation problems, participate in
the creation of shared knowledge, and as a
result, create a community of practice.10

Interaction is an integral part
of any learning process, and
positive relationships with
the instructor and with other
students are fundamental
for learning.

For the peer review to be effective, it's
recommended that the instructor:
■	

Explain the benefits of peer review
and feedback to students;

■	

Provide students with an adapted
version of the ATA Certification
Program's Framework for Standardized
Error Marking as a basis for peer
evaluation.11 This practice will help
them reflect on the process and product
of their own (and others') translation
work. At the same time, it will bring
learning closer to the standards of
professional translation.

PROMOTING PRODUCTIVE
COLLABORATION
Instructor's Role: The instructor is
essential in the creation of a productive,
satisfactory, and genuine collaboration
for students in a virtual class. The
instructor should monitor and evaluate
the collaborative processes used and
provide help, advice, and tools.12 To
promote effective collaboration, it's
suggested that the instructor:
■	

Create the work groups carefully.
It's preferable to organize small
groups (three to four students), taking
into account the primary variables
in student background (such as
dominant language, specific areas of
prior knowledge, and expertise
with technology).

■	

Create fixed roles within the group.
It's advisable for each participant to
perform in a fixed role and assume
responsibilities within the group. A
prior discussion of such roles can
help avoid social laziness, or the
situation in which some students
let others do the work. If this is
noticed, the instructor can make "a
diplomatic intervention."13

■	

Prior to the activity, teach students
the essential rules for effective
collaborative work and follow up on
students' success in collaboration after
each group activity.14 Many humorous
videos on collaboration practices
and teamwork that can be found on
YouTube could help foster a more
effective team-member effort.

■	

Set clear instructions regarding deadlines
and the work to be completed.

Positive Interdependence: As Juan
Antonio Prieto-Velasco and Adrián
Fuentes-Luque, of the Department
of Philology and Translation at the
Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Spain,
note, the two main potential problems
in collaborative class activities are a
lack of participation by some members
and the excessive control of group
dynamics by participants with dominant
personalities.15 To prevent such
behaviors, positive interdependence and
American Translators Association

17
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The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2020

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