Scaffolding and Dynamic Assessment as a Strategy to Aid Translator Trainees

The focus of this paper is on the implementation of scaffolding and Dynamic Assessment (DA) in a translation classroom setting. Scaffolding is a strategy which originates from Lev Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural theory. DA is an approach to assessment and instruction derived from Vygotsky’s theory of the Zone of Proximal Development. He proposed the concept of the zone of proximal development, illustrating the distance between what individuals can achieve by themselves and what they can achieve with assistance from others. Scaffolding is a temporary support that individuals receive from more knowledgeable others before they get autonomous. In a classroom, the source of scaffolding can be the teacher as well as other classmates. This paper investigates the implications of scaffolding from the teacher and from classmates while students do translation tasks, as well as DA as a source of identifying potential problems of students in the process of translation in the classroom setting. The study compares the level of development of the students over eleven sessions of instruction as well as their reflections towards the applied teaching strategy as it is a new one. It also includes how students interact in the classroom compared to the classical translation teaching methods. This paper posits that manipulating the sociocultural context of the Translation classroom can help learners improve their translation skills, be trained in strategic orientation to translating, and, more importantly, become capable translators in the society.