Translation and interpreting teachers’ perceptions of dilemma and needs in their professional development

Abstract

Since Chinese universities launched the postgraduate program of the Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) in 2007, approximately 300 high education institutions in China have been authorized to offer the MTI program. Behind the drastic springing-up of MTI programs during the decade, MTI teachers’ professional development draws the attention of MTI administrators and researchers. This study adopted a mixed-method of a large-scale survey among 514 MTI teachers across China and a qualitative interview study of seven participants and discussed MTI teachers’ perceptions of dilemmas and inner-world needs in their professional development. The findings indicate that MTI teachers’ dilemmas arise from the contradiction and entanglement in three mutually repulsive sectors of their professional development, i.e., teaching, research, and translation/interpreting practice, which hinder their professional development. And on the basis of the analysis, the present study proposes a synchronized “three-in-one” mechanism model with encouraging policies and environments as lubricant for the sustainable development of MTI teachers in the future, and it is hoped that this empirical research would provide some practice implications for the professional development of translation and interpreting teachers in China and beyond.