Unit Guide

General Information

Unit convenor and teaching staff	Unit convenor and teaching staff Other Staff Helen Slatyer helen.slatyer@mq.edu.au Contact via helen.slatyer@mq.edu.au C5A505 Mon 2-3 Tutor Canzhong Wu canzhong.wu@mq.edu.au Contact via canzhong.wu@mq.edu.au Unit Convenor Jan-Louis Kruger janlouis.kruger@mq.edu.au Contact via janlouis.kruger@mq.edu.au
Credit points	Credit points 4
Prerequisites	Prerequisites Admission to MTransInter or MAuslEngInt or MConfInt or MTransInterMAppLing or MTransInterMIntRel or MAdvTrans
Corequisites	Corequisites
Co-badged status	Co-badged status
Unit description	Unit description By conducting individual action research projects, students will be guided to explore translation and interpreting related areas from multiple perspectives and to conduct systematic inquiry of their own translation or interpreting practice. Students will be required to identify problems they have experienced in skill development, gather and analyse data, design a plan of action and implement the plan for the sake of improving their skills (sense, read, match, act). Students will conduct a reflective individual action research project, based on critical readings, classroom and/or online discussions, and feedback from lecturers.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

Identify various approaches to translation and interpreting research
Demonstrate an understanding of action research and apply it in reflective practice
Demonstrate familiarity with Translation Studies and Interpreting Studies literature
Demonstrate critical analysis of translation or interpreting problems
Communicate findings of translation or interpreting research
Discuss findings of translation or interpreting research
Demonstrate an understanding of the action research cycle

Assessment Tasks

Name	Weighting	Due	Short Extension
Research proposal	20%	28th March 2014	No
Literature review	30%	2nd May 2014	No
Research report	50%	13th June 2014	No

Research proposal

Due: 28th March 2014
Weighting: 20%
Groupwork/Individual:
Short extension ³: No
AI assisted?:

The research proposal is the framework for your research using the template that will be made available for you on iLearn. Essentially this is where you plan your project. The research proposal should be no longer than 500 words.

On successful completion you will be able to:

Identify various approaches to translation and interpreting research
Demonstrate an understanding of action research and apply it in reflective practice
Demonstrate an understanding of the action research cycle

Literature review

Due: 2nd May 2014
Weighting: 30%
Groupwork/Individual:
Short extension ³: No
AI assisted?:

The literature review section should provide an overview of studies relevant to the individual research project. The purpose of the literature review is to ground the study, and provide a rationale to support students’ reflective investigation of their own practice. Literature should be summarised and critiqued. A minimum of ten references are required, and 75-80% of the references must have been published within the last 10 years. Credit will be given for reading outside of the provided articles and chapters. The literature review should be approximately 2,000 words. Students will receive feedback on their literature review, which should be incorporated into the final project report.

On successful completion you will be able to:

Identify various approaches to translation and interpreting research
Demonstrate familiarity with Translation Studies and Interpreting Studies literature
Demonstrate an understanding of the action research cycle

Research report

Due: 13th June 2014
Weighting: 50%
Groupwork/Individual:
Short extension ³: No
AI assisted?:

The final paper should be approximately 5,000 words. It should conform to APA style (see APA style guide at end of this unit outline), and should be structured as follows:

· Introduction (what are you looking at? What problem did you sense in your own interpreting practice?)

· Literature review (who else has talked about what you are looking at and how is it relevant?)

· Methodology (how did you read the problem - what is your data and how did you collect and analyse it?)

· Results (summary of analysis with examples from data)

· Discussion (what did you find and what is significant about it? How will you match the problem?)

· Limitations of the study

· Implications and recommendations

· Conclusion (summarise what you’ve talked about & what you found, and any other problems you have sensed for future research)

Word counts should be approximately as follows:

Introduction – 300 words
Literature review – 2,000 words
Methodology – 400 words
Results – 1,000 words
Discussion – 1,000 words
Conclusion – 300 words

On successful completion you will be able to:

Demonstrate an understanding of action research and apply it in reflective practice
Demonstrate critical analysis of translation or interpreting problems
Communicate findings of translation or interpreting research
Discuss findings of translation or interpreting research
Demonstrate an understanding of the action research cycle

Delivery and Resources

This subject requires full attendance at lectures and tutorials. Students are required to attend a lecture in the first 7 weeks of the semester, as seen in the unit schedule. The lectures will also be made available through Echo recordings and the iLearn site for TRAN883 for later reference.

To login to the website, go to https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/login/MQ/. You will have access to the TRAN 883 website from Monday 3 March 2014. You’ll find it has a range of resources for the unit (links, discussion forums, postings etc).

For general information about iLearn and how it works, start by checking:

http://www.mq.edu.au/iLearn/studentinfo.htm

For specific student guides on accessing discussions, etc., go to:

http://www.mq.edu.au/iLearn/student_info/guides.htm

At the end of the first lecture students will be asked to sign up for a tutorial group based on the days and times below 3c. Each group will have a maximum of 15 students. Students should select their preferred group based on their topic of interest. The tutor will then be available every week to guide students through conducting their own individual research projects. Please note: Although the tutorial times are allocated for 3 hours it is not expected that students meet with their tutors for 3 hours each week. Students should expect to meet with their tutor for 1-2 hours, and the remaining hour students will be able to stay in the tutorial room to discuss their work with other students if required.

Group no.	Tutor	Day & Time	Location
1	Jan-Louis Kruger	Thursday, 9-12 pm	Y3A 210
2	Canzhong Wu	Thursday,3-6 pm.	Y3A 210

Unit Schedule

*Week*	*Topic*	*Lecturer*
1	Course Overview Selection of tutorial topics	A/Prof Jan-Louis Kruger
2	What is Action Research?	Helen Slatyer
3	Overview of T&I research	A/Prof Jan-Louis Kruger
4	Conducting a literature review	Dr Stanley Song
5	Research design and data collection	A/Prof Jan-Louis Kruger
6	Analysing research data	Dr Canzhong Wu
7	Critical reflection on T&I practice	Helen Slatyer

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

Assessment Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html

Grading Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html

Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html

Grievance Management Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grievance_management/policy.html

Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.

In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://informatics.mq.edu.au/help/.

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

PG - Discipline Knowledge and Skills

Our postgraduates will be able to demonstrate a significantly enhanced depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content knowledge in their chosen fields.