Beyond social constructivism: Complexity theory and translator education

Evidence from several translation market surveys suggests that many students of translation may not be receiving adequate training, particularly in the personal and inter-personal skills that they will need upon graduation in the rapidly changing field of language mediation. This article investigates the multi-cluster na-ture of ‘translator competence’ and its implications for a multi-facetted approach to translator education. In drawing upon recent work involving the application of com-plexity theory to educational issues, the article moves beyond neo-Vygotskian social constructivism as the key guiding principle for translator education. Complexity the-ory is used to show how a principled combination of transmissionist, transactional and transformational teaching approaches might be more effective than any one approach alone.