Letting go of control to the learners: the role of the Internet in promoting a more autonomous view of learning in an academic translation course

Abstract

This study investigates how an Internet information search based programme in an academic course can encourage learners who have a traditional view of learning to take more responsibility for their own learning. The study took place with 90 third-year English-speaking translation students whose native language is Turkish in a course specializing in written translation of nancial and economic terms at a university in Turkey. The study aimed to design and evaluate a pro- gramme to promote a change in students’ attitudes from a traditional, recitation- based view of learning to a more autonomous view of learning. The programme was implemented to encourage students to use the Internet in order to select, analyse, evaluate and apply relevant information to enhance the accuracy of their translations.The search and application of the Internet-based information aimed to encourage students to think and re ect critically on their learning, so that they could question their teacher-dependent learning habits. The evaluation of the programme was carried out with reference to pre- and post-course question- naires, post-course interviews and information recorded weekly in a diary by the teacher as researcher. The results indicate that the programme had a signi cant impact on students, in that it promoted a change in the view of learning towards more autonomy. After applying Internet-based information searches to their written translation tasks, the majority of the students accepted that the translation process required more personal responsibility from the learner, and furthermore, they viewed learning more meaningfully.