Topic: On Fostering Cognitive Competence in Teaching of Business English Texts
Time: 15:00-17:00 (19 Jan., 2015)
Venue: A421, Building 6
Participants: PhD. candidates and teaching staff
Chairperson: Pro. Zeng Lisha
Speakers: Lan Keran & Pro. Zeng Lisha
Recorder in English: Wang Junchao
The 19th forum started with a presentation given by Lan Keran, Ph.D candidate, on the topic “On fostering cognitive competence in teaching business English texts”. Ms Lan’s presentation covers five parts: special features of teaching business English, features of business texts and the status quo, relevant research methods and case analysis. She introduced the relevant theories that help enhance the translator’s cognitive competence include Frame Semantics, Contextual Parameter Theory and Conceptual Blending Theory, among which frames are applied to constructing business textual frames at the macro level, while Conceptual Blending Theory is used to interpreting the meaning at the macro level. According to Ms Lan, the Contextual Parameter Theory could be integrated to effectively provide descriptive, explanatory, and operative analyses of the business English texts, especially for coping with those difficult language problems such as business metaphors. Ms. Lan illustrated her analysis of typical examples from business news which are very interesting to those present.
The presentation unleashed a torrent of discussions, mainly about the clear definition of several concepts, the categorization of examples as well as the descriptive processes of meaning generation. The forum was followed by thought-provoking commentary from Pro. Zeng Lisha, who first pointed out how to focus on the topic chosen for presentation which should be delivered with clearly-defined arguments with closely relevant facts, and then he delivered an insightful speech entitled “On the Relations between the Cultivation of Translation Competence and Social Competence”. For a start, Pro. Zeng made a critical reading of the article “Fostering social competence in translation studies” (Zita Krajcso, 2011), holding that fostering social competence should not be confined to the trainees, but also to the instructors of translation, professional or non-professional. He, with clear definition of the conception of fostering problem-solution oriented social competence in translation studies, categorized the competences into five levels covering ontology, epistemology, axiology and methodology. Furthermore, he touched upon some countermeasures related to cultivating empirical competences and theoretical competences. Pro. Zeng’s thought-provoking speech not only pushed forward the conception of competence in translation studies, but also demonstrated his notion of “Cooperative Mode for Translation Pedagogy” in his recent lectures.
The forum ended in success by inspiring each participant on the topic presented and on the effective ways of conducting systematic and extending researches in translation studies and teaching as well.
