Literature in the classroom: pedagogical translation as a space for reflective and learning practices

Abstract

Working with literature in the classroom is at the same time a rich and complex activity, especially as it launches the learner into a poetic, sociological, political, historical and cultural universe that serves as access to the pleasurable study of a foreign language. It is in this context, in the sense of combining literature and translation, that pedagogical translation is inserted, considered here as a means of communication and culture, which aims to reconcile proficiency with linguistic reflection. For this research, with students in the 2nd phase of a Spanish Literature course, pedagogical translation activities were analyzed, designed to reflect on the language and to learn it. The activities, carried out virtually in the Moodle environment, were based on seven short stories by different writers distributed over the course's seven modules. They are: La obra y el poeta (by the British Richard Francis Burton), El gesto de la muerte (by the French Jean Maurice Cocteau), Infinito (by the Argentine Ernesto Sábato), La obra maestra (by the Argentine Álvaro Yunque), Una pequeña fábula (by the Czech Franz Kafka), El pozo (by the Spanish Luis Mateo Díez), El loco (by the Spanish Jordi Cebrián). Each pedagogical translation activity with the microstories was divided into three parts: the 1st consisted of a careful reading of the small text, where some words were highlighted, to, afterwards, select the correct alternatives in relation to the highlighted words, which should be searched. The options offered ranged from five to ten, according to the complexity of the text, and were related to the lexicon. The intention, in that 1st moment, was to give clues to the learner/reader that would help him in the comprehension process and in the future translation. The 2nd part offered a brief biography of the writer, to be read, followed by the translation activity of the text. Finally, in the 3rd part, there was a space for them to expose their doubts and challenges regarding the words and/or sentence structures. That is, a moment destined to reflect on the translation act. The data results show the linguistic reflection elaborated by the learners in their foreign language learning process.