Innovative Dynamic Matrix-Type Learning Environment Based on the Example of the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation, Herzen University, Russia

Abstract

The paper examines an innovative cluster-type matrix model for training interpreters and translators, based on recent developments in text and pragmatics theory, as well as on the scenario approach in education. The aim is to create a single, multifaceted space for open interpreter and translator training with an anthropological focus, drawing on the achievements in Russian teaching culture and best world practices, including a system of feedback from employers, to enable a flexible response to the needs of the society. To achieve the aim, an innovative interactive system of intensive interpreter and translator training has been developed based on a cluster principle and continuous education quality monitoring. At the heart of the system are a scenario strategy and a text typology approach. What is unique about the St Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation (SCIT)’s project is the fact that it is not just an educational programme or a system or an algorithm, but a dynamic matrix-type learning environment.It is a flexible model for professional retraining that presupposes a range of basic skills and can fill any gaps in the general translators’ competence and current performance by applying the professional environment matrix. The cluster approach provides a combination of in-person, distant and independent learning components, as well as increased transparency of the educational and professional spaces, opening up future employment prospects.The ‘diffuse matrix’ version of the innovative matrix principle in education underlies the diversity of methods employed by SCIT: methodological pluralism, dominant in the process of training, implies a combination of diverse techniques developed by different authors for the matrix, making it most flexible and the whole approach – customer tailored. It should be pointed out that the external diversity is strictly regulated and targeted by the project’s creators by means of a monitoring mechanism.The future of the model is seen in its use in Russia and other countries to train highly professional interpreters and translators in other spheres (for example, audiovisual translation). It could also be used at the final stage of higher vocational training; as a standard mechanism for improving professional skills and retraining; as well as a social harmonising element (creating new links among academic, educational, and professional activities).