Developing assessment literacy among trainee translators: scaffolding self and peer assessment as an intervention

Abstract Recent growth in research on assessment has focused on the importance of university students’ assessment literacy, yet few studies have investigated how self and peer assessment combined with scaffolding can develop student assessment literacy. To address this, we developed scaffolding self and peer assessment (SSPA) as an intervention to build student assessment literacy. A quasi-experimental design was implemented to test its usefulness; one class (N = 21) received the intervention and the other (N = 23) did not. The findings indicated that SSPA had a positive effect on the trainee translators’ assessment literacy levels. Consistent across the time points, the intervention group demonstrated significant improvements in self and peer feedback provision. In contrast, no such trend was noticed among the non-intervention group. The intervention group also significantly outperformed the non-intervention group in translation performance. Students were generally positive about SSPA, showing its feasibility in translation instruction. This study highlights the role that teacher scaffolding can play in helping trainee translators develop assessment literacy to meet language service industry requirements.