Exploratory-Cumulative Talk Discourse Markers in Translation Classes: Covertly-Needed vs. Overtly-Needed Translation Texts

The widening conceptual and methodological approach towards exploratory-cumulative talk reflecting its multi aspects of being the optimal analytical tool and strategy in translation classes was the main motivation to set the present study to check whether there is any significant difference between the occurrence frequencies of the discoursal markers showing exploratory-cumulative features in the covertly and overtly needed translation texts. 63 linguistically homogeneous undergraduate students majoring in English translation at Islamic Azad University participated in this study. Two classes; namely, Translation of Literary Texts and Translation of Political Texts, were held by one of the researchers employing the exploratory-cumulative talk as an effective approach to make the learners more efficient and independent cognitively, pedagogically, linguistically and psychologically. Exploratory-cumulative talk discoursal markers, thereof, were identified by using a number of pre-defined indicators by Wegerif and Mercer based on four ground rules that led to capture the nature of the types of the talks and their frequency in classroom recorded conversations. The results of the data analyses showed although the mean of the occurrences of exploratory-cumulative discourse markers for the course Translation of Political Texts was greater than those for the course Translation of Literary Texts, the difference was not found significant.