Coaching for translation learning — focusing on learners’ translation competence development

This study explores coaching as a pedagogical framework to enhance translation learners’ competence development through a problem-solving lens. Grounded in three core assumptions — translation essentially as a complex, iterative process of resolving ill-structured problems; translation competence as an ill-structured problem-solving competence with translation thinking abilities as its core; and the necessity of cultivating learners’ translation thinking and facilitating their translation learning processes to promote translation competence development and acquisition — the research proposes an interconnection model integrating constructivism, complexity theory, and metacognitive self-regulation. To operationalize this framework, two sub-models are introduced: (1) the Translation Problem-Solving Coaching (TPSC) model, which guides learners through structured cycles to develop adaptive thinking; and (2) the Student-Centred Learning Process Coaching (SCLPC) model, which supports learners in aligning their learning processes with goals. Case-based validation illustrates how coaching scaffolds cognitive and metacognitive growth. Implications for translation pedagogy are discussed.