A case study on reconceptualising translation teaching through deconstruction: implications for multilingual communities

This paper is a conceptual pedagogical proposal for teaching translation based on a qualitative anecdotal approach. Drawing on Derrida’s deconstruction concepts – différance, decentering, trace, play of meaning, and undecidability – it argues that functionalist approaches mainly reduce translation to fixed skills and outcomes, stifling creativity, critical language awareness, and ethical reflection. Situated within the multilingual context of translation classrooms in Iran, this paper illustrates how deconstruction-informed tasks can create opportunities for critical multilingual awareness, learner agency, and ethical reflection across languages. Classroom anecdotes serve as the author’s evidence, illustrating feasibility rather than formal empirical findings. The paper proposes a design framework, text selection, task sequencing, reflective journaling, and paratextual mediation tailored to multilingual cohorts that may be useful for learners in postcolonial and migrant contexts as well. It concludes with implementation guidelines and implications for inclusive multilingual curricula that value non-dominant resources and resist monolingual norms. By bridging deconstructive philosophy and multilingual pedagogy, the paper contributes a potential, classroom-ready rationale for shifting translator education from technicist proficiency toward interpretive, ethical, and multilingual practice for similar contexts.