Nune Ayvazyan holds a BA in English Studies from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and an MA in Translation Studies from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. She held a grant from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra to develop teaching at BA level and a Marie-Curie temporary grant from the European Commission (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-ITN-263954, TIME project) at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili. She was a member of the large European project MIME-Mobility and Inclusion in Multilingual Europe (FP7-SSH). She is currently a lecturer (lectora) at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, where she teaches in the BA in English Studies and coordinates the MA in Professional Translation. Her research interests are in the teaching of foreign languages through translation and multilingualism in minority communities.
Translation in Foreign-Language Teaching and Learning
Supervisor: Dr. Anthony Pym (URV)
Co-supervisor: Dr. Patrick Zabalbascoa (UPF)
Research Summary
Research carried out for the Directorate General for Translation in 2013 showed that in Catalonia the preferred methods in FL teaching are immersion, communicative language teaching and task-based learning. The study shows that grammar-translation occupies the last place among FL teaching and learning methods and that translation in general is still strongly associated with grammar-translation. However, what should be the place of translation as a communicative activity in FL teaching and learning? In its initial form, my research is on the ways translation activities affect student participation in higher education. The main goal is to find out whether the student participation rate grows when using communicative translation activities, and how students perceive translation as an EFL teaching tool.
Publications
Ayvazyan, N., and Pym, A. (2018). Mediation choice in immigrant groups. A study of Russian speakers in southern Catalonia", Language Problems and Language Planning, 42(3), 344-364.
Ayvazyan, N., and Pym, A. (2018). Linguistics, translation and interpreting in foreign-language teaching contexts. In K. Malmkjær (Ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Linguistics, pp. 393-407. Routledge.
Ayvazyan, N. and Pym, A. (2017). West enters East: A strange case of unequal equivalences in Soviet translation theory. In L. Schippel and C. Zwischenberger (Eds.), Going East: Discovering New and Alternative Traditions in Translation Studies, pp. 221-247. Frank & Timme - Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur.
Ayvazyan, N. (2016). Review of "Discourses of Regulation and Resistance: Censoring Translation in the Stalin and Khrushchev Era Soviet Union". Translation Studies, 10(1), 109-111.
Pym, A. and Ayvazyan, N. (2015). The case of the missing Russian translation theories. Translation Studies, 8(3), 321-341 DOI:10.1080/14781700.2014.964300
Conference Presentations
Ayvazyan, Nune. 2017. "Communicative Translation In Foreign-Language Teaching and Learning". III Jornades del Doctorand, 3 May 2017. Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.
Ayvazyan, Nune. 2017. "Is that English you are speaking? Towards a more L1-supported English language learning". 5a Jornada d'Investigadors Predoctorals Interdisciplinària, 9 February 2017. Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.
Pym, Anthony and Nune Ayvazyan. 2016. "Language demands and job profiles in the Russian-speaking community of Tarragona-Salou.The need for a long term perspective". Workshop on Language and Occupations, 24 October. Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.
Ayvazyan, Nune. 2016. "Communicative translation as a foreign-language teaching tool: results of research carried out with TESOL professors at Monterey, California". 8th EST Congress, 15-17 September. Aarhus University, Denmark.
Ayvazyan, Nune. 2016. "Communicative Translation in a foreign-language classroom: classification of activities". Didtrad, 7-8 July. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Ayvazyan, Nune. 2016. "Migrants' Languages: Assets or Liabilities? Empirical study of a Russian-speaking community in Spain". Third ISA Forum of Sociology, 10-14 July. Universität Wien, Vienna, Austria.
Ayvazyan, Nune. 2016. "Language and Political Discourse: Immersion Programs in Catalonia". For and Against Models of Official Multiculturalism and Multilingualism, 5-7 May. McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Ayvazyan, Nune. 2015. "Task-Based Communicative Translation Activities in an English as a Foreign Language Class". International CALL Conference, 6-8 July. Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.
Ayvazyan, Nune. 2015. Presentation of the thesis, "Translation in Foreign-Language Teaching and Learning". 1a Jornada del Doctorand, 21 April. Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.
Ayvazyan, Nune. 2015. "Communicative Translation as an Innovative Foreign-Language Teaching Tool in a Spanish University". Professional Communication and Translation Studies, 26-27 March. Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania.
Ayvazyan, Nune. 2015. "Communicative Translation as a Foreign Language Teaching Tool". Nuevos horizontes en los estudios de Traducción e Interpretación, 29-31 January. Universidad de Málaga, Spain.
Ayvazyan, Nune. 2014. "The case of the missing Russian translation theories". Going East: Discovering New and Alternative Traditions in Translation (Studies), 12-13 December, 2014. Universitat Wien, Vienna, Austria.
Ayvazyan, Nune. 2014. "Communicative Translation as a Tool for FL Teaching". Twenty-sixth Research Summer School in Translation Studies (CETRA), 18-29 August. KU Leuven, Belgium.
Pym, Anthony and Nune Ayvazyan. 2014. "Translation and the teaching of English at University level: Questionnaire review". Didtrad, 8-9 July. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.
Thesis defended July 7, 2017 with the grade of Excellent cum laude.
Evaluation committee:
Manuel Célio Conceição (Universidade do Algarve)
Maria Gonzàlez-Davies (Universitat Ramon Llull)
Alberto Fuertes Puerta (URV)
