The major aspiration of this study is to explore the epistemological implications for educational change in the digital era. This theoretical positioning paper focuses on the case of translator education and the onset of machine translation (MT) which has a major impact on translator competence acquisition. Various studies have been carried out exploring different MT-related aspects, such as the assesment of automated translation quality, the development of translators‘ post-editing competence and technological skills. In addition, the European Masters in Translation (EMT) – a partnership network of the European Commission and higher education institutions – launched the Translator Competence Framework in 2022. This framework is considered to be fully in line with the EU priorities for higher education and has become one of the leading reference standards for educating translators throughout the EU and beyond (EMT Translator Competence Framework (2022)). Hence, attempts to redefine translator competencies in the digital age are obvious and well-supported.

On the other hand, little has been said about the position that MT has undertaken within translator educators‘ views towards knowledge and knowledge acquisition. Are translator educators epistemologically and theoretically equipped to keep up with the new reality of uncertainty that this technological advancement is bringing along? The major aim of this study, therefore, is to outline novel epistemological and theoretical approaches that could possibly enable translator educators to address this paradigmal shift and foster educational change.

The breakthrough of AI-based technologies and task automation has fostered a paradigmal shift in a variety of fields ranging from as far as medical sciences and economics to cognitive sciences and humanities. Among the latter, translation studies have become a preeminent example of task automation as MT, particularly neural MT which has been dominating the industry for the last five years, is significantly altering the nature of translation processes and translators’ tasks. Not only does it raise concerns regarding the future of translation as a profession, but it also plays a pivotal role in the entire concept of translator competence (Pym (2011), TAUS (2017), Munoz (2017), Risku (2020)). Two decades ago, Pym (2003) pointed out that the main tasks of translation had included communication between people and not machines; however, today this divide is no longer so clear. Translation as a form of human-computer interaction (O’Brien (2012)) urges translator educators to fundamentally reconsider their study programmes (Orlando (2016), Kenny (2020), Gonzáles-Davies (2017)). Nonetheless, translation theorists and practitioners are not always open to the epistemological aspect of translator education and often stick to the linear-transmissionist ways of teaching. Given the context of the MT dominance and the paradigmal shift it has fostered, translator education should open up to novel epistemological and theoretical approaches that embrace this new reality.

The design of this study relies on qualitative research methodology implemented in two steps: 1) thematic analysis and 2) concept mapping. There are several underlying theoretical and methodological assumptions provided by researchers of translator education: translation as human-computer interaction (O‘Brien (2012), O‘Hagan (2019)), situated cognition (Risku (2020)), emergent translator competence development (Kiraly (2015)), co-emergent learning (Massey (2019)), emergent curriculum (Doll (1993)), etc. The notion of emergence is rooted in the complex systems theories which have only scarcely been applied in educational research. Educational sciences are well positioned to make a significant contribution in adopting complexity approach because for decades complex systems' research has been evolving around notions that are central to educational research too, such as "conceptual change, knowledge transfer, representational forms, technological scaffolding and support for enhanced learning, sociocultural dimensions of learning environments, and so on" (Jacobson and Willensky 2006, 13). Therefore, firstly, this study employs thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke (2021)) to explore scientific literature referring to the epistemologies – currently adopted or yet to be – among translator educators as well as the approach of complex systems theories and its application in educational research. Secondly, this research endeavours to provide a concept map (Novak (1995)) of the underlying notions deducted from the thematic analysis of the relevant literature. The concept map will provide an extensive overview of the epistemological aspects of translator education as well as how they do or do not connect to each other and support the educational practices deducted from thematic analysis. Eventually, this concept map is expected to provide substantial grounds for further empirical research into the educational futures of translator competence development as intended by the author of this study.

Due to the MT dominance and the technological paradigmal shift translator educators are encouraged to fundamentally reconsider their study programmes and translator competencies to be developed. However, it is not clear how this should be done as translator educators are not always open to the epistemological aspect of translator education and often stick to the linear-transmissionist ways of teaching. This study draws its conclusions by shedding light on the complex systems approach and its adoption in translator education suggesting a new perspective for the long-standing social constructivist paradigm. Epistemology of complexity thinking expands translator educators‘ views of knowledge acquisition and encourages them to break free from linearity, reductionism (ex., within study programmes) and expectations of predictability and lean on to openness, self-organisation and emergence (Lewin (1993), Holland (1998), Cilliers (2002)). Kiraly‘s (2015) model of translator competence as an emergent phenomenon illustrates that extensively and is an explicit example of how the epistemology of complex systems – emergentist epistemology for that matter – could be adopted in translator education. The long-standing paradigm of social constructivism, which has been vastly applied in the field of translator education has been focusing on social situatedness and knowledge construction through interaction. With technologies – MT in the case of translation – coming into play and from a post-modern perspective, this interaction and knowledge construction has been questioned by alternative conceptual pathways that embrace authentic experiential learning, situated cognition, connected learning, translator competence emergence, etc. The concept map of this research is expected to outline how these epistemological and theoretical concepts relate to each other and how they are related to the respective translator competencies as provided by the EMT, thus, highlighting the chances of educational change in the area of translation.

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