Daniel Paul O'Donnell

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Grading Rubric for Old English to Modern English Translations

The following explains the criteria I use in grading most Old English translations submitted as part of tests, quizzes, homework assignments, or exams. This rubric is a guideline, not a contract: few translations will meet the criteria for any one grade exactly; some may have aspects that affect their quality that are not listed here. On the whole, however, you should find that translations that show the qualities listed here receive the corresponding grade.

I follow the following procedure in assigning your work a grade:

1. I evaluate the translation according to the rubric (below) and assign a letter grade.
2. Using the “conventional value” row of my grade table, I convert the letter grade to a percentage score.
3. I calculate your final score on the test by multiplying this percentage by the number of points available.

So, if your translation on a 10 point question earned a B- according the rubric below, then your score on the question would be 7.6/10 (the conventional value of a B- is 76%; 76% of 10 marks is 7.6).

As always, please feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Rubric

• A (Excellent)
  • Flawless rendition of the original passage’s sense.
  • Translation is written in highly idiomatic Modern English.
  • No evidence of misunderstood syntax or vocabulary.
  • Significant stylistic or other deviations from original syntax or idiom are noted when appropriate
• B (Good)
  • Accurate rendition of the original passage’s sense (perhaps with one or two minor errors).
  • Translation is written in generally idiomatic Modern English; some unidiomatic constructions are used.
  • Some problems with difficult syntax and/or vocabulary; few or no errors in basic syntax and idiom.
  • Significant stylistic or other deviations from original syntax or idiom are not necessarily noted.
• C (Satisfactory)
  • Mostly accurate rendition of the original passage’s sense. Some parts may show signs of serious misunderstanding.
  • Translation shows significant amounts of unidiomatic Modern English.
  • Significant problems with syntax and/or vocabulary in one or more passages. This might involve fatal errors in one or more difficult passages and/or recurring errors in easier parts of the text.
  • Examples of loose paraphrase.
• D (Poor)
  • Some evidence of comprehension of the specific passage (i.e. not derived from general knowledge of the text’s content) though with significant and frequent errors in translation.
  • Some attempt at idiomatic Modern English translation albeit with frequent errors or gaps.
  • Significant problems with Old English syntax and/or vocabulary throughout, particularly in difficult and moderately difficult segments.
  • Lots of loose paraphrase.
• F (Failing)
  • Little evidence of comprehension. Translation consists primarily of loose paraphrase based on general knowledge of the text, shows frequent or large gaps, or completely misses the sense.
  • Little attempt at accurate, idiomatic Modern English translation. Frequent errors and/or gaps.
  • Significant problems with Old English syntax and/or vocabulary throughout.

 

Comment [2]

1. Lolin Cervantes (Tue Mar 9, 2010 (13:24:01)) [PermLink]:

   Hello Dr. O’Donnell:
   I was wondering if you could give me the references you used to put together your translation scoring rubric. I would like to use it for my own work and I want to know the name of the authors’ works that helped you with the rubric

   Lolin Cervantes

2. Dan (Wed Mar 10, 2010 (09:53:25)) [PermLink]:

   Hi Lolin,

   I learned about rubrics and how to use and write them from Robert Runte in our faculty of education. And in the case of my essay rubric I used some material he’d distributed to members of the faculty association.

   This translation rubric was inspired by what I learned from him. But the precise details came from personal observation: I.e. I sat down with a couple of batches of translations and tried to characterise what I was using to award the different grades (the big tip I got from Professor Runte was that I should define each grade level on its own terms rather than in terms of its deviation from perfect—so I implemented that here as well).