The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2024 - 32

CERTIFICATION FORUM by David Stephenson
Who Are ATA's
Certification Graders?
Currently, ATA's Certification Program enlists the services of more than
130 ATA members, who are commonly known as " graders. " That name,
however, doesn't do full justice to the range of activities performed by
these individuals on behalf of ATA and the program. Who are these
people, how are they selected and trained, and what do they do?
A
ll graders are ATA
members who work
professionally
as translators and/or
interpreters and are certified
in their respective language
pair.1
Potential new graders
are identified by three
main channels. First, if a
candidate performs especially
well on a certification
exam, the graders of that
language pair may request
the translator's name
from ATA Headquarters.
Second, a translator may be
32 The ATA Chronicle | March/April 2024
recommended to an existing
grader by a colleague or
client. Third, an individual
will occasionally contact
ATA Headquarters or the
Certification Committee chair
expressing a desire to become
a grader.
Each workgroup, which is
headed by a language chair
(LC)2
, considers the merits
of potential new graders
and, if possible, reaches a
consensus decision about
inviting them on board. The
LC then sends the potential
grader's CV and references to
the Certification Committee
chair, who has the final say
about whether to proceed
with recruitment. In the
case of a positive decision,
the final step is a " grading
test, " in which the candidate
is given a prior actual exam
and asked to grade it using
the program's tools (e.g.,
Flowchart for Error Point
Decisions and Framework for
Standardized Error Marking)
and other materials. The
prospective grader and the LC
then discuss the results, and,
if satisfactory, the person
becomes a new grader.
So, what are the criteria
for becoming a grader?
An individual should have
ample experience working
as a professional translator.
A background in evaluating
translation performance
in other contexts is a big
plus but not required.
Besides broad knowledge
and competence, it's also
important for a grader to
have experience with group
projects, because grading is a
highly collaborative activity.
Therefore, each member of
the team should be willing
to learn and compromise, as
well as be able to maintain
humility and set their ego
aside. Other sought-after
qualities are compassion and
awareness of the limitations
imposed by exam conditions.
Once an individual is
officially on board, training
continues under the LC's
direction. For a certain
period, the new grader is
paired with the LC when
grading exams3
, which
offers further opportunity to
align the grader's practices
with program standards. Of
course, new graders also take
www.atanet.org

https://www.atanet.org/certification/how-the-exam-is-graded/error-points/ https://www.atanet.org/certification/how-the-exam-is-graded/error-points/ https://www.atanet.org/certification/how-the-exam-is-graded/error-marking/ https://www.atanet.org/certification/how-the-exam-is-graded/error-marking/ http://www.atanet.org

The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2024