Introduction

The reappraisal of translation as a legitimate and effective tool for learning, teaching and assessing foreign languages can be traced back to the late 1980s, at least in the English-speaking world. It was around that time that Alan Duff published the Duke of Edinburgh Award-winning volume Translation (1989). In Duff's resource book, translation is advocated as a useful actiivity for language practice and improvement. Pedagogic translation is now rapidly becoming a thriving area of study in applied linguistics. The aim of this article is to outline some of the main reasons for re-admitting translation in the language classroom and to highlight the importance of elaborating translation-based pedagogies that are conceived within interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks, and are properly investigated through primary research carried out in the international language classroom.