constructing pathways to translation - Higher Education Commission

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Within the model, attention needs first of all to be directed to an understanding of the
processes of decoding or analysis (reading) and encoding or synthesis (writing), with a
particular emphasis on decoding, since – as we saw in the model of the translation
process – one is, in essentials, virtually the mirror image of the other. Fig 3.2 provides an
outline of the process.
Sensory systems information
Filters, stores, records image
Recognizes FEATURES and PATTERNS
Long-term Memory System Short-term Memory System
INPUT – OUTPUT and
STORAGE of data in the database
CODES and STORES data:
ACCESSES LTM database
Fig 3.2 Information processing; an outline model (Adapted from Bell, 1991: 231)
How do these process actually operate?
In keeping with the requirement for models to be memorable, we shall make use of a
model in which the processes of analysis shown in Figure 3.3 are, termed ‘demons’ –
image, feature, cognitive, decision and supervisor – respectively. Perhaps, too, it would
be wise to reiterate the point we made about ‘theories’ and ‘models’ in the first chapter.
A theory is, as we insisted earlier, an explanation of a phenomenon, while a model is a
physical embodiment of a theory. It is a tangible object which ‘stands for’ the theory and
reveals the system inherent in the phenomenon by analogy; suggesting that it is ‘as if’ the
phenomenon were as modeled.
We believe that there are little demons inside our heads. What the model does is to ask
us to pretend that there are such demons each charged with specific information –
processing tasks and we are asked to do ‘this rather than refer to ‘sub-systems’ or
‘mechanisms’, simply because it may be an amusing and memorable way of thinking
about the process; no more than that. This can be represented in the following figure: