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Editorial Putting Interpreter Educators To The Test: Testing, Ethics, And Technology, Jemina M. Napier

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Supervision And The Interpreting Profession: Support And Accountabilitythrough Reflective Practice, Ali Hetherington

International Journal of Interpreter Education

In this article, the author argues for the development of consultative supervision within the interpreting profession to reduce work-related stress, provide interpreters with opportunities for regular examination of their practice, and to protect those to whom interpreters provide a service. Supervision is a recognized means of accountability and support for many professions, yet it is largely absent from the training and continuing professional development of interpreters. Furthermore, the absence of literature into occupational stress for interpreters implies that such stress is unrecognized or considered unproblematic by the profession. The author draws on findings from a recent qualitative research study into …

Broadcast Yourself: Youtube As A Tool For Interpreter Education, Tom R. Cox

International Journal of Interpreter Education

YouTube is a website designed for the purpose of easily sharing videos and is extremely popular with today’s generation of “digital native” students. The technology is easily accessible, free, and relatively simple to use. However, its merits as an educational tool for interpreting seem to be widely underutilized even though it is ideally suited for working with a visual language. In the fall of 2009, I began experimenting with YouTube in my American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting classes. I have slowly incorporated many of YouTube’s useful features in my curriculum, enhancing my ability to provide pre-assignment information, interpreting models, and …

Thinking Through Ethics: The Processes Of Ethical Decisionmaking By Novice And Expert American Sign Language Interpreters, Elizabeth Mendoza

International Journal of Interpreter Education

In the course of their work, interpreters face ethical dilemmas that require prioritizing competing moral beliefs and views on professional practice. Although several decision-making models exist, little research has been done on how interpreters learn to identify and make ethical decisions. Through surveys and interviews on ethical decision making, the author investigated how expert and novice American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters discuss their ethical decision-making processes and prioritize prima facie duties, or meta-ethical principles (Ross, 1930/2002). The survey participants included 225 novice interpreters with 3 or fewer years of experience as nationally certified interpreters and 168 expert interpreters with 10 …

Full Issue

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Dissertation Abstracts, Victoria Stuard, Kimberly J. Hale, Linda K. Stauffer Dr.

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Bilingual Dual-Role Staff Interpreters In The Health Care Setting: Factors Associated With Passing A Language Competency Test, Lisa C. Diamond, Regina Otero-Sabogal

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Although using trained interpreters can improve care for patients with limited English proficiency, using untrained interpreters may impair it. Without a valid language skills test for interpreters, it is difficult for health care organizations to identify bilingual staff who can serve in a dual role as interpreters. We hypothesized that individuals born outside the U.S. with a higher education level and prior interpreting training and reporting high confidence in interpreting abilities would be more likely to pass a test to function as a dual-role interpreter. We surveyed and tested 387 dual-role interpreters in a large, integrated health care organization. There …

Intake Tests For A Short Interpreter-Training Course: Design, Implementation, Feedback, Jim Hlavac, Marc Orlando, Shani Tobias

International Journal of Interpreter Education

This article discusses features of an intake test for potential trainees for short, locally focused training in rural areas of Victoria, Australia. First, the design and choice of test components are discussed, with reference to the testing tools commonly employed in community interpreting training and in light of the fact that testers could not directly test proficiency skills in the language/s other than English (LOTE). The intake test itself elicited information such as level of motivation, knowledge of skills required of interpreters, and educational and occupational experience. Information elicited through the test provided a basis for diagnosis of testees’ linguistic …

Do You See What I See? Using Elan For Self-Analysis And Reflection, Della Goswell

International Journal of Interpreter Education

This commentary discusses the application of video annotation software (ELAN) in the Auslan–English interpreter-training program at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. It gives an overview of the program’s context and highlights experienced-based learning as one of the key pedagogical approaches being used to foster student self-analysis and reflection. In order for students to analyze their own interpreting performances, they must first be recorded, so the article touches on the rationale and some techniques for the video capture that provides the data for subsequent ELAN analysis. Examples of activities based on the use of ELAN software are then discussed.

Moving Interpreter Education Online: A Conversation With Sherry Shaw, Douglas Bowen Bailey, Sherry Shaw

International Journal of Interpreter Education

In this Open Forum conversation between Doug Bowen-Bailey, a signed language interpreter educator and resource developer, and Sherry Shaw, a signed-language-interpreter educator, Sherry shares her experience of establishing and teaching an online master’s program in interpreting at the University of North Florida. The conversation shares insights into the structure of the online program, as well as the benefits and challenges of teaching in an online environment. These include issues of time management for both students and faculty, faculty recruitment and retention, choices in technology, and establishing a program within an institutional environment.

Exploring Remote Interpreting, Erica Alley

International Journal of Interpreter Education

This article examines the field of remote interpretation in both signed and spoken languages. Remote interpreting is used throughout a range of specializations including medical, mental health, education, conference, and legal environments. Video interpreting is here to stay, despite obstacles that continue to pose a challenge; many who fight this technology do so against the natural paradigm shift that the field will take. I propose that rather than resist the expansion of technology, interpreter educators instead teach interpreters how to use it effectively. In this article I identify important topics for educators to address, to help interpreters make ethically wise …

Student Interpreters Show Encoding And Recall Differences For Information In English And American Sign Language, Jesse R. James, Kara I. Gabriel

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

This study investigated whether student interpreters encode and recall words differently in signed and spoken languages. Participants viewed and then recalled word lists, half of which were related through specific encoding strategies (i.e., experimental lists), and half of which lacked the availability of those strategies (i.e., control lists). Total words recalled and the temporal recall order were compared across experimental and control lists. Student interpreters utilised different strategies to remember words in English and American Sign Language (ASL), suggesting that student interpreters do not default to first-language (English) spoken strategies when encoding second-language (ASL) signed lists. However, the total number …

Sign Language Word List Comparisons: Toward A Replicable Coding And Scoring Methodology, Jason Parks

Theses and Dissertations

This study describes and evaluates a methodology for sign language word list comparisons. The purpose of this sociolinguistic research tool is to identify similarity relationships among sign language varieties by assessing similarities of lexical items. Similarities are calculated using the Levenshtein distance metric which measures the number of differences between signs.

In this study, the methodology was refined for optimal efficiency through an analysis of: which parameters of a sign should be compared, which values should be included in each parameter value inventory, and which items should be used in the word list. As a result of the study, I …

Creating Your Own Interpreting Materials For Use In The Classroom, Fatima Cornwall

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Currently, there are a few excellent manuals and books on the market for practicing the 3 modes of interpretation. However these materials are more appropriate for advanced spoken language students of court interpretation or practicing interpreters interested in polishing their skills. The speed of the recordings (105–165 words per minute) is very challenging for inexperienced but long-term prospective court interpreters. In this article, the author focuses on how to develop activities that require students to create their own scripts and recordings—that is, their own classroom materials—for use in an Introduction to Court Interpretation course. The author also reflects on the …

Striving For An "A" Grade: A Case Study Of Performance Management Of Interpreters, Karen Bontempo, Bethel Hutchinson

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Research regarding the efficacy of an interpreted education for deaf students has suggested that the practice is fraught with challenges. This could be because interpreters provide merely the illusion of access in a mainstream setting (Winston, 2004), or it may be because many education systems are simply not interpreter ready (Patrie & Taylor, 2008), among other factors. A primary concern is often the proficiency and skill level of interpreters working in education settings. In this article, the authors report on a best-practices process of diagnostic skills analysis, performance management, and a tailored series of ongoing training opportunities undertaken by a …

Editorial: Education, Educating, Educational..., Jemina Napier

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

The Teaching Of Pragmatics As Interpreter Training, Annette Sachtleben, Heather Denny

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Research undertaken in 2010 with an interpreting class at a New Zealand university showed that explicit teaching of pragmatic features of New Zealand English discourse helped develop the students’ awareness of the differences between the semantic meaning and the pragmatic purpose of an utterance.

In this research project, the authors intended to test whether explicit classroom instruction of pragmatic features and these features’ impact on meaning through the use of recorded discourse samples would be effective, considering that explicit language instruction to language learners has been researched and was found to assist success (Kasper & Roever, 2004). In the classroom, …

Developing Expertise Through A Deliberate Practice Project, Gertrude Schafer

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Ericsson (2001) defines expertise as follows, “Expert performers can reliably reproduce their performance any time when required such as during competition and training” (p. 194). Merely practicing a skill repeatedly will not result in expert performance. However, “deliberate practice” can improve performance. Deliberate practice is defined as “…tasks that are initially outside of their current realm of reliable performance, yet can be mastered within hours of practice by concentrating on critical aspects and by gradually refining performance through repetitions after feedback” (Ericsson 2006, p. 692). Mindset effects deliberate practice. Dweck (2006) describes two types of mindset: fixed and growth. A …

Characteristics Of Effective Interpreter Education Programs In The United States, Lisa Godfrey

International Journal of Interpreter Education

The goal of this study was to expand the limited research that currently exists in the field of interpreter education—specifically, as it relates to the readiness-to-credential gap, the consensus in the field that students graduate from interpreter education programs (IEPs) but are not ready to obtain the minimal interpreting credentials set forth by the field at both the state and national levels. To accomplish this goal, in this article the author identifies programs that have a low readiness-to-credential gap and analyzes the characteristics that are contributors to each program’s success so that improvements can be made in current IEPs. In …