- Edinburgh, UK
This paper investigates perceptions of teachers and students on the qualities of effective translation teachers in universities using survey research. These qualities include the teachers' personal traits, the roles they play in and... more
This paper investigates perceptions of teachers and students on the qualities of effective translation teachers in universities using survey research. These qualities include the teachers' personal traits, the roles they play in and out of the classroom, the pedagogies used in classroom teaching and the feedback given to students. Surveys were designed using Survey Monkey and participants were invited to complete and submit the surveys online. 94 students and 22 teachers from several Australian and New Zealand universities participated in the research. The results show that translation teacher effectiveness includes but not limited to the following factors: effectiveness of classroom teaching, a level of understanding of translation theory and skills, a way of demonstrating these skills, pedagogies to motivate students for their independent learning, a personality which influences students on their learning process and road to professionalism, and ongoing help for students.
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The concept of digital education (DE) has many defi nitions and essentially includes the use of electronic media and information and communication technologies (ICT) in education. Digital education is also alternatively referred to as... more
The concept of digital education (DE) has many defi nitions and essentially includes the use of electronic media and information and communication technologies (ICT) in education. Digital education is also alternatively referred to as e-learning, multimedia learning, technology-enhanced learning (TEL), computer-based instruction (CBI), computer-managed instruction, computer-based training (CBT), computer-assisted (or -aided) instruction (CAI), Internetbased training (IBT), Web-based training (WBT), online education, virtual education, and virtual learning environments (VLE) (Wikipedia, 2014). These alternative names emphasize a particular aspect, component, or delivery method that uses some form of technology in educational settings. Moreover, DE includes numerous types of media that deliver text, audio, images, animation, and streaming video and includes technology applications and processes such as audio or video tape, satellite TV, CD-ROM, and computer-based learning, as well as ...
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Macquarie University ResearchOnline.
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Since the ground breaking research of applied and sociolinguists who identified that interpreters are active participants in medical consultations (see Angelelli, 2004; Davidson, 2001; Metzger, 1999), we have come to understand more about... more
Since the ground breaking research of applied and sociolinguists who identified that interpreters are active participants in medical consultations (see Angelelli, 2004; Davidson, 2001; Metzger, 1999), we have come to understand more about the linguistic challenges of interpreter-mediated medical consultations. Healthcare interpreting is a high consequence setting in which accuracy is an interpreter’s most important objective (author2, McKee, & Goswell, 2010). At the same time, there are often other challenges to deal with – anxious patients, sensitive topics, busy doctors, and difficult healthcare terminology to name just a few. Being aware of how and why participants are using language in context can help interpreters to better predict the direction of interaction, likely topics, terminology, and potential communication challenges. This paper will explore an innovative technique for preparing interpreters for working at the interface of doctor-patient consultations, by exposing ...
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Macquarie University ResearchOnline.
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The aim of the project reported here was to investigate whether the use of current technology within the New South Wales (Australia) Department of Justice is appropriate for providing video remote signed language interpreting services in... more
The aim of the project reported here was to investigate whether the use of current technology within the New South Wales (Australia) Department of Justice is appropriate for providing video remote signed language interpreting services in court given that video conference facilities make use of fixedangle cameras that cannot be moved, zoomed in or out, or focus on different parts of the courtroom. The study sought answers to questions concerning consumer comfort levels, integrity of interpreting process, and optimum settings for interpreters to provide quality services remotely. Conclusions from the study include the need to carefully consider the technological, linguistic, environmental, and logistical issues before establishing video remote interpreting services. “It Was Difficult to Manage the Communication”: Testing the Feasibility of Video Remote Signed Language Interpreting in Court The majority of research on court interpreting to date has focused on face-to-face interactions ...
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BACKGROUND This study sought to gain insight into how Deaf Australians who use Auslan as their primary language perceive their English literacy and if they feel that they can sufficiently access preventative and ongoing health care... more
BACKGROUND This study sought to gain insight into how Deaf Australians who use Auslan as their primary language perceive their English literacy and if they feel that they can sufficiently access preventative and ongoing health care information, and to explore their views in regards to accessing information in Auslan. METHODS A phenomenological, inductive study, with data collected through 72 semi-structured interviews with Deaf Auslan users identified through non-probabilistic, purposeful and network sampling. Data was thematically analysed for identification of issues related to healthcare information access through English. RESULTS Deaf people experience barriers in accessing healthcare information because of limited English literacy and a lack of information being available in Auslan, apart from when Auslan interpreters are present in health care appointments. CONCLUSION Many Deaf people in Australia lack consistent access to preventative and ongoing health care information. It i...
Research Interests: Health Literacy, Australia, Access to health services, Adolescent, Healthcare, and 15 moreLanguage and Deafness, Humans, Academic research, Female, Male, Commissioning, Clinical Sciences, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, Communication barriers, Preventive Health Services, attitude to health, Health Services Accessibility, and Interviews as topic
In this paper we present an appreciative inquiry case study of our work together in a PhD defence, which we believe demonstrates a best practice in the field of signed language interpreting. We call into question the meaning and relevance... more
In this paper we present an appreciative inquiry case study of our work together in a PhD defence, which we believe demonstrates a best practice in the field of signed language interpreting. We call into question the meaning and relevance of the ‘designated interpreter’ model, examining whether there is a ‘perfect formula’ for deaf academics and interpreters working together, not only in PhD defences, but also in academia more generally. We also challenge the very system for the provision of interpreter services as an institution creating structural inequalities, because it is heavily based on privilege. We argue that what is 1 Correspondence to: Maartje De Meulder (maartje.demeulder@unamur.be) Designated or preferred? International Journal of Interpreter Education, 10(2), 5-26. © 2018 Conference of Interpreter Trainers Creative Commons License – Attribution – Non-Commercial – No-Derivatives 6 key is preference (i.e. the ability to exercise real choice) and familiarity, rather than ...
The purpose of this case study was to track the progression of a novice interpreter’s use of self-reflective practice while interpreting a series of six University lecture segments, in a controlled environment over a period of three... more
The purpose of this case study was to track the progression of a novice interpreter’s use of self-reflective practice while interpreting a series of six University lecture segments, in a controlled environment over a period of three months. It became evident that the novice interpreter in this case study was able to articulate a variety of coping strategies used, and found improvements in her self-reflective practice skills. The results of this study support key suggestions in the literature: that interpreters need to be motivated to aim for expertise by improving their skills through self-reflective practices, via supported environments such as ongoing mentorship, training and professional development. This longitudinal case study was developed as a multi-methods qualitative study that triangulated three forms of data (quasi-experimental, ethnographic, and retrospective), comparing the novice interpreter’s performance through observations from both the researcher and the participan...
Welcome to the fourth volume of the International Journal of Interpreter Education (IJIE). I am delighted to announce that this will be the first of two volumes to be published this year. The second volume is due in November 2012; this... more
Welcome to the fourth volume of the International Journal of Interpreter Education (IJIE). I am delighted to announce that this will be the first of two volumes to be published this year. The second volume is due in November 2012; this will be a special issue that will feature papers on educating interpreters that were presented at the Critical Link: Interpreting in the Community conference in Birmingham, UK, in July 2010. Momentum is increasing for the journal, and we have already allocated papers to volumes in 2013, so please do remember that there is a rolling call for manuscripts and submit something for consideration in the Research or Commentary sections. If you are not sure where your manuscript might fit, do not hesitate to contact me as the Editor, or any member of the Editorial Board, for advice. As with previous volume, this issue has articles concentrated on particular themes. It features a balance of manuscripts submitted by spoken and signed language interpreter educat...
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There is a need for culturally competent health care providers (HCPs) to provide care to deaf signers, who are members of a linguistic and cultural minority group. Many deaf signers have lower health literacy levels due to deprivation of... more
There is a need for culturally competent health care providers (HCPs) to provide care to deaf signers, who are members of a linguistic and cultural minority group. Many deaf signers have lower health literacy levels due to deprivation of incidental learning opportunities and inaccessibility of health-related materials, increasing their risk for poorer health outcomes. Communication barriers arise because HCPs are ill-prepared to serve this population, with deaf signers reporting poor-quality interactions. This has translated to errors in diagnosis, patient nonadherence, and ineffective health information, resulting in mistrust of the health care system and reluctance to seek treatment. Sign language interpreters have often not received in-depth medical training, compounding the dynamic process of medical interpreting. HCPs should thus become more culturally competent, empowering them to provide cultural- and language-concordant services to deaf signers. HCPs who received training in cultural competency showed increased knowledge and confidence in interacting with deaf signers. Similarly, deaf signers reported more positive experiences when interacting with medically certified interpreters, HCPs with sign language skills, and practitioners who made an effort to improve communication. However, cultural competency programs within health care education remain inconsistent. Caring for deaf signers requires complex, integrated competencies that need explicit attention and practice repeatedly in realistic, authentic learning tasks ordered from simple to complex. Attention to the needs of deaf signers can start early in the curriculum, using examples of deaf signers in lectures and case discussions, followed by explicit discussions of Deaf cultural norms and the potential risks of low written and spoken language literacy. Students can subsequently engage in role plays with each other or representatives of the local signing deaf community. This would likely ensure that future HCPs are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide appropriate care and ensure equitable health care access for deaf signers.
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How the police prepare for and engage with a citizen who is deaf and uses British Sign Language (BSL) is a national problem. From the perspective of deaf sign language users, the police remain largely inaccessible and unprepared in how to... more
How the police prepare for and engage with a citizen who is deaf and uses British Sign Language (BSL) is a national problem. From the perspective of deaf sign language users, the police remain largely inaccessible and unprepared in how to accommodate their linguistic needs. Four regional forces have responded to this issue by introducing a local solution, a bespoke 101 non-emergency video relay service (101VRS). Independent VRS companies function as the auxiliary service, mediating video calls to a 101 helpline. This service was identified as a simple solution that relied on minimal resourcing and input from the police. In using Pinch and Bijker’s social construction of technology (SCOT) framework, we look at competing interpretations of the 101VRS concept and how this has led to a range of intended and unintended solutions and problems (Pinch TJ and Bijker WE (1984) The social construction of facts and artefacts: or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might...
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Most FLP research focuses on intrafamily communication (1FLP) and how this is impacted by larger contexts. But what happens when different multilingual families interact intensively on a daily basis? This article analyses language use... more
Most FLP research focuses on intrafamily communication (1FLP) and how this is impacted by larger contexts. But what happens when different multilingual families interact intensively on a daily basis? This article analyses language use during a holiday in India in and between four deaf-hearing befriended families, and how this evolved over the twelve days of the trip (4FLP). Three of the four families are our (the authors’) own. The family members originate from the UK, Belgium, Denmark and India. All families use more than one language at home (at least one sign language and one spoken language), and all family members are fluent signers. We ask: how does intrafamilial FLP (1FLP) at home inform interfamilial FLP (xFLP) on holiday? And how does interfamilial contact on holiday inform intrafamilial FLP during that same holiday? The data discussed in the article is organised along different multilingual practices, some of them general to multilingual interactions and others specific to...
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IntroductionNew digital technologies hold promise for equalising access to information and communication for the Deaf community. SMS technology, for example, has helped to equalise deaf peoples’ access to information and made it easier to... more
IntroductionNew digital technologies hold promise for equalising access to information and communication for the Deaf community. SMS technology, for example, has helped to equalise deaf peoples’ access to information and made it easier to communicate with both deaf and hearing people (Tane Akamatsu et al.; Power and Power; Power, Power, and Horstmanshof; Valentine and Skelton, "Changing", "Umbilical"; Harper). A wealth of anecdotal evidence and some recent academic work suggests that new media technology is also reshaping deaf peoples’ sense of local and global community (Breivik "Deaf"; Breivik, Deaf; Brueggeman). One focus of research on new media technologies has been on technologies used for point to point communication, including communication (and interpretation) via video (Tane Akamatsu et al.; Power and Power; Power, Power, and Horstmanshof). Another has been the use of multimedia technologies in formal educational setting for pedagogical purp...
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Deaf people’s lives are predicated to some extent on working with sign language interpreters. The self is translated on a regular basis and is a long-term state of being. Identity becomes known and performed through the translated self in... more
Deaf people’s lives are predicated to some extent on working with sign language interpreters. The self is translated on a regular basis and is a long-term state of being. Identity becomes known and performed through the translated self in many interactions, especially at work. (Hearing) others’ experience of deaf people, largely formed indirectly through the use of sign language interpreters, is rarely understood as intercultural or from a sociocultural linguistic perspective. This study positions itself at the cross-roads of translation studies, sociolinguistics and deaf studies, to specifically discuss findings from a scoping study that sought, for the first time, to explore whether the experience of being ‘known’ through translation is a pertinent issue for deaf signers. Through interviews with three deaf signers, we examine how they draw upon their linguistic repertoires and adopt bimodal translanguaging strategies in their work to assert or maintain their professional identity,...
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In June/July 2016, the Centre for Translation and Interpreting Studies in Scotland (CTISS) brought together over 400 researchers and practitioners from across the world to discuss Future-proofing Interpreting and Translating during the... more
In June/July 2016, the Centre for Translation and Interpreting Studies in Scotland (CTISS) brought together over 400 researchers and practitioners from across the world to discuss Future-proofing Interpreting and Translating during the eighth Critical Link Conference (CL 8). Critical Link Conferences are the most important global forum for discussion and knowledge exchange amongst researchers in the field of interpreting and translation, and practitioners who work in multilingual public service settings. In their Report, Professor Böser and her colleagues discuss the impact of this major Conference, and other research which is aimed at minors and some of the most vulnerable people in society.
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Este artigo foi publicado na revista da Associação de Intérpretes de Língua de Sinais no Reino Unido. Ele dá uma visão geral da interpretação legal, e uma questão particularmente atual para a comunidade surda, se eles devem ser... more
Este artigo foi publicado na revista da Associação de Intérpretes de Língua de Sinais no Reino Unido. Ele dá uma visão geral da interpretação legal, e uma questão particularmente atual para a comunidade surda, se eles devem ser autorizados a servir como jurados em tribunais penais com intérpretes. Atualmente, em muitos países, isso não é permitido. Em qualquer país, a interpretação jurídica, e qualquer combinação de idiomas, é um desafio, então eu espero que este artigo seja interessante para essas questões e discussões no Brasil.
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This paper reports on findings from an international survey of sign language interpreters who have experience of working remotely via video link, either in a video relay service or as a video remote interpreter. The objective of the study... more
This paper reports on findings from an international survey of sign language interpreters who have experience of working remotely via video link, either in a video relay service or as a video remote interpreter. The objective of the study was to identify the common issues that confront interpreters when working in these remote environments and ascertain what aspects of interpreting remotely via a video link are working successfully. The international reach of this survey demonstrates how working remotely via video link can be an integral part of bringing about social equality for deaf sign language users; yet according to interpreters who work in these services, ineffective video interpreting policies, poor public awareness and lack of training are identified as areas needing improvement.
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Legal interpreting as an applied linguistic activity has been explored in the literature, with various explorations of the role of legal interpreters from a discourse perspective. Current thinking in interpreting studies classifies the... more
Legal interpreting as an applied linguistic activity has been explored in the literature, with various explorations of the role of legal interpreters from a discourse perspective. Current thinking in interpreting studies classifies the role of the interpreter as a participant in interaction and co-constructor of meaning. Sign language interpreting as a professional practice typically occurs in legal contexts where the deaf person is the complainant, defendant or witness. However, recent research has begun to explore the provision of sign language interpreting for deaf jurors. Drawing on a corpus of 12 qualitative interviews, and with reference to frameworks of discourse and responsibility, this paper presents analyses of perceptions from two key stakeholder groups - sign language interpreters and lawyers - on the level of professional responsibility that each stakeholder feels that sign language interpreters need to adopt in the legal setting, and their perceptions of the role and responsibilities of sign language interpreters in this context. This study reveals that the legal and moral boundaries of meaning attributed to interpreters' responsibilities are blurred, yet both stakeholder groups have their own clear perceptions of the duties attached to the interpreter's position in court. Thus interpreters need to walk a fine line in how they manage their role and responsibilities according to interpreting studies theory while meeting the linguistic needs of their deaf clients in court and adhering to their responsibilities as perceived by the justice system.
Australian deaf citizens are currently not permitted to perform jury duty, primarily due to their inability to hear the evidence and deliberate without the help of interpreters. Although interpreters are routinely employed to interpret... more
Australian deaf citizens are currently not permitted to perform jury duty, primarily due to their inability to hear the evidence and deliberate without the help of interpreters. Although interpreters are routinely employed to interpret for defendants or witnesses in court, current legal frameworks do not permit interpreters to enter the deliberation room as a ‘thirteenth person’, for fear that they may influence the jurors in their decision-making. Other objections to allowing deaf citizens to act as jurors include uncertainty about their ability to participate fully in the discussions, the impact the deaf juror’s and interpreter’s presence may have on the dynamics of the deliberations and on turn taking, and the logistics and cost involved. Yet, deaf citizens see it as their right to be able to perform this very important civic duty, and recent decisions at the international level indicate that excluding deaf citizens from jury duty should be considered unlawful discrimination. This paper will present results from the analysis of the jury deliberations with one deaf juror and two Auslan interpreters, and from a focus group discussion with the eleven hearing jurors and an interview with the deaf juror about their experience. The jury deliberation is one section of a large-scale study on the participation of deaf jurors in a criminal trial with Auslan interpreters, in New South Wales.