Thursday, May 17, 2012

Data Collection in Interpreter Education



A bit of background about our program's philosophy on "feedback." We believe strongly in data collection - collecting facts about the work samples presented and allowing the interpreter who did the work to analyze and make sense of the data for their own work. As an observer, I cannot know what is going on in the mind or process of the working interpreter, I can merely collect data on their behalf. They are an expert in their own work, even if they don't fully realize it yet. Once a work sample has been completed and data shared, we have a great discussion in which we practice articulating what occurred in the work - effective and less effective aspects - through this parsing out of aspects of the work, the interpreter and others who participated in the discussion all benefit from a deeper understanding of the complexities of interpreting work. 

A few weeks back, I was teaching a group of juniors in our program who are working on developing consecutive interpreting skills. I have a colleague who teaches another section of the same class. In preparing to teach we decided we wanted the students to work in front of the whole class, rather than in smaller teams subvocalizing (we have small sections, 11 and 12 students in each). This is designed to assist students in getting over the nerves that crop up when working 'on the spot.' It was also to develop a safe, supportive, and encouraging environment in which to learn, grow, and take risks. 

In my section, I divided the class in to 2 groups. Each group was assigned a text to work with (from ASL to English). The groups went through the typical preparation activities - brainstorming, meeting the speaker, predicting content, developing a context/audience profile, and discussing teaming needs with their team. These are not areas in which they have mastered the necessary skills but they are areas in which they have had significant practice and then continue improving through practical application.

As we started the activity, I had one group get into position to begin interpreting. The remainder of the group, I typically assign to be "colleagues and provide feedback." On this particular day, with this particular group, I felt like that was too generic an assignment. I feared they would become bored or feel uninvolved and perhaps bemoan the fact that they didn't get to "do" anything during class that day. So, I decided to assign them more specific "data collection" roles. Those roles included 1) timing and signaling, 2) source language - salient linguistic features, and 3) target language - salient linguistic features. 

  • Timing & signaling was tasked with recording how long of a segment the interpreters worked with and what kind of signal they used to pause the source.
  • Source language - salient linguistic features was tasked with analyzing the sources and noting aspects of the source that "stood out" to them. 
  • Target language - salient linguistic features was tasked with noting aspects of the interpretation being rendered that "stood out" to them. 
Over the course of the activity that day, as a class, we refined and expanded our data collection to include - transitions noted in the source and target and time of the segment along with the length conferring time with the team. The students were excited about data collection and what they were finding. The interpreters, were excited about data being collected on their behalf (or seemed to be) and the discussions that ensued were lively and full of detail not merely including, "I felt good about my work," but a full discussion of the specific behind that "feeling." It was inspiring. I left that class on quite a teaching high. 

Upon conferring with my colleague teaching a different section of the same course, we refined our data collection strategies even further to include - how long the interpretations themselves lasted (this was an idea from a student who was interested in collecting that data), transitions, and asking the active interpreter what data they would like collected on their behalf.  

Returning to class the following day, I was excited to have more data collected. I had noted, however, that the students practicing consecutive interpreting would signal to pause the source at frequent intervals (20 secs or less - as noted by our data collector). I offered the option of having me segment the source for them. They opted for this as one less thing their brains had to keep track of. My ulterior motive was to give them experience in trusting their brains, process, and memory as well as their teams for longer bits of content. We still had data collectors keep track of the length of segments, along with conferring time, and length of interpretations rendered. These segments were between 45 secs and 1 min 45 secs. The students were gaining confidence in their abilities to make sense of longer segments of information. In our debriefing we discussed the reason for the different lengths of the segments, one of the main reasons for  a shorter segment would have been the denseness of material within that segment. For example, in one of the source texts there was discussion of a specific legal definition for jargon - this segment of the source was considerably shorter (45 secs) due to the abstract and legal nature of the content. Whereas, in one of the other source texts, that was much more narrative, in order to co-construct meaning with the source, we needed to be able to view the snippet of that story in its entirety, thus 1 min 45 secs. 

Throughout this process, I also did a sample interpretation of one of the texts and had the students collect data on my work. It provided for a meaty discussion on what was effective, how many fillers I used (only 6), and what my body language looked like if I was struggling to produce an interpretation (choose words) and understanding the next segment of the text simultaneously. 

Through the process of data collection, I have seen multiple times the excitement of collecting data and hearing data about one's work. There is a spirit of excited curiosity in the room, rather than of tense nerves fearing critique that is all too common in interpreter education classrooms. We are learning a lot about the work in general as well as individual's work specifically. Students, based on their reflections, are becoming curious about their work and others, comfortable working in front of their peers, and setting goals based on data collected on their work or others for future improvements. It is quite collaborative and, again, inspiring, to work in this fashion with this group of students. 

Saturday, May 5, 2012

"There is no 'cheating' in interpreting"


I frequently say this to my students and talk about "using one's resources." I truly do believe you can't cheat - if you know the topic to be interpreted ahead of time and google it, read through wikipedia on the topic, or even find the text itself ahead of time - that is not cheating - that is using your resources. A great tool and demonstrates thinking like a professional interpreter. 

Likewise, if a student who is attempting consecutive interpreting for the first time has seen a sample interpretation by their instructor, another student, or a professional interpreter that is not "cheating." That, again, is using one's resources. 

At the start of my teaching career, I was reluctant (but willing) to share a sample of my interpretation with my students for fear that they would be intimidated or that they would think my way was "THE" way to approach things. I was afraid they would see it as a "model" rather than a sample. I have always been willing to share a sample of my work with my students. I have even articulated that to them but they have rarely asked. I'm not sure what that is in response to. 

What I have noticed in my more recent terms as a professor is that when I do provide a sample of work, they learn from it. I am more likely now to either offer a sample to them or decide to do a sample on my own without waiting for a request.  Of late, most of the comments I get about sharing a sample have to do with students recognizing potential controls they could employ in their work. There is an air of "permission" in the discussion. Students are generally unsure of what is "allowed" in interpreting. When they observe an experienced interpreter work they get a better sense of what is "allowed" and what kinds of decisions are made by working interpreters. 

I think the value of sharing my sample with them live is that they then have access to my thought process, I can let them know my experience with the text, they can collect data on my work, I can share my perspective after doing the sample, and they can pose questions about the data they collected on the sample. This is much more beneficial in the long run than viewing "model" interpretations produced by interpreters who are not local and who cannot be accessed to find out about how decisions were made and what they were thinking. 

Circling back to "there is no 'cheating' in interpreting," if a student views a sample of work and is able to replicate a part of that in their work sample, that is not "cheating" but rather a demonstration of skill development and incorporation of new tools that student now has in their repository. A good thing!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Oregon RID State Conference Recap & Applications

I had the pleasure of participating in the Oregon RID State Conference yesterday. The theme was "Taking Care of Us." It was great! The topics shared during the sessions were most definitely topics that tend to be lacking from most professional development opportunities and yet critical to our success as professionals.

I attended sessions on acupuncture, ergonomics, and breathing.

The session, "Poke in Time" with Robin Marcinkiewicz went through the principles of acupuncture medicine and the ways in which the body is all interconnected and that injuries in one part of the body can affect and be treated in other, connected, parts of the body. Good foundational knowledge on a topic I wasn't familiar with.

 The second session I went to was, "An Ergonomic Approach to Painless in Interpreting" by chiropractor Dr. Colleen McDonough.  This session focused on appropriate body mechanics, stretches, and proper ways to take care of our bodies between interpreting assignments. Great tips on how to ensure our bodies will keep working long into our careers.

During the lunch session there was a professional panel entitled, "Where are we going? What do we want to be?" This was a great session in which the Oregon RID Vice President, Tyler Reisnaur, shared data from a survey that was conducted of interpreters in Oregon. They have a lot of great data on the needs, concerns, and wishes of the Oregon interpreting community. They will be sharing this data on their website at the link above in the next week or so.

The third session I attended was, "Your Authentic Voice," and it was fabulous. The instructor, Linda Brice, shared ideas about breathing and using one's voice effectively and health-fully. She also shared ideas about how to incorporate appropriate breathing into our English to ASL work - how to breathe with our signing. It was also great!

Overall, this conference was not your typical professional development opportunity but it was exactly what I needed in my professional development right now. I'm appreciative for these lessons.

Now, as an interpreter educator I am thinking of ways to incorporate these lessons in our curriculum more fully. We do have Dr. McDonough guest speak in one of our classes to give ergonomic tips to our aspiring interpreters. I think that is a good start but I am quite intrigued by the idea of incorporating a voice training class into our programs. (Please understand I don't mean a "voicing" or ASL to English class, I mean a class focused on learning how to use our voice in an effective way). Really, I think that our students could benefit from a full term in voice training and breathing with an instructor like Ms. Brice who incorporates the concepts of breathing for "speaking" (regardless of spoken or signed languages).

Did your interpreter education include classes on ergonomics/body mechanics and voice training? If not, how did you learn these skills (or did you?)? If so, how long were the lessons? Did you recognize them as beneficial during your program or did you recognize their value later or not at all? 

Monday, June 13, 2011

The face of the new generation of interpreters

As I have had the opportunity to work with aspiring interpreters as they learn and grow into emerging professional interpreters, I have gleaned a few things from them along the way. As much as we may have a bad impression of "recent graduates" who have not gone through all of the traditional passages we deem necessary of becoming a professional, we have much to learn from their experience as well. 

Being such a young profession, we have gone through various stages of educating interpreters as we have learned more and more about this great and wonderful profession of interpreting. Many of us have had to learn via the "school of hard knocks" and have developed from the community, which is great! Sometimes we need to take a look at what other paths have to offer as well, here are just a few of the things I've seen in our students/recent grads that I think I can learn from - 
  • Because we know more about what we do - thanks to researchers and practitioners who have mindfully considered the task and shared their knowledge - they are better equipped for the real world of interpreting having had the opportunity to study the theory behind interpreting, they have a better sense of what they are getting into as professionals.
  • Because we know more they are better equipped upon entry into the field, ready for certification, and ready for work with a shortened time "on the job training" required. 
  • They are far less isolated in their practice and they are exiting their programs prepared to seek supervision around work that does happen in isolation. They are more prepared to consider the impact of their professional decision without as much trial and error (thanks to the trial and error of their predecessors)   
So, as much as they still have to learn from the seasoned professionals in the field, I look forward to all I have to learn from them as they share with me their fresh perspective on this amazing profession! 

What have you learned from your colleagues both more experienced and more inexperienced?!


Monday, January 3, 2011

Models

We have been studying models from a theoretical perspective for juniors and working to apply the models to the interpreting work with the seniors. Our question for you is  - How do you employ models in your practice as an interpreter? 

Models could include socio-linguistic models such as Dennis Cokeley's, meaning-based models like Debra Russell's, Gile's Effort Model, or Betty Colonomos' model. These models help us to conceptualize the work we do as interpreters - taking in a message in one language, processing it to distill meaning, and then reproducing that meaning into another language. There are obviously many, many more models that could be listed - models developed by spoken and signed language interpreting researchers/practitioners. 

Students have asked about how working, experienced interpreters apply models in analyzing their work. Again, How do you employ models in your practice as an interpreter? If you are not familiar with any "models," how do you conceptualize your work and analyze to improve your work?

Monday, December 27, 2010

Professional Boundaries & Relationships with the Community

We have been having discussions with both juniors and seniors about relationships with the communities we serve.

I thought I would pose some questions to the larger community (interpreters and consumers) about how you navigate relationships in the community.

There seem to be conflicting messages as students learn about the Deaf community and culture. On the one hand, they learn about the idea of needing to be "of" the community - involved and actively participating.

And yet on the other hand there is the Code of Professional Conduct that encourages interpreters to remain neutral and impartial.

Then stories from interpreters about the complications of interpreting for private, sensitive type of interactions and then seeing those same people at community events being and feeling awkward.

So, how do you navigate relationships between consumer and interpreter? From consumer perspective? From practitioner perspective? What advice would you have for new interpreters trying to figure out where to place their boundaries as professionals?
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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Internship

Thank you to all of you who have contributed to our discussion on 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. Such inspiring stories and fun to read what you shared!

Now, we have seniors who are in the midst of making decisions about internship. There are certainly a million variables that go into making such a big decision. A bit about how we do internships here at Western Oregon University - Our students do a full time internship during the Spring term of their senior year. That means 350 hours over a 10 week term. 

Here is our question to you - where did you do your internship? What did you learn? what do you wish you had done? pros/cons? Other things that our seniors should consider as they are making their decisions?

Thanks for your input!