A Correlation Study Of Directionality And Anxiety In Interpreting Classroom

Taking the theory of foreign language anxiety(Horwitz,Horwitz and Cope,1986)as a theoretical framework,this study examines the relationship between anxiety and directionality in consecutive interpreting for the purpose of establishing whether interpreting trainees suffer higher anxiety when interpreting in one direction compared to the other.In order to achieve the above goal,this study poses the following three questions:1.Is there a relationship between directionality and anxiety in interpreting?2.Which direction,direct or inverse,leads to greater anxiety?3.What are the reasons for different levels of anxiety for different interpreting directions,and how can interpreting trainees deal with their anxiety in both directions?To answer the above questions,this study adopts both quantitative and qualitive analysis.The subjects of this study are twenty postgraduate students majoring in English-Chinese interpreting at BFSU(Beijing Foreign Studies University).The materials of the experiment,are two excerpts of similar difficulty taken from a textbook designated by the China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters(CATTI).In this study,the interpreting output was recorded and sent to two professional interpreters for evaluation.Five randomly selected subjects were interviewed as part of the qualitative review of this research project.The study explores the relationship between anxiety and directionality in consecutive interpreting based on the confirmed negative relationship between performance and anxiety.It is found that there was no significant correlation between anxiety and directionality,however,different dominant factors of anxiety were present in the two directions.The dominant factor for inverse interpreting is test anxiety,while the dominant factor for direct interpreting is fear of negative evaluation.Furthermore,based on findings from the interviews,some coping strategies as well as pedagogical implications are put forward.