Developing A Self-evaluating Scale Of Requisite Consecutive Interpretation Competence For Interpreting Students In China's Universities

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the development of language proficiency scales in a competence-oriented approach.Such language proficiency scales are usually comprised of a series of descriptors aiming at describing the linguistic competence of language users,and are usually divided into different bands with specific descriptions of the corresponding stages in the developmental process of linguistic competence.The ILR(FSI)scale,the ACTFL scales,the ISLPR,the CLB scales,and the CEFR scales are the most influential scales of this kind.In the field of interpretation evaluation,traditional evaluation approaches were most commonly conducted with reference to such parameters as “faithfulness”,“fluency” and “accuracy”,which are used for the evaluation of performance rather than competence.Currently Chinese researchers and scholars are working toward establishing China's own Framework,with the development of the CSE as its first step.A competence-oriented scale of interpreting competence will also be included in the CSE.However,a self-evaluating scale designed solely for interpreting students remains a blank spot to be filled in.The current study is an exploratory study,targeting at developing a self-evaluating scale of consecutive interpretation competence for interpreting students in China's universities.The current study adopted a mixed methods approach,which involved the collection of quantitative data through two rounds of questionnaire surveys and qualitative data through two rounds of expert interviews.Moreover,for the development of the self-evaluating scale,the author put forward a conceptual framework of requisite consecutive interpretation competence with reference to existing literatures and textbooks and designed the research procedure with reference to the development procedure of other competence-oriented scales at home and abroad.The current study was conducted in five phases.The first phase is the establishment of a descriptor pool,consisting of descriptors illustrating the requisite consecutive interpretation competence needed for the completion of consecutive interpreting tasks.Based on existing literatures on interpretation evaluation,studies into the components and sub-components of interpretation competence and textbooks for interpreter training,a conceptual framework of requisite consecutive interpretation competence was proposed.In the framework,requisite consecutive interpretation competence is divided into five components: linguistic competence,interpreting skills,extra-linguistic competence,psychological competence and professionalism.Each components were further divided into multiple sub-components.On that basis,factors affecting consecutive interpretation were extracted for the compilation of descriptors.The author also reviewed literatures on the operational process of consecutive interpreting,analyzed which link each factor affected and incorporated the analysis in the design of the descriptors.The second phase is the design of the pilot study questionnaires.The questionnaire is drafted based on the descriptor pool established in the first phase.A self-review was first conducted as a preliminary examination of the questionnaire quality.The draft questionnaire was then reviewed by five experts to check its content validity.Adjustments and alterations were made based on the experts' opinions.After another round of self-review,the pilot study questionnaire was finalized.The third phase is the implementation of the pilot study questionnaire survey among interpreting experts(teachers/researchers,practitioners and experienced users)and interpreting students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.102 out of 116 replies were accepted as valid replies.The data collected in the survey were processed with SPSS24.0 to check the reliability and validity of the questionnaire.Based on the results of data analysis,four descriptors were removed to form the main study questionnaire.The forth phase is the implementation of the main study questionnaire survey among interpreting students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.558 out of 601 replies were accepted as valid replies.The data collected in the survey were processed with FACETS to obtain an All Facet “Vertical” Ruler and a logit value list.Based on a careful examination of the data analysis results,the descriptors were band-set provisionally by the author to obtain a draft scale.The fifth phase is the validation of the draft scale.All questions arising from the data analysis were organized into a list and presented to the experts in the second round of interviews for the validation of the band-setting and eliciting experts' suggestions.The feedback from experts went through a content analysis,adjustments and alterations were made based on expert's opinions,and an operational manual was compiled to instruct potential users.The final product of the current scale is The Self-evaluating Scale of Requisite Consecutive Interpretation Competence for Interpreting Students in China's Universities.The self-evaluating scale consists of 61 descriptors,which were distributed in two levels: the Advanced Level contains 25 descriptors and the Elementary Level contains 36 descriptors.The current study has brought forth some implications for the evaluation of interpretation competence and scale development,yet it had its own limitations,which requires further improvements.