The Influences Of The Text Type Of SL On The Task Complexity Of Chinese-English Interpreting

The present study aims at exploring the influences of the text type of SL on the task complexity of Chinese-English interpreting. This study mainly deals with the following questions: 1) are language productions of interpreting tasks of different SL text types qualitatively different in accuracy and fluency? 2) What are the specific components of each text type that influence the task complexity of the interpreting task? To this end, I discuss the classification of SL text types, the distinction between task complexity and task difficulty, relationship between task complexity and the language production accuracy and fluency, and following this, I do an experiment with the senior English majors of Changshu Institute of Technology as testees, to examine the differentia caused by the text type differentiation by comparing their' interpreting productions of different types of SL.The thesis is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the previous studies on text types of SL in translation and interpreting fields, and the aim of the present study. Chapter 2 focuses on the classification of SL text types that are divided into four types in this study: the expository text type, the interactive text type, the argumentative text type and the hypothetical text type. Chapter 3 analyzes the difference between task complexity and task difficulty, and the relationship between task complexity and production accuracy and fluency. According to Robinson (2001), task complexity is the result of the attentional, memory, reasoning, and other information processing demands imposed by the structure of the task on the language learner. These differences in information processing demand, resulting from design characteristics are fixed and invariant. Satisfying those demands in order to successfully complete the task is dependent on the extent of the resources a learner brings to the task. Differentials between learners in their available attentional, memory and reasoning resource pools make the learner feel a task more or less difficult. Robinson's research (2001) results show task complexity affects speaker and hearer production. Task complexity significantly affects the accuracy and fluency of the language production. Chapter 4 mainly deals with the task complexity of the C-E interpreting tasks of different SL text types. Each text type contains specific components that influence the...