A Study On The Effect Of Schema On English-Chinese Consecutive Interpretation

With the trend of globalization speeding, China has witnessed an increasing international communication in various fields, for which the importance of study on English-Chinese interpretation is highlighted. The thesis, from the four perspectives of comprehension equation, sequential model, effort model and gravitational model, sets out to study theoretically and empirically the effect which schema has produced on teaching of English-Chinese consecutive interpretation in a systematic way. The present thesis is composed of the following five chapters.The first chapter is the introduction. It clarifies the writing purpose and significance of the thesis.Based on the review of related theories of schema and oral interpretation. the second chapter analyses the relationship between schema theory and interpretation performance and provides a theoretical foundation for the whole thesis. In this chapter, the author first briefly introduces the definition and classification of interpretation; then discusses the definition, features and models of schema theory; after that makes clear four types of interpretation theories which are related to schema (these theories are concerned with information perception and comprehension in the process of consecutive interpretation); and finally explores the important roles schema theory has played in the process of English-Chinese interpretation and the specific application paradigm of schema theory in English-Chinese consecutive interpretation.The third chapter brings forth five problems which the empirical study in the present thesis aims to resolve (1. Does schema have any effect on English-Chinese consecutive interpretation performance? If there is any, how further does it go? 2. Does schema have any effect on the Chinese-English consecutive interpretation performance? If there is any, does it coincide with the effect in English-Chinese interpretation? 3. Can linguistic schema (linguistic proficiency) reduce the negative effects caused by lack of cultural schema in English-Chinese interpretation? 4. Can linguistic schema (linguistic proficiency) reduce the negative effects caused by lack of cultural schema in Chinese-English interpretation? If so, what is the difference from the phenomenon which occurs in English-Chinese interpretation? 5. Whether or not students with different language ability, with or without schema, employ the top-down or bottom-up information processing model in the same degree? If not, which model is more frequently employed?), and clarifies the subjects, materials, variables and procedure of the experiments.The fourth chapter makes an attempt to analyze the results of the empirical study deep down in very details. In order to testify the functions which different schemata have served in the effect of English-Chinese consecutive interpretation, the writer designs three experiments and utilizes methodology of quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis to make a contrast study of the experimental results. It is concluded as following: (l.Both linguistic schema and cultural schema have a significant effect on the English-Chinese and Chinese-English consecutive interpretation teaching performance, but the effect which cultural schema has on Chinese-English consecutive interpretation performance is weaker. 2. In Chinese-English interpretation, the effect which schema has on students with extremely high or low ability is trivial; however, linguistic schema in Chinese-English interpretation overshadows that in English-Chinese interpretation to remedy the negative effects caused by the lack of cultural schema. 3. Students with a background of schema prefers to choose the top-down processing model, while students without are more willing to choose bottom-up processing model. The experimental results coincide with the theoretical analysis in Chapter 2 and hence provide an empirical support for the thesis.Chapter five is the conclusion. It generalizes the experimental results, puts forward the limitation of the present study, and brings forth further suggestions in this field of study.