The Role And Designing Principles Of Theoretical Components In Interpreting Textbooks

Over the past two decades, interpreting market and interpreting training in China have undergone a rapid development. In the mean time, different kinds of interpreting textbooks have been published in great number and been widely used in interpreting education. Despite the fact that interpreting training has become one of the major areas of interpreting research, yet few researches have been conducted on interpreting textbooks. The literature on interpreting textbooks research only gives a general review on textbooks and then comes up with some suggestions or criteria for compiling a good textbook. There is lack of specific study on interpreting textbooks.This research studies theoretical components in interpreting textbooks published in China during 1978 to 2006 from two aspects: content selection and compilation structure. The collected textbooks have been categorized according to three periods of time: 1978-1989, 1989-1999 and 2000-2006. Theoretical components in textbooks published in the first period of time are mainly based on field experiences and are often placed in the first part or appendix of textbooks. Theoretical components in textbooks published in the second period of time include not only field experience but also western interpreting theories. They have been discussed in a certain part or been integrated into each unit of textbooks. Those in textbooks published in the last period of time are based on western interpreting theories and interdisciplinary research and also include a small portion of field experience. The compilation structure of theoretical components in these textbooks is similar to that in textbooks published in second period of time. In terms of their use, interpreting textbooks could be divided into two types: comprehensive textbook and textbook for a special field. Theoretical components in the former type of textbook could guide general interpreting, but those in the latter type of textbook summarize characteristics of interpreting for a particular field.Besides, this research selects several interpreting textbooks with wide use and social influence and analyzes their theoretical components. Thus, it figures out four models of incorporating theoretical components into textbooks: Beiwai model and Shangwai model, Xiada model and Guangwai model. The first two models are theme-based and theoretical components in them usually serve as a general introduction to interpreting. The other two models are skill-based with theoretical components explaining skills. Based on the descriptive analysis of interpreting textbooks and review of previous literature, this research further discusses the role of theoretical components and identifies three major they play: to give general introduction to interpreting, to explain interpreting skills and to help students analyze and correct errors in interpreting practice. To bring their roles into full play, this thesis offers some principles of designing theoretical components in interpreting textbooks.