A Cooperative Learning Approach To Simultaneous Interpreting Practice At Mock Conferences

With the rapid advancement of globalization, exchanges among countries are more and more profoundly influencing us. SI, as one of the most significant ways to facilitate international exchanges, is playing an indispensable role in multi-language conferences ranging from world summits to business negotiations among private companies. As the most challenging type of interpreting, SI is drawing worldwide attention of scholars and instructors, in particular, how to train qualified simultaneous interpreters. Simultaneous interpreters are required to possess both excellent professional skills and comprehensive ability. SI is mainly applied at international conferences, and the effectiveness of SI to a large extent determines how successful a conference is.In view of the special characteristics of SI, this thesis aims to explore the possibility of organizing mock conferences under the guidance of the Cooperative Learning theory (CL), a theory that is currently widely applied in foreign language teaching. A detailed design is provided in this thesis to demonstrate how to arrange a successful mock conference through cooperation so that trainees are able to practice SI in a more effective way to improve their professional skills and comprehensive ability. Firstly, this thesis gives a brief introduction to the present situation of SI teaching and training, then a detailed presentation of CL and SI is provided so as to lay a theoretical foundation for the analysis of the practical activity. The traditional SI training modes are described to introduce a more effective method—SI practice at mock conferences from the perspective of CL. Chapter Three and Four focus on how to conduct SI practice at mock conferences from the perspective of CL, including mock conference organizing, SI preparation before the conference, SI practice during the conference and experience summarization after the conference. Chapter Three provides a theoretical framework of this training mode while Chapter four gives a detailed analysis to the whole process of organizing SI practice at a mock conference. This thesis is concluded with a summary including limitations of this training mode and several suggestions on future study in the field of SI teaching and training. This study is by nature an empirical one integrated with qualitative research.Based on personal SI experience at conferences, the author tries to draw valuable experience on how a conference is organized and how to ensure successful performance of SI. The analysis of CL and its application in practice depend on qualitative research, which tries to explore the nature and characteristics of this theory.