On The Status Quo Of MTI Interpreting Students’Understanding Of Professional Identity

Professional identity (PI) was chosen as the research subject of this thesis, for PI exerts great influence on practitioners’job satisfaction, job commitment, efficacy and their professional development. Though interpreting industry and training programs (MTI program, for instance) enjoy increasing development, PI doesn’t draw its due attention and few scholars or practitioners dabble in the study on interpreter’s PI. As more and more MTI interpreting students are going to enter this profession, how do they view their professional identity in their future professional life has been a keen interest of this thesis.This thesis is attempted to bridge the gap and stimulate more discussions about this topic so as to enrich interpreting studies. In the process of writing this thesis, the following two research questions will be addressed.Question1:What are the major dimensions that encompass interpreter’s professional identity?Question2:What is the status quo of interpreting students’understanding of professional identity in terms of the various dimensions?Identity theory under the framework of Constructivism is employed as the theoretical basis of the thesis. As there is no PI study in interpreting field, the concept of interpreter’s PI is proposed based on the literature reviewed in teaching and nursing profession, in which PI study is very mature and established, as well as the detailed analysis of the particular characteristics of the interpreting profession. In short, the three dimensions are:institutional requirements, interpreter’s interaction with speaker and listener and role perception.Then according to the dimensions consisting of interpreter’s PI and with reference to the accredited research in other professions, this thesis will resort to a specifically designed questionnaire to understand and analyze the status quo of MTI interpreting students’ understanding of PI with18MTI interpreting students at NEU as a case study.The study found that NEU MTI students’ overall understanding of PI is relatively satisfactory. While in comparison, they have weak knowledge about the institutional requirements of the interpreting profession. The research also reveals that students with interpreting experience have a better understanding of PI in each dimension than those without interpreting practice.