| Short-term memory is a very crucial part of interpreting process. The relationbetween background knowledge and short-term memory has been a hot spot forscholars’ research for a number of years. However, the majority of the previousresearches in this field were experience summaries and qualitative discussions. Only afew of them were empirical studies.This report aims to study the effect of background knowledge on short-termmemory in interpreting. Twelve postgraduate students of Master of Translation andInterpreting (MTI) Program majoring in interpreting in Guangxi University forNationalities have been selected to participate in the experiment and divided into twogroups, i.e., the control group and the experimental group. The two groups had toretell two English texts in English after reading them. All the participants’ retellinghad been recorded and analyzed from the five aspects of correct retelling, omissions,elaborations, distortions and overt errors. Then the analysis of the experiment result,together with the participants’ questionnaires and their interview information,contribute to the discussion of the effect of background knowledge on short-termmemory. The experiment shows that there is a generally positive correlation betweenbackground knowledge and short-term memory. Hence, in the course of interpretingteaching and practice, the interpreters can improve their short-term memory quality byenriching their background knowledge and the techniques of activating appropriatebackground knowledge. |
