A Survey Of Interpretation Anxiety In The Classroom

The capacity to control stress has traditionally been considered one of the requisites for interpreting(Cooper,Davis and Tung 1982;Moser-Mercer 1985;Longly 1989;Klonowica 1994;Gile 1995)and a predictor for interpreting competence(Alexieva 1997).Stress within a certain extent can be motivating(Jennifer 2013),however,an excessive amount of stress can lead to anxiety.Kang(2010:4-8)has identified an anxiety induced by the task of interpreting,consisting of the nature of immediacy of interpreting,the complexity of the source language,the difference between source language and target language and other abnormal psychological factors.Interpretation anxiety might affect not only students' interpretation performance in class,but students' daily life and future interpretation study.Hence,the author hopes to find more detailed information in this regard through the study.53 post-graduate students majoring in interpretation between Chinese and English in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies were chosen as survey subjects.Spielberger' s(1970)State-Trait Anxiety Inventory(STAI)and Chiang' s(2006)Interpretation Classroom Anxiety Scale(ICAS)and self-developed questionnaire(BIQ)were used as measurement tools.To have a deeper understanding of the effects and sources of interpretation anxiety,additional interviews with 10 students scored highest in ICAS and 2 interpretation instructors of the two classes would also be conducted after the analysis of scales and questionnaires.Through the quantitative analysis of scales,the author found that 1)interpretation anxiety exists in 53% of the subjects and is independent of state anxiety;2)students' interpretation anxiety is a function of the difficulty of the interpreting task.The followed interviews further reveal that 1)interpretation anxiety is caused by both internal and external factors;2)interpretation anxiety brings about both psychological and physiological impacts.Based on the findings,the author hopes that student interpreters have a better understanding of their interpretation anxiety and make some adjustments;that instructors pay more attention to students' psychological state in theprocess of interpretation teaching.