The Empirical Study Of Formative Assessment In English Interpreting Classes

There are usually two ways of assessments in foreign language teaching: summative assessment and formative assessment.Summative assessment generally refers to the assessment of students' learning achievement through a unified examination at the end of the course,and what has been taught is tested just once.Formative assessment requires continuous feedback from students and teachers in the process of education to improve the quality of the course.This kind of assessment is a fully designed continuity.There are many methods of formative assessment,including classroom communica tion,self-assessment and peer assessment,etc.With the increasing demand for interpreters in China,more and more universities have started to cultivate masters of English interpreting.Due to the differences in the setting and evaluation methods of interpreting courses among different universities and teachers,there is no systematic evaluation system for interpreting teaching in colleges and universities in China.In order to study the application of formative assessment in the teaching of English interpreting,this paper conducts a six-week experiment on the students majoring in English interpreting in Dalian University of Technology.By asking the students to take an after-class assignment of transcribing and scoring their interpreting practice,the author explores the influence of peer assessment and self-assessment on students' learning motivation and interpreting ability.The author also interviews all the students at the end of the experiment and collects their feedback for analyses.The research shows that the application of peer assessment and self-assessment as an assistant method in interpreting teaching can effectively promote students' motivation to learn interpreting,and also cultivate students' attention to the details of interpreting,and thus improve the quality of their interpreting.