Research On Quantitative Relationship Between Working Memory Capacity And English-chinese Consecutive Interpreting Quality

Different from short-term memory and long-term memory,the main function of working memory is to store and process information.Baddeley and Hitch proposed a multi-component model for working memory,covering visual-special sketch pad,the episodic buffer,and the central executive and the phonological loop.Because of the supplementary role of notes,the demand for working memory(WM)for consecutive interpreting(CI)seems lower than in simultaneous interpreting.The relations between WM and CI quality have been explored by many researchers,some of whose results verify that WM has a positive correlation with CI quality,but some others do not,partially due to different evaluation systems or other factors.To further study the relations between WM and CI,three hypotheses are proposed in the thesis: 1)working memory capacity has a positive impact on the quality of consecutive interpreting without note-taking;2)a specific quantitative relationship exists between working memory capacity and consecutive interpreting quality,and 3)working memory capacity has positive effects on all parts involved in CI quality.To verify these three hypotheses,research conducted on 10 new postgraduates from SISU with working memory capacity test and consecutive interpreting without note-taking proves that the three hypotheses are true,but the correlation in Hypothesis 3 is not significant.The conclusion of this research is that working memory capacity does have a positive and significant impact on,and even a specific quantitative relation with,the quality of consecutive interpreting without note-taking,and it also has a positive but not significant influence on every part of CI.