Investigating the implications of sight translation training for simultaneous interpreting performance

Abstract

The research aimed at identifying how sight translation (ST) practice influences simultaneous interpreting (SI) performance at different text complexity levels. To achieve this aim, the research recruited student participants from MA Interpreting at the Queen’s University Belfast and divided them into an experimental group and a control group, with the experimental group receiving the author’s intervention, that is, an ST training course. Both groups completed a pre-test (administered before the ST training course) and post-test (conducted after the ST training course), with each test containing a questionnaire survey, three ST tasks and three SI tasks representing three text complexity levels. There were mainly two research findings. Firstly, following the ST training course, the experimental group made greater improvement in SI performance than the control group at each text complexity level. Secondly, following the ST training course, the experimental group improved their perceptions towards the benefits of ST practice to SI performance, while the control group did not. These findings are expected to furnish scholarly understanding on the relationship between ST practice and SI performance, and enable interpreter trainers to improve the use of ST practice serving SI training.

Date of Award	Dec 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	Piotr Blumczynski (Supervisor) & Chen-En Ho (Supervisor)