Abstract
This article is the first of two articles reporting on a study from the first author’s master’s thesis in translation entitled “’n Ondersoek na pedagogiese tolking vir Afrikaanstweedetaalverwerwing: ’n Gevallestudie met US-studente” (Van der Merwe 2022). In the first article, pedagogical interpreting as a teaching technique is discussed, while the second article elaborates on pedagogical interpreting as an interactive task.
With the introduction of more communication-oriented approaches in the field of second-language acquisition, a need arose to reform translation as a language teaching technique with the aim of placing a heightened focus on communication. Interpreting is a communicative activity where a person combines listening and speaking skills across language boundaries to enable communication in a specific situation. There was a need for a communicative teaching technique that would cultivate increased communicative skills in Afrikaans because in our experience as tutor and lecturer Afrikaans second-language students are not adequately proficient in the language. The study examines the workability of pedagogical interpreting as a teaching technique in a task-based framework in Stellenbosch University (SU) students’ Afrikaans Language Acquisition classrooms. The research is based on the question of whether pedagogical interpreting holds value and/or challenges for Afrikaans second-language acquisition.
Interpreting as interaction (Wadensjö 1998) and pedagogical interpreting as a teaching technique (Van der Merwe 2019) were used as theoretical frameworks to investigate pedagogical interpreting as a teaching technique. Pioneering work was done on the interactive nature of liaison interpreting in Interpreting Studies, which led to the creation of the theoretical framework interpreting as interaction. The concept of interaction in interpreting essentially has to do with the extent to which the interpreter interacts with the other participants and how feedback is used in the process. In the first author’s honours research assignment (Van der Merwe 2019) she investigated the potential of interpreting for language teaching by reconciling the relevant theory of interpreting and second-language acquisition. The term pedagogical interpreting was coined to refer to the use of interpreting as a technique in language teaching.
Sight interpreting and liaison interpreting were proven to be the most frequently used interpreting modes for language teaching. Sight interpreting entails that a text is interpreted by a person at the same time as it is read aloud. It is an oral interpretation of a written source text. Liaison interpreting involves the interpreter performing two-way interpreting (interpreting in and out of the A and B language or first and second language) to ensure communication between two parties or groups. Sight interpreting was utilised in this investigation’s pre-task phase, and liaison interpreting as a short, informal and less structured form of interpreting was deemed suitable for the main-task phase. Based on the need for an emphasis on communication in second-language acquisition and the theoretical findings that interpreting can be reconciled with second-language acquisition, it was suggested in Van der Merwe (2019) that an empirical investigation of pedagogical interpreting should be carried out, as was the case in Van der Merwe (2022).
Using the theoretical frameworks, the case study was carried out with participatory action research and a mixed-research method. The qualitative research involved the use of participant observation with audio recordings that were transcribed to carry out response-based micro-evaluation with an emphasis on personation. The quantitative and subsequent qualitative research involved the use of questionnaires (with open- and closed-ended questions) to conduct learner-based micro-evaluation. Three 50-minute tutorials were designed and carried out in 2021 with 21 Afrikaans Language Acquisition students at Stellenbosch University. The participants, all coincidentally female, were second-language learners of Afrikaans. The tutorials and tasks were presented in a task-based framework with a pre-task, a main task and a post-task with animated films, live action films and series as themes. In the pre-task phase the participants completed a mind map, interpreted subtitles with the help of pedagogical sight interpreting, and watched a video interview with the character Shrek that illustrates how liaison interpreting works. The main task took the form of pedagogical liaison interpreting with role play where each student had a turn to play the role of an English-speaking character (the student speaker or interviewee) and the role of the bilingual (Afrikaans and English) student interpreter. As tutor, the first author also participated and took on the role of the Afrikaans-speaking interviewer. The main task, pedagogical liaison interpreting, was recorded and transcribed. Participant observation was therefore used to determine the extent to which the participants successfully fulfilled their roles in the main task (given the difficult nature of interpreting) and questionnaires were used to determine the participants’ perspective on pedagogical interpreting as a teaching technique.
Regarding personation, the roles of the student interpreter, the tutor, the student speaker and the audience were considered since response-based evaluation focuses on how well a language learner performs a specific task. Apart from a few cases where the wrong language was spoken by mistake, the student interpreters generally performed as desired. This deviation from their roles is therefore a challenge that comes with pedagogical interpreting, which can be addressed by giving the participants a break between interviews to observe rather than immediately fulfilling a new role in the same interview. The first author as tutor deviated several times from her role as an Afrikaans-speaking interviewer by, for the sake of saving time, using English to predict and prevent communication problems. Although sometimes necessary and unavoidable, this is a challenge, because the tutor’s role as the Afrikaans-speaking interviewer must be prioritised to maintain the authenticity of the interaction. The student speakers, who should be proficient only in English, sometimes spoke Afrikaans by mistake, which constitutes a challenge of pedagogical interpreting. However, this challenge is eliminated when the parties in the interview exchange with students in the audience and therefore take on their second role only at a later stage. Finally, the students in the audience sometimes deviated from their role as passive listeners by interjecting with medium-specific terms and names of characters, which was beneficial for saving time. The participants never gave up when struggling with an utterance and the interaction never stagnated. Any deviations were immediately corrected with ease in a relaxed atmosphere. As confirmed by the response-based evaluation, the participants consequently acted satisfactorily by successfully fulfilling their respective roles.
According to the questionnaire results, the biggest challenge associated with a pedagogical interpreting task is the time it takes to complete, which can be managed with effective planning and implementation. This also constitutes positive feedback, since participants requested more time for more interpreting activities. The use of pedagogical interpreting as a teaching technique clearly has potential value for Afrikaans second-language acquisition, and the second article elaborates on the role that interaction plays in this respect. All the participants’ overall impression of the tutorials with pedagogical interpreting was positive. Half of the participants emphasised pedagogical interpreting as an effective and valuable teaching technique for Afrikaans second-language acquisition, and the other half emphasised the innovative and enjoyable nature of pedagogical interpreting as a teaching technique. All the participants recommend pedagogical interpreting for Afrikaans second-language teaching in their classrooms. In the last open-ended question in the questionnaire they wrote that pedagogical interpreting is valuable for comprehension, vocabulary, pronunciation, self-confidence as well as general language skills. They further mention that the technique is a simple, interactive, enjoyable and stress-free way to use Afrikaans in context. As can be deduced from the learner-based evaluation, all the participants in the study consider pedagogical interpreting to be a valuable teaching technique for Afrikaans second-language acquisition.
Pedagogical interpreting is a relatively new teaching technique and it is recommended to researchers that they further explore its potential.
Keywords: Afrikaans second-language acquisition; liaison interpreting; pedagogical interpreting; personation; sight interpreting
- The photo on this article’s featured image was taken by Alexander Suhorucov and obtained from Pexels.
Lees die volledige artikel in Afrikaans:
Pedagogiese tolking as ’n onderrigtegniek vir Afrikaanstweedetaalverwerwing (deel 1)