The construction of a Practice- Teaching-Research (PTR) model for the accomplishments of college interpreting teachers in China
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00173.kan | Published online: 1 July 2020
Babel 66:4/5 (2020), pp. 604–618. issn 0521-9744 | e‑issn 1569-9668
© Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs (FIT) Revue Babel
of interpreting teachers grows because of the increase of college graduates in inter- preting major.
Even so, some interpreting teachers are unclear about their own positions and goals. Some college interpreting teachers only pay attention to practices, but ignore or underestimate interpreting studies. Others emphasize theory and skill researches, but no interpreting practice activities. Some college interpreting teachers only focus on interpreting teaching, but ignore interpreting practices and interpreting researches, which forms a partial interpreting. China’s current inter- preting education is in a period of transition. However, how to position the inter- preting teachers in colleges and universities during the transition period? What are the development strategies? To this end, this study proposes the core elements of college interpreting teachers’ accomplishments – practice (referred to as P), teaching (referred to as T) and research (referred to as R), i.e., PTR model as three-in-one of cultivating interpreting teachers’ comprehensive positioning and strategies.
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tongshi (the interpreter who helps communication) “通事” (Fang 2011: 67), |
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通译官 |
tongyiguan (the interpreting officer) “ ” (Zhang 1974: 1797), and later called the translator, now known as the interpreter, who plays an important role in international communication.
Interpreters nowadays consist of professional interpreters and college inter- preting teachers. The interpreting teachers are the designers of syllabus, the fore- runners of interpreting practices, the implementers of interpreting teaching, the authors of teaching materials, the innovators of interpreting researches, and the performers of teaching evaluations. Since the last century, the construction of the faculty members for China’s college interpreting teachers can be concluded to become more and more comprehensive and standardized.
In 2007, the Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) was first estab- lished to train “high-level, applied and professional” translators and interpreters for China’s society (Hua 2016: 37–39). MTI, different from academic research majors, has new requirements for interpreting teachers of professional teaching. However, the construction of the teacher teams, especially professional inter- preting teachers, has become a difficult problem.
Ten years ago, Luo (2008: 188) conducted a questionnaire survey on 18 inter- preting teachers from five universities: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, East China Normal University, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Normal University, and Shanghai Foreign Trade College by e-mail and telephone. Results are shown:
Table 1. The investigating form for interpreting teachers from 5 universities in Shanghai in 2008 (ibid.)
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Degree |
Bachelor (1) |
Master (15) |
Doctor (2) |
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|
Professional title |
Teaching assistant (4) |
Lecturer (9) |
Associative professor (5) |
Professor (0) |
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Interpreting major |
Yes (0) |
No (18) |
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|
|
Interpreting teaching experience |
< 2 years (7) |
2–5 years (7) |
> 5 years (4) |
|
|
Interpreting (teaching) related training |
0 (10) |
1 (6) |
2 (1) |
≥ 3 (1) |
|
Interpreting practice |
Never (0) |
Sometimes (13) |
Often (5) |
|
|
Only interpreting teaching |
Yes (3) |
No, also for another lesson (13) |
No, also for another 2 lessons or more (2) |
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|
Interpreting (teaching) |
Quite |
Familiar with a |
Not quite |
Not |
|
theory |
familiar (1) |
few (15) |
familiar (2) |
familiar (0) |
|
Interpreting or interpreting teaching publications |
0 (14) |
1 (2) |
2 (1) |
≥ 3 (1) |
|
Exchange among interpreting teacher teams |
Often (0) |
Sometimes (16) |
Never (0) |
No teams (2) |
*The numbers are given in the parentheses.
Luo (ibid.) describes the interpreting teacher teams in 2008 with “three L”, “low academic degree”, “low professional titles” and “low teaching age”. There are 15 interpreting teachers graduating in a master’s degree, 1 in a bachelor’s degree, accounting for the vast majority of “low academic degree”; 4 assistants and 9 lecturers have the “low professional title” which is the majority of teacher teams. “Low teaching age” is represented by 7 people with under 2 years of teaching expe- rience, and 7 people with 2–5 years of teaching experience (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Interpreting teachers from 5 universities in Shanghai in 2008
This study uses IBM SPSS statistics (19.0) to do the SPSS analysis on 10 ques- tionnaires in Luo (ibid.), and finds that the effective value of the questionnaire is N = 10, which is 100% effective (see Table 2).
Table 2. Summary of case processing
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0 |
.0 |
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Sum |
10 |
100.0 |
* In this procedure excluded variables based on the list of all variables
According to the statistics (Table 3), the mean of the questionnaire is 18.000, deviation of .000, a standard deviation of .000, and a number of items of 4.
Table 3. Descriptive statistics Mean Deviation Standard deviation N 18.0000 .000 .00000 4
The 10 questionnaires were further analyzed by SPSS (see Table 4). However, the correlation test doesn’t show VAR00001 (level 1), VAR00001 (level 2), VAR00001 (level 3), and VAR00001 (level 4) are significantly correlated at. 01 (two-tailed), that is, the 4 level variables of the 10 questionnaires are not highly related.
Furthermore, individual sample test (see Table 5) is performed on 10 ques- tionnaires. It is found that the Sig. (two-tailed) of VAR00003 (level 3) is .020 >.01, and the Sig. (two-tailed) of VAR00001 (level 1) is .015.>.01, all more than .01, but less than .05. Although the test is shown statistically significant with certain differ- ences, but the differences are not significant. The Sig. (two-tailed) of VAR00004 (level 4) is .081.>.05>.01. The difference is extremely insignificant and has no statistical significance.
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Table 5. Individual sample test
95% confidence interval of the difference
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The correlation and statistical significance in the research 10 years ago need to be improved. In view of this, this study further applies the same research method but different aspects for 28 interpreting teachers from five universities including Fudan University (6, one is retired, but rehired), University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (4), Shanghai Maritime University (4), Shanghai Univer- sity (6) and Shanghai Second Polytechnic University (8). This study conducts a questionnaire and obtains the following results (see Table 6):
Among the five universities surveyed in this study, the number of interpreting teachers has increased significantly compared with 2008, from 18 to 28 (18→28). The degree of education has improved significantly with the number of the doctoral degree teachers increasing from the original 2 to 10 (2→10). The profes-
Table 6. The investigating form for interpreting teachers from 5 universities in Shanghai in 2018
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*The numbers are given in the parentheses.
sional title has also significantly improved, from no professor in the original study to 2 professors (0→2). The number of graduates in the interpreting major has reached 15 from 0 ten years ago (0→15). The number of teachers with more than 5 years of interpreting teaching experience increases from 4 to 20 (4→20). The number of teachers with more than 2 times (including 2 times) of interpreting training increases from 2 to 10 (2→10), while frequent interpreting teaching training is from 5 to 7 (5→7). The number of teachers specialized in interpreting teaching increases from 3 to 9 (3→9). The number of teachers who are quite familiar with interpreting theory increases from 1 to 14 (1→14). The number of teachers who have published more than 3 articles is up to 7 (1→7). The number of teachers who are frequently engaged with exchanges increases from 0 to 9 (0→9). From this calculation, it can be seen that the index from all levels have risen rapidly and the results saliently occur (see Figure 2).
According to the comparison between Figure 2 and Figure 1, level 3 and level 4 in Figure 2 are significantly higher than those in Figure 1, that is, the statistical data collected in 2018 (degree, professional title, interpreting major, teaching
Figure 2. Interpreting teachers from 5 universities in Shanghai in 2018
experience, interpreting training, interpreting practice, interpreting teaching, interpreting theory, paper publications and team exchange) are significantly higher than those in 2008. The following test is a statistical calculation of the survey based on interpreting teachers from five universities in Shanghai in 2018 using the IBM SPSS statistics (19.0) (see Table 7).
Table 7. Individual sample test
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t |
df |
tailed) |
deviation |
Lower |
Upper |
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VAR00001(Level 1) |
1.879 |
9 |
.093 |
2.00000 |
−.4083 |
4.4083 |
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VAR00002(Level 2) |
3.777 |
9 |
.004 |
7.60000 |
3.0481 |
12.1519 |
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VAR00003(Level 3) |
7.453 |
9 |
.000 |
9.80000 |
6.8256 |
12.7744 |
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VAR00004(Level 4) |
4.359 |
9 |
.002 |
8.60000 |
4.1364 |
13.0636 |
From the analysis results of the individual sample test in Table 7, it can be seen that except for VAR00001 level 1 (the interpreting teachers’ accomplish- ments) are not significantly better than the test value, the remaining VAR00002 level 2, VAR00003 level 3, VAR00004 level 4 (.004, .000, .002) are significantly better than the test value, which has a strong statistical significance. Therefore, it is also highlighted that compared with the level 1, the interpreting teachers of level 2, 3, and 4 significantly improve in all aspects including practice, teaching, and scientific research. At the same time, it also shows that the interpreting teachers do more practice, create better teaching effects and do more comprehen- sive researches.
According to the correlation analysis, four levels of variables (VAR00001 level 1, VAR00002 level 2, VAR00003 level 3, and VAR00004 level 4) are significantly correlated at .01 level (two-tailed). This shows that the coefficients of correlation,
reliability and validity (100%) are higher, and further the effective term N = 10 (see Table 9). It can be seen that the survey is not only highly effective, but also has lower deviation. The descriptive statistics show a deviation of .000 and a standard deviation of .00000 (see Table 8).
Table 8. Summary of case processing
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0 |
.0 |
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Sum |
10 |
100.0 |
* In this procedure excluded variables are based on the list of all variables.
Table 9. Descriptive statistics Mean Deviation Standard deviation N 28.0000 .000 .00000 4
3. Three dimensions of PTR model
Interpreting as a communicative activity (Kang 2012: 42; 2017: 92), is a conversion process from source language (SL) to target language (TL). The interpreting prod- ucts, especially in the new mode of modern computer network (Chen 2006: 3) are realized in three complicated phrases in human brains: cognition, calculation,
and output to complete an assignment. Therefore, whether it is a professional interpreter, an interpreting teacher or a student interpreter (referring to an under- graduate or a postgraduate for his master’s or doctor’s degree in interpreting major), the implementation of interpreting products requires experience to complete the P (practice) dimension.
3.2 P – basis
R refers to research. Interpreting researches are the sublimation based upon the practices of interpreting. The interpreting researches can not only be self- motivated, improve the quality of interpreting, but also enhance the research abil- ities by sharing with others. It also provides feedback for the two dimensions of P (interpreting practice) and T (interpreting teaching). For example, Cai and Zeng (2004) and Wang (2012) studied the quality of interpreting products, such as bilingual switch, encyclopedic knowledge, skill improvement, behavioral manip- ulation and cognitive psychology (Zhang 2011). In particular, the study of bilin- gual switch cost in interpreting process, as we also mentioned, is a hot topic in current research.
From the view of Overall Interpreting (OI) (see Figure 3), OI = Interpreting Practice (IP) + Interpreting Teaching (IT) + Interpreting Research (IR), OI=IP
+IT+IR as the formula, which is the realization of constructing PTR model as three-in-one to college interpreting teachers in China in new era.
Figure 3. PTR model as three-in-one
4. PTR evaluation system construction
Evaluation System (ES) is proposed to be constructed from three levels: IP, IR, and IT.
3. IT construction this level highlights the interpreting teaching, i.e. T(eaching) = T(eaching)1 + T(eaching)2 + T(eaching)3 + …T(eaching)n. T1 is the interpreting knowledge, T2 is the interpreting skill, and T3 is the interpreting method. We proposed the “1+4” All-Encompassing Interpreting Teaching Mode, which is a set of “virtual space (VS) + virtual reality (VR) + three dimensional space (TDS) + Internet (IN)” multimodality interpreting teaching modes with multidimensional space technology, (T+S+Te/Ta/
V+C)+(VS+VR+TDS+IN) ⇒ I as the formula. “1” is the All-Encompassing
Internet Cooperative Teaching Mode (AEICTM). “4” is the All-Encompassing Practicing Modes (AEPM) including All-Encompassing Virtual Reality Prac- ticing Mode (AEVRPM), All-Encompassing Distance Practicing Mode (AEDPM), All-Encompassing Cooperative Practicing Mode (AECPM) and All-Encompassing Multi-Media Individual Practicing Mode (AEMIPM) (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. “1+4” All-Encompassing Interpreting Teaching Mode (Kang 2012: 37)
This research has chronergy to student interpreters and is the future devel- opment direction of multimodal interpreting teaching in China. The direction is characterized with informatization, digitization, networking, personalization, high speed, and highly-intelligence. As we also stressed, it is a modern multimodal and integrated interpreting teaching. The construction of the integrated IP, the IR and the IT forms the total PTR model as the three P+R+T in one. This is a relatively comprehensive construction model of cultivating college interpreting teachers for their PTR accomplishments in China.
1. Integration strategy: interpreters should have an overall view of interpreting (OVI) with the combination of IP, IR and IT, and their flexible application. The integration of practice and theory, the integration of technology and education, the integration of process and product realize the organic combi- nation of various concepts in the PTR model, and realize the professional- ization of interpreting talents cultivation in the new era and in the academic discourse community (Yu 2010: 67–70) for interpreters’ better interpreting performance.
2. Transformation strategy: transform is from partial interpreting (PI) to overall interpreting (OI), from a single P, T, R model to a multimodal comprehensive PTR model. The strategy realizes the transformation from the single mode of interpreting practice, interpreting teaching or interpreting research to the multi-model three-in-one compound PTR model of the interpreting practice, the interpreting teaching and the interpreting research, thereby improving the comprehensive quality of the interpreting teachers.
3. Education strategy: interpreting education is the basis of interpreting prac- tice, interpreting teaching and interpreting research, and the combination of curriculum and technology should be advocated. The multimodal compre- hensive PTR model with the integration of practice, teaching and research (ibid.) as the main body and the advanced computer network virtual reality technology used to assist the traditional interpreting classroom teaching should be used so as to achieve the best interpreting education results. At the same time the class interpreting assignments are reasonably carried out during the teaching process.
4. Skill strategy: interpreting skills are necessary for interpreters, and inter- preting teachers also need comprehensive and various interpreting teaching skills. With the interpreting knowledge as the main body, interpreting teachers need to master diversified interpreting skills. Through the overall
interpreting, the interpreting practices have been enhanced, the quality of interpreting teaching has been improved, the interpreting research has been deepened, and eventually the improvement of multi-dimensional interpreting skills and teaching abilities have been realized.
5. Psychological strategy: the psychological quality of student interpreters is an important factor in the realization of interpreting products. Therefore, as we also claimed, interpreters should follow the theory of cognitive interpreting to guide and motivate student interpreters’ interpreting cognition, strengthen their psychological quality, and enhance their psychological construction, thus improving the quality of interpreting.
6. Interaction strategy: it is to use the interactive path to enhance the inter- preting team awareness of teachers. Interpreting teachers with primary or intermediate titles are responsible for interpreting practice courses, such as interpreting exercises, interpreting workshops, and other optional courses related to the training of interpreting certificates. With the advantage of the young interpreting teachers well motivated in practice and highly flexible in teaching ability, a curriculum system oriented to the development of inter- preters for the market is established. Teachers with advanced professional titles and rich interpreting experiences are responsible for interpreting research courses, helping MI, MA, Ph.D. candidates and young teachers in interpreting studies to lay a solid foundation for interpreting, enrich teaching experiences, master interpreting research methods, and enable them to achieve more interpreting research results. With the aid of the middle-aged and elderly teachers who have strong interpreting research abilities, a research-oriented cultivation system is created.
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