Tài liệu Practicing note taking to enhance fourth year english students’consecutive interpretation ability

CANTHO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FINAL PROJECT PRACTICING NOTE TAKING TO ENHANCE FOURTH -YEAR ENGLISH STUDENTS’CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETATION ABILITY Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN BUU HUAN RESEARCHER: TO MY VIEN CODE: 7032585 COURSE 29 NN0354A4 CANTHO, JUNE, 2007 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth -year English students’ consecutive interpretation ability CONTENTS Content ................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgement ...............................................................................................iii Abstract ................................................................................................................ iv List of Tables and Figures ................................................................................... v Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Problem and Rationale ............................................................................. 1 1.2 Research Question ................................................................................... 2 1.3 Hypothesis ............................................................................................... 3 1.4 Thesis Organization ................................................................................. 4 Chapter Literature Review Trung tâm2Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu 2.1 Translation ............................................................................................... 6 2.2 Interpretation............................................................................................ 8 2.3 Consecutive Interpretation ..................................................................... 10 2.3.1 Time and setting matter ...................................................................... 10 2.3.2 Short-term Memory ............................................................................ 12 2.3.3 Forgetting Curve ................................................................................. 15 2.4 Note taking in consecutive interpretation .............................................. 16 Chapter 3 Research Methodology 3.1 Participants ............................................................................................ 25 3.2 Instruments ............................................................................................ 26 To My Vien B.A C 29 i Practicing note taking to enhance fourth -year English students’ consecutive interpretation ability 3.3 Materials ............................................................................................... 27 3.4 Design .................................................................................................... 35 3.5 Procedures.............................................................................................. 37 Chapter 4 Data Analysis 4.1 Analysis of Questionnaires .................................................................... 40 4.2 Analysis of Tests.................................................................................... 44 Chapter 5 Conclusions, Limitations and Recommendations 5.1 Conclusions............................................................................................ 54 5.2 Limitations ............................................................................................. 57 5.3 Recommendations.................................................................................. 60 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu Chapter 6 A suggested system for training note taking in consecutive interpretation ...................................................................................................... 63 Reference ...................................................................................................... 72 Appendices Appendix 1 ..............................................................................................................74 Appendix 2 ..............................................................................................................75 Appendix 3 ..............................................................................................................................76 Appendix 4 ............................................................................................................... 77 Appendix 5 ............................................................................................................... 79 Appendix 6 ............................................................................................................... 80 To My Vien B.A C 29 ii Practicing note taking to enhance fourth -year English students’ consecutive interpretation ability ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Nguyen Buu Huan, my supervisor for his great and continued generous support and useful advice. Special thanks are also given to Ms Truong Thi Ngoc Diep and Ms Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, who were very eager to help me collect my useful data. In particular, sincere thanks go to Mr. Trinh Quoc Lap for providing me with constructive comments in refining my thesis. I, from the bottom of my heart, wish to thank my parents who bring me up with their interest and caring and my teachers in English Department who raise me up with their knowledge. Thanks for all, I have occasion to do the project, to Trung tâm Học liệuhow ĐH Cầnchallenges Thơ@Tài học tập invàlife. nghiên cứu investigate, to know to face and toliệu be more mature Finally, in completing my research paper, I owe a debt of gratitude to all of my friends. I thank them for spending their time doing questionnaires and tests. Especially, I would like to thank Ms Le Thi Kim Phung and Ms Huynh Do Thu for their energy and encouragement. Although some syntactical or linguistic faults may appear in my study, I am solely responsible for all. To My Vien B.A C 29 iii Practicing note taking to enhance fourth -year English students’ consecutive interpretation ability ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of note taking in consecutive interpretation. In detail, I want to measure whether note taking helps student recall information or distract them from concentrating ability. Questionnaires were first delivered to the fourth-year students of English to consider their perception toward note taking in consecutive interpretation. Importantly, thanks to using interview with five questions I could get a deeper understanding about students’ attitude on this problem. The results collected from questionnaires and interview told me most of students believe that note taking plays an important role when interpreting Trung tâm HọcAlso, liệuthey ĐHmay Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học consecutively. be distracted in cases what theytập havevà to nghiên interpret iscứu rather complicated. The two tests were implemented by 40 students to reliably check the efficiency of note taking. It is possible to conclude that the simplicity or complexity of materials and marking scales had a great influence on the effectiveness of note taking. Considerably, note taking maintains its usefulness regardless of the great different standards between the two tests. Some limitations and recommendations were also given for better studies about note–taking in consecutive interpretation. To My Vien B.A C 29 iv Practicing note taking to enhance fourth -year English students’ consecutive interpretation ability List of figures and tables Table 1 Frequency of questionnaires .................................................................. 42 Table 2 Marking paper ........................................................................................ 45 Table 3 Scores of interpretation in the second test .............................................. 49 Figure 1 Model of general translating process ..................................................... 12 Figure 2 Case processing summary ..................................................................... 40 Figure 3 Percentage of questionnaires on the third item...................................... 43 Figure 4 Percentage questionnaires on the fifth item 44 cứu Trung tâm Học liệuof ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu...................................... học tập và nghiên Figure 5 The disparity of the first test in class 03 ............................................... 46 Figure 6 The disparity of the first test in class 04 ................................................ 46 Figure 7 Marks of accuracy in the second test ..................................................... 50 Figure 8 Marks of clarity in the second test ......................................................... 51 Figure 9 Marks of fluency in the second test ....................................................... 51 Figure 10 Marks of eye-contact in the second test .............................................. 52 Figure 11 Marks of self-confidence in the second test ........................................ 52 To My Vien B.A C 29 v Practicing note taking to enhance fourth -year English students’ consecutive interpretation ability Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu To My Vien B.A C 29 vi Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Problem and Rationale As it is widely held that interpretation skill is quite crucial to letter students of English, in comparison with four-language skills-listening, speaking, reading and writing-interpreting is, however, not paid much attention to. For the matter, they find it hard and nervous in interpretation class in the short term. If they, in the long run, choose interpreters as their desired careers, they will confront with a great number of difficulties due to lack of trained skills necessary for interpretation. I am, in my study, mentioning note taking skill. Not surprisingly, without taking any notes, interpreters cannot remember Trung tâm Học ĐH Cần liệu học tập nghiên cứu information fullyliệu and exactly whenThơ@Tài interpreting consecutively. Thevà point here is that they may be prevented from listening if they have no experiences of note taking. This is the reason why I choose practicing note taking to improve fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability as my confidential topic. I think I can find out best solutions that help students train note taking as an important skill for their job later. To My Vien B.A C 29 1 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability 1.2 Research Question We, of course, cannot deny the effectiveness of note taking in consecutive interpretation. It means, due to limits of short –term memory, we cannot remember fully what the speaker speaks. Or, interpreters are required a fast speed of interpreting; therefore, they are under pressure of both time and setting. Unfortunately, to inexperienced interpreters or student interpreters, taking notes while interpreting, to some extent, may cause many problems. That is to say, it may distract them from their concentrating ability with note taking. This is why I in my research try to answer the only following question: ―Does note taking in consecutive interpretation help fourth-year English students recall information or distract them from concentrating?‖ Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu To My Vien B.A C 29 2 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability 1.3 Hypothesis In consecutive interpretation, interpreters have to interpret a complete thought of the speaker. There is certainly a lot of information to remember. Thus, with note taking, they can interpret better since they can, hypothetically recall exactly the speaker‘s talk. Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu To My Vien B.A C 29 3 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability 1.4 Thesis Organization  Chapter 1 Introduction Why do I choose this topic as my confidential one? What I want to measure when carrying out the topic? Particularly, the readers can find out answers for these questions in the first chapter of the thesis – Introduction.  Literature Review Some works closely related to my study are clearly stated in this part of the thesis. Basically, the literature review gave me a strong and stable foundation to implement my own topic.  Chapter 3 Research Methodology Purposefully, the chapter outlines the ways I precede the study including the approach of choosing participants, the selecting of instruments and the methods of Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu designing the research.  Chapter 4 Data Analysis In this selection, basing on data collected and analyzed from questionnaires and the two tests, the readers, themselves can withdraw their own point of view about my previously mentioned problem.  Chapter 5 Conclusions, Limitations and Recommendations That note taking is really effective to the fourth-year English students and that there are still some unavoidable shortcomings in the thesis are all mentioned in the final chapter. Also, thanks to discovering many interesting and useful issues when To My Vien B.A C 29 4 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability doing the study, I have some recommendations for better researches on note taking in consecutive interpretation. Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu To My Vien B.A C 29 5 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW I. Translation 1. Definition of translation Within a communicative framework of translation, we must start from the assumption that translation is a combination of two consecutive operations: a source text-analytical operation and a target language text-synthetically or text-reproductive operation. (Wills 1982b:4) The above paragraph must be a very good beginning of the research since it gives a general viewpoint of translation. Necessarily, I will state some definitions about translation, oral translation or interpretation, especially consecutive interpretation. Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu Throughout history, written and spoken translation have played a crucial role in inter-human communication, not least in providing access to important texts for scholarship and religious purposes. Yet the study of translation as an academic subject has only really begun in the past fifty years (Mundey, Jeremy, 2001:5). According to Nida and Taber (1974:12) translation consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondary in terms of style. Or, translation is the expression in another language (or target language) of what has been expressed in another (source language), preserving semantic and stylistic equivalencies (Dubois 1973, cited in Bell 1991:5). Besides, translating is the To My Vien B.A C 29 6 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability transformation of a text originally in one language into an equivalent text in a different language retaining, as far as possible, the content of the message, and the formal features and the role of original text (Bell 1991: XIII). In addition, translation is a communicative process, which takes place within a social context (Hatim and Mason 1990:3). Considerably, translation is defined in different ways according to different people. Therefore, ―what is translation?‖ is still a question in need of research (Van, Hoang Van, 1995:9). 2. Kinds of translation. There are two forms of translation: written translation and oral translation or interpretation. Basically, the two forms are similar to each other on the aims and the reasoning (Yen, Nguyen Thanh, 2005: 363). However, the differences between the two must, of course, be taken into consideration. ―While it is possible for one person Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu to work both as a translator and an interpreter, the skills required for the two activities vary considerably‖ (Cay Dollerup and Anne Loddegaard, 1992:173). In spite of the similarity, the required skills of translation and interpretation are totally different. Also, the writers mentioned that ―translations can be drafted, revised, criticized and edited before publication‖ say Glickman in Brian Harris‘s article, but: ―the interpreter must get his version right first time: there is no editor to act as a filter between him and his listener‖ (1992:199). The great differences tell us interpreters must face pressure of time. Particularly, the speed of interpreting is 30 times faster than that of translating (Yen, Nguyen Thanh, 2005: 363). To My Vien B.A C 29 7 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability Besides, the differences between translation and interpretation may be due as much to the respective semiotic statuses of text and spoken utterances as to practical working conditions. A text has a certain semiotic status in our culture which renders in sacrosanct (Brian Harris, 1981:156). As stated, translation uses written language while interpretation uses spoken language. When mentioning translation, many people may think of only written translation and forget the importance of interpretation (Yen, Nguyen Thanh. 2005: 12). Actually, interpretation is more difficult than translation and used widely. II. Oral translation or Interpretation 1. Definition of interpretation About interpretation, as Daniel Gile points out, the process of interpreting depends on a delicate of attention sharing between listening and analyzing, Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu memorization and reformulation (1988:7). A process including both listening, analyzing, memorization and reformulation at the same time is not easy at all. Therefore, student interpreters must be trained with some important skills that support them. According to Inglis (1984:2) the interpreter is often involved in immediate interaction with one or other speaker, functioning as himself, asking for clarification, explanation, repetition, etc. Interpretation is the process establishing, either simultaneously (known as simultaneous interpretation) or consecutively (known as consecutive interpretation), oral communication or gestures between two or more speakers who are not able to use the same set of symbols (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2007). Mahmoodzadeh To My Vien B.A C 29 8 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability (1992:231) gives a more detailed definition of interpreting: Interpreting consists of the presenting in the target language, the exact meaning of what is uttered in the source language either simultaneously or consecutively, preserving the stone of the speaker. 2. Two forms of interpretation The two main kinds of interpretation are, as mentioned previously, consecutive interpretation and simultaneous interpretation. Simultaneous interpretation is a highly specialized area of translations, which requires accurate and complete translation, orally and at the same rate of speech as the speaker, with only a few seconds of lag time (Barinas Translation Consultants, Inc, 1985). However, in my research, I just focus on consecutive interpretation. In its purest form, consecutive interpretation is a mode in which the interpreter begins their interpretation of a complete message after the speaker has stopped producing the Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu source utterance (Santiago, Roberto, 2004). ―Consecutive oral interpretation is the translation of a speaker with the necessary pauses needed for the translator to replay the translation. The pauses are small as a rule. During speech, the translator already begins to technically form the translation and during the pause, completes it‖ (Tran slink, 2007). During consecutive interpreting the speaker stops every 1-5 minutes (usually at the end of every ―paragraph‖ or complete thought) and the interpreter then steps in to render what was said into the target language. A key skill involved in consecutive interpreting is note taking, since few people can memorize a full paragraph in one hearing without loss of detail (RIC International, 2007). ―Consecutive interpretation To My Vien B.A C 29 9 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability requires the interpreter to convey the full and accurate meaning of speech from the source language into the target language after the speaker had concluded speaking. Depending on the setting, the speaker may pause periodically to allow for interpreting to take place or continue until the full speech has been delivered. Interpreters generally take notes as memory aids to reconstruct the message and seek clarification if the request will not disrupt the event‖ ([email protected]). Both consecutive and simultaneous interpretation is similar to each other in the essential skills. That is, the interpreters are able to ―grasp the points and arguments that a speaker is presenting after hearing them once, and to reproduce them clearly and immediately.‖ However, ―the difference between consecutive and simultaneous interpretation is to be found in the nature of the ―immediacy‖ required: in consecutive interpretation Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu interpreters take notes during a speaker‘s contribution and give the interpretation immediately afterwards, while in simultaneous interpretation they interpret while the speaker is still taking, listening to what they are saying now while saying what has just been said‖ (Don Jaime, 2007). III. Consecutive Interpretation 1. Time and setting matter In consecutive interpretation, time and space matters must be paid great attention to by any interpreter. Time is a completely important element in this kind of interpretation. When the speaker finishes his talk, the interpreter interprets To My Vien B.A C 29 10 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability immediately without time to choose beautiful words. Asking ―pardon me‖ is the only way if there is some unknown words (Yen, Nguyen Thanh, 2005: 12). For the matter, translators have to develop time management skills to assess their working capacity, in particular if they work on a free-lance basis, but it is never as pressing as for interpreters, where time is definitely a limiting factor (Cay Dollerup and Anne Loddegaard, 1991:174). It is clearly stated that interpreters may face the pressure of time when interpreting. They are required to interpret as quickly as possible during the pauses. Also, the two writers said that ―time and space constraints in interpreting require a great deal of flexibility and versatility on the part of the interpreter.‖ In addition, in some important international conferences, the setting may be a pressure to interpreters. They may, for example, decide the fate of the whole country. To solve Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu the problem, interpreters must be trained with a special skill that helps them interpret accuracy and fluency. This skill is mentioned below. To My Vien B.A C 29 11 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability 2. Short-term memory Figure 1 Model of general translating process (Hung, Nguyen Thuong, 2005:14) MEMORY ANALYSIS Source Language Text Meaning Description Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu SYNTHESIZE Target Language Text I purposefully give the model to tell the importance and the necessity of memory in interpretation in particular. Whether the three steps of analyzing, meaning description and synthesizing can be carried out fluently and exactly mostly depends on the first stage – memory. Understandably, memory has a great influence on the To My Vien B.A C 29 12 Practicing note taking to enhance fourth-year English students‘ consecutive interpretation ability effectiveness of interpretation. Therefore, I in this part of the research will state some literatures related to memory in consecutive interpretation. An excellent interpreter must be, of course, knowledgeable in both source language and target language. He or she is required to have ―strong educational background and extensive training‖ (English Russian Translation, 2007). The point is what would happen if the interpreter has no short-term memory. As mentioned, ―the human brain has evolved to encode and interpret complex stimuli- images, color, structure, sounds, smell, tastes, touch, spatial awareness, emotion, and language using them to make sophisticated interpretations of the environment. Human memory is made up of all these features‖ (Zhong, Weihe, 2003). It is stated by psychological studies that there is a distinction between short-term memory and long-term memory. Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu Short-term memory is the one that interpreters need to be trained carefully and effectively and that I focus most in this part, not long-term memory. Smith (1985, 38) notes that, ―Short term memory has a very limited duration. We can remember six or seven items only as long as we give all of our attention to them‖. ―The idea of short-term memory simply means that you are retaining information for a short period of time without creating the neutral mechanisms for later recall.‖ The duration of short-term memory is very short. It is up to 30 seconds, Peterson (1959) found it to be 6-12 seconds while Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) and Hebb (1949) state it is 30 seconds. To My Vien B.A C 29 13