Benefits of Creating “Actual Conference Setting” in Interpretation Pedagogy

Abstract

An increasing number of schools for interpretation include courses that are designed to mirror “actual conference setting (hereafter ACS)” in their curriculum, considering them to contribute to the development of students in ways that regular interpretation classes can not. Although there appears to be a consensus on the merits of creating ACS in interpretation pedagogy, not much has been mentioned about what are the specific advantages of such classes or attempts have been made to look into whether the intended objectives of the instructors or students do, in fact, have been achieved. The aim of this paper is to explore three issues. Firstly, can the ACS class be considered a worthwhile complement to other teaching methods? Secondly, the specific and additional pedagogical advantages to be gained from such method compared to others. Thirdly, what precise form should such method consist of. Based on a survey conducted of thirty students and ten instructors at GSIT, it was revealed that students and instructors do not necessarily have same expectations with regard to ACS classes. Nonetheless, this method can prove to be an efficient way of teaching interpretation provided that instructors are aware of the limitations in replicating the exact same conference environment in class and teaching objectives are articulated clearly beforehand.