An Eye Tracking Study of Note-taking Practices in English-Chinese Consecutive Interpretation

• Main Authors: Shih-Yang Ma, 馬思揚
• Other Authors: 汝明麗
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/39435972141333933142

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 跨文化研究所翻譯學碩士班 === 101 === Note-taking is an important aspect of consecutive interpretation, as notes serve as a supplement to interpreter’s memory. There are some general guidelines developed over the years for note-taking in the classroom and in practice. A common practice is to write the notes vertically instead of horizontally. Another method taught in interpreting schools encourages interpreter trainees to take notes in the target language; that is, aside from the symbols and arrows, the interpreter should try to use the target language for note-taking as much as possible. However, the status of interpreting as a credible academic discipline cannot be built without sufficient empirical evidence yielded by scientific investigations into assertions of one kind or another regarding interpreting techniques. One of the most promising approaches to securing empirical evidence in this area may be through the eye tracking method. In the field of cognitive psychology, the eye tracking technology has long been used to study cognitive processes. It has been noted that advancement of computing technology has improved the efficiency and precision of eye movement recording, allowing researchers to obtain more accurate measurements. Eye movement data are very valuable in studying reading and other information processing tasks, as these movements are seemingly sensitive to many cognitive processes. This study combines a within-subject experiment design with retrospective interviews of experiment participants. In this experiment, eye-movements of interpreter trainees are recorded when they performed consecutive interpretation on four passages adapted from authentic speeches. The notes of each of the passages were already prepared for the participants, and were displayed on monitor. There were four conditions: vertically written notes/notes written mainly in source-language (VS); vertically written notes/notes written mainly in target-language (VT); horizontally written notes/notes written mainly in source-language (HS); horizontally written notes/notes written mainly in target-language (HT). Eye movement measurements are obtained to examine the cognitive loads under different conditions; the data are then compared and analyzed. A retrospective interview is conducted right after the experiment to elicit the participants' thoughts regarding the experiment materials and their own performances. The eye tracking indicators achieving significance statistically—Total Viewing Time, Mean Saccade Length, Regression Rate...etc—show that the cognitive loads experienced by the interpreter during note deciphering are less in vertical and target language notes. Therefore, in theory, the interpreter has more energy to focus on recalling information stored in short-term memory and monitoring their speech (implementation of speech plan). The second half of the study examines the performances of the participants. The results of the assessment are then analyzed statistically to see if in fact formats and scores achieve correlation. It is also the researcher’s interest to see if the number of years of training would affect the performances of the interpreters. The results of ANOVA show that format does not have a strong correlation with performance, but correlation between years of study and performance is observed This means that although interpreters have more energy to focus on speech production, it may still require more training and deliberate practice for them to perfect their production.