Abstract
In recent years, a growing number of people have taken up interpreting training, with the intention of not only developing interpreting skills, but improving language proficiency as well. The present study sets out to investigate the impact of English-Chinese consecutive interpreting (CI) training on the enhancement of the second language (L2, English) listening competence. An empirical study was conducted on 50 interpreting student beginners to assess the effect of two different interpreting training modes on students’ English listening ability. The study indicates that CI training can enhance students’ L2 listening competence, specifically intensive listening skill and selective listening skill, but to a varying extent. Active listening, when trained as a stand-alone rather than a built-in component in the curriculum, contributes more to improving students’ listening ability. In view of this, pedagogical implications for interpreting training and L2 listening teaching are discussed.
Highlights
Interpreting education, which was initially institutionalized in Europe after the Second World War (Bowen, 1995,), grew in size and economic significance remarkably in the latter half of the twentieth century
MTI programs in mainland China do not list language proficiency as a requirement, since “interpreting learners do not necessarily have to be English majors” and “students of non-English majors are highly welcomed to apply for MTI programs”, which are explicitly stated in the MTI Training Schemes (Ping, 2011)
Summarizing the findings discussed in the previous subsections, we believe that consecutive interpreting (CI) training does have a positive impact on the enhancement of L2 listening competence
Summary
Interpreting education, which was initially institutionalized in Europe after the Second World War (Bowen, 1995,), grew in size and economic significance remarkably in the latter half of the twentieth century. MTI programs in mainland China do not list language proficiency as a requirement, since “interpreting learners do not necessarily have to be English majors” and “students of non-English majors are highly welcomed to apply for MTI programs”, which are explicitly stated in the MTI Training Schemes (Ping, 2011). This echoes a few previous studies from mainland China (Zhan, 2013), Hong Kong (Yan, Pan, & Wang, 2010) and Korea (Sung, 2010), which suggest that “to improve English proficiency” is rated among the top three learning motives by interpreting students. The findings will shed light on the pedagogy and researches in the field of interpreting as well as L2 listening
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