Chapter 1 Introduction
Interpretation is an oral activity to transfer the source information heard, seen orread into another language accurately and rapidly. It is a communicative behavior toconvey and communicate information. It is also a basic tool for languagecommunication relied by people in cross-cultural and cross-ethnic communicationactivity.[1]With the development of globalization, interpretation plays a more and moreimportant role on the international stage. Interpretation as a kind of language service isneeded in many occasions. Interpretation as an occupation began in World WarⅡ, but ithas developed dramatically in recent years.[2]Interpretation is a special languageprocessing activity in which interpreters receive, comprehend, store and processinformation of the source speech, and then converse and express it in the targetlanguage. It is the oral translation of speech or sign from one language into another. Ithas two modes: consecutive interpreting (CI) and simultaneous interpreting (SI).[3]According to Wikipedia, in consecutive interpreting, the speaker is required to pause toallow interpretation, which greatly enhances the accuracy but prolongs or even doublesthe time needed. And the interpreter sits or stands near the speaker. In contrast, forsimultaneous interpretation, the interpreter interprets the source language into targetlanguage immediately when the speaker begins his speech, sitting in a sound-proofbooth where are equipped with microphones and earphones.[4]Most colleges anduniversities offer postgraduate programs of translation and interpretation trainingcourses. Many language learners expect and are expected to become professionalinterpreters. However, since interpretation is a special language processing activitywhich needs large amount of cognitive resource, it is a demanding and challenging workof high pressure for interpreters.
The 1990s marked a new era in research into interpretation.[3]During the 1990s,research into conference interpretation was greatly influenced by cognitive science,especially cognitive psychology and neurolinguistics. Psychologists introduced workingmemory to explain human's cognitive load. Traditional experiential knowledgeconsiders that larger working memory capacity causes stronger processing ability andproduces more complete rendition, but that was seldom explored via empirical studies.In addition, input complexity was rarely considered in interpretation study, because it isdifficult to define the complexity of a scripted material. Moreover, language proficiencyis a factor which can not be ignored when studying unprofessional students'interpretation quality. Therefore, this study aims to provide some empirical data toexplore the effects of input complexity, working memory and language proficiency onlearners' interpretation quality, and thus provide some experimental foundation forinterpretation teaching and interpretation learning.This study aims to explore how input complexity, learners' working memory andlanguage proficiency affect their English-Chinese interpretation quality, and theinteractive effects of the three variables on interpretation quality are also probed.The study is aimed to answer the following questions:(1) How does input complexity affect the subjects' interpretation quality?(2) How does working memory affect the subjects' interpretation quality?(3) How does language proficiency affect the subjects' interpretation quality?(4) Is there any interactive effect of input complexity, working memory andlanguage proficiency on interpretation quality?
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Chapter 2 Literature Review
In this chapter, theories of interpretation, working memory, input complexity andlanguage proficiency are introduced, and previous related studies are reviewed.
2.1 Interpretation
Many theories have been put forward to explain the process of interpretation andmany factors influential to interpretation quality also have been researched. In thefollowing section, Daniel Gile's effort mode
