Adversarial interpreting – a forensic linguistic perspective

Interactions with second language speakers in public service contexts in England are normally conducted with the assistance of one interpreter. Even in situations where team interpreting would be advisable, for example in lengthy courtroom proceedings, financial considerations mean only one interpreter is normally booked. On occasion, however, more than one interpreter, or an individual (or individuals) with knowledge of the languages in question, may be simultaneously present during an interpreted interaction, either monitoring it or indeed volunteering unsolicited input. During police interviews or trials in England this may happen when the interpreter secured by the defence team to interpret during private consultation with the suspect or defendant is present also in the interview room or the courtroom but two independently sourced interpreters need not be limited to legal contexts. In healthcare settings for example, service users sometimes bring friends or relatives along to help them communicate with service providers only to find that the latter have booked an interpreter as a matter of procedure. By analogy to the nature of the English legal system, I refer to contexts where an interpreter’s output is monitored and/or challenged, either during the speech event or subsequently, as ‘adversarial interpreting’. This conceptualisation reflects the fact that interpreters in such encounters are sourced independently, often by opposing parties, and as a result can rarely be considered a team. My main concern in this paper is to throw spotlight on adversarial interpreting as a hitherto rarely discussed problem in its own right. That it is not an anomaly is evidenced by the many cases around the world where the officially recorded interpreted output was challenged, as mentioned in for example Berk-Seligson (2002), Hayes and Hale (2010), and Phelan (2011). This paper reports on the second stage of a research project which has previously involved the analysis of a transcript of an interpreted police interview with a suspect in a murder case. I will mention the findings of the analysis briefly and introduce some new findings based on input from practising interpreters who have shared their experience of adversarial interpreting by completing an online questionnaire. I will try to answer the question of how the presence of two interpreters, or an interpreter and a monitoring participant, in the same speech event impacts on the communication process. I will also address the issue of forensic linguistic arbitration in cases where incompetent interpreting has been identified or an expert opinion is sought in relation to an adversarial interpreting event of significance to a legal dispute. References Berk-Seligson (2002), The Bilingual Courtroom: Court Interpreters in the Judicial Process, University of Chicago Press. Hayes, A. and Hale, S. (2010), "Appeals on incompetent interpreting", Journal of Judicial Administration 20.2, 119-130. Phelan, M. (2011), "Legal Interpreters in the news in Ireland", Translation and Interpreting 3.1, 76-105.

An analysis of Haitian parents' perceptions of their children with disabilities

Parental involvement is an integral part of the educational system in the U.S. Yet, parents from non-mainstream racial/ethnic backgrounds have not fully grasped the nature of parental involvement expectations in the educational process and how these expectations may impact student achievement. The purpose of this study was to identify Haitian parents’ perceptions of their children with disabilities and the education these children were receiving. Several authors have conducted studies on parents of children with disabilities to better gain an understanding of the level of their involvement with their children’s education, their perceptions of the children, and their views on the school system (Harry, 1992a, 1992b). In this study, Haitian parents of children with disabilities were interviewed using an interview protocol. Through these interviews, this study explored 10 Haitian parents’ perceptions of their child with a disability, the education the child was receiving, their interaction with the school system, and how the disability had affected their relationship with their child and their involvement with the school. Findings of the present study revealed that these Haitian parents seldom disagreed with school personnel and did not seem to fully grasp the different methods available to address their concerns as parents of children with disabilities nor the role they were expected to play in the process. The majority did not have basic literacy skills in Creole or English. The parents in this study were overwhelmed by school written communication. Additionally, this study discovered that parents’ perceptions were guided by two core concepts: coping mechanisms and locus of control. Parents with an internal locus of control, who tended to be more educated, focused inward to find solutions to problems encountered. Those with an external locus of control relied on outside influences to resolve their problems. Parental involvement was strongly influenced by their values, beliefs, customs, and conceptual knowledge about disability; all closely aligned with culture and acculturation. Overall, these parents’ perceptions greatly influenced their thoughts and behaviors when they realized that their children with disabilities might fall short of their immigrant dreams of success they held for these children.

The effects of content-based ESOL instruction on the overall English proficiency of foreign -born college students

This study investigates the effects of content-based ESOL instruction on the overall English proficiency of foreign-born college students. Based on various psychological and social factors which affect second language acquisition, it is suggested that the techniques of content-based instruction, while focusing on subject matter, allow the learners to overcome the language barrier by neutralizing their subconscious defense mechanism, thus attaining greater proficiency.^ Two groups of Miami-Dade Community College ESOL students were chosen as subjects for this study: a control group composed of students from the North and Wolfson campuses, where the ESOL program is based predominantly on structural or structural-functional approach, and an experimental group of Medical Center campus students, where content-based instruction is incorporated into curriculum. Ethnicity, gender, age, and other differences in the population are discussed in the study.^ The students' English Placement Test (EPT) scores were used as covariate, and the scores on Multiple Assessment Programs and Services (MAPS) test as dependent variables. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was applied to test significant difference between the means. The results of the analysis of data indicate that there is a consistent difference in the mean performance of the Medical Center campus ESOL students demonstrated by their scores on MAPS. Although neither ethnicity, nor gender of the subjects has affected the outcome, age had a contributing effect. The implications of these findings suggest that content-based instruction facilitates greater overall English proficiency in foreign-born college students. ^

Content -area teachers' perceptions of the effect of the meta -training on their instructional practices

The purpose of this study was to explore the content-area teachers' perceptions of the effect that compliance with the teacher training for content-area teachers of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students mandated by the Consent Decree had on their instructional practices within the content-area classroom. In order to provide an overview of the factors which had an effect on the content-area teachers' mandated training, various areas were reviewed: history of legislative actions that led up to the Consent Decree; stipulations set forth in the Consent Decree; Miami-Dade County Public Schools District LEP Plan including stipulations for teacher training; research on teacher training for teachers of language minority students; and the process of change. This descriptive study specifically addresses teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of the mandated teacher training as it relates to language minority students. ^ Content-area teachers who had completed the mandated teacher training were surveyed using self-administered anonymous questionnaires mailed to their school sites. Questions focused on the teachers' perceptions of: students' need of second language instructional strategies within the content-area classroom; teacher training requirements mandated by the Consent Decree; and changes in their instructional practices as a result of the training. ^ Based on the responses of the subjects, the results of this study indicate the overall success of the training implemented to comply with the stipulations set forth in the Consent Decree. In general, the results indicate that the teachers perceive that they are ultimately in agreement with the mandated training. The results also indicate that the teachers perceive a need for second language strategies when working with language minority students. These results can serve as starting point for further research not only into teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of training for teachers of language minority students but also into the outcomes of this teacher training as it is reflected within the classroom. ^

Initial placement methods for Haitian adult ESOL students : the NYS place test plus profile data compared to subjective assessment

Few valid and reliable placement procedures are available to assess the English language proficiency of adults who enroll in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs. Whereas placement material exists for children and university ESOL students, the needs of students in adult community education programs have not been adequately addressed. Furthermore, the research suggests that a number of variables, such as, native language, age, prior schooling, length of residence, and employment are related to second language acquisition. Numerous studies contribute to our understanding of the relationship of these factors to second language acquisition of Spanish-speaking students. Again, there is a void in the research investigating the factors affecting second language acquisition and consequently, appropriate placement of Haitian Creole-speaking students. This study compared a standardized instrument, the NYS Place Test, used alone and in combination with a writing sample in English, to subjective judgement of a department coordinator for initial placement of Haitian adult ESOL students in a community education program. The study also investigated whether or not consideration of student profile data improved the accuracy of the test. Finally, the study sought to determine if a relationship existed between student profile data and those who withdrew from the program or did not enter a class after registering. Analysis of the data by crosstabulation and chi-square revealed that the standardized NYS Place Test was at least as accurate as subjective department coordinator placement and that one procedure could be substituted for li other. Although the writing sample in English improved accuracy of placement by the NYS test, the results were not significant. Of the profile variables, only length of residence was found to be significantly related to accuracy of placement using the NYS Place Test. The number of incorrect placements was higher for those students who lived in the host country from twenty-five to one hundred ten months. A post hoc analysis of NYS test scores according to level showed that those learners who placed in level three also had a significantly higher incidence of incorrect placements. No significant relationship was observed between the profile variables and those who withdrew from the program or registered but did not enter a class.

A intercompreensão em Línguas Românicas nas aulas de Espanhol: o que querem e o que podem essas línguas?

The official documents that guide the teaching and learning process of a Foreign Language in Brazil, Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais de Língua Estrangeira, suggest a linguistic and intercultural communication as the main objective of teaching a foreign language inorderto contribute withareflexive formation of the students.Toachieve this goal, a Virtual Interchange was realized connecting distant places like Córdoba, in Argentina, and Natal in Brazil, between High School students through Moodle platform and Facebook. The Interchange is based in the Intercomprehension in Romance Languages(IC) guidelines, inthiscase between Portuguese and Spanish, according to which every student speaks their own language and makes an effort to comprehend the others througha collaborative process thatgo es beyond the limits of mere linguistic objectives and favors the students’ reality acceptance before the diversity. This qualitative study with thno graphic characteristic stries to know whe ther differentiate projects can increase students’ interest to learn the target language. It was also set as an aim of this study to develop the intercultural competence of our students and foster the respect for different cultures. In the case of Argentinian and Brazilian students, wetried to promote reflection about social representation trying to destroy stereotypes between both groups. As methodological resources, we used interviews, questionnaires and intercomprehension activities during the Project, as well as a participant observation of the interactions betweenthe students of both countries.Webe lieve tobe contributing towards the integral formation ofth student asacriticalcitizenthatthinksa bouttheir posture before the world, which is one of the formal education aims according to Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais. Our theoretical foundation is based on Intercomprehension in Romance Languages (IC) as a plurilingualism didactics, (JAMET AND SPIŢĂ 2010; ARAÚJO AND SÁ et al., 2003; CAPUCHO, 2010; ANDRADE etal.,2003), some the oriesaboutinter culturalisman didentity(Vallespir, 1999;DUARTE&SANCHES,2004; REVUZ,1998;SILVA,2000;CHAUÍ2006; SERRANI-INFANTE 1998), motivation and second language learning (DECI & RYAN, 1985; DÖRNYEI AND OTTÓ, 1998; DÖRNYEI, 2000, 2001; 2011) and Significant Learning Theory (AUSUBEL, 1968). The results show an increase of students’ motivation when in contact with the target language through dynamic activities in an IC context. Moreover, we noticed that a deeper thinking aboutthe Argentinian culture helped to deconstruct previous cultural representation.

Normalização de dispositivos móveis no processo de aprendizagem de inglês : um estudo à luz da complexidade

We live in a world inherently influenced by technology and in which education is immersed in realities made possible by the support of digital technologies, such as electronic mobile devices. Thus, the general aim of this study lies in mapping and analysing the influence of mobile devices on teaching, especially with reference to learning the English language. The specific aims are to investigate how the use of mobile devices is present in the research participants’ practices, consider whether such use is beneficial, according to the students, to the English language learning as well as mapping how the use of mobile devices favours the normalisation stage, taken in this research as a complex process.The theoretical background of this study includes the premises of the Paradigm of Complexity, especially concerning the acquisition of a second language, as well as the precepts of Normalisation, which is related to the total integration of digital technologies into the English teaching and learning process in such a way that they become invisible, and the theories of language learning mediated by computers and mobile devices. Methodologically, this is an ethnographic qualitative research and its context is a language institute located in the Triângulo Mineiro region. In addition to students from five groups in the institution, two teachers and an administrative assistant participated in the survey. Data was collected through an online questionnaire, learning reports produced by students and interviews with teachers and administrative staff. The analyses indicate that mobile devices are present in the daily practices of English learners, but these uses, in most cases, are carried out through the teacher's encouragement. Moreover, despite having positive sayings on the role of digital technologies in the process of English teaching and learning, there is, among students and teachers, a dichotomy between saying and doing about the learning contexts considered valid. Additionally, the use of mobile devices in the English learning process is not yet established as a normalised issue because the process of integration of technology in teaching is still ruled by traditional uses of the technology. I conclude that the use of mobile devices in the English learning process is still not normalised, because even if students use their mobile devices every day, they generally do not realize the affordances of such use as possibilities to learn English.

Facteurs susceptibles d’influencer l'implantation de l'Échelle québécoise des niveaux de compétence en français des personnes immigrantes adultes et du Programme-cadre de français pour les personnes immigrantes adultes au Québec

La coexistence des services de francisation au Québec pour les personnes immigrantes adultes a fait l'objet de divers enjeux liés notamment au passage des apprenants d'un lieu de formation à un autre (Québec, MICC, 2011a). Dans le but de répondre à ces enjeux et d’harmoniser l'offre de services gouvernementaux en matière de francisation des adultes, le ministère de l'Immigration et des Communautés culturelles (MICC) a élaboré en collaboration avec le ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (MELS), une innovation pédagogique, soit un référentiel commun québécois composé de deux instruments : l’Échelle québécoise des niveaux de compétence en français des personnes immigrantes adultes et le Programme-cadre de français pour les personnes immigrantes adultes au Québec. Le but de notre étude était de mieux comprendre l'implantation du référentiel commun québécois, de faire état des représentations du personnel enseignant en francisation vis-à-vis de cette innovation pédagogique et d’identifier les principaux facteurs qui structurent son implantation. Pour atteindre ces objectifs de recherche, nous avons mené une étude qualitative dans laquelle nous nous sommes appuyée sur le modèle d'implantation de Vince-Whitman (2009) qui identifie douze facteurs facilitant l’implantation d’une politique et d’une pratique. Nous avons accédé aux représentations de douze enseignantes et enseignants en francisation qui œuvrent au MICC et au MELS lors d’entretiens de groupe en leur permettant de s'exprimer sur leurs pratiques pédagogiques et sur leurs impressions du référentiel commun québécois. À l’aide du logiciel QSF NVivo 8, nous avons analysé le contenu des propos de nos participants de recherche. Nos résultats démontrent que le manque appréhendé de ressources – humaines, matérielles et financières, et un manque de temps, de formation et de collaboration professionnelle pourraient représenter des obstacles et nuire à une éventuelle implantation du référentiel commun québécois. À la lumière de ces résultats, nous proposons un cadre de référence composé de sept facteurs d’implantation d’une innovation pédagogique afin de mieux rendre compte d’une réalité spécifique et contemporaine, celle de l'implantation du référentiel commun québécois pour la francisation des immigrants adultes scolarisés. Les écrits scientifiques et nos résultats de recherche démontrent que de diverses formes de soutien, principalement du matériel pédagogique approprié et suffisant, peuvent constituer un facteur-clé dans la réussite de l’implantation d’une innovation pédagogique.

Working in a Mexican Classroom: An Autoethnographic Study

This autoethnographical study seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the challenges that are faced by the researcher in adapting to a new cultural and linguistic setting as well as describing the teaching practices that the researcher encounters in a Mexican classroom; data will be collected through the process of reflective journaling as well as the collection of pictures and artifacts.

Taller de Escritura Creativa para el desarrollo de la Competencia Literaria en Brasil

Este artículo describe una propuesta de innovación docente basada en la corriente educativa de la Educación para el Desarrollo, así como la mejora de Competencia Comunicativa en L2 y de las Competencias Literarias e Interculturales por medio de un taller diseñado para tal fin. El propósito de este artículo es doble: por un lado mostrar las posibilidades que ofrece el Taller de Escritura e Ilustración Creativa para el desarrollo de las Competencias Literaria, Intercultural y Comunicativa en L2. Se muestra cómo el taller cumple con las directrices marcadas por la Educación para el Desarrollo que se describe en el marco teórico. El segundo objetivo es narrar cómo se han organizado, coordinado e implementado el Taller de Escritura e Ilustración Creativa en la Universidade Federal do Amazonas en Manaos (Brasil), basándose en la metodología del aprendizaje basado en tareas, y cómo se ha conseguido (i) promover la creación de puentes para la consolidación de las relaciones bilaterales entre universidades; (ii) motivar la colaboración científica con los centros brasileños que cuentan con un departamento de español, y (iii) emplear y crear herramientas que permitan incluir la Educación para el Desarrollo.

La enseñanza de las construcciones pasivas e impersonales con "se" en español como L2. ¿Cuántas distinciones son necesarias?

Este artículo sugiere un enfoque nuevo a la enseñanza de las dos estructuras gramaticales la pasiva refleja y el “se” impersonal para las clases universitarias de E/LE. Concretamente, se argumenta que las dos se deberían tratar como construcciones pasivas, basada en un análisis léxico-funcional de ellas que enfoca la lingüística contrastiva. Incluso para la instrucción de E/LE, se recomienda una aproximación contrastiva en la que se enfocan tanto la reflexión metalingüística como la competencia del estudiante en el L2. Específicamente, el uso de córpora lingüísticos en la clase forma una parte integral de la instrucción. El uso de un corpus estimula la curiosidad del estudiante, le expone a material de lengua auténtica, y promulga la reflexión inductiva independiente.

Grammar in dictionaries revisited: the case of verbs with se

This paper is a study about the way in which se structures are represented in 20 verb entries of nine dictionaries of Spanish language. There is a large number of these structures and they are problematic for native and non native speakers. Verbs of the analysis are middle-high frequency and, in the most part of the cases, very polysemous, and this allows to observe interconnections between the different se structures and the different meanings of each verb. Data of the lexicographic analysis are cross-checked with corpus analysis of the same units. As a result, it is observed that there is a large variety in the data which are offered in each dictionary and in the way they are offered, inter and intradictionary. The reasons range from the theoretical overall of each Project to practical performance. This leads to the conclusion that it is necessary to further progress in the dictionary model it is being handled, in order to offer lexico-grammatical phenomenon such as se verbs in an accurate, clear and exhaustive way.

Correlation between anxiety and academic self-concept in interpreter trainees

This paper focuses on two basic issues: the anxiety-generating nature of the interpreting task and the relevance of interpreter trainees’ academic self-concept. The first has already been acknowledged, although not extensively researched, in several papers, and the second has only been mentioned briefly in interpreting literature. This study seeks to examine the relationship between the anxiety and academic self-concept constructs among interpreter trainees. An adapted version of the Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (Horwitz et al., 1986), the Academic Autoconcept Scale (Schmidt, Messoulam & Molina, 2008) and a background information questionnaire were used to collect data. Students’ t-Test analysis results indicated that female students reported experiencing significantly higher levels of anxiety than male students. No significant gender difference in self-concept levels was found. Correlation analysis results suggested, on the one hand, that younger would-be interpreters suffered from higher anxiety levels and students with higher marks tended to have lower anxiety levels; and, on the other hand, that younger students had lower self-concept levels and higher-ability students held higher self-concept levels. In addition, the results revealed that students with higher anxiety levels tended to have lower self-concept levels. Based on these findings, recommendations for interpreting pedagogy are discussed.

Digging up the frequency of phrasal verbs in English for the Police: the case of "up"

The present study focuses on the frequency of phrasal verbs with the particle up in the context of crime and police investigative work. This research emerges from the need to enlarge McCarthy and O’Dell’s (2004) scope from purely criminal behavior to police investigative actions. To do so, we relied on a corpus of 504,124 running words made up of spoken dialogues extracted from the script of the American TV series Castle shown on ABC since 2009. Based on Rudzka-Ostyn’s (2003) cognitive motivations for the particle up, we have identified five different meaning extensions for our phrasal verbs. Drawing from these findings, we have designed pedagogical activities for those L2 learners that study English at the Police Academy.

On a first-name basis: Englishization and naming in Flanders

Following and contributing to the ongoing shift from more structuralist, system-oriented to more pragmatic, socio-cultural oriented anglicism research, this paper verifies to what extent the global spread of English affects naming patterns in Flanders. To this end, a diachronic database of first names is constructed, containing the top 75 most popular boy and girl names from 2005 until 2014. In a first step, the etymological background of these names is documented and the evolution in popularity of the English names in the database is tracked. Results reveal no notable surge in the preference for English names. This paper complements these database-driven results with an experimental study, aiming to show how associations through referents are in this case more telling than associations through phonological form (here based on etymology). Focusing on the socio-cultural background of first names in general and of Anglo-American pop culture in particular, the second part of the study specifically reports on results from a survey where participants are asked to name the first three celebrities that leap to mind when hearing a certain first name (e.g. Lana, triggering the response Del Rey). Very clear associations are found between certain first names and specific celebrities from Anglo-American pop culture. Linking back to marketing research and the social turn in onomastics, we will discuss how these celebrities might function as referees, and how social stereotypes surrounding these referees are metonymically attached to their first names. Similar to the country-of-origin-effect in marketing, these metonymical links could very well be the reason why parents select specific “celebrity names”. Although further attitudinal research is needed, this paper supports the importance of including socio-cultural parameters when conducting onomastic research.