building an online library for interpretation training: explorations into an effective...

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Building an online library forinterpretation training: explorationsinto an effective blended-learningmodeClara Ho-yan Chan aa Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics , CityUniversity of Hong Kong , Kowloon Tong , Hong Kong , SAR ChinaPublished online: 11 Mar 2013.

To cite this article: Clara Ho-yan Chan (2014) Building an online library for interpretation training:explorations into an effective blended-learning mode, Computer Assisted Language Learning, 27:5,454-479, DOI: 10.1080/09588221.2013.770034

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Building an online library for interpretation training: explorations

into an effective blended-learning mode

Clara Ho-yan Chan*

Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, City University of Hong Kong, Tat CheeAvenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China

This paper reports on a blended-learning project that aims to develop a web-basedlibrary of interpreting practice resources built on the course management systemBlackboard for Hong Kong interpretation students to practise outside the classroom. Italso evaluates the librarys effectiveness for learning, based on a case study that usesit to assist in-class instruction of a first-year undergraduate interpretation course.Future improvements and modification of the library design and contents, and theimplications of this case study for course design in blended learning and computerassisted interpreter training are also discussed.

Keywords: online library; interpretation training; blended learning; Blackboard

1. Introduction

This study sets out to build an online library of interpreting practice resources for the

Chinese interpretation students of the City University of Hong Kong to practise outside

the classroom, such practice being indispensable to interpreting training at any level.

Given that interpreting is an interlingual communicative act and such training is based

heavily on students persistent practice and bilingual communication in different situa-

tions, the online library, which represents a basic and convenient form of computer

assisted training, is deemed to play a growing role in interpretation courses. This common

use of technology also generates new ideas on how the existing interpretation class design

should be modified so as to achieve a better organised blended-learning mode suitable for

both instructors and learners in Chinese communities.

The study is conducted against the background of Computer Assisted Language

Learning (CALL)/Computer Assisted Interpreter Training (CAIT) on the one hand, and

blended learning, on the other. Both ongoing trends originated from the rapid and signifi-

cant development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with the incor-

poration of computer-mediated elements in teaching and learning. Yet they are different

in that CALL/CAIT focuses on the implementation of ICT to facilitate language teaching

and learning both inside and outside the classroom, while blended learning converges the

traditional face-to-face and computer-mediated learning environments, which have

remained separate in the past (Sandrelli & de Manuel Jerez, 2007). Therefore, during an

interpretation course, for instance, the use of computers in an interpretation laboratory is

characteristic of CALL/CAIT rather than of blended learning. As this project also aims to

explore how to achieve an effective blended-learning mode through a case study of

CAIT, a brief introduction to these two trends is given below.

*Email: [email protected]

2013 Taylor & Francis

Computer Assisted Language Learning, 2014

Vol. 27, No. 5, 454479, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2013.770034

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mailto:[email protected]://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2013.770034

1.1. Two trends: CALL/CAIT and blended learning

The last four decades have witnessed the impressive impact of ICT on language learning

(Sandrelli & de Manuel Jerez, 2007). One of the most obvious manifestations is the emer-

gence of CALL, which can be defined as the search for and study of applications of the

computer in language teaching and learning (Levy, 1997, p. 1). Over the years, as a

wide range of ICT applications and approaches have been integrated into language teach-

ing and learning, CALL has also drawn a tremendous amount of academic interest from

language teachers and researchers. In the past decade or so, interpreter trainers and

researchers have also begun to consider incorporating the ICT used in CALL into inter-

preter training programmes (Cervato & de Ferra, 1995; Folaran, 2003; Sandrelli, 2001,

2002). According to Sandrelli and de Manuel Jerez (2007) and Blasco Mayor and Jimenez

Ivars (2007), CAIT facilitates the pedagogical shift from a teacher-centred to a learner-

centred approach, which is the key element of a constructivist learning theory, and pro-

vides more opportunities for self-directed group and individual practice to complement

professional guidance during interpreting classes. Key efforts in this area include digital

interpreting laboratories, virtual learning environments such as Blackboard, WebCT and

Moodle, and interpreting websites, making possible more well-devised CAIT resources

and practice in real-world contexts that are much needed in interpreter training. Results

are, among others, speech repositories (e.g., Marius, the EU Speech Repository), author-

ing programs (e.g., Interpretations, Black Box 3.0), and the recent Geneva Virtual Insti-

tute, the first Virtual Interpreting Environment. Distance learning is also facilitated.

However, as Blasco Mayor and Jimenez Ivars (2007, p. 297) concede: the virtual class-

room is indeed designed for autonomous work, but carried out together with previous

experience of working the real classroom with a real teacher. The ideal of

contextualised learning is still a distant goal for the design of computer-aided educa-

tional materials. Despite this limitation, the online library can make use of the existing

autonomous capabilities of e-learning to independently run exercises that supplement

in-class teaching. As one of the most recent efforts to develop CAIT on a virtual environ-

ment, this study will broaden the discussion in this area, which to date has largely focused

on the use of Moodle (Chang & Hao, 2008; Fictumova, 2005; Tymczynska, 2009).Blended learning, which involves learning in all disciplines, is a parallel but more re-

cent trend in pedagogy. Although the concept has been around for years, the term was not

widely recognised until the turn of this century. Based on the working definition docu-

mented in Graham (2006, p. 5), blended-learning systems are part of the trend toward the

combination of two historically separate archetypical learning environments: the tradi-

tional face-to-face learning model/environment and the computer-mediated learning

model/environment. This suggests blended learning is the thoughtful and optimal integra-

tion of the relative strengths of both, signifying a new approach with an array of active

learner-centred teaching activities and strategies consistent with the objectives of courses

and programmes (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004; Garrison & Vaughan, 2008; Graham, 2006).

With this approach, some researchers state that most learning takes place outside the

classroom (Kuh et al., 1991; Meyers & Jones, 1993).

1.2. Design of the course curriculum and online resources

A review of CALL/CAIT and blended learning shows that they are both characterised

by the exploitation of computer technology to improve teaching and learning, and the

facilitation of a learner-centred approach by extending individual students access to

computer-mediated learning opportunities. It is believed that a deeper understanding

Computer Assisted Language Learning 455

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and a thoughtful integration of their merits with traditional in-class instruction opens a

wide range of possibilities of course-plan redesigns for interpreting courses and pro-

grammes. As stated by Huang and Zhou (2006, p. 299), blended learning is still new to

higher education teachers in China, who do not know enough about the methods of de-

signing blended-learning courses and resources, so the urgent issue of carrying out

blended learning is to put forward a series of curriculum design methods and ideas con-

cerning blended learning that teachers can easily use. This project should shed some

light on this by blending an online library of interpreting practice resources with the

class instruction of a 13-week first-year undergraduate course named Building Interpre-

tation Skills, which focuses on English to Chinese consecutive interpreting and

Chinese to English sight translation.

2. Methodology

This qualitative study is centred on the online library of interpreting practice resources

developed initially for first-year undergraduate translation and interpretation students of

our university to practise outside the classroom. It is built on an education platform used

in universities worldwide, Blackboard, which also provides a channel for the teacher-

investigator to evaluate students progress and examine teaching strategies. 30 first-year

students of the Translation and Interpretation undergraduate programme (23 Cantonese-

speaking students from Hong Kong and seven Mandarin-speaking students from

Mainland China), and one exchange Mainland student, participated in this project in the

second semester of 20102011. Being all native Chinese speakers, the Hong Kong

students have attended Advanced Level Examination Chinese and English subjects and

the Mainland students the National College Entrance Examination Chinese and English

subjects, the two public exams for university admission in the two regions. The 31 students

were divided into two classes: code L01 (15 students) and code L02 (16 students). Besides

studying this core interpretation course, the 30 Translation and Interpretation students also

studied translation courses at the same time. The teacher-investigator, with the aid of a

research assistant, not only oversaw and maintained the technical procedures of the library,

but also evaluated students work every week and discussed the same in the class every three

weeks. Students were also sent questionnaires at the end of the semester to provide feedback

(Appendix I).

With drilling materials targeted to meet Chinese students needs, the online library

aims to enhance the three training aspects of the interpreting course: students Chinese

and English language proficiencies, interpreting skills and general knowledge. Table 1

shows the five intended learning outcomes of the course that covers both competency and

performance of students:

Table 1. CILOs of the Building Interpretation Skills course.

No. Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs)

1. Apply the basic skills for interpretation2. Switch with confidence between Chinese and English3. Use their retention faculty and note-taking techniques for interpreting4. Perform situational interpretation tasks5. Access information sources on China and Taiwan

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Accordingly, the library carried three main folders to fulfill these five outcomes,

namely Language (CILO 2), Interpreting skills (CILOs 14), and Knowledge

(CILO 5). Furthermore, it aims to promote students interest, confidence and involvement

in actual interpreting by using as much authentic materials as possible. Researchers claim

that authentic materials motivate language learners more than non-authentic ones because

they are intrinsically more interesting or stimulating, and can bring learners closer to the

target language culture, making learning more enjoyable and motivated (Bacon &

Finnemann, 1990; Little, Devitt, & Singleton, 1989; Swaffar, 1985). In order to prepare

students for real interpreting work, authentic materials should be used to expose students

to the language in actual use and thereby bridge the gap between classroom learning and

the outside world (Larsen-Freeman, 2000, p. 129).

Based on the practice of using student and instructor perceptions to evaluate

CALL and the proposal that CALLs success depends on the three factors of students,

teachers and developers, the data used to evaluate the effectiveness of the library in

Section 3.2 below mainly include the results of students practice conducted in the library,

their written questionnaire feedback (which, being unedited, may exhibit errors), and the

teacher-investigators observations (Jamieson, Chapelle, & Preiss, 2005; Stepp-Greany,

2002; Wiebe & Kabata, 2010). These three types of data aim to capture students develop-

ment of translation competency, which is supposed to be [a] socially-constructed,

multi-faceted complex of skills and abilities (Kiraly, 2000, p. 49). The students work

collected by the library, in particular, can provide evidence for research into students

strengths and weaknesses. Despite this, there are limitations to the project. Students are

unlikely to disagree with general statements regarding the usefulness and effectiveness of

extra opportunities for practice. Therefore, the questions are made more specific in order

to understand more of the students actual experience (e.g., how much they felt they

benefited from practice in the respective areas of phonetics, lexicon and syntax). Also as

the grant funding only covered one semester, students improvement was not expected to

be very noticeable, and no attempts were made to compare their performance in online

exercises with that in classroom setting.

3. Results

3.1. Design and implementation of the online library

Figure 1 shows the librarys three main folders, namely Language, Interpreting skills

and Knowledge. The first two each contained two sub-folders, respectively, named

Obligatory Exercises and Supplementary Exercise. For the former, students were re-

quired to do several online language exercises and one Consecutive Interpreting (CI)/Sight

Translation (ST) exercise uploaded every week; for the latter, exercises were uploaded dur-

ing semester breaks for voluntary submission. The third folder Knowledge contained a

dozen hyperlinks for the reference of students in other course assessments, and three public

blogs to share self-compiled glossaries. More on the three folders is given below.

The Language materials were intended to resolve Chinese students common and

persistent language-related problems in speaking and interpreting into English, with em-

phasis on the contrasts between English and Chinese grammar (Chan, 2012). Each exer-

cise focused on one of the following 11 language points: pronunciation (consonants,

vowels, word stress, sentence stress, liaison and incomplete explosion), date, number,

proper noun, preposition, idiom, agreement of number/person, tense, comparative forms,

voice, and complex sentence structure. For the pronunciation exercises recorded by a

male native English speaker, each consisted of 10 English words, phrases or sentences for


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students to practise. For each of the other language points, students were asked to inter-

pret or translate by sight 10 words, phrases or sentences from Chinese into English (sour-

ces appearing as sound recordings by a female native Mandarin speaker or as written

texts), and 10 from English into Chinese (source recordings by a female native English

speaker). Later sections will contend that this linguistic training is essential in an inter-

preting course because such courses concern communication between languages and

cultures which may be obstructed by grammatical errors, and computer-mediated devices

like Blackboard can perfectly play the supportive role of providing ongoing grammar

drills. Although these phrases and sentences are out of context, they can serve as the

pre-stage of successful interpreting by providing a grammatical point to focus on before

a context is added.

For illustration purposes, two exercises are shown below:

Pronunciation-4 (lexical stress)

1. Electricity

2. Career

3. Cantonese

4. Economy versus economics

5. Purchasing

6. Empire

7. Present (noun) versus present (verb)

8. Obviously

9. Ancestor

10. Province

Figure 1. Three folders of the online library.

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Comparative forms-2 (English to Chinese)

1. She is as beautiful as a red rose.

2. My bag is three times bigger than yours.

3. You cannot get there other than by swimming.

4. I am wiser than to believe that.

5. It proved to be no more than a rumor.

6. It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

7. Twice as many men as women are insurance agents.

8. She is as wise as fair.

9. Nothing is as good as it seems beforehand.

10. His success lies not so much in learning as in diligence.

For the Interpreting Skills materials, the Chinese to English ST exercises were

extracted from four Chinese press releases from the Hong Kong Information Services De-

partment (HKISD) (http://www.isd.gov.hk/chi/press.htm) and one Chinese editorial from

Ming Pao Daily (http://www.mingpao.com/). The English to Chinese CI exercises includ-

ed items extracted from four English news reports/commentaries from three television

programmes and one radio programme from Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK)

(http://www.rthk.org.hk/), as well as four note-taking exercises of sentences in English

speeches recorded by the female native English speaker. In each of the 13 weeks, students

were required to do one ST or CI coupled with note-taking practice in the last four weeks.

The materials in the Knowledge section consisted of a number of monolingual/bi-

lingual website links intended to upgrade students general knowledge of Mainland China

and Taiwan (the focus regions of this second semester course). These websites, together

with the three public blogs for students to share collected glossaries, were connected to

other course assessments. More specifically, students collected materials from the web-

sites for a debate, compiled glossaries of vocabulary and its translation, and uploaded

these to the library. Some of the vocabulary appeared in an end-of-semester quiz that in-

volved translation of words, terms, names of government departments and officials and

questions related to general knowledge.

All language and interpreting exercises were presented to students in the form

of an online test. Taking the exercise on agreement in number/person as an example

(Figures 24 shows the corresponding Blackboard pages), students commence the

exercise by clicking the Begin button (Figure 2); they are then led to a page (Figure 3)

where in the circled area, they listen to the attached test, make their recordings with the

Wimba Voice Tools, paste the link of their recordings in the box, and click the Save and

Submit button; the attached reference answer would immediately appear on another

page (the circled area in Figure 4). The instructor can listen to students work in the

grade centre. Like all course management systems, the Blackboard enhances instructors

management of assignments, their asynchronous communications with students and crea-

tion of an online learning community (Chan, 2012; Chang & Hao, 2008).

3.2. Evaluation of the online librarys effectiveness

The effectiveness of the online library is evaluated by students performance in (1) con-

stant practice, (2) motivation (both based on questionnaire feedback) and (3) skills acqui-

sition (based on the questionnaire feedback, practice results and observations from the

teacher-investigator).


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Figure 3. Page to listen to a test and paste a recording link.

Figure 2. Page to begin the test on Agreement in number/person 2.

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3.2.1. Constant practice

Evidently, the online library provided students with constant home drilling that strength-

ened in-class instruction. When asked what is the biggest benefit of the online library was,

more than a dozen students responded that it provided them with many opportunities to

practise interpreting at home. Examples include to practise regularly at home and

practise the skills learned from classes so as to prepare for exams. One student even

hope (sic) for more resources concerning self-practice. Coupled with their high submis-

sion rates in the web-based learning activity (23 of the 31 students were 100%, three over

80% and five less than 50%), the experience indicated that the online library functioned

well for students and they were willing to use computers in their work. This is unsurpris-

ing, given that they already use Blackboard constantly in other courses. When the teacher

encourages students to apply concepts and skills they learn from class in out-of-class exer-

cises and to shape their after-class learning experiences through practice, students can de-

velop their ongoing acquisition of language and interpreting skills and the accumulation

of world knowledge. When much of the limited class time is taken up by the necessity for

the teacher to explain how to interpret classwork and give all students an opportunity to

speak, it is even more important that students find time after class to familiarise them-

selves with the skills. The large amount of language and interpreting exercises provided

online can enable practice to extend beyond the walls of the interpreting laboratory.

3.2.2. Motivation

It was also found that the online library could promote students motivation during inter-

preting. Interpreting exercises in the library were authentic materials taken from the

Figure 4. Page to obtain an attached reference answer.


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Hong Kong Governments news releases and current affairs programmes. Although on-

line and classroom training cannot fully simulate the real interpreting situation, these

materials can widen students knowledge scope by familarising them with the vocabulary

and content they usually encounter in actual work. Their topics, as given in Table 2, were

related to current issues of Mainland China (ST-3), Taiwan (CI-2), Hong Kong (ST-1,

ST-2, ST-4, ST-5 and CI-4) and other parts of the world (CI-1 and CI-3), thus appealing

to students interests and experiences.

Although the supplementary exercises were not counted toward their final grades,

over 80% of the students submitted all of them. This reflects the effect of the online prac-

tice on their learning motivation. Nevertheless, according to a study that argues that au-

thentic materials can strengthen English-learners on-task behavior, concentration, and

involvement in the target activity but they are less interesting, the study also show simi-

lar results that students motivation mainly came from their higher competency (Peacock,

1997, p. 152). In their 13 responses to the question what is the biggest benefit of the on-

line library?, only one is concerned with interest (. . .also it helps me to develop inter-est in interpretation gradually) and most with their progress and engagement with the

practice (e.g., increases my motivation about interpreting practice, helps to strengthen

my ability).

3.3.3. Acquisition of skills and knowledge

Last but not least, students exercise performance and questionnaire returns demonstrated

that the online library could enable them to acquire language and interpreting skills, and

to expand general knowledge. These three aspects are discussed one by one below.

3.3.3.1. Language skills. Generally speaking, in the Language exercises, students

did well in English to Chinese rendition, and phonetics and complex sentences in Chinese

to English rendition were their weakest parts. The first observation is, while attaining ex-

cellent results in English to Chinese exercises on number, date, preposition, etc., they

made most errors in Chinese to English rendition, especially in: proper names, plurality/

countability, comparative forms, agreement of number/person, voice, and complex sentence

structure. For instance, (these women teachers) and (most

Germans) were often misinterpreted as these woman teachers and most German, respec-

tively. Also, , (heat can be transformed/con-

verted to energy, and energy can also be transformed/converted to heat) was interpreted by

Table 2. Nine topics of ST and CI exercises.

ST-1 (CS and Acting Mayor of ShenzhenCo-chairing the Hong Kong/Shenzhen Co-operation Meeting) (6.12.2010) (Press release,HKISD)

ST-2 (CE Calls for Support of APEC GrowthStrategy) (13.10.2010) (Press release, HKISD)

ST-3 (Reconstruction Work in Sichuan) (29.6.2008) (Press release, HKISD)ST-4 (Economic Situation in Hong Kong) (11.1.2011) (Editorial, Mingpao Daily)ST-5 (Chief Executive Begins Hunan Visit) (24.9.2006) (Press

release, HKISD)CI-1 The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony (19.12.2010) (Letter to Hong Kong, RTHK)CI-2 Metropolitan Elections in Taiwan (3.2.2011) (Hong Kong Connection, RTHK)CI-3 Earthquake in Japan (18.3.2011) (The Pulse, RTHK)CI-4 Earth hour (1.4.2011) (The Pulse, RTHK)

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some as heat can convert/transform to energy and energy can convert/transform to heat.

Errors found in proper names were mainly related to pronunciation, as in the frequent mispro-

nunciation of (Beethoven [beituvn]) and (vitamin [vaitmin]) as [bi:thufn] and [veitamin], respectively.

The second observation is that students generally performed better in lexicon and syn-

tax (excluding long and complex sentences, which is discussed later in this subsection)

than in phonetics, which is all important to interpreting as a form of oral communication.

To illustrate, the transcription of two students recordings is given. In Table 3, Student 1

interpreted most comparative forms and structures correctly but mispronounced deficit

by putting the stress on its second syllable. In Table 4, Student 2 did well in Voice 1 in

terms of voice itself and all the other lexical and syntactic points, but mispronounced

three ([u]) as [f], heat ([i:]) as [e] and converted ([v]) as [f].Students overall results in phonetics were not impressive. They frequently failed to

apply phonetic rules such as liaison and incomplete explosion, and made many mistakes

in sentence stress, particularly in distinguishing between the meanings of rising and

falling intonation in wh-questions and tag questions. The less common mistakes included

(i) misplaced main stress on words such as electricity, economy, economics and

purchasing; (ii) mispronunciation of consonants: the underlined parts in pushed ([t]),

sugar ([]), kindergarten ([tn]) and prosperous ([p]) mispronounced as [d], [s], [dn]and [ph], respectively; and (iii) mispronunciation of vowels: effort ([:]) as [:] andprotect ([]) as [u].

Finally, students performance in long and complex sentences had room for improve-

ment, which usually combined multiple language points. One common and serious error

was run-on sentences, for example, a windstorm happened in the southern Sichuan

Table 3. Transcription of a students Chinese to English sight translation in ComparativeForm 1.

Student: 1

Exercise: Comparative Form 1

1.There is no metal that is more useful than iron.

2.The study room is about three times as large as the living-room.

3.,There are 200 seats in the theatre, but twice as many people tried to buytickets.

4.My sister is four years older than I.

5.She smoked more cigarettes than she bought.

6.There are a lot of people on the beach than usual.

7.,The more he earns, the more his wife spends.

8.I would rather leave than talk to him.

9.The trade deficit this year is 8% higher than that in the same period last year.

10.Air is to man what water is to fish.


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province caused at least 18 deaths and 470 injuries. In such sentences, pronunciation

problems were particularly persistent, such as the mispronunciation of particular conso-

nants or vowels and incorrect/unnatural intonation patterns. Students also spoke in a hesi-

tant and unclear way. The above errors may be due to the facts that students had just

started learning to interpret and that Hong Kong students in general do not receive train-

ing in phonetics in primary or secondary school.

Figure 5 depicts students positive responses to the question concerning special

linguistic skills relating to phonetics, lexicon and syntax. The vertical axis displays the

number of respondents, while the horizontal axis the levels (1: of no help; 2: of little help;

3: helpful; 4: very helpful; 5: extremely helpful). As seen, a majority of students

Table 4. Transcription of a students Chinese to English interpretation in Voice 1.

Student: 2

Exercise: Voice 1

1.The deadline was extended for three days.

2.Has the letter been sent?

3.These books sell very well.

4.,Heat can be converted into energy and energy can be converted intoheat.

5.It has been found that all kinds of matter consist of atoms.

6.This thing must be done immediately.

7.Rice is mainly grown in the south.

8.It is generally considered that it is not appropriate to act that way.

9.This kind of books is written for children.

10.Their eyes were filled with tears.

Figure 5. Students questionnaire responses to acquisition of language skills.

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responded that the language exercises were helpful (level 3), very helpful (level 4), or

extremely helpful (level 5) in improving their language skills, the most useful to acqui-

sition of syntax (90%), followed by lexicon (84%) and phonetics (71%).

In the question concerning Language materials help for awareness of three lan-

guage points during interpreting, a vast majority (90%) responded with helpful, very

helpful, or extremely helpful.

To sum up, while students thought the Language exercises could help language use,

especially with regard to syntax and lexicon and interpreting skills, the researcher could

see that their weakest points lay in phonetics and complex sentences.

3.3.3.2 Interpreting skills. In the Interpreting Skills exercises, students were found

to have performed better in English to Chinese CI exercises than in Chinese to English

ST ones. To exemplify, students work is shown below. The evaluation of CI was based

on (i) short-term memory and note-taking skills (both affected by listening skills), (ii) lan-

guage switching, and (iii) presentation style (fluent, clear, natural, serious and confident),

while that of ST on (ii) and (iii).

CI exercise

In this CI taken from a Hong Kong female legislators commentary in a radio programme

(Table 5), students interpretations were generally accurate. The reason for this could be

that this incident was still a cause for heated debate at that time. Judging their memory and

note-taking skills, there were missing words and phrases (all marked with bold, underlines

and Arabic numbers): (1) dissident (); (2) he was locked in a prison in China

(); (3) an 11-year sentence (); (4) dignitaries

(). Some errors may have resulted from other factors such as knowledge since

students may not have known difficult words like dissident and dignitaries.

When making an overall judgment of students memory and note-taking skills as well

as English to Chinese switching skills, it is noted that they did well despite some errors

(all marked with bold, waves and Roman numbers). Firstly, there were many illogical

and ungrammatical Chinese sentences: (iii) 11

(The evidence for his offence was subversion of the state power and was sen-

tenced to 11 years of jail). Secondly, some careless errors appeared in the switching:

(i) / (participated in/went) for flew to; (ii) (Chinese citizens)

Table 5. Transcription of a CI recording on The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

The Nobel Peace Prize ceremonyEarlier this month I flew to(i) Oslo to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. The recipient,

Chinese writer(ii) and dissident(1) Liu Xiaobo, was not there to receive the award because hewas locked up in a prison in China(2), serving a 11-year sentence(3) for the crime of incitingsubversion of state power.(iii)

The ceremony was held at the Oslo City Hall on 10th December, which was InternationalHuman Rights Day.(iv) It was attended by over 1,000 people(v), including the King and Queenof Norway and dignitaries(4) and human rights activists(vi) from all over the world(5).

The absence of Mr Liu was marked by an empty chair.(vii) For the first time in 75 years, norelative(6) or representative(viii) of the winner was present to accept the award or the US$(ix)

1.5 million that comes with it. Speaking at the ceremony, the Chairman of the Norwegian(7)

Nobel Committee, Mr Thorbjorn Jagland, said the committee decided to give the award toMr Liu because of his heroic(8) and non-violent struggles on behalf of democracy(x) and humanrights and because China needs to learn that with economic power comes social and politicalresponsibility.


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for Chinese writer; and (iii) 11. . . (violating article 11) for serving an11-year sentence.

As for the presentation style, most students spoke in good and fluent Chinese, with the

exception of five who spoke hesitantly and casually.

A student did well in this exercise despite five errors: missing phrases (1) Chinese

writer and dissident, (3) from all over the world, and (5) Norwegian; and misinter-

preted words/phrases (2) dignitaries as (award winner) and (4) human rights

activists as (human rights creator) (Table 6).

ST exercise

As noted, students performance in the Chinese to English ST exercise was not as satisfacto-

ry. This was probably because the students mother tongue is Chinese and their English

grammar was not as proficient. One ST exercise, taken from a Chinese press release, is

shown together with its official English version in Table 7. Some students failed to transfer

the underlined parts, such as (2) people and money become southern sequentially for

(people and money come to the south sequentially).

Table 8 shows other errors, most of which are underlined or placed in brackets.

Table 6. A students work for a CI exercise on The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

Student: 3

[. . .](1) 11

12 10[](2) [. . .](3) [](4)

75 150[. . .](5)

Table 7. ST exercise on Economic situation in Hong Kong and its English version.

(1) 2003

(2) 627

11 2796Economic situation in Hong KongTHE INTERNATONAL financial and economic situation being changeable, Hong Kong has

unavoidably restructured its economy. Though the SAR has so far remained prosperous,contradictions consequent upon economic restructuring have emerged one after the other.Since Hong Kong came out of recession in 2003, its economy has changed in many ways.

(1) It has become more and more integrated with the mainland economy. Influxes of people andfunds from there have allowed it to continue to grow.

(2) As the yuan has more rapidly globalised, yuan deposits have grown here. Their total soared from62.7 billion yuan towards the end of the year before last to 279.6 billion yuan last November.

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Table 8. Students errors in an ST exercise on Economic situation in Hong Kong.

Error type Error examples

Pronunciation Consonant/vowel: inevitably ([nvtbl]), restructured ([rstrktd]),prosperous ([ph]), contradiction ([knstriz]), undergone([ndgraundd]), surface ([s:veis]), three ([fri:]), recession ([]),various ([w]), south ([s:s]),

Stress: economic ([khnmk]), economy (economy)Phonetic rule: uttering words separately without applying linking rule

Word formand usage

Changeable (variable/varied), financial and economic situation (financialeconomy), unavoidably (unavoidingly), until now (untiled now),prosperity (proseracy), restructuring (reconsuction), recession (resaction),vary (various), integrated (integraded), south (north), continuously(continually), sustainable growth (sustaining growth/sustainded growth/continuous growth), economic growth (economic increase),internationalisation (internationalism), fast (fastened), deposit(depose/deficit), rise from (raise from)

Number 279.6 billion (269.6 billion)Agreement in

number/personThe contradictions . . . has gradually appeared.Hong Kongs economy have changed a lot in many aspects.Hong Kongs economy have changes in several aspects.There are more close cooperation with mainland, and the people and

money comes to the south has support the economicgrowth of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong and mainland is. . .People and money flows to the south.Renminbi significantly accelerate . . .

Part of speech Financial and economy situation, maintain its prosperous, economic adjustDate At the end of the year before last (the end of the year)

At the end of last November (at the end of last year/ at the end of November)Tense/aspect has speed up, has grow, has support

The conflicts are gradually appeared with the economic structural adjustmentThe international financial and economic situation is beginning changeableHas increases its pace

Sentences Although the ability to ensure the prosperity of Hong Kong so far,but the economy restructuring brought about by contradictionsis beginning to surface.

Till now although Hong Kong can keep the prosperacy, but theadjustment of the economy structure that brings different kindsof contradiction has gradually going out.

Since 2003 out of down-turn, the Hong Kong economy has many changes.From the 2003 Hong Kong step out from the decreasing,

Hong Kong economy has have a lot of changes in different aspects.Since Hong Kong has more and more closer migration with mainland China,

people and money are going to Hong Kong which supportsits continuing economic increases.

There are more close cooperation with mainland, and the peopleand money comes to the south has support the economicgrowth of Hong Kong.

People and money flows have been southern to support sustainableeconomic growth in Hong Kong.

Visitors and capitals are rushing to the south, supports thecontinuous increase of Hong Kong economy.

As Renminbi significantly accelerate the pace of internationalisation. . .With the internationalization of Renminbi has increases its pace,

the saving has increased from the end of year of last year 62.7 billionyuan increase to the 279.6 billion yuan on last year the end of November.


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Concerning students presentation style, while some were confident and fluent, many

were hesitant and unnatural. This is understandable as students were in their first year of

interpreting training.

One students work in this ST exercise had a number of the above problems (Table 9):

(1) part of speech; (2) numerical agreement; (3) missing phrase; (4) word form/usage;

(5) numerical agreement and sentence; and (6) word form/usage.

Many of the English language points had been covered in the Language exercises in

the library, in which students performed well. However, they seemed not be able to do as

well in actual interpreting at a discourse level. Despite this, 81% of the students in the

questionnaire responded that the Interpreting Skills exercises were helpful or above

to acquisition of short-term memory, with 90% providing the same response to note-

taking skills, 87% to language switching skills, and 84% to presentation style. 94% gave

the same response regarding language-switching skills and 90% regarding the presenta-

tion style in sight translation exercises.

3.3.3.3. Knowledge. The Knowledge folder contained a number of monolingual/

bilingual website links [e.g., PRC: the Central Peoples Government (http://www.gov.cn)

and Xinhua News Agency (http://xinhuanet.com.cn); Taiwan: Office of the President (http://

www.president.gov.tw) and Government Information Office (http://www.gio.gov.tw/)]

and three public blogs carrying collected glossaries. Students used the links to prepare

for an oral bilingual journal, a debate, and a quiz on vocabulary and common

knowledge. Students glossaries, which have been shortened, are shown for illustration in

Tables 10 and 11. From what is shown, it is clear that students were widening their horizons

through the acquisition of vocabulary and specialised terminology.

Table 9. A students work for an ST exercise on Economic situation in Hong Kong.

Student: 4

Under the variable international financial economy, Hong Kongs economy is unavoidable to makestructural adjustment. Until now, Hong Kong is still prosperous, yet, problems arising from theeconomic structure adjustment are gradually appearing. Since Hong Kong stepped out fromrecession in 2003, Hong Kongs economy various a lot(1).

Firstly, Hong Kong and mainland is(2) more and more close together. [. . .] (3) It supports theeconomy to have sustaining growth(4).

Second, as Renminbi significantly accelerate the pace of internationalisation(5), the HongKongs Renminbi deposit raised from(6) 62.7 billion in the end of second last year to279.6 billion in November last year.

Table 10. A students glossary for a debate on Should China advocate for By China?.

China-made goods xenocentric customs customs duties merger domestic demand national consciousness patriotic sales volume stock market market competition advertising increase income and

reduce expenditure excellent quality and

reasonable price national industry OBM (Original Brand

Manufacture)

468 C.H.Y. Chan

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When asked how the library benefited them most, eight students responded that it ex-

panded their vocabulary. While this may not have resulted solely from the Knowledge

materials, but from the combined effect of all library exercises, such knowledge will en-

able them to become interpreters who are better able to communicate across languages

and cultures.

Three questionnaire questions concern acquisition of general knowledge: (1) To

what extent did the websites provided in the Knowledge folder help you prepare your

in-class presentation and debate? (77% responded with helpful or above); (2) To

what extent did the glossaries collected in the online library help expand your vocab-

ulary? (84% responded with helpful or above); and (3) To what extent did the glossa-

ries collected in the online library equip you for interpreting assignments? (77%

responded with helpful or above).

Speaking overall, the questionnaire responses showed that 77% of the students

thought that the online library was helpful, very helpful, or extremely helpful in

honing their language skills, interpreting skills and general knowledge level, as Figure 6

indicates.

Figure 6. Students questionnaire responses to the online librarys overall effectiveness.

Table 11. A students glossary on free trade.

FOB (free on board) WTO (World TradeOrganization)

C&F (cost and freight) IMF (InternationalMonetary Fund)

CIF (cost, insuranceand freight)

EFTA (European FreeTrade Association)

Stocks , AFTA (ASEANFree Trade Area)

Distribution channels NAFTA (North AmericanFree Trade Area)

GATT (General Agreementon Tariffs and Trade)


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4. General discussion

This study has reported on the experience of developing a web-based library of interpret-

ing practice resources for Hong Kong interpretation students through use of the education

platform Blackboard, which is used for general teaching purposes and is relatively easy

to use. Analysis demonstrates that the library, a computer-mediated blended-learning

platform, plays an effective role in interpreting training by providing students with con-

stant home drilling that strengthens in-class instruction, boosts their attention, motivation

and enthusiasm for interpreting, and helps acquire language skills, interpreting skills, and

world knowledge. As interpreting is a communicative act and interpreting training adopts

a communicative approach, the following discussion will explore how the library can fa-

cilitate interpreting training within this framework while suggesting some ways to

improve the blended-learning mode.

This study establishes that this group of first-year interpretation students tends to have

good grammatical competence at the syntactic level, in that they do well in the language

exercises, which consist mainly of simple sentences. However, when it comes to the dis-

course level, they made various kinds of grammatical errors in complex sentences and

interpreting exercises. While some grammatical mistakes are minor and may not affect

communication (e.g., prosperous ([ph]); Hong Kongs economy have changed a lot in

many aspects; people and money flows to the south), most are apparently serious and

unacceptable by the target audience of English speakers, such as south pronounced as

[s:s], surface as [s:veis], three as [fri:], recession as [rsi:n], economic as[khnmk], economy as [khnm], and (come down to the south se-quentially) as become southern sequentially. These critical grammatical errors alone

should cause problems with communication, meaning that the target audience may not

find it easy to understand the messages of such interpretations. In fact, in Hong Kong

where English is a second language and students learn English from kindergarten, transla-

tion and interpretation teachers usually assume that their students already know the lin-

guistic rules of English and therefore do not focus on or even skip the continuous training

of grammatical competence. Nevertheless, what teachers usually find is that some or even

many students do not seem to have the expected command of grammar, which is one of

the fundamental factors that affects the performance of a specific translation/interpretation

task. In other words, this demands that greater attention be paid to developing in Hong Kong

students the grammatical competence required for professional translation/interpretation.

Moreover, since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, translation and interpretation

programmes have been enrolling increasing numbers of students from the Mainland where

English is only starting to be taught in high schools. Since English majors in Mainland uni-

versities, especially during their first and second years of study, are given intensive grammat-

ical training to compensate for the lack of such training in high schools, explicit and

intensive instruction in English grammar as well as its contrastive features with the Chinese

grammar is undoubtedly necessary for this group of Mainland students who choose to study

translation in Hong Kong universities.

For years grammar has been viewed as an essential component of language and the

goal of language teaching. The communicative approaches to language teaching, originat-

ing in the mid-70s, depart from this traditional teaching approach claiming that the goal of

language instruction should not be centred around grammar which is only a tool or re-

source to be used in the comprehension and creation of oral and written discourse rather

than something to be learned as an end in itself (Celce-Murcia, 1991, p. 466). Therefore,

in a language classroom that adopts a communicative approach, grammatical competence

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is regarded as one component of communicative competence, and the teacher more of a

facilitator of language use and communication than a linguistic knowledge provider. Yet,

with communicative language teaching being increasingly accepted by teachers, and

materials and activities of language teaching becoming more communicative, many

teachers appear to pay insufficient attention to the development of students grammatical

competence. Many researchers (e.g., Long, 1983; Rutherford & Sharwood-Smith, 1985)

strongly believe that some grammatical training is crucial for learners to achieve accuracy

as well as fluency in their acquisition of a second or foreign language. In fact, many stud-

ies report experiences of teaching some particular English grammatical points in second

language classrooms that show explicit grammar teaching can fit within a communicative

language teaching curriculum (e.g., Doughty, 2001; Lightbown & Spada, 1990; White,

1991; White, Spada, Lightbown, & Ranta, 1991).

Interpreting training is also greatly influenced by the communicative approach. A

first and final rendition in another language of the one-time presentation of the

source speech, interpreting is an interlingual and intercultural communicative activity

that stresses a target-oriented production to make sense of the original speech and

reproduce it for listeners in another language (Pochhacker, 2004, p. 11, 53). As such,

translation/interpretation trainers are encouraged to emphasise speakers/authors,

listeners/readers, the likely message the speaker or author wishes to send across to

the listeners or readers and pragmatic, psychological, social, or cultural factors

which may interfere in briefing student assignments (Gile, 2009, p. 4647). Especially

in Hong Kong where English is a second language, teachers using this communicative

method would give much less weight to grammar instruction because they assume

that students already possess good bilingual proficiency. Teachers instruction usually

focuses on interpreting skills training (e.g., listening, note-taking, memory) on the ba-

sis of materials on different themes and lexicon, with less emphasis on continuous

and comprehensive language training especially in areas such as phonology. However,

as discussed earlier, the grammatical ability of many Hong Kong students is not up to

the level required for effective communication, and continuous language drilling

is necessary. At this point, while limited classroom time may not be even enough to

cover interpreting skills such as helping students enlarge vocabulary and grasp the

meanings of different discourses, the online library can provide a viable solution in

that it can run exercises automatically as a grammar supplement to an interpreting

course.

The following contains some concrete ideas and methods for course redesign for

blended learning, especially in the Chinese contexts. These can also meet the need of

interpreting training for well-developed and authentic materials. By blending a comput-

er-assisted tool with an interpreting course, in-class practice can focus on interpreting

skills regarding the appropriate rendering of different areas of texts appropriately, while

constant drilling in web-based learning can fix students grammatical errors. The desir-

able result is that interpreting trainers can provide students with much more grammati-

cal practice opportunities out of the classroom. Following Brown (1994) who remarks

that the structures should be embedded in meaningful, communicative contexts and con-

tribute positively to learners communicative goals, the design of language materials in

this library can be extended to the discourse level by matching them with both class

and online interpreting materials, so as to heighten students awareness of the linguistic

side of interpreting which is fundamental and crucial for such a communicative event.

For example, language materials, and interpreting materials that can be different dis-

courses involving various themes and contexts practised online and in class, should


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concentrate on the same language points: when the former concern pronunciation, the

latter would include words difficult for Chinese speakers to read; when the former

centres around tenses, the latter intentionally covers content that entails change of

tenses, and so on. This web-based tool for repetitive and ongoing grammatical training

can be used in both pre- and during-interpreting stages. Of course, language exercises

can also be done alone but this experience suggests that, at least in the first-year of

interpreting training in Hong Kong, the more coordination between the online language

materials and in-class interpreting instruction, and between the online language and

interpreting materials, the more effective the learning results. To reflect this blended

mode, in the courses intended learning outcome, Switch with confidence between Chi-

nese and English can be revised to Switch with accuracy and confidence between

Chinese and English.

Aside from this automatic grammatical training which provides a balanced alterna-

tive approach to the usually opposing grammatical and communicative approaches, the

computer-mediated library should also deliver students another big benefit, knowledge,

by organising the glossaries by thematic areas, and making these available to all students.

Moreover, as these glossaries are connected to other assessments, students would have a

clear indication of what they are learning and the progress made. In this collaborative

learning environment, they would also be more motivated and enthusiastic about reading,

memorising, and using these glossaries. Knowledge built in this way is more meaningful,

validated and ready to apply. Undoubtedly, knowledge plays an important role within a

communicative approach to interpreter training. In the workplace, interpreters usually ac-

cept different jobs and face different people, so both their general and specialised knowl-

edge become valuable assets. In a word, the library also takes care of the communicative

teaching approach that cannot be achieved by traditional in-class instruction.

The above deals primarily with conceptual approaches to the organisation of

blended learning. At the operational level, students feedback enlightens as to how it

should be practised in the Chinese context where it is still new. Some students

requested more feedback from the teacher, especially when they considered the exer-

cises difficult and their renditions were different from the ones provided in the library.

Some suggested that the online library provide oral rather than written answers: It

will be better if the answers given can be read aloud. This feedback indicates that

more blending is needed, in that timely and regular explanation, instructions and

even motivation for the exercises should be provided by teachers to students when on-

line materials are included in curriculum design, and the difficulty level of online

exercises should not be set much higher than that of the class level. According to

Tymczynska (2009, p. 151), the teachers role in a learning environment with higherstudent autonomy is becoming more complex but all-important, as instructors are

supposed to act as facilitators of learning by pre-teaching, modeling, controlling, mon-

itoring, offering ongoing encouragement, and, finally, by providing feedback (Becker,

1994; McGrath, 1998; Stepp-Greany, 2002). In the case of interpretation training,

instructors should take such a coordinating and harmonising role both in the prepara-

tion for and in the aftermath of the use of online language and interpreting exercises.

For example, a briefing session was conducted at the beginning of our interpreting

course, in which the teacher introduced to students the purpose of the online library,

and explained its materials and submission procedures. The teachers regular evalua-

tion and discussion of online work with students also allowed monitoring and stream-

lining of this learning process. Efforts can be made to make clear to students the

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librarys pedagogical objectives and how the materials are divided between in-class

and online (Field, 2002).

Of course whether blended learning can take place successfully first depends on the de-

sign of computer-assisted tools and user attitudes. While this study encourages CAIT train-

ing to use the platform that is already in use in an institution, students responses concerning

the librarys user-friendliness suggest that there is room for refinement. When asked in the

questionnaire how user-friendly this online library was, 32% responded with not user-

friendly (level 1) or little user-friendly (level 2), and when asked about any difficulties/

problems in doing the library exercises, most said that the biggest problem of the platform

was opening two web pages when doing the exercises, one to obtain them and one to do

recordings. One student said, It is very inconvenient to switch between the exercise and the

recorder all the time. After all, it is recommended that teachers who design computer-

mediated courses make full use of technical support from the institutions. As far as our

university is concerned, the Office of Education Development and Gateway Education

provides such technical services, which is very helpful, especially to those teachers who are

not familiar with modern technology. This technical support will boost facultys confidence

in e-learning which is key to the implementation of CALL (Coryell & Chlup, 2007).

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, results show that the current technology enhanced blended-learning plat-

form can benefit interpreting training by providing continuous and convenient home dril-

ling to students who are becoming more skillful and confident in their work. Furthermore,

this study has implications for a communicative approach to interpreting training, that is,

interpretation as a communicative activity relies on, among other things, good grammatical

competence in the target language and a wide range of knowledge. These two learning

objectives can be readily achieved through the current online library in a constructivist ap-

proach: by running exercises in the virtual environment automatically as a linguistic sup-

plement to an interpreting course, face-to-face instruction can focus on interpreting skills;

the knowledge part of the library which helps students to organise glossaries in a collabora-

tive manner is very effective in expanding their horizons and preparing them for future inter-

preting jobs. Of course, Blackboard is chosen because it is the existing course management

system in our university and both instructors and students are accustomed to using it, but the

online library can also be built in other systems, such as Moodle, which has also proved to

be a good tool for the creation of effective online learning materials (Beatty & Ulasewicz,

2006; Chang & Hao, 2008; Fictumova, 2005). For any of these platforms, however, techni-

cal solutions should also be worked out to raise the level of user-friendliness, especially re-

solving the issue of opening two windows during recording. The current study also suggests

a wiser blending both between the online language materials and in-class interpreting

instruction, and within the online language and interpreting materials. Given that other inter-

preting courses can replicate this blended-learning experience following the constructivist

principle, a plausible next step for future research is to test the implications for real practice

in more interpreting courses (Chang & Hao, 2008; Fictumova, 2005; Tymczynska, 2009).

Acknowledgements

This project is fully supported by a Teaching Development Grant from the City University of HongKong and acknowledgement is made to the research assistants Dr Zeng Ting and Miss Peggy Suenfor their professional contribution.


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Notes on contributor

Clara Ho-yan Chan obtained her PhD degree from the University of Queensland, Australia, and MAdegree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has many years of work experience in newswriting and translating, and teaching Translation. She is now an Assistant Professor at the Depart-ment of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, City University of Hong Kong. Her research interestsinclude translation and interpretation studies, legal translation and terminology.

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Abstract1. Introduction1.1. Two trends: CALL/CAIT and blended learning1.2. Design of the course curriculum and online resources

2. Methodology3. Results3.1. Design and implementation of the online library3.2. Evaluation of the online library's effectiveness3.2.1. Constant practice3.2.2. Motivation3.3.3. Acquisition of skills and knowledge

4. General discussion5. ConclusionAcknowledgementsNotes on contributorsReferences

building an online library for interpretation training: explorations into an effective...

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