Effective Assessments for Interpreter Education Programs to Increase Pass Rates for Certification

Abstract

In the United States, students enrolled in an American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreter Education Program (IEP) are encouraged to achieve interpreter certification upon completion of the program. Obtaining the certification ensures employers they are hiring qualified personnel. A critical examination of assessments used by IEPs may result in formulating strategies that prepare students to pass the state-based assessments by graduation. A review of Program Learning Outcomes (PLO) and the way in which these are assessed should be undertaken in order to ensure that effective Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) are created to parallel appropriate stages of language development. Knowledge of Language Assessment Literacy (LAL) will assist in the development of well-defined and accurately-based objective assessments that are both valid and reliable. Targeting specific linguistic components combined with the usage of the cognitive domain of Bloom's Taxonomy for teaching and assessing learning outcomes will provide a clear means for developing assessments. Utilizing Bloom's Taxonomy, the development of assessments start at lower order cognitive processing and progressively moves to higher order (Marzano & Kendall, 2006). An examination of how using Bloom's Taxonomy assists in the development of assessments is outlined.

Literature Review

“…Assessments used with LAL. Language assessment literacy (LAL) stands for "the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and principles of test construction, test interpretation and use, test evaluation, and classroom-based assessment [26]. This means that the assessment of literacy and language skills is an acquisition of steps, skills, and principles of construction tests, interpretation tests, usage tests, evaluations, and classroom-based assessments.…”

“…So that the assessment is done in a thorough manner. Another assessment is used to determine the ability of sign interpreters through bloom's taxonomy assessment with six stages [26]. First, starting from the lower level, is remembering.…”

“…The role of the interpreter is also needed to assist in gaining access to communication and information. Certification and Professional Interpreter [26] can help to access deaf get more information in mass media, live events, or other activities.…”

“…The provision of accessibility as an appropriate medium and accommodation in obtaining information and knowledge of deaf people in various public services has been carried out with the dominance of sign language translators [31], subtitles [29], [32], and also the latest assistive technological developments [33] that can accommodate such acquisition of comprehensive information. The selection of professional JBI through assessment and certification [26] needs to be realized in Indonesia so that the provision of public services is accurate, useful, and can be accessed effectively. Therefore, the fulfilment of the right to obtain information and knowledge must continue to be developed collaboratively and mutually beneficial for the creation of communication relationships, synergistic social interactions.…”

Competency-Based Learning: An Effective Approach in Interpretation Classes

“…Although technological development has taken place in every aspect of human beings, and there are various applications to translate from one language to another one, the demand for professional interpreters has enormously grown [1,5]. Other researchers [4,6] share the same idea that interpreters are required to adjust themselves to work in various contexts and with different parties. Therefore, interpreters play a crucial position amongst groups.…”