Foreign Language Anxiety in Taiwanese Student Interpreters

Abstract

Although anxiety has been found to be a key variable in both interpretation performance and second language (L2) acquisition, there has been virtually no dialogue between these two fields. In order to bridge this gap, this study investigated Taiwanese undergraduate student interpreters’ foreign language (FL) anxiety using Horwitz, Horwitz et al.’s (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale. Results showed that (1) Taiwanese student interpreters did have FL anxiety despite the language facility expected from them; (2) the scope of their FL anxiety was slightly less prevalent than regular Asian L2 learners, as widespread as American L2 learners, and more far-reaching than European L2 learners; and (3) the level of their FL anxiety was slightly less severe than in most of the university students from several cultural groups with various L2s, except for American college students of Arabic and Russian. Implications for pedagogy and future research are suggested.Bien que le rôle déterminant de l’anxiété ait été démontré autant en situation d’interpération que dans le cadre de l’acquisition d’une langue seconde (L2), pratiquement aucun dialogue n’a été établi entre ces deux domaines. Afin de combler ce vide, la présente étude analyse l’anxiété liée à l’usage d’une langue étrangère (LE) chez des étudiants en interprétariat de Taïwan au cours de leurs premières années universitaires. La mesure de l’anxiété est fondée sur l’échelle d’anxiété en classe de langue étrangère mise au point par Horwitz, Horwitz et al. (1986). Les résultats ont révélé : a) que malgré leur aptitude pour les langues, qui était attendue, ces étudiants éprouvaient une anxiété liée à l’usage d’une LE ; b) que la prévalence de cette anxiété était lègèrement moins importante que chez des apprenants asiatiques en L2, aussi importante que chez des apprenants américains en L2 et beaucoup plus importante que chez les apprenants européens en L2 ; c) que leur anxiété était légèrement moins intense que chez la plupart des étudiants d’appartenances culturelles diverses, toutes langues cibles confondues, à l’exception des étudiants américains de l’arabe et du russe. Enfin, la présente étude discute des implications pédagogiques de ces résultats et propose des orientations de recherches futures

Foreign Language Anxiety and Student Interpreters’ Learning Outcomes: Implications for the Theory and Measurement of Interpretation Learning Anxiety

“…Using a situation-specific anxiety measure -the FLCAS -to examine student interpreters' anxiety, the present study found the students' FL anxiety was significantly and negatively related to their learning outcomes in interpretation courses, regardless of whether the influence of trait anxiety was statistically controlled or not. This finding is not only similar to the low but significant correlation between conference interpreters' psychological stress and performance quality found in the AIIC (2002) Workload Study, which, as noted before (Chiang 2009), has in effect taken a step in this direction by encompassing specific stressors of conference interpreting in the Evaluating stress section of its attitude questionnaire, although the term situation-specific was never used in the study, but also similar to the results regarding situation-specific L2 anxiety variables and L2 performance reported in the L2 anxiety literature (for a more comprehensive review, see Horwitz 2001). Given the fact that interpretation generally involves an L2, and the findings of the present study, it is only natural to suggest that L2 anxiety is inherent to the anxiety students experience in an interpretation classroom, and it is highly likely that interpretation learning anxiety shares some commonalities with L2 anxiety.…”

“…As already pointed out (Chiang 2009), although the definition of anxiety varies from study to study, most interpretation anxiety studies have treated the anxiety triggered by interpretation as a manifestation of other more general types of anxiety by utilizing trait anxiety scales, state anxiety, or a combination of both trait and state anxiety scales to measure it. However, these studies employing general anxiety measures have produced inconsistent findings regarding the relationship of anxiety to interpretation performance or achievement.…”

“…Although anxiety is one of the most widely discussed affective variables in the literature on interpretation, there has been no consensus on its definition and measurement. As pointed out by Chiang (2009), interpretation stress and interpretation anxiety are often used interchangeably in interpretation literature; here, unless a distinction is intended, interpretation anxiety is used to highlight the connection to second language (L2) 1 anxiety research. In most of the studies on interpretation anxiety, the anxiety associated with interpretation has been treated as a transfer of other more general types of anxiety and measured by either trait anxiety scales, or state anxiety scales, or a combination of both trait and state anxiety scales (e.g., Gerver 1974;Jiménez Ivars and Pinazo 2001;Kurz 1997;Riccardi, Marinuzzi et al 1998).…”

Correlation between anxiety and academic self-concept in interpreter trainees

“…In spite of the fact that interpreting generally involves one or even two L2s, research has not paid sufficient attention to the fact that future interpreters' anxiety might derive from the use of that L2 or from a combination of that use and the completion of the interpreting task (e.g. Chiang, 2009;Jiménez & Pinazo, 2001;Kurz, 1997). Although interpreting studies are to an extent interdisciplinary, "interpreter educators have often resisted contacts with the fields of foreign language teaching and Second Language Acquisition (SLA)" (Zannirato, 2008, p. 20).…”

“…The authors consider this option confusing and that it hampers the construction of the solid line of research on psychological factors that the field of interpreting requires. Thus, and following Chiang (2009), from here on, interpretation anxiety is used unless a distinction is intended.…”