Parallel and Divergent Interpreting in an Elementary School Classroom

Abstract

The study examined the extent to which a highly qualified interpreter remained parallel with or diverged from the original classroom discourse in her interpreting for a 3rd-grade deaf student in science, social studies, and resource room. The interpreter's signed and verbalized expressions were compared to the class participants' expressions for meaning equivalence. Parallel interpreting, occurring 33.2% of the time, closely matched the content of the speaker's message. Divergent interpreting, whereby the interpreter added or dropped elements of meaning, occurred 66.8% of the time. Qualitative analyses of classroom footage as well as interviews with the interpreter and the teachers revealed how, when, and why the interpreter diverged from the message. While the interpreter often made intentional reductions and additions to the discourse to achieve greater student understanding of language and course content, there was little awareness of these changes among individualized educational program team members.

Sign language interpreting services

“…Ringsø and Agerup (2018) reveal that there is a mutual uncertainty about the professional responsibility of interpreters and teachers working in the same classroom, and a lack of cooperation and dialogue. This means that interpreters may take on some tasks that usually belong to the teacher (e.g., explaining concepts to the deaf student), without the student's or teacher's knowledge or consent (Wolbers, et al 2012) and without any pedagogical training. A classroom study from a secondary school with a relatively large group of deaf students and a "pool" of interpreters revealed that the interaction in classrooms by and large remained visually inaccessible to the deaf students (Kermit and Berge 2018).…”

Educational Interpreters, Deaf Students and Inclusive Education?

“…This was again noted later in two separate studies, where the researchers found no discussion or delineation of the interpreter's role prior to their employment and so this was recommended (Antia and Kreimeyer, 2001;Hayes, 1992). In a more recent study, the authors noted how the role changed as the Deaf child progressed through the grades with the same interpreter (Wolbers et al, 2012).…”

Deaf/hard Of Hearing Preschool Students’ Acquisition Of Language Through Dyadic And Triadic Communication Contexts

“…The purpose of tutoring D/HH students in the mainstream classroom by educational interpreters (Anita & Kreimeyer, 2001;Wolber, 2014;Seal, 2004;Wolbers, Dimling, Lawson, & Golos, 2012) is to help D/HH students with concept development, vocabulary, and content knowledge. Along with reinforcing these academic and language skills to D/HH students, interpreters are often placed with students who need language modeling and modification (Anita & Kreimeyer, 2001;Schick, 2014;Wolbers et al, 2012). Unfortunately, many educational interpreters lack training in language development of D/HH students.…”

“…They possess little knowledge or background in sequential development and modification that some D/HH students need (Seal, 2004). Furthermore, as educational interpreters find themselves in the role of facilitating language and communication between hearing peers and D/HH students (Anita & Kreimeyer, 2001;Schick, 2014;Wolbers et al, 2012), training of global child development would be helpful knowledge that is often lacking (Seal, 2004). Teaching sign language to peers and other adults in the room is expected of some interpreters (Anita & Kreimeyer, 2001;Wolbers et al, 2012) while others do not feel interpreters may be qualified to do so (Stuckless et al, 1989).…”

“…Additionally, educational interpreters can often fall into the role of monitoring the D/HH assistive listening device (Leutke-Stahlman, 1992;Wolbers et al, 2012). Often a ToD or audiologist will train the educational interpreter to change batteries and monitor if students seem to be listening with devices appropriately.…”