Case Method of Teaching in Interpreting Course

趙要東

【中圖分類號(hào)】H31 【文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識(shí)碼】A 【文章編號(hào)】2095-3089（2013）05-0116-03

1.Introduction

Since China adopts reform and opening？鄄up policy， we have established a friendly relationship with other countries all over the world. As a result， there is an increasing demand for interpreters in the world； meanwhile， the quantity demand and quality expectation of interpreters are rising in our social life. It？蒺s inevitable that how to improve the teaching of interpretation course becomes a heated topic.

The primary objectives of interpretation course are to make students get familiar with the process and characteristics of interpreting， to cultivate the quality of a good interpreter and to train students？蒺 interpreting skills. Nowadays， however， the teaching method has relatively backward， which adopts traditional teaching model but lacks creativity， such as theory divorced from practice. Teachers stress too much on language training and look down upon logic thinking. Interpreting teaching has to reform its teaching method and improve its teaching quality to meet the requirements of present interpreter. Case method of teaching in interpreting can simulate students？蒺 interests and help students experience the translator？蒺s task and pressure and improve the ability to solve problems in real interpreting situation. Case method of teaching is a student？鄄oriented teaching approach in which students are completely involved in the interpreting practice.

2.Literature Review

In the 1920s， Harvard University firstly put forward the case method of teaching It is a learner？鄄centered activity under the guidance of teachers. Teachers lead the students to a special educational situation. During the teaching period， students are able to think， analyze， search， and debate on the issue and then render relevant strategy to solve the problems.（Baker. 2000）

Case in the case method of teaching demands students thinking， analyzing and absorbing the main idea of the case. It is aim to train students？蒺 practical abilities. Case method of teaching concentrates on cultivating students？蒺 abilities rather than commanding of the knowledge. In case method of teaching， both teachers and students are focus on the classroom that teacher is the supervisor， while students are participants， case teaching is a process of interaction between teachers and students， and interaction among students. （Gen & Peng， 2008）

The primary goal of case method of teaching is to cultivate students？蒺 abilities to solve problems， as well as make students obtain some fixed principles and rules. Students get an opportunity to absorb what they have learnt by assembling some pertinent material and case analysis. In the process of finding problems， analyzing problems and solving problems， students are able to review what they have been trained and improved. Through discussion， it is helpful to heighten students？蒺 expressive ability， debating ability and team spirit， at the same time， strengthen students？蒺 confidence when confronting with difficulties. The second advantage is the conversion of teacher？蒺s and students？蒺 roles. Using the case method of teaching， teacher is the supervisor， while students are participants. Both teachers and students are assuming more responsibility for teaching and learning. It changes the simple knowledge “one？鄄way” transfer to the “two？鄄way” transfer.

3.Application of case method of teaching in interpreting course

“Interpreting is a process of transferring the message in one language into another language by verbal words， which aims at delivering and communicating information. Interpreting is a basic linguistic tool in cross？鄄culture and cross？鄄people activities.”（Mei， 2000： 138）. Influenced by timing， spotting and immediacy， interpreter must have a good command of linguistic foundations， breadth of knowledge， quick？鄄thinking， accurate understanding， smooth expression and fantastic memory. Case method of teaching provides an opportunity for students to experience the tasks and pressure of an interpreter. Students are able to accumulate relevant practical experience， which is applicable in the interpreting practice. During the process of interpreting practice， students should concentrate on， recognize and catch the main idea of source language in the shortest time.

3.1 Carefully selected cases

Because of the limited teaching time， the cases used in the teaching should be carefully collected and analyzed. Following factors should be considered.

（1）Teachers should select typical cases. The key to successively carry out case teaching method is to choose the teaching cases which are fit to the teaching content and teaching progress. Moreover， the case must be compatible with the textbooks.

（2）Teachers should consider students？蒺 knowledge background and ability. If the case is too difficult， it is too big a challenge for students to finish the task and students will be discouraged. If the case is too easy， students will have no interest in it.

（3）Teachers should pay attention to the cultural sensitivity and make sure the students are able to be aware of the existence of similarity and difference of cultures， value and manners.

（4）Teachers should choose various materials from different channels such as textbooks， slides， records， videos， films and so on are needed.

3.2 Group discussion

Group discussion is the most important step in classroom teaching and is also the process where students can share their experience and knowledge with each other. In order to rationally and effectively apply case teaching method in English interpreting course， the following steps should be observed.

（1）Open discussion， conversation among students. It is good for teachers to give instruction and explanation together and it is an ideal way to show materials and do presentations together. Students feel being together with others and have the opportunity to express what they think.

（2）Close discussion， conversation between desk mates. It can create a more relaxing and friendly context for students to learn. There is always a great chance of different opinions and contributions to the discussion. It is a good way to promote cooperation between students.

（3）Flexible discussion， which will make activities more interesting， because students are allowed to choose partners freely， talk， discuss and express personal points with friends. It allows students free time， style and pace to study on their own. Flexible discussion can develop learner autonomy.

Group discussion is a useful way in interpreting teaching. It can be divided into several phases below：

At first， teachers divide students into several groups， assign them tasks and describe the roles they should play in the group. Every group imitates a case and teachers should supervise and encourage every student to take part in the activities. Students can practice all kinds of interpretation through playing the roles in the cases. In this manner， students are not only able to digest what they have learnt from the textbook， but also enlarge their ability voluntarily. Students can realize their inadequate aspects； experience the differences between thinking and expression. Moreover， students can increase their desire to obtain knowledge.

Secondly， after case simulation， every group should analyze and discuss the problems which appear in the process of simulation to summarize a better way to express. It also offers a chance for students to present themselves in front of other students and solve various unforeseen problems.

At last， after group discussions， every group had better reach an agreement. The main mission of teachers is to organize and lead students to discuss； besides， the teacher should also direct the deviated topic into the right track. and encourage students to seize the opportunity to express their own opinions on the problems. Students can get ability to express， respond and apply knowledge freely. In the end， every group can select a representative to analyze the cases and explain his points to the other students. At the stage of group discussion， teachers should involve all the students in the activities and provide a platform for students to perform their specialties. Finally， learning environment must be comfortable.

3.3 Summarization and evaluation

After group discussion， teachers should make a brief summarization and evaluation. On the one hand， teachers summarize the consequences of case simulation and supplement the words which are unknown in the interpreting practice and at the same time teachers correct students？蒺 typical mistakes. On the other hand， teachers should point out the differences among different points of view. Finally， teachers should provide translated texts interpreted by professional interpreters or display experienced interpreters？蒺 video. Students analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the interpreters？蒺 performance and teachers conclude the emphasis and difficulties of the discussion. Teachers make students recognize the necessity to master some theoretical knowledge. Teachers introduce some relevant theory and implement the knowledge transfer. In this process， teachers especially should get students into the habit of scientific thinking.

4.Points to be noticed in the application of case method of teaching in interpreting course

4.1 The conversion of teacher and students？蒺 roles

In case method of teaching ， teachers play the role of supervisor and leader， namely， teachers take part in the case discussion with their students， so the basic task of teachers is to establish teaching aims and choose cases， and topics； organize classroom discussion， analyze， summarize discussion and make comment on the students？蒺 methods. Students are the focus of the teaching activities. They have to be positively involved in the teaching process. Before the class， students have to preview the given cases and analyze the topics to be discussed in the class. What？蒺s more， they should find out the problems. In the classroom， they also should actively engage themselves into the discussion of the cases. Interpreting course focuses on the training and practice， usually ignoring the theoretical basis. Interpreting course sets up pretty high standards for teachers. Teachers not only should be equipped with practical experience in interpreting and major knowledge， but also they should have fine basic knowledge of foreign languages and interpreting teaching experience.

4.2 The cultivation of free interpretation

In group discussion， non？鄄experienced students usually adopt literal interpretation， which can？蒺t convey the exact meanings and will completely make the listeners confused. Because of China？蒺s special situations， when we translate some sentence with Chinese culture， we must be careful. It requires students to use free interpretation to adapt to the objective conditions. Teachers should provide some cases which enable students to apply free interpretation. For example ，when we meet somebody at the airport ，Chinese people always says “一路辛苦”. If we translate word for word “You must be very tired after the journey”， listeners must misunderstand. They may think they look very haggard. In this situation， we can say “Did you have a good flight？”.

4.3 The focus on collocation and digital interpretation

Firstly， teachers should put emphasis on training students to use these active words， such as the single syllabic words， “do”， “have”， “give”， “take”， which are collocated with these prepositions and adverbs， such as “in”， “on”， “out”， “for”， and “to”. For example： take off， take on， take out and so on.

Secondly， interpreting numbers promptly is difficult for students， so it is necessary for teachers to reinforce numbers interpreting. Numbers in Chinese are classified into single digit ， tens， hundreds， thousands， ten thousands， one hundred thousand， million， ten million， one hundred million， and billion， namely decimal system while in English， when the number is more than thousand， it should be expressed in the times of thousand， Numbers usually appear in the interpreting. If students are lack of training， they will make mistakes， so teachers should consider number interpreting as an important part of interpreting course.

4.4 Other items to be paid attention to

First of all， case method of teaching puts emphasis on the using language by the practical ability. The purpose of designing the case is to serve for the teaching. We should not ignore the fundamental teaching. Teachers should aware of the cultivation of students？蒺 reading and writing ability.

Secondly， case method of teaching poses a great challenge to both teachers and student？蒺s .They should change the fixed model of teacher？鄄oriented method mainly concentrating on the imparting of the textbooks. Only teachers and students cooperate with each other well can the fantastic result of interpreting classes be realized.

Thirdly， the scale of the class taught by the case method of teaching should not be too large. The number of the students generally should not exceed fifty. In addition， if the students are lack of the basic knowledge of English and unable to take part in the most of the class activities. Teachers should reduce the frequency of playing activities or set a lower standard for these students.

Fourthly， teachers should try their best to avoid being trapped into turning case teaching class into telling？鄄story class； teachers should pay attention to the extent of combination of theory and case. They had better arrange the proportion of theory and case to make them complement with each other and reach the aim of analyzing the cases at last.

Last but not the least； teachers had better avoid the inequality of engagement of students in the class activities. English interpreting learners enjoy full interdependence which is provided by this kind of character and meets the requirements of higher education. Nevertheless， it is also easy for some students to actively take part in the class activities while the rest of the students are unable to be involved in the whole process of the class activities because of their lack of passion and even doubt their abilities. Especially in the process of group work， if teachers are not so adequate on the arrangement of organization， there is a trend to make students get unequal chance to perform quite different from each other.

5.Conclusion

Case method of teaching is an open teaching method which is typified by students？鄄oriented， self？鄄study， group study， and exploring study. This method being applied into the interpreting teaching is helpful for students to experience interpreter？蒺s takes and pressure. It can represent the difficulties of interpreting and train students？蒺 immediate response. Under the model of case method of teaching， teachers are able to stimulate students？蒺 interest and extremely dig students？蒺 ability to find out and solve the problems， besides， team spirit. Therefore， under the new situation， it is very important to popularize the case teaching method.

In the actual teaching procedure， it is important for a teacher to be equipped with sensitive ability to observe and create. Teachers should try every way possible to make a research for learner？蒺s motivation， learning demand and learning method. Teachers should gather some cases which are suitable for the interpreting classes from the daily life. At the same time， teachers are able to design the cases by themselves to make students experience the interpreting process： teachers also have to pay attention to the effect and result of the interpreting teaching and absorb the advantages of the traditional teaching method and insert them into the case method of teaching. There is still a long way for teachers to go in the improvement of case method of teaching. Interpreting teachers should exercise every effort to make case method of teaching become a systematic， mature and indispensable teaching method in the interpreting course.

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