Peer-evaluation and Assessment Criteria Perceived by Learners in the English-Chinese Interpretation Classes

Abstract

Most of the studies on interpreting assessment is concerned with the evaluation and expectation of teachers, receivers, practitioners, and associations, while few of them have been conducted on peer-evaluation or criteria perceived by learners. A lack of knowledge on learners' evaluation criteria can be an important source for difficulties in helping them to achieve in interpreter training programs. This paper intends to investigate the peer-evaluation process and the criteria perceived by college learners in a consecutive interpreting course. The investigators will first review a variety of perspectives on evaluation and criteria in interpreting studies, and then examine the special characteristics of peer-evaluation and learner-perceived interpreting evaluation criteria. The participants will be around 60 undergraduate and graduate students taking English-Chinese consecutive interpreting classes. Both peer-evaluation and traditional teacher-evaluation will be applied to students' interpreting works. The results will be compared. Around 20 students (out of the 60 participants) will be interviewed on what they consider as the most important criteria in evaluation. The findings would provide the educators and the learners with an important source of exploring appropriate ways of evaluating students' works, understanding their learning process and predicting their potential to achieve in interpreting classes.