This is a temporary site used for the Fall 2019 Semester. This site should be used in conjunction with the class Canvas site and the class GoREACT site.

This course is an introduction to the process and skills required to produce unidirectional signed-to-spoken English language interpretations between Deaf and nondeaf people. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

1. incorporate practical applications of non-judgmental language (Colonomos, Witter-Merrithew, et al.) in evaluating personal and colleague work product
2. identify and incorporate a best-practice taxonomy of competencies and processes required to produce sign-to-spoken language interpretations
3. demonstrate and self-monitor basic abilities required to create sign-to-spoken language interpretations of rehearsed and/or spontaneous texts:
   • understand how principles of the Demand-Control Schema (DC-S) can undergird ethical and best-practice interpreting decisions
   • increase competent usage of spoken English as source (sL) and target language (tL)
   • describe and apply the cognitive tasks of pegging, chunking, linking, and monitoring to understand a discourse
   • understand how dual-tasking and cognitive load theory impacts spoken language interpretation
   • recognize and produce equivalent spoken interpretations given variations in features and parts of message (register, tone, affect, voice, power/less language (Morgan, in Hauser 2008)
   • recognize and properly address language difference in various genres (comedy, dramatic, age-appropriate, academic, legal, medical, literary/poetic, religious, entertainment, etc.)
4. identify impacts on and incorporation of semantic choice, register, and ethical behavioral decisions in consecutive interpretations
5. Demonstrate and apply best practice principles in team interpreting work (feeding, assisting, providing feedback, handling logistics)

A significant portion of this course requires self-directed efforts (asychronously working with other teammates) and fairly good command of web-based technologies and learning environments (video creation, salient discussion, and reporting skills; we’ll discuss this more in class).

This course requires a one-hour per week lab criteria; students should expect to spend at least an hour a week on skill-building exercises in a language laboratory setting.

What others have said about this course:

“…The feedback from my interpreting in class was so valuable and it allowed me to learn of patterns in my work that I could work on…”

“…This has been my all-time favorite class at UVU. I loved the format of the class and felt like I left class each time with an increased knowledge or confidence in something…”

“…[T]he class is…tailored to the questions being posed in class and the skill level of the individual students.”

“…I really enjoy the safety of the class… when I make mistakes, I don’t feel that my pride/ego has been abused.”

“…[T]his class… really changed how I feel about interpreting. I was pushed just the right amount.”

“…I learned a lot about processing and dual-tasking. It was helpful when [we] discussed the process that takes place in our brain while interpreting.”

Note: All downloadable files — class notes, syllabi, and other handouts — are saved in PDF formats and require Adobe Acrobat Reader. If the computer you are using does not have Acrobat or the Acrobat browser plugin, you can download it free.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 United States License and Fair Use

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 United States License. This license grants you permission to share (copy, distribute, and transmit the work) and remix (to adapt the work) under certain conditions and understandings. This license does not apply, however, to work claimed by other authors and producers. Additionally, every intent has been made to make materials available via “Fair Use,” (§107 to 118, Title 17, US Code); the content and downloadable materials on the pages of this Web site are solely for the benefit of the students enrolled in these courses.

Instructor Background

I have been an adjunct instructor in the ASL & Deaf Studies department at Utah Valley University since 1995. I teach a variety of signed language interpreting courses, including an introduction to the field, cross-cultural considerations in interpreting, and consecutive and simultaneous bidirectional interpretation/transliteration. My academic interests are in interpreter education, nineteenth-century Deaf history, history and etymology of signed languages, visual and graphical representations of signed language, and enhancing teaching opportunities with technology. More at intrpr.info.