Interpreting studies and research methodology

[Tolkwetenschap en onderzoeksmethodiek]
3ECTS
Prof. dr. Esli Struys
Academic year 2020-2021
1st & 2nd semester, Fall 2020 & Spring 2021
Wednesdays, 2-4 pm (1st semester)
Tuesday, 2-4 pm (2nd semester)
Room D.3.10

Course schedule* :

Date Activity Content

Wednesday, Sept 30 Lecture 1 Concepts

Evolution
Wednesday, Oct 21 Lecture 2
Approaches

Wednesday, Oct 28 Lecture 3 Models

Wednesday, Nov 25 Individual feedback session Assignments related to the MA

Wednesday, Dec 16 Individual feedback session thesis
Tuesday, Feb 9 Lecture 4 Models
*This course schedule is provisional and may change on a week-to-week basis. Lectures on
campus may be replaced by livestreamed digital lectures if new measures against the spread
of the coronavirus apply. Please check Canvas regularly for announcements regarding
changes to this course schedule.

Content:

This course covers the origin and development of interpreting studies as an independent
discipline within linguistics that transcends the distinction between social and behavioural
sciences at the intersection between individual and societal multilingualism. After the
introduction of a conceptual frame of interpreting as a specific form of (either layman or
professional) multilingual communication, the four most important theoretical frames of
interpreting studies are presented (the interpretive theory, cognitive/neurolinguistic models of
interpreting, the target-text oriented translation paradigm, and the dialogic discourse-based
paradigm). This course explains the methods of knowledge construction within these frames
of interpreting studies, how these methods can be applied to the student's own research and
what the implications of this knowledge are for practice and pedagogy. This course explores
the connection between interpreting as a specific form of (layman or professional)
multilingual communication and the larger whole of individual multilingual practices and
communication in interaction with society.

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Course material :

Go to: https://vub-
my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/esli_struys_vub_be/EkZRyDVSu1lMsQC8pCpUB6cBg2A
J3RtGbmAmzq0vvbj69A?e=n5OBQc

Book chapters that will be discussed in class:

Pöchhacker, F. (2016). Introducing Interpreting Studies. Second edition. London: Routledge.

PART I. Foundations.
Chapter 1 Concepts (pp. 9-27)
Chapter 2 Evolution (pp. 28-50)
Chapter 3 Approaches (pp. 51-76)
Chapter 4 Models (pp. 77-102)

As a result of capacity constraints for on campus teaching due to the measures against the
spread of the coronavirus, all lectures will be livestreamed and the recordings will be made
available after class.

Grading :

The final grade (score on 20) is composed based on the following categories:
Individual Oral Exam determines 50% of the final mark (score on 10).
Permanent Evaluation (2 assignments related to MA thesis) determines 40% of the final mark
(score on 8)
Individual Presentation (at the faculty thesis day in the second semester) determines 10% of
the final mark (score on 2).

Oral exam

Date

To be announced (1st exam session: between Monday, June 8th and Saturday, July 4th;2nd exam
session: between Monday, August 16th and Saturday, September 11th)
During the second semester, you will receive a weblink to reserve a 15-minute slot.

Selection of chapter from textbook on which the presentation will be based: deadline =
Wednesday, February 17

Contents

The chapter from the textbook selected by the student, the presentation prepared by the
student, the course materials (selected chapters from textbook and materials discussed in
class)

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Format

The oral exam will last 15 minutes, and will take place digitally through MS Teams (freely
available to alle VUB students). Students are strongly encouraged to download and install the
desktop version of this application and thus not to use the web version.

Students prepare a presentation (minimum duration = 7 minutes, maximum duration = 10

minutes) based on their chosen chapter from the textbook (see above). The students should
discuss first their initial expectations (before reading) of the chapter they have chosen (What
information did you expect to receive? What questions did you hope the chapter would
answer?), then they should summarize briefly its contents, and finally they should critically
reflect to what extent their expectations were met, and if there are any outstanding questions
after having read the chapter. During the presentation, the students should explicitly seek
connections between the selected chapter and the materials discussed in class on concepts,
approaches, evolution, and models of interpreting studies. After the presentation, the
examiner will ask clarification questions on the presentation and explore potential links with
course topics untouched in the presentation.

Evaluation criteria

-The presentation contains no more than 10 slides in which the student highlights the
expectations that he/she had before reading the chapter, and the extent to which these
expectations had been met after reading
-The presentation briefly summarises the most important elements of the chapter with a
special focus on what the student has learnt about the topic while reading the chapter
-The student does not read a written-out text word by word, but can use his/her own words to
discuss the chosen chapter
-The student seeks connections with the course materials discussed in class
-Students have the ability to recognise, describe, and mutually relate the most important
paradigms in interpreting studies and they can evaluate these paradigms in light of modern-
day insights and recent research.
-Students can critically reflect on the implications of findings from interpreting studies on
interpreting practice and pedagogy based on recent research in the field.

Individual assignments (related to MA thesis or fictitious topic in the field of interpreting

studies if the MA thesis will be submitted later)

Dates

Deadline submission Research orientation = Wednesday, Nov. 18th

Deadline submission Research proposal = Wednesday, Dec. 9th
Submission via Canvas.

Contents

Both assignments are related to the topic of the student’s Master’s thesis (deadline for choice
of topic is Nov. 10th via MaThis).

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The main objective of the Research orientation is to formulate a research aim or one or a few
research questions and to provide an annotated bibliography of min. 7 and max. 10 sources
that will be relevant to your research thesis. The annotations should demonstrate this
relevance and make clear that you have properly examined (parts of) the secondary sources.

The main objective of the Research proposal is to provide an overview of existing literature
on the main research question of your Master’s thesis and its subquestions, the theoretical
frameworks that are available to solve the question, and to explore the methodology that can
be used to answer the question.

Format

General guidelines for the two assignments are as follows:

-Title page: use the VUB Style Platform (max.vub.be/ecommerce.catalog) to design your
front page, go to ‘Logos & Downloads’, and then to ‘Papers – doctoraat uitnodigingen’. The
front page should look like the pdf template uploaded to Canvas with file name ‘template
front page’.
- Pages should be numbered, title page not included
-Alignment = left. Font = Times New Roman, 12. Line spacing = 1.5. First line indentation.
Do not add space between paragraphs of the same style.
-Each paper ends with a reference list. In-text references and reference list should be
formatted according to APA (7th edition) guidelines. Please check https://apastyle.apa.org/.
Students are invited to use EndNote for editing and management of citations (not obligatory).
-Paragraphs are built around one idea and contain at least three sentences but not more than
one full page.
-All papers will be checked for plagiarism through Turnitin. In line with VUB regulations,
plagiarism will be penalised with a null score for that assignment, and will be reported to the
dean.

Students enrolled for the course ‘Tolkwetenschap en onderzoeksmethodiek’ may choose to

submit these assignments in Dutch.

Guidelines specific to the Research orientation

-Word count: 50-100 words for general introduction and research question/aim/problem (and
subquestions); 50-100 words per source; min. 500 – max. 750 words in total (including
bibliographic references); include total word count.

Guidelines specific to the Research proposal

Word limit = 1,000 words including bibliographical references; include total word count.

Evaluation criteria

General evaluation criteria for both Research orientation and Research proposal:

-Deadline was respected

-Paper is formatted according to the guidelines regarding front page, word limit, layout, and
referencing mentioned above.

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-The student can communicate the progress of their own research to their peers in an
academic register.
-The student defines main concepts of the research accurately and adequately., taking into
account the feasibility of the study.
-The student departs from one or a few clearly formulated question(s), problem(s), and/or
aim(s), in relation to the existing literature.
-The student mentions if the research will be exploratory or if specific results are being
expected (hypotheses)
-Use of language is correct (spelling, word choice, grammar).
-The argumentation is well formulated and structured logically; repetition was avoided.
-The paper barely contains typographical errors.

Evaluation criteria specific to the Research orientation

-The student comments on works that are relevant to the proposed study.
-The student adequately demonstrates the content of the listed sources and in particular their
relevance for the proposed study.
-The annotations are clearly formulated.

Evaluation criteria specific to the Research proposal

The student justifies the choice of research subject and problem, with special attention for the
academic (and social relevance) of the study.
-The student introduces the broader research context.
-The conceptual and theoretical framework is thorough and based on recent and appropriate
sources.
-The conceptual and theoretical framework is selective, critical, synthetic, and relevant to the
proposed study.
-The student has taken into account the feedback received from the teacher on the research
orientation during the individual feedback session
-The methodology is appropriate to address the research questions and fits within the
theoretical framework.
-The methodology is described in detail.
-The methodology shows insight into relevant methods, techniques, and analyses.
-The methodology shows an understanding of benefits and limitations of chosen methods.
-All source material is relevant to the proposed study.

Individual presentation

This presentation will take place during the faculty thesis day where all students from the
faculty will present the progress of their MA thesis at the start of the second semester. More
information about this thesis day will follow later. Last year, the thesis day took place on
March, 4th.

Additional info with regard to grading

All information regarding evaluation will be announced timely on the online learning
platform (this year = Canvas). The student is responsible for ensuring that he/she is registered

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on Canvas. If the student encounters problems with registration on Canvas he/she is expected
to notify the teacher as soon as possible by email (= Esli.Struys@vub.be).

The student will be graded for each evaluation component. If the student has not participated
to one or more of the evaluation components, he/she will be given an ‘absent’ score. The
paper will be evaluated with the assistance of software for detecting plagiarism.

The evaluation components are the same for the first and the second session. The results of
individual components may, upon written request of the student via email (=
Esli.Struys@vub.be), be transferred to the next exam session.