Constructing a competence framework for interpreting technologies, and related educational insights: an empirical study

ABSTRACT

This study constructs a competence framework that covers the most popular interpreting technologies. It adopts an empirical design and uses mainly quantitative methods based on a large-scale survey, comprising 647 questionnaires and 10 interviews. According to the analysis of questionnaire and interview data, the authors identify the main types of interpreting technologies, and the challenges in their application. From the survey data, the authors extracted factors that influence interpreters’ technological competence, and found a high probability that these factors (awareness, learning, and skills and knowledge) govern the application of specific technologies. The authors, therefore, put forward a three-dimensional competence framework for interpreting technologies, and investigate their roles and relevance in different aspects of interpreting education, including curriculum design, and teaching and assessment methods.

KEYWORDS:

• Competence framework
• interpreting education
• interpreting technology
• translation technology
• questionnaire survey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2022.2101850.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Youth Foundation of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education in China [grant number18YJC740097]; the Youth Foundation of Humanitiies and Social Sciences of Heilongjiang Province [grant number 19YYC149], and the Project of Discipline Innovation and Advancement (PODIA)of Foreign Language Education Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University [grant number 2020SYLZDXM011].