Mapping interpreting studies: The state of the field based on a database of nine major translation and interpreting journals (2000–2010)

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study on research in the field of interpreting from 2000 to 2010. A database was developed based on 235 articles (in English) gathered from nine major translation and interpreting (T/I) journals from the previous decade. Thematic analysis was conducted to generate a descriptive map of the field. A four-layer classification system for the topics on interpreting studies in the database was applied. Studies were generally classified into three interrelated themes: Interpreting Practice, Interpreter Training and Assessment, and Review of Interpreting Research. Proportions of studies in each category and the sub-categories were shown, accompanied by discussion of representative studies in each category. In addition, the social and geographic distribution of the articles was presented. The current study serves as a review of the latest development in interpreting studies, the insightful findings of which may help researchers, interpreter trainers and practicing interpreters to reflect on the important issues in the field and search for possible directions in their future exploration.

Keywords:

• interpreting studies
• interpreting practice
• interpreter training
• interpreting assessment
• interpreting research methodology

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by CityU SRG Grant with the Project Number 7002067.

Notes

1. A soft-copy of a slim version of the database can be obtained upon request to the first/corresponding author.

2. Survey studies usually provide ‘a quantitative or numeric description of some fraction of the population – the sample – through the data collection process of asking questions of people’ (Fowler, 1988, as cited in Creswell, 1994, p. 117), whereas in experimental studies, ‘the researcher manipulates one or more independent variables and determines whether these manipulations cause an outcome’ (McMillan & Shumacher, 1989, as cited in Creswell, 1994, p. 117). In the present study, survey studies refer to those applying descriptive rather than inferential statistics for data analysis.

3. ‘Interpreting learning’ and ‘the learning of interpreting’ are used interchangeably in the current study as opposed to ‘interpreter training’. While ‘interpreter training’ concerns the teaching of interpreting from the perspective of teachers or institutions (cf. ‘how to teach’ in Kelly & Way, 2007), ‘interpreting learning’ stresses the learning of the skill of interpreting from the learners’ perspective (cf. ‘how students learn’ in Kelly & Way, 2007; see Yan et al., 2010).