At the authors’ university, interpreting pedagogies reflect the
situated-learning theories proposed by Lave and Wenger (1991) and others
especially in specialized areas such as health and legal interpreting. This paper
reports on a project where health interpreting students in a language-neutral
cohort were given the opportunity to practise interpreting with the aid of
authentic material involving paramedic-patient interactions. Authentic
audiovisual clips were posted online. Pauses and blank screens were inserted
at points where the speakers took turns, to allow student interpreters to record
their interpretation with minimal disruption. Recordings were anonymized and
detailed feedback was given by language-specific markers following
performance-based criteria. Formative feedback was passed on for students to
reflect on their performance. Error analysis was carried out to measure
students’ performance when interpreting natural language. Student responses
were gauged using pre- and post-intervention surveys. Students enjoyed being
able to face actual challenges of interpreting ‘in the setting’, with the added
advantage of receiving formative feedback that enabled them to reflect upon
and improve their performance. One of the main challenges identified was that
of interpreting informal paramedic discourse in a manner that was culturally
appropriate, achieving pragmatic equivalence (Hale, 2014).
