Improving Educational Interpreter Preparation and Employment Readiness Using a Curricular Approach

There is currently no national standardization of education or credentialing requirements for signed language interpreters practicing in K-12 educational settings. In response, many states have established their own requirements for educational interpreting practitioners. These state-level requirements often include a state-determined minimum assessment score on the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA). While use of the EIPA as a testing instrument to credential educational interpreters has become widely used, the score requirements vary greatly from state to state. Due to the scope and nature of requisite competencies evaluated through the EIPA, there is a need for specialist education to prepare interpreters to practice as K-12 educational interpreters. The gaps in competencies identified through this research were used as the foundation to develop recommendations for the inclusion of relevant domains within an educational interpreter specialist certificate curriculum

Signed Language Interpreting in K-12 Educational Settings: A Case for Specialization

The field of signed language interpreting is becoming increasingly specialized yet very few educational options are available to prepare students enrolled in interpreter education programs for specialization. This is especially true for those entering the K-12 educational interpreting field since most available interpreter education programs are generalist in nature, focusing on broad skills in community settings. Due to the specialized content knowledge and skills requirements of practitioners working in K-12 educational settings, many program graduates are graduating without the requisite skills to meet state-established minimum standards for employment. Data gathered from K-12 educational interpreters, students currently enrolled in interpreter education programs, and other Deaf Education stakeholders through a needs assessment may be used to develop an educational interpreter certificate program. This program would be supplementary to existing interpreter education programs and focus specifically on preparing students of the profession to work as educational interpreters, thus providing one way to address the existing field-wide gap between interpreter education and professional credentialing. Data from interpreter and student respondents focused mainly on preparedness regarding skills specific to working in K-12 settings while data from stakeholder respondents focused on credentialing requirements and the ability to locate qualified educational interpreters when needed

But How Do I Sign That: A Look at How to Improve ASL Discourse

Discourse is the complex interwoven aspects of communication. Every language and culture has discourse norms followed by those in the inner circle. The goal of this study is to examine how to effectively build discourse skills in American Sign Language (ASL). Discourse is broken down into individual segments to explicate current skill level as well as the effect of intentional practice. Intentional practice and an interpreter’s intrapersonal perspective were found to be essential components of effective ASL skill discourse acquisition. Further research is required to decipher the relationship between interpreter mindset and ASL discourse skill development

A New Interpreter: The Path to Educational Interpreting and Deepening Their Connection to Their Process

This study focuses on my journey through trying to become a qualified educational interpreter while trying to connect with my interpreting process. Over a year, data were collected to be analyzed for patterns of error that I could improve. As areas of error were identified in my practice, my work was evaluated through two Colonomos models. This allowed me to learn where my errors were originating in my process. Through reflective practice, I was able to learn from experience and create skill focused practice to improve those areas, which is focusing on improving one skill rather than a list of them. From this study, I learned that a huge roadblock in my improvement was my confidence. I had to learn to improve my confidence to support my interpreting skill growth. In the end, I realized the importance of working on the interpreter as a whole