DICIEMBRE, 2024 (74-96)Número 24
CURRICULUM DESIGN TO CONSECUTIVE
INTERPRETATION ANALYTICAL PROGRAM
DISEÑO CURRICULAR PARA EL PROGRAMA
ANALÍTICO DE INTERPRETACIÓN
CONSECUTIVA
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37135/chk.002.24.04
Research Article
Recibido: (28/12/2023)
Aceptado: (02/04/2024)
1Universidad de Holguín, Facultad de Comunicación y Letras, Holguín, Cuba,
email: ehierrezuelo@uho.edu.cu
2Universidad de Holguín, Facultad de Comunicación y Letras, Holguín, Cuba,
email: hortensiac@uho.edu.cu
3Universidad de Holguín, Facultad de Comunicación y Letras, Holguín, Cuba,
email: rrdevesa@uho.edu.cu
Elizabeth Hierrezuelo García1,
Hortencia Cruz López2,
Rafael Rodríguez Devesa3,
Elizabeth Hierrezuelo García, Hortencia Cruz López, Rafael Rodríguez Devesa
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The detection of insuciencies in the teaching-learning process of Consecutive Interpretation
in the English Language Major in the University of Holguin served as the starting point
of a qualitative study to improve said process. This article presents the analytical program
proposed by the authors for this subject as solution to the problematic situation, and the
process followed to conceive it, which are the main results of the research. Its objective is to
design an analytical program coherent with the skills and characteristics of the interpretation
modality in question. This will serve as foundation for the rest of the modalities it contributes
to and thus highlights the relevance of an upgraded preparation. For its elaboration, the
authors followed Stringer’s Model of Action Research (2007): observed lessons and exams
and interviewed a convenience sample of 10 students and ve faculty members as empirical
methods. The theoretical methods applied were analysis-synthesis, induction-deduction,
transit from the abstract to the concrete. They allowed the critical appraisal of the collected
data and the needed generalizations to arrive at the assessments provided. The proposed
analytical program is coherent and updated in terms of aims, contents and pedagogy.
KEYWORDS: Skills, consecutive interpretation, curriculum design
Las insuciencias detectadas en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de Interpretación
Consecutiva en la carrera Lengua Inglesa en la Universidad de Holguín dieron inicio a
un estudio cualitativo que buscaba perfeccionar dicho proceso. Este artículo presenta
el programa analítico que proponen los autores para dicha asignatura, como solución a
la problemática planteada, así como el proceso que se siguió para su concepción como
resultados fundamentales de la investigación. Su objetivo es diseñar un programa analítico
coherente con las habilidades y los rasgos distintivos de la modalidad de interpretación a la
que tributa, y que servirá de sustento para el resto de las modalidades que se estudian. Esto
resalta la importancia de una preparación más detallada de la misma. Para su elaboración,
los autores siguieron el modelo de investigación-acción de Stringer: observaron clases y
exámenes y entrevistaron a un muestreo deliberado de 10 estudiantes y cinco profesores
como métodos empíricos. El análisis y síntesis, la inducción-deducción y el tránsito de lo
abstracto a lo concreto fueron los métodos teóricos que permitieron la apreciación crítica
de la información obtenida y las generalizaciones necesarias para llegar a las evaluaciones
brindadas. El programa analítico propuesto muestra coherencia y actualización en cuanto a
objetivos, contenido y orientaciones metodológicas.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Habilidades, interpretación consecutiva, diseño curricular
ABSTRACT
RESUMEN
CURRICULUM DESIGN TO CONSECUTIVE
INTERPRETATION ANALYTICAL PROGRAM
DISEÑO CURRICULAR PARA EL PROGRAMA
ANALÍTICO DE INTERPRETACIÓN
CONSECUTIVA
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INTRODUCTION
Consecutive interpretation is one of the rst modalities learned within
interpretive studies, because it comprises and trains basic skills for
subsequent modalities. Such is the case of analysis and synthesis,
division of attention, and public speaking in simultaneous interpretation,
and public speaking, memory and social interaction in both bilateral
interpretation and sight interpretation. Note-taking skills, however, are
considered typical of the ‘classical’ consecutive mode, which, although
apparently displaced, continues to be taught for its didactic merits.
The critical analysis of the Translation-Interpretation discipline in
the English Language Major with a Second Foreign Language at the
University of Holguin inserted in a doctoral research on the development
of professional habits and skills in consecutive interpretation revealed
insuciencies regarding the curricular design of the subjects
Fundamentals of Translation and Interpretation and Consecutive
Interpretation of the new Syllabus E.
The educational practice, the observation of exams and interviews
to faculty and students demonstrate the diculties presented by the
latter. The abuse of note-taking in modalities and situations where this
technique is not indispensable, their inability to divide their attention
eectively in active listening and simultaneous note-taking in the
comprehension and reformulation stages, and omissions, changes of
senses and contradictions characterize the product of their interpretation.
All these deciencies point to a low level of development of basic skills
evidenced from the very conception of the discipline and the subjects
dealing with consecutive interpretation. The purpose of this article is to
design a curricular proposal for the Consecutive interpretation subject
that includes restructuring its aims, content and pedagogy.
METHODOLOGY
The qualitative research presented here is based on Stringer’s Model of
Action Research (2007) that serves as a framework to solve educational
problems in this case departing from the practical knowledge of the
teacher/researcher. This has “as much validity and utility as knowledge
linked to the concepts and theories of the academic disciplines or
bureaucratic policies and procedures” (Nasrollahi, 2015, p. 18665).
The Action Research Sequence (Stringer, 2007 in Nasrollahi, 2015, p.
18666) was followed as described below.
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1. Research Design
The main categories and sources of information of the research were
determined. In the rst phase of the research, the governing documents
of the major were analyzed. The authors rst studied what is stipulated
in articles 83 and 84 of the Regulations for Teaching and Methodological
Work in Higher Education contained in Resolution no. 2/2018 (GOC-
2018-460-O25) with regard to the mandatory categories to design
a course. Such elements were contrasted with the documentation
corresponding to the major: Model of the Professional, Program of the
Discipline Translation-Interpretation (Syllabus E), Analytical Programs
and les of the subjects Fundamentals of Translation and Interpretation
and Consecutive Interpretation. The parameters that were taken into
consideration were coherence, gradualness and relevance of the contents
of the discipline and courses and the congruence with the Model of the
Professional and the formative objectives of the major.
2. Data Gathering
In this phase, a total of 10 classes corresponding to the courses
Fundamentals of Translation and Interpretation (rst semester) and
Consecutive Interpretation (second semester) were observed in the
academic year 2022: two of them corresponded to a partial and a nal
exam. An observation guide was elaborated; its aim was to register the
treatment given to the basic skills covered in the governing documents
of the Discipline Translation-Interpretation throughout both courses
mentioned above. The elements covered in the observation guide were
their inclusion in the course’s aims, their practice during the course and
their inclusion in the evaluation criteria in the nal exams. (Table 1)
shows the results obtained.
Table 1: Results of the teaching-learning process observation
Two sets of semi-structured interviews (one at the end of each semester)
were conducted to a convenience sample of 10 third year students that
took both courses to determine their dissatisfactions. The sample was
made up of the only group of students that received the subject in 2022
in the University of Holguin. The constituent elements of the interview
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guide were: general practice, skill-related specic practice and quality
of the didactic material used and its oral presentation. (Figure 1) shows
the results obtained.
Figure 1: Results of the interview to students
Likewise, ve out of the six professors that make up the faculty of
the Discipline Translation-Interpretation were interviewed. All ve
professors graduated and worked at the University of Holguin and taught
consecutive interpretation at dierent moments. The guide for this
interview sought to assess teachers’ general knowledge regarding non-
personal componentes of the teaching-learning process of Consecutive
Interpretation (aims, content and evaluation) and their correspondance
with the skills declared in the subject’s governing documents and those
characteristic of the consecutive modality. The results obtained are
reected in (Table 2).
Table 2: Results of the interview to professors
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All participants were informed by writing about the aim and the
characteristics of the study and signed their consent to participate in it
and to the publication of the results obtained.
The following step was the revision of the scientic literature
concerning the teaching of consecutive interpretation, the relevance of
skill development in general and within consecutive interpretation and
its training, and curricular design approaches in higher education.
3. Data Analysis
In this phase the data collected was critically analyzed with the use
of theoretical methods such as induction-deduction to generalize and
particularize on the foundations of skills and habits and their process
of development regarding consecutive interpretation, transit from the
abstract to the concrete and analysis-synthesis to characterize both
types of consecutive interpretation and determine the constituent skills
of each as well as those of note-taking.
4. Communication
The results obtained were presented to the faculty of the Discipline
Translation-Interpretation specically, and of the Department of English
Language, in general, in a series of four methodological preparation
meetings. The opinions emitted there were taken into consideration to
improve the proposal hereby presented.
5. Action
In the last phase of the research, the analytical program defended here
was elaborated. It was based on the weaknesses found regarding the
correct derivation of the aims from the Program of the Discipline
Translation-Interpretation to the programs of the aforementioned
courses, the determination of the content system in accordance with the
updated knowledge that exists in this modality, and a coherent pedagogy
to fulll the set goals.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
“Curriculum should be seen as the ‘what’ of the educational experience,
such as the description of the intended learning outcomes or the document
used to describe these, whose development is naturally driven by the
discipline itself” (Schneiderhan et al., 2019, p. 1). “It encompasses the
contribution of teachers and administrative ocials, and also needs
careful planning and updating in a systematic process to create positive
improvements in the educational system” (Mohanasundaram, 2018,
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p. 4). To make all this possible, the elements of the curriculum and
their distribution throughout the course are relevant criteria, alongside
the scientic data that serves as foundation for their inclusion in the
syllabus. Thus, the curriculum is a framework that binds aims, content
and pedagogy into a seamless whole.
Horruitiner (2008, p. 63) views curriculum design as “a continuous
process that begins with the preparation of teachers and does not end
with the design, but continues with its implementation and evaluation,
which may even give rise to new curricula”. The classroom itself and
all that is involved to reach that moment is but the rst part of this
transformation process where curriculum is applied and readjusted
based on the elements that did not work properly. This must occur in
each course, as part of the methodological work the faculty does, and
is an essential part of didactic management. The accumulation of the
changes that occur over several years and, hence, new scientic and
methodological knowledge give rise to curricular transformation at
higher organizational levels, the completion of curricular design, and
the beginning of a new cycle.
Interpretation teaching follows the same logic. The components of any
interpreter-training curriculum will unavoidably include “objectives,
competencies, systematization, methodology and evaluation” (Albir,
2019, p. 57). However, as stated by Horruitiner, curricular transformation
begins with the actual enforcement of the curriculum because more
often than not there is a dierence between a program as presented on
paper and what is actually done in the classroom.
CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETATION IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF HOLGUIN
In Cuban curricula, aims, content, pedagogy and values are the
elements that have guided the educational process at all levels. Due
to international standards, the rst three elements are the ones to be
analyzed in the present paper.
The English Language with a Second Language was created at the
University of Holguin ‘Oscar Lucero Moya’ in the school year 1990-
1991 to respond to the growing need of the territory for English
language professionals who could work as English teachers in higher
education, and translators and interpreters in the tourist pole. In the
dierent curricula that have governed the major’s educational process
(Syllabi C, C’, D and E) the Translation-Interpretation discipline has
played a relevant role, as it includes three out of the four state exams
that students must pass in order to graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in
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English Language with a Second Language.
The general aim of this discipline is for students to master the particular
contents and develop the basic professional skills of the profession’s
object of work: the foreign language as a means of interlinguistic
communication, which is manifested in the elds of action of translation
and interpretation. The subjects that comprise it are grouped into three
branches, interpretation, translation and sight translation and have
a theoretical-practical nature. A logical relationship between theory
and practice is established by starting with the courses that oer the
theoretical-conceptual foundations of the discipline and then moving
on to practical instrumentation. Such is the case of Fundamentals of
Translation and interpretation.
AIMS
The aim is a component that, “although not immediately apparent in the
process, it is what we want to achieve in the student; the purpose and
aspiration that we intend to form in them” (De Zayas, 1992, p. 59).
The program of the discipline lists 15 instructional and formative
objectives. Twelve of them are also the objectives of Fundamentals of
Translation and Interpretation and 11 of Consecutive Interpretation,
without lexical or semantic variations, even though they represent
dierent levels in the educational process. Due to the repetition of
objectives, there is no evident approach to the levels of assimilation,
depth or systematization in them.
When considering that “the aim is a guiding category of the training
process from which one determines contents and methods, as well as
the rest of the components of the training process” (Horruitiner, 2008,
p. 94), the weaknesses detected in the content of the courses are a
reection of the above mentioned.
“The aim, as an aspiration to be achieved in students, must integrate
the instructive, the developmental and the educational aspects of the
content, which are united in a single process” (Horruitiner, 2008, p.
50). Within the Translation-Interpretation discipline, 15 general aims
are listed, that is, 15 aspirations expected of the graduates trained in the
major.
Another deciency detected is the lack of orientation that characterizes
the discipline’s and, hence, the courses’ aims, for they lack clearly
stated skills or actions. Schneiderhan et al. (2019, p. 3) state that “an
objective is a specic measurable skill or attitude that the learner will be
able to demonstrate at the end of the educational activityand, thus, are
necessary in order to measure if your curriculum is successful.”
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Among the 12 general aims of Fundamentals of Translation and
Interpretation there is only one distinguishable skill: critically assess
the texts that the students are going to work with. Although general
and derivative, this aim is not in accordance with specic courses such
as translation and interpretation that are specic to the professional
prole of the English language student. These aims also fail to state the
dierent levels of systematization, assimilation and depth, necessary in
the accurate evaluation of the students’ performance.
CONTENT
Content “gives answer to the question ‘what is learned and taught?,
in other words, what the student must master” (González, 2004 in
Clavero et al., 2020, p. 6). “In its structure there are four foundational
components: system of knowledge, system of skills, system of
experiences of the creative activity and the system of world-related
rules” (Lerner & Skatkin, 1978 in Clavero et al., 2020, pp. 6-7). In the
analytical programs of disciplines and courses in Cuban schools, the
system of values that contributes to the educational dimension of the
process is also added.
The content cannot be equated only with knowledge, for it ignores
the system of modes of relations of man with his objects of work, the
system of skills.
In today’s school, and based on a dialectical approach, it is
understood that the latter, i.e., the development of skills, is
achieved through the assimilation of knowledge, and vice versa,
both elements are interrelated in practice and should be oered
in the teaching-educational process. In this classication, habits
are included within the system of skills, knowing that habits
are the skills that, in the teaching process, given their repeated
use and greater degree of appropriation, become less conscious,
i.e., they become automated. As part of culture, a third concept
must be added to the two, that of values, as an expression of the
signicance of things for man, which is also an inherent part of
culture and, therefore, also of the content, the object of study
(Horruitiner, 2008, p. 50).
With Fundamentals of Translation and Interpretation, students acquire
the fundamental notions and basic skills of both translation and
interpretation, and the professional values and habits necessary for
translators and interpreters. Its practical nature determines that skills
and the techniques to achieve its mastery are the contents to be learned
by the students (covering translation and interpretation). The initial
contents are organized in three conferences of two hours each to receive
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the theoretical elements necessary to both translation and interpretation.
Two other contents correspond to ‘classical’ Consecutive Interpretation.
In addition to excluding skills considered fundamental for mastering
the rest of the modalities, the study of note-taking is included in this
rst stage of learning, contrary to what is advised by the researchers
mentioned before. The exclusion of basic skills (Figure 2) is evident
both in the program of the Translation-Interpretation discipline and
in the analytical program of Consecutive interpretation. This last one
is constituted by one theme: broken consecutive interpretation as a
process, to which 96 hour/classes are devoted.
Figure 2: Basic interpretation skills acknowledged in interpretation
courses in the Translation-Interpretation Discipline.
The system of skills declared for both Fundamentals of Translation
and Interpretation and Consecutive Interpretation exhibits the same
deciency detected in the statement of the general objectives of
the programs. The same system of skills is stated in both analytical
programs, without exploring in depth the intrinsic dierences that exist
according to the modalities addressed. With regards to the skill:
“The most important component of this is the verb, or the ‘will do’
piece, which should be open to as few interpretations as possible.
Good verbs to use may include ‘list’, ‘dene’, ‘execute’ and
‘dierentiate’, as opposed to verbs that should be avoided such as
‘know’, ‘understand’ or ‘appreciate’, which are vague and dicult
to measure.” (Bloom et al., 1984 in Schneiderhan et al. 2019, p. 4)
The neglect of the system of skills proper of the consecutive modality
evidences insucient awareness of the specicities of the craft and
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translates into a misguiding curriculum. As a result, professors have
utilized dierent methodologies in their approaches to the course, based
on their personal and teaching experiences, and their interpretation of
the directing documents of the discipline and course.
PEDAGOGY
The procedures and methodology to teach the content and achieve the
aims is stated in the methodological orientations within the curriculum
design of the course. It comprises the method or methods to be used, the
guiding principles and approach, the manner to organize the course in
general and the lessons in particular, the teaching aids and the dierent
ways and rubrics to assess if the aims are fullled at the end of the
course.
“The method is the manner in which the courses develop the process,
that is, the order, sequence and inner organization during the execution
of said process” (De Zayas, 1992, p. 29). However, the method is just
a component of the process where all the other components are as
important for the attainment of the learning goals.
In the program of the discipline, the methodological indications begin
with the number of courses that make up the discipline, the forms of
organization that should generally prevail during classes and the premise
of focusing the educational process on the fulllment of the professional
aims and the mastery of the processes that characterize translation and
interpretation. It orients the adherence to the communicative, textual and
discursive approaches to develop the translating and interpreting activity
as well as to the professional method of translation, interpretation and
sight translation, and what students should do in the dierent stages.
However, it is the authors’ opinion that these are very general
methodological guidelines that are not expanded in a relevant way in
the programs of the courses, nor do they oer sucient guidance for
the teacher. Several aspects are not mentioned: the level of linguistic
diculty and the length of the segments to be interpreted in each course
corresponding to interpretation, the degree of diculty of the texts to be
used in translation and how to progress regarding text complexity. This
would dierentiate the programs in terms of levels of depth.
The analytical programs of the courses of the same branch (translation,
interpretation and oral sight translation) are characterized by having the
same text in terms of methodological orientation, which does not dier
greatly from that of the discipline program. The only dierence is the
distinction of courses that have a nal exam or not.
The application of empirical methods evidenced practical insuciencies:
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1. Predominance of teacher-centered methods that limit students’
meaningful learning and do not reect the characteristics of the real
contexts in which the students will work after graduation.
2. Contents that are taught in both courses without variations in
assimilation, depth or systematization and contents that are insuciently
developed by the professor and understood by the students.
3. Students show little command of skills considered fundamental for
consecutive interpretation and poor documentation habits, as well as an
abuse and misuse of notes.
4. Multiplicity of aims and unclear evaluation criteria, not in
correspondence with the aims declared or the contents taught.
5. Insucient preparation of the faculty in relation with curricular
demands and consecutive interpretation theory.
All these insuciencies point to shortcomings in the planning of the
teaching-learning process where theory and practice of interpretation
are integrated with a constructivist approach and clear evaluation
criteria based on well-determined skills. A more structured and updated
analytical program would translate into a teaching practice more
in accordance with the learning needs of students that demand to be
prepared for a competitive market even before they start working. This
implies strategies that combine theory and practice in simulated or
actual scenarios and that give the student protagonism in developing
the skills they need to interpret consecutively diverse materials.
SKILLS
The knowledge and mastery of the skills of any eld have practical and
methodological importance. Skills are psychological and pedagogical
phenomena whose regulatory role in knowledge, activity and human
behavior make them essential elements in the educational process.
“They are the way how subjects interact with the object of study; the
action constituted by a series of operations that is performed according
to a certain method and with a conscious general objective” (Mulet,
2011 in Hierrezuelo et al., 2023): “It is the most perfected way of
executing an action and presupposes the acquisition of knowledge and
the formation of habits as its essential previous components” (p. 128).
“Being an executory or cognitive property of the personality, it
constitutes the domain of the action (psychic and external) that allows
a rational regulation of the activity with the help of the knowledge and
habits that the subject possesses” (González, 2003 in Hierrezuelo et al.,
2023, p. 128).
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Within the learning process, the skill constitutes one of the indispensable
procedural elements of the content to be mastered by the students. “It is
the dimension of the content that shows the behavior of man in a branch
of knowledge proper to the culture of humanity” (De Zayas, 1992, p.
56) and that, “together with habits, is part of the instructive function of
education” (Rodríguez et al., 2003, p. 13).
To elaborate the aims that govern teaching activities, the rst element to
take into account is the constituent action of the skill. The other elements
are the denition of the conditions in which the student must perform
the action and the determination of the qualitative characteristics or
indicators that such action must have. The mastery of skills in the
educational teaching process is as important for the student who learns
as it is for the teacher who plans and directs his or her learning.
To analyze the process of skill acquisition, the process of expertise
development is used as a foundation (Anderson, 2009). Skills develop
in three stages. The rst stage is cognitive and it is characterized by the
memorization of a series of relevant facts about the skill, the review
of this information during its rst executions and the low speed rate
of usage of this knowledge. The second stage is associative where the
errors resulting from these rst executions of the skill are detected and
eliminated, the connections between the various elements required for a
successful execution are strengthened, and successful procedures for the
implementation of the skill are perfected. In this stage, the procedural
aspect of the skill predominates over the declarative. The third and nal
stage is the autonomous one where the procedure reaches such a level
of renement that it is executed automatically and quickly.
The implications of the stages of skill development in educational
contexts make its systematization “the backbone of the teaching-
learning process through the integration of old and new contents, on
the basis of the continuous ascent of the aim’s depth and the subject’s
assimilation” (Gómez & González, 2010, p. 41). The systematization
process cannot be seen as the repetition of the action until it becomes
the skill as a response to the stimulus of repetition, though.
It must be based on a deliberate practice where “students are motivated
to learn, not only to perform, they are given feedback and the
correspondence of their performance with that of what is considered
correct is carefully monitored and any deviation from this pattern
is determined” (Anderson, 2009, p. 266). To achieve an ecient
systematization, the teacher must have a deep knowledge of the skill
that allows him to decompose it into its constituent operations and to
plan that all three stages of skill development are successfully fullled
in them. The subsequent integration of the skill to more complex
professional problems will determine its consolidation.
The training of basic skills for the mastery of interlingual interpretation
in dierent scenarios and modalities is made possible through the study
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of consecutive interpretation.
CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETATION
Intralingual interpretation is the process and result of transferring to a
target language (L2) the sense of an oral speech originally delivered in a
source language (L1). It is a cognitive and communicative phenomenon
in which man’s mental processes of information processing as a function
of communication prevail, and become more complex by the conuence
of two or more languages in the same communicative situation. Its
complexity determines the need for the training of mental skills and
the automation of its operations in order to free capacities and facilitate
the interpreter’s performance. In consecutive interpretation (CI) “the
interpreter waits for the speaker to nish a complete line of thought in
the source language to give his/her rendition of it in the target language”
(Hierrezuelo et al., 2023, p. 133).
This in turn is divided into classical, long or full consecutive; and
broken or short consecutive. In classical consecutive, the speaker’s
intervention may last several minutes during which the interpreter
takes a series of notes that will function as a subsequent memory
stimulus. “From the notes taken and the interpreter’s memory skills, the
interpreter reformulates the speaker’s speech, in many cases making
use of synthesis and paraphrasing to produce a target speech shorter in
length than the original speech” (Russell & Takeda, 2015, p. 102).
Although CI has apparently been displaced by simultaneous
interpretation, several authors (Russell et al., 2010; Vázquez, 2015;
Russell & Takeda, 2015; and Gile, 2018) defend the formative value
of consecutive interpretation, “mainly to being able to approach
simultaneous interpretation, although this aspect is not supported by
scientic studies” (Vázquez, 2015, p. 186).
The skills needed for the development of the cognitive processes specic
to consecutive interpretation can be summarized as memory, oratory,
anticipation, note-taking (Ilg & Lambert, 1996), analysis and synthesis
(Vázquez, 2015), analytical listening (Russell et al., 2015) concentration
of attention, divided attention, and documentation (Madrid, 2015).
These skills are present in both bilateral and simultaneous interpretation
and oral sight translation.
CI didactics is based on well-focused practice and learning progression.
“For this, the skills of interpretation must be divided into discrete tasks
that are addressed separately in an articial and controlled environment,
and new tasks are only added once the previous ones have been
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internalized” (Domínguez, 2015, p. 69).
“Because it is the most representative skill of ‘classical’ CI, note-taking
has been one of the main topics in CI research and teaching” (Russell
& Takeda, 2015). “It is a graphic symbolization technique by means of
which the interpreter records, in parallel to the memorization operations,
signs, terms or words that allow him/her to preserve - with a view to
reformulation - linguistic and informative aspects of the discourse”
(Abuín, 2009, p. 1). “It is the graphic representation of the interpreter’s
analysis of the discourse” (Gillies, 2017, p. 9) and “allows him/her to
summarize and note down information prone to be forgotten” (Vázquez,
2005, p. 186).
“The didactics of note-taking is based on the segmentation of the
consecutive interpretation process linked to the dierent stages of skill
acquisition” (Abuín, 2009, p. 18), even though teaching a particular
system and interpretation separately is still a challenge for teachers.
Based on the research of Jamshidifarsani et al. (2021), it is a highly
complex activity because of the cognitive load it requires and the number
of parts into which it can be decomposed; and of low organization since
it can be segmented into discrete parts. Because of these characteristics,
its practice should not become the unreective repetition of the actions
and operations that constitutes it.
A key question is when to introduce note-taking into the curriculum.
A number of authors (Gile, 1991; Ilg & Lambert, 1996; Abuín, 2009;
Russell & Takeda, 2015; Santamaría, 2015; Domínguez, 2015; Gillies,
2017) agree that teaching this technique should not be initiated in the
early stages of consecutive interpretation training as it results in the
habituation of the student to its indiscriminate use even in situations
where it is not strictly necessary.
“Note-taking is a partially automatized habit controlled by the skill
of the same name that controls the habit albeit the latter’s continuous
development and/or modication” (García et al., 2023, pp. 19-20).
Attainment of the habit, which coincides with the automation phase,
should be a teaching aim in CI given the fact that, “it can decrease
concentration and processing capacity available for dierent tasks”
(Gile, 1991, p. 155). This is why there must be a thorough period
of practice of the skills and operations necessary for consecutive
interpretation before note-taking is introduced. Its basic principles must
be internalized so that note-taking does not become an obstacle when
starting to practice it.
CURRICULAR DESIGN
As a result of the study carried out, an analytical program was elaborated
for the course Consecutive Interpretation in which the two consecutive
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modalities, classical and broken, are conceived. For this purpose,
the module of knowledge of the course Fundamentals of Translation
and Interpretation, corresponding to the note-taking technique, was
transferred to Consecutive interpretation. The aims, knowledge and
skills system designed for this course are presented below.
Syllabus “E
Discipline: Translation and interpretation.
Course: Consecutive Interpretation
Major: Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Language.
Position: semester 6
Total of Hours: 96
Practical lessons: 92
Evaluation: 4
Teaching Methods Theoretical-practical class.
General Aims
Students should be able to:
Consecutively interpret conferences, speeches and oral talks on
sociocultural topics from English into Spanish supported by the
application of professional techniques and strategies that guarantee a
target text faithful to the original and interculturally accurate.
Contents of the course
Knowledge system
Theme I: Broken consecutive interpretation as a process (46 hours)
Aims: to interpret consecutively oral segments in English of up to
5 minutes in length, using the technique of note-taking to achieve a
faithful re-expression of their meaning in Spanish.
Contents:
Broken consecutive interpretation. Denition and characteristics.
The note-taking technique. Denition. Indications and general
principles.
Analysis and synthesis. Discourse analysis as a prerequisite for note-
taking. Synthesis and mental representation techniques.
Abbreviation (lexical, grammatical, stylistic).
Symbolization (symbols of expression, movement, correspondence,
independent symbols, variants of abbreviations and symbols).
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Speech modulation.
Chaining of ideas.
Speech organization (verticalization, scrolling, vertical and horizontal
relationship bars, substitution bar, reference arrow).
Interlinguistic consecutive interpretation with the use of the note-
taking technique.
Skill system:
To focus on comprehension of the spoken text in English.
To analyze the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic relations of the oral
discourse in English.
To memorize the meaning of the oral text in English.
To synthesize in written form the structure of the analyzed oral
discourse in English.
To abbreviate key words of an oral discourse in English.
To symbolize key concepts of an oral discourse in English.
To graphically represent the structure of an oral discourse in the
English.
To divide the attention between active listening to an oral text
in English and note taking; and note reading and oral production in
Spanish.
To re-express orally in Spanish the meaning of the text in English
represented mentally and graphically.
Theme II: Broken Consecutive Interpretation as a Process (46 hours)
Aims: to interpret consecutively oral segments in English of up to
one and a half minutes in length, applying adequate comprehension
strategies to achieve the faithful re-expression of its meaning in the
Spanish language.
Contents
Broken consecutive interpretation. Characteristics of broken
consecutive interpretation.
The professional translation model applied to broken consecutive
interpretation.
a) comprehension of the original spoken text: apprehension of the
meaning, apprehension of the sense.
b) re-expression of the meaning of the original spoken text in an
equivalent spoken text in the target language.
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Skill system
To focus on the comprehension of the spoken text in English.
To analyze the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic relations of the oral
discourse in English.
To memorize the meaning of the oral text in English.
To re-express orally in Spanish the meaning of the text in English
represented mentally and graphically.
Methodological Orientations
The course should lay the foundations for correct professional work
habits and skills. Therefore, the following should be taken into account:
- The dialectical interrelationship between thought and language,
language and society, and speech and discourse.
Students should be made very aware that, as translators and interpreters,
they are an active part of a communicative situation. Therefore, they
should be aware of the extralinguistic and pragmatic elements that
condition the text.
- Meaning: what meaning is and how it corresponds to the discourse as
a whole.
- Discourse: what discourse is and how its components (word, phrase,
phrase, expression, sentence, and paragraph) contribute to the pattern
of meaning. How it is in discourse that the potential meaning of each of
its parts is realized.
For these reasons, the work of comprehension of oral texts should
be approached from the internal relations established in the text, the
ordering of ideas and the components of the statement, always taking
into account the linguistic and pragmatic elements that determine the
process of consecutive interpretation.
The course is taught in a series of theoretical and practical classes in
which individual and collective reection is favored in pursuit of the
conscious assimilation of the students’ professional skills and habits,
as well as independent study as a professional habit to be developed
by each one of them. Personal discovery and knowledge construction
are encouraged in terms of learning strategies and associative resources
used by students to represent and defend their knowledge.
Priority is given to the individual context when designing educational
actions and procedures and adjusting them to unforeseen situations
resulting from the exploration and reection of each student. It also
favors cooperative relationships by encouraging group actions,
teamwork, debates, reections, exibility and awareness of the
importance of personal actions for the development of society through
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the resolution of work tasks. This is why the teacher must make use of
student-centered teaching methods.
The actions of the teacher are aimed not only at directing the teaching-
learning process of students individually and collectively, but also at
transferring this direction to each student so that they are responsible
for their own learning and practice. For this, it is necessary to:
- plan concentrated and closed practices of the constituent operations
of note-taking in a staggered manner for their gradual automation with
systems of activities to be performed individually and scale in diculty
according to the steps conceived;
- organize collective reection sessions in the classroom on the
performance of the individual practice;
- edit oral and written materials that students can use to exercise during
their independent practice;
- guide independent study sessions that require work in pairs or study
teams where roles are exchanged;
- design teaching activities where previously automated operations are
gradually integrated;
- elaborate metacognitive guidelines that guide students to reect on the
eectiveness of the strategies used in the practice of the operations and
their future improvement, as well as constructive criticism regarding
the performance of their classmates;
- reinforce positive performance, both in the execution of the note-
taking operations and in the reective processes that contribute to the
habituation of such behaviors;
- provide concurrent feedback during the gradual practice of the
constituent elements terminal operations in the integrated practice
of the same that emphasizes the positive features of each student’s
performance that functions as motivation to continue developing the
skill;
- provide gradual dishabituation to the use of note-taking by decreasing
the number of segments to be interpreted once the study of broken
consecutive interpretation is initiated.
The texts to be used in the classroom and in the independent study
should be of a sociocultural nature and it is recommended that they
be real transcriptions of a speech delivered orally. If written speeches
are used, they should be carefully edited before bringing them to
the classroom or to the independent study in order to replicate the
characteristics of impromptu oral discourse. Complex structures that
hinder comprehension should be eliminated, and crutches, redundancies
and other elements that enrich the interpreter’s experience should be
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added.
The segments to be interpreted should increase in length until they
reach two and a half minutes during the interlinguistic interpretation
with note-taking, the nal content of the rst theme. Inversely, this
duration will be reduced in the second theme, corresponding to broken
consecutive interpretation up to segments of a minimum duration of
several seconds.
In this second content, notes will be used only for decontextualized
elements such as numbers, names, acronyms and series that are more
dicult to remember.
Evaluation system
The search for information and equivalences of phrases and terms
assigned as independent study will be considered account, as well as
previous elaboration of notes and symbols. Daily class participation,
and frequent and partial evaluation will be taken into account.
For the evaluation, frequent participation in classes and the quality of
the student’s reective process will be taken into account, which should
lead to the consolidation of a work and note-taking method, and thus
to a higher quality in the students’ interpretation product. In addition,
as many simulation sessions as necessary during the course, the teacher
will organize such sessions so that each student assumes the role of
interpreter and in the other students, the professor or a guest assume the
role of speaker. The rest of the students will assume the role of audience
and evaluators.
These situations should be planned in such a manner that the student-
interpreter demonstrates the professional skills and habits corresponding
to all stages of the interpretive process and is evaluated on aspects such
as: previous preparation, etiquette, use of the appropriate notepad,
positioning in front of the audience, eye contact with the audience,
control of facial expressions and hand movement and the quality and
delity of the interpretive product.
This course has a nal exam.
CONCLUSIONS
The action research hereby detailed revealed practical shortcomings
in the teaching-learning process of Consecutive Interpretation in
the English Language Major with a Second Foreign Language after
empirical methods involving 10 students and ve professors of said
major were applied. These insuciencies were reected in the curricular
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design of the course, characterized by vaguely stated aims, inadequate
content with respect to the theoretical foundations of the interpretative
modality it tributes to and imprecise methodological orientations.
The revision of the documentation governing the educational processes
in Cuban Higher Education, the guiding documents of the major and
the course in question, as well as the literature concerning consecutive
interpretation training and the development of skills, highlighted the
importance of the latter, as a didactic category, for determining courses’
aims, contents to be taught and the pedagogy to be used to achieve the
set goals, and from which evaluation criteria derive.
Thus, the main objective of the research was the curricular design of the
analytical program for the Consecutive Interpretation course according
to what is stipulated in Cuban Higher Education and correct didactics
practices. It is distinguished by having a general aim and two specic
aims for the two declared contents, adjusted to the characteristics of
consecutive interpretation and its two types: classical and broken. The
use of theoretical methods allowed to align such contents with those
defended by the scientic community, with emphasis on the system of
skills proposed that serves as a basis for the evaluation criteria to be
used throughout the course. The pedagogy described in the program
guides the professor through student-centered procedures that will
make it possible for the students to gain autonomy in their training and
conformation of individual working and note-taking methods.
DECLARATION OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors
declare that they have no conicts of interest.
STATEMENT OF AUTHOR CONTRIBUTION AND
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The rst author is the main author of
the article, the remaining authors have been ordered, in correspondence
with their participation. The contribution of each author is mentioned
below, using the CRediT Taxonomy.
- Elizabeth Hierrezuelo García: Conceptualization, Formal analysis,
Research, Methodology, Project management, Resources,
Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - revision
and editing.
- Hortencia Cruz López: Conceptualization, Formal analysis,
Methodology, Writing - original draft, Writing - revision and
editing.
- Rafael Rodríguez Devesa: Research, Formal analysis, Methodology.
The authors appreciate the support given by the School of Communication
and Arts of the University of Holguin for this research to be carried
out, and the faculty of the Discipline Translation-Interpretation of the
Elizabeth Hierrezuelo García, Hortencia Cruz López, Rafael Rodríguez Devesa
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English Language Department and the third year students of the English
Language Major with a Second Foreign Language for contributing with
their experiences and opinions.
DECLARATION OF APPROVAL OF THE ETHICS
COMMITTEE: The authors declare that the research was approved
by the Ethics Committee of the School of Communication and Arts of
the University of Holguín, Cuba, insofar as it involved human subjects.
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