Watkins Freya, Webb Stacey, Stone Christopher, Thompson Robin L
Multimodal Multilingual Language Processing Lab, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
School of Social Sciences, Languages and Intercultural Studies, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2022 Sep 14;13:932370. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.932370. eCollection 2022.
Sign language interpreting (SLI) is a cognitively challenging task performed mostly by second language learners (i.e., not raised using a sign language as a home language). SLI students must first gain language fluency in a new visuospatial modality and then move between spoken and signed modalities as they interpret. As a result, many students plateau before reaching working fluency, and SLI training program drop-out rates are high. However, we know little about the requisite skills to become a successful interpreter: the few existing studies investigating SLI aptitude in terms of linguistic and cognitive skills lack baseline measures. Here we report a 3-year exploratory longitudinal skills assessments study with British Sign Language (BSL)-English SLI students at two universities ( = 33). Our aims were two-fold: first, to better understand the prerequisite skills that lead to successful SLI outcomes; second, to better understand how signing and interpreting skills impact other aspects of cognition. A battery of tasks was completed at four time points to assess skills, including but not limited to: multimodal and unimodal working memory, 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional mental rotation (MR), and English comprehension. Dependent measures were BSL and SLI course grades, BSL reproduction tests, and consecutive SLI tasks. Results reveal that initial BSL proficiency and 2D-MR were associated with selection for the degree program, while visuospatial working memory was linked to continuing with the program. 3D-MR improved throughout the degree, alongside some limited gains in auditory, visuospatial, and multimodal working memory tasks. Visuospatial working memory and MR were the skills closest associated with BSL and SLI outcomes, particularly those tasks involving sign language production, thus, highlighting the importance of cognition related to the visuospatial modality. These preliminary data will inform SLI training programs, from applicant selection to curriculum design.
手语口译（SLI）是一项认知要求很高的任务，主要由第二语言学习者来完成（即不是以手语作为母语长大的人）。手语口译专业的学生首先必须在一种新的视觉空间模态中获得语言流利度，然后在口译过程中在口语和手语模态之间转换。因此，许多学生在达到工作流利度之前就停滞不前了，而且手语口译培训项目的辍学率很高。然而，我们对成为一名成功口译员所需的技能知之甚少：现有的少数关于手语口译能力的语言和认知技能研究缺乏基线测量。在此，我们报告一项针对两所大学的33名英国手语（BSL）-英语手语口译专业学生进行的为期3年的探索性纵向技能评估研究。我们的目标有两个：第一，更好地理解导致手语口译成功结果的先决技能；第二，更好地理解手语和口译技能如何影响认知的其他方面。在四个时间点完成了一系列任务以评估技能，包括但不限于：多模态和单模态工作记忆、二维和三维心理旋转（MR）以及英语理解。相关测量指标包括英国手语和手语口译课程成绩、英国手语复述测试以及连续的手语口译任务。结果显示，初始的英国手语熟练程度和二维心理旋转与学位课程的选拔相关，而视觉空间工作记忆与继续学习该课程相关。在整个学位期间，三维心理旋转能力有所提高，同时在听觉、视觉空间和多模态工作记忆任务方面也有一些有限的提升。视觉空间工作记忆和心理旋转是与英国手语和手语口译结果最密切相关的技能，特别是那些涉及手语表达的任务，因此，突出了与视觉空间模态相关的认知的重要性。这些初步数据将为手语口译培训项目提供参考，从申请人选拔到课程设计。
