Dataset Information

Predicting Fluency With Language Proficiency, Working Memory, and Directionality in Simultaneous Interpreting.

ABSTRACT: Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a complex bilingual verbal activity that poses great challenges for working memory (WM) and language proficiency. Fluency is one of the crucial indicators in evaluating SI quality, the violation of which is characterized by disfluency indicators such as interruptions, hesitations, repetitions, corrections, and blanks. To uncover factors underlying fluency in SI, 22 interpreting students performed a battery of tasks to test their language proficiency and WM. Two SI tasks, both from Chinese to English and from English to Chinese, were also conducted, and fluency was evaluated according to the five indicators. Two factors (language proficiency and WM) and the five objectively measured disfluency indicators were then used as input for a regression analysis in both directions to model factors underlying fluency in SI performance. The results reveal that, with fluency measured as a whole, WM and directionality yield a significant effect on fluency, and that WM is the only variable that predicts fluency in both directions, accounting for 50 and 51% of the variation in the occurrence of disfluencies in Chinese-English and English-Chinese interpreting, respectively. The findings clarify for the first time the role of language proficiency, WM, and directionality upon fluency in SI, indicating the critical role of WM capability as compared with language skills in fluent production. The research also supports the position that, for interpreting students, interpreting performance tends to be more fluent in the non-native to native language direction.

SUBMITTER: Lin Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6110880 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Predicting Fluency With Language Proficiency, Working Memory, and Directionality in Simultaneous Interpreting.

Lin Yumeng Y Lv Qianxi Q Liang Junying J

Frontiers in psychology 20180821

Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a complex bilingual verbal activity that poses great challenges for working memory (WM) and language proficiency. Fluency is one of the crucial indicators in evaluating SI quality, the violation of which is characterized by disfluency indicators such as interruptions, hesitations, repetitions, corrections, and blanks. To uncover factors underlying fluency in SI, 22 interpreting students performed a battery of tasks to test their language proficiency and WM. Two ...[more]

PMID: 30186213

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Project description:ObjectiveChildren with ADHD demonstrate impaired performance on a wide range of neuropsychological tests. It is unclear, however, whether ADHD is associated with many neurocognitive deficits or whether a small number of impairment(s) broadly influence test performance. The current study tests competing model predictions regarding two candidate causal mechanisms in ADHD: information processing speed and working memory.MethodA well-characterized sample of 86 children (Mage = 10.52, SDage = 1.54; 34 girls; 64% Caucasian/Non-Hispanic) with ADHD (n = 45) and without ADHD (n = 41) completed eight fully crossed experimental tasks that systematically manipulated working memory (BF?? = 1.80 × 10?³) and information processing speed (drift rate; BF?? = 7.61 × 10?).ResultsBayesian mixed-model ANOVAs indicated that increasing working memory demands produced significant reductions in information processing speed (drift rate; BF?? = 5.82 × 10??). In contrast, experimentally reducing children's information processing speed did not significantly change their working memory performance (BF?? = 1.31). ADHD status interacted with the working memory manipulation, such that the ADHD and non-ADHD groups showed equivalently high accuracy under the encoding-only conditions (BF?? = 3.45) but differed significantly under high working memory conditions (encoding + recall; BF?? = 19.58). Importantly, however, ADHD status failed to interact with (a) the working memory manipulation to differentially affect information processing speed and (b) the information processing speed manipulation to differentially affect working memory performance (all BF?? > 4.25).ConclusionsThese findings indicate that top-down executive control exerts significant effects on children's ability to quickly process information, but that working memory deficits and slowed information processing speed appear to be relatively independent impairments in ADHD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Dataset Information

Predicting Fluency With Language Proficiency, Working Memory, and Directionality in Simultaneous Interpreting.

Publications

Predicting Fluency With Language Proficiency, Working Memory, and Directionality in Simultaneous Interpreting.

Similar Datasets

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