Re-conceptualising communicative expertise in professional practice through the lens of sign language intercultural mediation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jalpp.23532Keywords:
brokering, communicative expertise, intercultural mediation, non-professional interpreting, professional interpreting, sign languageAbstract
The Candlin Lecture
When we consider language, communication and the professions, we know that talk (speech or signs) is critical to professional practice and to relationships between professionals and service users. In a multilingual and multicultural world where people do not share the same languages or language repertoires, they must either adapt the way they talk to others (intercultural communication) or, if they cannot communicate directly, allow others to mediate communication on their behalf – a process labelled intercultural mediation. The latter occurs through professional or non-professional interpreting or language brokering. Current theories in interpreting studies consider (professional) interpreters as co-constructors of meaning and co-participants in any interaction. Communicative expertise is usually conceptualized in direct, monolingual communication. Using an explorative illustrative case study, this paper extends this theoretical framework to examine how communicative expertise manifests in interpreter-mediated communication, and particularly in relational aspects of intercultural mediation between a signed language and a spoken language and how professional interpreters and non-professional interpreters (brokers) draw on and apply their expert or lay knowledge about communication in a mediated interaction.
References
Angelelli, Claudia (2003) The visible co-participant: The interpreter’s role in doctor-patient encounters. In Melanie Metzger (ed.) From Topic Boundaries to Omission: Studies in Interpretation, 3–26. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.4820315.5
Antonini, Rachele, Letizia Cirillo, Laura Rossato and Ira Torresi (2017) Introducing NPIT studies. In Rachele Antonini, Letizia Cirillo, Laura Rossato and Ira Torresi (eds) Non-Professional Interpreting and Translation: State of the Art and Future of an Emerging Field of Research, 1–28. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.129
Baraldi, Claudio (2009) Forms of mediation: The case of interpreter-mediated interactions in medical systems. Language and Intercultural Communication 9 (2): 120–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708470802588393
Baraldi, Claudia (2018) Formulations as way of providing renditions in mediated interactions: A single case analysis. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 11 (3): 248–269. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.35210
Berk-Seligson, Susan (2009) Coerced Confessions: The Discourse of Bilingual Police Interrogations. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110213492
Candlin, Christopher N. and Srikant Sarangi (2004) Making applied linguistics matter. Journal of Applied Linguistics 1 (1): 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v1.i1.1
Chapelle, Carol A. (2013) Introduction to The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. In Carol Chapelle (ed), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, 1–9. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431
Ciordia, Leticia S. (2019) Identifying points of convergence between trained and ‘natural’ interpreters for public services. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 12 (3): 241–265. https://doi.org/10.1558/jalpp.37240
Cokely, Dennis (2005) Shifting positionality: A critical examination of the turning point in the relationship of interpreters and the Deaf community. In Marc Marschark, Rico Peterson and Elizabeth A. Winston (eds) Interpreting and Interpreting Education: Directions for Research and Practice, 3–28. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cribb, Alan, Vikki Entwistle and Polly Mitchell (2022) Talking it better: Conversations and normative complexity in healthcare improvement. Medical Humanities 48: 85–93. https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2020-012129
Davitti, Elena and Sergio Pasquandrea (2017) Embodied participation: What multimodal analysis can tell us about interpreter-mediated encounters in pedagogical settings. Journal of Pragmatics 107: 105–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2016.04.008
De Meulder, Maartje (2018) ‘So, why do you sign?’ Deaf and hearing new signers, their motivation, and revitalisation policies for sign languages. Applied Linguistics Review 10 (4): 705–724. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2017-0100
De Meulder, Maartje, Jemina Napier and Christopher Stone (2018) Designated or preferred? A presentation of best practice of a deaf academic and two signed language interpreters working together for a PhD defense. International Journal of Interpreter Education 10 (2): 5–26.
Downie, Jonathan (2020) Interpreting is interpreting: Why we need to leave behind interpreting settings to discover comparative interpreting studies. Translation and Interpreting Studies 16 (3): 325–346. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/skznc
Flores, Glenn, Milagros Abreu, Cara P. Barone, Richard Bachur and Hua Lin (2012) Errors of medical interpretation and their potential clinical consequences: A comparison of professional versus ad hoc versus no interpreters. Annals of Emergency Medicine 60 (5): 545–553. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2012.01.025
Gavioli, Laura and Claudio Baraldi (2011) Interpreter-mediated interaction in healthcare and legal settings: Talk organization, context and the achievement of intercultural communication. Interpreting 13 (2): 205–233. https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.13.2.03gav
Gee, Abigail, Barry Wright, Jemina Napier, Rachael Hayes, Victoria Ackroyd and Helen Phillips (2021) Brokering communication between deaf signing parents and healthcare professionals: The experience of young hearing people in the UK. Communication & Medicine 18 (2): 136–152. https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.20385
Gile, Daniel (1990) Scientific research vs personal theories in the investigation of interpretation. In Laura Gran and Christopher Taylor (eds) Aspects of Applied and Experimental Research on Conference Interpretation, 28–41. Udine, Italy: Campanotto Editore.
Gile, Daniel and Jemina Napier (2020) Spoken language interpreters and signed language interpreters: Towards cross-fertilization. International Journal of Interpreter Education 12 (1): 62–71.
Gutierrez, Amanda M., Emily E. Statham, Jill O. Robinson, Melody J. Slahinski, Sarah Scollon, Katie L. Bergstrom, Richard L. Street et al. (2019) Agents of empathy: How medical interpreters bridge sociocultural gaps in genomic sequencing disclosures with Spanish-speaking families. Patient Education and Counseling 102 (5): 895–901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2018.12.012
Hall, Nigel and Frederique Guéry (2010) Child language brokering: Some considerations. Mediazioni 10: 24–46.
Haug, Tobias, Karen Bontempo, Lorraine Leeson, Jemina Napier, Brenda Nicodemus, Beppie Van den Bogaerde and Myriam Vermeerbergen (2017) Deaf leaders’ strategies for working with signed language interpreters: An examination across seven countries. Across Languages & Cultures 18 (1): 107–131. https://doi.org/10.1556/084.2017.18.1.5
Hauser, Peter, Karen Finch and Angela Hauser (2008) (eds) Deaf Professionals and Designated Interpreters: A New Paradigm, Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2rcnnxg
Hill, Chris (2011) Family mediator neutrality and impartiality in practice: The relevance of the ‘reflecter’ discourse role. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 7 (2): 191–209. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v7i2.191
Hokkanen, Sari (2012) Simultaneous church interpreting as service. The Translator 18 (2): 291–309. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2012.10799512
Holcomb, Thomas K. and David H. Smith (eds) (2019) Deaf Eyes on Interpreting. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2rh28rm
Jones, Rodney H. (2004) The problem of context in computer-mediated communication. In Philip Levine and Ron Scollon (eds) Discourse and Technology: Multimodal Discourse Analysis, 20–33. Washington, DC: Georgetown Press.
Kaufhold, Kathrin and Karolina Wirdenäs (2021) Professional identity construction in the healthcare sector: Narratives around facilitating migrants’ access to healthcare. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 15 (2): 163–186. https://doi.org/10.1558/jalpp.20369
Krystallidou, Demi (2018) Investigating empathy in interpreter-mediated simulated consultations: An explorative study. Patient Education and Counseling 101 (1): 33–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2017.07.022
Krystallidou, Demi (2020) The professional interpreter’s effect on empathic communication in medical consultations: A qualitative analysis of interaction. Patient Education and Counseling 103 (3): 521–529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2019.09.027
Kusters, Annelies (2017a) Deaf and hearing signers’ multimodal and translingual practices. Applied Linguistics Review 10 (1): 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2017-0086
Kusters, Annelies (2017b) Gesture-based customer interactions: Deaf and hearing Mumbaikars’ multimodal and metrolingual practices. International Journal of Multilingualism 14 (3): 283–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2017.1315811
Kusters, Annelies, Massimiliano Spotti, Ruth Swanwick and Elina Tapio (2017) Beyond languages, beyond modalities: Transforming the study of semiotic repertoires. International Journal of Multilingualism 14 (3): 219–232. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2017.1321651
Lee, Jieun (2013) A study of facework in interpreter-mediated courtroom examination. Perspectives 21 (1): 82–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2011.629729
Leneham, Marcel and Jemina Napier (2003) Sign language interpreters’ codes of ethics: Should we maintain the status quo? Deaf Worlds 19 (2): 78–98.
Llewellyn Jones, Peter and Robert G. Lee (2014) Redefining the Role of the Community Interpreter: The Concept of Role-Space. Lincoln, UK: SLI Press.
Major, George (2012) Not Just ‘How the Doctor Talks’: Healthcare Interpreting as Relational Practice. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Macquarie University, Australia.
Major, George and Janet Holmes (2008) How do nurses describe health care procedures? Analysing nurse-patient interaction in a hospital ward. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing 25 (4): 58–70.
Marks, Annie (2013) Participation framework and footing shifts in an interpreted academic meeting. Journal of Interpretation 22 (1): Article 4. https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/joi/vol22/iss1/4
Mason, Ian (2012) Gaze, positioning and identity in interpreter-mediated dialogues. In Claudio Baraldi and Laura Gavioli (eds) Coordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting, 177–200. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.102.08mas
Merlini, Raffaela and Mariadele Gatti (2015) Empathy in healthcare interpreting: Going beyond the notion of role. The Interpreter’s Newsletter 20: 139–160.
Metzger, Melanie (1999) Sign Language Interpreting: Deconstructing the Myth of Neutrality. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
Mondada, Lorenza (2014) Pointing, talk, and the bodies: Reference and joint attention as embodied interactional achievements. In Mandana Seyfeddinipur and Marianne Gullberg (eds) From Gesture in Conversation to Visible Action as Utterance, 95–126. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/z.188.06mon
Mondada, Lorenza (2016) Challenges of multimodality: Language and the body in social interaction. Journal of Sociolinguistics 20: 336–366. https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.1_12177
Muller de Quadros, Ronice (2018) Bimodal bilingual heritage signers: A balancing act of languages and modalities. Sign Language Studies 18 (3): 355–384. https://doi.org/10.1353/sls.2018.0007
Myers, Greg (2021) Labeling miscommunication: Language skills and institutional frames. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 14 (3): 374–395. https://doi.org/10.1558/jalpp.19880
Napier, Jemina (2007) Cooperation in interpreter-mediated monologic talk. Discourse and Communication 1 (4): 407–432. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481307082206
Napier, Jemina (2011) ‘It’s not what they say but the way they say it.’ A content analysis of interpreter and consumer perceptions of signed language interpreting in Australia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 207: 59–87. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.2011.003
Napier, Jemina (2015) Comparing spoken and signed language interpreting. In Holly Mikkelson and Renée Jourdenais (eds) Routledge Handbook of Interpreting Studies, 129–143. New York: Routledge.
Napier, Jemina (2017) Not just child’s play: Exploring bilingualism and language brokering as a precursor to the development of expertise as a professional sign language interpreter. In Rachele Antonini, Letizia Cirillo, Laura Rossato and Ira Torresi (eds) Non-Professional Interpreting and Translation: State of the Art and Future of an Emerging Field of Research, 381–409. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.129.19nap
Napier, Jemina (2021) Sign Language Brokering in Deaf-Hearing Families. London: Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67140-2
Napier, Jemina (forthcoming). Language Intercultural Mediation in Action: Comparing Mediation Techniques.
Napier, Jemina and Lorraine Leeson (2016) Sign Language in Action. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137309778
Napier, Jemina, Rachel McKee and Della Goswell (2018) Sign Language Interpreting: Theory and Practice. Sydney: Federation Press.
Napier, Jemina, Megan Rohan and Helen Slatyer (2005) Perceptions of bilingual competence compared to preferred language direction in the case of Auslan/English interpreters. Journal of Applied Linguistics 2 (2): 185–218. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v2i2.185
Norris, Sigrid (2004) Analyzing Multimodal Interaction: A Methodological Framework. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203379493
Norris, Sigrid (2011) Identity in (Inter)action: Introducing Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781934078280
Orellana, Marjorie (2009) Translating Childhoods: Immigrant Youth, Language and Culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Piller, Ingrid (2011) Intercultural Communication: A Critical Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Roy, Cynthia B. (1993) The problem with definitions, descriptions and the role metaphors of interpreters. Journal of Interpretation 6: 127–154.
Roy, Cynthia B. (2000) Interpreting as a Discourse Process. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195119480.003.0002
Sarangi, Srikant (2005) The conditions and consequences of professional discourse studies. Journal of Applied Linguistics 2 (3): 371–394. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v2i3.371
Sarangi, Srikant (2018) Communicative expertise: The mutation of expertise and expert systems in contemporary professional practice. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 13 (1–3): 371–392. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.37507
Sarangi, Srikant (2020) Communicative vulnerability and its mutation in interpreter-mediated healthcare encounters. Communication and Medicine 15 (2): 111–122. https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.40888
Sarangi, Srikant and Christopher N. Candlin (2011) Professional and organisational practice: A discourse/communication perspective. In Christopher N. Candlin and Srikant Sarangi (eds) Handbook of Communication in Organisations and Professions, 3–60. Berlin: De Gruyter Moulton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110214222.3
Schäffner, Christina (2015) Speaker positioning in interpreter-mediated press conferences. Target: International Journal of Translation Studies 27 (3): 422–439. https://doi.org/10.1075/target.27.3.06sch
Scott Gibson, Liz (1992) Sign language interpreting: An emerging profession. In Susan Gregory and Gillian M. Hartley (eds) Constructing Deafness, 253–258. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.
Simpson, James (ed.) (2011) The Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203835654
Skinner, Robert (2023) Would you like some background? Establishing shared rights and duties in video relay service calls to the police. Interpreting and Society 3 (1): 46–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/27523810221151107
Stokoe, Elizabeth (2014) The Conversation Analytic Role-play Method (CARM): A method for training communication skills as an alternative to simulated role-play. Research on Language and Social Interaction 47 (3): 255–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2014.925663
Theys, Laura, Demi Krystallidou, Heidi Salaets, Cornelia Wermuth and Peter Pype (2020) Emotion work in interpreter-mediated consultations: A systematic literature review. Patient Education and Counseling 103 (1): 33–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2019.08.006
Theys, Laura, Lise Nuyts, Peter Pype, Willem Pype, Cornelia Wermuth and Demi Krystallidou (2021) The Empathic Communication Analytical Framework (ECAF): A multimodal perspective on emotional communication in interpreter-mediated consultations. Linguistica Antverpiensia (new series) 20: 159–185. https://doi.org/10.52034/lanstts.v20i.622
Ticca, Anna C. and Véronique Treaverso (2017) Participation in bilingual interactions: Translating, interpreting and mediating documents in a French social centre. Journal of Pragmatics 107: 129–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2016.09.008
Tse, Lucy (1995) Language brokering among Latino adolescents: Prevalence, attitudes, and school performance. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 17: 180–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/07399863950172003
Vranjes, Jelena and Hanneke Bot (2021) Optimizing turn-taking in interpreter-mediated therapy: On the importance of the interpreter’s speaking space. International Journal of Translation & Interpreting Research 13 (1): 101–117. https://doi.org/10.12807/ti.113201.2021.a06
Wadensjö, Cecilia (1995) Dialogue interpreting and the distribution of responsibility. Hermes, Journal of Linguistics 14: 111–129. https://doi.org/10.7146/hjlcb.v8i14.25098
Wadensjö, Cecilia (1998) Interpreting as Interaction. London: Longman.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Equinox Publishing Ltd.
