Case Method of Teaching in Interpreting Course

【中图分类号】H31 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2013）05-0116-03

1.Introduction

Since China adopts reform and opening？鄄up policy， we have established a friendly relationship with other countries all over the world. As a result， there is an increasing demand for interpreters in the world； meanwhile， the quantity demand and quality expectation of interpreters are rising in our social life. It？蒺s inevitable that how to improve the teaching of interpretation course becomes a heated topic.

The primary objectives of interpretation course are to make students get familiar with the process and characteristics of interpreting， to cultivate the quality of a good interpreter and to train students？蒺 interpreting skills. Nowadays， however， the teaching method has relatively backward， which adopts traditional teaching model but lacks creativity， such as theory divorced from practice. Teachers stress too much on language training and look down upon logic thinking. Interpreting teaching has to reform its teaching method and improve its teaching quality to meet the requirements of present interpreter. Case method of teaching in interpreting can simulate students？蒺 interests and help students experience the translator？蒺s task and pressure and improve the ability to solve problems in real interpreting situation. Case method of teaching is a student？鄄oriented teaching approach in which students are completely involved in the interpreting practice.

2.Literature Review

In the 1920s， Harvard University firstly put forward the case method of teaching It is a learner？鄄centered activity under the guidance of teachers. Teachers lead the students to a special educational situation. During the teaching period， students are able to think， analyze， search， and debate on the issue and then render relevant strategy to solve the problems.（Baker. 2000）

Case in the case method of teaching demands students thinking， analyzing and absorbing the main idea of the case. It is aim to train students？蒺 practical abilities. Case method of teaching concentrates on cultivating students？蒺 abilities rather than commanding of the knowledge. In case method of teaching， both teachers and students are focus on the classroom that teacher is the supervisor， while students are participants， case teaching is a process of interaction between teachers and students， and interaction among students. （Gen & Peng， 2008）

The primary goal of case method of teaching is to cultivate students？蒺 abilities to solve problems， as well as make students obtain some fixed principles and rules. Students get an opportunity to absorb what they have learnt by assembling some pertinent material and case analysis. In the process of finding problems， analyzing problems and solving problems， students are able to review what they have been trained and improved. Through discussion， it is helpful to heighten students？蒺 expressive ability， debating ability and team spirit， at the same time， strengthen students？蒺 confidence when confronting with difficulties. The second advantage is the conversion of teacher？蒺s and students？蒺 roles. Using the case method of teaching， teacher is the supervisor， while students are participants. Both teachers and students are assuming more responsibility for teaching and learning. It changes the simple knowledge “one？鄄way” transfer to the “two？鄄way” transfer.

3.Application of case method of teaching in interpreting course

“Interpreting is a process of transferring the message in one language into another language by verbal words， which aims at delivering and communicating information. Interpreting is a basic linguistic tool in cross？鄄culture and cross？鄄people activities.”（Mei， 2000： 138）. Influenced by timing， spotting and immediacy， interpreter must have a good command of linguistic foundations， breadth of knowledge， quick？鄄thinking， accurate understanding， smooth expression and fantastic memory. Case method of teaching provides an opportunity for students to experience the tasks and pressure of an interpreter. Students are able to accumulate relevant practical experience， which is applicable in the interpreting practice. During the process of interpreting practice， students should concentrate on， recognize and catch the main idea of source language in the shortest time.

3.1 Carefully selected cases

Because of the limited teaching time， the cases used in the teaching should be carefully collected and analyzed. Following factors should be considered.

（1）Teachers should select typical cases. The key to successively carry out case teaching method is to choose the teaching cases which are fit to the teaching content and teaching progress. Moreover， the case must be compatible with the textbooks.

（2）Teachers should consider students？蒺 knowledge background and ability. If the case is too difficult， it is too big a challenge for students to finish the task and students will be discouraged. If the case is too easy， students will have no interest in it.

（3）Teachers should pay attention to the cultural sensitivity and make sure the students are able to be aware of the existence of similarity and difference of cultures， value and manners.

（4）Teachers should choose various materials from different channels such as textbooks， slides， records， videos， films and so on are needed.

3.2 Group discussion

Group discussion is the most important step in classroom teaching and is also the process where students can share their experience and knowledge with each other. In order to rationally and effectively apply case teaching method in English interpreting course， the following steps should be observed.

（1）Open discussion， conversation among students. It is good for teachers to give instruction and explanation together and it is an ideal way to show materials and do presentations together. Students feel being together with others and have the opportunity to express what they think.