The Extent to Which the Lecturer Plays a Role in D...
The lecturer of this interpreting training unit manages her teaching in the SmartClass+environment for a number of years，and her teaching philosophy reflects both traditional and innovative teaching methods.In her own selfreflection，she commented that:
I believe that a learner-centered approach to teaching is extremely beneficial for students;when there is a focus on individual learners，their characteristics， perspectives， interests， backgrounds， experiences， capacities，needs and talents coming to the fore in the university classroom.In practice，my teaching methods incorporate a blended model of practical classroom activities and innovative technology through the ROBOTEL SmartClass+platform.
As self-efficacy concerns“people’s beliefs in their capabilities to mobilize the motivation，cognitive resources，and courses of action needed to exercise control over events in their lives”(Wood and Bandura，1989:364).In this case，the lecturer’s beliefs in her teaching also play a pivotal role in the students’selfefficacy development.The lecturer believes in a“learner-centered approach”，focusing on the students“characteristics，perspectives，interests，backgrounds，experiences，capacities，needs and talents”，and subsequently，she mobilises her own motivation and resources for teaching in the SmartClass+environment and takes relevant courses of action needed to enhance her teaching effectiveness，which involves raising students’awareness of self-efficacy.
As far as the interpreting training unit is concerned，the lecturer has provided with more detailed information when asked what the unit was about in the semi-structured interview.She responded that:
My class is centred around learning objectives that train bilingually proficient students in the role，theory，ethics，and practice of intercultural verbal communication.The unit focuses on six learning topics through two semesters，which cover a number of major domains involved in interpreting services，including Education，Public Health，Social Welfare，Immigration，Banking and Business and Legal Matters.These domain-specific topics are adopted to arrange a variety of interpreting exercises and graded assessments，including group role-playing presentations，timed mock tests，and practical interpreting ethic scenarios，all in a multimedia-based learning environment that presents an authentic interpreting context.
As far as the key features of the interpreting training unit are concerned，the lecturer explained that
In my SmartClass+，combining group work such as role-playing to maximise contribution with autonomous learning activities such as mock timed tests allows for students to not only improve their interpreting performance，time management and bilingual ability，but also increase their confidence and ultimately their self-efficacy.
When asked in the semi-structured interview why the lecturer was interested in“self-efficacy”research among her students，she responded that self-efficacy research in the context of interpreting training and education“has rarely been explored”，and she strongly believed that self-efficacy is linked to her students’interpreting training.
Self-efficacy research is relatively new to multimedia-based learning，and within the context of interpreter training and education，it has rarely been explored.By narrowing the scope of academic achievement to interpreter performance and placing an emphasis on factors such as bilingual ability and topic-related vocabulary，we can explore the extent to which students perceive their own self-efficacy in interpreting training，and present a fresh outlook in this rarely-explored field.
It is interesting to find out how the lecturer herself perceives the concept of“self-efficacy”based on Bandura’s conceptualization.When asked about her own understanding of“self-efficacy”，she responded:
Self-efficacy is a social cognitive concept and theory proposed by Albert Bandura as“people’s beliefs in their own capabilities to mobilise motivation，cognitive resources，and courses of actions needed to exercise control over events in their lives”.It is not related to one’s actual skill，but of judgements of what one can do，with whatever skills they have.
With such an understanding of self-efficacy，the lecturer has been mobilising resources and designing SmartClass+ activities which are aligned with situated learning in relation to the“content”of teaching，which places the students at the centre of the training processes，through apprenticeship，learning by doing，and coaching，i.e.，verbal persuasion.Within the MBL SmartClass+context，the lecturer has become an indispensable member of the training“community”where she plays multiple roles such as an “expert learner”，“facilitator”，unit“designer and organizer”(Xu，2012:3).Situated learning involves expert learners，such as the lecturer，as part of the workingtogetherness or co-participation for effective learning experiences.
During the semi-structured interview，the lecturer was also asked to reflect on her own self-efficacy in teaching the interpreting training unit，and whether her own self-efficacy would affect her students’self-efficacy.She responded that:
My own self-efficacy depends on the successful implementation of my interpreting teaching in a situated-learning and multimedia environment.Teaching beliefs in f luence how teachers behave，act and make decisions in the classroom，including curricular choices，instructional approaches and assessment formats.The use of an authentic environment provides a social and cultural context to students’learning，and makes it easier and more meaningful for the student to transfer relevant knowledge to similar contexts，that is to say，from SmartClass+to real-world interpreting.My own self-efficacy certainly affects my students’self-efficacy，as the application of my beliefs are affected by my teaching contexts.Therefore，an authentic environment that successfully uses SmartClass+to result in higher student confidence and better interpreting results reinforces my motivation to teach，and adds to my growing learning and teaching experiences which I will use to shape future learning contexts.
This response of the lecturer appears to have been aligned with Lockwood et al.’s(2017:666)research regarding efficacy beliefs and“individual and collective educational outcomes”.They argue that“environments，including educational structures，also affect self-efficacy and academic outcomes”and therefore，“training programs that cultivate a strong sense of collective efficacy have the potential to empower and ultimately create more successful trainees and instructors”(Lockwood et al.，2017:666-667).
To sum up this section，the semi-structured interview data with the lecturer and its analysis show that the lecturer plays a significant role in terms of raising students’awareness of self-efficacy，and how the teacher’s own self-efficacy awareness and practice may in turn have an impact on her students’self-efficacy beliefs，in relation to the multimedia-based learning environment.