Innovations in Assessing Interpreting and Improvem...
The content，goals and teaching characteristics of an interpreting unit determines that an actual interpreting performance is an important part of this unit.The two interpreting exams in this unit account for 60%of the total unit assessment.Prior to the introduction of the multimedia classroom，these tests were conducted face-to-face and one-to-one in a traditional classroom environment between teachers and students.In this traditional setting，recordings of the bilingual dialogues in the assessment are played section by section.Relevant paragraphs from the recordings are often played back，within the allowable range according to the student’s interpreting ability.This traditional assessment method requires an average of at least 15 minutes per person to complete.A class of more than 100 students therefore requires at least 20 hours of assessing，taking 2 to 3 days to complete.This traditional method of interpreting assessment is time-consuming and laborious，and as such the confidentiality and impartiality imputed to such assessments are difficult to guarantee.
Now，nearly fifty sets of bilingual simulated dialogues with corresponding assessment criteria and other assessment tools have been designed for SmartClass+.As a result，for a dialogue interpreting test(length of 300-350 words)，the whole class of 25 students simultaneously starting a timed interpreting test can be completed within 9-11 minutes.Presently，around 80%of class activities and assessments are conducted through SmartClass+programs.All assessment recordings are stored in the SmartClass+archives，which allows teachers to access these records from their own office for reviewing，grading，and giving feedback.Not only are the students’performance scores recorded as evidence，but they also can be used as valuable data for interpreting teaching and academic research in the future.Through continuous practice，improvement and validation，the net benefit of a situated learning environment is convenient for both teachers and students.It is much less time consuming than traditional methods of teaching;it improves overall class efficiency，and most importantly guarantees the ethical factors of reasonableness，effectiveness and impartiality.In particular，the timed tests utilized in SmartClass+ mimic a real-life interpreting scenario by replicating the authenticity of the situation，whilst providing a less threatening environment that bolsters student confidence and is helpful in identifying individual strengths and weaknesses.
The application of SmartClass+to interpreting learning overcomes the existing issues present in the traditional classroom environment.The collaborative nature of SmartClass+ not only assists students in becoming familiar with differing styles of paralanguage and extralinguistic information，but also developsstudents’bilingual proficiency and broadens their knowledge of the relevant topics，thus equipping them with effective life-long problem-solving and learning skills.As such，SmartClass+decisively demonstrates the ability to implement instances of dynamic communication，creating and increasing opportunities for both human-to-machine and human-to-human communication，thereby maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of interpreting learning within an MBL environment.