Foundations of Practice I

Curriculum guideline

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Course
INTR 2142
Discontinued
No
Course code
INTR 2142
Descriptive
Foundations of Practice I
Department
Sign Language Interpretation
Faculty
Applied Community Studies
Credits
3.00
Start date
End term
Not Specified
PLAR
Yes
Semester length
15 Weeks
Max class size
18
Contact hours

Lecture: 1 hour/week

Seminar: 2 hours/week

Field expereince: 1 hour/week

Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Field Experience
Learning activities
  • Lecture/seminar
  • Small group work
  • Guest speakers
  • Course readings/video
Course description
This course provides students with an introduction to the profession of American Sign Language - English interpretation and will involve three significant areas: observation of interpreters at work in the field; development of pre-interpreting foundational skills; and an introduction to the decision-making framework known as the Demand Control Schema.
Course content

Course content will be guided by research, empirical knowledge, professional standards and best practice.

Professional interpreters’ work

  • Techniques for effective observation 
  • Skills for interpersonal interacting & questioning
  • Reflective journals

Foundational skills for interpreting

  • Listening for comprehension 
  • Speaking for clarity 
  • Identifying main points in spoken texts
  • Discourse mapping 
  • Multi-tasking while listening and speaking

Ethical decision-making 

  • Ethical codes
  • Demand Control Schema

 

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:  

  • Analyze the work of interpreters, based on observation in the field
  • Recognize their own personal filters and frame of reference  
  • Apply techniques learned through observations to one’s own emerging professional practice
  • Apply the Demand Control Schema to decision-making as it pertains to the field of interpreting
  • Demonstrate pre-interpreting skills including closure techniques, discourse prediction skills, memory and multi-tasking
  • Analyze and diagram samples of discourse to determine the main points and supporting detail
  • Reconstruct English texts working from a diagram of one’s own design
Means of assessment

Assessment will be in accordance with the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøÆØÒ»Çø¶þÇø Evaluation Policy. Evaluation will be based on a combination of individual and group work, and at the instructor’s discretion may include presentations, written assignments, papers, quizzes and/or exams. 

A typical distribution of graded assignments follows:

  • Field Research Individual Project, Presentation: 25%
  • Field Research Group Project, Presentation: 25%
  • Field Research Group Project, Reflection: 10%
  • Professional Reflection Journals: 30%
  • Professional Accountability: 10%

This is a letter graded course.

Textbook materials

A list of required and optional textbooks and materials is provided for students at the beginning of each semester.