Class attendance and participation in discussion is required.  Participation will be marked on attendance, willingness to participate in class discussion, preparation and performance of in-class interpretation and responding to questions. Students are expected to be well prepared in order to participate in class discussion, which will ensure good use of class time as well as improving your learning skills and sharing your knowledge with others. Class attendance and participation is expected and will be part of the assessment. This means you not only come and sign in the class but come well prepared and participate in class discussion. You need to reflect on your assignments and think about the interpreting issues you have encountered and share your thought with others.Your marks for class attendance and performance will be determined by

a)    Whether you attend class regularly or not;

b)    How much effort you have taken to prepare for the class;

c)    How actively you participate in class discussion;

d)    How helpful your comments are on the work of our fellow students; and

e)    The quality of your in-class interpreting practice.

In week 6 or 7, there will be one group presentation including 2 tasks. You are to deliver a 3-5 minute speech in English/Chinese on a given topic (20%), and one of your classmates will interpret it into Chinese/English.(The source language and the target language in this task will be directed by the teacher.) You also need to interpret one of the speeches delivered by your classmates (10%). The speech topic will be given in week 3 and the interpreter will be chosen randomly on the day of the presentation. The main criteria of this assessment will address your ability to communicate effectively with your audience. A sense of energy and spontaneity will be expected and you should be very careful to avoid a style that is overly memorized.

You are required to submit two 500-word reflective journals in English on iLearn. This task aims to learn how to justify your interpreting decisions. The journals should contain problems identified, possible solutions and the decision in selecting the best solution. You are allowed to quote the issues emerge from your presentations and in-class interpreting practice. However, journals are written assignments, your language skills will be taken into account when marking this task.

In preparing to your journals, you may wish to consider the following questions:

1)      What are the functions of interpreting?

2)      What difficulties do you have in your interpreting practice?

      3)      What difficulties do you have in finding equivalent expressions in Chinese or English?

      4)    What makes a good interpretation?

      5)    What can you prepare for interpreting?

These assignments should be your own original work.  Plagiarism is not acceptable (For further information and advice, see www.student.mq.edu.au/plagiarism). 

There will be a final oral test for this unit in week 13. The test weighs 30% of your final mark of this unit. In the final test, you are to have two tasks:

1). You will have 10 minutes to read a short story and will then have approximately 5 minutes to retell it in your own words (15%).

2). Interpret a dialogue between an English speaker and a Chinese (15%).

The only exception to not sitting an examination at the designated time is because of documented illness or unavoidable disruption. In these circumstances you may wish to consider applying for Special Consideration. Information about unavoidable disruption and the special consideration process is available under the Extension and Special Consideration section of this Unit Guide. It should also be stressed that failing to turn up for exams without prior notification to (WITH DOCUMENTATION ) and obtaining approval from the lecturers for resitting the exams will mean that the students have forgone (that is, given up the opportunity to sit for) the exams.  In which case, no supplementary exams can be arranged.

If a Supplementary Examination is granted as a result of the Special Consideration process, the examination will be scheduled after the conclusion of the official examination period. Individual Departments should contact the Associate Dean Learning and Teaching to confirm when Supplementaries are scheduled.

You are advised that it is Macquarie University policy not to set early examinations for individuals or groups of students. All students are expected to ensure that they are available until the end of the teaching semester, that is the final day of the official examination period.