Class engagement and participation in discussion is required.  Participation will be marked on students' willingness to participate in class discussion, preparation and performance of oral interpreting practice and responding to questions. Students are expected to be well prepared in order to participate in discussion, which will ensure good use of class time as well as improving your learning skills and sharing your knowledge with others. Class engagement and participation is expected and will be part of the assessment. This means you are expected to be 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 thoughts with others.

Your marks for class engagement and performance will be evaluated according to the exemplars/criteria provided in iLearn.

Marks for class participation will be determined by

a)    Whether you engage with the class regularly;

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;

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

Description of the behaviours evaluated for high-level student participation: 

• independent engagement with online communicative activities, including discussion forum, zoom, voice thread etc, reading game/ revision/ vocab acquisition
• spontaneous contributions to discussion, expression of opinions
• evidence of preparation for class through contributing specific examples demonstrating understanding of textbook/readings/home study
• constructive collaboration with and feedback to peers
• consistent target language use
• attentive note-taking
• structured engagement with content including evidence of revision/ organisation of notes/continuous self-directed learning
• promotion of a positive learning environment, including: 
  • mobile device etiquette ( targeted and appropriate use for learning purposes as instructed by staff)

In week 6, 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.

Indicative examples of assessment tasks will be available on iLearn or in class.

You are required to submit one 1000-word reflective journal in English on iLearn. This task aims to present how you justify your interpreting decisions. The journal 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 (comply with policies set out in the policy section below). 

Indicative examples of assessment tasks will be available on iLearn or in class.

There will be a final oral test for this unit in week 13. The test is 40% 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 (25%).

The only exception to not completing your final oral test at the designated time is because of documented illness or unavoidable disruption. In these circumstances, you should consider applying for Special Consideration. Information about unavoidable disruption and the special consideration process is available in the policy sections below. Extensions can only be granted in cases of documented Special Consideration, as this is a timed assessment.