SHIFT in Orality – SHaping the Interpreters of the Future and of Today Erasmus Project

Project Title

SHIFT in Orality – SHaping the Interpreters of the Future and of Today

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

As a result of globalization and of the continuous development and improvement of ICT, spoken language travels through new devices and media. Similar trends can be observed in the field of spoken-language interpreting where, alongside traditional onsite interpreting, remote interpreting is spreading through the use of telephone and videoconferencing. Against this backdrop, the SHIFT project has created a European network – consisting of 4 universities offering interpreting programmes (Universities of Bologna, Granada, Surrey and Pablo de Olavide) and of 2 interpreting service providers (Dualia SL and VEASYT Srl) – with the goal of developing a comprehensive pedagogical solution for training in remote dialogue interpreting.
The solution created was based on a) an in-depth study of orality in remote monolingual communication (EN, ES, IT) and remote, interpreter-mediated communication (for IT/ES, EN/ES, IT/EN), and b) a market analysis to gain an in-depth understanding of the current and future demand for remote interpreting and the educational implications.
The specific objectives of the project were achieved and were as follows:
1. Develop a theoretical framework for the analysis of orality that focuses on discourse features which are especially relevant in remote communication and for language mediation and interpreting. Building on insights from linguistics and multimodality, a thorough approach was developed to investigate situated orality and describe how monolingual remote discourse unfolds.
2. Apply this framework to the description and analysis of remote interpreter-mediated interactions;
3. Carry out a needs/market analysis to elicit the most pressing knowledge gaps and educational needs in relation to remote interpreting;
4. Develop a comprehensive pedagogical solution including a methodology and relevant pedagogical resources for remote interpreting, based on the specific features and challenges of remote discourse and remote interpreting and othe outcomes of the market analysis;
5. Evaluate the pedagogical concept and resources with interpreter trainees and interpreting service providers in different fields of interpreting. The materials were evaluated through a Summer School, in which 24 students from the 4 partner HEIs and 18 teachers from the 6 SHIFT partners tested the materials created.
Besides the main objectives described above, the project also achieved other important results. Some of these are the setting up of a successful working group of HEIs and companies, who managed to collaborate successfully towards project goals; the setting up of an effective dissemination strategy, planned and implemented throughout the project through various channels, both online (website, newsletter, social networks) and offline (through Multiplier Events, but also other events such as participatory events before meetings and other events designed to engage stakeholders); the engagement of a large community (500+ subjects) of language service providers and users while carrying out the market survey; networking and opportunities for exchanging best practices for all partners during events, meetings and the Summer School; a replicable model for the Summer School, which can be adjusted to suit different needs (HE training, lifelong learning). In general, one extremely positive aspect of the project was that the communication strategy implemented and the methodology used fostered the collaboration between HEIs and companies at two levels; the first level is the partnership itself, as companies, toghether with partner HEIs, played a fundamental and active role in developing outputs and implementing project activities; the second level is the one outside the partnership, with the involvement of a large community of stakeholders in project activities (especially the market survey; see above).
The SHIFT project and its results have been and can be beneficial for trainee interpreters; academic and professional institutions involved in interpreter training; interpreting service providers and users in the public and private sectors, both in the short and in the long term. In the short term, trainers and trainers could benefit from the intensive training of the Summer School, where the teaching solution was tested. In the long term, the materials shared can be used by trainers, academics, professionals, language service providers and trainees both in the classroom and for self-study purposes. Interpreting students and practising interpreters can be enabled to increase their employability and digital literacy. Interpreting service providers can benefit by having access to a workforce of trained interpreters. Users of interpreting services can benefit from a better quality of service. Academic and professional institutions can benefit from bringing their curricula in line with market needs.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 365410,75 Eur

Project Coordinator

ALMA MATER STUDIORUM – UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA & Country: IT

Project Partners

• UNIVERSIDAD DE GRANADA
• VEASYT
• UNIVERSITY OF SURREY
• Dualia Teletraducciones SL
• UNIVERSIDAD PABLO DE OLAVIDE