Access to postsecondary education through sign language interpreting

Area of Science:

• Education
• Linguistics
• Deaf Studies

Background:

• Sign language interpreting is crucial for deaf students' education.
• Existing research on interpreting effectiveness in academic settings is limited.
• Contradictory findings exist regarding student preferences and learning outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effectiveness of sign language interpreting in university lectures.
• To examine the impact of student preferences (interpreting vs. transliteration) on learning.
• To explore the roles of student-interpreter familiarity and interpreter experience.

Main Methods:

• A study involving 23 interpreters and 127 students (105 deaf, 22 hearing).
• Students attended two interpreted university lectures with pre- and post-knowledge assessments.
• Collected data included student preferences, student-interpreter familiarity, and interpreter experience.

Main Results:

• Deaf students acquired significantly less knowledge than hearing peers from interpreted lectures.
• Matching student preferences for interpreting or transliteration positively impacted learning.
• Interpreter experience and student-interpreter familiarity showed less significant effects.

Conclusions:

• Deaf students face challenges in acquiring knowledge from interpreted lectures compared to hearing students.
• Accommodating student preferences for sign language interpreting or transliteration is vital for academic success.
• Further research is needed to optimize educational settings for deaf students in higher education.