Die produksienetwerk van 'n getolkte lesing binne die universiteitskonteks : 'n etnografiese ondersoek

Date
2020-03
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Spoken educational interpreting is an innovative mode of communication that is used in some tertiary institutions in South Africa. However, very little is known about the process of an interpreted university lecture, what it entails, and what educational interpreters do and experience from moment to moment. The current study was undertaken to, through a social theory of translation, gain a deeper understanding of the manufacturing process of an interpreted (spoken language) university lecture, and of the interaction between the actors involved in the production process. The study was process-orientated and made use of actor-network theory (ANT) and an ethnographic research strategy in order to gain an insider’s perspective into the lived reality of interpreting in an educational context. The epistemology of ANT allowed for investigating not only the interrelatedness between human actors such as lecturers, interpreters, and the users of the interpreting service, but also the role of the nonhuman actors in the process, e.g. the subject matter of a lecture, the interpreting equipment, the teaching aids in the classroom, and the material environment. The data consisted of a main and an additional corpus. As part of the main corpus, three interpreted lectures were filmed and recorded, and interviews were conducted with the lecturers, interpreters and users of the interpreting service. The recordings of the lectures and the interviews were transcribed and studied, together with various pieces of visual and textual data collected. As part of the additional corpus, fieldwork was conducted in 61 interpreted lectures, field notes made, and data in various forms collected and studied. In line with the tenets of ANT, a detailed description was reported of the various processes and interactions that were observed during data collection. The data showed that the interpreting product is the result of a process of network formation. Within these networks, the interpreter is not the exclusive locus of action but is enacted by multiple human and non-human actors. It became evident that actors external to the lecture and associated within strong network formations, e.g. the 2016 Language Policy, played an important role in determining interpreters’ alignment and actions during the lecture. The interpreting timetable further emerged as a vital actor that has to supply oxygen to the rest of the educational interpreting network and determines the role that interpreters can and do play. A central finding of the study was that the interpreters are not reliably and securely aligned within the institution’s networks. Within the lecture itself, the interpreters are only sporadically and partially aligned, and are not effectively integrated into the learning opportunity. As a result, interpreters have little agency or power, and are unable to consistently interpret subject-specific texts as skilled and knowledgeable agents who enhance the learning experience. It emerged from the data that the interpreters have, due to misalignment with the wider networks, configured themselves in separate and isolated networks. For interpreting to function as a vital actor in the institutional network and as an actor with indisputable value as a mechanism in multilingual education, the interpreters must be aligned within networks more seamlessly and more securely. These interpreters should be equipped for the real-life contact situations in which they work; not by limiting their actions through prescriptive norms but by providing them with enough flexibility and agency to make ethical and responsible decisions, enabling them to play a meaningful role in the teaching and learning process. Recommendations based on these findings include a re-alignment of the entire interpreting network, from the intimate spotlight in the lecture where the interpreters have to formulate each individual utterance, all the way up to the institutional level. The study proved the value of actornetwork theory in investigations into the social reality of the translator/interpreter as an agent and led to a deeper understanding of translation/interpreting as a phenomenon and as an object of study.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Gesproke opvoedkundige tolking is ’n innoverende kommunikasieproses wat in sommige Suid-Afrikaanse tersiêre instellings aangetref word. Baie min is egter bekend oor wat die proses van ’n getolkte universiteitslesing behels en wat opvoedkundige tolke van oomblik tot oomblik in die tolkproses doen en deurlééf. Die huidige studie is onderneem om deur ’n sosiale vertaalteoretiese benadering groter insig te verkry in die vervaardigingsproses van ’n getolkte universiteitslesing (gesproke taal) en die wisselwerking tussen die akteurs wat by hierdie produksieproses betrokke is. Die studie is prosesgeoriënteerd en maak gebruik van die akteurnetwerkteorie (ANT) en ’n etnografiese navorsingstrategie om ’n binneperspektief te kry op die geleefde werklikheid in die studiekonteks. Die epistemologie van ANT maak dit moontlik om nie slegs die onderlinge verwantskappe tussen menslike akteurs soos dosente, tolke en tolkgebruikers te ondersoek nie, maar ook die invloed wat niemenslike akteurs soos die vakgebied van ’n lesing, die tolktoerusting, die leerhulpmiddele in die klas sowel as die organisasie van die materiële omgewing op die tolkproses het. Die data bestaan uit ’n hoof- en ’n aanvullende korpus. As deel van die hoofkorpus is video- en klankopnames van drie getolkte lesings gemaak en onderhoude met dosente, tolke en die tolkgebruikers gevoer. Die lesings en onderhoude is getranskribeer en visuele en tekstuele data is ingesamel en bestudeer. As deel van die aanvullende korpus is veldwerk in 61 getolkte lesings gedoen, veldaantekeninge gemaak en data ingesamel en bestudeer. In navolging van die beginsels van ANT word die data gerapporteer as ’n gedetailleerde beskrywing van die prosesse en die wisselwerking tussen akteurs wat in die proses waargeneem is. Die data het getoon dat die tolkproduk die resultaat is van ’n proses van netwerkformasie. Binne hierdie netwerke tree die tolk nie as die uitsluitlike lokus van aksie op nie, maar sy word geaktiveer of gemobiliseer deur ’n veelvoud menslike en niemenslike akteurs. Die data het verder getoon dat sosiale akteurs wat ekstern tot die lesing is en binne sterk netwerke belyn is, soos die 2016-Taalbeleid, tolke se belyning bínne die lesing bepaal. Die tolkrooster is blootgelê as ’n kardinale akteur wat suurstof na die netwerke van opvoedkundige tolking moet voer en bepalend is vir die rol wat tolke binne die studiekonteks kan uitleef en in werklikheid uitleef. ’n Basiese bevinding van die studie is dat tolke nie sterk, reëlmatig en stabiel met die netwerke binne die instelling belyn is nie. Binne die lesing is tolke slegs sporadies en gedeeltelik met die res van die netwerk belyn en nie effektief in die leergeleentheid geïntegreer nie. Hierdie gebrek aan integrasie lei daartoe dat tolke oor lae agentskap en mag beskik en nie as kundiges konsekwent vakkundige tekste in die doeltaal kan tolk en waarde tot hulle kliënte se leerervaring kan toevoeg nie. Uit die data het dit voorgekom asof tolking en tolke binne aparte, byna geïsoleerde netwerke funksioneer. Indien tolking as ’n onmisbare akteur in die netwerke van die instelling met vanselfsprekende waarde as meertaligheidsmeganisme wil funksioneer, moet tolke stabiel en naatloos in netwerke belyn wees. Tolke moet effektief toegerus word vir die werklike kontaksituasies waar hulle tolk maar terselfdertyd nie deur voorskriftelike norme ingeperk word nie, sodat hulle buigsaam kan optree en oor die agentskap beskik om eties en verantwoordbaar op te tree en ’n betekenisvolle rol in die onderrig- en leerproses te speel. Die aanbevelings van die studie behels ’n herbelyning van die hele netwerk waarbinne tolke moet funksioneer, vanaf die intieme kollig in die lesing waar tolke uiting vir uiting moet formuleer tot by die vlak van die instelling. Die studie toon die waarde aan van die akteurnetwerkteorie vir die ondersoek van die sosiale realiteit van die vertaler/tolk as agent en het gelei tot ’n dieper insig in vertaling/tolking as fenomeen en onderwerp van studie.
Description
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2020.
Keywords
Educational interpreting, Actor-network theory, Etnography, Lectures and lecturing -- Translating, Translating and interpreting -- Study and teaching, Academic language -- Translation, UCTD, Translators
Citation