Page 148 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

The Impact of Cultural Differences on Interpreting Situations 133

Scenario 2
Hearing Professor: So who can tell us why XYZ is important?
Please raise your hands.
First Hearing Student: (blurts out) ABC....

Hearing Professor: Yes, that’s right, but there is something more.
Anyone have an idea?
Second Hearing Student: (blurts out) DEF....
Hearing Professor: Right, very good. Now let’s move on. Yes?

Deaf Student: (who has had his hand up from the beginning)
DEF....
Hearing Professor: Well, I think that was already established.
Probably the biggest problem in classroom discussions
is one of timing. There is often a quick back-and-forth
Ping-Pong match of comments between the teacher and
students, all of whom rely on paralinguistic cues to judge
when they can jump in, ask a question, or raise a new
point. The interpreter, by necessity, will always be at
least half a sentence behind the discussion, after which
the Deaf student must digest the information, which
puts him or her even further behind. Although the pro-
fessor may repeatedly request that the students raise
their hands so that turn taking can be regulated (some-
thing which if truly practiced would help the deaf stu-
dents appropriately time their comments), in heated
debate hearing students blurt out, chime in, and talk
over each other, without raising their hands or being
called on. All these factors put the deaf student at a
decided disadvantage in terms of class participation.

06 MINDESS PMKR 133 10/18/04, 12:01 PM