Luận Văn Short-term memory in English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting

Đồ án tốt nghiệp năm 2013
Đề tài: Short-term memory in English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting




TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter I: Introduction 1
1. Background to the study 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Scope of the study . 2
4. Methods of the study . 2
5. Organization of the thesis 3
Chapter II: Literature Review . 4
1. Short-term memory (STM) . 4
1.1 Definitions . 4
1.2 Major characteristics of STM . 4
2. Consecutive interpreting . 5
2.1 Interpreting 5
2.2 Consecutive interpreting . 7
2.3 STM and English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting . 9
Chapter III: The study of short-term memory usage in English to
Vietnamese interpreting . 13
1. Introduction . 13
2. Subject of the study . 13
3. Instrumentations 14
4. Procedures . 14
5. Findings and discussion 15
5.1 The current situation and students’ awareness of STM in English to
Vietnamese consecutive interpreting. . 15
1.2 Students’ practice to improve STM 20
1.3 Difficulties in practising STM. . 21
1.4 The role of teachers in STM application for students’ interpreting skill 22
6. Conclusion . 23
Chapter IV: Suggestions to improve short-term memory in English to
Vietnamese consecutive interpreting . 24
1. Introduction . 24
2. Techniques to improve STM in English to Vietnamese consecutive
interpreting 24
2.1. Listening . 24
2.1.1 Introduction 24
2.1.2 What to pay attention . 25
2.1.3 Auditory short-term memory improvement . 26
2.2. Memory training games . 30
2.2.1 Making up story . 30
1.2.2 Matching pair . 30
2.3. Retelling in source language (English) 31
2.3.1. Generalization . 31
2.3.2. Categorization . 32
2.3.3. Comparison . 34
2.3.4 Description . 35
2.4. Mnemonic to Memory 37
Chapter V: Conclusion, implication for learning and suggestions for
further study 40
1. Conclusion . 40
2. Implication for learning and suggestions for further study . 41
References . 42
Appendix 1 43
Appendix 2 46
Appendix 3 47
Appendix 4 48
Appendix 5 49




Abstract
Interpreting is a demanding and challenging job. A professional
interpreter must possess an ability of combining many skills in order to
perform the task of orally transferring the text from one language into another
one. Those skills are listening, note-taking, memorizing, public speaking, etc.
Among these skills, memorizing (especially short-term memory), is a crucial
key which decides the success of the interpreting task.
This paper discusses the short-term memory in English to Vietnamese
consecutive interpreting, intends for English majors at Haiphong Private
University (HPU). From the view point of a fourth year English major, the
author highlight the important role of short-term memory skill, find out the
shortcomings of HPU’s English majors in learning and applying this skill.
Therefore, several important techniques to effectively improve short-term
memory in English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting are proposed.
This study would be a reference for students and teachers of Faculty of
Foreign Languages at HPU. Especially, it can help enhance the learning
results of English majors in interpreting lessons as well as assist their future
job related to interpreting field.




CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1. Background to the study
In the age of global integration, the need of mutual understanding
among countries in the world has been increasing. However, different
languages are obviously significant communicative barriers. Being considered
as bridge of human communicative interaction, the possession of interpreting
skills is an effective means to break these barriers. Thus, interpreting is now
becoming an attractive and potential career. However, the work of
interpreting is not only demanding but also challenging.
Interpreting is an obligatory subject of all English majors at Hai Phong
Private University (HPU). It is considered as a hard and challenging subject.
To achieve the best results, learners need to have good English foundation
knowledge such as grammar, vocabulary. Beside such aspects, it is necessary
to have techniques. One of these should be short-term memory.
Memory is one of the major elements affecting the process of storing
and conveying information. Lack of mnemonic capacities may prevent people
from getting access to sources of information quickly and exactly. However,
due to the brain formation, human cannot remember everything they have
heard or read which is likely to be too complicated or not necessary for a
long-term use. Generally, memory is divided into two forms: long-term
memory and short-term memory. In this paper, the role of short-term memory
is analyzed and highlighted to encourage the best use of memory in the
context of interpreting classes at HPU.
Short-term memory is not only necessary but also obligatory for
learners of foreign languages. After four years of academic training at the
University, the target set by Faculty of Foreign Languages as well as most
English majors is to become proficient translators and interpreters. Due to the
limitation of interpreting training time which only consists of 4 credits




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