Prof. Dr. Jens Heßmann
Gudrun Hillert
Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal-Germany
The German module of the Leonardo da Vinci project "MÀS: Broadening Access to Learning, Training and Employment for Deaf and Disabled People" is to develop and test training programmes designed to prepare sign language interpreters and student tutors/notetakers for the specific demands of educational settings as well as deaf students for the use of interpreters and other support workers. The module will thus ensure further improvement of the quality of access to continuing (vocational) training of deaf people in Germany. The programmes developed will use open and distance learning and online teaching. They will be tested and evaluated during the life-time of the project.
Deaf people are often disadvantaged in accessing learning, training and employment. As in vocational training and in higher education deaf students are non-traditional students, institutions and trainers are not prepared for them. For instance, institutions and trainers use a language that is only a second language for most deaf students. Sign language interpreters and support workers (student tutors and note takers) deliver special services to deaf students and try to fill the gap between traditional institution and non-traditional student. Deaf students can use these services to develop language skills and study skills, to acquire new generation skills, to get an understanding of the ethos of the institution, to build their confidence, to get more control of their learning environment, and to learn how to make the most of their training experience.
Using sign language is one medium to provide access for deaf students and to address the disadvantages faced by deaf people in accessing training and education.
Crucial questions to answer in this context are:
· How do sign language interpreters and student note takers acquire sign language/translation competences and is this acquired language/competence adequate for use in vocational training and higher education?
· What are the specific issues to be aware of in providing these services in vocational training and higher education?
· What are the key skills sign language interpreters and student note takers should possess to function appropriately in educational settings and how can these be promoted?
· What kind of cultural knowledge should sign language-interpreters and tutor-students/note takers possess?
· What is “good quality interpreting” in training and education?
· How can the quality of tutor-students/notetakers be measured?
· How can isolated “good practice” interpretation and note-taking be spread nationally and transnationally?
· How can sign language interpreters and tutor-students/notetakers be trained appropriately for work in training and education?
· How can deaf users of interpreters and tutor-students be prepared so as to use theses services effectively?
The German module of the Leonardo da Vinci project “MÁS-Broadening Access to Learning, Training and Employment for Deaf and Disabled People” is designed to answer these questions.
As a first step the national provision of deaf people with qualified support work has to be analysed and evaluated and be compared to similar services in the partner countries Britain and Spain. A second step is to develop effective training programmes for sign language interpreters, tutor-students and deaf users in educational settings. These programmes should use open and distance learning and online teaching and be tested and evaluated during the life-time of the project.
Supposedly, qualified support work can be most easily found where good training opportunities for support workers exist. In Germany, training opportunities for sign language interpreters and tutor-students are rare and have only recently been established:
The first sign language interpreter training programme at a university level started in Hamburg in 1996; it was followed by a programme at the University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal in 1997 and at the Western-Saxonian University of Applied Sciences in Zwickau in 2000. In all of these three programmes students start to learn sign language interpreting from scratch. Besides these programmes at university level, there are two part-time training opportunities for interpreters who already have a knowledge of sign language and working experience but lack a formal interpreting qualification: The interpreter agency in Zwickau started its programme in 1993, while a similar programme has been offered jointly by the University of Applied Sciences and the University of Frankfurt am Main since 1999. Another training scheme of this kind is running as pilot programme in Essen at “LINGS”, the Regional Institute for Sign Language. (LEVEN 2000)
Only one of these programmes provides special courses in educational interpreting. As a rule, educational interpreting is only briefly discussed as one of a number of possible interpreting settings in classes that treat methods and techniques of sign language interpreting. An exception is the University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, where interpreting for deaf fellow-students in university seminars and lectures is an integrated and integral part of the programme. Here, the need for a clarification of the specific difficulties of interpreting in an educational setting and the high level of skill needed is clearly felt and articulated.
To name but some of the challenges and special problems of this setting: complex sentence structure used by speakers, high rate of technical terms, speed of speech, interferences of the written language, frequent use of foreign languages, detailed expert knowledge, special “cultural rules” for teaching and learning in traditional institutions that may differ from the learning backgrounds of deaf students, and the parallel use of showing and explaining. Sign language interpreters have to possess strategies to deal with these difficulties when doing their job in educational settings.
Formal training programmes for tutor-students are non-existent in Germany. Tutor-students are generally recruited by the disabled students themselves or by counselling services for disabled students. It depends on the individual disabled student or counselling service if tutor-students get some informal instruction about what they should do and how they should work. An exception was the situation at the PotsMods-Project at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam: Within this project, tutor-students were recruited, trained and guided by the project co-ordinator. They also had to take part in sign language classes and courses on deaf culture and the deaf community so as to understand the individuality and background of deaf students and to know, for instance, which kind of information should be included in the scripts of classes.
Training programmes for deaf users of sign language interpreters and/or tutor-students are non-existent, too. As most of the deaf students do not have any experience in using sign language interpreters and tutor-students when leaving school, they start university with vague ideas at best concerning the work, the duties and the rights of support workers. Experience from the PotsMods-Project in Potsdam has shown that even sophisticated deaf students cannot be expected to know how to use an interpreter or a tutor-student. Learning to access and manage professional and peer support systems is necessary for all deaf students in Germany. Training programmes for deaf users should include issues such as the function, role and responsibilities of sign language interpreters, rights and duties of interpreters and rights and duties of consumers, basic courtesies such as exchanging greetings, closings, compliments, criticisms or how to interrupt an interpreter to interrupt the speaker, pragmatic concerns like where to sit and where to place the interpreter, who to look at during a discourse and how to help interpreters to get good preparation, how to ask questions, respond to questions and interact with hearing people, how to ask for clarification when there is a misunderstanding, and, last but not least, ethical concerns such as how to handle ethically challenging situations (for example misbehaviour of the interpreter). (AVLIC 1992, 19, 39 and SEAL 1998, 109)
The need of special training opportunities for sign language interpreters and tutor-students and for deaf users in educational settings is evident. As deaf students choose their universities or vocational training placements all over Germany, central training programmes would not be appropriate to meet the needs of support workers and students serving their clients in various regions and places all over the country. Open and distance teaching opportunities would thus be favourable instruments to improve the situation in Germany.
The German module in the MÁS project is designed to develop and test teaching opportunities needed and will thus ensure further improvement of the quality of access to continuing (vocational) training of deaf people in Germany.
The training programmes will be developed in close co-operation with the German Association of Sign Language Interpreters and the Association of the Deaf in Saxony-Anhalt. Through the cooperation with these bodies the expertise and knowledge of deaf people and professionals as well as their claims, demands and expectations can be respected and taken into account. The two partners will also act as national dissemination partners, and will help to evaluate and promote the results from the project.
AVLIC (1992): Interpreters in the Educational Setting.
Ottawa, Ontario. Canada.
Deutsches Studentenwerk
(1998): Studium und Behinderung.
Praktische Tips und Informationen des DSW für
Studierende mit Behinderung und chronischen
Erkrankungen. Bonn.
Regina Leven (2000): Gebärdensprachdolmetschen. Studiengänge und
Fortbildungen in Deutschland.
In: Das Zeichen September Nr. 53, S. 484 - 486
Brenda Chafin Seal (1998): Best Practices in Educational Interpreting.
Needham Heights, MA 02194. United States.