On the relationship between interpreting trainees’ anxiety, disfluency markers and performance scores in dialogue interpreting

Abstract

The present study explores the relationship between student interpreters’ anxiety, performance scores and disfluency markers during a dialogue interpreting simulation. Work-related stress is a challenging issue in interpreting, contributing to mental illness and poor-quality performance, yet few studies link anxiety to acoustic fluency markers in bidirectional tasks. Twenty-three final-year Spanish interpreting students performed a simulated dialogue interpreting situation in a health care context. Their performance was recorded and their audio data was analyzed with Praat (Version 6.0.43). They were awarded marks based on fidelity (60%), accuracy (20%) and delivery (20%), with inter-rater reliability of Krippendorff’s alpha=0.80. The Spanish version of the State Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was used to evaluate their state-trait anxiety during the task. Results showed a relationship between state anxiety and disfluency markers, as well as between disfluency markers and performance scores, but only when interpreting in the L1–L2 direction. Trait anxiety was not related to any variables. Situational stress was linked to pauses and delivery speed when interpreting into English, and higher disfluency was associated with lower grades. These findings highlight directionality effects and the importance of stress management in interpreter training.