The Analysis Of Focus On Attention To Information Reception And Interpreting Output

Interpreting is a quite demanding inter-lingual communication. Consecutive interpreting, as one of the major modes of interpreting, is usually adopted in the elementary interpreting course for interpreting novices. As we all know, the process of interpreting is a communicative activity of heavy cognitive psychological essence. Attention, as an important concept in cognitive psychology, is one of the vital factors influencing consecutive interpreting performance. Therefore, it is significant to study novices'allocation of attention in consecutive interpreting process.In this thesis, the theoretical framework is mainly based on Gile's Effort Model and attention theories in cognitive psychology. The author attempts to investigate the function of attention and the peculiarities of novices'allocation of attention in the process of consecutive interpreting by conducting an empirical experiment. With the application of SPSS 16.0 software, the following major findings are obtained.1. For interpreting novices, attention is positively correlated with consecutive interpreting performance. The correlations between four basic qualities of attention and consecutive interpreting have some differences. Only stability is positively correlated to interpreting performance. The other three qualities, allocation, span and transference all negatively influence interpreting performance. The results are caused by the deficiency of novices'attention. They have bad performance in allocating attention; they usually direct attention to unimportant information; they can not shift attention flexible.2. Top three factors influencing novices'attention all belong to Phase II in the process of consecutive interpreting. And they all relate to memory and notes. It indicates novices could dominate much more attention in Phase II, which proceeds under less pressure.3. Based on Gile's effort model, the attention value in stages of C (listening comprehension), REM (remembering), and READ (note-reading) show prominently high scores. This result demonstrates novices spend more attention on these three stages.On the basis of the findings, the thesis explains the important role played by attention in the process of consecutive interpreting. It also proves the limitation of information processing capacity and the necessity to allocate attention reasonably.This thesis aims at interpreting novices, thus can provide some reference to the future teaching and training of consecutive interpreting in universities.