A Schema-Theoretic View Of The Impact Of Background Knowledge On Comprehension In E-C Consecutive Interpretation

This paper exams the influence of background knowledge on comprehension in English-Chinese Consecutive Interpretation (CI) based on Bartlett’s Schema Theory and Gile’s Comprehension Equation Theory. Consecutive interpreters generally possess good language proficiency and lack background knowledge. Based on analysis of the empirical research findings, this paper provides advice for interpreters and CI learners on achieving better performance in comprehension.The first part presents theoretical basis of this paper. Gile’s Comprehension Equation and Bartlett’s Schema Theory are introduced and reviewed in this part. The second part is about empirical research. It describes an experiment on background knowledge about disaster robotics.10 interpreters, all with good language proficiency, participate in the experiment and form two groups, i.e. Group A and Group B. The later receives 30-minute training on background knowledge one day before the experiment. Their performance is evaluated through quantitative and qualitative approaches.In the final part, this paper concludes that background knowledge in content schema exerts positive influence on interpreters’comprehension of technical terms and content involved. Besides, interpreters of background knowledge show good comprehension in a manner steadier than those without. However, this research also finds out that fragmented background knowledge is not enough for good comprehension of some speech content. Therefore, interpreters need to know background knowledge in the short term and to build a comprehensive content schema about knowledge in the long run if they are to achieve better comprehension in CI.