Students' Expectations And Motivation For Study In The Era Of Technology

As machine translation and artificial intelligence develop by leaps and bounds,there has been a growing public discussion on the possibility of machine replacing human interpreters.While praising the opportunities brought by the cutting-edge technology,little academic attention has been paid to the challenges it brings and the potential disruptive impact it could exert on the interpreting profession,especially on the interpreting trainees regarding their confidence in their future career.Meanwhile,China is encouraging the expansion of Translation and Interpreting(TI)degrees at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.In order to address the gap in theory and practice,this study focuses on the interplay between technological influence and the learning experience of interpreting students in China,particularly on interpreting trainees' motivation and expectation of studying interpreting in the crucial first year.15 first-year students from the interpreting programme at Xiamen University participated in this study.By adopting qualitative methods,semi-structured interviews were conducted at the end of their first semester.After the interviews,data were transcribed from the recordings,and thematic analysis was carried out to explore the data with a theoretical framework based on self-determination theory(SDT)and Communities of Practice(CoP).Results show that the technological impact has 1)influenced students'motivation and expectations especially concerning skill learning;and 2)the identity of students as they recognise themselves more as interpreting students instead of potential interpreters.Findings in this study also urge educators to be more aware of the importance of the social context and regard interpreting learning as social study instead of skill training.