An Empirical Research On MTI Student Interpreters’ Interpreting Anxiety Based On Emotion Studies And The Interpreting Anxiety Scale

As a demanding cognitive activity,interpreting triggers anxiety easily among interpreters in practice,which is an automatic emotional response to outside pressure.Student interpreters are more susceptible to emotional changes due to their comparative lack of expertise and experience in interpreting.Unmodulated,anxiety affects the agent’s facial expressions,physiological activities,mental status,and even cognitive function.Hence,studying the anxiety of student interpreters induced by interpreting(interpreting anxiety)is highly necessary.This paper adopts a mixed-method approach to explore student interpreters’ perceptions of and attitudes toward interpreting anxiety and the latter’s influence on their acquisition of interpreting-related skills.The author surveyed and interviewed 36 student interpreters and five instructors at GDUFS School of Interpreting and Translation Studies with the Interpreting Anxiety Scale developed by Professor Dong Yanping and her team and then studied the data both quantitatively and qualitatively through the perspective of the psycho-evolutionary theory of emotions.Tentatively,the findings suggest that most student interpreters’ perception of interpreting anxiety tends to be biased and superficial,presuming(1)that interpreting anxiety is purely negative and(2)that it can be reduced or eliminated with the enhancement of interpreting competence.And the interview results suggested further that the improper handling of interpreting anxiety derived from such improper perceptions could harm the students’ learning outcomes,professional development,and even overall wellbeing in the long term.Therefore,the thesis concluded that the issue of student interpreters’ anxiety should be emphasized more in interpreting education and relevant elective courses should be added to the curriculum design.