An Exploratory Study On The Interpreting Learning Motivation Of Master-Level T&I Learners

Learning motivation affects students’learning behavior,professional performance and well-being.Interpreting learning at the master level is stressful and intensive,requiring significant effort from the learners,whose learning motivation may be a decisive factor in their overall learning result.The premise of maintaining and internalizing their learning motivation is to understand their motivation orientations and affecting factors,thus facilitating the adjustment of interpreting teaching strategies.This study takes the Self-determination Theory in psychology as the theoretical basis and investigates 167 master-level T&I learners via a questionnaire survey to explore their interpreting learning motivation orientations and the relationship between the learners’interpreting learning motivation orientations and their personal background.The study found that the interpreting learning motivation of graduate-level T&I learners can be categorized into nine orientations,listed by their influential level from maximum to minimum:professional value,personal development,intrinsic interest,career resources,degree and certificates,external encouragement,competence enhancement,overseas development and parents’ expectations,mostly concentrated in the "identity regulation" and "integrated regulation" of "autonomous motivation".Students a)with a foreign language major in the undergraduate stage,b)have taken interpreting courses in undergraduate study,c)have had formal interpreting experience,and d)have exposure to professional interpreters,have significantly higher motivation than those without these experiences in six motivation orientations,namely,"intrinsic interest","external encouragement","personal development","overseas development","professional value" and "career resources".The above research results show that master-level T&I learners have strong autonomous interpreting learning motivation and a marked tendency to become professionals.Pre-enrollment major,interpreting courses experience at undergraduate study,pre-enrollment formal interpreting practice experience,and pre-enrollment exposure to professional interpreters may positively influence students’ interpreting learning motivation at the master level.Based on the research findings,this study proposes targeted motivation strategies to improve interpreting teaching at the master stage.Interpreting teachers can appropriately increase encouragement to students,interpreting courses can be adjusted to meet the students’ professional development needs,and professional interpreters can be invited regularly to help students better comprehend the current state of the interpreting profession,so as to satisfy the students’psychological needs of "autonomy","competence" and "relatedness",and facilitate the internalization of interpreting learning motivation.