Richard's consecutive interpreting

Let me contribute a technique that is perhaps dogme-ish and which I use, similarly to how I describe it here, quite often (at an advanced level, but it can be adapted for lower ones). It's only suitable for same mother tongue groups.

It's quite simply this: consecutive interpreting (CI). CI, as you may know, involves listening to a speaker and taking very schematic notes in order to reproduce the speech orally in a synthetic (shortened) form in another language.

How is this dogme, you may ask. Well, if you compare it to simultaneous interpreting (SI) the technology angle becomes clear because in SI you need to have booths and transmitters and microphones and earphones, etc. Most authorities date SI's arrival on the scene as recently as the Nuremberg trials, which was the first important occasion that featured this new technology. (Incidentally, SI is not necessarily superior to CI but it's quicker and maintains a façade of reliable information transfer. In fact, the communication may be less effective than in CI, for a variety of factors.) CI, in contrast, is as old as the hills (well, almost).

So how can this work in the language classroom?

1. Emergence/Imposition of text. Teacher (T) tells a story in Students' (Ss) L1. Ss take notes as they listen.

2. CI. Ss retell the story in turns or cooperatively in pairs/threes in L2. At the same time a student volunteer tapes their L2 version (no rehearsal) (tape recorders are OK, right?). (Or a student performs before the class.)

3. Display/Review: Listen to the taped version together and comment on it in any way you (T and Ss) like. Language focus.

4. Try again: T or Ss tell a similar or related story in L1. etc. Ss write it up at home?

Variations:

Student tells story.

Not a story, a talk/mini-presentation. etc.

Notes:

The sequence described bears a certain relationship to Dictogloss but "texts" can be (much) longer. The focus in translation in CI is very much on message (non-word-for-word) because in the production stage the original L1 stimulus is no longer in the air.

The "authentic" communication as such is all in L1, which may go against the grain for some teachers.But this approach allows students to work on their L2 production in a display sense and with peer review. (If you demand "communication" in L2, you could I suppose arrange a jigsaw version, but I think this would be missing the point.)

Note-taking: Ss may need some initial guidance in note-taking.

Formality: CI should be a rather formal activity. The student being recorded, or performing for the whole class, should not be interrupted and should speak in the first person. This way they really have to push themselves, compensate like crazy, and get into the persona of the first speaker.

Texts: Semi-improvised texts work best, i.e. the speaker improvises around very outline notes, or even a memorised outline. Inspiration can be sought in newspaper articles, etc. as required, even though these original sources may not be acknowledged and may never make it to the classroom. So there is some preparation work!

Translation: My experience is that oral translation based on CI is a powerful tool for language study, discourse awareness and assertiveness! I know that some teachers may feel daunted by the prospect of basing a lesson around an L1 spoken text, rather than an L2 one. In my opinion, this taboo (pace Skehan, Long, Krashen, Swain, etc.) is something to be met head-on. If you don't speak the Ss' L1 too well, you may need to look for other speakers. If you don't speak the Ss' L1 at all you could still do the sequence, and the translation/production stage would be real interpreting to the teacher!

Have I missed out anything important?

What do you think?

Have you done anything similar?

Is this dogme?

Like to try it?