ABSTRACT

Stress is assumed to be intrinsic to interpreting and the ability to manage it a presumed predictor of performance. And yet, empirical research on the role of stress in interpreting has remained scarce. This study explores the impact of stress and anxiety on the academic scores, heart rate (HR) and speech rhythm of 23 student interpreters in a liaison interpreting task. Participants’ stress and anxiety are measured using HR measures and the STAI test. Their speech rhythm is automatically analyzed through different indexes deriving from the variability of syllabic intervals. Results show that students’ grades negatively correlate with their levels of state anxiety, which are, in turn, significantly related to their rhythmic parameters in L1-L2 interpreting. Greater rhythmic variability correlates with students’ lower examination scores when speech is delivered into their L2. A significant increase in mean HR is reported during the interpreting task phase as compared with baseline and recovery phase, suggesting that HR was a sensitive marker to detect the students’ stress response, but not to the level of influencing performance. Results point to the need to triangulate different measures to obtain a complete picture of how stress and anxiety may impact interpreting performance.

摘要

压力被认为是解释的内在因素，而管理压力的能力则被假定为绩效的预测指标。然而，关于压力在口译中的作用的实证研究仍然很少。本研究探讨了压力和焦虑对 23 名学生口译在联络口译任务中的学业成绩、心率 (HR) 和言语节奏的影响。参与者的压力和焦虑是使用 HR 措施和 STAI 测试来衡量的。他们的语音节奏是通过从音节间隔的可变性得出的不同指标自动分析的。结果表明，学生的成绩与他们的状态焦虑水平呈负相关，而状态焦虑水平又与他们在 L1-L2 口译中的节奏参数显着相关。较大的节奏变异性与学生在 L2 中讲话时较低的考试分数相关。与基线和恢复阶段相比，口译任务阶段报告的平均 HR 显着增加，表明 HR 是检测学生压力反应的敏感标记，但不是影响表现的水平。结果表明需要对不同的措施进行三角测量，以全面了解压力和焦虑如何影响口译表现。