Developing transferable skills and enhancing employability through liaison interpreting

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Developing transferable skills and enhancing employability through liaison interpreting F. Chouc French Teaching Fellow [email protected]

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Developing transferable skills and enhancing employability through liaison interpreting. F. Chouc French Teaching Fellow [email protected]. Liaison interpreting for business student : the activity placed in context The class, its pedagogical use and the development of key transferable skills - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Transcript of Developing transferable skills and enhancing employability through liaison interpreting

Page 1: Developing transferable skills and enhancing employability through liaison interpreting

Developing transferable skills and enhancing employability through liaison interpreting

F. ChoucFrench Teaching Fellow

[email protected]

Page 2: Developing transferable skills and enhancing employability through liaison interpreting

Liaison interpreting for business student : the activity placed in context

The class, its pedagogical use and the development of key transferable skills

From feed-back to self-assessment : a good basis for forward development

Page 3: Developing transferable skills and enhancing employability through liaison interpreting

What is liaison interpreting ?

The activity itself:

« an exercise in communication » (H. Keith), «  a means of developing the learner’s communicative competence » (R. Towell).

Setting : a dialogue staged between 2 teachers, communication managed by the students.

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The activity in context

Liaison interpreting as part of the IML course

- a course combining management modules and language modules

- 3rd year abroad, in a partner institution (business school)

- languages activities specifically designed for the IML course: case studies in 4th year

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The activity in context

Example of case-study : the wine industry - fictive company created, with a basic scenario : the

wine producers from Auvergne want to improve their brand image and expand sales.

- Series of Spoken and written activities organised around the theme (marketing project, summary of related documents, etc …)

     

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The activity in context

- simulation of business meeting between a representative of a British wine retailer and a representative of the Auvergne wine producers – students act as interpreters at this meeting.

Liaison interpreting often at the end of the case-study.

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The activity in context

Aims and objectives of the course :

Address an audience in an appropriate manner.Manage face-to-face interaction.Develop the principal skills and practices associated with business situations requiring an advanced level of linguistic competenceDivide attention (multi-tasking).Develop a critical understanding of intercultural and interlingual issues.Demonstrate some originality and creativity in dealing with professional level issues. (http://www.sml.hw.ac.uk/undergraduate/modules/languages/c40/fj2.html)

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The expectations of the market

Key skills valued by employers (CIHE survey 2008, AGR survey 2008):

Communication

Team Working

Integrity

Intellect

Confidence

Personality

Planning & Organising

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The expectations of the market

The skills gap (CIHE survey 2008, AGR survey 2008):• 49% of employers are disappointed with

graduates’ foreign language skills• 86% of employers value good communication skills

but are « disatisfied that graduates can express themselves effectively »

• There is also a gap between the skills of graduates and expectations of employers for commercial awareness and analytical skills

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Using liaison interpreting to foster these skills

Why make management students do liaison interpreting ?

A communication exercice

Adjusting the focus : business-related skills at the core of the activity

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Using liaison interpreting to foster these skills

Communication challenges Obvious one : languageBUT also :- how to bridge cultural gaps- learning to ask questions and seek explanations / clarifications- communication manners / gate-keeping techniques : empowering the communicator and building up confidence

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Using liaison interpreting to foster these skills

- voice-management

- problem solving skills / creative solutions (the « nose-rubbing » technique)

• Integrated learning : interconnected activities around one theme

- pulling resources together from different sources (other activities, other types of materials on the theme)

- glossary building and anticipation : targetted research for the activity

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Using liaison interpreting to foster these skills

Team-work and ICT skills

- brief discussion in class: brainstorming on the liaison scenario beforehand

- ICT tools for practice : self-study lab, manipulation of free-ware for recordings

- the VLE : a platform for further team-work with the use of online wikis

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Using liaison interpreting to foster these skills

Awareness of current issues on a global scale:

The themes : business sectors and business-related activities

The content : updated and in keeping with current issues

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Skills development : beyond the classroom

The feed-back : a tool for a constructive critical reflexion

- general feed-back in class / how students work

- discussing the issues : the focus on communication

- how to improve ? Discussing solutions and following up on practice

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Skills development : beyond the classroom

Towards autonomous learning, for forward development planning

- self- assessment tools : assessment sheet, scripts and audio recordings = tools to redo the task and analyse it

- filming a session : unpopular but constructive exercise

- the autonomous liaison assignment

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Critical analysis based on graduate survey

The survey- sample of graduates (2005-2009)- Current field of work of the graduates:

Management role/business-related job: 50%

Language-related careers : 20%

Teaching : 30%

NB: considered IML students and students from other courses who did liaison interpreting

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Critical analysis based on graduate survey

Top 3 key skills ranked (CIHE/AGR list )

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Communication Planning/Org. Personality Confidence Team w ork Analytical

1st

2nd

3rd

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Critical analysis based on graduate survey

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1

2

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Communication Planning/org Personality Confidence Team work Analytical

Relevance of liaison interpreting related to skills

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Critical analysis based on graduate survey

Key skills identified by graduates surveyed :- Communication- Planning and organising- Personality

= Quite consistent with what employers have identified.

Relevance of liaison exercise in developing these skills

= fairly to very relevant for the top 4 skills identified

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Conclusion

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/skillsmap.htm

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Conclusion

- Liaison interpreting can develop many key skills valued by employers.

- It is a relevant exercise for business students too, as this activity is very versatile and develops more than just language skills.