Characterizing Effective Interpreting in STEM
Item
-
Title
-
Characterizing Effective Interpreting in STEM
-
Creator
-
Natalie Kraft
-
Degree Name
-
Master of Arts in Interpreting Studies
-
Project Type
-
Thesis
-
Date
-
6/15/2025
-
Abstract
-
Interpreting in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields
presents challenges, including technical and specialized jargon, dense concepts, and lexical
resources that are not standardized. Generalist-trained interpreters may not be well-equipped to take on work in STEM fields, which may result in deaf professionals and graduate students in STEM being impacted negatively by a shortage of qualified interpreters. In this qualitative study, I conduct surveys of deaf professionals and graduate students in STEM regarding their experiences with and preferences regarding interpreting services and the strategies they use to ensure effective communication in the classroom and workplace. I also survey interpreters working in STEM fields to ascertain their experiences and the strategies they use in interpreting STEM material. This study investigates connections between the answers of the two participant groups. My goal in this study is to contribute to the publicly available knowledge of the American Sign Language (ASL) STEM community and improve STEM interpreting practices by providing information to individual interpreters working in STEM, as well as interpreter trainers.
Keywords: STEM, interpreting, interpreting in STEM, deaf professionals, graduate
students
-
Keywords
-
deaf professionals
-
graduate students
-
Committee Member
-
Elisa Maroney
-
Colin Lualdi
-
Rian Gayle
-
Rights
-
Western Oregon University Library has determined, as of 06/20/2025, this item is in copyright, which is held by the author. Users may use the item in accordance with copyright limitations and exceptions, including fair use. For other uses, please ask permission from the author.
-
https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en
-
Language
-
eng
-
Type
-
Text
-
Identifier
-
NatalieKraft_Thesis_2025
