Improving Professional Relationships in the Classroom: Teachers and Interpreters Working Together

Item

Title
Improving Professional Relationships in the Classroom: Teachers and Interpreters Working Together
Creator
Brittany C LeGal
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Interpreting Studies
Project Type
thesis
Date
12/10/2019
Abstract
Interpreters placed in mainstream settings are not just there to provide access to communication between the hearing counterparts and the deaf students. They are there as “integral members of the team” (Ohtake, Milagros, & Fowler, 2000, p. 16) and should be recognized as equals with the teacher in the classroom (Boys Town, n.d.). This research investigates professional relationships and how they can be established and maintained, the types of relationships mainstream teachers and educational interpreters have within Clark County, and how working together can result in educational benefits for everyone in the classroom. Interpreters are a member of the educational team and should be utilized to help support education (Ministry of Education, 1994). They have first-hand interactions with the client which enables them to know and understand the client(s) thoroughly. According to Siple (1994), interpreters listen to the lesson at hand and breakdown the message’s meaning to match the student’s language level and learning style so that they may comprehend the lesson. Interpreters are there to pass the teacher’s message to the deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. They are the first to recognize whether that message was understood, if interpreter expansion is needed, or if teacher clarification is needed to ensure comprehension. Responses from teachers and interpreters gathered from the online survey, as well as previous findings, will be examined to see how they work together as an effective team and how their united efforts could impact students’ education. The techniques that teachers and interpreters indicated enabled them to successfully establish and maintain professional relationships with each other, how they clearly defined their roles, and the educational impact their teamwork had will be explored.
Committee Member
Amanda Smith, Patrick Graham, Holly Jones
Rights
Western Oregon University Library has determined, as of 6/10/2022, 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 at the email address listed above.
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Language
eng
Date Available
12/11/2019
Type
Text
Identifier
theses/56