ID: | 4048 |
School: | School of Language, Education, and Culture |
Program: | Interpreting and Translation |
Status: | Completed |
Start date: | January 2020 |
End Date: | May 2021 |
The perceptions we believe others have of us, known as reflected appraisals, are significant to our self-concept. However, there is little known about how the self-concept of interpreters may be affected by the perceptions they encounter during their work. The current study used a sociological framework to examine how six interpreters in the experimental group perceived negative reflected appraisals from Deaf audience members during an interpreting task, if their self-views were negatively affected, and if they were affected, whether they led to diminished self-concept according to measures of self-esteem, mastery, and self-rated signing competency. The results were compared to a control group of five interpreters. Findings revealed that even though the experimental group did not believe the audience’s feedback was negative in nature, the appraisals still led to negative self-views. However, self-concept was not diminished to a statistically significant level. The implications of the current study may be used to improve the quality of interpreting services by deepening our understanding of what affects interpreter personhood.