中英口譯能力考試英語測驗題型適用性研究

Abstract

有鑑於口譯考試施測及評分過程，所耗費的人力與時間頗鉅，多數口譯考試係以第一階段的英文能力測驗作為篩選機制，先篩選出可能具備口譯能力的考生，再進入口譯實務測驗階段。然而，英文能力考試能否確實篩選出具有口譯能力的考生，實取決於題型設計能否充分反映口譯工作所需之特定能力。本研究首先整理兩岸三個較具代表性的「中英文翻譯能力考試」第一階段使用題型，再以文獻回顧評估各題型，篩選出「聽寫填空」、「聽力簡答與筆記」、與「聽寫摘要」三個可能適用於翻譯能力考試第一階段測驗的題型，以及「逐字聽寫」與「聽力簡答題」兩個對照題型。本研究以實驗的方式，對「受過口譯訓練」及「未受過口譯訓練」的受測者施測，以瞭解受測者的成績表現是否受到不同題型的影響。

實驗結果顯示，「未受過口譯訓練」的受測者，在「聽寫填空」題型的表現較「逐字聽寫」差，但「受過口譯訓練」受測者在兩題型的表現沒有落差；「未受過口譯訓練」的受測者，在「聽力簡答與筆記」題型的表現較「聽力簡答」差，但「受過口譯訓練」受測者在兩題型的表現沒有落差；「未受過口譯訓練」受測者在「聽寫摘要」題型的表現明顯低於「受過口譯訓練」的受測者。據此推論，「聽寫填空」、「聽力簡答與筆記」、與「聽寫摘要」三個題型，除可測試語文能力之外，亦能反映逐步口譯所須具備的部分「非語言」能力，能夠篩選出「具有口譯能力」的受測者，可能較適用於口譯考試第一階段測驗。

Given the laborious nature of interpretation testing and its scoring process, most interpretation exams adopt language proficiency tests in the first phase as a screening mechanism. However, whether or not a language proficiency test can effectively single out examinees most prone to possess interpretation abilities relies on the test design. Based on the literature, the present research assessed all test activities employed in the first phase of three of the most representative English-Chinese interpretation exams, and identified ‘spot dictation’, ‘short-answer listening comprehension with note-taking’, and ‘summary’ as potentially applicable test activities as compared to ‘verbatim dictation’ and ‘short-answer listening comprehension’. All the test activities were then administered to both ‘participants trained in interpretation’ and ‘participants never trained in interpretation’ so as to observe if differences in test activities have an impact on the participants’ performance.

The result shows ‘participants never trained in interpretation’ perform better in ‘verbatim dictation’ than in ‘spot dictation’, while ‘participants trained in interpretation’ perform equally well in both; ‘participants never trained in interpretation’ perform better in ‘short-answer listening comprehension’ than in ‘short-answer listening comprehension with note-taking’, while ‘participants trained in interpretation’ perform equally well in both; ‘participants trained in interpretation’ outperform ‘participants never trained in interpretation’ in ‘summary’ activity. It is thus argued that ‘spot dictation’, ‘short-answer listening comprehension with note-taking’, and ‘summary’ may be more applicable for screening purposes since they not only assess language abilities but reflect part of the ‘non-linguistic’ abilities required for consecutive interpretation.