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Article published In:
FORUM
Vol. 22:1 (2024) ► pp.118–144

Eye-tracking the processing of visual input of live transcripts in remote simultaneous interpreting

Preliminary findings

 | University of Leeds
 | University of Leeds
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to the booming of remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI), which poses new cognitive challenges for interpreters. This study explores how interpreters adapt to these challenges, specifically the functionality of live transcripts generated automatically by Zoom Meetings in RSI. The study aims to: (1) investigate whether access to live transcripts enhances the overall performance of interpreters; (2) explore whether RSI with live transcripts increases cognitive demands; (3) identify visual attention patterns in RSI with live transcripts. A group of professional interpreting trainees (N = 13) were recruited for the study to examine their interpreting with live transcripts and interpreting without live transcripts, which yields three preliminary findings: Firstly, using live transcripts significantly improves overall interpreting performance. Secondly, RSI with live transcripts is more cognitively demanding. Lastly, live transcripts attract the highest visual attention during the interpreting process.
Keywords: remote simultaneous interpreting, live transcripts, eye-tracking experiment, visual input, quality assessment
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous research on the processing of visual inputs in simultaneous interpreting
    • 2.1Visual inputs in simultaneous interpreting
    • 2.2Eye-tracking the processing of visual inputs in simultaneous interpreting
  • 3.Research questions
  • 4.Research design
    • 4.1An eye-tracked experiment of interpreting
    • 4.2Participants
    • 4.3Source speeches of the interpreting experiment
    • 4.4Procedure and software
    • 4.5Data collection and analysis
      • 4.5.1Eye-tracking data
      • 4.5.2Interpreting performance assessment data
      • 4.5.3Statistical analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Comparison of interpreting performance scores between with and without live transcript conditions
    • 5.2Comparison of cognitive effort between with and without live transcript conditions
      • 5.2.1Fixation count per minute
      • 5.2.2Dwell time per minute
    • 5.3Visual processing pattern in RSI with live transcripts
      • 5.3.1Fixation count per minute of AOIs
      • 5.3.2Dwell time per minute of AOIs
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1Live transcripts contribute to an improvement in the overall performance of interpreters
    • 6.2RSI with live transcripts is more cognitively demanding
    • 6.3Live transcripts attract the most visual attention
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 25 April 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/forum.00038.yua
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