Assessing effects of source text complexity on L2 learners’ interpreting performance: a dependency-based approach
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Xinlei Jiang
Xinlei Jiang is assistant professor in School of Foreign Studies, and post-doctoral fellow in Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at Xi’an Jiaotong University. Obtaining PhD in interdiscipline of linguistics and computer sciences, she does research combining cognitive interpreting studies, quantitative linguistics and corpus-based translation studies. She has published several peer-reviewed SSCI indexed academic papers featuring interdisciplinarity, including recent publications in
Journal of Quantitative Linguistics andLingua . She is now presiding over a national social science program, focusing on the quantitative enquiry to translation/interpreting process research.
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Yue Jiang
Yue Jiang is professor in School of Foreign Studies at Xi’an Jiaotong University. His research interests include corpus-based linguistics, digital humanities and quantitative linguistics. He publishes extensively in peer-reviewed SSCI/SCI-indexed journals:
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, International Journal of Modern Physics C, Lingua, Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Journal of Quantitative Linguistics, Across Languages and Cultures.
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Xiaopeng Zhang
Xiaopeng Zhang is Professor of second language acquisition at Xi’an Jiaotong University. His main research interests cover usage-based approaches to second language development, lexical representation and processing. His work appears in peer-reviewed SSCI-indexed journals such as
Applied Linguistics ,Applied Psycholinguistics ,Assessing Writing ,International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching ,International Journal of Applied Linguistics ,Language Learning, Language Teaching Research ,Second Language Research ,Modern Language Journal, Studies in Second Language Acquisition andSystem.
Abstract
Based on data from the English-Chinese interpretation corpus, we examined the relationship of source text complexity, captured using newly-developed dependency-based and traditional indices, to L2 learners’ interpreting performance captured using complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Best subsets regression and Poisson regression models yielded that the effectiveness of dependency-based indices including mean dependency distance, maximum dependency distance, dependency direction, and root distance, has been demonstrated across various dimensions of L2 learners’ performance. In contrast to the mixed results obtained from traditional indices, the consistent effect of dependency-based indices in these dimensions sheds light on the workings of cognitive processing. These findings provide preliminary support for the impact of dependency-based indices of source text on L2 learners’ interpreting performance, aiding in operationalizing task difficulty in L2 interpreting pedagogy. Moreover, they constitute product-based evidence for understanding bilingual switching.
Funding source: National Social Science Fund of China
Award Identifier / Grant number: 22CYY005
About the authors
Xinlei Jiang is assistant professor in School of Foreign Studies, and post-doctoral fellow in Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at Xi’an Jiaotong University. Obtaining PhD in interdiscipline of linguistics and computer sciences, she does research combining cognitive interpreting studies, quantitative linguistics and corpus-based translation studies. She has published several peer-reviewed SSCI indexed academic papers featuring interdisciplinarity, including recent publications in Journal of Quantitative Linguistics and Lingua. She is now presiding over a national social science program, focusing on the quantitative enquiry to translation/interpreting process research.
Yue Jiang is professor in School of Foreign Studies at Xi’an Jiaotong University. His research interests include corpus-based linguistics, digital humanities and quantitative linguistics. He publishes extensively in peer-reviewed SSCI/SCI-indexed journals: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, International Journal of Modern Physics C, Lingua, Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Journal of Quantitative Linguistics, Across Languages and Cultures.
Xiaopeng Zhang is Professor of second language acquisition at Xi’an Jiaotong University. His main research interests cover usage-based approaches to second language development, lexical representation and processing. His work appears in peer-reviewed SSCI-indexed journals such as Applied Linguistics, Applied Psycholinguistics, Assessing Writing, International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Language Learning, Language Teaching Research, Second Language Research, Modern Language Journal, Studies in Second Language Acquisition and System.
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Research funding: This research was supported by a grant from the National Social Science Fund of China awarded to Xinlei Jiang (Award Reference: 22CYY005).
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Author contributions: All the three authors meet the following 4 criteria of authorship: 1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and 2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3. Final approval of the version to be published; and 4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
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Competing interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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