Peer assessment in an interpreting course with Smartclass software: Student and teacher perspectives

Abstract

Recently, peer assessment has been paid much attention by language educators as it is regarded as a tool to enhance English teaching and learning quality. Peer assessment is the matter of interest to many researchers such as Fazel (2015), Faridah et al., (2020), Wulandari et al., (2021). More specifically, it was believed to bring a great deal of benefits in interpreting courses at tertiary level (Holewik, 2020; Su, 2019, Lee, 2018). Challenges during peer feedback process, however, were also recorded. There has been little paper on the effect of PA on students’ interpreting performance, especially at the simulated interpreting courses at Vietnamese tertiary level. Therefore, this research is an attempt to occupy this gap. This study aims to explore teachers’ and students’ perspectives of how peer assessment affects students’ consecutive interpretation competency in the simulated interpreting course. Data were obtained through survey questionnaires with 120 English majored students and five focus group interviews (seven students/group) as well as semi-structured interviews with four teachers who are in charge of interpretation training courses. Findings showed teachers’ and students’ positive views on peer assessment in the simulated interpreting course as it could facilitate students to improve their interpretation skills, especially their memory skills, deciphering skills, and public speaking skills. Furthermore, roles of students, roles of teachers and codes of ethics for interpreters were also highlighted. However, some challenges while applying peer assessment were found due to students’ English level, students’ personality, and face-saving issues. Pedagogical implications were also discussed. Also, codes of ethics for interpreters and cultural awareness in PA are suggested for further research.