Interpreting studies

CTIS has a long-established tradition of research in interpreting studies that encompasses both conference interpreting and community interpreting, from a variety of perspectives.

Research strands

Conference delegates listening to interpretation through a headset
  1. One strand of our research is informed by forensic linguistics and focuses on the impact of the increasing globalization of judicial practices on the dynamics of courtroom interpreting.
  2. Another strand looks at ideology in interpreter-mediated communication and is interested in exploring the interplay of ideology and interpreter agency in different settings, including the institutions of the European Union and war zones.
  3. A further strand concerns the history of community interpreting and the connections between humanitarianism in the domestic context and emerging rights-based contexts of interpreter mediation.

A related area concerns the formulation and implementation of translation and interpreting policy in institutional settings (both statutory and non-statutory)  in community interpreting; in conference interpreting, activist perspectives have been invoked in ways that challenge dominant discourses on interpreting policy in this field.

Finally, our research interests extend to the fields of interpreter training and pedagogy with emphasis on the development of competence and expertise, and the phases of transition to professional contexts of practice. 

PhD projects

  • Maria Aguilar Solano (2012) Healthcare Interpreters' Perception of their Position in the Field of Public Service Interpreting in Spain: A Bourdieusian Perspective
  • Julie Boéri (2009) Babels, the Social Forum and the Conference Interpreting Community: Overlapping and Competing Narratives on Activism and Interpreting in the Era of Globalisation
  • Li-Wen Chang (2013) Investigating Note-taking in Consecutive Interpreting - Using the Concept of Visual Grammar
  • Elena Davitti (2012) Dialogue Interpreting as Intercultural Mediation: Integrating Talk and Gaze in the Analysis of Mediated Parent-Teacher Meetings
  • Lukasz Kaczmarek (2010) Modelling Competence in Community Interpreting: Expectancies, Impressions and Implications for Accreditation
  • Matthew Maltby (2009) Interpreting and Translation Policy in UK Asylum Applications
  • Tingting Sun (2012) Interpreters' Mediation of Government Press Conferences in China: Participation Framework, Footing and Face Work

Selected publications

  • Beaton, Morven (2007) 'Interpreted Ideologies in Institutional Discourse. The Case of the European Parliament', The Translator13(2): 271-296.
  • Pérez-González, Luis (2006) 'Interpreting Strategic Recontextualization Cues in the Courtroom', Journal of Pragmatics, 38: 390-417. 
  • Pérez-González, Luis (2002) 'Interpretar para la justicia: ¿Interpretar para la injusticia?', in C. Valero & G. Mancho (eds)Community Interpreting and Translating: New Needs for New Realities, Alcalá de Henares: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alcalá, 89-113.
  • Tipton, Rebecca ( 2014) ‘Pedagogical Approaches to Adaptive Expertise in Conference Interpreter Training’, Innovative Infotechnologies for Science, Business and Education 1(16): 31-36.
  • Tipton, Rebecca (2014) ‘Perceptions of the “Occupational Other”: Interpreters, Social Workers and Intercultures’, British Journal of Social Work.
  • Tipton, Rebecca (2012) 'Public Service Interpreting and the Politics of Entitlement for New Entrants to the United Kingdom',Journal of Language and Politics, Special issue on Translation and the Genealogy of Conflict, 11(2): 185-206.
  • Tipton, Rebecca (2011) ‘Relationships of Learning between Military Personnel and Interpreters in Situations of Violent Conflict: Dual Pedagogies and Communities of Practice’,Interpreter and Translator Trainer, Special Issue on Ethics and the Curriculum, 5(1): 15-40.
  • Tipton, Rebecca (2010) ‘On Trust: Relationships of Trust in Interpreter-mediated Social Work Encounters’ in Mona Baker, Maeve Olohan and María Calzada Perez (eds) (2010) Text and Context: Essays on Translation and Interpreting in Honour of Ian Mason, Manchester: St Jerome, 188-208.
  • Tipton, Rebecca (2008) ‘Interpreters and the social construction of identity’, The Translator 14(1): 1-19.