LVTT LE THI HUE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & TRAINING HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES GRADUATION PAPER LE THI HUE HOW TO USE SHORT-TERM MEMORY IN ENGLISH TO VIETNAMESE CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING EFFECTIVELY Hanoi, 2018 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & TRAINING HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES GRADUATION PAPER The student’s name: Le Thi Hue The student’s ID: 14107574 Class: TA-1905 Supervisor: Luong Ba Hung, M.A HOW TO USE SHORT-TERM MEMORY IN ENGLISH TO VIETNAMESE CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING EFFECTIVELY Hanoi, 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgments List of abbreviations Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 The rationale for the research 1.2 Aims of the research 1.3 The significance and scope of the research 1.4 Structural organization of the paper Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW/ OVERVIEW 2.1 An overview of short-term memory 2.1.1 Definition of short-term memory 2.1.2 Major characteristics of short-term memory 2.1.3 Differences between short-term memory and long-term memory 2.2 Using short-term memory in interpreting 2.2.1 Definition of interpreting 2.2.2 Major modes of interpreting 2.2.3 The stage of using short-term memory in the interpreting process 2.2.4 The role of short-term memory in interpreting 2.3 Summary Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY AND METHOD 3.1 Subjects of the study 3.2 Research procedure 3.3 Instrumentations Chapter 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 The importance of short-term memory in interpreting 4.2 The difficulties of using short-term memory in interpreting 4.3 How to improve short-term memory Chapter 5: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 Concluding remarks 5.2 Limitation of the research 5.3 Recommendations/Suggestions for further research REFERENCES APPENDIXES ABSTRACT Interpreting is regarded as a useful communication device when two persons who not speak each other’s language, want to exchange information through spoken language The technique involves the help of a third person, a go-between or interpreter, who speaks and understands both languages The interpreter’s task is highly demanding; it takes years of intensive training to become a skilled interpreter Interpreting studies have been set up to provide a model of the interpreting mechanism, which in turn may be used to set up and improve training programs for student interpreters When interpreting, the interpreter has to keep the input speech in memory (especially short-term memory) while formulating the equivalent as a suitable output in the source language Short-term memory, therefore, is an essential resource in the interpreting process but it has long been ignored by interpreting programs This paper discusses the short-term memory in English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting, intends for English majors at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT) From the viewpoint of a fourth year English major, the author highlight the important role of short-term memory skill, find out the shortcomings of HUBT’s English majors in learning and applying this skill in interpreting Therefore, several important techniques to effectively improve shortterm memory in English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting are proposed This study would be a reference for students and teachers of Faculty of English Languages at HUBT Especially, it can help enhance the learning results of English majors in interpreting lessons as well as assist their future job related to interpreting a field ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This graduation paper could not have been completed without the help and support of a number of people First of all, I would like to emphasize that I am deeply grateful to all the teachers, professors and colleagues for their instructions, advice, and suggestions for fulfilling the graduation paper properly I would also like to thank Mr Luong Ba Hung, my supervisor for providing a thorough supervision so that I can complete my research project on " How to use short-term memory in English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting effectively" I am also grateful to all the members of my family, especially my parents who have financially provided me a lot for this effective research and the accomplishment of the graduation paper LE THI HUE TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS STM LTM PC CI Short-term memory Long-term memory Processing capacity Consecutive interpreting CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 The rationale for your research Language is our primary source of communication It is the method through which we share our ideas and thoughts with others Some people even say that language is what separates us from animals and makes us human There are thousands of languages in this world Countries have their own national languages in addition to a variety of local languages spoken and understood by their people in different regions Some languages are spoken by millions of people, others by only a few thousand In the age of global integration, the need for mutual understanding among countries in the world has been increasing However, different languages are obviously significant communicative barriers Being considered as a bridge to human communicative interaction, the possession of interpreting skills is an effective means to break these barriers Thus, interpreting is now becoming an attractive and potential career However, the work of interpreting is not only demanding but also challenging Everyone knows that interpreting denotes facilitating communication from one language into another language The interpreter translates the message orally, which is quite different from written translation In order to perform the task professionally, an interpreter has to master the foreign languages he/she is working upon and to undergo special training as the job requires not only to perform this task correctly but also to perform it in real and fast time To become the proficient translators and interpreters after four years of academic training, learners have to equip themselves with many skills There are two main types of interpreting: a simultaneous and consecutive interpretation The requirements of both types are the person performing it has to the translation quickly and not to leave blank spaces in what he/she is about to say It is sometimes difficult, especially if the speaker speaks too fast or uses too long sentences and no pause Therefore, in addition to having active listening skills or being able to take notes during the interpretation assignment, having good memory retention skills, especially short-term memory is also very important to interpreters fulfill their tasks As Selescovitch (1978) reiterated, factors such as memory and listening play a major role in interpreting since, for a spoken message to be favorably translated into words of another language, it should initially be understood and remembered The third-year students of English major at Hanoi University of Business and Technology begin to study interpretation subjects Students are trained in a variety of techniques to be effective in English – Vietnamese interpreting including: using memory Due to the limitation of interpreting training time which only consists of credits (approximately 90 periods), students not have many chances to practice and improve their short-term memory In reality, many students can aware the role of short-term memory in interpreting, however, some of them are able to use it effectively and the rest of them often find it difficult to use memory in practice A question is raised for the better application of short-term memory in English – Vietnamese interpreting How to make the best use of short-term memory to facilitate language learning is not easy for HUBT’s students to master Therefore, the researcher decided to choose the study “An analysis of how to use short-term memory in English to Vietnamese interpreting effectively” 1.2 Aims of the research The aim of the thesis is to introduce the importance of short-term memory for interpreting study and practice and to find out the difficulties that students have to face when using memory in interpreting More importantly, the study also aims at presenting the students of English Department in HUBT how to improve short-term memory in support of effective interpreting in order to orient students who begin to study this subject in the good manner of study 1.3 The significance and scope of the research 1.3.1 The significance of the research Understanding the importance of using memory and the students' difficulties in learning interpretation, the study will be a useful reference with the solutions suggested which help the students be able to use short-term memory in the most useful way for the purpose of interpreting practice Furthermore, I believe that it helps the students not only improve their language learning in general but also have a great advantage for their future ideal job as an interpreter All people who are interested in interpretation work can consider it as a useful reference for improving their interpretation skills as well 1.3.2 The scope of the research Short-term memory is very useful and essential in interpreting; however, it is a wide and challenging skill In order to obtain the greatest findings and enhance the effectiveness of the study, it is scoped with “short-term memory in English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting” 1.4 Research methods In order to achieve the mentioned aims, the different methods are carried out including: - Quantitative – statistical Analysis (Questionnaires) - The listening test The questionnaires are designed for fifty (50) third students of English majors at HUBT to find out the real situation and the demands of them in interpreting lessons 1.5 The structural organization of the paper There are five chapters in the researcher as follow: -Chapter one is the introduction of rationale, aims, significance, scope, research method and organization of the research -Chapter two is about the literature review It answers questions such as what is short-term memory, interpreting and the role of short-term memory in English - Vietnamese interpreting - Chapter three presents the results from the data collected through a survey with fifty (50) third students of English major at HUBT - In chapter four, shows the importance, difficulties of using short-term memory and suggest the solution to improve short-term memory in English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting - Chapter five is the conclusion including recapitulation, summary, the implication for learning and suggestions for further studies CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 An overview of short-term memory 2.1.1 Definition of short-term memory Before defining short-term memory, it is necessary to understand what memory is Memory is the superior cognitive process that defines the temporal dimension of our mental organization It is our ability to encode, store, retain, and then recall information and past experiences In short, memory is the mental activity of recalling information that you have learned or experienced That simple definition, though, covers a complex process that involves many different parts of the brain and serves us in disparate ways Memory actually takes many different forms We know that when we store a memory, we are storing information But, what that information is and how long we retain it determines what type of memory it is The biggest categories of memory are a short-term memory and long-term memory, based on the amount of time the memory is stored intended to the new information more closely to the learner’s existing knowledge base and, therefore, facilitate retrieval” "Mnemonic" is another word for memory tool Mnemonics are techniques for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall: a very simple example is the "30 days hath September" rhyme for remembering the number of days in each calendar month The idea behind using mnemonics is to encode difficult-to-remember information in a way that is much easier to remember There are varieties of mnemonic techniques, including keywords, peg words, acronyms, loci method, spelling mnemonic, phonetic mnemonic, etc the basic principle of Mnemonics is to use as many of the best functions of the human brain as possible to encode information There are several mnemonic techniques, as mentioned above; however, five following techniques are usually used to facilitate memory: (1) Acronyms: ACRONYMS You form acronyms by using each first letter from a group of words to form a new word This is particularly useful when remembering words in a specified order Acronyms are very common in ordinary language and in many fields Some examples of common acronyms include NBA (National Basketball Associations), SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), BTUs (British Thermal Units), and LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) Let us suppose that you have to memorize the names of four kinds of fossils for your geology class: 1) Actual remains, 2) Petrified, 3) Imprint, and 4) Molds or casts Take the first letter of each item you are trying to remember: APIM Then, arrange the letters so that the acronym resembles a word you are familiar with: PAIM or IMAP Or In English, the coordinating conjunctions are For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So = FANBOYS (2) Sentence/ Acrostics: Like acronyms, the first letter of each word is the subject to remember However, in acrostics technique, these letters are used to make a sentence For example, you have to remember a list of words (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Genus, Species) which are not related to each other You will pick up such letters KPCOGS and then make a sentence like: Kings Phil Came Over for the Genes Special that easier for you to remember Another example: My Dear Aunt Sally (mathematical order of operations: Multiply and Divide before you Add and Subtract) Acrostics technique is helpful when remembering a list in a specific order Moreover, this is less limiting than acronyms Because if your words not form easy-to-remember acronyms, using acrostics may be preferable (3) Rhymes and songs: Rhyme, repetition, melody and rhythm can all aid memory This is reason why people in ancient time when there is no writing can remember long stories and poems The use of rhyme, rhythm and repetition helps the storyteller remember and helps too stimulate STM Following is the poem “30 day hath September”, a simple example of mnemonic: 30 days hath September Thirty days hath September, April, June and November; February has twenty eight alone, All the rest have thirsty one, Excepting leap year that the time When February’s days are twenty-nine (4) Method of Loci: This technique is really useful to remember speeches with unrelated items Using this technique requires the combination of organization, visual memory, and association The principle of the technique is that the trainees associate each part of what they have to remember with a landmark in a route you know well and then create a vivid visual memory of the “path” and objects along it, after that visualize it when interpreting (5) Chunking: This technique is useful for remembering numbers It is formed base on the idea that STM capacity limits vary from about to about 10 items When using “chunking” to remember, users decrease the number of items held in memory by increasing the size of each item For example, to remember a phone number like 0984306480, you create :chunks” of numbers by breaking that number string into small string as 09, 84, 306, 480 Thus, instead of remembering 10 individual numbers, you are remembering large numbers To sum up, short-term memory is a very important skill for excellent interpreters Some possess this natural ability, but it can be improved day by day by the The mentioned suggestions give learners some ways to enhance their ability in short-term memory process Finally, interpreting lessons it will bring about better result in CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 Concluding remarks This paper has demonstrated the techniques and application of short-term memory in English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting The current state of implementing this skill of English majors at HUBT is presented In this study, some shortcomings of students were pointed out Furthermore, the role of short-term memory is emphasized With all efforts, several techniques were introduced to help learners achieve better results in English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting as well as other interpretation works Initially, theoretical background of interpreting and short-term memory was provided Basing on this foundation, the study on short-term memory in English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting was implemented with English majors who have learnt interpreting lessons at the University After that, some methods for training short-term memory skill which seem to be suitable with factual state of the learners were analyzed Moreover, the author hope that this document would be understandable and readable for students who have studied interpreting subject In order to bring about a useful referential document for English majors at HUBT, the writer of this study has spent much time working with heartfelt spirit However, due to the time constraints, the humble experience and knowledge of the author, shortcomings are unavoidable It only focuses on one mode of memory and one aspect of interpreting 5.2 Limitation of the research The thesis; however, is subjected to some limitations Due to the time limit and the humble experience of the writer, the study was merely carried out within the campus of Hanoi University of Business and Technology, and it may limit the extent to which the study can be generalized to other populations 5.3 Recommendations/Suggestions for further research Firstly, the study helps students recognize the demand and importance of short-term memory in interpreting With useful information, this document is helpful for every English majors, particularly who are learning interpreting subject After reading this paper, the students can apply some suggestions that can improve their short-term memory, especially in term of English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting Moreover, as mentioned in the introduction part, there aren’t many documents of interpreting skill in our university library This study can be a suggestion and reference for further researchers who will build up more useful documents for English majors I hope that the next researchers will deal with more techniques to improve short-term memory in interpreting or some related issues such as long-term memory and so on In short, this is a readable document and I am looking forward to hearing feedbacks from all readers including English majors and teachers at Faculty of Foreign Languages APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRES Le Thi Hue’s survey on the factual awareness and using short-term memory in interpreting of English majors at HUBT Circle the answers that fit you most Thank you for your co-operation! Question 1: What is average length of information that you can remember? A a text D 2-3 sentences B a clause/ phrase C a sentence E a paragraph Question What is the average time duration of source-language information? A Less than minutes B 5-15 minutes D 30 min-1 hour E more than hour C 15-30 minutes Question How many times of listening you need to remember a piece of information? A Once B Twice C Three times D As many as possible Question 4: Which percentage of information you can remember after the first listening? A 10% B 20 – 50 % D 100% E No answer C 70% Question 5: Which percentage of information you can remember after the second listening? A 20 – 50% B 50 – 70% C 100% Question 6: Which percentage of information you can remember after the third listening? A 20 – 50% B 50 – 70% C 100% Question 7: How long you need to rearrange information before interpreting from English to Vietnamese? A 0s B 3-5s C 5-15s D About minute Question 8: How long you forget information after interpreting? A Immediately B 1-5 s C 6-10s D 10-30 s E More than 30s Question 9: How can you evaluate at English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting? A 30% B 50% C 70% D 100% Question 10: What types of information you feel difficult to remember? A Number/ Private name / Dates B List of terms C Signal/ Abbreviation D Terminology Question 11: What are the reasons of your difficulties in STM? A Brain structure B Concentration ability C External environment D Psychological factors E Topic/content of source-language information Question 12: How you remember the information? A Key words, numbers, figures, etc B Every word C No answer Question 13: How often you practice to improve short-term memory? A Always B Sometimes C Rarely D Never Quesstion 14 Methods adopted to practice STM in interpreting? A Object Listing C Peer Interpreting Practice B Story summarization D Tape Interpreting Question 15: How important are the teachers in improving students’ memorizing skill? A Very important, as an instructor, a guider B Only important in some cases C Not very important, students make progress by themselves APPENDIX Memory tests 1.1 Games, tricks and techniques http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chmemory.html 1.2 Picture test http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/puzmatch.html 1.3 Short-term memory test http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/stm0.html http://neutralx0.net/home/mini04.html The excersices to improve primary short - term memory https://www.wikihow.com/Increase-Your-Short-Term-Memory APPENDIX TIPS TO INCREASE YOUR SHORT TERM MEMORY Your ability to store information in short term memory is affected by many things Depression and anxiety for instance often affect your concentration and stress can also make you feel "scattered" and jumpy Marijuana users also experience subtle short term memory deficits that continue for at least six weeks after their last usage Generally if short term memory tries to acquire more items than it can handle, the middle items will often be displaced Chunking of information can lead to an increase in short term memory capacity This is the reason why a hyphenated phone number is easier to remember than a single long number Storage also seems to increase if we pronounce the names of the items out loud especially if they are grouped rhythmically Try reading this sequence and then recall it: igdbfdnonuca Next, try the same exercise on these letters: counfbadding Chunking it into a word you can pronounce made the difference Try the same process with this list of numbers: 283496 Next, try remembering this: 28 34 96 Instead of six numbers, you only need to recall three APPENDIX HOW TO INCREASE YOUR SHORT TERM MEMORY Short term memory is your current memory, the one you are working with right now that is helping you read this article and make sense of it If your short term memory is on the blink, it is time for corrective action Use flash cards Flash cards and memory card games are really good for sprucing up the mental synapses and making your memory work harder Play a few of these games daily to keep your memory in top shape Use flash cards to help you learn for tests, exams and other memory-reliant challenges Do online exercises that strengthen memory There are a number of online exercises that help you practice memory strengthening Just search using your favorite search engine, provided you remember which one If not, Google is a good bet Understand what makes your memory work Do test games Short term memory is the memory that retains information for short periods of time Lay out a number of objects on a tray Try to memorize them Place a cloth over the tray and write down every object that you remember Check back and see how you did If you did too well, add more objects This game is a good one to at least weekly to shape up your recall abilities Use acronyms to help you remember a list of names For example, ROY G BIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet) stands for each color of the rainbow ... my parents who have financially provided me a lot for this effective research and the accomplishment of the graduation paper LE THI HUE TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS STM LTM PC CI Short-term memory Long-term... 76% 16/50 32% 6/50 12% Table 4: Teacher’s role in improving students’ memorizing skill Table reveals that a considerable number of students (76%) highly appreciate the role of teacher in improving... September”, a simple example of mnemonic: 30 days hath September Thirty days hath September, April, June and November; February has twenty eight alone, All the rest have thirsty one, Excepting leap year