Stakeholder expectations of interpreters : a multi-site, multi-method approach

Abstract

This thesis uses a multi-method approach to examine the expectations of interpreting stakeholders in two different multilingual church organisations. Drawing on concepts from skopos theory and homiletics and on methodologies and findings from research on client expectations and interpreters’ perceptions of their work, it posits a four part correlational model to explain and predict how the skopos of an interpreted event will relate to stakeholders’ generic and event-specific expectations of interpreters. Results from a survey, interviews and participant observations all suggest that, contrary to existing theory, there is little evidence of a direct relationship between skopos and expectations of interpreters. On the contrary, it appears that organisational attitudes to interpreting are a much more salient factor in the conceptualisation of the work of interpreters and on the strategies they are expected to use to solve problems. The implications of these results for church interpreting research, theories of interpreting and interpreting practice are discussed, alongside the need to rethink and redesign the methods used in stakeholder expectations research, especially when this involves the use of surveys.