ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of interpreting in educational settings. Not only may interpreters find themselves working with students, parents, and staff in infant or pre-school programs, primary or secondary schools and institutions of higher education, they may find further work opportunities in vocational and adult education or in professional development venues such as conferences, workshops, seminars, and conventions. While the issues presented will apply to all of these settings, interpreting in primary, secondary and post-secondary education will provide the framework for this discussion. Because of legislative mandates for inclusion of Deaf and hard of hearing students in public education, many signed-language interpreters work in educational settings. As a result, much of the research cited is gleaned from the field of signed-language interpretation. However, the challenges in effectively meeting the needs of English Language Learners being educated in the United States and immigrant students learning the language of host countries all over the world in many ways parallel those of Deaf and hard of hearing students. This chapter will discuss academic achievement in both of these student populations, recognizing
that when students depend on interpreters for access to academic and social discourse in educational contexts, interpreters must be prepared to respond to the unique learning needs of dual language learners. As such, the training of spoken-and signed-language interpreters must be both broad enough to prepare them to accurately interpret a wide array of academic content and rich enough to adequately understand the intricacies of interpreting for students with varied language proficiencies in their primary language as well as in the language of accountability.
