Foreign Language Anxiety in English-Chinese Interpretation Classes: A Comparison of Undergraduate, Graduate and Professional Interpreter Training Programs

Through a comparison of interpreter training in different levels, this study attempts to investigate the impact and sources of foreign language anxiety and explore ways to reduce students’ anxious feelings in learning. The participants will be students from undergraduate, graduate and professional interpreter training classes. In the study, students’ language anxiety levels will be measured with a foreign language anxiety scale for interpretation classes, errors of different types will be coded, and grades of the students will be collected as indicators of students’ achievement. The correlation between language anxiety, quantity and types of errors, and interpretation learning achievement will be examined, differences in professional and college interpreting programs will be investigated. Besides, factors and sources of stress in the interpreter training process will be identified, strategies and ways to reduce anxiety levels will be examined. The findings will help researchers and teachers understand the nature of anxiety in the interpreter training process and search for ways to reduce it.