Computer-assisted Conference Interpreter Training: Limitations and Future Directions

Abstract Technology has come to play an increasingly important role in conference interpreter training since the turn of the millennium. Computer-assisted interpreter training (CAIT) reflects the aim to provide students of conference interpreting with better instructional support making learning more effective. CAIT has contributed to the development of conference interpreting pedagogy, by innovating teaching methods, providing access to training materials and spurring the development of innovative solutions to tangible learning problems. Hence, CAIT appears to be a productive area for teaching practice and research that could promote the field’s ongoing shift towards a systematic theoretical and methodological framework for teaching practice. However, conceptual and methodological gaps are currently preventing the advancement of CAIT research. In turn, these limitations may be seen as one of the factors constraining the full and pedagogically sound integration of CAIT resources into conference interpreter training. The present paper reviews the evolution and state-of-the-art of CAIT, contextualizing it within the development of conference interpreting pedagogy. It provides a critical review of existing empirical research to single out existing limitations and define trajectories for future research. It also proposes a new functional definition of the term and a classification introducing the concept of CAIT-Affordances.