Auslan<>English Interpreting Strategies in TAFE Classrooms

This research aims to establish and highlight the challenges faced by Auslan<>English interpreters working in TAFE trades classrooms, some of the strategies they use and how they view their role in providing reasonable accommodations. A total of eight interpreters, all of whom hold current certification and work regularly in vocational TAFE classrooms were interviewed. Participants were asked to reflect on their experience of TAFE interpreting before responding to a series of hypothetical scenarios, deliberately constructed to include common challenges to establish what they would identify as an issue, and how they would respond to it. The results showed that many interpreters view their role in the TAFE environment as being more than just the facilitation of communication. They are also managing institutional expectations, rapport with the teacher and the student, their own personal safety and facilitating communication in situations where a visual field may be obstructed as well as establishing and accommodating specific needs that are not always clear.