Module Directory

This full-year module provides an introduction to interpreting as both a professional practice and an area of academic study. It is designed as a foundational module that progresses across two terms: the Autumn term introduces the principles of conference interpreting, while the Spring term introduces the principles of public service interpreting.

Across the year, students are introduced to the key concepts, distinctions and frameworks used to understand interpreting as a form of real-time translational activity shaped by setting, mode, discourse, participant relations, ethics, quality expectations and professional conditions.

The Autumn term focuses on conference settings, consecutive and simultaneous interpreting, and the skills required for this modality: preparation, note-taking, delivery, teamwork, use of technology to enhance performance and quality expectations (AIIC code of ethics).

The Spring term shifts to public service interpreting and examines dialogue and liaison interpreting across legal, healthcare, social care and community contexts, with particular attention to ethics (NRPSI), role, turn-taking, institutional constraints, power relations and interpreter-mediated interaction.

The aims of this module are to:

• Introduce students to the principal concepts, typologies and areas of inquiry in Interpreting Studies.


• Develop understanding of interpreting across conference and public service settings.


• Familiarise students with consecutive, simultaneous and dialogue/liaison interpreting, and with the parameters that shape practice in each.


• Enable students to analyse interpreting as a communicative, interactional and institutional activity.


• Develop awareness of central professional issues, including ethics, role, quality, technology, teamwork and professionalisation.


• Provide a conceptual foundation for critical analysis and further study of interpreting in diverse settings.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of key concepts, distinctions and frameworks in Interpreting Studies.


2. Identify and distinguish the main features of conference interpreting and public service interpreting, including their characteristic modes and settings.


3. Analyse consecutive, simultaneous and dialogue/liaison interpreting as forms of real-time translational activity shaped by setting, discourse, participant relations and communicative purpose.


4. Engage critically with selected scholarly literature on interpreting as a profession and an area of academic inquiry.


5. Identify and discuss central issues relating to ethics, role, quality, technology and professional practice across conference and public service contexts.


6. Apply relevant concepts and frameworks to the critical analysis of interpreted encounters, case studies and professional scenarios.

No prior interpreter training is required.

The module is non-language-specific and therefore suitable for students from a range of linguistic backgrounds. Where examples or activities draw on multiple languages, students will engage with them analytically and reflectively rather than being assessed on performance in a specific language pair.

The full-year structure allows students to build conceptual continuity across the two terms while engaging with the distinctive demands of conference and public service interpreting.

This module will be delivered via:

• 2-hour classes x 20 weeks.

Teaching will combine lectures, seminar discussion, guided reading, case-based analysis and selected practical illustration activities. Students will engage with foundational scholarship in Interpreting Studies and apply key concepts to conference and public service contexts across the year. The module is designed as a progression from the more macro-professional and mode-based concerns of conference interpreting in the Autumn term to the interactional, institutional and ethical complexities of public service interpreting in the Spring term.

Indicative content

Autumn term: introduction to conference interpreting and the field of Interpreting Studies; conference settings and professional pathways; consecutive interpreting, including listening and analysis, note-taking and reformulation; simultaneous interpreting and cognitive demands; ethics and quality expectations (AIIC); booth etiquette, teamwork and preparation; terminology, technology, remote conference interpreting and quality.

Spring term: introduction to public service interpreting; dialogue and liaison interpreting; interpreting in legal, healthcare, social care and community settings; ethics (NRPSI), role, impartiality and professional boundaries; turn-taking, participation and power in interpreter-mediated interaction; institutional constraints, remote public service interpreting and critical case analysis.