Teaching Goals of Interpreter Educators

Angelo & Cross (1993) found substantial differences in the teaching goals of faculty from different disciplines, yet they found no differences for educators based on their employment status or the type of institution in which they worked. The current quantitative study compared the teaching goals of interpreter educators with those of educators from other disciplines. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of 52 goal statements from Angelo & Cross’ Teaching Goal Inventory (TGI) in terms of what they aim to have students accomplish in their courses. The data suggest that interpreter education constitutes a separate discipline from the nine disciplines identified by Angelo & Cross. Interpreter educators place far more emphasis on the development of higher order thinking skills than do educators from most other disciplines. There appear to be no differences in the teaching goals of interpreter educators employed in a full-time or adjunct capacity, nor for interpreter educators employed at two-year and four-year institutions. In sum, there is consensus among interpreter educators that conveying higher order thinking skills is the most important teaching goal