4.4.4 Mediating activities and strategies

In mediating activities, the language user is not concerned to express his/her own meanings, but simply to act as an intermediary between interlocutors who are unable to understand each other directly – normally (but not exclusively) speakers of different languages. Examples of mediating activities include spoken interpretation and written translation as well as summarising and paraphrasing texts in the same language, when the language of the original text is not understandable to the intended recipient e.g.:

4.4.4.1oral mediation:

•simultaneous interpretation (conferences, meetings, formal speeches, etc.);

•consecutive interpretation (speeches of welcome, guided tours, etc.);

•informal interpretation:

•• of foreign visitors in own country

•• of native speakers when abroad

•• in social and transactional situations for friends, family, clients, foreign guests, etc.

•• of signs, menus, notices, etc.

4.4.4.2written mediation:

•exact translation (e.g. of contracts, legal and scientific texts, etc.);

•literary translation (novels, drama, poetry, libretti, etc.);

•summarising gist (newspaper and magazine articles, etc.) within L2 or between L1 and L2;

•paraphrasing (specialised texts for lay persons, etc.).

4.4.4.3 Mediation strategies reflect ways of coping with the demands of using finite resources to process information and establish equivalent meaning. The process may

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Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment

involve some pre-planning to organise and maximise resources (Developing background knowledge; Locating supports; Preparing a glossary) as well as consideration of how to tackle the task at hand (Considering the interlocutors’ needs; Selecting the size of interpretation unit). During the process of interpretation, glossing, or translation, the mediator needs to look ahead at what is coming next whilst formulating what has just been said, generally juggling with two different ‘chunks’ or interpretation units simultaneously (Previewing). He or she needs to note ways of expressing things to extend his or her glossary (Noting possibilities, equivalences), and to construct islands of reliability, (prefabricated chunks) which free up processing capacity for previewing. On the other hand he or she also needs to use techniques to skate over uncertainty and avoid breakdown – whilst maintaining previewing (Bridging gaps). Evaluation takes place at a communicative level (Checking congruence) and at a linguistic level (Checking consistency of usage) and, certainly with written translation, leads to repair through consultation of reference works and people knowledgeable in the field concerned (refining by consulting dictionaries, thesaurus; consulting experts, sources).

No illustrative scales are yet available.

Users of the Framework may wish to consider and where appropriate state:

•the mediating activities in which the learner will need/be equipped/be required to engage.

4.4.5 Non-verbal communication

4.4.5.1 Practical actions accompanying language activities (normally face-to-face oral activities) include:

•pointing, e.g. by finger, hand, glance, nod. These actions are used with deictics for the identification of objects, persons, etc., such as, ‘Can I have that one? No, not that one, that one’;

•demonstration, accompanying deictics and simple present verbs and pro-verbs, such as, ‘I take this and fix it here, like this. Now you do the same!’;

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•clearly observable actions, which can be assumed as known in narrative, comment, orders, etc., such as, ‘Don’t do that!’, ‘Well done there!’, ‘Oh no, he’s dropped it!’. In all these cases, the utterance is uninterpretable unless the action is perceived.

Users of the Framework may wish to consider and where appropriate state:

•how skilled learners will need/be equipped/be required to be in matching actions to words and vice-versa;

•in which situations they will need/be equipped/be required to do so.

4.4.5.2Paralinguistics includes:

Body language. Paralinguistic body language differs from practical actions accompanied by language in that it carries conventionalised meanings, which may well differ from one culture to another. For example, the following are used in many European countries:

•gesture (e.g. shaken fist for ‘protest’);

•facial expression (e.g. smile or scowl);

•posture (e.g. slump for ‘despair’ or sitting forward for ‘keen interest’);

•eye contact (e.g. a conspiratorial wink or a disbelieving stare);

•body contact (e.g. kiss or handshake);

•proxemics (e.g. standing close or aloof).

use of extra-linguistic speech-sounds. Such sounds (or syllables) are paralinguistic in that they carry conventionalised meanings but lie outside the regular phonological system of a language, for example, (in English):

prosodic qualities. The use of these qualities is paralinguistic if they carry conventionalised meanings (e.g. related to attitudes and states of mind), but fall outside the regular phonological system in which prosodic features of length, tone, stress may play a part, for example:

Many paralinguistic effects are produced by combinations of pitch, length, loudness and voice quality.

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