ASL Students’ Ability to Self Assess ASL Competency

An interpreter’s ability to self assess is a fundamental requirement for determining readiness to accept an assignment and for setting realistic goals for self-guided continuing education. Self assessment is widely used at the university level and viewed as both a tool for learning and a valued outcome of higher education. This study seeks to investigate ASL students’ accuracy in self assessing their language competency. Accuracy is defined in this study as a strong correspondence between students’ self assessment and instructors’ assessment of the students’ ASL competency as measured on the Sign Communication Proficiency Interview Scale. Across all ASL classes there was a significant and moderate-strong correlation between students’ self-ratings and their instructors’ ratings of the students’ sign communication proficiency. Students did not improve in self assessment accuracy as they progressed through the ASL course sequence. Self assessment skills should be taught and practiced throughout the course of ASL classes. ASL Students’ Ability to Self Assess ASL Competency An interpreter’s ability to self assess is a fundamental requirement for determining readiness to accept an assignment and for setting realistic goals for self-guided continuing education. The NAD-RID Code of Professional Conduct addresses these two issues (RID, 2005). Tenet 2 requires interpreters to possess skills and knowledge for specific situations. Interpreters must be able to assess their skills to determine if they are professionally prepared for interpreting situations before accepting assignments. Tenet 7 requires that interpreters engage in continual professional development, one option being that of independent study. Given that the field expects interpreters to have the ability to accurately assess their own abilities and limitations, where and how interpreters learn these skills is of interest to the field of interpretation and interpreter education. Reports indicate that self assessment is widely used at the university level and that “the development of self assessment ability is recognized as a distinct outcome of higher education [Dearing, 1997; Stefani, 1998] and a critical educational tool for learning beyond university education [Taras, 2001]” (Tan, 2008, p. 15). Twenty years earlier, this concept was already forming when Blanche stated “self assessment accuracy is a condition of learner autonomy” (1988, p. 75), a component of self-directed life-long learning. Entering college students do not always have a fully developed self assessment skill set, but “. it is.desirable that it should be developed at earlier stages of education” (Boud, 1995, p. 14). With educators supporting self assessment as a goal of higher education, and the field’s stance on the ethical requirement for interpreters to accurately assess their own skills and readiness for work, it is reasonable to assume that post-secondary interpreting students need to either bring to the postsecondary setting, or develop while in school, the critical skill of self assessment. Within the field of teaching ASL and interpreting, personal assessment of one’s skills is often not the focus of early education. Typically, ASL teachers conduct the students’ first evaluations rather than the students performing an internal analysis. Later, novice interpreters seek feedback from valued mentors (veteran practitioners, former teachers and peers) to determine errors and gaps in performance (Wise, 2008). It is with experience and certification that the field expects interpreters to be proficient in assessing their own performance. If Boud’s statement regarding the desirability of early development of self assessment skills is to be accepted, then beginning ASL classes are an appropriate place to address these skills. ASL students receive evaluation and feedback in a variety of ways from instructors, peers, mentors, and Deaf community members. Instructors give classroom feedback on a regular basis. Graded assignments and tests of students’ ASL understanding and production compared to curricular goals provide students with information on their learning progress. Some instructors use self and peer evaluation as part of classroom feedback; however, no empirical study on the accuracy of ASL student