EIPA - Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment ASL to English Interpretation Questions and Answers

Question 1

An interpreter is voicing for a high school Deaf student who uses conceptually accurate ASL. The student signs: 'YESTERDAY ME GO-TO STORE, BUY APPLES, BANANAS, ORANGES.' A grammatically correct English interpretation would be:

Accepted Answer

"Yesterday, I went to the store and bought apples, bananas, and oranges."

Answer

This answer is the most accurate and natural-sounding English interpretation. It correctly applies English syntax and tense by changing 'ME GO-TO' to 'I went' and appropriately uses conjunctions ('and') for the list of items. The other options are either too literal, grammatically incorrect in English, or add unnecessary words.

Question 2

When voicing for a student, the interpreter encounters a sign they do not recognize. The student is explaining a key concept in their science presentation. Which of the following is the most professionally appropriate immediate action?

Accepted Answer

Voice 'The student used a sign I don't understand for a key term' to the audience.

Answer

This approach is transparent and accurately represents the communication situation to the audience without stopping the flow of the presentation or guessing, which could lead to a significant misinterpretation. It places the 'communication challenge' on the interpretation process itself rather than on the student. After the presentation, the interpreter should seek clarification.

Question 3

Which of the following describes a significant challenge when interpreting from ASL to spoken English, but is less of a challenge when interpreting from spoken English to ASL?

Accepted Answer

The need to voice a student's message that may contain linguistic errors or be developmentally immature.

Answer

Voicing for children and teens requires the interpreter to accurately represent the student's language, which may be ungrammatical, incomplete, or reflect developmental stages. The interpreter must decide how to voice this faithfully without 'cleaning it up' so much that it misrepresents the student's actual language abilities. The other options are challenges present in both directions of interpreting.

Question 4

A Deaf elementary student signs with a strong topic-comment structure and frequent use of classifiers. When voicing for this student, the interpreter's English output should prioritize:

Accepted Answer

Reconstructing the message into grammatically correct English sentences that convey the full meaning.

Answer

The goal of ASL-to-English interpretation is to convey the meaning and intent of the source message in a way that is grammatically and culturally appropriate in the target language. This requires restructuring ASL's topic-comment syntax and unpacking the meaning conveyed by classifiers into standard English sentences, rather than providing a literal, word-for-word transliteration.

Question 5

An educational interpreter is voicing for a student during a class discussion. The student signs a message, but their non-manual markers (facial expressions and body language) clearly contradict the signs being produced. The interpreter should:

Accepted Answer

Attempt to integrate the emotional tone and intent from the non-manual markers into the English interpretation.

Answer

Non-manual markers are a critical grammatical component of ASL, conveying tone, affect, and grammatical information (e.g., questions, negations). A faithful interpretation must include the meaning conveyed by these markers to achieve message equivalency. Voicing only the manual signs would omit a significant part of the student's intended message.

EIPA - Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment Practice Test

EIPA - Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment Practice Test

EIPA - Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment ASL to English Interpretation Questions and Answers