NIC Language Receptive & Expressive Skills 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When interpreting a Deaf speaker's use of spatial grammar to establish referents, the English interpreter must:
- Replace all spatial referents with pronouns such as 'he' and 'she'
- Track the established referents and use consistent English pronouns or noun phrases that reflect them (Correct answer)
- Ask the Deaf speaker to use fingerspelling instead of spatial referencing
- Ignore spatial referents and use the noun each time it is referenced
Correct answer: Track the established referents and use consistent English pronouns or noun phrases that reflect them
Spatial referents in ASL function like pronouns; the interpreter must track them and render consistent, coherent references in English.
Question 2: A hearing speaker uses passive voice frequently during a legal deposition. When rendering this into ASL, the interpreter should:
- Always convert passive to active voice because ASL has no passive
- Explore ASL mechanisms that convey the same level of agent ambiguity or deflection as the passive (Correct answer)
- Ignore voice distinctions and focus only on the main verb meaning
- Use SEE passive constructions to maintain exact equivalence
Correct answer: Explore ASL mechanisms that convey the same level of agent ambiguity or deflection as the passive
The pragmatic function of passive voice (e.g., concealing agent) must be preserved using ASL strategies that achieve the same communicative effect.
Question 3: The NIC performance exam evaluates an interpreter's expressive skills PRIMARILY by assessing:
- The speed at which the interpreter produces the target language
- The accuracy, fluency, and completeness of the interpretation in the target language (Correct answer)
- Whether the interpreter uses PSE or ASL exclusively
- The number of fingerspelled items used in the interpretation
Correct answer: The accuracy, fluency, and completeness of the interpretation in the target language
NIC performance raters evaluate accuracy (correctness of meaning), fluency (smooth delivery), and completeness (no omissions) in the target language.
Question 4: When an English speaker uses a false start and self-corrects ('The patient—I mean the defendant—arrived late'), the interpreter should:
- Interpret only the corrected version to avoid confusion
- Interpret the false start and correction if the correction is meaningful, preserving the speaker's self-monitoring (Correct answer)
- Interpret only the false start as first produced
- Stop and ask the speaker which version to interpret
Correct answer: Interpret the false start and correction if the correction is meaningful, preserving the speaker's self-monitoring
Self-corrections can be communicatively significant (e.g., in legal settings) and should generally be preserved unless they are pure disfluencies with no meaning.
Question 5: Receptive fluency in ASL for NIC purposes includes the ability to understand signing produced at:
- Only slow, highly articulated rates used in educational settings
- A natural, native-like rate across varied regional and personal signing styles (Correct answer)
- The rate used in ASL instructional videos
- The rate used specifically by DeafBlind signers using tactile ASL
Correct answer: A natural, native-like rate across varied regional and personal signing styles
NIC-level interpreters must comprehend natural, native-like ASL across diverse signers, rates, and regional dialects.
Question 6: An interpreter who consistently omits hedging language ('I think,' 'it seems,' 'possibly') when interpreting from English to ASL is likely failing to convey:
- The speaker's vocabulary level
- The speaker's epistemic stance and degree of certainty (Correct answer)
- The speaker's emotional affect
- The speaker's use of technical jargon
Correct answer: The speaker's epistemic stance and degree of certainty
Hedging language expresses the speaker's level of certainty; omitting it changes the pragmatic meaning and can misrepresent the speaker's confidence level.
Question 7: When a Deaf signer uses role shifting to portray two characters in a narrative, the English interpreter should:
- Report all dialogue in third-person narration only
- Use direct quotation and vocal quality shifts to indicate which character is speaking (Correct answer)
- Summarize the dialogue without distinguishing characters
- Ask for clarification about which character is speaking before continuing
Correct answer: Use direct quotation and vocal quality shifts to indicate which character is speaking
Role shifting in ASL is equivalent to direct quotation; the interpreter must use English vocal shifts and direct quotes to preserve the narrative structure.
NIC Language Receptive & Expressive Skills 5
When interpreting a Deaf speaker's use of spatial grammar to establish referents, the English interpreter must: