Colloquium Lecture: Professional Identity Development of Interpreters

Department of Interpretation Gallaudet University Washington DC

In the dissertation guiding this presentation, Hunt extends previous studies on:

• Language and identity (Gordon, 2013)
• Language-induced identity shifts in second language learners (Johnson, 2007)
• Experiences of hearing, regular education students who have taken American Sign Language (ASL) courses (Brown, 2013)
• Experiences of Korean-English interpreters/translators (Bahk-Halberg, 2007)

to a specific group of bilinguals – ASL-English interpreters.

Hunt examined the lived experiences of American Sign Language-English interpreters beginning with a questionnaire, followed by autophotography and photo-elicitation interviews, and finally semi-structured interviews for further data collection.

Grounded in a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology, Hunt will address two primary research questions:

• How does a group of ASL-English interpreters experience the development of a sense of self and professional identity?
• What are a group of ASL-English interpreters’ perceptions of how others react to their presentation of self and professional identity?