Aspects of online monitoring and control during a consecutive interpreting task: Evidence from a retrospective process tracing study

Abstract

This paper reports on analysis of data gathered in a multi-site, multi-researcher retrospective process tracing (RPT) study first described in Gumul and Herring (2022). A group of student interpreters in Poland and a group of experienced medical interpreters in the USA carried out a consecutive interpreting task followed by RPT. The RPT sessions were analyzed for evidence of online-self regulation, following the definition and analytical framework employed by Herring (2018). The paper discusses evidence of online monitoring of affect, behavior—note-taking technique, cognition—comprehension, and cognition—language transfer, and of online employment of control mechanisms—linguistic/interpreting strategies. It also discusses individual differences in retrospection style and the presence of introspective/ evaluative comments in RPT data.