The Kolb’s cycle in interpreter training.

A general outline and reflections on the implementation of the cycle in practice

Abstract

The focus of this article is the implementation of the Kolb’s learning cycle in in­terpreter training. General assumptions and the structure of this cycle will be presented along with correlations between individual stages with adult learning styles which will be briefly discussed. The practical implementation of this cycle will be demonstrated through observations from classes conducted as one-semester-long and shorter courses, and in groups of various levels of skills and competence, age levels and studying profiles.

The learning cycle developed by David Kolb and his wife Alice Kolb, called the Experiential Learning Model (ELM), consists of four stages of learning: experien- cing, reflecting, thinking and acting.

All these stages are perfectly applicable to practice-oriented interpreting classes. An experienced teacher/trainer can suggest the group to start the Kolb’s cycle at any time in the teaching and training process as it can be done at any stage. The use of all of the stages allows, as experience shows, to maximise the class-related benefits for all students/ participants. We should assume that in each group there are repre- sentatives of various learning styles, and each individual may find a different stage of the cycle appealing. Adult learning styles are nothing more than a combination of two or more of the four activities mentioned above which characterise a given stage of the cycle.

The presented cycle, preceded by a learning style test, was used by the author in eleven different student groups in interpreting classes. This paper shows the results on the example of exercises in simultaneous interpreting.