Sign Language Interpreter Education — In Search of a Chinese Model

Through literature review, two education models for sign language interpreting (SLI) emerge, one being the independent model, the other the mixed (language pairs) model. Building on the first-hand data collected of the Chinese SLI market and the current 5 SLI programs, the authors propose a Chinese model for SLI education which offers degrees full-time or part-time from AA to PhD, in both Special Education (current programs) and in Translation Studies (future programs). In an attempt toward building complete and high standard SLI programs, issues that request immediate resolution include the curriculum design principle, teaching resources, training of SLI trainers and assessment methodologies. The current research aims at providing a framework for both theoretical and practical endeavors in SLI to meet the ever-increasing demand for information accessibility by the 20 million Deaf people in China.